Naturally after my last post I had a couple of paleo cheats, one was chips and queso (delicious) and the other was a nice hearty slice of pecan pie (with ice cream!) from Taste of Texas. I don't feel bad about either of those cheats, but I did notice how bad I felt physically when I started feeding myself the bad (but very very good) foods. I hope I got it out of my system because I'm about to compete in pinup crossfit's first ever paleo challenge.
The idea behind the challenge is to show the members how changing their diet can change their life. On the first day we have our body fat measured (the correct way, I'm not sure which method but I know its more scientific than height / weight) and then we embark on a 6 week challenge of who can lose the most body fat. Notice I didn't say the most weight, but who can lower their body fat % the greatest.
While I'm confident I can eat perfectly paleo (at least as to the point of splitting hairs about grass fed whey protein shakes), I don't think I can win this competition if some of the larger individuals take it seriously (which I hope they do). Fatter people always have huge advantages in fat loss competitions (even percentage based competitions) because the initial shock to the system is accompanied by the most fat loss. I've already lost about 23lbs, and my weight loss has really slowed down, meaning I probably won't be able to keep up no matter how clean I'm eating, but I'm going to give it a go. The winner gets a free 3 months at the gym.
This competition is the perfect motivation I needed to really clean out any bad parts remaining in my diet. We will be taking before and after pictures, and obviously doing a lot of trash talking to each other to stay motivated. The coaches have offered all the support for participants, including GOING GROCERY SHOPPING WITH US. I don't think Charlie realizes what he's signed up for, because I'm going to be taking him to whole foods every day to shop for the next days worth of groceries. I will definitely be keeping a food log for them to review, even though I do have a cheat day planned for when I'm in NYC (gotta have NY pizza right?).
For now I'm really trying to cut the last remaining 20 lbs or so left, and am trying to get away from so many protein shakes (not quite there yet) and to really get my nutrients from natural sources.
For now my usual diet looks like this:
6:30 am - Scrambled Eggs with Sauteed Onions (might need to add in a protein)
9:00 am - morning protein shake (not sure if this is staying or not)
11:00 am - Grilled chicken, vegetable mix, a couple spoonfulls of almond butter before returning to work
2:00 pm - Handful of trailmix (nuts,berries,and mostly seeds), wait 10 minutes to determine if I'm still hungry, if still hungry eat another handful
4:00pm - A serving of sweet potato as a pre-workout meal
6:30pm - recovery shake
7:30pm - Grilled chicken, vegetable mix
You might be thinking "does he really stick to that?", and to answer, yes I do. This routine makes it easy for me, not only in staying healthy but also in shopping for the weeks groceries. My main question during the challenge will revolve around if I'm eating enough vegetables and are they a broad enough mix (currently onions,carrots,broccoli,bell peppers).
As you can see I've already eliminated the afternoon protein shake, and hope to eliminate the morning protein shake once I figure out a breakfast. Also, I've been reading about how wonderful a food spinach is for the body, and am trying to find ways to incorporate it into my meals.
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