All posts tagged "notes"
3 weeks into the 6 day savage™ plan and feeling good. Still no issues sticking to the diet M-Sa, though my latest cheat day was pretty disappointing. I also made the mistake of doing a night workout after a day of shitty eating, which I won’t do again. Gonna keep it rolling through the holiday season, honey.
I’ve been sticking to my 6 day savage™ diet plan for 2 weeks now: strict paleo combined with intermittent fasting 6 days a week, anything goes on day 7. Feeling pretty good so far. Sticking to the 8 hour feeding window hasn’t been difficult at all. I’ve had cravings, but it’s a lot easier to wait a few days to go nuts than it was during my 60 day no-cheat paleo challenge. I’ve also felt just fine after my cheat days despite indulging in cookies, pizza, and all sorts of crap. I feel like I can sustain this forever. Haven’t been weighing in, but I’ll start doing that tonight.
A long overdue post, but here are my December goals:
Oh, and this all goes out the window on Sundays, which are my anything goes cheat day. Luckily xmas falls on a Sunday this year.
I did it. As outlined by Robb Wolf in The Paleo Solution, I went 30 days on a super-strict paleo diet. No sugar, no grains, no dairy, no legumes, no cheats, no nothing. I also supplemented with vitamin D and fish oil every day and got the best sleep that the parent of a teething 12 month old can get.
On the qualitative side of the coin - I feel great. I didn’t expect to feel as good as I did and considering how erratic my sleep and workout schedules have been, I need to chalk it up to the diet.
Now, onto the quantitative analysis. I took some measurements and got some blood work as suggested by Wolf. I also took some before and after pictures, but I’ll spare you the gory details. Here are my before numbers:
And my after numbers:
I skipped the lipid panel for the follow-up since my numbers were fine there and insurance doesn’t like covering those tests 30 days apart. I was really only concerned with my A1C (measure of the amount of sugar sticking to your cells) and my CRP (measure of systemic inflammation) numbers after my initial test anyway. Wolf said that an A1C over 5 and a CRP over 1 are both cause for concern. I’m happy to report that my CRP went down, but inexplicably my A1C went UP! Maybe I was guilty of eating too much fruit, but this is upsetting to me. I’ll need to keep the sugar out and cut down on my fruit consumption.
Weight has stabilized in the high 170s/low 180s, where it was in the mid-to-high 180s before the challenge. I also noticed that I look less inflamed (especially in the face) in my after photos, which is consistent with the improvement in my CRP numbers. I definitely plan on keeping up the paleo lifestyle, but I’ll allow myself the occasional cheat when it’s worth it (like the pizza I inhaled from John’s on Bleecker on day 31). Detailed goals/plan to follow.
I finished Robb Wolf’s The Paleo Solution (highly recommended, btw) recently and learned a lot about why my previous bouts with the paleo diet weren’t terribly successful. Apparently eating crap every 15 days is enough to keep the gut irritated and to keep your body in a neolithic rut. Since I was only 90% compliant at best, I was never fully in the clear. I think I was also sabotaging myself with too much fruit. Wolf suggests a 30 day 100% compliant kick-off to really assess how you feel when running on clean fuel, so that’s what I’m going to do. For the next 30 days:
I’m taking before and after pictures, doing a few measurements (wast/hip ratio, weight), and getting some non-routine blood work from a doctor. I’ll compare my stats and how I feel after 30 days. I’ll also be continuing two 24 hour fasts each week to stay sharp.
I’ll also tackle my leftover goals of running 5k in 20 minutes and practicing kung fu three times a week for this cycle.
Oh, and the best part is that my wife is doing it with me this time. Yay paleo family!
I had three simple goals for the end of the summer: eat less and take breaks, run 5k in under 20 minutes, and practice kung fu three times a week.
I got a good handle on my diet, tracking everything meticulously for 9 weeks and then staying pretty true for the last few weeks (without the tracking). I’ve been fasting 2x per week and feeling pretty good. The only problem with tracking calories is that I can make allowances for shitty foods like bagels by eating less throughout the day. I plan on addressing that in the next couple of months.
As for my weight, I’m definitely down a few lbs but don’t have a reliable scale to check my numbers. I’ll remedy this in the next few days.
I failed to meet the 5k run goal or the kung fu goal since my training has been pretty erratic. I’ll keep trying to tackle these in my next cycle.
The Paleo Diet is different because it’s based on evolutionary science. As a former anthropologist you should be able to get behind that, right?
Basically, humans haven’t evolved in the 10,000 years since the agricultural revolution, we just learned how to transition from a hunter gatherer lifestyle to an easier way of life. The only trade-off was our health and vitality.
Eating grains, dairy, and other neolithic junk, combined with a sedentary lifestyle and poor sleep has made modern man sick and weak. Aside from the obvious problems like obesity and diabetes, pretty much all modern diseases - cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimers, even infertility - are a result of following misguided conventional diet wisdom regurgitated by the under-informed medical community.
Oh, and it seems to work too, but you don’t have to take my word for it! Check out the paleo pitch by the Whole 9 kids for a brief primer on what to eat. I’d also highly recommend reading The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf for a much more detailed, albeit entertaining, answer.
No, didn’t hit any of my current goals or set a PR in the gym, I just invented an amazing nearly-paleo lunch today. I took an apple and sliced it into strips, loaded each slice with thinly sliced deli turkey, and layered on some pepper jack cheese. Patent pending.
I was derailed by injuries this summer, so can’t check off any of those goals. I never completed a 5k run in under 20 min, didn’t get my kf practice in 3x/week, and didn’t clean up my diet so well. Since I knew I couldn’t train properly while injured, I sorta let the diet fall by the wayside which was totally the wrong attitude. For the remainder of August and September I’m going to remedy that.
Operation Slim Down is now in effect. I want to get to 175lb by October, which is a better weight for me than 190+ (where I am now). Here’s how I’m going to do it:
Related Link: I’m Sorry That I Got Fat, I Will Slim Down
Spent a week in the Catskills at a little place on Amber Lake with the fam. Lots of babytime, napping, BBQing, mixed with some swimming, running, and rowing made for a very relaxing week. Only took a few official workouts, but my nagging injuries are still nagging. Had a few abortive attempts at kung fu practice, but nothing good enough to log. I may have to get myself looked at if these pains don’t straighten themselves out.
It’s 2010 and it’s time to get serious, kids. My diet has been awful and my workout regimen has been sporadic since the Mayor arrived. For the remainder of January, I’m going to straighten up and fly right. This isn’t some bullshit new year’s resolution that will fizzle out in a few weeks, it’s just a re-commitment to serious fitness. That means more consistent workouts and enforcing strict Paleo dietary restrictions. Here are the rules for the remainder of January:
I learned some valuable lessons from my first Paleo challenge in July and I’ll make sure I get plenty of fats in my diet to keep me sated. I’ll post a daily recap to keep me honest and on target just like last time. Let’s see how it goes.
As or my January fitness goals, I’m keeping it simple and focused:
My workouts will remain short, intense, and basement friendly, though I will aim to make them more consistent.
I decided to give up on my 30 days of strict paleo eating yesterday, on the 21st day. I didn’t give in temptation or anything, I just got really bored with it. There were definitely some good things that I’ll take away from this little experiment, but doing any restrictive diet like this with zero cheat days allowed is just no fun. And maybe trying this experiment when my wife’s pregnant wasn’t the best timing either.
The funny thing is that I didn’t feel different during the past 3 weeks at all (except those days when I wasn’t eating enough fat and feeling hungry). After drinking some beers and eating some pizza on Saturday, I still felt the same. So I baked some blueberry muffins with the wife on Sunday and even drank a glass of milk. Still felt great.
I figure my long-term plan will be to stay 90% paleo compliant - I’ll keep up with healthy breakfasts, snacks, and lunches, but slip in the occaisonal fun cheat. The tricky thing is to make sure that the cheat is worth it - there will be no taking chances on bad pizza. But my biggest takeaway from the challenge is everything in moderation, even moderation.
