I did a Whole 15 (and The Dr. Oz Show)

Hi guys!  This has been a fun and exciting week for me!  I was contacted by the producers of the Dr Oz Show a couple months ago about them using some of my photos for an upcoming episode about the Whole 30. (Crazy right?!). I wasn’t sure if they would actually use my photos or not, but the episode aired on Thursday, and they DID use some of my photos (6 of my photos to be exact!)!  It’s a pretty cool thing for me, and no matter what your opinion of Dr Oz is, I’m really excited for the exposure that the Whole 30 will get from the show. I tell everyone how much the Whole 30 has changed my life over the past 17.5 months, and I want others to experience that same life change if they can.

Would you like to watch the show?!  I thought you might:)  As I said, they used a total of 6 of my photos – 4 photos of me and 2 of my food photos.  They go by pretty quickly on the video, but if you want to see them better, you can pause the video at 0:07 (my before and after), 0:33 (3 of my photos are on the big screen), 0:43 (middle food photo), 0:46 (me on the left!), 1:28/1:29 (food photo), &  1:30 & 1:31 (2 of my before and afters!).  SO.  FUN.

whole 30 before and after whole 15 paleo diet success story weight loss journey primal stephanie may maydae whole 30 before and after whole 15 paleo diet success story weight loss journey primal stephanie may maydae whole 30 before and after whole 15 paleo diet success story weight loss journey primal stephanie may maydae whole 30 before and after whole 15 paleo diet success story weight loss journey primal stephanie may maydae

In other exciting news, I told you that I was doing a Whole 15, and yesterday, I finished (sooo excited to be done!)!  Even though it wasn’t an official Whole 30, I still wanted to put together a progress post.  I did it from November 8th-22nd, and for 15 days straight, I followed all of the rules of The Whole 30  – 100% of the time – no cheats, no slips, no excuses.  As you know, I’ve previously done 3 complete Whole 30s, but this was my first time trying a “shortened version” (read this article to find out more about shortened versions) and it was quite different for me in several ways.  Tristan decided not to this time around, and since we’ve always done it together, I was nervous to see what it would be like to do it by myself, but I was so glad to find out that I COULD do it by myself, and it really wasn’t that different with him not doing it.  The other thing that was a big change was doing it while working part time outside the home.  I am now eating lunch 4 times a week at my office, so I had to make sure that I was ultra-prepared and brought all of my food with me.

As I said before, I wasn’t doing this Whole 15 to lose more weight, but I really wanted to jump start this holiday season and go into it feeling great and in control of my eating.  I still followed the rules and didn’t weigh myself for the entire 15 days, which really wasn’t that hard because I only weigh myself every two weeks anyway, so it was pretty much the same for me.  I didn’t even have to “hide” the scale away this time – I just left it in it’s regular spot in the bathroom, and when I felt the twinge to check up on my progress, I had to exercise self control.  And I didn’t cheat on weighing!  That was a mini-accomplishment for me:)

My weight results from my very first Whole 15:

I lost 0.0 lbs in the 15 days.  

Yup, I stayed EXACTLY the same weight as when I started my Whole 15 – right down to the last ounce!  I’m not disappointed by this at all – I wasn’t too surprised that I didn’t lose any weight!  I really don’t think that my body needs to lose more, but I will admit, that there is always a hint of fear that I will somehow GAIN weight – haha (nervous laughter).  I really don’t know why that is still such a fear for me!  Unfortunately, I do realize that I still allow the scale to tell me if I’m doing well or not, and that is something that I will continue to work towards changing.  I mean, I should really give myself more credit:

Since starting my Whole 30 and Paleo journey, I’ve lost a total of 69.2 lbs, and a total of  13 3/4″ off my waist in 17.5 months!

whole 30 before and after whole 15 paleo diet success story weight loss journey primal stephanie may maydae
whole 30 before and after whole 15 paleo diet success story weight loss journey primal stephanie may maydae

17.5 months.  GoshWowWhat?!  I love doing these progress posts because it not only keeps me accountable with where I am, but it also reminds me of how far that I’ve really come.  In the day-to-day of this paleo eating, it can all start to blur together.  All of the changes, the piles of veggies, the endless hours of prepping and cooking, all of the moments of having to say “no” to cake and bread and candy and fast food and every other processed junk that crosses my path on a daily basis.  Sometimes you can start to forget that all of those little changes really do add up.  They can add up to something really really big if you press on and continue.   If you don’t give up.

I’m really glad that I did this Whole 15.  It put me on the right track for the holidays and showed me lots of areas where I’ve been slipping up lately, like having wayyyyy too many snacks and not eating well-balanced meals all the time.  I still plan to continue to do complete Whole 30s 1-2 times a year, and maybe I will throw a couple Whole 7s or Whole 10s in there as well.  Whole 30 works so well for me, so why would I give up on it?  But you know, I’m also happy to have some avocado oil chips today and some paleo chocolate:)

Stephanie-May

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