Wow. What a great way to start the day. I did my (illegal according to Whole30) weigh-in this morning and found myself to be at 205.4 lbs. I started at 310 lbs on Monday! I know, I know: a lot of that is water weight. Of course it is; I was eating foods containing sugar, grains, and dairy, and on top of that, the portion sizes were, well, a little crazy. All of those things cause me to swell and retain water. BUT!!!! The bottom line is now I’m not carrying that almost 5 lbs of water weight! I can already notice the difference in my gut and face.

How do I feel? Sluggish, a little bit, but it’s to be expected. I won’t really start feeling more energized for another week, and this weekend, the worst of the flu-like symptoms should start to hit.

I was talking to Sherry last night, and I told her that the worse the symptoms get, the more I feel satisfied that the process is working. I’m embracing the discomfort. Anything worthwhile involves discomfort: want a degree? You’re going to spend a lot of time and late nights studying and writing papers. Want to get fit? You’re going to spend a lot of time exercising, whether it’s in a gym or on the pavement. Want to become a Marine? Boot camp isn’t easy and involves a lot of discomfort before you earn the title and the right to wear the eagle, globe, and anchor.

If you want to accomplish anything that’s valuable in life, you have to be okay with sacrifice. In this case, I’m sacrificing my comfort and my apetite to eat ceaselessly and carelessly. In some ways, I’m sacrificing some happiness, but at the same time, the happiness I’ll gain by being healthier, fitter, and lighter will outweigh the happiness I’m giving up. In the Marines, we say, “Embrace the suck.” The more you get used to and embrace things being hard, difficult, and sometimes illogical, the better off you will be emotionally. When it comes to this Whole30, I’m definitely embracing the suck.

As for last night’s dinner, I didn’t eat the planned meal-prepped dinner because my daughter and I had an impromptu father-daughter date for dinner. We went to a Greek restaurant, and I had beef tenerloin on a skewer with vegetables on a skewer with a side salad. I skipped on the Feta, dolmades, the pita, and the tsaziki. The meal was actually Whole30 compliant and very tasty! It’s nice that there are options out there for me to enjoy a dinner outside the house that is healthy enough to not derail my process or progress.

Today, I had my standard two eggs, bacon, and tomato breakfast along with some coffee. For lunch, my plan is to hit the refrigerator for another meal-prepped container of goodness. I haven’t quite yet decided which one I’ll eat, but I’m leaning towards the Picadillo. As for dinner, my wife returns from a one-week business trip tonight, and we plan on going out for a steak that I’ll have with half of a baked sweet potato.

All in all, while the actual end of Week 1 will be Sunday night, I’m already jazzed with my progress. I know that body weight fluctuates naturally, and sometimes I’ll weigh myself and wonder how my weight went up, but if the past is any indicator, those days will be very rare and few and far between.