*I totally stole that line from Jen.
But it does sum up nicely how I felt after this Paleo challenge, the second one I’ve done this year. (To refresh your memory…Paleo means no sugar, no grains and no dairy. Yes to meat, yes to veggies and yes to fruit.)
I felt weak.
I cheated once a week during the five-week challenge.
I didn’t punish myself for cheating and there was definitely no guilt. To put it simply, I just wasn’t very into it. (It’s not you Paleo, it’s me!) Maybe it’s because, as my Paleo partner aptly observed, now that we know we can do it, we question why we’re doing it again.
It’s the money and glory you get with winning.
Not really.
I did accomplish everything I wanted to during this challenge…running a faster Bolder Boulder and getting stronger. (I’m not unassisted pull-up strong. Yet. But I’m getting there.)
I just didn’t enjoy denying myself this time around. Surprise, surprise. Each time I cheated, it was because of a celebration I was taking part in…a wedding reception, a new pizza oven, a successful race…and I wanted to be indulging. As part of the festivity. And as part of life.
I didn’t learn as much this time as the first time I tried Paleo, but there were a few things that I should mention about the past five weeks…
- I’m still in love with coconut milk. That hasn’t changed. And I may have actually drank some if it straight out of the can. Ahem. No judgments…when you’re talking Paleo desserts, you’re not talking about much. I enjoyed many, many bowls of berries and coconut milk without ever growing weary of the stuff.
- Much more cooking on my part this challenge. A combination of factors made this happen, but I’m glad I was able to take the reins and try some new things in the kitchen. I do know how to cook, I’m just woefully out-of-practice.
- Even though he said he wasn’t going to do this challenge with me, my husband is just so darn supportive that he couldn’t NOT do it with me. I’m pretty sure he didn’t eat Paleo during the day (proof being the french fry container I found in our car’s cupholder) but at night, he was still cooking Paleo and taking my dietary needs into consideration. For the record, he never ate any ice cream in front of me. (Well, except for that one fancy dinner out with my parents…but it was his birthday…and I’ve almost totally forgotten about it…)
- We were still limited to only 4 drinks a week but potato vodka was on the list of allowed alcoholic beverages this go-around. (Still not exactly sure why since we couldn’t eat potatoes…but I didn’t want to ask too many questions when it came to alcohol. I knew I’d be needing it.) But with the inclusion of potato vodka, I found this little number to be the perfect Paleo cocktail: a bloody mary. The Kitchen makes their own tomato juice and it was easily the best bloody mary I’ve ever had…Paleo or no Paleo.
- In related news, brunch is the best meal to enjoy outside of your own kitchen while on Paleo.
So even with my lackluster motivation this challenge, I still ended up achieving some pretty good results.
I lost 5 pounds and 2 inches off my hips. In post-Paleo workouts, I lifted more and performed better than I had pre-Paleo.
And…my partner and I came in fifth place out of all the teams taking part in the challenge. (You can read his recap of Paleo 2.0 here.) Which means we didn’t get any money, but we did make it onto the podium.
While I’ve been slowly easing out of Paleo…a nibble of expensive gouda here, a french fry there…I know that moving forward, there’s no way I can go back to mindless eating. Life’s too short to not pay attention to what you’re putting in your mouth and what effect it has on your body.
Which is just another way of saying yes, you can buy me a beer now.
