Results from my Whole 25

By Christina Routon

I did not complete the Whole 30 challenge. I got through day 25 and I'd had enough.

The Whole 30 is not easy to complete. It wasn't just about giving up the grains and the sugar as I'd already been wheat-free and sugar-free for some time. It was actually harder for me giving up the dairy - the cheese in my eggs, the cream in my coffee. To do this takes planning and preparation, and it seemed the more the month went on it just became more difficult and time consuming.

I learned a lot about myself, and this trumps any results I had with weight loss or inches lost. I learned about emotional attachments I have to food. After a rough day, I wanted pizza and ice cream. The last thing I wanted to do was go home to chicken and vegetables and spend another hour in the kitchen prepping for the next day. However, I know that food will not make me feel better and I believe doing this is helping me break those attachments.

Since going without any type of sugar or sugar substitute for almost a month, now that I can use the sweetener again I find my taste has changed. Before I used about four packets of Splenda in a cup of coffee or tea, trying to mimic the sweet taste of sugar. Now, I may use one and it tastes fine.

I was surprised at how many foods contain sugar, wheat, and other additives. I will definitely continue to read labels and make the best choices possible when buying groceries.

I've learned a new appreciation for vegetables, including vegetables I never would have tried before. My husband makes excellent mashed cauliflower. I love the recipe for jicama home fries and chocolate chili from the cookbook, Well Fed. I've eaten sweet potatoes, butternut and spaghetti squash, broccoli, cauliflower, jicama and so many other vegetables I can't remember. I've learned new ways of cooking and new ways of seasoning food to make it taste good and be interesting every day. I've learned shortcuts such as prepping vegetables ahead of time in containers, pre-cooking ground meat to use in a variety of recipes and using my slow cooker for a roast or chicken. I've made homemade mayo and salad dressing. It was definitely an experience.

As for physical results, I lost two pounds. I'd hoped to lose four or five, but I know lipedema slows weight loss and as I was already wheat-free and sugar-free I didn't expect to lose as much as those going from a typical SAD diet to a Whole 30 plan. I did lose inches, mostly on my arms. I did some exercise, not as much as I'd liked, but I plan to include healthy movement into my days. It may not be a scheduled exercise program, but I am going to do something to move my body and keep it healthy.

I did notice recently my calves feel softer than they did before. I've been using lotion on my legs and for a long time my calves had felt hard. This is important, because lipedema fat on the calves tends to get hard (fibrotic) and lumpy and this affects the way lymphatic fluid moves through the legs. The fact that my calves are softer and actually jiggle (who would have thought I'd be happy to have more jiggly fat?) tells me my body is changing, even if I can't see it.

I'm going to continue a more primal style of diet, predominately paleo but including cheese and butter. This is going to be my diet 95 percent of the time. I'm going to include corn on a limited basis, more in the form of corn tortillas and grits than whole kernal corn, and until Stevia is a bit more affordable I'm going to have to stick with Splenda as a sweetener, if I use one at all. I'm learning more about Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats as well, which I'll share soon, and plan to add more Omega 3 fats to my diet.

I'll probably do another Whole 30 in the fall, maybe around August or September. I'm glad I did it. I learned a lot for my first go round and I'm looking forward to seeing what changes take place as the year progresses.

Acceptance and Freedom

By Christina Routon

Lose Weight Now! Lose Weight Fast! Lose Weight in Minutes a Day!

It's that time of year again, when the infomercials are in full force and most of us are setting resolutions to lose weight and exercise. Before you buy the next gadget you see on TV, look around your house for a second. Look at the Gazelle or the treadmill you bought. Instead of exercise equipment, it's new function is most likely a clothes hanger. I bet you're still paying the monthly fee for the auto-shipment of vitamins that came with whatever doodad you bought last year, aren't you?

We've all bought products that sound so outrageous (Shake Weight? Butt Toning Sneakers?) just hoping they will be our answer, the absolutely last product we'll ever buy ever again, and we'll have the beautiful, firm, shapely legs and body we've always wanted. But mostly the legs. Please, God, let this doodad give me great legs!

Yes, I've prayed that prayer too, and I've bought several products, diet plans, cookbooks. I've lost weight, but as those of us with lipedema know, we end up with the same legs with little to no changes. It's upsetting, aggravating, frustrating. It make me angry. This leads to giving up, putting the weight back on, then in  January we start all over again. This product will work! I know it will! And we're going around in circles once again.

When I learned I had lipedema this past summer, it was hard. It crushed me. It crushed my hope. Before, I had hope. I hoped in the doodads, in the cookbooks, in the gurus. I was trusting in the things of earth and had been shot down. But now, six months down the road, I have something better than hope for beautiful legs and hot body.

I have freedom.

I know the doodad, gizmo, gadget, whatever won't help my legs. I won't end up with shapely dancer's legs in 8 weeks or 12 weeks just by using whatever. I know this because if two years of going to the gym, taking Zumba classes, squats with the Oly bar, leg presses and walking lunges didn't do it, along with clean* eating and calorie tracking (1500 calories, 100 grams protein, low carb) didn't do it, how on earth is this new doodad going to do it?

Back then, when I was doing all of the above, I didn't know I had lipedema. Now I do. Now I know, and I've accepted that no amount of diet / weight loss / exercise / gizmo is going to affect the lipedema fat.

Again, no amount of diet / weight loss / exercise / new gizmo is going to affect the lipedema fat.

I have railed against that statement. I argued, I denied, I refused to believe it. It had to be wrong. I fought against it because it went against everything I thought I knew and everything I'd come to believe. If I was "good enough", if I didn't cheat on the diet, if I followed that exercise plan or this exercise plan, if I drank that shake or took that shot or bought the latest gizmo THEN I would be okay.

I had to accept it. I had data for two years - weight charts, lifting stats, diet record - and at that moment I knew I HAD done everything "right" according to conventional weight loss guidelines. I had done my best, and if my best hadn't helped me lose more than 30 pounds in 2 years, nothing would.

Because I am not a conventional person who can follow conventional weight loss guidelines.

I have lipedema, and conventional weight loss guidelines don't apply to me.

Accepting this reality has led me to greater freedom than I could ever have imagined. I now train to build strength and endurance. I train to keep my joints lubricated, my lymph flowing, my muscles strong. I eat food to fuel my daily life. My goals aren't tied to a scale and I don't care what anyone thinks about my legs, because my legs aren't me.

And I laugh at the infomercials.

*Clean as I knew it then. Now I eat wheat-free / sugar-free to help reduce inflammation.