Nutrition Challenge - Final Results?

Please post your progress on any nutritional goals here.

Comments

[BrianF]

*Disclaimer - Long post*

Well today is officially my 30th day of eating strict Paleo without a single cheat meal or day, yay! I have experimented a ton over the course of these past weeks with various approaches to the diet with respect to daily carb quantity, diversity, and timing. In the end I feel I am set up for a great long lasting nutritional approach for life.

First some notes and observations. It was unfortunate that the last 4 days of these 30 days I was on the road for work but I made it work. The only thing that sucked was Friday. I was flying all day and decided I'd eat a big Paleo breakfast after the 6am WOD and then 4 large Paleo Kits over the course of the day. This seemed great in theory except that at night and the next day I felt really really bloated and inflamed. I think this was due to the high nut consumption from the 4 kits. I've dramatically reduced the nut consumption and replaced it with other fats and I feel a ton better. Not gonna lie I was a little sad about how I felt on Saturday morning but all has returned to normal now :) On the nut consumption, I haven't excluded them but they are greatly reduced in the overall diet. I am now getting my fats primarily from my protein sources (eggs, fish, grass-fed meat), oils, and Coconut.

Now on to the Look, Feel, Perform moniker however I'm gonna write about them in order of personal importance.

Perform - This one is key for me with the triathlon coming up and desire to place in it. Speaking of the Triathlon, at the same time I started doing the strict Paleo diet I also started doing a 6 day a week CF/CFE training schedule that includes 4 multi-Wod days. My performance initially was solid but fell off in the second and third weeks. This was due to 1) Overtraining on the CF side with regards to intensity/duration/style of WODs, 2) Not taking a full rest and recovery day each week because of the CF Level 1 Cert over the first weekend and snowboarding over the 2nd, 3) Poor post-WOD meal choices with respects to carb type and amount (even though it was paleo), and 4) My overall fitness level not being prepared for that kind of workload. I have become wiser since the start of all this and have made some significant improvements in all of the above areas and have seen my performance returning to where it should be. I'm going to continue tinkering with the diet to fully perfect it with respects to my CF, CFE, and sport performance but I am well on my way to doing so and looking forward to seeing how far I can take it.

Feel - I feel amazing, besides the wackiness from this weekend I never feel "fat" or "stuffed". I don't feel as lean as I'd like to be but I am a lot more comfortable with my body composition. There are times I can get a bit tired during the day but I'm pretty sure this is from the 10+ WODs I'm doing during the week. This should begin to disappear since I started programming both my CF and CFE WODs together to increase performance in both and reduce overtraining and fatigue.

Look - I've maintained my weight during this process while I think slightly lowering my body fat. I didn't lose as much bf as I'd like but then again I was eating in the maintenance range due to the workload of WODs. I can definitely see how I could lower the calories and lean out further if I wasn't training for the Tri. I'll probably switch to something like this come early summer when I begin wakeboarding training and progress away from Tri training.

I'm also working on a Top 10 Reasons to eat a Paleo Diet. I've had a ton of friends and family asking me about the diet this past month and I'm currently writing a short blog post-esque paper to explain the benefits of the nutritional approach in a basic and humorous way that's in an easy to read and understand format that can be shared with people who may not be as "crazy" as we all are with our nutrition to help convince them we actually aren't crazy at all :)

I'm looking forward to hearing how everyone else did with their own respective nutrition challenge. Great job everyone!

[Tank]

Brian,

Great post. I too have been strict with my eating.

I latched onto Mark's Daily Apple and have done a bunch of reading through his site. I really like his "Primal Blueprint" methodology. He is adamant about his position but he does offer some moderation and ways to include in some "cheat" meals, if that is a way to look at it. I like to think of it as making an exception, truly an exception and not the rule.
I have reintroduced a glass of red wine on two occassions and have also found some very dark (85% cocoa) chocolate. I'll have a piece or two in the evening as a little bit of a treat. The sugar content is very low and is the only processed food I'm eating.
Leeana has finished her cleanse so now we are both on the Paleo / Primal bandwagon and cannot be happier. Even our 13 month old twins are unknowingly being subjected to this. They eat eggs, berries, sausage, bananas, and the like for breakfast. At lunch they will have chicken, turkey, or pork with some butternut squash, peas, beans or carrots and then dinner is usually when we finish off something from lunch. The last two nights (for full disclaimer) they did have Trader Joe's 4 cheese Mac & Cheese. Lane liked it A LOT. Luke was good with it but she devours it.

So the sum total is:
4 Jan - 184lbs
2 Feb - 178lbs (and feeling MUCH better)

My body feels great and I don't want to go back to one month ago.

For anyone reading this and wondering if they can do it or if they should. ABSOLUTELY!
**Insert medical disclaimer about consulting with your doctor first.**
I actually saw a doctor in the middle of all of this due to some Navy related business and I was really amazed at how little this MD actually knew about their personal nutrition. I wasn't trying to play stump the chump but we talked for a while and it was clear they were on a high carb (processed carbs) low fat diet. They didn't understand why they weren't dropping weight, but in fact were actually gaining weight. I gave them some info and that was that. Who knows where it goes and it can be quite personal to tell someone else how to live their life - especially when they aren't coming to you, but I was going to them.

Good luck to everyone on keeping up the nutrition and consistency on the workouts.

Tank

[Roxanne]

I've been encouraged this week by a few people who have started cutting out sugar or who have been trying the Zone and have experienced some success. What a great start!! I hope this Challenge does not end here. For a few, it is just beginning!

Brian, I'm looking forward to your Top 10. For those of you who don't know, Brian has an awesome success story in regards to nutrition and fitness. You should ask him about it some time!

My challenge officially ends tomorrow so I'll post over the weekend =) Bottom line though, I feel great, lost about 6 pounds, and plan on tightening up my nutrition more over the next month. Staying at the conference last week was not the optimal way to end the Challenge but I did ok overall.

Here's something you might find helpful: I have a set of containers by Tupperware called FridgeSmart. They are amazing for keeping vegetables and salads fresh in the fridge. It works on a ventilation system depending upon what type of fruit or vegetable you are storing. We use them often...great for salads!

[Roxanne]

Here is a great article on consistency. There is no question that I feel stronger spiritually, mentally, and physically when I am eating well and working out consistently. One of the things I learned while losing weight after babies was to reward myself in a non-traditional way. Instead of having a huge meal and dessert when I achieved a goal, I looked forward to running faster or being able to lift more in the gym, or taking the kids to the beach. Too often we sabotage our progress with a reward that takes us back to our old habits. Set attainable goals, achieve that goal, and set another!! If you have 50 lbs. to lose, don't look at the 50, that can feel overwhelming. Take it 10 at a time until you achieve your overall goal.

"Consistency is possibly the most important part of an exercise program. Even if you use the best exercise program in existence (i.e. CrossFit) and give 100% effort when you work out, if you're only doing it once a month it will have little effect on your overall health and fitness. Additionally, you must have consistency before intensity. If you are not consistent enough to get to the point where you can add intensity, you are really missing out on results..."
Read more here: http://crossfitrockwall.typepad.com/crossfit_rockwall/consistency.html
- Courtesy of Mary Rigney at CrossFit Rockwall.

[Roxanne]

My schedule this week was packed. What stood out to me is the ease of eating a Paleo diet. Often I hear how difficult it is to pack healthy lunches for work. I subbed on Thursday (for a 3rd grade teacher who does CF at CF East County- she's 58 and loves to push herself- so encouraging!) and timed how long it took me to pack a healthy lunch (grilled chicken salad with veggies)and make breakfast (eggs and fruit)- 10 minutes- very doable!!

I've tightened up my diet for this month. Today I had a protein smoothie for breakfast then an omlette for lunch- sauteed some bell pepper, halved cherry tomatoes and spinach and folded in the eggs. Sprinkled on a little cheese for flavor- quick and easy!

Kristin, I haven't had time to make the muffins but I'd love to hear how yours turn out! Maybe we'll try them tomorrow!

[Tank]

I am continuing to read more of the posts on Mark's Daily Apple and find about half of them inspiring, and then a split with some being very educational and others being complete drivel.

I do think it is good to take the time to continue to educate yourself and know why you act certain ways, why you make the food choices you do and then why your body will or won't react the way you want it to. Nutrition plays such a critical part of our lives, we cannot understate the significance. Try to make good choices every day. But if you don't, or if you make a bad choice just shrug it off and start making good choices. Find someone who can be a partner with you, someone who can continue to encourage you as you fight through the tough days. Talk to one of the trainers and keep a log of the food you eat.

Anything you do in this regard will benefit you in days, weeks, and years to come.

Tank