The results from Fitness Wave are in - you better sit down for this. Data was taken January 6th & March 1st
Body Fat - 20.4% to 10% - numbers were verified here!!!! Change in BF % 10.4%
Total Weight - 153.8 to 141.6 - Change in total weight - 12.2lbs
Lean Mass - 122.4lbs to 127.4lbs - Change in lean mass + 5 lbs
Fat Mass - 31.4 lbs to 14.2 lbs - Change in Fat Mass - 17.2lbs
Originally I had no intention of transitioning to the paleo diet. When I first heard how little variety, I thought, you could eat, I was turned off. After a couple months of Crossfitting, and still holding onto my gut weight, I decided maybe I should give paleo a try. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve committed to a diet. It was mid December when I finally decided to give it a go, but pushed it off until the new year. Who wants to start a new diet during the holidays? I had heard about Nuno and his nutrition knowledge from a few people around Crossfit SoCal, so I contacted him. We sat down, discussed goals, and discussed a start date. It all began right around December 31st and it’s been an amazing first two months on paleo. I’m going to talk about a few of the positive, and negatives I’ve had with this diet in the last two months, and how much it has changed my fitness level. I will also touch on the funnest parts of the diet, and how I overcame the de-motivators in the diet.
First I’m going to talk about the positives, one being decreased body fat. As soon as I started paleo, I noticed a difference within the first two weeks around my midsection. Even though I was eating tons of fat, I lost more. This continued throughout the rest of my body, with more definition showing up daily. I’m not super fit or anything now, but it is significant progress to how I had looked before. With a few more months I’m sure I will meet my goal. Another positive is the performance gains I have had in the gym. Within a month, I was breaking PR’s, improving 400m times significantly, and decreased my benchmark WOD times. Not only did Nuno notice and log this, but so did my workout buddies, and the trainers. Mentally my training and determination has increased. Before paleo, I used to doubt my ability to increase my weight lifting, and push myself during WOD’s. With paleo I had the ability to stay determined and push through each repetition and WOD everyday. Another bonus has been the decrease in recovery time. Before paleo, I would skip days of Crossfit because I was too sore, or undetermined in the morning. With the increase in fish oil combined with stretching post WOD everyday, I have minimal amounts of soreness, helping me stay in the gym getting stronger and fit.
Paleo is not all seriousness and no fun. There’s plenty of fun to be had in the gym, and at home. Some of the funnest times I had was making and trying new recipes that were strictly paleo; banana walnut bread, strawberry cheesecake, and cauliflower rice to name a few. You wonder how these food items can taste like the unhealthy versions that use flour or grains. In addition to the recipes, I had tons of fun in the gym catching up in WOD times to those I call my Crossfit idols. Everyday I would compare my times to some of the top crossfitters in our gym, and I have experienced a closing in the time gap. Guys who used to beat me by 5 or more minutes, I’m now within 2-3 minutes of their times, and it really keeps me motivated.
There were three particular challenges I had to overcome when committing to paleo: Getting a wide variety of food, keeping on track after cheats, and keeping a steady supply of paleo food in the refrigerator on a limited budget.
On previous diets, I would consume chicken and steak almost EVERY meal because my main goal was lean meat. You know how old that gets. With paleo, I was determined to spice it up a bit, branch out on different types of meat, fat, vegetables, and flavoring these foods with different spices; create variety! The recipes mentioned above helped me do this, along with insider information from my nutrition coach on where to get different types of specialty meat.
The next challenge was staying on track. I stayed pretty straight on my path of no cheating, but the days I did cheat, I remembered how good some of the food tasted. Banana Strawberry cake from your local Chinese bakery anyone? These were the days when I missed some foods, and that’s ok because cheats are allowed in moderation. Having one to two cheats a week will keep you on your track to success. Cheats remind you of why you are doing paleo, and at the same time reward you for your constant success and dedication. (Just don’t let them pile up on you) Another thing that kept me on track was my gains in the gym. When you are breaking a PR every week, you enjoy it and want it to keep coming. Also having lots of support from a significant other, as my girlfriend does for me, makes the difference. We would plan out new recipes with each other to try and she would cook vegetables for me on a regular basis.
The last challenge I faced was keeping a constant supply of affordable food in the refrigerator. Unless you can afford it, going grass-fed is hard to do on a small budget. So what did I do? Coupon watched, (having a super shopping girlfriend helped), bought meat in quantities I know I could eat in a week, freezed the remained, and bought my fruits when they were on sale.
If you are just starting on paleo, here are three suggestions to get you ready and motivated for your lifestyle change.
First, make sure you are always prepared! Always! Be sure to keep paleo snack on hand, have your food made the night before if you are taking it to work for lunch, and buy enough groceries to keep a steady supply of paleo food going. If you run out of food or groceries, you are likely to reach for the easier food, the stuff which will stray you from the diet. Personally I spend a couple hours each Sunday grilling up chicken, steak, fish, pork, bison, or any meat that I might want to eat during the week.
Another suggestion is to set short term goals each week, my nutrition coach had me do this and it works well. Set small goals like PR’ing a lift, or making a new recipe, or trying to cheat only once, and reach those goals. By setting new goals and obtaining them, I stayed positive and motivated during my first stretch of paleo.
The final suggestion is to keep a food log. Even if you are not using a nutrition coach, keep a food log. It will hold you accountable for what you eat, and will keep you aware of what you eat. If I didn’t have my food log I might ‘conveniently’ forget one of my cheats for the week. Remembering these cheats helps keep me on track.
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