I don't want to workout so I can eat crappy food

Last January I was trying to figure out how I wanted to go about losing weight.  Notice I didn't say get healthy I said lose weight.  I have tried many things.  The last few years I had switched to eating whole foods meaning I didn't eat things that came from a box.  I made most of our food from scratch a lot of the time.  But it wasn't helping me lose weight.  I went down the list of things - NutriSystem - no because I wanted real food.  Weight Watchers - no way - I cannot keep track of points also I knew enough to know that low fat is not where it's at.  I wanted to find something that helped me lose weight yet still allowed me to eat whole foods.  And working out alone WAS NOT DOING IT.  I used to be thinner and I would run so I could have brownies or a blizzard from Dairy Queen but I didn't want to do that anymore.

I found a blogger who had eaten whole foods in moderation and lost weight.  I thought I could do that.  My problem was still that I couldn't quite control the portions on the things I really loved like homemade bread.  The smell alone of homemade bread made me want to eat the whole thing.

I knew then I needed something that would help me kick my cravings while still eating whole foods.  I just had no idea what to do.  Then my husband came to me (you've heard this part before) and he told me about this thing called The Whole30.  He wanted to do it but he did NOT want me to because he knew how angry I got over food like when I didn't have it when I wanted it, etc.

Well, I read the book and after reading the book you just cannot NOT do it.  At least I couldn't.  It was the way I always had wanted to eat but couldn't ever force myself to do.  This strict form of paleo was just what I needed.  I was also still dealing with nagging depression/anxiety and some aches and pains.  I didn't really believe food could completely help me but after researching things I was sure going to see if it could.

I'd always believed you shouldn't cut whole food groups out.  I believed moderation could work.  It just couldn't work for me because I couldn't control portions of certain foods.  I just couldn't. 

I just knew that everything that I knew about "dieting" before finding paleo didn't work for me long term.  I quit it after a few months or after hitting my goal.  I lost weight on those things for sure but I never felt better.  I still felt crappy and angry and hungry.

While paleo is restrictive in that you can't eat certain things I never felt hungry, like ever.  The first two weeks were exhausting and tough but after that it got easier and I started feeling better.  I started feeling so much better that I couldn't quit and surprisingly I didn't even want to quit.  It has cured SO MANY of my cravings that I thought could never be cured!!!! But it did take months and months to do that.  I don't even want something sweet after I have something salty anymore.  I don't NEED dessert after meals.  I don't have to have popcorn every night and I certainly don't need my coffee creamer anymore.  Those are just of the few things I have gotten rid of.

I am so thankful my husband found the Whole30 just when I needed it.  I'm thankful he kept going paleo with me.  I'm thankful we are still doing it.

Another thing we did was get this paleo thing down before we started working out.  I am really just now finding my workout rhythm.  I will blog on that another day.

 Have you done a "diet" that actually worked long term?  Tell me about it.