I'm a Liar and a BIG Lifestyle Change

I had every intention of starting to update regularly again.  I had every intention of logging and counting my calories again...really I did.  So now we're in the middle of April and here I am again.  I have been trying on a new lifestyle for the last 4 weeks and I LOVE IT!!  One of my bff's introduced me to the Whole 30 and challenged me to take it on for the full 30 days.  Since I NEVER do anything alone I drug my cousins Emily and Jack and two of my bff's Ashley and Michelle (who has already done this twice) with me.  The challenge is that for 30 days you remove anything from your diet that isn't a meat, fruit or vegetable.  If you can't grow it and it never had a mother then you don't eat it, with a few exceptions for Whole 30 because you don't consume grains, corn or white potatoes all of which you can totally grow.

Here's the link to the site if anyone is interested:
http://whole9life.com/category/whole-30/

So the things that I drew me to this lifestyle change are that I still have 15 lbs to go toward my goal and I was S-T-U-C-K, I felt like crap most of the time, I was recently diagnosed with IBS (tmi, I know but that's important to my story), I recently had a lumpectomy (insanely scary), wasn't sleeping very well, was always hungry and snacking, out of control allergies (3 food allergies and I swear Mother Nature hates me) insanely jacked up stress levels, and a slew of other ailments that I just wanted to get rid of.  Michelle told me all about this diet that claims to "cure" all that and I thought about it for like 2 months.  I read a little about it and thought "what do I have to lose?"  The answer to that is 5 lbs over 4 weeks and I lost my insomnia, my newly acquired eczema, my stress levels dropped dramatically, my IBS feels "cured," and I'm not snacking all the time.

So what do I eat?

• Breakfast: an adapted recipe for a breakfast hash that I'll post later
• Lunch: leftovers from dinner
• Dinner: OMG..super yummy foods - will post these recipes later too.  
• Snacks: almost none because by the time I'm hungry again its time for a meal

What have I learned?

• I truly love food, shopping for food and preparing it. 
• Meal planning is a lot easier than it used to be
• My husband LOVES the new recipes as much as I do and he's been complementing my cooking skills.  GASP! If you know him then you know what a big deal this is.  I tell him all the time that he has missed his calling as a food critic.  
• I can live without processed sweets and I'm okay
• I eat enough quality food at each meal to not have to snack in between meals and I feel better for it.  
• I missed feeling "skinny."  I'm not bloated anymore and that takes the I feel "skinny" today feeling to a whole new level. 
• This so-called diet really works for me so its definitely been a real lifestyle change.  
• I truly feel the happiest I've felt in a long time.