Yesterday, January 5th, was Day One for me. Sherry and I needed to do another round of Whole30. Let me back up and tell you the story of how I got here.

Back in August 2019, I attended an Assessment and Selection process to enter a new special unit in the National Guard. During that process, I injured my Achilles Heel pretty badly, and it left me unable to run for four months. This caused me to start gaining weight. To continue some sort of physical fitness program, I began lifting weights which seemed unaffected by my heel injury. All was going great until November 2019 when I entered a kickball tournament and work and in a hilarious looking (but very painful) accident, I kicked the top of the ball and did a flip in the air and landed on my right shoulder. This injured the shoulder and then took away my only source of exercise: weightlifting.

This led to depression. I’d been doing some sort of exercise weekly for the past three years, and the loss of all physical activity led to a serious bout of depression for me. There were days I would lay in bed in the morning under the covers not wanting to come out. I was gaining weight, and I was unable to stop eating foods that were non-Paleo. This escalated dramatically in December, and it began affecting me psychologically too much to ignore any further.

My Achilles Heel had healed enough that I was able to start running again yesterday. I ran three miles, and although my pace was atrocious, I consider it a win for the following reasons:

• I ran. This is something I hadn’t been able to do since the first week of August last year. I was sore, but it was a stiffness and not an injury-related pain.
• I ran three miles. This is my minimum training distance, and although it was slow, I did it.
• I was back to exercising again.

The next thing I had to tackle was the diet. I was eating unhealthy, and in the past four months, I’d gained (this is hard to write) 30 lbs. I’m 45 lbs heavier than my lowest weight back in 2017, and I’d been struggling since then to get back down to 160 lbs. I accepted 170 as a new normal, and I felt good at that weight. Now? I feel horrible. It’s not just a matter of how I look (which is also horrible), but literally how I feel in my own skin. I forgot how bad it feels to be heavier, how doing normal things become more difficult.

I’ve decided to use this as a learning experience. It’s putting me back a bit into my past, and helping me once again fully understand and experience the weight loss aspect of this blog. I’ve read about fitness experts who have gained weight to better understand what their clients go through. I’m no expert, and I’d be lying if I said I was doing it for any other reason than my own lack of discipline and depression.

So, we’re caught up. It’s January 6th, 2020. I’m on Day 2 of a Whole30 that will likely be more of a Whole60 or Whole90. The very first time I did a Whole30, I lost 20 lbs in the first month. I doubt I will make the same loss this time, as I have over 100 lbs less to lose, but I do have at least 35 lbs to lose, and I need to lose them fast. This time, I’m doing one major thing differently, however: I’m exercising.

The first time I did a Whole30, I did without any type of exercise at all. I didn’t walk, stretch, or do anything more physical than walking normally. This time, I’m running, and if my shoulder allows, I’ll be adding weightlifting back into my routine. This week, I’m only going to exercise 4 times, but next week, I hope to up that to 5 or 6. I’m sticking with a day of rest between workouts this week, but next week I’m going to start rotating exercises to isolate parts of my body, giving each area a day of rest between sessions. This has worked well for me in the past, and I’m hoping for it to work again this time.

As for what I ate this morning for breakfast, it was my usual: two eggs sunny-side up, and two slices of low sodium and sugar-free bacon. I am drinking my coffee black as opposed to the almond/coconut milk creamer I’d added to my routine for the past few months. Those 20 calories per drink really add up and I’m certain contributed quite a bit to my dramatic weight gain.

So, here we are. Day One of getting back to feeling great. Day One of getting back into a regular fitness regimen. Day One of regaining control of my appetite. Day One of working toward getting back to normal. I hear people say, “One day, I’ll start eating right,” or “One day, I’ll start regular exercise again.” Stop it. Decide to make that Day One. Pick a date, and stick to it. I originally picked today, January 6th to be Day One, but yesterday morning, I felt that I’d had enough of the bad diet. I wanted to get going immediately, so a day sooner than scheduled, Sherry and I started our Whole30, and I started running. Although my legs are sore this morning, I’m glad that I did. That soreness is a constant reminder to me that I’ve started the process to taking back control of my appetite and that I’ve begun the process of getting fit again. And you know what? It feels GREAT!!!