wildfit review
WEEKS 1&2
So we decided to take a leap of faith and start a new way of life. Or at least use it as a diet cleansing of sorts from our normal eat and drink whatever we want, when we want, however much we want way of life. We decided to start this program called Wildfit.
It’s a program built on the premise that each animal has its own appropriate and complementary diet that leads to optimal health in that animal, including humans. This program suggests that there is an optimal diet (or “way of life”) for us. A diet that considers naturally growing available fruits, vegetables and meats that we may have hunted back in the day…and when I say back in the day, I mean way back before fast food, McDonald’s, coca cola products, etc. Days before processed foods and fake sugars.
This program discusses food advertising and its effects on us all: how we can easily be swayed by advertising and use food to feel better. We can feel happy and nostalgic drinking a coke (especially if Santa is selling it) or sexy when eating a Carl’s Jr. Burger. We associate feelings with foods, and the advertisement industry definitely gets that. Once we associate feelings with foods, we repeat eating those foods, and they end up becoming routines and habits. We wake up and drink coffee every morning. We finish each meal with a dessert. We eat cake at every birthday party. We have popcorn and candy while watching movies. We open a beer at the end of a long, hard work day. The famous motivational speaker Jim Rohn defined failure as “a few errors in judgement practiced everyday”. I think this applies to all kinds of failures in life, including weight gain/obesity. Each day we make the wrong food choice adds up to routine and soon becomes a habit of making poor choices. He also states the opposite: “a few daily disciplines practiced everyday leads to success”. This is where Wildfit comes in for us. Our time to start practicing some daily disciplines.
Week 1 went by pretty fast. We just had to increase our water intake, practice some breathing exercises and think about how our normal food choices made us feel. Both Jeff and I, on separate occasions, found ourselves eating some fast food (me eating a chicken sandwich and him eating some fries) and thinking they actually didn’t taste that great. I actually stopped eating my chicken sandwich. I wonder if that is what is supposed to happen with this program? When we actually think about what we are eating, maybe we don’t like it as much?
Week 2 we started a daily green smoothie drink mixed with some fruits and veggies. I never thought I’d be part of the “morning green smoothie club”…but here we are. It was actually not bad at all. We had to add some water to make it go down more smooth, but overall not bad. I am definitely a creature of habit. I lost 10 pounds leading up to my wedding starting by intermittent fasting. In the end, I was not able to stop eating dinner by a certain time (we ate late most nights due to schedules) and I ended up snacking late, but I did keep my fasting in the mornings for well over 1 year now. I drink black coffee every morning and wait to eat calories at lunchtime, and this has become a complete habit. This week I have been thinking about how to incorporate my coffee, fruit that is supposed to be eaten on an empty stomach and then this green drink. I’ve kind of been mixing it up this week…but still drinking the smoothie every morning. Eventually, I have a feeling coffee is going to be taken away in this program…but maybe if I fill up with fruit first and then green drink, I won’t still want or need coffee? I guess we will see.
WEEKS 3&4
I can definitely start seeing the benefit of this program. Although a lot is starting to be cut out these next weeks (ie all refined sugar and carbs), it does feel somewhat gradual. The online support group is fantastic for accountability. Our mindset is different with this program than with any other diet.
Week 3 is when all refined sugars are cut out. It’s amazing how many items we come across has sugar. Bacon is caramelized in sugar. Lunch meat has added sugar. Mayonnaise, BBQ sauce, salad dressings, crackers, breads all have added sugars. Take a look at any label for the ingredients list and half of your pantry and fridge will need to go. Even when an advertisement says no aded sugar, I’d still double check the ingredients for hidden sugars with different names. You can google 50+ different names for sugars: dextrose, barley malt syrup, agave nectar, maltose…
We were still allowed carbs at this point, so the carbs with no added sugars were still allowed. We couldn’t have flour tortilla because it had added sugar, but corn tortillas didn’t. So we had fajitas with fresh guacamole and corn tortillas. Some meals that week included pot roast with carrot and red potato, spaghetti and homemade meat sauce (no sugar added), breakfast for dinner with no bacon (homemade turkey sausage). This week was not that bad considering we still had carb options. It felt very gradual.
Week 4 started getting harder, although I still don’t feel completely deprived. I do have cravings, but my mindset is “I just don’t eat that” when I come across the donuts at work. Once you have that mindset where you just don’t do it, it makes things way easier. This week is when all the carbs are off the table. Along with no dairy. Dinner needs to get more creative and going out becomes almost impossible. This week we had homemade turkey chili, lentil soup with ham hock in the crock pot, chicken with roasted brussel sprouts and mushrooms, chicken tacos with guacamole and salsa using lettuce wraps instead of tortillas. I think planning and having these hearty meals for dinner was a life savor to reduce cravings. For lunch, we would have salads with oil and vinegar or a dressing with no added sugar in the ingredients. I would change it up with avocados, tomatoes, plain tuna without mayonnaise, and leftovers.
WEEKS 5&6
Weeks 5&6 removed all food additives, alcohol, caffeine, sweet vegetables, honey. This wasn’t too bad, although we were daily coffee drinkers for years. Food additives and alcohol were pretty much assumed to be out since all carbs and sugars were out. Once you cut out sugars and carbs, it gets much easier to keep going. Sugar is so addicting. Once it is out, you crave way less and enjoy more wholesome, clean foods. We kept doing this for another couple weeks.
OVERALL
Overall, I lost 10 pounds. It’s amazing how easy you can drop weight when you cut out sugar and carbs. We did not do any exercising throughout this. All the weight loss was purely diet, which is honestly the most helpful place to start when trying to lose weight. Exercise can help as an additive for maintenance (not to mention health benefits to keep your heart healthy).
This program was super restricting, though. I don’t think it can last as a complete lifestyle change or meant to be a permanent change, but it can help break some bad food habits and change the way you think about the foods you choose. Ultimately it can jump start a diet, but obviously if you start adding things back into your diet you will gain some weight again unless you add in an exercise program to match the increased calories.
