New Eating Habits - July 8, 2010

For the first time I have started to see how challenging the paleo diet can be.  The challenge comes not at home, especially with a great daughter and wife on the plan, cooking great paleo-style meals.  The biggest challenge is eating out.

I've found the following is close to staying "paleo-loyal."  (Being a newby, I welcome any correction or insight to my findings.)

Wendy's Berry Chicken Salad

• Wendy's Berry Chicken Salad - full of blueberries, strawberries, chicken breast, and of course, lettuce.  Add almonds and a small amount of raspberry vinagrette (see photo).
• Chipotle - chicken salad with extra chicken.
• Outback (this one from a fellow paleo-ist) - one can usually get a good steak and veggies.  That would be with water, of course!

Chicken, Spinach, Mushrooms

For breakfast at home, I have been eating omega-3 enriched eggs, bacon, and some spinach (see photo).  Occasionally, I've eating chicken breast, avocado, mushrooms, and spinach.  

Is all this helping?   Yes, I believe so.  But honestly, I have been doing some cycling that would also contribute to the better fitting pants.  I've got some "smaller" jeans that fit a little better now!

Day One - July 4, 2010

Independence Day.

This is the beginning of a new journey for me....losing weight....getting in shape. Since I was twelve, I was a runner, triathlete, cyclist. Anything that required endurance, I was there. After 25 years of competitive running, I wanted something new.

Believe it or not, I decided to gain weight. Despite my success as a long distance runner, I got tired of looking skinny, weighing only about 140 pounds. My goal would be to gain weight. Yes, gain weight and get to 200!

Now its...been there...done that. That journey has been full of lessons about fitness, muscle-building, nutrition, lifting, eating, and even sleep. Now, at the age of 43, I want something else. Since I can't be 25 again or a superhero with superhuman powers, I've settled for the next best thing...being a Crossfit Athlete.

I've listened to my brother-in-law, a crossfit trainer in Tucson, Arizona, sing the praises of Robb Wolf, strength & conditioning coach, formerly a research biochemist, living in Chico, CA. He is the force behind the podcast entitled, The Paleolithic Solution. (Since his podcast is free and I've learned much from it, the least I can do is plug his book...The Paleo Solution - The Original Human Diet.)I've listened to a few podcasts (despite some "choice" words in it), done my own homework, and found that the paleo-diet, as it is called, is worth trying.

Many will tell you that for maximum physical results, you have to include your diet. My intent here isn't to teach you about the paleo-diet. You can google and learn that like I did. I will be recording my choices, successes, failures, and lessons learned. All done in hopes that both you and I can benefit, not repeat the same mistakes, and you can see what "someone else" is doing to improve their fitness.

As I begin...here are some measurements I have taken for my own benchmarks:

• Body fat % (hydrostatic method): 25.4 (Biometric method: 22.7)
• Weight: 194.5
• Thighs (R/L): 25.5/24.5 inches
• Calves (R/L): 15.5/15.5
• Biceps (R/L): 14/13.75
• Forearms (R/L): 11.75/11.5
• Chest: 42.5
• Neck: 15.5
• Shoulders: 48
• Waist: 38.5
• Glutes: 43

What do all these measurements mean to you? Not much really, except that I believe to improve something, one has to measure it. So I'm putting myself out there, accountable to the reader and myself.