Experimentation

Wowza, have my eating habits and happiness turned around. Calorie counting filled me with anxiety, bad eating habits, and self denial. By paleontology standards, my food intake had by no means been perfect. I'm still taking bites of forbidden foods, and some wine and beer, but the freak out binges of calorie counting seem to be gone.

I haven't weighed myself this week. I'm scared to.

A solid two cycle classes a week. I go even when I don't want to. But sometimes, on days like today, I half ass the workout, though I did stay the entire time. Planning on trying to get the third independent cardio workout this week despite the holiday, and add a fourth day with the new year.

Transitioning

I'm still cycling, and slowly eating or disposing of the foods I'm eliminating. I'm feeling good, though my spirits are kind of low, about my efforts, and I'm much less anxious about food now that I'm not calorie counting. Someone told me it would drive me crazy, and they were right, even though I was using a good calorie counter app. I miss logging my weight and exercise in one place, though! I know I'm being healthier, so I guess is better not to obsess about it.

I found that I can get most of the health foods I want at the regular grocery store, which makes my life much easier!

I'm up to 214 on the scale. I'm not a happy camper. I really hope paleo works because I am beyond desperate to reverse this trend.

Book Notes

I'm reading The Busy Woman's Guide to Paleo, by Deborah Hunter. I thought keeping some notes would be prudent.

1. Blah, blah, blah. Caveman hunt and gather. Evolution of human species. Little change in last 10,000 years. Pre-agricultural revolution. 
2. "It's more of a lifestyle than a diet."
3. No calorie counting. Easy as much as you want of allowed foods when you're hungry.
4. One popular diet outline is very similar to the American Heart Association. 
5. 33% protien, 21% (animal) fat, 46% (plant) carbs.
6. Originally excluded dairy, grains, refined sugars, alcohol, and nightshade family of plants from diet. 
7. 80% behaving, 20% cheating, keeps you sane.
8. That translates to four cheating meals per week if you eat three meals per day. 
9. Modern sometimes exceptions: diary (especially grass-fed butter, ghee(clarified butter), organic cream, full-fat diary (regular or fermented(hard cheese and yogurt)), and goat's milk), wine, eliminated veggies (tomatoes, eggplant, nightshades), green tea, coffee,
10. Excluded: legumes (peanuts are a legume), diary (gray area)(processed diary and fast free diary), grains (white flour especially), processed food, alcohol, refined foods (sugar and oils), processed cooking oils (corn, sunflower, soybean, vegetable oil), nightshades, corn, sugary beverages, and white potatoes. 
11. Other options: nuts (includes almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans), berries, healthy oils and fats (includes olive, coconut, nut, seed oils), ghee (butter derivative), organic or grass-fed cow butter, nut-based flours (almond, macadamia, tapioca), honey, maple sugar, (lean and grass-fed) meats (salmon, chicken), fruits, vegetables, water, almond or coconut milk.
12. If you can eat it raw, it's probably okay. 
13. Diving vs easing in. Sugar and carb cravings. 
14. Time savers: no calorie counting, easy meal prep, eat when you're hungry (no frequent meal/set meal time requirements and allows snacking).
15. Makes you feel better.
16. It's still possible to make poor decisions,so you have to eat healthy to lose weight.
17. 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week. 
18. Get enough sleep. 
19. Stay in touch with your friends. 
20. Drink water, and eat protein and fast before a work out (Chicken, salmon, sweet potatoes, banana, yams, egg)(fruit and vegetables if you need carbs).
21. Avocado. 
22. Canned chicken and salmon.
23. Post workout: water, salt, minerals, proteins, complex carbs (nuts, bananas, kale and lay greens, milk, strawberries, cantaloupe, yams, sweet potatoes).
24. Egg white protein powder. 
25. Muscle smoothie: blend 1 cup almond milk, 2 scoops egg white protein powder, 1 cooked yam, 1 banana. 
26. SUBSTITUTIONS
27. Flour: coconut, tapioca, almond, macadamia or any other non-grain flour.
28. Bread crumbs: flax or almond meal.
29. Milk: almond, coconut milk.
30. Cream: coconut cream.
31. Sugar: honey. 
32. Rice: cauliflower. 
33. Pizza crust: broccoli. 
34. Pasta: spaghetti squash, zucchini. 
35. Potatoes: rutabaga. 
36. Granola: nut mixes.
37. Peanut butter: almond butter.
38. Roasted nuts: raw nuts. 
39. Plan, prep, and freeze your meals ahead of time in bulk. 
40. Breakfast helps reduce overeating. 

Flux

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Not a new concept.

These pay seven weeks have shown some very good exercise habit building. If I had a perfect week, I would be at the gym every weekday, but, honestly, one day a week would still be better than what I wad doing before. The holidays are a difficult time of year to exercise consistently, so I'm giving myself some leeway.

The other thing these seven weeks have confirmed is that calorie counting does not work for me. It works for some people, but I'm always compensating in the worst ways and over shooting my target while destroying my nutrient intake.

I'm thinking about easing into a paleo trial. It's similar to a lot of diets. Atkins. A health conscious vegetarian but with meat. High veggie and protien,no gluten,dairy, or grain carbs. You can read about it elsewhere. Nothing a caveman couldn't have hunted or gathered. No chemicals.

It sounds like a really intense life change. I'm still on the fence about it. So I'm eating down all the junk in the house while I think about it, so I can replace it with healthier options as I need to grocery shop.

I just don't know.

And, obviously, I'll keep exercising.