So far this whole eating paleo thing has gone pretty well. I'll be recapping after the 30 days are up so you can look out for that. Currently I'm 10 days in, and other than a brief run-in with a deep cup of froyo and a buffalo chicken quesadilla, it's been smooth sailing.
Things I've learned / changes I've noticed:
1. Everything I ever loved in life has grains and/or dairy. You have no idea how good that froyo and buff-chix-ques was. So good. Understatement.
2. After froyo and BCQ was consumed, I felt pretty awful. Intestines all like, say whaaaat? Lesson learned. Sigh.
3. My skin is a bit clearer on this diet. Rosacea be damned!
4. I get more full more quickly, which is pretty cool.
5. Planning is key.
Out of all these, number five has been most noticeable. Straight from the beginning, I noticed that all of my go-to snack items were very much not paleo. Crackers, yogurt, granola bars, oatmeal, diet soda, cereal and milk, etc. There were a number of times where I just stood in the kitchen in front of a full pantry for about 8 minutes straight, unmoving.
And I have nothing to eat. With our powers combined....
And as such, I've done a lot more planning. Improvising is tough on paleo. I can't just scarf down a stale bagel from the back conference room if I forget my lunch. I can't pop into a gas station for a coffee and a granola bar before work. And when I'm starving and looking for comfort food and options are limited, I tend to opt for froyo and quesadillas, apparently. So, plans were made. I've made a number of trips to the grocery store, planned out more meals than I have in the past, and experimented in the kitchen with things like almond flour, medjool dates, and spaghetti squash. Later this week I'm actually making one of those pizzas with the cauliflower crust that only the crazies on Pinterest whisper about.
My head tells me it looks kinda delicious, but my heart tells me the crust is a lie
Planning my meals has definitely helped. It's not like I'm making a meal plan for every meal for an entire week straight, but at least having some recipes on hand to work with, along with some snacks makes things a lot easier.
With the success of planning meals, I decided to take this planning thing to the next level. I keep saying I'm going to up my game with the workouts. And it keeps not happening. I've been going along each week and sometimes making it to the gym, sometimes making my workouts count, sometimes going on runs. "Sometimes" ain't cutting it.
SO, I've made a plan from now until the end of May for each and every day stating what I'm supposed to be doing. It allows for minimal days off a week - one at most. I've got a variety of things - hill workouts, bootcamp sessions, planks every day, long runs on Sundays, biking, upper body weights and lower body weights every three days, track workouts for speed, etc etc. It's a pretty tight ship I'm running here. Future Me is all like you kidding me? And I'm all like, go read this post and get on board.
Since I've started going to the gym on the reg, I've found I need some pretty significant distractions to take my mind off the fact that I'm basically hamster-wheeling it on my bike/treadmill. My recent 6 miler on the treadmill (can we pause two seconds so I can pat myself on the back for the fact that I ran SIX MILES, and on a treadmill?! And I felt good! Yesssss) proved it beyond a doubt: music only takes me so far until I start getting spiteful with Pandora and skip 8 songs in a row. I actively get upset with the artists. If I hear Counting Stars by OneRepublic one more time! not to mention that Team by Lorde is NOT a pump up fitness song, WHY are you in this playlist. I digress.
I mentioned before that I've started watching TED talks, which are the perfect distraction when I can't handle top 40 hits any longer.
I usually try to find a couple videos that are 15-20 minutes long each, so at least it'll last me a full workout. But a week ago I accidentally clicked on this little 3 minute shorty.
To be honest, out of all the TED talks I've seen, it's not that great. Too short, no research to back it up, no earth shattering conclusions. But the one point that resonated with me is being willing to try something new. And only for 30 days! That's doable, eh?
Before you jump to conclusions, hear me out. The Paleo diet has always intrigued me, but I've never given it a real chance for a number of reasons.
One, I've always respected the vegetarian way of eating. I ate vegetarian for part of college, and I still hold on to a lot of the ideals behind a veg diet. I also agree with the research that supports the idea that a vegetarian/vegan diet has many health benefits. Paleo is the complete opposite, what with all the meat.
Two, it's very restrictive. No grains, at all. No legumes, no dairy. Nothing that comes from agriculture.
This means no cheese.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
It also means no pasta, no english muffins, no rice, no granola bars for breakfast, no milk in my coffee, no cereal, no convenient frozen meals for dinner, no hummus, no beans, no Reese's peanut butter cups, no beer, etc etc etc etc. What the heck. But let's be real, it's the no cheese part that's really brutal. Give me cheese and I will easily forgo the rest.
Three, it seems that in order to eat Paleo, you need to be a part of a Crossfit cult-ish holier-than-thou lifestyle. I mean no offense to those who eat Paleo, because I know for a fact there are many out there who do not fit that description. But it's a stereotype that has impacted my opinion on the diet, true or not.
With all these cons, why try it?
One, it's intrigued me for years. Two, it's only for 30 days. Three, I'm trying to gain some lean muscle mass and I have trouble getting enough protein most days. Four, there is some decent research out there to back up its health claims.
Fifth, and most importantly, grains and dairy are my downfall. Pizza is my kryptonite. Give me an english muffin with melted cheddar and I will eat five of them. Cheese and crackers are like sirens luring me to more cheese and crackers. Nachos - don't even get me started on nachos.
I know that third panel feeling all too well.
So far, this whole foray into eating healthy, losing weight and working out in 2014 has gone better than it ever has in the past - more moderation, fewer slip ups, and when I do, I get back on track more quickly than not. I'm much kinder to myself overall these days. But I still struggle when it comes to things like nachos. And pizza. And let's be real, nachos + pizza (even in moderation) is not the best recipe for healthy weight loss. The thought is, if I have this much difficulty eating them in moderation, why not try removing them altogether?
So, for 30 days, I'll be attempting a somewhat strict Paleo diet, with room for error, for the sole purpose of Seeing What Will Happen.
My last day (which I have clearly marked in my calendar) is on April 16. I put in my calendar, "Last day f paleo." That typo of a missing "o" may be fitting, should this not go well. If it DOES go well, the hope is more muscles, more energy, and a bit of weight loss.
Currently I am on day two.... 28 more days until I reach 100% cave woman! Roar! Like Katy Perry. Until I skip her on Pandora.
Boy, the days go by fast, don't they? I feel like I just started this blog a couple week ago. And now I'm looking at the calendar and realizing that daylight savings time is over, my seniors will graduate in a mere two+ months, baseball season is upon us (although really, we're all just counting down to football, amirite?), and Tough Mudder is happening in 79 days. 79 sounds like a big number, right? Ehhhh. Considering how January, February and half of March have flown by, Tough Mudder may as well be next week, or so it feels.
GET IT?! Fruit flies. Har har har har
And as such, I am trying to up my game in what little time I have left before The Big Event. While I've made a lot of good progress currently, I still feel that I do, in fact, need to up said game. I did some lower body work (namely squats with dumbbells in hand) on Monday and could barely walk even two full days later. Ow. This shows me that I'm not necessarily as strong as I may have thought. Need more leg work! After I'm able to walk, though.
So in order to really start building le muscles I've done something crazy. I signed up for a month of Ultimate Bootcamp classes.
Some background/confession: I am not the type of person to sign up for bootcamp, or yoga, or zumba, or any fitness experience I've never done before. It's way outside my comfort zone, and I like to know (at least somewhat) exactly what I'm doing before I try something new. My wheelhouse is running - I know how to put on running shoes, I can judge my pace pretty well, and heck, I've been doing it for more than half of my life. In contrast, my experience with classes is only threefold: going to one (1) of my mom's aerobic classes when I was about 9, one (1) yoga class freshman year of college, and one (1) spin class a couple years ago. I was most assuredly too busy reading a book in the corner to observe the first one, the second one wasn't too memorable, and the third one had me flailing around on the bike frantically adjusting the little devil knob in the middle so I didn't die.
The knob spun ALL THE WAY AROUND. Is it on 1? is it on 10? I DON'T KNOW
Another example: To use the assisted pull-up machine at my current gym, I studied (read: stared creepily at) other people using it from afar for almost six gym visits before I worked up the courage to even walk over to it. Silly, right? It is silly. I could have asked a staff member, or a gym member to show me how to use it. Or I could have just walked over and figured it out my own damn self. I have a masters degree for crying out loud. And there are DIRECTIONS on the machine. I mean, come on. Do I have eyes? Am I illiterate? Yes, and no. So what's the big deal?
There is always that little nagging voice in the back of my head that says, everyone here is better than you, and yes they are watching you, and not only that, but they are actively judging you, and if you don't know exactly what you're doing, you should feel reeeeeal bad about yourself.
Well, screw that voice. One, it's terribly narcissistic, and two, it's just plain wrong.
One of my good buds has blogged about trying new classes, and it inspired me to shed the self-doubt and go for it. So I pulled the trigger and signed up for a bootcamp class - something I've always wanted to do, but never felt like I could. It's outside (fresh air!) and it supposedly gives you a great workout. It starts on April 1, and runs two times a week (Tues/Thurs in the evening). Plus, there was a Groupon for it which kind of sealed the deal. And I recruited a friend to come with me (anyone else who's local want to join?! get in on this!) so at least I won't be going alone.
I'm even talking about popping into a yoga class in the area sometime soon too. But let's not get TOO crazy up in here. BABY STEPS. Big, bootcamp baby steps.
How do you push the boundaries on your comfort zone? Done anything out of ordinary lately?
1. Weighing in at 147.0 on a Sunday morning, after a weekend? LIGHT BULB - I guess that's what happens when you don't eat everything in sight on a Friday and Saturday. Duly noted. I even went out on Saturday night and Jay ordered a bacon pizza - two of my most favorite delicious things combined.
This was not THE bacon pizza, but the delicious factor is portrayed accurately here.
I managed to not have ANY (which, while you may think "y u no have just one bite," I knew I couldn't just have one bite. One bite turns into one slice = two slices = two slices + the crust Jay didn't eat. Nom all the things.) A sharp contrast to last weekend, where I did, in fact, nom all the things and went from 148 to 159 in literally three days (see #4 below). Salt is a beast.
2. Feeling my back muscles actually be sore for once after a workout. Unlike that dang assisted pull up machine, this workout is kicking my butt. I am loosely following this plan for Tough Mudder training. I did Workout A on Saturday - only took 15 minutes (I skipped half three-quarters of the burpees. I know, I'm severely disappointed in myself as well. Yes, I will work on it).
But I actually have sore muscles, which means something's working. Jay says I will have lats the size of donkeys when I'm done. Psyched.
3. Daylight savings being over. Yes, it's going to be a pain waking up for work and having it be pitch black all over again, and I know we lost an hour. But having more sunlight in the evening does wonders for my mood. It also signifies the end of a really rough winter (although we totally got more snow this morning. Joke's on me!) Plus it means that when 5pm rolls around and I think, should I go for a run? there won't be the excuse of, ehhhh it's going to be dark in 30 minutes.
4. Not going crazy when my weight spiked up 11+ pounds last weekend.
I mentioned this in my last post, but I feel justified complaining about it a little more. Honestly, when I saw that on the scale I was pretty defeated. Also, pretty ticked off. I mean, christ almighty. Seriously? I really couldn't fathom how the scale could jump that much in one weekend. Look, I know it's just a number, and I know it can fluctuate. I've certainly heard of salt retaining water weight, but not ELEVEN POUNDS of water weight. It put me right up to my highest weight last year.
In the past it would have sent me flying off the handle and I'd throw the baby out with said eleven pounds of bathwater. "I knew this wouldn't work! Why am I even trying! This isn't worth it. Give me a pan of brownies and some fried chicken."
But instead I got right back on the horse and now I'm down to 147. Perseverance! It wasn't easy. But I knew if I kept eating junk I wouldn't feel good, so keeping that in mind helped a lot.
I'm always looking for new fun ways to keep my motivation going. I've heard that willpower and motivation are like wells that you need to refill now and again. It's not a never-ending supply.
Enter: Dietbet. Dietbet allows you to join a "game" where you bet (using your real hard earned money) on whether or not you'll lose a set percentage of weight in a set amount of time. You and potentially hundreds of other people put money into the pot, and at the end of it all the winners who have met their goal split the money between them.
Right now, I'm in a 6 month game to lose 10% of my body weight. You put up $25 bucks a month (at first I thought it was $25 for the whole thing, and was a bit concerned when I realized it would actually be a significant chunk of change. Go big or go home, amirite?). They say that typically, if you win, you make back 1.5 to 1.75 times your initial bet. Cool. The only problem is, if you don't win, you lose $150. Not cool. The pressure is on!
They have some neat checks and balances to make sure people don't cheat, too. I will say I was "lucky" when I weighed in initially. My weight was up for a few reasons - I weighed in at night (it started the next day and I wanted to make sure I got in at the beginning), I had just had a weekend of eating all the salty foods ever, and I was retaining a ton of water. Can you believe that I went from 148.2 to 159 in a matter of days? The salt monster is strong in this one. So my official starting weigh-in was 158.6, which means I need to be under 142.7 by September to win. This past week the salt monster has been held at bay, so I'm back down to 148.8. I'm thinking this will be doable!
The game started on March 4, but you can join late, so if anyone wants in, join me! Currently there are over 1,000 bettors, and $134,000 in the pot. They also have games that have you lose 4% of your weight in four weeks, which is a little less daunting, and less money upfront.
The hope is that I'll get to the end with a little less weight and a little more in my pockets. Also, if you join, and everyone else loses, that means the two of us can split a $134,000 between us. No brainer right? :D
So, this past weekend I was not the picture of health when it comes to diet and exercise. My now seven-week-long on-off cold became what feels like a sinus infection (update: doctor says nope, and that I should just use a nasal spray and tough it out. "But I've been toughing it out for seven weeks!" Too bad, so sad.), I went to a birthday party on Saturday and ate many a cracker with spinach and artichoke dip, I had nachos and wine on Friday, and I didn't hit the gym once. WONDERFUL!
This ain't the end of the world though.
My friend shared this on facebook a while ago and I thought it was pretty accurate of where I'm at right now. It's all part of the ups and downs that life will throw at you. The whole "lifestyle change" is one of the biggest differences I feel between what I'm trying to accomplish now, and any diet I've gone on in the past. This isn't just a lose 2 pounds a week plan for 8 weeks and then I can wash my hands of it and eat whatever. It's a slow, long term habit in the making. However, it doesn't mean I don't sometimes get frustrated with it and throw my hands up in the air in the process. :P
The goal is not perfection, but progression. And one weekend of not being "perfect" doesn't mean I'm not progressing, so I'll go with the flow!
So long as my head doesn't feel like it's going to explode tomorrow, it's off to the gym with me to get some sweat on. I know for a fact that when I eat well and work out, I feel better overall. Thanks to this stupid cold, I've been laying on my butt both this weekend and today, and I don't like it.
Dammit, Pinterest. I hate you, but I love you.
As long as I remember this tomorrow, I'll be golden. Here's to a healthy week :)
When I got back from our cruise last weekend, I made a goal for myself to mix things up a bit and not eat the same old meals every night. I mentioned before that I'm trying to cook more - which has been going pretty well - but when I'm lazy or have no time (which, let's face it, is usually more nights than not) I end up eating the same things. My go-tos are usually a frozen meal with some added veggies (boring, and way too much sodium), or the predictable brown rice + some protein + veggie mix (yummy, but boring).
Sunday night: Kitchen sink soup
This was something I whipped up using a lot of leftovers, since we still needed to go grocery shopping post-vacation. I heated a small pot with 1 tsp olive oil, threw in some almost-bad-but-not-quite onions, carrots, garlic, broccoli, and a sliced up chicken sausage link and let that saute for a bit with a few spices. Then threw in 3/4 cup of leftover vegetable stock and after simmering for a bit, voila - soup for one. Super easy!
Monday night: Parmesan and pine nut-crusted oven-fried chicken
Awww yeah. Tastes as good as it sounds. I got this one from the newest Cooking Light magazine that's out. I know this doesn't break free of the rice+prot+veg but at least it took me more than 7 minutes to whip up. Plus the name of the recipe is like 8 words long, which makes it way more official and complicated. And I got to BREAD something. Feelin real chef-y over here.
Tuesday: Peanut butter muffins
Okay, okay. I cheated this time, because this isn't technically dinner (OR IS IT?!) Unfortunately no; I ate leftover chicken for dinner, and that's kind of not blog-worthy. But I did make some muffins based on this recipe here that I can eat as a replacement for my every-day granola bar. Or for a snack. Or like 5 of them for lunch. They aren't overly sweet, but very peanut buttery, and 155 cals + 6 grams of protein? Holla!
Muffs ahoy!
Wednesday: Sausage tacos with tomato-jalapeno relish and feta
This one I threw together without a recipe but I figure, why not make up a fancy long title with hyphens? It seemed like the thing to do, according to Monday. Relish? Ha! I dunno, it sounds fancy. I just chopped up some grape tomatoes and jalaps and threw em on there. This took me no time at all to make, and I inhaaaaled it. Gone in 60 seconds. Practically. This picture was taken with my new point-and-shoot Lumix camera, and I'm pretty impressed. I have minimal camera skills (despite taking photography in college) but it makes me look pretty pro. Or at least it makes these tacos look pro. These guys have a sausage, some arugula, "tomato-jalapeno relish," feta, and hot sauce.
Thursday: Parmesan pasta with tuna and spinach
Pasta shells. Olive oil. Spinach. Tuna. Parmesan cheese.
And a boatload of hot sauce.
Sauced. Always better sauced.
Friday: Went out to dinner. Ate a plate of nachos.
Okay, not the whole plate, but some of the plate. They were not the best nachos I have ever had, but they were pretty good, and as soon as I saw them on the menu I couldn't not order them. I also didn't take a picture until it was way too late.
The aftermath.
At the time of this writing, the author would like to add a note to self: Eating nachos and wine for dinner will send you home craving more nacho-like foods, which leads to eating a boatload more chips and eventually (to even it out), a brownie or two. Note to self. Avoid nachos for dinner. You will wake up feeling bloated and salty.
There you have it. An entire week of real food. This will probably never happen again, but at least now I know how to make relish, right?
