The Beginning

So today begins the Whole30 project.

Thank god. Really.

Last night was our big "hurrah" with the booze. Boudreaux got his fill of beer. I got my fill of wine. I made a nice fruity dessert. I will say, our dinner was still very Paleo, as it usually is. A delicious grilled tri-tip steak, grilled andouille, tomato and cucumber salad, cumin roasted carrots, and a simple green salad. Colleague-friend came over. The three of us went through three bottles of wine and the men had a couple of beers on top of that. I feel the after effects of the wine this morning, let me tell you.

And so our friends don't give us a lot of $hit about doing this, because once people hear that you're giving up alcohol for a while, people get suspicious, so we are framing it as "we're totally cleaning up the eating because we want to be totally clean when the Warrior Dash training begins in August." As non athletically competitive as our friends here are, they seem to get that and respect the training. That's part of it. Part of it is

• What better time than to do this than over the summer, right?
• I have 15 stubborn pounds that I really want to get rid of for good and before school starts.
• Boudreaux feels a bit crappy because the provisions the Guard provides during drills and schools is far from healthy (plus, he's doing it because he knows I need support), and he wants to undo some of that damage there.
• We do actually both want to be competitive in the Warrior Dash--not just run it for fun (which it totally will be. Check out the obstacles for that baby! Jumping over fire! Crawling through mud under barbed wire! Suhweetness!). To do this well will involve actually for real training. I haven't really "trained" for an athletic event since college (I'm not counting marathon training because I wasn't trying to be competitive in the race--I just wanted to finish). 
• As I have a lot that I need to accomplish this summer that's not athletic, I need to be full of boundless productive energy so I can get some $hit done, yo!
• We want to see if we can really do this.

It sort of sucks that I'm starting this thing hungover, but I guess the positive note is that it's a good reminder of why I'm doing this. And since our financial situation for the summer is now solid, and I should be able to purchase a couple of pieces of exercise equipment in the next day or two, I think not having that money stress over our heads will help out dramatically as well because I should be able to sleep better and having that stress mostly gone should help let some of that stress fat go. 

And so the 30 day challenge begins...