Tell us a little bit about yourself!
Well I like to tell people that I am a little bit spicy and full of a WHOLE lot of GRACE 🙂 Always trying to extend grace to others and to myself! I have an awesome family of a sweet and funny hubby, a strong willed and super smart daughter (8), an oh so sweet and tender son (5), a first born puppy, and patiently waiting for our next family member from Ethiopia through the adoption process! I really love anything that has to do with being outside when it is warm (jogging, swimming, golfing, laying in the sun, gardening, whatevs) I love playing games with the fam (we are ridiculously competitive in our house) and just meeting new people! Speaking of people, I would say this is what I am passionate about – people!! Encouraging people, challenging people, helping people build there dreams, and achieve their goals!!!
This photo is Dawn with her son when she hit the 45 lb mark (45 lbs lost!!) and he weighed 45 lbs at the time. She finally lost that baby weight 😉
Where/ when did you first hear about Whole30?
I actually was told about whole30 through a friend who was on her journey about 3 years ago (before whole30 was cool ha ha) I saw how the journey was transforming her life and gave it a go for one round. I had some good success but was looking at it as a diet instead of a lifestyle change and so I went back to eating cheese pretty quickly after!!
When Dawn hit her first big milestone of losing 20lbs, she held a case of water that was 20lbs! This symbol really helps her to quantify the loss so she can see how far she has come versus how far she has left to go! Great idea, right?!
When was your Whole30?
Besides that one round 3 years ago (where I called it a paleo30 because I was clueless) I started my new journey in May 2015. December of 2014 was my 30th birthday and all year I had been saying that I didn’t want to hit 30 still hating my body, but 30 came and I was miserable. I still didn’t make any big changes until I saw some pics that had been snapped of me at my son’s birthday party (I’m still not ready to go there and share these awful images to the world, but soon) and that was when I realized it was BAD and I got scared and knew that if I didn’t do something soon I was going to be in big trouble!!! So I went in with a mindset that it would be a journey and not a quick diet and that’s how I really headed down the whole30 road!
What was the biggest challenge you overcame during Whole30?
I would say conquering (and still working at this) my relationship with food. Just to get a little honest with you, I was abused as a child and my coping mechanism became food. And so I ate when I was scared, when I was upset, and then celebrated with food when I was happy. I just had a “food demon” that needed to be brought into the light and banished from my life. As a result of eating whole foods the way God intended my body to eat and in return how I feel, really helped me overcome that, and continue to overcome it! I think I will always be like an alcoholic where I have to be careful with my triggers and know what my limits are, it will always be a tender place for me after all these years of battling. But I am so thankful to finally have success in this area of my life!
What are some of the Non Scale Victories you experienced?
NSV’s are so fun! Well my wedding ring fits again and that is good and my husband enjoys that! I am dropping clothes sizes and able to score some new smaller jeans which is awesome! I no longer hide from the camera or worry if I am working the “turtle neck” angle right so that way I “appear skinny” I just jump in and smile! And I must say this…. my farts don’t stink.. and can someone please tell me why more people aren’t talking about this perk, because we all know it’s true 🙂 I have even had a chat with Melissa Hartwig about this… it is a thing people and we don’t need to be scared to say it!!! 🙂
This is a side by side head shot that the @Whole30 Instagram account featured of Dawn’s before and after so far. The before is April 2015 and the after is December 2015!
What was your scale victory? 🙂
So far I am down 50lbs!!! This seems unbelievable really, I would like to lose 40 more lbs to get to a healthy range for my height. But I am not overly pushing it, just eating clean, working out and letting my body shed it when it wants to. I am really looking forward to continuing to like my body and grow in strength!
Do you have any words of wisdom for anyone currently doing a Whole30?
Of course – Keep it simple, find food you really enjoy and cook it a lot! Have an accountability partner, someone you can feel comfortable telling that you feel like cheating or did cheat and that can remind you why you are doing this!! Write your goals out for your whole30 (even if it’s not food related) and post it where you can see it like on your fridge to keep yourself in check. And don’t look at this as a diet, really go into it as a model to reset your body, mind, and health for a long term change!
What is something you wished you had known before starting Whole30?
Well… I wish I would have known that it wasn’t going to be as hard as I thought it was. It really isn’t (I mean yes it is) but really.. ha ha… there are so many harder things. And if you just take it one day at a time, or even one meal at a time, and put one foot in front of the other, before you know it you will be way down the journey farther then you ever thought you could go before!!!
Be sure to follow @WholeLotofGrace for more amazing Whole30 inspiration!
