Whole 30, Part Two, Day Three

As I mentioned last week, I've decided to do another Whole 30* as a kind of reset button for getting the losing of the weight started again. Just making the decision did a little good, since Monday's weigh-in was, indeed, lower than last Monday's. I'm three days into Part Two.

Jen had a good point in her comment about my plan. She said she thought I'd been doing a Whole 30 all along.

I've been following a mostly paleo plan all along. The Whole 30 is more strict: protein, vegetables, fruits and fats, with no fun stuff like coconut or almond flour or honey, which can be used for mug muffins fun stuff. The point of a Whole 30 is to kickstart your system and get back to basics.

Not losing any weight in October taught me a valuable lesson, one I won't soon forget. I CAN maintain. I don't have to yo-yo. Although, to be sure, my yo-yo history has looked more like one of those super bouncy balls: Get to my ideal goal weight and then start gaining it all back five minutes later.

Part Two is going quite well so far. I bought a different kind of bacon last time I went to the market. I've been eating Hormel's uncured, no-nitrate bacon because that was the only brand Tiny Kroger carried. I noticed last week they were stocking their own Simple Truth brand in a thick-sliced variety, so I picked up a package.

I ate the bacon on Days One and Two, but I really do prefer Hormel's thinner slices. Yesterday I made home-fried sweet potatoes topped with a poached egg. Which was pretty tasty.

Bacon-wrapped chicken tenderloin.

Not being one to waste food – especially bacon! – I'll be using the thick slices for my absolute all-time favorite dinner entrée tonight. Wrap slices of bacon around chicken tenderloin pieces, throw them in a baking dish and then into a 350° oven for about 45 minutes. Oh. My. Yum. I always make more than my husband and I will eat for dinner because the leftovers are perfect little protein snacks, as well.

I'm still walking and still doing bodyweight training, most days. I do squats and wall push-ups every day – nice to have established that habit. The days I've missed walking have been due to travel or weather, and I really have no excuse not to work out when the weather's bad, since there's an elliptical machine in the upstairs of the garage. But I will admit I've used the "too cold" or "too rainy" excuse more than a few times since I reached my 1000-mile for the year goal in September.

But you know what? It's all good. I feel great, my clothes fit well, my hip and shoulder pain rarely flare up and I'm wearing cheap jewelry. Who knew eliminating grains/sugar/dairy/legumes would clear up a lifelong metal allergy? That's been one of the best unintended consequences of this whole experiment.

P.S. I'm not going to bore you with day-by-day summaries for the remainder of the month. Maybe once a week. I needed to do this for myself today. Because I really, really, really want a pumpkin mug muffin!

*If you click through, be sure to click on the "Our Book" link and scroll down the page, where the authors have generously provided downloadable .pdf files for meal plans, shopping lists and loads of other handy resources.