January always brings with it the chance to start over.   I never really make resolutions but I love having the chance to reevaluate my food and fitness priorities.

  In 2015 I made some drastic changes and cut out sugar and most sources of carbs from my diet.  This meant no fruit and no starchy vegetables either.  I lost 50 pounds eating low carb and I felt great. Of course I developed some really bad habits with my low carb diet including eating bacon almost every day at breakfast and including cheese in almost every meal. 

I also ate a lot of Atkins food products which are delicous but also very processed.  Sugar free syrups and Splenda also aided me in making a lot of subsititute items like deserts and iced coffees that weren't realy helping me change my relationship with food.

I've been thinking about switching my food plan to more of a Whole 30/Paleo based diet for about 6 months now.  At the beginning of December I picked up a copy of It Starts with Food and The Whole 30.  My mom, sister, and I committed to 30 days of no added sugar, dairy, soy, alcohol or grains.  This blog post certainly isn't intended to be an endorsement for Whole30 but if you are interested or even just thinking, "what the heck IS she going to eat for the next 30 days?" you can learn more here: http://whole30.com/

I have gained back about 10-15 of the 50 pounds that I lost so of course my main goal with this diet bet is to get back to where I was before the holidays.  I think I ended my last diet bet about at around 187.  I don't know exactly what my weight is but I know its about 200 now.  I am mad at myself for really letting go after the last diet bet.  I was a little burnt out and stuck in a rut with my food.  When your pants don't fit, thats motivation enough to find something new. 

I am going to take this year 30 days at a time but mostly work on eating real foods.  I would like to lose atleast another 40 pounds this year to get myself to my original goal weight of 160. 

Best of luck to everyone in this diet bet. Here's to a reset for our healthy lifestyles in 2016.