Sherry and her husband E.J. decided they’d been big people long enough in Summer 2015. Their kids had just flown the nest, and they had spent the last several years living on mostly restaurant food, home-cooked comfort foods (lots of E.J.’s Hungarian and Italian family favorites), and baked goods (Sherry’s famous among friends for her baking).
Sherry has been on and off many diets for much of her life – always one of the bigger girls, she was resigned that she was simply meant to be that way. E.J. had been thin as a child and in the military, but after retirement hadn’t really compensated for the desk job life after being active for so many years. They had had some success with weight loss in 2009, but 6 years later most of the weight had returned for both.
On September 1, they started with a Whole 30 (http://whole30.com) and transitioned afterward into a Paleo and then Primal diet. Overall, Sherry has lost about 65 lbs and E.J. has lost more than 150!
While there’s tons of material out there about the benefits of clean eating, there’s not as much information about the mental aspect of a change like this. What is it like to do this long term? What do you do once you’ve met your weight goals? How do you reconcile your new eating habits with traditions and social gatherings? Do you really think you can do this the rest of your life?
The aim of this blog is not to tell anyone what to eat or how to live, but rather to give insight into the day-to-day lessons, challenges, and victories that we are experiencing on our journey to better health, and hopefully a longer life together. Because in the end, it’s all about recognizing all of the good in our lives – our friends, family, and especially our time shared together – and wanting to hold onto it as long as we can.
Wow, you both look so great! I think it’s so awesome when couples work together on goals like you two have. I also love that you support each other’s blogs. I came here from PaleoMarine (EJ’s blog — also did not know that was your name! lol I just thought of you as your blog name). I think I will be here more often though because soon I will be cooking like 100X more than usual because I’ll be back with my boyfriend :)) We are trying to eat healthier together. It seems that we eat healthy when we are apart, but every time we get together it’s s’mores for dessert like every night lol. So yeah, you know I’ll be back :))
Hi Sherry, the Paleo Marine gave me this link. Your website is so inspiring, and I look forward to trying out some of your recipes. I did 4 Whole 30s from Nov.->March last year, then I got sick of high mainetnance eating. Then I couldn’t get my head back in the game, mix in some stress, and I was back up 15 pounds. Ew!!! Currently on day 23 of my Whole 30 and feeling so much better, but minimal weight loss. As in ridiculous. Trying not to get discouraged and hope I haven’t whacked out my metabolism. Anywhoo, sorry for tmi, and thank you for posting about your journey. Both you and your husband have been pretty much my support: I got tired of talking to people about it who are not on the journey too.
You’re definitely not alone when it comes to the challenges with healthy eating and handling high stress. And I totally hear you on the high maintenance eating. The reality of our new lifestyle is that I really only have 1 day of my weekends to relax and get things done. I spend the majority of my Sundays in the kitchen prepping meals for the week, and that pace wears on me after a few months. Every so often, I just have to take a break and start pulling freezer meals I’ve saved from previous cooking weekends. But congrats on almost being through your latest Whole30 – Anyone who makes it to the end even once deserves a major pat on the back!
Personally, I think some people (like EJ) have it a little easier when it comes to weight loss. My body holds onto weight like my life depends on it, but after 4 of these things, I’ve found there are several mistakes that I tend to do on a Whole30 that keep me from getting optimal results:
1) Eating too much, or too often – E.J. is religious about mealtimes. He refuses to skip, prefers good size portions, and will try to eat on a schedule, even if the previous meal was late. My body hates this… I have found I will lose weight only when I make my portions smaller and am truly hungry at each meal. If I eat just because he’s hungry, or have a big portion when I wasn’t really that hungry going into the meal, I will stall or gain. I’ve also determined that I should realistically be eating a portion 2/3 the size of E.J’s (which seems totally unfair when it’s something delicious).
2) Getting carried away with the snacks – On a stressful day, I can totally admit to going for a second palm-full of mixed nuts in the afternoon or after dinner, and while it may keep me on the horse, the scale won’t be friendly to me the next morning. For a lot of people, having fruit as a snack or dessert is their downfall – I only use fruit on a Whole 30 in meal recipes and in severe moderation.
3) Not getting enough sleep – E.J. had a post about this the other day on his blog and it’s so true. When I don’t get enough sleep, the scale punishes me
Good luck for the remainder of your 30, and let me know if there’s anything I can do to help push you over that finish line!
Hi Sherry, thank you for your response, advice, and words of encouragement. After hitting send, I hoped my comment didn’t sound too negative there: thanks to reading The Paleo Marine, I realized, “You know what?! Free fall eating is no better than high maintenance! The so-called ‘advantages’ of eating whatever certainly do not pay off!” So I am very grateful to have stepped back into conscious eating, and thankful for any weight loss at all: better than the scale going in the other direction, right?! So anyway, I will be incorporating your hard-earned, tried and true advice. Thank you. Plus, I have written my grocery list for your Lasagna and Layered Taco Casserole. I’m gonna bite the bullet, put the planning and time in, and then enjoy. Great idea about putting some aside to freeze. I am on that too! Thank you so very much!! Hope the start to your week will be effective and delicious!