Nutrition update

Nutrition has always been an issue for me. I love food. So I tend to eat whatever is put in front of me. It could be anything from a healthy salad to a calorie loaded non-nutritional dessert. Gone. I will smash it. 

Christine started Whole30 when I was in Germany. She dropped a lot of weight that first week. Knowing that I have LJ100 coming and that I needed to do something, I started it when I got back. 

Sure, you say "diet" and everyone panics.

"Must be the new fad"

"what kind of pill you taking"

"none of them work forever"

"there is no magic pill"

You know the list goes on and on an on. And they are all true. I have tried many different plans over my life. Some are that flash in a pan drop weight quick. Some are a handful of pill that are supposed to make you feel better. Some work. Some don't. It does come down to the person on the plan. I use the word plan, because I don't care for the word diet. 

When I was working with Adelaide she would always redirect words. Instead of "working out" it would be "training". Instead of "diet" she would redirect to "nutrition plan". Subtleties like these are important for what I am trying to do here. Redirect my mind. This is no different than what I tell my youngest as she grumbles towards the door before her shift. She will be slogging around the house and I hear "I don't want to go"....or complaining about school with the "I don't want to do this". I try to redirect her thoughts to the "I will have a good shift" or "when I get this school done..." or something small like that. The whole "speak it to the universe" or "speak it into fruition" type of stuff. Don't worry, not gonna be start gazing here, just making a point about the mental state you can create when you believe one thing versus another.

This brings me back to Whole30. Even when I started I didn't fully understand what the purpose was. I just knew that I could only eat whole foods like lean beef, chicken, vegetables, fruits, and eggs. So many eggs....but no beans, no grains, no dairy, nothing processed. And it started to click a bit.

The purpose of the Whole30 is actually much more than I realized. The purpose is to flush your body of all of the junk we eat every day. Literally....every day...every thing we eat. Well, most of us eat. Ok, what I was eating. The simple stuff like canned vegetables can even sneak up on you. Whole grain bread is good right? Well sure, but it still has these additives that stick in your body. So now, eating clean is working on getting that junk out of your body. Resetting you back to where you should be.

This image shows the overall basics.

When I started I knew I needed to follow it. I did, and I dropped over 25 pounds in that 30 days. Well, it was more like 5 weeks, so 35 days. Clearly I eat a lot of garbage, but that is another story. I actually stuck to the plan for the 30 days. No it wasn't easy. On vacation the family was eating queso and chips, fresh bread at the steakhouse, salads with ranch dressing, and amazing looking (and smelling) desserts. But I managed to get thru that with the accountability of Christine. 

Since then I have had a few days where I ate things that I shouldn't have. I noted how I felt. Like garbage. That "garbage in/garbage out" analogy is working its roots right here. After eating clean for almost 6 weeks my body was functioning better. Much better. The day after eating something with processed stuff, I slept like crap and felt like crap. Even tanked at Barry Roubaix because my mental well being was depreciated and that turned physical in the matter of 10 miles. 

Knowing that I want to keep losing weight, I cut that crap out of my nutrition plan. I say plan here because I have to be intentional with my food. I can't just wing it anymore. I am doing my best to plan out and have those healthy whole food options around that I can eat. That way I am not tempted to swing into a fast food place and grab a crappy burger or taco....both of which are made of  who knows what ingredients. Could be beef, could be sawdust. Could be some additive that has addictive properties. Funny how close those words are....never noticed that before now. 

So where do I land. Clearly staying on Whole30 for the rest of my life would be very difficult. In my research for approved Whole30 foods I started to see the same names popping up. Gluten Free. Non GMO. Paleo. Kosher. Dairy Free. Real ingredients. Keto friendly. Interesting how a lot of these ideas are related....and just have a tweak here or there to make them unique. 

This is the closest one to Whole30 that I have found....

Hunter-gatherer. No dairy or grain. Which means no cheese and no pasta or oatmeal. I have functioned on dairy and pasta for many years. Having cut all of these out of my eating for over a month I did notice the benefits. However, the final decision isn't out on things like oatmeal, yogurt, and granola. 

I actually ordered a few books today. 3 different authors, 3 likely different approaches. However, one of the books was co-authored by Joe Friel (Cyclists Training Bible). He has been a staple of training since I started riding over 20 years ago. And as a trainer of cyclists....perhaps he can direct me how to push my performance while staying away from the pasta and rice that has weighed me down for so many years.

No, this isn't an advertisement. Its just where I am today. I have a lot to learn. I have multiple sources I plan to use to get my nutrition plan dialed to what will work best for me. Maybe it will be snickers and whiskey. Maybe it will be fish and quinoa (unlikely). Maybe it will be straight Paleo. Its really hard to say. I just wanted to share what has worked for me in 2023 and say that I am happy to be down 33 pounds for the year. Yes that is progress. Yes I am proud of that. I still have a lot of work to do, nutritionally, physically, and mentally. These 3 things are not exclusive. Mentally I need to stick to my plans. Which means I eat right and I keep training properly. 

Heading to Yankee for more miles tonight. Been eating clean for a few days now (again) and feeling better overall. Need to continue that trend and hit my goal weight for LJ100. I get to that weight and I will confident in finishing again. I have 8 weeks. Another 20 pounds is still keeping solid loss while doing it in a way that is sustainable. Just keep moving forward.