Week 19 Scorecard

I had no idea that Mother's Day weekend ranks up there with Thanksgiving in the eating category. Apparently I've been getting gypped all this time.

Ate out Friday night with friends, cooked for the mom and aunt on Saturday night, then went out Sunday afternoon for Mom's day. It. Is. Impossible. To. Eat. Out. And. Still. Lose. Weight.

There. I said it. We all know it's true. There are not enough workouts in the world to burn the calories you consume with food prepared by someone else. The math just doesn't work. The portion sizes alone will torpedo most healthy eating plans. And the BREAD basket. Just stop it now....

The total week's results weren't awful - no gain - but only losing a part of a pound does NOT fit into my overall goals. I haven't been in this weight range for a while, so I'm not sure my body knows what to do now! Overall total is now 21 pounds.

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In other news, Tuesday was the official end of the Paleo Diet 30-day trial. On Mother's Day (two days before the end), I had half a dinner roll. That's the first wheat/flour I've had in a month. It was good. It wasn't fabulous, which is mindblowing to me. In the past, I would have eaten at least two rolls without blinking. Because I didn't want a sudden change in my eating to make me sick, I just took a little of the roll, and ate a couple of bites of the rice that was on my plate. Yesterday I had a cookie - the first sugar I've had in a month. Again, not great, and definitely not worth the calories/sugar. [It was storebought, so I probably can't say sugar is permanently off my list.]

I also took measurements, since the scale wasn't showing a huge drop with Paleo eating. I lost an inch in my waist and an inch in my hips in the last month. I've worn three pairs of pants I haven't been comfortable in for a year or more.

Things I've realized doing Paleo:

• Bread/wheat cannot be a standard part of my diet. Staying away from crackers as my go-to snack, eating salads instead of sandwiches most of the time -- this will keep my carb addiction from coming back. I will have cereal occasionally, but probably a handful instead of a bowl.
• Cheese has to be a planned treat, not a habit. It has been the hardest thing to do without, which probably means it was a good idea for me to step away for a while. The mental shift is huge: salads without cheese taste just fine. Who knew?
• Sugar is added to EVERYTHING. The second ingredient in "sugar-free" coffee creamer? Corn syrup. Seriously.
• Redefining what makes snack food is a very important step in healthy living/weight loss. My list used to have all sorts of things on it, if I knew the calorie count. Goldfish, Triscuits, cereal, string cheese, chips, maybe a banana. Now, it's almost always fruit, nuts, occasionally carrots with guacamole. I keep bowls of fruit in the fridge - berries, grapes, oranges -- and that's what I grab. Sure, some of those have high natural sugars, but nothing like the carbs I would normally choose.
• It feels more expensive to eat like this. I go to the store weekly to buy produce and deli meat. But overall, the result has been very little change in the total grocery bill -- we eat what we buy, and almost nothing goes bad by the end of the week. Staying on the outside of the store really does make a difference. If we have to stock up on meat, then sure, the bill it a bit higher, but we were buying that stuff anyway. The difference is that now we actually eat it, instead of deciding that eating out is easier. The dining out bill has been cut by more than half. If we eat out once a week, it's still cheaper than the 2-3 times we used to, especially when you cut the fast food.
• Measuring food and counting calories/points is a pain in the butt. Okay, I already knew that, but now I'm spoiled and don't want to do it anymore.

My point? I'm not going off the Paleo plan anytime soon. The change in R-Dub's blood sugar levels has been amazing - he's stayed in the correct range the entire month. I sleep better (but still not enough...working on that), and in general feel better.

Thanks for hanging in with me during this experiment! I know it hasn't made for the most riveting posts, but blogging has kept me from straying, which was the whole point in starting this. Now that it's not part of a trial, I can move on to posting about other things, and continuing to check in. I've got some new workouts to try!