Day 16 - Holie canolie, the energy! This is the day I woke up EARLY for a 5 am spin class and crushed it. Yes, I had to keep the tension down a bit, but I still gave it my all and felt great. My energy did not bonk once throughout the day, I felt great going into the evening making a homemade apple pie for my daughters, and fell a sleep right away.

Day 17 - Had a health and wellness check-in at work and gained some valuable information. My weight was down another half pound, my waist down a half inch from a few weeks ago, blood pressure pretty low (so low I asked if it was ok), and my BMI is  down a point. All good things, because now I am into the healthy/normal range for all categories!

Day 18 - Energy continued. Which was good, the work week was pretty intense as we were working towards a very important meeting on Friday. While I didn't get an intense work out in over lunch, I did get some much needed yoga in. It was AH-mazing. All in all, all went well, not complaints.

Day 19 - Energy still outstanding and feeling well - until I wasn't. Going into the meeting for the day, I was feeling as though I should have something in my stomach, since I didn't know when I would be able to eat next. I had ordered RX Bars and decided I would try one of those, breaking my fast at 8 am, rather than 12 pm, like I had all week. I felt sick the entire time after, very nauseated. Once I ate lunch, I felt better, but realized the figs and dates in the bar most likely had more sugar than my body could handle, causing my sugar to fluctuate, making me sick.

Day 20 - I woke up three times dreaming of FOOD! Honestly, I thought the dreams part of the timeline were not going to be an issue for me. However, when I woke up feeling bad that I ate a whole dish of pumpkin delight, and another eating and bathing in chicken wings, I knew this phenomenon was REAL! My goodness. So. Real. I went to spin class hoping to burn off the calories, that is how real it was to me. Following spin class, I again had an RX Bar. Again, I felt nauseous. This time though, I KNEW my blood sugar had spiked and was coming down. I had that anxious feeling. I also felt my blood pressure was down. I remedied with a big bowl of chicken broth and a healthy serving of creamed coconut milk. I have determined RX Bars, although Whole30 approved, do not fit for me. Which is fine, I like eating all the other foods anyway.

Day 21 - I feel like I have that tiger blood! I slept great last night and forced myself to sleep-in two more hours (I woke up at 5:30 on a Sunday). This week I am going to return to lifting and HIIT. Not sure if I'll do the Tuesday spin class or not, I don't know if I really love it (although I love being with other ladies from the challenge who are super awesome), but I know I love lifting and HIIT.

My schedule will most likely look like this:

Sunday - Upper Body, Steady State
Monday - HIIT
Tuesday - Lower Body
Wednesday - Glutes, HIIT
Thursday - Upper Body and Yoga
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Spin (HIIT)

Day One: Felt pretty good! However, I was pretty emotional about all the wonderful things God is doing in our lives right now. I went for a three mile jog at a six mile pace and felt a little weak.

Day Two: I began to feel the fatigue and weakness mentioned in the Whole30 timeline. Wanted to go to bed early, after doing some stretching and Christ-centered yoga.

Day Three: I was tired AND irritable. It wasn’t “kill all the things” irritable, but I was noticeable more irritated by minor things (and some not so minor). I also had a headache, which I ended up taking ibuprofen for. Yes, it helped. I ended up going for a forty minute walk over my lunch hour and felt much better.

Day Four: I slept like a baby and woke up feeling so good. I began thinking I am getting out of the woods on the symptoms, tiger blood just around the corner.

Day Five: The bloat, oh the bloat! It was extremely intense in the morning. However, as I moved throughout the day, it got much better. I was feeling clearer minded, and noticing I was not having cravings. Irritability gone. Feeling SO GOOD. Once Friday night came, it was time for the family to have their “snacks” and feel good food. We opted to buy potatoes in avocado oil seasoned with sea salt and vinegar. They loved them, and I had one as well – not bad.

Day Six: I slept in. I wanted to keep sleeping. But when I woke up, I was ready to go! It felt so nice to have a day with NOTHING to do. The family and I took a nice walk in nature, enjoyed some photo taking and shopped for some Whole30 ingredients. Feeling REALLY good and like that my body is becoming much attuned to its rest cycle. I sleep eight hours and then I am wide awake.

Day Seven: Here I am day seven. My body woke up on its own after a solid eight hours of sleep and I’m getting ready for a morning with basketball, afternoon of writing and food prep, and evening of football with the fam. I have a confession. I weighed myself this morning. Yes, it is a rule to not weigh yourself on the Whole30, but I already knew I would continue my weekly weigh in (I have a healthy relationship with the scale). I am DOWN 3.6 pounds, since last Sunday.

My primary goal for the Whole30 portion of this challenge is to reset my body and feel better, this has definitely been happening. The secondary goal is experience that “tiger blood” I keep reading about. The tertiary goal is to continue to reduce body fat, and according to the scale, I may be doing that (although most the weight loss is probably from water weight). I am looking forward to moving into week two’s devotions, dinner meal plan and hopefully add in a couple more work out sessions.

Are you following along? Please feel free to let me know how you are doing! I would love to hear from you :)