UPDATED: April 21, 2014
When I tell my personal transition to Paleo, I hope you know that this is my personal Paleo experience. I wouldn't consider mine to be a textbook case. I also haven't been perfect because it is a journey and I am finding their are so many shades of Paleo. In the end the purpose of me sharing my story with you is to inspire others. It seems so often when I chat with people about my Paleo Journey they automatically resist the lifestyle saying that its too hard or too restrictive. This makes me sad because I promise that if I can do it, so can you!
The Start
My dear Mr. came home from a doctors appointment with a look of shock on his face. Mr. had gone to see a friend of ours who practices Intigrative Medicine and had gotten news that wasn't settling well for him. It seems that test results showed that Mr. had many overweight complications. After talking over options to turn his lifestyle around they decided that the best approach was a Paleo lifestyle. We have other doctor friends that were following and recommended a Paleo Lifestyle. Mr. was hoping the answer would be as simple as gluten free but luckily our friend knew that Mr. would turn to GF sweets and breads and suggested he take a bigger leap.
I knew it was coming. We were both getting huge. We were replacing wardrobes with bigger ones. We both love food and love to cook. Food is very social for us and we enjoyed eating out and trying new restaurants. We loved to share food with friends and sporting events, parties, etc all kicked off with what was on the menu. We ate the most at home and I have always enjoyed having three things on my plate. A protein, starch, and vegetable followed by some sort of sweet or dessert. I would consider my cooking style comfort food. In the summer we grilled a lot. Steaks, corn on the cob, baked potatos, and green beans with brownies for dessert were common. During the winter I loved to cook meatloafs, pot roasts, soups, and casseroles. For an evening snack there were always chips and ice cream to grab. We also consumed a lot of soda. I could easily drink 4-5 cans of Diet Coke in a day. But when Mr. came home and said we were doing Paleo my defense mechanisms started to rise. I didn't think I was ready for many reasons including that my birthday was in a few short days. In the end I agreed to do it too but on my terms and I wasn't starting until August 1st.
Crossfit and Paleo?
Friends of ours owned a newly opened gym in town. When they first opened Mr. and I thought about joining but then I would drive by and catch glimpses of their workouts. They were running outside and around the block not once but twice. I have this 'thing' about running in public. In high school I had friends that would comment about how I ran. O.k. they said I ran like a duck and I probably do. After high school and culminating my sports career I never like to run during the daylight hours. Also, I hadn't been doing ANY exercise on a regular basis for 3 years so I knew I couldn't make it twice around the block. Besides everything I heard about Crossfit being dangerous rang in my head. About the same time I was having drinks after playing summer volleyball league with a friend of mine and I told her that there was no way I was going there to work out but I needed to figure out something. So our friends that owned the gym sent a text to Mr. prior to August 1st and said that all their members were given "golden tickets" to pass on to someone else to try Crossfit for 1 month and they wanted to offer their tickets to us. Mr. was on board right away but I was hesitant.
One night I decided that I would give Crossfit and Paleo a try beginning August 1st. As soon as I told Mr. I texted my volleyball friend and ate my words. I was going to give it a try. My plan at the time was that I wouldn't continue with Crossfit after the free month. Its an expensive place to workout at and I could switch gyms. The thing that I was going to change with Paleo was eating dairy. I had lost weight before in trying to get pregnant and was on a low carb type diet but it included cheese. I wasn't ready to give up my dairy full time. Things like shredded cheese on my salads and yogurt for breakfast were staples for me.
Our first night at Crossfit there was a Golden Ticket meeting. There was easily 20-30 people for this meeting. The coaches ran us through basic movements of Crossfit and explained the Paleo challenge with it. We were given weekly meal plans to follow with a cooking WOD on Sundays.
As I started my Paleo/Crossfit journey, I did my best to think positive. I decided to work out with the a.m. crew at 5:30 a.m. My job requires lots of night and evening events and this way I could make sure that I was getting the workout in. Also the 5:30 a.m. crew was smaller and helped me get over the running outside 'thing.' The first couple of weeks were so tough. As far as the Paleo Journey, I was sick of eggs after the first week. I would swallow them down but didn't enjoy them. I started rotating how they were prepared each day. One day would be over easy, the next scrambled with spinach and other veggies, and the next fried hard. I don't love sausage either but would have that once or twice a week to have something different than bacon. Also I learned that if I ate 3 eggs vs 2, I wouldnt be as hungry come lunch time. I prepared 2 snacks and lunch to take with me to work each day. I also was spending a lot of time going to the restroom because I wasn't used to all the water consumption. The Crossfit Journey was tough too. For our warm up I could only jog the short block and walk the long block and I would rotate that back and forth. Most of my workouts were modified but I did learn that I was strong. When I would finish a workout I was glad I did but almost immediately would have remorse thinking maybe I should have gone at it harder.
With Paleo/Crossfit Journey combined I found myself really tired and soar. I wasn't in a very good mood that first month. A lot of nights I would go to bed at 8:30 p.m. when I put the boys to bed. I didn't feel like I had much energy to do anything but workout, work, and eat. On the plus side I noticed in the first week that my complexion was better. I had had blemishes all summer long but after a week of eating Paleo they went away. That first month when I stepped on the scale I was excited to see that I had lost 18 lbs. I remember taking this picture and thinking how much better I looked.
90 Day Challenge
90 Days and Beyond
My goal is to Crossfit 3 times a week and Yoga 1 time a week. Some weeks that works out and others it doesn't. I am slowly learning to like Crossfit. I am a pretty competitive person and so for me coming in last place week after week has been humbling. I do however want to continue to improve and so that is what I try to focus on. I was excited during the Holidays this year to announce that I had lost 50 lbs on December 20, 2013!
Paleo Lifestyle
When I tell my personal transition to Paleo, I hope you know that this is my personal Paleo experience. I wouldn't consider mine to be a textbook case. I also haven't been perfect because it is a journey and I am finding their are so many shades of Paleo. In the end the purpose of me sharing my story with you is to inspire others. It seems so often when I chat with people about my Paleo Journey they automatically resist the lifestyle saying that its too hard or too restrictive. This makes me sad because I promise that if I can do it, so can you!
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| Vacation July 2013 Mr., Smooth E, G Money, Mrs. |
The Start
My dear Mr. came home from a doctors appointment with a look of shock on his face. Mr. had gone to see a friend of ours who practices Intigrative Medicine and had gotten news that wasn't settling well for him. It seems that test results showed that Mr. had many overweight complications. After talking over options to turn his lifestyle around they decided that the best approach was a Paleo lifestyle. We have other doctor friends that were following and recommended a Paleo Lifestyle. Mr. was hoping the answer would be as simple as gluten free but luckily our friend knew that Mr. would turn to GF sweets and breads and suggested he take a bigger leap.
I knew it was coming. We were both getting huge. We were replacing wardrobes with bigger ones. We both love food and love to cook. Food is very social for us and we enjoyed eating out and trying new restaurants. We loved to share food with friends and sporting events, parties, etc all kicked off with what was on the menu. We ate the most at home and I have always enjoyed having three things on my plate. A protein, starch, and vegetable followed by some sort of sweet or dessert. I would consider my cooking style comfort food. In the summer we grilled a lot. Steaks, corn on the cob, baked potatos, and green beans with brownies for dessert were common. During the winter I loved to cook meatloafs, pot roasts, soups, and casseroles. For an evening snack there were always chips and ice cream to grab. We also consumed a lot of soda. I could easily drink 4-5 cans of Diet Coke in a day. But when Mr. came home and said we were doing Paleo my defense mechanisms started to rise. I didn't think I was ready for many reasons including that my birthday was in a few short days. In the end I agreed to do it too but on my terms and I wasn't starting until August 1st.
Crossfit and Paleo?
Friends of ours owned a newly opened gym in town. When they first opened Mr. and I thought about joining but then I would drive by and catch glimpses of their workouts. They were running outside and around the block not once but twice. I have this 'thing' about running in public. In high school I had friends that would comment about how I ran. O.k. they said I ran like a duck and I probably do. After high school and culminating my sports career I never like to run during the daylight hours. Also, I hadn't been doing ANY exercise on a regular basis for 3 years so I knew I couldn't make it twice around the block. Besides everything I heard about Crossfit being dangerous rang in my head. About the same time I was having drinks after playing summer volleyball league with a friend of mine and I told her that there was no way I was going there to work out but I needed to figure out something. So our friends that owned the gym sent a text to Mr. prior to August 1st and said that all their members were given "golden tickets" to pass on to someone else to try Crossfit for 1 month and they wanted to offer their tickets to us. Mr. was on board right away but I was hesitant.
One night I decided that I would give Crossfit and Paleo a try beginning August 1st. As soon as I told Mr. I texted my volleyball friend and ate my words. I was going to give it a try. My plan at the time was that I wouldn't continue with Crossfit after the free month. Its an expensive place to workout at and I could switch gyms. The thing that I was going to change with Paleo was eating dairy. I had lost weight before in trying to get pregnant and was on a low carb type diet but it included cheese. I wasn't ready to give up my dairy full time. Things like shredded cheese on my salads and yogurt for breakfast were staples for me.
Our first night at Crossfit there was a Golden Ticket meeting. There was easily 20-30 people for this meeting. The coaches ran us through basic movements of Crossfit and explained the Paleo challenge with it. We were given weekly meal plans to follow with a cooking WOD on Sundays.
As I started my Paleo/Crossfit journey, I did my best to think positive. I decided to work out with the a.m. crew at 5:30 a.m. My job requires lots of night and evening events and this way I could make sure that I was getting the workout in. Also the 5:30 a.m. crew was smaller and helped me get over the running outside 'thing.' The first couple of weeks were so tough. As far as the Paleo Journey, I was sick of eggs after the first week. I would swallow them down but didn't enjoy them. I started rotating how they were prepared each day. One day would be over easy, the next scrambled with spinach and other veggies, and the next fried hard. I don't love sausage either but would have that once or twice a week to have something different than bacon. Also I learned that if I ate 3 eggs vs 2, I wouldnt be as hungry come lunch time. I prepared 2 snacks and lunch to take with me to work each day. I also was spending a lot of time going to the restroom because I wasn't used to all the water consumption. The Crossfit Journey was tough too. For our warm up I could only jog the short block and walk the long block and I would rotate that back and forth. Most of my workouts were modified but I did learn that I was strong. When I would finish a workout I was glad I did but almost immediately would have remorse thinking maybe I should have gone at it harder.
With Paleo/Crossfit Journey combined I found myself really tired and soar. I wasn't in a very good mood that first month. A lot of nights I would go to bed at 8:30 p.m. when I put the boys to bed. I didn't feel like I had much energy to do anything but workout, work, and eat. On the plus side I noticed in the first week that my complexion was better. I had had blemishes all summer long but after a week of eating Paleo they went away. That first month when I stepped on the scale I was excited to see that I had lost 18 lbs. I remember taking this picture and thinking how much better I looked.
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| Red's Game September 1, 2013 1 month Paleo. 18 pounds gone. G-money, Mrs., Smooth E, Mr. |
Somewhere towards the end of the 30 days I told the Mr. that I enjoyed seeing the weight loss. I literally sat down at my computer to search my calendar to make sure there was no 'big' events coming before I committed myself to trying Paleo/Crossfit for 90 days. I knew that if I did it for that long then once Thanksgiving and Christmas came along I would be safe to have regular foods for the holidays. But at day 31 I realized a big challenge that I faced. For 30 days my meals had been pretty much determined for me. Coach Sam had done a wonderful job of sharing all his Paleo favorites so that we could concentrate on giving our best at The CFS Box. At first I thought I would just repeat the same thing each month but that seemed boring to me. That's when I remembered while completing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University that he had talked about Emeals having different plans. I did a quick check of the website and found there was a Paleo version. I printed out the sample menu for the week to give it a test drive. After that first week I knew that Emeals was going to help me stay on track and so that is pretty much what we have used ever since. More on that in a different post.
Bloodwork Results
Every year our company pays employees to have their blood work evaluated. I was excited this year to see if there were any improvements even though I had only been doing Paleo for a short time. The numbers don't lie. I had high cholesterol and triglycerides the year prior. Without medication and Paleo/Crossfit changes only my triglycerides dropped 105 points and my total cholesterol dropped by 36 points. I also have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) and would only cycle 3 sometimes 4 times a year. In November I noted that I had had 3 regular cycles in a row. After I had these 3 regular cycles I texted my friend who owns the gym and happens to be an OB/GYN about the regularity. She was so excited for me and said her husband always says, "Food is a Drug." She mentioned she thought I was probably ovulating too. I told her that I doubted that part and if I got pregnant I would start a blog so other women in my situation could benefit. Just for the record, I am not pregnant but it was then back in November that I decided that I needed to share what we were going through because I really think it is life changing.
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| Fall Break 2013 Back: Mrs. & Mr. Front: G money & Smooth E |
It was about this time when people started noticing a change in me. Many people would comment on Mr. but he was more public about his weight loss and also worked out at a much popular time. I noticed that my clothes were getting looser and looser. My complexion had remained excellent. My energy was through the roof. I could walk up and down stairs without huffing and puffing. My workouts at the gym were getting better. I could run the 2 block warm up without stopping. Mr. and I started talking about the Holidays and how we would navigate it. Mr. said he thought we could do it but I wasn't so sure. In the end we did do it. We made sure to bring things we could have. We stayed the course and I don't even think we cheated during the holidays. Not one morsel.
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| November 2013 Mrs. and Mr. Excited to say that those jeans are too large for us to wear now! |
My goal is to Crossfit 3 times a week and Yoga 1 time a week. Some weeks that works out and others it doesn't. I am slowly learning to like Crossfit. I am a pretty competitive person and so for me coming in last place week after week has been humbling. I do however want to continue to improve and so that is what I try to focus on. I was excited during the Holidays this year to announce that I had lost 50 lbs on December 20, 2013!
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| Christmas Eve 2013 50 lbs down |
Over the last 6 months I've learned a lot about making Paleo a Lifestyle. First of all, I think it's important to note that real food taste good. I've slightly skewed my way of looking at food. When I find a new food that I just don't think tastes the greatest I eat it anyway and usually let my kids know. I want them to know that I too eat things I don't necessarily care for but know that it is good for me.
I don't cheat very often. I can name the times I've cheated. That's how little I do it. I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say that I am afraid of going Off the Wagon. I'm afraid I won't get back on. Eating healthy is work and going back to old habits would be very easy. That's why I choose to stay on the wagon and not veer even when well intentioned friends or family suggest otherwise.
You can travel and stay true to the lifestyle but it takes some work. In November I had a 5 day conference away from home. On this trip I knew I was in charge of my own breakfast. I boiled eggs, pre-made bacon and sausage, and took avocado's with me. Lunch was provided so I requested salad at every meal. Dinner was on our own and I just worked my way through the restaurant choices and was always pleased with servers/kitchens willingness to prepare things I could eat.
I recently got back from a 15 day cruise. When making the reservation I sent an email explaining Paleo to see if that was an option. Unfortunately the reply came that it wasn't but I was able to be marked Gluten Free and Lactose Intolerant. That helped me to navigate food choices better. Our head waiter brought me the next days menu every evening so I could see what the options were and I was able to make request. An example of that was baked sweet potatoes on two occasions when mashed potatoes were offered. It just took a little work on my part to communicate with everyone to keep myself on track.
My Crossfit workouts have slowed down a bit with my travel. My coach was gracious enough to program 4 workouts I could do while at sea. I also took up running on the treadmill and was excited I could get to 2 miles! I plan on hitting the gym hard again this month and pushing myself hard at the CFS Box! I'd also like to run a 5k this year. That is my big goal considering my angst against running in public. Maybe I can even get a few of my high school friends to come cheer me on :) I've said since I started this journey that it was never about a number for me, as in the scale. I just wanted to feel better. I must say though that as I continue to loose weight I do have a goal weight in mind. I'm still 27 lbs away from that number. I'd like to get there but my Paleo Journey isn't about the number either.
I am excited to continue my Paleo journey with you. I think it's important to know that regular people can do this. I don't have a fancy gourmet kitchen. I live in a small town in a regular neighborhood. I go to work every day and take care of 2 kids and 2 dogs at home. I am blessed to have a Mr. that is walking this journey with me but even that isn't necessary. I want to encourage you to do it too! If I wouldn't have made the leap of faith last August, I would still be the girl that felt awful and was uncomfortable in her own skin.
UPDATE:
I've been plugging along but have been down to my last 30 ish lbs to lose. So as Lent approached I decided to give up fruit and nuts to see if that would help push me forward. I just felt I was eating too much of them instead of a quick pick me up snack. However, I also gave up weighing. As I've noted above, this journey for me is not about the number. I wanted to feel better in my own skin. As I've continued to loose weight though the number started to get more important. I was also stepping on the scale too often. I decided to give up weighing. That proved to be pretty difficult. I had some cheat days during spring break and I wanted to see the damage I had done OR Mr. was celebrating his losses and I wanted to see mine too. But I held out and am excited to share that I've lost another 9 lbs. My total weight loss to date is 69 lbs (a bit sad it wasn't an even 70). I've got 21 lbs to loose and my goal is to have that off by August 1st as it is Day 1 of my Paleo Crossfit Journey.
To help get me to goal, this spring/summer I plan on adding running 2-3 days a week with my Paleo/Crossfit Journey.
When I get to goal...A Paleo Party Celebration will be had with all those that have supported and encouraged us along the way!!
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| February 2014 60 lbs gone! |
UPDATE:
I've been plugging along but have been down to my last 30 ish lbs to lose. So as Lent approached I decided to give up fruit and nuts to see if that would help push me forward. I just felt I was eating too much of them instead of a quick pick me up snack. However, I also gave up weighing. As I've noted above, this journey for me is not about the number. I wanted to feel better in my own skin. As I've continued to loose weight though the number started to get more important. I was also stepping on the scale too often. I decided to give up weighing. That proved to be pretty difficult. I had some cheat days during spring break and I wanted to see the damage I had done OR Mr. was celebrating his losses and I wanted to see mine too. But I held out and am excited to share that I've lost another 9 lbs. My total weight loss to date is 69 lbs (a bit sad it wasn't an even 70). I've got 21 lbs to loose and my goal is to have that off by August 1st as it is Day 1 of my Paleo Crossfit Journey.
To help get me to goal, this spring/summer I plan on adding running 2-3 days a week with my Paleo/Crossfit Journey.
When I get to goal...A Paleo Party Celebration will be had with all those that have supported and encouraged us along the way!!
 |
| April 2014 69 lbs gone! |
Love reading this and being encouraged by you. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Bethany!
ReplyDelete