Some Observables!

Here I am! Half way through the this stupid paleo challenge.  I'm kinda used to this weird diet, and surprisingly not craving bread. At all.  Super weird. I would have some sort of bread with everything.  However, I do still think that everything I eat would be better with cheese.  (Probs some insight as to what will be added back to my diet first!)
Anyways, I have some things to report:

1. Inflammation in my knee has gone WAY down!  Super exciting.  It doesn't bother me daily.  I have better range of motion. I went to a yoga class and was able to get into Eagle pose, which I haven't been able to do since I started yoga (post injury) from lack of flexibility.  After this success, I decided to try to move up on my box jumps at crossfit.  After shredding the 24in box for a couple of rounds, the coach told me to move up to the Rx at 30 inches.  Completed. Easy peasy. No pain. SUPER AWESOME!
2. Beginning to be strong enough to add social outtings to my lifestyle.  Although I do miss Team Heckle's constant bombardment of encouragement. I went to a b-day BBQ.  I ate a bit before hand so I wouldn't ravish anything or eat any cheats.  It was a bit hilarious.  My plate was piled high with meats & salsa, while my husband had a bunch of other fluff on his.  I laughed in my head.  My office is trying to set up happy hour, and my husband is constantly offering me his 'treats.' He really sounds like the devil from the 80s children's cartoons, just always offering you a little temptation. Good thing I don't really like oreos that much.  Instead, I ordered girl scout cookies for a binge day TBD.
3. I'm not hungry all the time anymore.  I eat a lot.  My husband actually ASKS for vegetables at dinner (OMG, WTF).  Even though I eat ~65% fat (which I think is pretty awesome) I can tell I've lost fat.  I agree with the Whole 30 ideas of not counting calories, weighing myself etc. I can tell I've slimmed down by the way my clothes fit. And the beginning of my abs showing through (as if that's not encouragement enough to continue).

Well, I haven't measured anything else yet, but so far, my observations aren't bad.  The only thing I have noticed, was after eating only meat for dinner trail running 5 miles the next day may be a little harsh.  I guess I should have had some more carbs when I got home.

Day 5 Report

Here's me, my last indulgence before beginning the Paleo Challenge!  Man it was delicious!  Asada burrito w/o onions and with cheese, sour cream and guacamole.  Yum.

Since then, my meals have looked much more like this: 

with a side of: 

 Also Yum!

Over all, I feel great about the paleo diet.  I still miss delicious dairy and other convenient things.  But my body feels good.  We worked out for about 3 hours on Saturday, I took Sunday off (first in 7 days) and have done cross fit and some cardio every day since.  This week, I have NOT been sore.  Last week, by day 4/5 of crossfit (w/o running etc) I was SUPER sore every day.  So, maybe I'm getting stronger, or eating real food replenishes my body much faster.  Maybe both.

My most proud accomplishments are (besides general learning to cook and grocery shop for real food, that doesn't come in a premade package) learning fancy things like: 

1. making roasted garlic
2. making fire roasted peppers
3. getting quality meat for the next week or so, for >60% off

Okay, maybe the last owne isn't so fancy, but when your food budget is lowered by changing the contents of your cupboard & fridge, I was pretty stoked.

I think I may survive the next 23 days... 

I can has paleo & awesome friends

I tried to come up with some sort of funny intro, or funny picture, to open with.  But I'm super tired from my WOD and food coma, so I thought this was appropriate.  I had my last cheeseburger before the Paleo Challenge begins.  

I've been anticipating many challenges for the paleo challenge.  The worst I fear: being unprepared, being too ignorant (I've been reading labels on everything this week! especially after seeing that there was sugar in the bacon I bought most recently- Oops!), and what I've read is the worst: staying accountable especially in social settings.  

We're having Team Pretty Tough Mudder training this weekend, including a sleepover and planning meeting. I was a little nervous, because not all of the team is going paleo, that I would be tempted (and fail) on the first weekend.  But instead, my friends are awesome.  They've committed to a paleo breakfast (including an almond milk latte) and post workout lunch.  Super awesome.  

I've also done some grocery store recon.  Which is fun too.  My plan is to shop on Friday so that there's food in my house to come home to on Saturday, and then complete my shopping excursion Sunday at Farmer's Market.  Sunday, we're kicking off the challenge with a paleo pot luck, then' I'll be left to my own demise.  Luckily, I've now read about meal planning, found some recipe blogs (hooray for nomnompaleo) and figured that there are things I would normally eat that can be slightly altered (hopefully my husband will be happy with paleo chile verde).

So even though my I can haz cheezeberger days are limited, at least I know that there are a bunch of other Pretty bitches who will help me stay on track this month!

XXOO

Anticipating the Crash!

Yeah!  Paleo challenge begins on Jan 14.  In order to get ready, I need to get rid of all of the temptation in the house.  Which means, I'm now carb loading for no apparent reason.  I'm binge eating junk food, because I'm anticipating NOT being able to eat it.  Salad after workout for dinner?  Mmmm, no, I'll take that pizza.  Grilled chicken lunch?  I'll have cheesey, pasta w/ veggies.  

Which means, I will probs have a horrible, HORRIBLE sugar crash the first week of the challenge.  Hopefully, I can eat all of my breaded chicken & fish, pasta & cheese before the challenge begins. 

Here's a list of foods that will be hard to give up:

• Cheese
• Cream in my coffee
• bread
• tortillas
• pasta
• potatoes (mainly mashed)
• Butter for cooking
• sweets
• post workout protein drinks

I'm sure the list is much longer, but that's what I'm anticipating sucking the most.  However, I'm going to attempt to follow strictly.  My normal life will definitely introduce items high on my F off list, but not for the challenge.  This is a Paleo experiment & I want the full effect of the lifestyle.  The exception I'll make will be normal meat, I mean I want to be able to afford to eat!  

Bring on the carb crash hangover! 

WTF?!? Me? Do Paleo?

If you know me, you know that I don't really give a shit about food.  Food is delicious.  Food is fuel.  Splurge every once in awhile!  If you work out enough, it doesn't matter how much or what you eat. Within reason of course.  I've moved more toward natural or 'real' food and away from things that will last in the cupboard longer than my lifetime.  I've even recently moved towards an attitude of 'eat carbs when you need them' attitude to see what protein would do as my exercise routine moved more towards weight/strength training from cardio/endurance.  But, notice the words there to see what protein would do.  (I'm a scientist so experiments are interesting to me:)

So when my friend KK asked if I wanted to do the Paleo Challenge with her Crossfit Gym (crossfit pacific coast) my initial reaction was to laugh out loud.  Yeah, right! Me drastically limit my food diversity?  HaHaHaHaHa!  But, I'm also really bad at peer pressure, so after some reading and major pressure, I've decided to give it a shot.  Of course, I consulted with my husband.  He of course rejected the idea (he makes me look like a diet crazy person already!) Don't worry, I convinced him that its a good idea because we'll be eating mainly delicious meat every night, and that he doesn't have to follow the diet, just support me.

What made me really decide to do this Paleo Challenge? Well, I'm introducing myself to Crossfit as well (at Santa Barbara Cross Fit), so I think this will be the best time to see some awesome results in my body (double experiment time yay!).  I've been injured for almost 4 months I haven't been able to play roller derby due to an injury that is JUST INFLAMMATION! If this diet will help get rid of inflammation, it should help me heal. And lastly, I'm working on healthy drinking patterns, so the challenge falls in the time range of no alcohol anyways, so it's one less major sacrafice.

Follow my paleo journey here!