pure paleo 30

I’ve been hovering between 160-162 for a month. I’ve been eating very well and training hard. All good.  But the starting line draws closer with each passing day, and I’m determined to “lighten up”.

So I’ve teamed up with a kick-ass accountability partner whose inner drill sergeant gives me nightmares. We’ve agreed to a 45-day challenge. We were going to make it a 30-day challenge, but we’re endurance athletes.  And 45 days is well, longer than 30.

For the next two weeks, I’m stripping the carbs from my plate, specifically fruit smoothies. I think that will get the scale moving again.   Here’s my reminder: Rootein.

Plus I am accountable for my triathlon training plan, especially swim practice.  So you can look forward to a daily whinge report from me here.

The numbers from the gym scale on Thursday were heartening:  lower body fat, more muscle. That’s positive change!

Sorry fan club. But keeping you informed rated last on my dance card the last  10 days or so. Since my last post (last month!), I’ve been earning my keep.  Despite the long hours, I’ve trained with purpose and logged my food and stayed “pretty pure.” I can report one slice of bread. One pain au chocolate (this morning). One sweet and sour gummy worm. More than a few lattes. Otherwise, clean eats.

Daily averages:  the last week has been maintenance (1900 calories, 100 g protein, 200 g carbs, 83 g fat).   The carb count is out of whack due to a 3.5 hour bike ride. Carb load the days leading up to the ride plus food fest during the ride.  Nevertheless, I continue to drop body fat, down another 1% in the last two weeks, plus added some muscle. This according to the oracle at the gym.

Monday I will be joined by an accountability buddy. A real live person. Not just an imaginary internet crowd and my one subscriber.  And we’re on for 45 days. I like competition. If she can do it, so can I.  And my accountability buddy helped me get to last year’s 70.3 starting line.  So I know she’ll kick my a$$ if I slip up even a bit.  That means I’m back to daily check-in’s. And public shaming accountability.  How about you? Are you moving toward or away from your goals? There’s no standing still. Time never stops. And nothing lasts.

As an apology of sorts for being AWOL, I’ll give you this link to read about Paleo 2.0.  Food for thought. Now I’m going out for a run.

I had intended to post every day with a full confession of eats.  However, I’m working on a deadline and working very intensively. I’m sleeping well, eating well and training as usual, which makes me feel happy. It used to be that I’d give up these things when I was working on a deadline. Having a lot of deadlines meant I ended up tired, fat and unfit. That way of being didn’t t serve my ability to meet deadlines.

So the skinny on Pure Paleo is that I’ve had — eek – two lattes with milk in the last three days, and two fake pudding desserts.  And two pieces of hard candy while taking a test the other night. I doubt it did any good. Now for my act of contrition. None.  Look forward, not back.

I worked late Friday and made a nice steak when I got home.  I logged my food, caught up on Thursday’s post and went to bed. Food report: fruit smoothie with avocado, coconut milk and protein powder. Tea;  eggs and bacon, black coffee; veal, salad, beets; a pear; steak, Chinese vegetables, coconut milk,  red chard, a tangerine and a piece of chocolate.

Today I was glad to see the scale dropped again. 160.5.  I studied French grammar today and drank two cups of coffee, which made my chest feel like I had a train racing through it.  Interesting. I think I’ll stick with the Oolong tea. I added some cream to the espresso. But I didn’t like it.  I had a feeling of nostalgia and thought I’d enjoy this like I used to. But I didn’t. Oh well.

Food log for today: Eggs and bacon on grilled zucchini, spinach; coffee with cream;  smoothie with avocado and coconut milk, protein powder; ham and red pepper;  “Balance” bar from last summer that I dug out of a drawer while studying (blech); grilled burger with tomato, 1/4 avocado;  another coffee and more studying.  A couple pieces of chocolate.  **Today’s total is higher than the rest of the week, and higher in carbs too. And lower than in exercise  too.

I find this a little boring to write out. But paying attention to what I eat and how much has brought me closer and closer to my goal.  I’m almost there, and I feel secure in my ability to get there and stay there. I like how I feel eating like this. Though it’s a little boring to have just sweet potatoes, pumpkinor beets as a starch.  On the other hand, I feel good eating like this.  I’m leaning out.

**My perception is totally inaccurate. Both calories and carbs are in line with the week’s average.  Must be guilt over the chocolate.

I’m a day behind in posting. But I’m sticking to this.  I moved categories on the scale to “normal body weight” on Thursday. I’m within about 10 pounds of my goal, and I’m really happy about this. I can almost touch it.

And I had an office party in the evening.  I ate delicious items that included wheat. I forgot about my Paleo Pledge, feeling heady with the scale success. I thought a little won’t matter. I enjoyed breaded veal and some mushroom risotto. And a couple of cranberry orange muffins. Ironically, one of my colleagues is allergic to nuts. He asked about ingredients before taking anything from the pot luck table. It didn’t occur to me that I could make the same kind of choice not to eat something. I went for the muffins because half-way through the evening I was hungry again. I didn’t feel satisfied after the veal, salad and risotto.  (I hate estimating party food.)

The scale was up a pound this  morning. Any of a variety of causes could be true, including a lot of muscle soreness from yesterday’s weight lifting.  But the downward trend continues. And I’m moving on from the party meal. Back to the land of purity. And awareness.

(I sent this post just after midnight yesterday by email from my phone. It hasn’t shown up. So I’m reposting it. Otherwise I look like a slacker. And I’m not.)

First I have to ask why my gym has a candy bowl, pictured, by the door. Despite the germ factor, I will admit that in the past I’ve eaten some of these mints. But not today.

Food felt rushed. I squeezed eating into a busy day. To me, “pure paleo” doesn’t include protein powder supplements or teri-yaki beef jerky from a vending machine, but I had my reasons. They would being busy and not planning ahead. And I don’t have my numbers yet for the day, which is already yesterday. I will add them tomorrow. Rather, in the morning.

Food. I am doing great with no milk. That was the point of this blog, I think. Oolong Tea in the morning is good. At the office, I limited myself to one black coffee. Sometimes when I think I’m hungry, it’s really just thirst that my body is signaling. So roll call for today’s eats.

• Fruit smoothie, protein powder and coconut milk.
• Eggs and bacon and some salad garnish.
• At the gym, fresh juice and protein powder.
• Fish and carrots and salad.
• Walnuts, tomato, half a small bag of beef jerky from the vending machine. A chunk of banana from a colleague who traded for some of my walnuts.
• Home-made Chinese vegetables and chicken soup. Before swimming.
• Tangerine, fruit smoothie. After swimming.

I don’t normally eat a lot of fruit. But I was quite hungry today after the gym, and hungry after the pool too.

These treats are in my office for guests. Not me.  Having declared my intention to be pure, I stopped myself from sampling them when I thought I would have to ‘fess up.

When I am writing on a deadline, like now, I like to nibble. I used to like Good-n-Plenty’s while writing.  Instead today I  nibbled on walnuts. Next time I’ll get some baby carrots.

I’ll be back to rat on myself about the day’s eats.  This morning, I enjoyed Oolong Ti Kwan-Yin. It was really good.  No milk. Then some black coffee at the office.  No latte.

I’d like to eliminate coffee too since it’s so acidic.  And because I found out last night that another close family member has an auto-immune disease.  But one successful change at a time.

Okay, here’s the recap: Ti Kwan Yin Oolong. Egg poached on spinach. A little bacon.  A little coconut oil.  Serious craving for cafe latte in the elevator when the smell of the contents of my colleague’s cup wafted over me. Black coffee instead. With scrambled eggs and two slices of deli ham.  From the canteen.

Lunch: strange looking roasted half chicken from the canteen. I peeled back the skin and the fat and picked at the meat. Then washed my hands. green beans. Not pure paleo, but green. A couple new potatoes. Not pure either, but okay.  Cucumber slices, tomato slices, walnuts. Salad greens grubbed straight from the bag. Snack:  More walnuts and some raw tuna.

Dinner: Lean boneless pork chops, spinach. Grass-fed butter. A cup of mixed frozen berries, defrosted, with a Tblsp. of coconut milk and a tsp. palm sugar.  The berries were too sour. Palm sugar is the new cool, eco food. It tasted like brown sugar and wasn’t too sweet. I don’t usually eat sugar. But I figured it was better choice  than Splenda for dealing with the berries.