First let me start by saying I am NOT an expert in ANYTHING paleo or fitness related. However, I have had a lot of success and frustrations in my weight loss journey and for the first time I feel motivated enough not just to post about what I am doing but to help someone else who may find this life style a match for them. So, if you are looking for a quick fix or some miracle, I'm not it. Just being me and I thought this would be fun and helpful since I've been posting all of my food and on Instagram and Facebook for all to see anyway :). My hopes for this blog are for continued motivation for myself and and others and to share with friends and whoever else is interested. If you don't like it...well you can just click the little "x" and be on your way.
So... where do I start??? How and why did I start Paleo?
In September 2011 I was almost 180 lbs. This is after getting myself down to 150 for my wedding in October 2010. So basically I lost 30 lbs for the wedding and gained it all back. I somehow gradually gained weight that I had lost from eating crazy and not caring or having time to care about my health. Some of that weight was gained from a combination of being happy in my marriage which they say is normal where you both gain weight after the wedding but the bulk of that I think was gained from stress and bad eating from working at DCFS. I hated that job with a passion. So much so that I would have anxiety every Sunday night thinking about returning to work the next day. Yes my friends... It's called emotional eating. And although I have a supportive loving husband he can't take a fork away from my mouth lol. Or should I say fries :). So anyway the point is I was gaining weight and getting less and less motivated to shed it off with every lb I gained. My supervisor even thought I was pregnant at one point because my stomach was bulging out. Not cute.
I was unhappy and I needed a change. So I prayed and talked to my husband and decided it was time to quit my job and find a more rewarding one. Left DCFS and started at my current job July 2011 and after a few months I got motivated by my coworker Carla (one of my fitness inspirations) to join a boot camp to jump start my fitness journey again. I joined Los Angeles Adventure Boot Camp for a month on a $40 groupon deal and started hiking 3 days a week. I still ate what I wanted but ate smaller portions and counted calories with Myfitnesspal and that helped me lose 10 lbs I a month. Took me two more months to lose another 10 lbs and I was happy and comfortably plateaued. Worked out for months and months and began to get frustrated that I couldn't lose anymore weight so I just said ok this must be my body's ideal weight since nothing is coming off. I tried working out longer, eating less calories, protein shakes, slim quick (made me feel like I was on PCP and didn't lose a lb or an inch), and finally realized I needed to change my diet.
Flash forward to August 2012 when I got inspired by another friend of mine Christina who does Crossfit and would post these amazing paleo dishes. I was like damn she's eating bacon and she's ripped like that?? I need this diet in my life. So I messaged her asked questions and decided to try it 28 days before my cruise with my husband.
I had been working out consistently for a year anywhere from 5 to 7 days a week and had been annoyed with the lack of progress with my inches and lbs. I started Paleo in September 2012 and decided to just see how I felt and if I would get any results and it kind of turned into a crack addiction lol. I kept trying all these new recipes and losing weight like crazy. First week I lost 7 lbs second week 5 more lbs and it just kept gradually coming of after that. Soon I kinda stopped keeping track because I was just feeling so good about how I looked didn't care how much I weighed as much as I did how my clothing fit. I am down to 138 and a size 4. Haven't seen those numbers since high school early college. I now eat paleo about 90 to 95 % of the time and allow myself a cheat item or two here and there. I can't stop taking about it because I can't believe that I can eat good tasting food and still be healthy and look good. I'm more confident than I have been in years and so that's why I say I have drank the kool-aid. I've posted some before pics I took when I started boot camp sept 2011 (first two pics) and recent pics from this month and last month. I've been same weight for the past month plus or minus a lb. But gaining more lean muscle. I'm flexing in the pics but my goal is have them be like that without flexing eventually :)
This blog I hope will inspire you regardless if paleo is for you or not. Always set your own goals and make sure you set mini goals and not compare to others so you don't get disappointed. As promised I will post recipes probably weekly and do breakfast lunch dinner so people can have options for the week. Look forward to what this will or won't be. Enjoy and thanks for taking the time to read. I will do another post with start up info since this one is too long already. I encourage you guys to take a before pic if you decide to do it. I hated my before pic when I took it but I'm so glad I did because now I look back at it and think wow our bodies can do anything that we allow them to.
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