January 5, Day 2

Post by Ashley

I have two important things to point out about the Paleo Diet.

Number one, it is virtually impossible to follow this diet strictly unless you commit to making your own food, ALWAYS.  That means every meal, every day, and planning lunches and snacks for taking to work/school.  Every premade meal has processed elements; I don’t care where it comes from.  Salad dressing, even if made fresh and  without preservatives contains sugar and vinegar (some vinegars are derived from GRAINS), both of which are on the avoided foods list.  Ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, things we usually don’t even consider when counting calories, are full of sugar and processed badness.  The reason this eating plan works for fat loss is that it keeps our insulin levels in check (or level).  When we consume sugar or simple carbohydrates it causes an insulin spike and instead of burning our fat stores our bodies use the sudden rush of sugar for a quick burst of energy.  Once this is used up, which happens quickly, our insulin level drops giving us a feeling of hunger.  This feeling is really just our body’s way of asking for more sugar.  This is the reason that low calorie, low fat, high carb diets DON’T work.  They don’t allow our bodies a chance to use fat as a source of energy. 

Any sugar you consume will cause this spike and crash, defeating the purpose of all your hard work.  It would be a shame to destroy an entire day’s worth of healthy eating with something as boring as a tablespoon of salad dressing!  (Mark Sisson does a much better job of describing this)

If you’re not used to cooking for yourself this may prove to be challenging at first.  It’s not a problem for me because I LOVE to cook – probably more than I should.  However, if you pay attention to our meals I think you’ll find that most of the things we eat require little more than a frying pan, turning on the oven, or throwing something in the crock pot.  If you have discipline, and are ok with eating frozen veggies and broiled chicken breasts for lunch and dinner then go for it.  This is exactly what Gerard was eating when I met him.  He also ate a lot of plain tuna fish and hard-boiled eggs.      

I will be posting recipes regularly, but you can find some great stuff on Marks Daily Apple (on the side bar there is a box with a tab labeled “eat primal) and a website I just stumbled across when I googled “paleo recipes”. 

I find that making a ton of food at once and keeping it in the fridge is the best way to avoid being hungry and avoid having to eat something unhealthy.  If you do have to go out to eat, have dinner with friends, or if you just can’t stop thinking about ice cream then it’s totally fine to indulge (once in a while).  We are allowing ourselves 1 to 2 “cheat meals” per week.  I feel it’s important to discuss what constitutes a cheat meal and will dedicate the first part of tomorrow’s post to that.

The second point I’d like to make is that it is still very important to monitor your caloric intake.  Paleo promotes protein and fat consumption, but if weight loss is your goal you’ll need to choose lean cuts of meat, watch out for nuts and seeds, and use cooking oils sparingly.  Ground beef, for example, contains much more fat than ground (100% white) turkey or chicken.  While it’s fine to eat ground beef, it’s not advisable to eat a ton of it.  Fat = calories and I’m a firm believer in “calories in, calories out”, and if you’re not burning as many or more than your eating then you will undoubtedly gain weight.  So, while fat is good, make sure you keep tabs on how much you’re actually eating.  Watch out for things like avocados, nuts, red meat, chicken and turkey with skin still attached, cooking oils, etc.  However, if your goal is to build lean muscle then you’ll need to increase your caloric intake.  Gerard will have to do an intro post on this soon. 

Fitday is a great calorie tracking tool.  It's free to log your meals and while it might not be 100% accurate, it will give you a general idea of how many calories your eating.  Don't be surprised if you're eating more than you think.   

Meal Description	Ashley	Gerard
Breakfast/morning snack	-          2 eggs and 2 egg whites -          ½ cup spinach -          2 cups coffee	-          6 eggs scrambled -          1.5 oz almonds -          2 cups coffee
Lunch	-          1 baked chicken breast -          1 cup mixed veggies with curry spice -          Peppermint tea (it’s dag-gone cold…)	-          2 chicken breast (baked) -          1 ½ cup mixed veggies with curry spice -          water
Snack	-          1 apple -          1 oz almonds (yeah, yeah…I was making 1.5 oz snack bags for Gerard and couldn’t not eat some…no more though)	Pre Workout: 5g BCAA (I was really hungry and have done a lot of research on fasted training...) Post workout -          1 scoop Gold Standard 100% Whey protein -          1 tsp creatine monohydrate
Dinner	-          ¾ cup cole slaw (made with green cabbage, homemade mayonnaise and spices) -          6 oz pulled pork (pork loin in crock pot on low for 6 hours with tons of spices) -          1 tbsp guacamole (avocado, garlic powder, pepper, lime juice) -          ½ cup sautéed red, green and yellow peppers (in pan, no oil, salt and pepper)	-          1 ½ cups cole slaw -          8 oz pulled pork -          3 tbsp guacamole -          1 ½ cup sautéed peppers (prepared the same)

Exercise

Ashley

Gerard

Warm Up : 3 rounds:  30 second sprint on stationary bike 30 second rest Dynamic stretching Foam roller 10 pushups 10 burpees 5 pull ups 10 air squats WOD –Crossfit Santa Clara Run 400 meters 30 SDHP 30 Box Jumps 30 GHD sit ups Run 400 meters 20 SDHP 20 Box Jumps 20 GHD sit ups Run 400 meters 10 SDHP 10 Box Jumps 10 GHD sit ups (was supposed to run another 400 meters but I didn’t read that until just now…oops) Used 45# bar for SDHP Used stairs for box jumps – was close to 20 inches Finished in 13:34 Post Workout Lower back strength work with resistance band 3x15 3x10 GHR – woo hoo!  I think these finally clicked!

Warm Up: Jogged lightly with dog, approximately 400m, jumping jacks, lateral lunges foam rolled 10 push ups 10 pull ups 10 squats 10 ghd 10 be-ghr dynanic hip opener-warm up 10 jumping lunges 10 clapping push ups 10 butterfly pull ups 10 jump squats 10 ghd-be-ghr dynamic hip opener (again) work out- 3x3 at 185 BS (ass to grass) this is squatting until I can no longer physically go down. My legs/knees work in this entire range of motion so I train them accordingly. this is the '3' part of Texas Method 5-3-1 (3x3 at 90% of 5x5) then: 30 clean and jerks @ 135 time: 3:35 post: 3x5 135 straight leg dead lifts-185 hip thrusts- 35lb db step ups

Bed time: lights out 10:30 pm  woohoo!

It’s crazy how much better I look and feel after only 2 days of this!  I can see my abs again and I have tons of energy.  My skin even appears to be clearing up a little.  Gerard made the same comment over dinner about feeling a million times better - without my prompting.