The Rundown

Post by Ashley

As of yesterday, January 4^th, we began following an eating plan called the Paleo Diet.  Let me just say, I hate the word diet.  Diet implies starvation and struggle and most importantly, a temporary change in eating habits.  This eating plan involves none of the above.  Even at the worst of our holiday indulgence, Gerard and I continued to eat 10x healthier than the average American, and exercised every chance we had.  We just feel better eating this way!  (There will be a future post about our no-excuses-mountain-workout he created for us at my parent’s house)  Anyway, you will NOT go hungry…trust me, and once you understand what you can eat grocery shopping becomes a snap.  As far as a temporary diet fad, I think you’ll find that this is something you’ll want to stick with. 

Here’s the rundown: (more information can be found here, this is just what we’ve decided to do based on our personal goals.)

Food :

Allowed:  lean meat, fish, veggies, and a small amount of fruit.  (small meaning the equivalent of 1 cup or 1 apple), olive oil, coconut oil, butter (small amount for cooking) – Gerard will be eating nuts (almonds), I will not.

Avoided:  sugar, grains (wheat, corn, rice, pasta, bread, cereal…), potatoes, legumes (soy, beans, peanuts), dariy (milk, yogurt, cheese), nuts (only because they are high in fat and calories and I have no self control and eat them like candy)

Beverages:

Allowed:  Water, Coffee (it’s not  really allowed but I can’t live without it and we’ll be cutting back the amount we drink), tea (preferably green tea)

Avoided:  Pretty much everything else, diet soda, juice, etc. (all contain sugar and fake stuff) 

We will be allowing ourselves one to two “cheat meals” per week and some moderate weekend alcohol consumption (usually red wine, vodka soda, or a really light, low-carb beer).  We will discuss cheat meals in a later post.

Exercise:  Our fitness goals are different (duh) so…

Gerard:  Goal is to gain lean mass and increase strength, mainly posterior chain dominant exercises. He will continue with a strength program designed to build muscle in these areas.  I’ll let him tell you more about that.  On non-strength days he will design his own workouts, focusing on dead lifts and squat based movements. 

Ashley:  I don’t want to gain a ton of muscle.  Instead, I want to maintain what I have and lean out (aka, lose fat).   I will be following a different crossfit gym’s programming for about 6 weeks at a time.  I will start with a gym in Santa Clara California called Crossfit Santa Clara.  (This is a good site to read daily, as they are also doing a Paleo diet challenge and are posting recipes regularly.)   Almost all crossfit gyms post a daily WOD, or Workout Of the Day, online and I will be following them as strictly as I can (meaning I have limited equipment in the garage so somedays I will have to substitute comparable exercises).  Every 4^th day will be a rest day or an active rest day.  On these days, I will probably just walk or jog a few miles with the dog.

Sleep:  goal of 8 hours, which will mean a bedtime of 10:30 on weeknights (May be the most difficult part of this whole thing)

That’s the jist of it!  Each post will be a summary of the previous day’s meals and workouts.

Oh, important – Our starting weights and body fat:

Gerard - 185lbs at 14% BF (this is coming off a month of drinking a gallon of Vitamin D milk per day)

Ashley – 124lbs at 15% BF