Whole30 Challenge Review

Yesterday marked the completion of the Whole30 challenge that I sponsored at my office. Overall I think it went very well and I consider it a mild success. I, personally, lost 5 lbs and I know of others that lost weight as well. I felt great, had lots of energy and overall maintained a very positive attitude.  On the downside, not many other people actually completed the challenge in the manner that I was hoping. I was hoping everyone would really commit 100% to the challenge and not break from the acceptable list of foods. But no one really did for the whole thing. I, myself, lost 3 points based on my eating habits. Those 3 points came from some BBQ sauce on some chicken I ate and some peas that were in some stir fry that I made. Oh well, I still consider the challenge a success and I look forward to sponsoring another one soon.

Here are some things I learned about myself during the last 30 days.

• Protein Shakes - I really enjoy protein shakes and not having the ability to have a quick shake to increase my protein intake drove me nuts. I miss the shakes so much that I went out and bought a new tub of protein powder last week in anticipation for this challenge being over.


• Coffee – I thought I really needed coffee but it turns out I really don’t. I tend to get so focused on needing coffee for energy that I always find myself pouring a cup. In the last 30 days I have not had any coffee and have felt great. For those mornings its cold and I wanted to drink something hot, I found some great naturally flavored non-caffeinated teas that I enjoyed.


• Soda - I broke the habit of needing diet soda. This was a bad one and I am really glad that I didn’t cave on it. Diet Mt. Dew was my favorite.


• Cheat Meals - I miss having the occasion cheat meal with my family. There were nights were I only ate meat as I didn’t want to deviate from the challenge. Normally I allow myself some deviations from the diet. I really like the 80/20 rule. It’s been my friend and helped me (and my family) keep sane.


• CrockPot - The CrockPot is the best cooking device. I have been able to put stuff in it before I leave for work and have it ready when I get back. Love that!


• Sugar – It’s really hard to find products that don’t have sugar in them. Really hard. Even some spices have sugar in them. That surprised me.


• Dairy – I think dairy was the thing that was keeping me from losing weight. I tended to put cheese on everything.

I have not decided if I will continue the challenge into February. I already had some banned foods last night but have been clean all of today. I think I probably will go as clean as I can and see what happens. I think in March I will sponsor another challenge for my entire company and see where that goes. Stay tuned for details!

**Update** - Found out that 2 of the people that I thought gave up on the challenge actually just stopped logging their daily points. In actuality, they actually completed the challenge and are still eating Paleo. In fact, he has lost 25lbs so far and his wife is down 15lbs. What a great testament to this challenge and how it can really help people to lose weight and feel better.