Whole 30 - Complete!

Our Whole 30 is over.  I can hardly believe it!  I'm honestly not sure what to do right now, but so far today I have stuck with the program anyway.  It just occurred to me that I could have coffee with cream, or a diet coke, which seems weird.  I'm honestly afraid to try anything because I'll probably gain a bunch of weight.

So, I think this is a good time to reflect on the whole 30 from beginning to end.  Let's see:

• Skin - My break out has stopped, so there's definitely been improvement here.  My skin might be a little less dry, but it's hard to say.
  
• Hair - No real change here.  I probably need to wash it less often to see any real improvement.  Maybe I'll do that when I'm on maternity leave and no one cares how I look.
  
• Weight - Well, this is the big one for me, of course.  I was 196.8 on Day 1 and I'm 189.0 today.  So, I have lost 7.8 pounds.  That is pretty good and I should probably be ecstatic.  I feel good about it, but of course I wish it had been more.  When it comes to my measurements my waist was 42" when I started and 41.5" when I measured yesterday.  Not exactly a huge change, unfortunately.  I think I've lost more in my arms, legs and upper abdomen than I did around my belly button.  Too bad I didn't measure any of that.
  
• Exercise - I've definitely made improvements here the past couple weeks.  I'm up to 4 days a week.  I'm not doing long workouts (they are 20 minutes), but I think short, consistent workouts are much better than nothing.  My step count is slightly down, but that's because the snow has made walking to the train way too slippery and annoying.  I cannot wait for spring just so I can walk easily again.
  
• Digestion - Just okay here.  Some days are good, some are not so great.  I'm not dealing with the straining I was before I started Whole 30, so that is good.
  
• Emotionally - I think I'm better than I was when I started.  I've been having some mood swings, but that could be related to pregnancy.  Or maybe I'm just not very nice.  Who knows.  I'm trying to stay positive in general, so that's good.
  
• Sleep - My sleep was better a couple weeks ago, I even slept all the way through the night a few times.  I'm still tired earlier than I should be.  Starting a few days ago I've been waking up at 3:00 am for no apparent reason.  I can fall asleep in about 10 minutes, but it's still annoying.  Hopefully that stops soon.

Overall, the Whole 30 has been a good experience.  I managed to win my diet bet, for one thing.  I feel less compelled to eat sugar at random times, although chocolate sounds good right now!  I am nervous about gaining weight rapidly, so I really need to stay in check.  It is going to be tough...

Today I'm also 5 weeks pregnant.  Also weird.  I'm starting to feel "normal" again, if I can say such a thing.  The past couple weeks I've had so much breast pain, which I knew could happen, but it was more bothersome than I thought it would be.  I'm still tender today, but not like I was last week.  I guess I'm settling in to this pregnancy thing somewhat.  It still seems surreal to me though.  Maybe it will hit home after a few doctors visits, I don't know.

Speaking of doctors, I've decided to use a midwife.  I'm using the midwives that work at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital since that is the closest hospital to my house.  Rob and I met one of them, Michelle, over the weekend and she was very nice.  I think it will be good.  I want to avoid as much intervention as I can.  After learning as much as I have about nutrition over the past few years and seeing how wrong our government recommendations and my doctors have been I really don't trust conventional medicine anymore.  I like that it is there in a case of emergency, but for most things I want to avoid unnecessary intervention.

So, that's what is happening with me today.  I hope the pregnancy weight-gain gods are kind to me in the next 8 months.