{reset}

Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint a specific change, it can be so gradual. At some point this year I started to feel off kilter. It started to feel as though my body was operating on empty and I was pushing through a fog. It started innocently enough with back to back sickness in April, and then continued with poor food choices. I always want to believe that I can eat whatever I want without any type of consequence.

May & June are always tough months as I wrap up a school year. The days are long and busy, there are parties and celebrations, there are meetings and evenings spent reviewing data. It is a full season, and I end up eating foods I would not normally eat, or at least in quantities that I should not eat. I knew I was in trouble one morning, after I had consumed two, TWO donuts before 8 am (after eating my regular breakfast). My energy level was non-existent and I was upping my caffeine intake to compensate. I was heading to bed by 8pm, waking up by 4:30am and never feeling rested. My workouts went out the window because I just couldn't do it. I could not drag myself out of bed any earlier. 

I think I wanted to believe that I just needed to get to summer and then I would be okay, but I also knew that I needed to make a diet change. So, I embraced another Whole30. I use the Whole30 as a reset button. I do not see it as something that is sustainable for an extended period of time for myself, but 30 days is doable. This was not my most "perfect" Whole 30 with all the traveling we did, but it did the trick for me. I needed to get sugar out of my body. I also know this is not for everyone. In fact, just yesterday I read this scathing article  on the Whole30. I think the author makes some great points, but I also know that I feel better every time I reset, and that I work well with strict rules. So it works well for me, but it may not be what you need.

This is the first time I went into a Whole30 without having weight loss goals. Sure, I wouldn't complain if my pants fit a little looser or if my arms looked a bit leaner. But I was not fixated on a number. And just so we are clear, this is not because I have found total acceptance with my body, that is a work in progress. It is honestly due to the fact that my scale was out of batteries, so there was no number to fixate on. 

I really wanted to see an increase in my energy levels. The first week was, as usual, ridiculously hard. The headaches resulting from my body craving sugar were pretty brutal. But I pushed through and started to feel better. After a couple weeks I started feeling normal again. I had more energy, I felt like I had more patience, I was not as apt to get "Hangry" because my sugar levels were not sky rocketing and then hitting lows.

My 30 days are up, and I'm trying to ease back into a level of moderation. I do still have goals, so I'm avoiding donuts.

How do you reset? How do you find moderation?