Whole30 Recap - A Man's Perspective

10/07/2012 *Sara-Marie* 6 Comments

After successfully completing my Whole30, I was very excited to hear my husband decide to complete a Whole30 of his own. Below is his experience and how eating whole, real foods, changed his life as well! Enjoy my man's perspective :)

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Hello.  Many of you may know me as "Hubby" or "the Husband".

 After seeing my beautiful wife adopt the "paleo" life-style and then discover "It Starts With Food" and the Whole 30 and the amazing transformation that it brought about in her, I decided to see for myself what all the fuss was about.

A little background about myself.  I would say that I am a fairly active person and that I am in good physical condition.  I run, I go to the gym and lift weights, and I try to be conscientious of what I eat.  Not only are these important for my overall health but they are greatly important in my chosen career field.  There are days where I can be completely sedentary for hours and there are days when I am non-stop, going full speed for eight hours.  As you can imagine this can be detrimental to one's health and well-being.

Despite my best efforts, I have been known to indulge on occasion. Pizza, Goldfish, pretzels and chocolate ice cream were my weaknesses.

As you all know, my lovely bride discovered ISWF and then completed her Whole 30 in the month of August.  Her willpower and dedication, especially in the face of some of my humorous attempts to be "supportive" (see the time I got McDonald's French Fries on her Day 1), inspired me to learn more about this book and this lifestyle.

From the moment I opened ISWF until I put it down, it was an eye opening experience to say the least.  It was a total paradigm shift, learning that foods that I previously thought, and growing up was always told, were good for you, were in some cases quite the opposite!  After seeing the transformation in my wife, I decided to give it a shot as well.

I knew that it would be a challenge, given both my previous eating habits as well the fact that in my line of work you don't exactly get a "lunch break".  Also challenging was trying to incorporate eggs into the mix, as I had been averse to them since childhood (it's a long story).  The first few days were a challenge, especially getting over the cravings for something sweet, but after about Day 5 or 6 I noticed that I was sleeping better at night and waking up more refreshed, and that my energy levels were consistent throughout my workday as opposed to being alert, then hitting a lull, then being alert after a meal, then a lull shortly afterwards.

I also noticed that both my personal clothes and work clothes were fitting more loosely, the latter to the point where I decided to get them tailored for a neater appearance. I was also enjoying the food my lovely wife was preparing for me and helping me to prepare.  I even started to like eggs again!  I was able to break the cycle of eating "good" for a week or two then having a "cheat" day, which would turning into a "cheat" couple of days, to completely falling off the wagon.  In completing my Whole 30, I learned to appreciate my food more and have a healthier relationship with my food.

One of my favorite meals while on Whole30: sweet potato, all-natural sausage, avocado, and cilantro.

 Now that I have completed my Whole 30 and had the opportunity to reintroduce some non-Whole 30 compliant items, I realized that on the occasion that I will indulge in those foods, I will enjoy and savor them that much more than I previously did.

So now onto the part that everyone really wants to find out, whether they read through all the fluff above or just scrolled down to this paragraph...

In my short 30 day journey, I managed to lose 15.6 lbs, lose 3.7% body fat, reduce my BMI by 2.2, and gain 1.5% of muscle mass...all from just eating clean.  I'm not saying it's easy, but I have a great support system in the form of my wife, and numerous reasons to keep moving forward with trying to remain as Whole 30-compliant as I can be.  It just make sense, as this is the way I eat now, and why go back to not being as optimally healthy as I could be?

In closing, I want to thank you for the time you've taken to read my post here and I hope that you continue to keep coming back and checking out my wife's blog. 

If it wasn't for the Whole30, we wouldn't have looked this good at a recent wedding we attended!