I made a lot of mistakes while gone on Christmas vacation. I got caught in a sugary web of holiday treats, egg nog galore, and all the food I could ever imagine. While I put on several unwanted pounds, I made the commitment to not look back and to move forward. To make the changes to once again lose the weight and help my body seek its true potential. No, it was not a New Year’s resolution, but more a declaration of commitment that I will stick to. After all I had done it once before and know that I can again.
Nutrition
Last year, my wife and I went Paleo and absolutely loved it. Who wouldn’t love eating delicious foods and not having to pay as much attention to calories being consumed as long as you were sticking to good wholesome foods. While in the past we had a lot of success doing the Whole 30, we found after our first initial time, it was hard to stay on track. It wasn’t because the Whole 30 was impossible, it was merely because we didn’t have a plan to stick to. This year, we decided to take a new approach. In December, my wife purchased Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo. Check out her blog at Balanced Bites. The book features several 30 day meal plans to help the body through sugar detox and to get it on a path of fat burning. The cover states there are over 120 easy recipes that make eating Paleo a breeze. Let me tell you, easy makes these recipes sound hard. We absolutely love the book and are doing the 30 day fat burning guide. As the title of this blog suggests, we are a week into the program and seeing wonderful results! Please see below.
Exercise
I have really become passionate lately about becoming fit. Someday I would love to get into a Cross Fit gym but unfortunately the costs are just astronomical here in the Nashville area. Fortunately I have a strong background in Physical Activity as it is part of my Masters degree in Public Health. Monday’s I focus on my upper body working the chest, biceps, triceps and some back. Typically I’ll start off with a heavy dose of pull ups (typically I can get 3 sets of 5) throwing in negative pull ups for the other 5 reps in each set. I’ll follow the pull ups with push ups testing my max number I can do at one time. The rest of the routine is fairly basic with three styles of bench, curls, dips, triceps extensions, etc. Tuesdays is my leg day focusing on squats, lunges, and dead lift Wednesdays is my HIIT day which changes weekly. Some days it consists of a 30 minute HIIT Treadmill workout and other days it involves a jump rope, and a modified version of burpees for 10 sets of 8 reps. Thursdays will usually be a repeat of Monday’s and Friday’s have been a modified leg day not so much focusing on strength but endurance. Overall I have had a lot of success with this program and it keeps me coming back from more. I am hoping that I’ll start seeing some major results soon!
Progress
This week has gone fantastic. Of the 20 pounds I gained over Christmas, I lost 15 of it in the first week alone. I assume that most of that was inflammation and stored water from my body being put on alert with the influx of carbs. I cannot tell you enough how happy my wife and I are with the Practical Paleo book. The meal plan has been so easy to follow and the food is absolutely fantastic. We have made some modifications, especially to the breakfasts but overall have followed it to a T. Last nights pesto shrimp and zucchini linguine was phenomenal.
The gym on the other hand has been what I expected in the beginning of January. Loaded with a ton of folks trying to fulfill their resolutions. I feel for them, I really do. Two days last week, the parking lot was absolutely full and let me with no way to access the gym. Instead I took a new approach and came back to the office to run stairs. 75 flights of stairs total in about a 45 minute work out. Not too shabby. As always I try to keep track of what I do so the next time I can knock out more weight, more stairs, or faster times.
Persistence definitely pays off and I’ve learned quickly not to expect results right away. I’ve been lifting weights for about a year now and while I’ve seen some good muscle growth, I have yet to see those long desired six pack abs or the tone in the arms and back. I will say though that my shoulders and legs have been the fastest to tone.
