Paleo Start-up

I started eating "primal" or "paleo" on Monday. It's also known as the "caveman" diet. The basic gist is that you eat what our ancient ancestors were eating - our body hasn't actually evolved since then, so that's what we're designed to consume/process. In practical terms, this mostly means NO GRAINS. (They're actually pretty toxic, no joke.) Cavemen didn't farm. They were hunter/gatherers. So what you get to eat is this (from Mark's Daily Apple):

(I love this food pyramid. Makes me so much happier than the other one that only had that tiny box for meats and proteins.)

And the amazing thing is, you usually end up eating a lot LESS calories eating this way, because meat and vegetables (sans sauces and dressings) are pretty low in calories, and also, eating protein all the time FILLS YOU UP. I've been eating around 1300-1500 calories for the last couple of days, which is what I was actually eating before, but it didn't seem like work - I didn't feel like I was stopping myself from eating all the time. And I've felt really full.

I really thought this was going to be tougher for me. I thought I should attempt it now, as I already had a $100 bet running with a friend to keep me from eating sugar until Thanksgiving Dinner (a Halloween-Thanksgiving sugar fast). But not eating grains at all has been remarkably non craving-inducing. Usually I crave things like rice and pasta because I crave chewy textures - but so far nuts and seeds have been covering that pretty nicely.

Also, I think this works well for me because I. Love. Meat. SO. MUCH.

I think many people starting this have a hard time getting that much meat into their diet. For me, I always take less meat than I like because I feel like I'm supposed to be eating more of the other things. And yes, I should still probably eat more vegetables, but one of the main tenants of this diet/lifestyle is that the more protein you eat, the more protein you'll have on your body. I.e. fitness is 80% what you eat, and if you want to be a lot of muscle, you should probably be eating a LOT of muscle.

There are obviously different levels of how "primal" you want to get - and I'm definitely in the lower echelon of those, at least for now. I'm still eating some dairy (but woot! for higher fat milks! I'm excited for post-Thanksgiving when I can find some good dark chocolate or something to add in and finally make hot chocolate again), still eating Stevia (it or honey are still the only way I can make tea palatable), and I'm also giving myself one free day a week to eat some grains, although I'm going to try and keep them under the 150g/day limit.

Anyway, I really loved my "primal" life last night. I had bacon for dinner (as long as it's nitrate-free, it's pretty much okay, although there are some differing opinions on this, I guess). And then to go with my bacon, I had turkey meat. Fried in bacon fat. MmmMmmMmm. And since animal fats are a good thing, I'm saving all my bacon fat from now on to cook other things with.

To read more about going "primal", I suggest Mark's Daily Apple - which is really informative and easy to read. And the success stories are friggin' amazing.

The Starting Place

Since this blog is all about recording myself (and holding myself accountable), here are the starting stats:

On November 14, 2011, I am:

Age: 26

Weight: 150 lbs

Underbust: 30

Waist: 29

Belly Button: 33

Hips: 42.5

Upper Thigh: 24.8

Over Knee: 17.75

Calf: 16.25

I look like this:

Back in May, I looked like this:

(I enjoy standing with my hands on my hips. I played Peter Pan in a school play once, and the pose never left me.)

6 Week Challenge

Inspired by this at NerdFitness:

"a challenge, you say?

yes, a challenge! we're asking you to take a look at your life and figure out what areas you want to level up. then, you set goals to help you get the EXP needed to get to the next level.

alrighty then, how does this all work?

simple! just follow these easy steps below: first, look over your life. figure out 3 diet and fitness goals and 1 life levelling goal. the life goal can be in any area you want - finances, organization, bee keeping... whatever you want.

wait, just 3? or can i have more?

you can have as many as you want, but remember the more goals you have, the more overwhelming everything can get, and the more likely you are to fail. its better to be successful at less than to fail at everything, right?

ok, but i don't know how to set goals!

Well, that's fine! We can teach you. First, Steve has a post here:

http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/01/...-goal-setting/

But basically, you want your goals to be SMART - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.

So you need to be looking to accomplish something specific (like, say, a push up), you need to be able to measure your progress, it needs to be something you CAN attain (like a weight loss goal of 50lbs in 6 weeks is NOT realistic or attainable, so a bad goal), and timely - it needs to be able to be able to be accomplished in 6 weeks.

ok, i picked my goals, now what!

take a photo and starting measurements. you dont have to post the photo, but it keeps you more accountable that you do. then, every day (or however often you want, but its more successful if you do it every day) update your thread with your progress. at the end of the challenge, you'll give yourself a grade on how you did, and we'll pick a winner out of everyone!

oh. but that sounds like it requires work.

not going to lie. it does. and it can be hard, but in the end, it's worth it, i promise."

Six weeks from now is December 25th, so this works really well with the other goal I already had.

Fitness Goals:

Goal 1: Weigh 135lbs on December 25th.

Goal 2: Be able to do 40 push-ups in a row.

Goal 3: Be able to do 5 good-form dips.

Life Goal:

Pay off one credit-card completely.

Some Goals

The Plan:

* CHRISTMAS: Weigh 135 on December 25th, 2011.

> No sugar till Thanksgiving (or $100 is lost to a friend in a bet)

> Paleo Diet Mon-Fri

* VALENTINE'S: Be able to do a pull-up on February 14, 2012.

> Strength training 3 times a week.

> (purchase a pull-up bar)

That's all for now. I feel like making up other things just to make the list longer would not be helpful in the long run. I need to actually feel committed and motivated to make these happen.

Completed Goals:

- cut diet coke out of my diet (completed January 2011)

- cut unnatural caffeine out of my diet (completed June 2011)

- weigh 150lbs on my birthday (completed ahead of schedule, August 2011)