My 8-Week Paleo Challenge; Are You In?

First off, I want to give you an update on my progress with my Intermittent Fasting routine that I have been doing since my post on 1/8.

I decided to opt for the 16 hour daily fast which limited my eating to between 12pm and 8pm. And although it’s only been 3 weeks, here are my thoughts:

• I hate it.

• I struggled a lot (and subsequently cheated a few times) with eating after 8pm. I usually eat dinner around 5pm and snack at 7:30 or so, but around 10pm is when I really want something else. Going to bed early was the only thing that worked, but I woke up starving.

• My workouts weren’t great because I was tired from not having breakfast. The idea is to exercise in a fasted state, which is supposed to burn more fat and then eat your first meal right after the workout. My schedule didn’t afford me that luxury and I usually had to wait a few hours before my first meal, post workout. Not good.

• Oh yea, my weight is down 2 pounds (which isn’t great for me) and my body fat has dropped by 2% (not too shabby). I am physically stronger and quite a bit more muscular, but that is from the intensity of my workouts more than anything else.

I’ve decided that IF isn’t really something I want to continue with and am instead going back to something that worked incredibly well for me a few years ago; The Paleo Diet.

Paleo, Baby!

There have been a ridonkulous amount of articles written about the Paleo and primal type diets. If you need a crash course in it though, check out this very comprehensive (but interesting), guide to the Paleo Diet by Steve from NerdFitness.com.

The reason I’m doing the Paleo Diet is two-fold:

1. I love shitty carbs, especially rice and pasta. Not that these are inherently shitty, but they kind of are.. And there are just too many calories in them and I won’t be able to trim down how I want if I keep them in my diet.
2. I am in a competition of sorts with my girlfriend. We gave each other 12 weeks to get as lean as possible and January 31st marks the 4-week point. That leaves 8 solid weeks to really focus on eating and leaning out. The winner will be based on the total percentage of body fat lost and as you know, our diets are responsible for 70-80% of our results. If you want to know what’s at stake, email me…

I ate Paleo style a few years back when I was working my desk job, and although I was sedentary for 8 hours a day, I got into incredible shape. At first my energy dropped off because I was addicted to Red Bull, Dr. Pepper, and high fat and sugary foods. I ate like shit and felt pretty awful much of the time.

When I cut out all those things as well as dairy and grains, I felt awesome. I mean really awesome! After a few weeks of debilitating sugar withdrawals, I started feeling much more energetic and when I finally did eat something lousy, I felt horrible.

Join Me, Cavemen!

So it’s time to give the Paleo another shot and I’d like you to join me.

I’m not asking you to go to extremes and turn your life upside down; just dump all the crap in your daily diet and eat like a caveman for two months. No worries, right?

What’s in it for you, you ask?

Well, there’s eating quality foods and eliminating all the processed, fried, and fast foods that you normally eat. So there’s that.You will also most likely experience a drop in fat, weight, and a subsequent increase in energy and overall health and well being.

You also will be held accountable by yours truly. Yes, I will personally email you to death to make sure you’re sticking to our plan.

If this sounds like something you are up for, I want you to do two things:

1. Leave a comment here letting me know you’re in or email me directly here.
2. Commit to it and stick to it. If you join me and quit, you will be dead to me as a reader.

If you do decide to do this with me, make sure you are medically cleared to do so. Although you are really just eating foods from a few food groups, it’s doesn’t hurt to talk to your physician first. After all, this is ultimately a low carb diet and if you’re used to eating 50,000 grams of carbs each day like most Americans, then it might cause a bit of a reaction when you stop..

The start date is February 2nd so let me know ASAP if you’re in!!