Mom in the Mtns

Hi everyone!  Sorry for the break in blogging, I had a pretty busy weekend!  I helped facilitate a teen retreat for three days and while it was tons of fun, it was also exhausting!  But I’m starting to feel a bit less tired so I’m back – and I have big news!  Saturday was the halfway mark in the Whole Life Challenge!  I can’t believe it’s already been 1 month!

Honestly, I’m so tired that I can’t even think about last week’s recipes.  I’m not even sure if I tried anything new, but if I did I’ll have to update you all next week.  But that’s not even what I want to talk about today!  I’d like to talk about how I’m feeling 1 month into this crazy eating challenge, and what I’m hoping to accomplish in the next month.

Last month’s struggles:  The first week was rough – between the sugar withdrawal, learning how to cook, and resetting my taste buds I was not really into it.  It’s definitely always a struggle at the grocery store as I walk past tons of yummy, non-compliant food in search of anything that doesn’t have sugar in it.  I did have some intense pizza cravings 2 weeks into it, which was fixed by eating a small serving of my favorite pizza with lots of veggies.  I was sick for an entire week which really took me out of the workout game for a while, and I was too nervous in the last week (and this week) to try new classes at the gym because of my half marathon this weekend.  I try not to do anything that has a high injury/soreness risk before race day!

Last month’s successes:  Overall, I’ve lost 6 pounds.  I didn’t take measurements for some reason, but literally all of my pants are falling off of me.  My jeans have been so crazy tight, but now they’re loose!  My clothes are all fitting better, including my workout clothes.  I love it!  I’m also really impressed with how much I’ve adjusted to my new gluten, sugar, and dairy free menu.  I’m actually loving all of the food we’ve made so far, and I don’t miss sugary desserts at all!  I also noticed that I had more speed and stamina while running, and had probably my best 10 miler ever last week!

As I reached the one month mark, I realized that the thing I’m really missing in this challenge is the understanding of how sugar affects me now – and how to bounce back from it.  So on Saturday night, we made cookies for our teens – and hours before we made them I made the decision to have one!  It tasted really good, but much sweeter than I remembered.  But the craziest part was how I felt afterwards!  I could literally feel the sugar rushing through me and started giggling and basically was on a sugar high for a while.  After the sugar high, my stomach hurt and I felt pretty crappy.  The next day I was still feeling awful, and I was pretty bloated.  I’m feeling better by now but was super freaked out by the whole experience.  I’m so glad I did it though because I really needed to see how much sugar affects me so that I know to avoid it as much as possible once this challenge is over!  I’m still planning on going to Voodoo Donuts in Portland on Monday after my half marathon, but I’m thinking my husband and I might need to share one donut so we don’t feel sick afterwards!

In the last month of this challenge, I fully plan on stepping up my workout game.  I’ve got a half marathon this weekend so that’s a good start!  After my half, I really want to try out new classes at the gym and start doing way more cross training.  I’m also hoping to keep up running 3 times a week and focus on speed instead of long distances.  I’m getting a better handle on the food situation, and have some fun new recipes pinned to try when we get back to Alaska next week.  It’s crazy for me to think about how worried I was going into this challenge, and how far I’ve come.  This has already changed my life, and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me in the next month!

Have you ever had a sugar high from eating too much sugar?  How long do you think you could give up sugar?