Here we go!

I haven't decided if this will be public or not, but I wanted a way to help keep us motivated and accountable on this weight loss and fitness journey we are beginning. After nine years of marriage and yo-yo weight loss and weight gain Ben and I have committed together (very important) to attempt the Whole30 challenge. Basically it is like Paleo but even stricter. We can eat vegetables, fruit, nuts, eggs, and meat only for the next 30 days. We started yesterday (May 3) so we are on day two. A friend of ours did the challenge and lost 17lbs and then Ben's cousin's whole family did it and saw good results too, and not just weight loss. This diet is said to help with behavior issues, clear the mind, clear your complexion, help with digestive issues and more. So we decided it was worth a shot, worse case scenario we don't lose much weight but we kick our sugar addiction and gain a healthier relationship with food:) The relationship with food is the kicker because both of us did Weight Watchers four or five years ago and we did lose weight. Ben dropped 60 lbs and I dropped 25 lbs--so it was a success, but we have pretty much gained most that weight back. On that diet I would save my points to earn a dessert, or just waste my points on bad foods and eat less, rather than eat the healthy foods. Hopefully, this Whole30 program will teach me how to "listen" to my body and reign in my unhealthy food addictions. I am so glad that Ben has agreed to do this with me because it has proven rather unsuccessful for me to try and diet on my own as I still need to provide meals for the rest of the family. Ben has taken a very hands on approach to this challenge, in fact, he will probably do most the cooking as it requires a lot of meat centered dishes and I'm more of a casserole kind of gal with no real know how of cooking different cuts of meat:) And we are not leaving the kids out. They will eat most of the meals we make, but we won't cut out all their dairy or sugar (we will limit it though). They can still have yogurt for breakfast and if they eat the healthy meals (or give it their best attempt) we'll have a little treat for them as well. Landon was recently diagnosed with an egg allergy so it will be interesting to see what we come up with as the Whole30 utilizes eggs a lot. We've also noticed he probably has a dairy sensitivity so we have dramatically cut down his intake of those, Landon (7) is a fairly good eater anyway and is up for trying pretty much anything so he's up for this challenge. Now Katelyn (5) is our pickiest eater and it can take her 30 minutes to eat a carrot! but she understands the reward system so hopefully that helps. And Ally (almost 3!) is our little carnivore. She has always loved meat..the vegetables will be a challenge though. Anyway, this will be our journey and this may or may not someday be made public!