There are plenty of us who are drawn to Whole30 with the promise of losing weight quickly. I’m not going to lie—that was what drew me in! Then, I got the book and starting thumbing through it and realized that there was so much more to it…but it was still mostly about weight loss, right???

I had been through the ringer before starting. I was at a pretty low point and felt so out of control, tired, mentally scattered so it was great timing that I found myself at a children’s birthday party with Judith who was happy drinking some seltzer water while the rest of us were eating cake (I will admit I looked at her and thought: “OK, whatever, Ms. Discipline over there drinking your water!”)

We got to talking about Whole30 — and she was pretty convincing. So, another mom and I decided to hop on board and give this Whole30 thing a try. What did we have to lose? Well, weight actually.

The weight melted off during the first round but I found some other pretty interesting things happening:

• Mental clarity I was as sharp as a super sharp tack!

• Less anxiety I’m not saying that everyone will have this but, for me, it was a big thing.

• Energy, Energy, Energy! When you start scrubbing your kitchen down with a toothbrush, you know your tiger blood has arrived!

• Woke Up Feeling Great Eating crap the day before and waking up feeling ‘ugh’ was something that was happening all too often so waking up and feeling like a million bucks was the best feeling.

I had it backwards though—one 30 day round wasn’t going to make me lose weight and keep it off. After the 30 days, I could go back to pizza, pop, and all things sugar and guess what would happen? The weight would creep back on and the ‘dieting’ cycle would continue.

I should have realized that changing my relationship with food was the key. Change that and the weight will follow along with so many non-scale victories that you won’t want to give up. I’m still a work in progress and have more weight to lose but I’m getting there and I can say that after a few rounds, eating like this is now a habit. I feel happy and not deprived of anything.

So, do yourself a favor if you’re looking at Whole30 for losing weight. Jump off the endless cycle of yo-yo dieting and quick-fix band wagons and change your relationship with food. Then, the weight will follow.

Look at yourself as more than a person who needs to lose weight. Look at yourself as someone who has a lot to gain! Trust in the program, it really works!