Hi all! I wanted to give you an update on my progress. In my first post in this series, My Paleo Health Challenge, I outlined 5 goals I wanted to work on. Today is my 12th day doing this challenge. As of today, I am 7.5 pounds lighter!! Here's a breakdown of how I'm doing on each goal.
1. My first goal was to cook at home more and eat out less. I did improve a very little bit, eating lunch at home several days that I would normally have gone out, but I need to stick to this goal much more firmly. My pocketbook, as well as my waistline, will thank me.
2. Second, I wanted to stop eating grains and sweets. I did really well on this, by and large. I can think of two meals when I had grains, and I don't think I had any sweets at all, even over Easter. The fact that I lost so much weight without achieving all my goals really speaks to the essentialness of this one. Without grains and sweets, my body kicked into serious fat burning mode. And my cravings diminished A LOT.
3. My next goal was to limit potatoes and onions when cooking at home, and I was very successful at this. Instead of a potato side dish, I just had a salad, or no side dish at all. I am working on not feeling like there must be a veggie with every meal. I often have a salad with one of my meals, and if all I eat for dinner is steak with bone broth, that's okay. And easier to prepare.
4. My fourth goal was to be more conscious of my hunger, eating when hungry and stopping when full. I did pretty well at this. Eating when I am hungry seems to be pretty easy for me when I am mindful. It's actually kind of easy not to have to eat for a while in the morning. I get up at about 10:30, and I am not usually hungry until about 2:00. It's harder for me to stop when I have had enough. But I did that more often this week, leaving food on my plate at restaurants and at home. It is nice not to feel overstuffed after a meal.
5. My last goal was to do the Body by Science workouts once a week and to generally be more active. I did one work out, but haven't gone back for my second. I kind of dropped the ball on that. I need to find a way to motivate myself because I don't really like weight training, though I know how good it is for my body. I was WAY more active since starting this challenge, partly because the weather here has been so nice. I've been hiking and walking much more often, and I played tennis once as well.
I'm very satisfied by the results of my work this week, but I want to accomplish more on the goals I didn't do much on, like eating out less and doing the BBS workout more. One of the best things that has helped me is my new paleobuddies list. There are 8 of us, emailing each other to talk about small goals for the day and talking over our successes and failures. It has been a big help to me to feel accountable and to think of how I will feel posting at the end of the day. It's very motivating to want to make a good report. And I like seeing other people's daily goals; it reminds me that changing takes small in-the-moment actions. I've been focusing more on one good choice at a time, thanks to my paleobuddies, and that has really worked for me.
I am also taking Metformin, a drug prescribed by my endocrinologist to combat my insulin resistance and early signs of PCOS. I am not sure about the PCOS; I have some of the symptoms, but they are so closely related to hypothyroidism that I wonder if they are one and the same. He also says that he sees a lowered need for dessicated thyroid in patients who take it. I am trying it for now. Apparently, it can cause lots of digestive side effects, but I haven't experienced that at all. I would love to hear from people who may have used it, positives and negatives.
So anyway, my report is YAY! but still some good hard work to do.
