Day 119 - Stress Eating

I've been stress eating this week.  I stay on track one day then eat bread the next.  Of course there was Easter, so I was expected to cheat.  But I wasn't supposed to eat jelly beans a couple of more times during the week, pretzels in the office, or rolls with my salad. 

I had to put my favorite cat down Sunday.  He was sick the week before, and I was worried about him.  This week I was just sad.  I kept up my 8 hours of weekly exercise through it all, but I did not stay paleo every day.  Such things happen. 

Even though my carb count was higher than usual, my calories were pretty much okay with a few exceptions. 

Am feeling ready to focus again on primal/paleo eating.  I have a birthday BBQ tomorrow night, so I might cheat a little then, but other than that, I plan to stay primal for the next 7 days and beyond. 

Day 111 - Office Cheats

I am eating pretzels.  And a few jelly bellies.  I am not hungry.  What is wrong with me?  Stop it!

I think I need to pretend that I am starting my 30 days all over again.  Something about having passed the 30 day mark has me slipping.  That and stress. 

Day 109 - The Day After (30 Days Paleo!)

Day before yesterday I cheated.  Big time.  Chips, refried beans, rice, and an entire pint of ice cream.  Yesterday I paid for it. 

I felt horrible.  Woke up thinking I was fine, but by noon, I had a headache.  All afternoon I was a little nauseous and felt like my blood sugar was low.  I was hungry between lunch and dinner.  I took an afternoon nap for the first time since beginning paleo/primal eating. 

I need to remember what that felt like. 

Once I got to the gym for my boxing class, I started feeling better.  The trainer said he didn't notice a lack of energy on my part, and honestly I didn't feel a lack of energy, but my mind was foggy.

Today I am back to normal.  Normal appetite.  No cravings.  Whew. 

Slept great again last night.  For three nights in a row, I haven't gotten up to pee before 6am.  Hope my new and improved sleep pattern is due to weight loss and primal living because that could mean the end of insomnia.  That alone would be worth a total conversion to the paleo/primal lifestyle.

P.S.  Today is my 30th day eating paleo.  I've had six cheat meals and popcorn twice.  Otherwise no grains, no starch, no refined sugar.  I do eat cheese and yogurt, and I have cream in my morning coffee or tea.  If I have something sweet, I use maple syrup, raw honey, or xylitol, but only the smallest of servings and not everyday.

Day 108 - Cheat Days and Food Coma

A friend of mine visited for part of the weekend.  Knowing we would likely go to dinner Saturday night at her favorite seaside restaurant, I planned my cheat meal for her visit.  I ate pretty low cal and completely paleo prior to dinner.  My dinner consisted of unsweetened iced tea, three pieces of fried fish, salad, sauerkraut coleslaw, and lots of bread with butter.  I was comfortably full afterwards.  Later, at the movies, I ate gelato.

Woke up Sunday feeling great.  We'd walked five miles on the beach Saturday, so I'm pretty sure my high carb dinner/dessert didn't effect me much.  I made a paleo brunch and then we spent the afternoon at the pool.  All was well until.....dinner. 

I ate mexican food.  Gringo style.  Beans, rice, cheese, and lots of chips and salsa.  I ordered a taco and enchilada.  Not a whole lot of food, but I couldn't finish it.  I was stuffed.  Piggy stuffed.  Came home, fell on the couch, and went to sleep.  I had a serious food coma. 

When I came to, I wanted ice cream. I suppose I figured that since I had already gone hog wild, I might as well eat ice cream.  Not a healthy way of thinking, I know, but I didn't care.  Too lazy to walk the dog, I drove to the store for pig ears (for the dog) and Haagen-Dazs for me.   Then I proceeded to do something I haven't done since college.  I ate the entire pint.  Oh yes I did.  Not wanting leftovers tempting me from the freezer and not willing to throw half away, I ate it all.  All 850 calories.

Several hours later I went to bed, and slept like a baby. 

Today I am back on track.  No hesitation.  Just hoping I don't have to go through 3 days of cravings/sugar withdrawals and hunger.  That would be bad.  But it's almonst noon, and so far so good. 

I can't believe I ate the whole pint. 

Day 103 - Is this treadmill broken?

Funny thing happened today.  After losing an afternoon trying to recover my computer from a malware attack despite a current McAfee subscription, I forced myself to go to the gym for 30 minutes of sprints on the treadmill.  Now I use the term "sprints" loosely.  My "sprint" intervals consist of 1 minute sprints at 6mph followed by 2 minute recovery intervals.  Rinse and repeat for 25 minutes plus a warm up and cool down. 

So today I get to the gym, reminding myself that my computer crisis is not a disaster.  The files are still there, I just have to find them.  Once I've gotten my pics and music files saved elsewhere, I'll reinstall the operating system.  In the meantime, I'll work off my laptop. 

But I digress.

I'm in the gym.  Self talking my way to a focused workout.  I step onto the treadmill and set it at 2.7mph for a gentle warm up. 

"This is slow."  I think to myself.  "I wonder if the treadmill is broken." 

I up the pace to 2.8mph.  Still slow.  Then up to 3.0.  This treadmill must be broken. 

I move to the another treadmill.  Set it to 2.8mph.  Slow.  Then 3.0.  Still slow.  Then 3.2.  Are both treadmills broken or am I faster?

I am faster.  No doubt.  Walking is easier.  Jogging is easier.  Moving is easier.

Day 101 - Treadmill Sprints

I'm jogging.  It's true, I have 70 lbs left to lose, and I'm jogging.  I figured I'd need to lose at least another 30 lbs before I tackled jogging, but twice last week I did jogging/walking sprints/recovery on the treadmill.  Yippeee!

Why am I so happy about jogging?  Because it shreds fat.  Seriously.  Shreds.  And builds leg muscles like nobody's business. 

Okay so am only jogging at 6 miles per hour, but that doesn't bother me a bit.  On Saturday I did 7 sprints.  My total workout time was 30 minutes.  I warmed up for 5, then alternated between one minute "sprints" and 1.5-2 minute recoveries for another 22 minutes.  Closed it out with a 3 minute cool down. 

I feel great.

Day 100 - Call Me Cavewoman

I am a convert.  A believer.  Born again.  The paleo/primal way of life is fast becoming my religion. 

It took me nearly 3 months to lose 20 lbs.  Since adopting a paleo/primal diet over the past 3 weeks, I have lost 10 lbs and lots of inches.

I've been incorporating interval training and circuit training/high intensity strength training into my exercise routine for the past 2 months.  At first, I was tired, exhausted really, especially on the weekends.  I was sore nearly every day.  But now I feel rested, energetic, and only mildly sore after an agressive strength training session.  I still exercise 6 days a week, for a weekly total of about 8 hours, but only 30 minutes a day is vigorous (intervals or circuit).  The rest is moderate.  I alternate between intervals and circuit training every other day, which is a combination of strength training (free weights, etc.) and plyometric exercises with no rests between sets.  This I do for 30-45 minutes, plus a 5 minute warm up and cool down.  I recently began incorporating one moderate only exercise day in addition to my one rest day.  Usually Sundays.  I take a long walk (1-2hrs) and maybe a swim.

I'm finding it easier to eat paleo.  It does take planning, and I have spent many hours surfing blogs for paleo/primal recipes, but it's quickly becoming second nature.  My cravings are gone, and even when I allow myself a cheat meal, I tend to stay pretty low carb because the side effects just aren't worth the splurge.  My typical daily diet looks something like this:

Breakfast:  one paleo banana muffin, an egg, two pieces of bacon, decaf coffee with cream
Lunch:  Salad with basil dressing, pork chop and paleo gravy (drippings, butter, chicken broth, and almond meal), one orange
Dinner:  Chicken, carrot and zuchinni stuffed bell peppers, strawberries,

I don't snack between meals or eat after 7pm. 

I am amazed at how quickly the weight is coming off of me now.  I am smaller every day.  It is wonderful.  Most importantly, I feel great. 

Day 97 - Shrinking

I've lost 2 inches off my waist in 2.5 weeks!  Nothing for 2 months despite lots and lots of exercise, and then whoosh.  Inches gone.  This paleo/primal eating works. 

I'm eating about 75-100 carbs per day.  Have one cheat day a week, but so far my cheat days have really only consisted of one or two cheat meals.  I'm not hungry between meals now, and the carb cravings are gone, so a day of too many carbs just isn't worth the three days it will take for the cravings to go away again.  I'm planning a cheat meal tonight so am keeping my carbs low for breakfast and lunch.  That way if I have a salad for dinner and some chips and salsa, my total carb intake for the day will be over 100 but not too far over.  Not enough to throw me off kilter. 

Hoping this inch loss pattern continues through the rest of the month and beyond.

Sugar Free Flourless Banana Muffins

I have been wanting a sweet treat.  Not really craving.  Just wanting.  So I found this recipe online, modified it a bit, and made the muffins.  Yum.  Perfectly sweet. Perfectly primal.  Not at all heavy. 

I estimate each muffin has 168 calories.

2 bananas (smashed)
2 eggs
2 T coconut oil (melted)
1 tsp vanilla
1 C almond meal/flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 dates (diced) - optional
1 small apple (diced) - optional

Mix wet ingredients.  Add almond flour, soda, and spices.  Mix.  Add optional ingredients.  Pour into 8 lined muffin tins.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.



Primal/Paleo Banana Muffin



Day 93 - Leptin

I've been reading The Leptin Diet: How Fit is Your Fat? by Byron Richards.  He explains the physiology of metabolism.  How it works and why it might be broken.  Fortunately metabolic issues are reversable.  It might take 3 or 4 months of deliberate eating, exercising, and sleeping to set things right again, but it can be done. 

Richards breaks down the leptin diet into 5 rules:

Rule 1:  Never eat after dinner. 
Rule 2:  Eat three meals a day. 
Rule 3:  Do not eat large meals. 
Rule 4:  Eat a breakfast containing protein.
Rule 5:  Reduce the amount of carbohydrates eaten. 

Today I ate primal (paleo plus dairy) with no grains or starch.  Although Richards writes that whole grains, potatoes, and rice are okay in moderation, I am sticking with the paleo/primal plan to eliminate them from my diet 6 days a week.  I think it's important to keep my blood sugar levels very low for a while.  But I did try the no snacks/3 meals a day, and I am surprised to report that I wasn't particularly hungry between lunch and dinner.  After over 2 hours of walking at the beach, I was certainly hungry for dinner 5.5 hours after lunch, but I wasn't ravenous.  I ate a late breakfast and a light lunch.

Day 91 - March in Review

I've been eating primal/paleo for 12 days.  Except for the occasionally crunchy and salty snack cravings, I'm pretty much in auto drive.  Day 8 was a cheat day, but instead of cheating all day, I ate paleo during the day and then went out to dinner with friends.  Unfortunately the fish tacos I ordered were pathetic, so dinner was little more than raw cabbage, soft corn tortillas, and about 2 ounces of fish.  I ate a few bites of tiramisu as well, and that consituted "cheating" for a while.  Yesterday at work I ate a serving of pretzels.  They called to me, and I could not resist. 

I have not rid my diet completely of sweet treats.  I mix either maple syrup or raw honey into my greek yogurt as "dessert."  Sometimes I'll eat a date with peanut butter as a treat even though peanut butter is on the paleo hit list. 

Sciatica in my right hip is still bothering me.  I am sick of it. 

I'm up to 102.5 hours of exercise since the first of the year.  I took 5 rest days in March.  I try to work in at least 2 circuit/strength training sessions per week plus 2-3 interval cardio workouts.  I recently started incorporating a light workout day once a week.  I still put in the time on that day, but I do light to moderate aerobic activity along with swimming and/or stretching.  My body feels less tired since working that one light day into my schedule. 

I've lost a clothing size.  I'm happy about that but can't help feel like my weight loss should be more dramatic.  That said, even at this slow rate, I should be able to drop 5 sizes by 2012, assuming that as I get closer to my goal weight, a size reduction will equal 10 or 15 lbs rather than 20.

A woman at work started dieting at the same time and has lost more than I have.  That's frustrating.  She had more to lose, but not much more.  She's putting in a fraction of the exercise I am.  Pretty sure her main diet goal was to cut out fast food, junk food, some carbs, etc.  She likes her burgers and fries.  Lots of diet soda too.  I know I should take my own victory for what it is and be good with that.  Still, it's easy to be discouraged.