Monday morning was my 30-day mark for this Whole30 run, and the most obviously measurable marker of progress was a success — I lost 20 pounds, on the nose, in 30 days!

That’s better than the 12 pounds in 60 days that I lost last year, but I was also starting from a significantly lower weight that time. Speaking of last time, I clearly didn’t take the time to update this blog every day or two with my thoughts and food photos the way I did during last year’s Whole30x2. Too much going on during the evenings and weekends, and I didn’t want one more chore to eat into my sleep — which is already too often shorter than it should be.

I did take photos of my food every day, and considered posting 27 days’ worth in this single blog entry, but that would be overkill at this point. The daily accountability was useful for a group program, but it turns out I had no trouble staying on plan on my own. Lots of grass-fed beef, wild salmon, pastured eggs, organic greens, guacamole, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, coconut and palm oil, ghee, and so on. The more or less improvised “recipes,” such as they are, were pretty similar to last year’s photo entries. I ate out more often this time than I did last year, but was very careful to ask about constituent ingredients and do repeat business at the places that could give me solid info.

I already knew the program would work again, and I’m especially glad that it worked to the extent that it did in such a short time. The big lesson learned here was not so much that Whole30 is a good idea, but that it wasn’t difficult to start another 30-day commitment at the drop of a hat after a friend suggested I start again. So even if I don’t remain faithful to this particularly strict variant of paleo all the time, if I ever start to feel my weight or well-being start to creep backward again, I shouldn’t hesitate to start another Whole30 right away. It’s really not difficult, especially for a monthlong commitment, and it really does work to help me feel my best.