Step 5,6, and 7 : Planning

Step 5,6, and 7 are about getting your house ready and planning for the next 30 days! Utilize your weekend to set yourself up for success! Here is another set of CFME homework for you...

1. Take a before and after set of photos. You aren't required to share them with anyone but it is good to see where you started.
2. Weigh yourself. ONCE. The Whole30 says (see step 7 below) no weighing throughout the month. So do it now, write it down, and start focusing on how you FEEL instead of a silly number. 
3. Do the WOD on MONDAY at CFME. Zach will be repeating that workout on Monday 9/14 for a test/retest

STEP FIVE: GET YOUR HOUSE READY

It’s time to get your house Whole30-ready. Don’t skip this step! Remember, planning and preparation is everything when it comes to making a dramatic lifestyle change like the Whole30.

Clean House

First, get the stuff you won’t be eating out of the house. Having tempting food-with-no-brakes just sitting around is a recipe for late-night stress eating, so let’s put some distance between you and those Pringles, shall we? Time to clean out the pantry—toss the stuff you won’t be eating, give it to a neighbor, or donate it to a local food bank, as long as it’s not within striking distance. Habit research shows that the average craving lasts only 3-5 minutes, which means by the time you change out of your PJs, find your keys, grab your wallet, and head for the door… the craving has passed, and you’ve stuck to your Whole30 another day.

Create a “No Fly Zone”

If you’re the only one at home doing the Whole30, chances are your family isn’t going to take kindly to you tossing their favorite snacks and desserts. Dedicate one drawer in your fridge and an out-of-the-way cabinet for these off-plan items, so you don’t have to reach around the Oreos every time you need a can of coconut milk.

Plan a Week’s Worth of Meals

If you’re a busy bee or just a super-planner, get ahead of the game by writing down a week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. (We’ve made this easy for you; just check out page 196 in The Whole30!) You can also check out these meal plans from other Whole30 participants to get you started, or browse your favorite Whole30-friendly cookbooks and select your own meals.

Remember, meals can be so simple, no recipe is required—just take healthy ingredients and make them a meal. Breakfast can be scrambled eggs, a side of fresh salsa, and a half an avocado. Lunch can be chicken chunks mixed with homemade mayo, celery, grapes and walnuts. Dinner can be a grilled steak, fresh garden salad, and ghee-roasted sweet potatoes.

Go Shopping

Time to stock up on Whole30 foods! Use your meal plan to help you create a shopping list, and head to your local grocery store, health food store, farmers market, or co-op.

• Hit the meat, seafood, and eggs first, as the first place your pennies should go is high-quality animal protein sources.
• Next, load up on vegetables and fruit (in that order). Although many produce items are now available year-round, shop seasonally for the best price and taste.
• Next up—healthy fats, like extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil, pastured butter (to clarify at home), olives, nuts, and seeds.
• Finally, stock your pantry with the essentials—and don’t forget to check Amazon for not-necessary-but-nice-to-have items you may not be able to find locally (like coconut aminos).

- See more at: http://whole30.com/step-five/#sthash.YTRYTsOV.dpuf

STEP SIX: PLAN FOR SUCCESS

Unless you plan on living like a hermit for the next 30 days,  your Whole30 will likely be littered with obstacles. Unfortunately, when we hit some of these, we often quit. Why? Because we have no plan.

So instead, think about the next 30 days and anticipate your obstacles. Then, make a plan for what you’ll do when you face them.  We like using if/then statement when crafting our plans, so follow this template to map out your best Whole30 success strategies.

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare Some More

First, write down every potential stressful, difficult, or complicated situation you may encounter during your Whole30. These may include business lunches, family dinners, travel plans, a long day at work, birthday parties, holiday celebrations, or office gatherings.

Next, create an if/then plan for each potentially difficult situation: “If this happens, then I’ll do this.” Here are a few examples, but we give you a ton more starting on page 27 of The Whole30:

Business lunch: If my co-workers give me a hard time about not ordering a drink, then I’ll say, “I’m doing this food experiment right now to see if I can make my allergies better, so it’s mineral water with lime for me tonight.”

Travel day: If I get to the airport and my flight is delayed, then I’ll snack on the Whole30 emergency food, apples, carrot sticks, and the small packet of almond butter I brought in my carry-on.

Keep this list handy, and add to it as additional situations come up. Having a plan means you’re far more likely to stick to your commitment!

- See more at: http://whole30.com/step-six/#sthash.uG77WqgD.dpuf

STEP SEVEN: TOSS THAT SCALE

We take this rule very seriously, and you should too. There’s no faster way to sabotage your Whole30 than to subject yourself to weekly (or daily!) weigh-ins, but many participants find this rule the hardest of them all to follow. If you’ve been a slave to that $20 hunk of plastic, it’s time to set yourself free… at least for the next 30 days. Why are we so dead-set against tracking your “progress” based on body weight?

Ditch the Scale

Scale weight fluctuates wildly. Over the course of a day (or a few hours!) your weight can fluctuate by as many as five pounds—sometimes more—and that fluctuation isn’t at all representative of body fat gained or lost. Weighing yourself daily tells you nothing about your big-picture trend, and only serves to reinforce the next three points.

Scale weight says nothing of health. Is gaining or losing five pounds moving you in the direction of better health? It’s impossible to say, because that number tells you very little about what’s going on with your relationship with food, hormones, digestive system, or inflammatory status. And those are the factors that impact your health far more directly than body weight.

The scale blinds you to real results. By focusing so much of your attention on that number in the scale, you effectively miss out on observing the other, more significant, results of your efforts. Those results (improved sleep, energy, mood, cravings, athletic performance, recovery, or medical symptoms) could be motivating you to continue with your new eating habits—but until you stop obsessing about gaining or losing half a pound, you’ll never be able to see the health progress you’ve actuallybeen making.

The scale maintains control of your self-esteem. It’s psychologically unhealthy to allow a number to influence your sense of worth, value, or self-confidence. And yet, that’s exactly what happens when your daily weigh-in determines whether you have a good day or  bad day, and whether or not you feel good about yourself. If this is your scenario, consider ditching your scale permanently, because you deserve better.

- See more at: http://whole30.com/step-seven/#sthash.83KHCMZ5.dpuf