Doing another 30 days of strict paleo ala Whole30 guidelines. Figured it would do me some good to reflect on why in the world I would want to get back on that bronco and ride it into the sunset. (This post inspired me to do so: http://whole9life.com/2010/12/ten-things-i-learned-while-doing-the-whole30/).

1. I feel more energetic.


2. I have much better post-workout recovery.


3. I sleep better.


4. I don't need coffee (but I still like a little in the morning).


5. I like saving money. (Between eating out and buying pre-packaged food, I actually spend more than eating clean.)


6. I enjoy cooking.


7. I like the taste of real food. (So much processed food is way too salty!)


8. I feel satisfied when I eat Paleo - no constant hunger, no odd swings, just feel like my body gets what it needs.


9. I don't want to feel crappy just because I indulged in some chocolate/sugar thing. (Even though I so enjoy the taste of chocolate, the post consumption torrent of off balanced emotions and chemistry running through my body is so not worth it.)


10. I still have plenty of body fat to lose. (Though I'm going to do my absolute best in completely ignoring the scale this go around.)

I'm going for the strict 30 just because I know I do better when I don't give myself the wiggle room to cheat. I have a highly developed system for justifying cheats when I let my guard down. So much so that eating clean can easily become the exception rather than the rule. So ... back to strict for me. Also, even though carbs no longer have a huge hold on me, chocolate still does. It's like kryptonite for my will power.

Happy New Year to all of ya'll. Here's to our continued journey to health, wellness and killing WODs.

Back in the Schwing of Things

Well, I don't know about you lot, but my diet went to shit when I was on vacation. My mother does indeed stock the house with a ton of high quality food, all meat from a butcher from a town in upstate NY where we have property, plenty of fresh greens. That's the good. The bad is a bottle of wine or two a night at dinner, a mountain of cheese, and specialty Greek and English cookies and confectioneries we only get this time of year. My Christmas is your thanksgiving.

Stopping by TJ's on the way home, it felt only natural to visit the meat and veggie isle, which is a good thing. My processed food will remain nill (hopefully) and once my schedule rights itself, it'll be on to more experimentation with cooking and quality cuts. I have this beautiful Le Creuset Cast Iron Skillet on my desk (from my parents), new meat thermometer, and a slow cooker (from my brother) waiting to take on some new recipes including previously mentioned salt crusted lamb, lamb shanks with dill, some steaks, and of course the pork shoulder I've waited ever so long to do right.


Without further ado, here are my before and afters. I expect you ALL to do the same, even if you must decapitate yourself.

Hey Hipp,

I left an envelope for you in the office at the box. Thanks,

Holly

Meat Salad!

Post-Workout Brunch:
1 lb organic grass fed beef trader joe's
2 cups of mixed veggies (snap peas, asparagus, brussel sprouts)
Add salt, pepper, dash of cayenne pepper, cumin, curry powder and cook on low heat for 30 mins in coconut oil.

Simple and delish! This is what strong women eat for breakfast! :) Maybe.

I am full for hours after I eat this. It's great.

End Part 1

I got measured Saturday morning, leaving me with a celebratory homemade pizza (nitrate free peperoni) Saturday night. I'm still staying away from beer, slowly introducing small amounts of dairy, and nixing most gluten products. I'm back at my parents place in NY, and I forgot how great their upstate farm butcher is. I came home to salt crusted lamb and off-the-boat Parma Ham that would make Dingo cry.

Anyway, I was shocked to see the numbers and that I had so much fat to lose, a little dissapointed that I lost weight (I know, cry you a river right? I'm a dude, shut up) and hoping that they may be a chance to see Scants (I'm still converting to calling him "x") before he's dragged away and ravaged by a group of college freshman girls (all of age).

Here are your "after" results:
Lean Mass: 148
Fat Mass: 11
Body Fat: 7.1%
Percent of percent lost: 26.04%

Uhm, pic to be posted when I can figure out this computer. But let me assure you, its my xmas present to you!

Moment of honesty

I'm thrilled to be 20 lbs of pure lard lighter. 5.6% lost my first go around at Paleo. Not bad right?

Two weeks ago several co-workers even remarked on noticeable weight loss. That felt great. Last week I started noticing more definition in my arms and was consistently using a new notch on my belt. Again, felt great.

I should be thrilled. But I'm not.

Why? Because I've been stuck at this weight for the last two weeks. Up a few pounds, down a few pounds, up again. I've been burning up grey matter trying to figure out what in the world I've been doing wrong. I've only had one cheat meal for crying out loud. Was it my not eating enough last week? Didn't have an appetite as I was sick and missed a few workouts. Was it my apple almost every day that I started adding into the rotation? Was it the fish oil I started taking or the colostrum that helps me fight off colds, but has a little soy in it? How have I been screwing this thing up? (Can you smell the smoke from my brain?)

Thankfully had a little chat with Sheena today as I was hitting the rower and determined to move some heavy stuff (you're a life saver woman!). Maybe my body is trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing and if it can survive on this stuff. Maybe I have more cortisol running through my body as I've had a few nights of little to no sleep due to hacking up a lung or two. Maybe it's the stress of trying to make some wise decisions lately.

Bottom line: I like how I feel when I eat Paleo. I like cooking this way. I like this life-style. So even if the next 20lbs don't melt away like the first, I need to keep going. My body will just have to adjust to my will on this one.

I read a great quote this week from a guy I really respect (and share a birthday with): "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will" (Mahatma Gandhi). I haven't reached my goal of cleaning and jerking 125 lbs yet. I still can't do a pull-up. I still need much work on my snatch ... but I'm focusing on what's ahead, and tackling whatever gets thrown at me in the WODs and OLY as best as I possibly can. I trust that this will bring progress, just as I trust eating Paleo is more beneficial than any other way I've eaten over the last few years. (As a side note, a friend doing Weight Watchers just told me that they changed their point system and made it much more beneficial to eat the way that I'm eating. Maybe they are catching on?)

So where does that leave me? Tonight I'm having a cheat meal. In fact, I'm just not gonna care what I put into my body today. Then I'm back on it, because I want to be back on it. For the holiday's I'm going to let my standards be a little looser and not be so strict at every meal. Not planning on going over board, but if a homemade desert is offered me ... I'm giving myself permission to enjoy it. But only if I really want it. If someone offers me something I don't think is worth it ... well, then it's on a different spectrum on the F*** Off scale, and I'm going to remain steady in refusing to be guilted into eating these deadly foods (http://whole9life.com/2010/12/the-healthy-f-off-scale-version-2-0/).

There is one more anchor I'm choosing to hold on to: "So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up" (Gal 6:9). This principle of sowing and reaping is one I've seen proven again and again my life and many others'. Living on a farm for a few years I became intimately acquainted with the fact that you don't sow and reap in the same season. Instant gratification rarely is worth it. This is one more reason to keep on keeping on. The harvest will come ... one day, I'll hit those goals. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but surely faster than if I went back to eating crap.



PS: I debated posting some pics, but don't want to cause anyone to hurl. I will say that the side shots actually do show how much belly fat I've lost ... and that makes me excited!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

SCANTLEBURY WINS!

Thank you to everyone who competed in the Paleo Challenge! What a great success! Here are the % of % lost (not actual body fat percent, just the percent of their fat that they lost in the past 6 weeks) results for those who came to both measurements:

1. Scantlebury 26.63%
2. Dole 26.04%
3. Kim H 25.28%
4. Hipp 17.31%
5. Super G 17.11%
6. Anja 12.17%

Congrats to everyone. These results are fantastic and you should be very proud of all of your hard work!

Thanks again to WCCF, all people who post and contribute to the blog, Doogie for letting us use his house, and to all who endured and supported those who competed in this Paleo Challenge!

Happy Holidays to all!
Dangerous

It's Over?

What I learned from the Paleo Challenge:

1) I love WCCF even more than I did before the challenge. It was great to meet more people through this challenge. For those of you I didn't meet, you were also providing me with the the strength and determination to make it through this challenge. Thank You.

2) Eating Paleo wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. In the beginning I definitely felt deprived but I quickly liked how I felt and looked more than how good something tasted!

3) It was a great motivator when people noticed the changes in my body!

4) It's OK not to be 100% Paleo 100% of the time! I didn't give up alcohol and I did eat Larabars when I was in a pinch for a quick snack, but other than that, I was pretty strict. Oh, I forgot about the lobster gnocchi I ate in NYC last weekend. I only had one bite and it was yummy!

5) I realized that setting goals, any goals, is the best way to ensure I achieve them.

I got my body fat tested yesterday at Steve B's office. Here are my before and after results:

Before

Weight 158.2 lbs.

Lean Body Mass 123.0 lbs.

Fat Mass 35.2 lbs.

Body Fat 22.2%

After

Weight 154.4 lbs.

Lean Body Mass 126.1 lbs.

Fat Mass 28.4 lbs.

Body Fat 18.4%

I went to a party last night and stayed as Paleo as I could. I ate grapes, red bell peppers, cucumbers, nuts, and salami. On Christmas Eve, I will be eating Swedish Meatballs and potatoes in memory of my father. Then it's back at it!

Merry Christmas all. It's been fun!

Super G

Final Thought

So in reading your stories and reading other paleo stuff I keep coming across examples when paleo people go off the wagon and feel terrible. The times I've had sugar during the challenge I have felt fine and in a way I was kind of envious of the built in motivation others had. Kind of like how you would be less likely to drink if you knew you would have a hangover 10 times worse than usual. Laird Hamilton has this great line about how he wants his body to be like a good diesel truck. You give it the best stuff, but if you have to give it something bad once in a while you can still be OK. That is kind of how I have been.

So I am over at my sister's house for our annual cookie baking extravaganza. I figured that I was less than 24 hours from weigh in so I couldn't do too much damage and I would just have some cookies. Oh my gosh do I feel terrible. I just Googled how to make yourself hurl and have decided that to do so would be making a bad situation much much worse (New slogan, "If life hands you lemons, give yourself papercuts and then pour the lemon juice all over them").

Ugghhh. OK, Doogie or people that have been to Doogie's house, is it an OK place to bring little people to? I really would like my boys, 7 and 3, to see all of the athletes and get a feel for the diversity and the discipline of the group. But since I haven't met you, Doogie, I want to make sure you have a child friendly place ( no velvet paintings of Elvis, the works of L. Ron Hubbard lying around, pictures of David Hasselhoff from Night Rider, etc etc).

Thanks all.

Colin

Final Days

OK, first of all, if you put 25 cloves of garlic into your marinade for 1 piece of steak, you just might overpower it a little. This moment of revelation occurred to me at dinner this evening. Just thought I'd share.

I just wanted to thank you all for arranging this. I have had a great time and have learned a ton. I haven't been as strict as some of you have (Dole, you are a madman, I love it!). I have no idea what my numbers will be, but I am definitely leaner than I was when we started. Giggity.

If we do another one of these in the spring I am totally in. I am having a total blast at WCCF.

See you Sunday. Rock on.

Colin X

You are free to eat!

Monday I had my pre-planned, much anticipated first cheat meal of the challenge. I was looking forward to the office Christmas party at Los Napoles with greater and greater anticipation. The guacamole, chips, sauces, rice, beans ... cheesy enchiladas ... oh my. In my mind, this was going to be a huge feast. But I was battling a cold accompanied by a sore throat, so I almost didn't even go.

You guys ever seen Kung Fu Panda? There's this great scene where the Master is giving a sort of final lesson to his student, who happens to love food. The Master used that love of food to train the big Panda. In this scene, the Master tells the student he is "free to eat" ...



... but fights him every step of the way. By the time the Panda wins the last dumpling, he doesn't even want it anymore.

That's pretty much how I felt after my first and much anticipated cheat meal. It's not even that I felt horrible. I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Normally I would have devoured the chips and guac. but after 5, I was done with that. In fact, the part I enjoyed the most was the steak fajita! Everything was much saltier than I remembered, which makes me wonder how much I consumed prior to the challenge. Even the almond flan sitting in front of me was no temptation after two bites.

My big worry was losing control after diving into a cheat, but it's been easy to get back on the wagon. In many ways I'm ready to end the challenge ... because for me, I'm free to eat.

Tick Tick Tick

Times ticking away folks, time to stay strong throughout the week! Make those extra WODS, leave a bunch of cooked chicken lying in strategic and cooled places, draw on some abs with eyeliner for picture time.

Through some incredible turn of fate, our droll office Christmas lunch has been reserved at.... TEXAS DE BRAZIL! You know, the place where you CAN visit the salad bar... or you can just turn that little disc over and have meat, Meat, AND MORE MEAT bought right to you. Mine is going to stay green all throughout the meal.

Adventures in Babysitting

I got back from LA at midnight last night and apparently it snowed here. I was the only flight that made it out of John Wayne Airport to Chicago yesterday, and well I was actually too hung over to care. Yes, I did indulge a bit, and yes, included with the tequila was a little bit of vodka. I'll try justifying that by saying it was like 3 shots, and straight up, not mixed.
That being said, for a weekend away, I stuck to my guns, packing plenty of paleo snacks and being one of those picky assholes when ordering. I even suggested Chipoltle and had a pit stop or two at a Trader Joes.
When this challenge is all said and done, I'm going to do my best to stick to my grain/dairy/sugar free ways, because I think its helped me 10 fold. I look better,I feel better. Granted I'm going to throw back a few slices when I'm in NY, I'm not going to go overboard.

Off week

I've felt somewhat off all week. Though I started with a great weight that brought me down to 21lbs lost ... two days later I was up 2 lbs. Only thing I can think of was a tea I had in the evenings. No sugar or even "sugar" in it, but had a "proprietary blend of herbs" in it. Felt crappy for two days. Feel like I'm fighting off a cold.

Last night was the first night I felt "deprived". Some friends and I hit the Christkindle market downtown and all the smells of my homeland were beckoning me. But I said "no". Still frustrated to not be down again though ...

But then today. Today was simply awesome. Love the peeps at Windy City. Such an encouraging bunch.

Hit 2 PRs in the snatch (my second and third attempt) ... felt like I could have lifted more. Also PRd on the clean and jerk. Again, left me feeling like I could have gone up. Watching other lifters was like a little workout as I would hold my breath as they were lifting. Love this stuff.

And yes Sheena and Meagles ... I would take the PRs over ... well you know. ;-).