Month: December 2016


Dec
2016

Starting Another Whole 30

categories: Food, Health & Fitness

It’s true. I’m a Whole 30 survivor and I am choosing to do another one! Though there is nothing easy about it, it is only 30 days and the results are SO worth it! I’m talking healthier eating results rather than weight loss. Weight loss will usually occur if you are really following the program but it is never a guarantee and depends on what and how much you eat as well as other health issues you may have. Don’t do Whole 30 for weight loss – do it as a way to reset your diet with healthier habits and as a way to discover or rediscover food issues and allergies so you can avoid those foods in the future.

whole 30

Whole 30 Tips

When you are getting ready to start a Whole 30, it helps to do some research and make a plan, including a 1-week meaI plan before you start. It also helps to find some friends or family to be your supporters and encouragers through the process (keep reading for more info on a group I’m setting up). I recommend that you read my posts about the program if you haven’t already (listed below) and follow my Whole 30 ideas Pinterest Board for lots of yummy recipes. And stop by the Whole 30 website for lots of helpful info and resources. Follow me on Instagram as well – that’s where you’ll find me posting pics of meals and food as I go.

Intro to my Whole 30 Experience
My Whole 30 Experience and Results
My Whole 30 Experience – The Food
10 Tips for a Successful Whole 30
My Whole 30 Experience: Afterward
It’s Time for a Whole 15 (Includes a simple 2-day meal plan to get you started)
My Whole 15 Results

Whole 30

Join Me for Whole 30

My family will be starting Whole 30 officially on Monday, January 2 and finishing on January 31st. I have already set up a Facebook Group for this round. It’s called Whole 30 with Lisa Marie. Come check it out and click Join Group if you would like to be included!

Don’t feel like you have to do Whole 30 the exact same way or the exact same dates as me in order to join my group. The point of the group is to share recipes & tips as well as encouragement and to be able to vent or ask questions when needed. There might even be a few people joining who are not currently doing a Whole 30, but want to see how it goes for everybody else and start working some of the recipes into their meal planning. See you there!

Be sure to sign up here to keep up with all followup Whole 30 posts!

Have you done a Whole 30 before? What did you think? What kind of results did you have? If you haven’t done it, why not? Share your answers in the comments!


Dec
2016

Offset the Holiday STUFF With a December Declutter

categories: Home, Living

I did this a few years ago and it felt GOOD. So. much. STUFF comes into our homes during the month of December and it’s nice to get rid of a few things at the same time so we don’t get to January and feel overwhelmed by the clutter. This declutter challenge is enough to be effective but not enough to be an overwhelming task during the holidays.

declutter

The December Declutter

Just randomly trying to declutter through the month won’t help you be accountable, so we need a goal. The goal is to get rid of 100 items! That should be enough to offset all the extra holiday decorations, goodies, and gifts that are coming into the house this month. Don’t let 100 items scare you – it’s only 5 items or less a day for the rest of the month. And I’m super nice about what counts as items. A pen that has run out of ink totally counts as one item or even an old magazine can be one. Sounding simpler all the time, isn’t it? You can do this! We can do it together and offset all the STUFF.

So the December Declutter challenge is simple:

1 – Find about 5 items per day to either throw away or donate. Anything in your house, garage, shed, yard, purse, etc. counts.
2 – Items that are to be thrown away should be tossed out immediately. Items to be donated can be collected in boxes or bags.
3 – Share pics of your daily declutter finds and share on social media with #decemberdeclutter to help with accountabiity and making it fun!
4 – At the end of the month, zip on over to your favorite charity with your donation items and get a receipt for a tax write-off.

declutter

That’s it! Don’t spend more than 5-10 minutes a day to keep this from being too much to handle. This is not the time to completely reorganize the closet. Hit the easy spots to find your items to donate. Remember that the items don’t have to be large – any item heading out is offsetting something coming in. Here are a few declutter spots that always work for me to find items quickly:

  • Junk drawer
  • Silverware or utensil drawer
  • DVD, CD, or video game collections
  • My clothes closet
  • My purse

Start now! Take 5 minutes and find 5 things to get rid of. Who’s with me?!

declutter