Day 1

Well, since it’s been six months, I thought it was a good time to start blogging again. Ha. In all seriousness, winter really kills my mojo. I don’t necessarily get depressed, but all creative pursuits go out the window. It’s a real struggle at work, especially. With that said, spring is here and well, spring is about new beginnings, right?

So I’m back with a new look (I cut bangs!), some new activities in my life,  and today also happens to be the start of a new diet experiment. But first, let’s recap the last six months:

• I ran regularly up until Christmas, then I fell off the bandwagon for the entire month of January
• At the end of January, I signed up for a 10K  (in April) to motivate myself to get moving again. Keep in mind that I’d only run a 5K at that point.
• I spent all of February getting back into the running groove, then started my official 10K training plan.
• Training went very, very well. No injuries, very few bad runs.
• Race day was April 30th! I’m still a pretty slow runner, but I finished all 6.2 miles in 1 hour and 12 minutes, at a pace of 11:40 per mile!! You guys, I was (and still am) so thrilled! Less than a year ago, I could barely run for 60 seconds straight and my 1 mile time was around 15 minutes. So a big WOOHOO to me.
• Overall, weight loss has been very, very slow. On the positive side, I am down just about 15 pounds since the fall. With that said, I could have potentially lost a lot more. Why didn’t I? Because I have a major portion control problem and I eat too much Ben & Jerry’s
• My cholesterol has dropped from an all-time high of 245 overall (in 2010) to 209! Again, thrilled. Glucose is good, BP is good, numbers are in good shape.

So here I am today. This week, after weeks of little pushes from a few of my co-workers, I went to a Zumba class! Honestly, this is one of those things I thought was ridiculous and that I’d never like it. Boy was I wrong. I LOVED it. I’m not sure why I had the attitude — I spent 10 years of my childhood and teenage years in dance classes (jazz, ballet, and tap – it was my life) and I kind of felt like I was in one again. So I’m planning on incorporating a Zumba class into my fitness regimen twice a week – Tuesdays and Fridays.

And now, about my diet/30 day experiment. A good friend/co-worker is a Paleo Pusher™. Yes, another co-worker coined that term for him. Ha. Anyway, he’s been pushing me to give this a try for a while now. Maybe he just wants someone else to suffer with him? The information on Paleo is all over the internet, but in summary, it’s eating whole foods, nothing processed, no grains, no dairy, no added sugar. Legumes are also verboten (except green beans) and that was the one particular that made me cringe. As you guys know, I eat a largely vegetarian diet and rely on tofu and beans for much of my protein. So there is a whole science behind why legumes are not good for our bodies, and honestly, I’m not sure I agree with it, but I am giving this 30 days anyway.

I went grocery shopping last night and bought a boatload of produce, eggs, nuts, and more meat than I’ve ever purchased at once in my life. I have to admit that I feel ethically challenged buying this much meat (yes I do eat meat, so I’m not opposed to it, but I truly believe that reducing meat consumption is not only better for our bodies but the environment). And what will this do to my cholesterol? Why am I doing this anyway? These were the things running through my mind as I shopped. But the truth is, I need a shock to my system, a little kick if you will, and 30 days isn’t going to kill me.

Will I continue on after 30 days? Who knows. I am pretty sure I am not going to go without ice cream or cake for the rest of my life, but cutting out added sugar on a regular basis doesn’t sound like a bad thing. I will more than likely incorporate legumes back into my diet, because I just do not see myself living on a high animal protein diet. It just doesn’t sit right with me.  And frankly, I like to drink beer. I’m married to a home brewer, it was practically in our wedding vows to like beer. So no grains, ever? Not a chance. Also, I have tickets to a beer festival on June 4th, so Paleo is just going to have to take a vacation day.

So here we are on day 1, my first full day. Technically, I started with last night’s dinner, so my official last day will be the evening of June 9th. I also have a 5K race that day that I’m hoping to PR in (Hollis Fast 5K for anyone local). What am I expecting at the end of 30 days? A 10 pound weight loss would be grand. Inches lost around my middle.  A steady energy level without spikes and drops from sugar. We’ll see what happens. Stay tuned!

P.S. That picture up there is tonight’s dinner – baked salmon, half a sweet potato, and fiddleheads!

Tags: diet, paleo, weight loss

This entry was posted on May 13, 2011 at 12:39 am and is filed under Eat, Move, Shrink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.