High five!….. Somebody? Anybody? Ah screw you guys, I’ll just high five myself.
Monday of this week marked the end of my inaugural Whole 30, which is a very strict implementation of the Paleo diet, and I pulled it off without a single cheat or hiccup.
It’s probably a good thing, because I think I was starting to get a little too crazy about the food I eat. In fact, there were multiple occasions where I woke up from a “nightmare” in which I’d unwittingly eaten something non-Paleo, or even had a beer without thinking about it…. Seriously it happened at least 3 times.
I don’t want to recover the same ground for those of you who’ve already read the previous posts, so if you’re just jumping in here, I’d recommend going back to the beginning for a better explanation of what exactly the plan and purpose was of my past 30 days….Okay, it actually ended up being 32, but who’s counting (me).
I wanted to post this earlier this week, but there were so many things that needed to be done after work: such as drink beer with friends, socialize, and start laying patio stones for my post-paleo palooza… I’m all about palooza’s around here.
By the way, if anybody wants to come help with this today, it’s one of those jobs that you look at and think, “Oh this is no big deal, probably take an hour or two….”
Damn you.... damn you all.
Time budgeting fail.
Anyway, this post isn’t about my inability to properly manage my time, or sequester your help. I want to give you the final scale and body fat numbers, as well as the “after”pictures from Monday. Before on the left, after on the right.
Obviously after just 30 days, you’re not going to see a huge difference, but I can tell that my back has leaned out. Anyway, as for the numbers….
DAY 32 on the Paleo diet: 178lbs @ 7.8% body fat
I’ll admit, I was a little disappointed in this. Not that a drop of almost 2% body fat and 8.5lbs in one month isn’t good, but 10 days ago I was at 7.3% body fat. Not sure what to attribute the gain in fat to, but I’ve got a couple theories based of my years of experience, wisdom, training, etc…Wait, I have none of these. Well here’s what I’m guessing anyway:
- Having dropped shed weight so quickly over the first 3 weeks, my body got wise and decided it didn’t want to starve to death and started to hold onto fat
- Fruit. I’ll admit that I ate more fruit over the last week and a half of the diet than I had the first 3 weeks. Fruit is “legal” on Paleo, but shouldn’t be eaten in large quantities, and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t eat a ton of blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries in the past 10 days. However, berries are low on the Glycemic Index compared to other fruits, so I figured eating a large amount of them wouldn’t be an issue. Maybe I was wrong?
Regardless, I’m quite happy with the results and my strength has only increased if anything while on the diet.
Last night at the gym, I maxed out on the weighted pull up at 100lbs. Most I’ve ever done. Feel good about that.
So what’s the plan now? Well I’m still waiting to get my blood work back from the doc, so until I see those results I’m going to eat relatively Paleo, but not be quite as strict. I’ve already had a little bit of bread (which I regretted afterwards) and of course I’ve had some beer/wine.
Just wanted to give you a final update on the journey and assure you that I made it through. After I get the blood work, I’ll do a real wrap up and give my overall impressions and take aways from it all.
Okay, I’ve literally only laid 7 of the 50 patio bricks, and that took my something like 2 hours, so I need to get to work…. Later peeps.
High five dude! 3rd set down your jaw line is way more defined – and even though you dropped 7 pounds you don’t look thinner but slightly more ripped. Thanks for the posts… enjoyed it!
@Patrick
Thanks man, yeah, I can definitely see the difference in the lower back and a little in the face. Appreciate you reading!
Good stuff man! Definitely leaned out in your back, and legs look a bit stronger too, nice. Looking forward to the final wrap-up post!
@Matt
Thanks bro. Yeah, I definitely see some differences even in such a small time frame. Hope your Paleo journey is going well!
When you say you immediately regretted the bread, can you say why? Did it make you feel bad? If so, did you ever have a bad reaction to bread before starting into Paleoland? Thanks.
@owenhugo
Yes, very shortly after eating it my stomach wasn’t feeling so hot. No nausea, diarrhea, or anything like that, but just general discomfort. My stomach had a WTF bro, why did you just do that feeling. Granted, it didn’t last all that long, but I’m much more aware now of how my body feels when I eat something, and I absolutely noticed a negative effect.
And to answer your second question: no, I never had any issues with bread before that I was aware of. But it may be one of those things that you don’t even notice until you experience what it’s like to not have it. Similar to my lack of sleep. Over the past few years I’ve been running on 5-6 hours of sleep per night, and every morning the thought runs through my head: it would be so nice to just die a quick death right now and sleep forever. But it was the norm for me and I didn’t think there was much of anything I could do about it. I just figured I wasn’t a “morning person”.
But now that I’ve experience what it feels like to get 8 hours or more of sleep, night after night, I can see a STARK contrast in my mood and how I feel when I don’t get the necessary sleep (which I’m sad to say, I’m currently back to my 5-6 hours, but I hope to get back to the 8 here very soon, since I felt so much better).
oh my gosh – you went to ellwoods? you live in richmond, and you eat paleo? so weird i just ran across your blog!
i live in the west end, near the mall! do you crossfit out here? nice to meet you!
-r
@Rebekah Nelson
Hi Rebekah! Funny you should mention it, because I’m responding to your comment from Ellwoods this very moment. You’d be ashamed of me though, as I’m eating a BLT sandwich (but gluten free!).
And no m’am, I do not do Crossfit. I’ve considered trying it at some point in my fitness journey, but currently it’s got a quite a few other things in front of it on the list.
Good luck to you, and thanks for reading! Maybe I’ll catch you roaming around town someday, and we can trade recipes or whatever Paleo peeps do when they cross paths.
Thanks for posting your progress…..
Just curious, can you use almond milk for coffees? instead of soy, or dairy? or even coconut…?
Just starting this Paleo Diet….
@cheryl
Hi Cheryl. Yes, I’ve started using almond and coconut milk quite frequently. I still like my coffee black sometimes (it’s really not bad after you get used to it), but when I need “milk” for anything, I tend to use these 2 substitutes.
Thanks for the comment and for reading, and good luck with Paleo!