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Merry Christmas, Paleo Peeps!

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Sherry’s holiday recipes are here! We had an amazing Paleo Christmas meal, and she has many of the recipes, or links to them, in this blog post. Enjoy!

paleosherry's avatarOur Daily Bacon

Merry Christmas, to all of my blog followers, and everyone who is struggling like I am to maintain some kind of food impulse control amid the avalanche of decadent foods that are readily available this time of year.

I apologize for the long delays between posts.  During the holidays, E.J. and I have so many events and activities planned every weekend, so prep cooking is a quick and easy affair, full of easy go-to favorites from my Favorite Recipes page, and smoked & grilled meats.

For the big holiday weekend, I actually put together 2 big meals and mixed in some new winners I’m happy to share.

IMG_2268.JPGFor Christmas Eve, my brother came into town, and we feasted on a couple of stuffed chickens from Hebert’s specialty meats along with baked sweet potatoes and balsamic glazed Brussels sprouts.  But before that, I wanted to give E.J. a sweet breakfast indulgence…

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Post-Holiday Affirmations

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I enjoyed the holiday. 

I ate a lot in volume, but I made good decisions otherwise. 

I will not let the scale dictate my mood over the next week of vacation. 

I will get right back up and continue to eat right. 

The scale may not be my friend today, but it is not my enemy. 

I will lose the extra few pounds I put on. I just need to stay the course and be patient. 

I feel great and I’m still 100+ lbs lighter this Christmas than in 2014 and 60 lbs lighter than last Christmas.

My clothes still fit right. I still look good in them.

I will run again tomorrow and it’ll feel great!

Keep your chins up, folks. We all ate a lot this weekend. It’s perfectly okay and normal. Just get back on track and instead of fixating on gains, remember the good times with friends and family. That is truly the most important part. 

A Message from PaleoMarine to Those Who Ate Too Much Today

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file_001-8It’s Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas.

Get back on the horse tomorrow. Today, eat, drink, and be merry. Celebrate with family and friends if you can. If you can’t, know that someone, somewhere loves you and wishes you were spending Christmas with them.

Don’t concern yourself with your weight today. Just have fun and make smart decisions where you can.

And if you can’t? Big deal. Christmas comes once a year. That horse is still waiting for you tomorrow to get back up onto it.

Merry Christmas

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file_001-8Sherry and I would like to wish all of the readers here a Merry Christmas. In our home, we hold Christmas on the 24th in keeping with my Hungarian heritage where Christmas Eve is celebrated at 6 pm. My wife, being culturally American, and I have compromised, however. We have Christmas the morning of the 24th. This allows us to have Christmas with our extended family and/or friends on the 25th.

This year, we will have some family and dear friends coming over for a lunch on the 25th and then we will visit another dear friend and have dinner and celebrations at their home. I am looking forward to the holiday festivities and the time with loved ones.

Food-wise, our meals will be Paleo. Sherry has perfected holiday cooking to the extent that our non-Paleo guests either can’t tell the food is Paleo, or if they know it is, don’t mind because it’s so delicious. Paleo is very close to traditional cooking, so with the exception of breads and sweets (which can be prepared Paleo), it’s actually quite an easy meal to remain compliant on.

The only real danger for me is volume. I love to eat holiday food! I have, however, decided that if I do over eat over the holidays, I will deal with it by being extra-committed to eating good foods after the holidays. I will also try to limit my serving sizes as much as I can. We’ll see how that goes!

It’s okay to enjoy foods over the holidays with your family and friends. Don’t watch the scales and don’t stress about not being able to partake. Live, eat, drink, and be merry! It’s what the holidays are all about! You have the rest of the year to work on your diet/health/weight.

Merry Christmas!

Dinner with an old friend

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On Wednesday evening last week, I had dinner with a former fellow Marine who is six weeks into his new healthy lifestyle after doing a Whole30 with his wife. They are still eating Whole30 and are slowly transitioning into Paleo, and we talked about his progress and how it’s been going for them.

First and foremost, he says he feels a lot better, and his blood sugar levels have been greatly reduced since starting the Whole30. He also noticed that eating anything with sugar, even natural sugars in fruits, spikes his blood sugar, so he avoids them. He has lost weight, but more than that, he lost inches off his waist and he is looking at having to purchase new trousers soon. Fortunately for him, he and I have the same inseam, so I will be able to give him some of my lightly used trousers I no longer can wear (they’re too big!).

What really struck me was his all-in attitude. He and his wife have decided that there will be no celebratory cheat days or cheat meals. They are staying the course and sticking to the diet in a strict fashion. They are not willing to cut corners or go half-in. For this great attitude, they are being rewarded by feeling much better, having more energy, getting away from cravings, and losing weight. My friend’s benefits are extending into his measurable blood sugar readings. He is currently awaiting the latest lab results, but his own tracking has shown a greatly reduced A1C level since starting the Whole30.

I can now count at least a dozen people who are among my friends that have all either done a Whole30 and transitioned into Paleo or who have adopted the Paleo lifestyle. All are seeing benefits to their health and weight. All are seeing benefits to energy levels, and all have reduced cravings. The results I’ve seen were pretty amazing, and I can’t say all my friends have lost as much weight as I did so quickly, but none of my friends were as overweight as I was, so it goes to reason that I put up such big numbers. Everyone else is seeing 2-5% weight loss per month, which is pretty healthy.

I’m really proud of my friend and his wife. They have adopted a healthy attitude of making sure to notice all change, and they’ve noticed their waist sizes reducing, energy levels increasing, and yes, even weight loss. Put all these together, and they are being met with great rewards for their hard work, and I am always excited to hear of their progress. I look forward to seeing them again soon and discussing their journey with them some more.

Go All-In or Go Home

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That’s pretty harsh, I know, but I’m PaleoMarine, not PaleoBeatAroundTheBushGuy. I get tired of seeing people working out so very hard without making a commitment to eating right and then seeing these same people complain that they can’t get skinny because they have “Fat genes.” Seriously. Someone actually told me that.

Weight loss is 85-90% diet and only 10-15% exercise. Tops. I lost over 100 lbs without lifting a finger! Since I started running three months ago, I’ve lost maybe 10 lbs. I can’t really attribute that weight loss to either exercise or diet, but I know that at this point, it’s got to be a combination. I continue to be very careful with what I eat and how much I eat. I still do not allow myself cheats (or as I call them, sabotage meals) and I very rarely allow myself any indulgences (holidays and special events are exceptions, and even then, I try to be careful).

When you are really heavy like I was, you have to go all-in. You can’t half do this. You have to commit. If you don’t, then you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, failure, and surrender. There is no place for any of that on my journey, so I stay the course. Even when I’m stalled, I take solace in knowing I’m doing what is right, what needs to be done, and that I will see a return of progress. At the very minimum, I’m not gaining anything back, so there’s that.

Currently, I’m at my lowest weight in over 30 years: 177.0 lbs. These last 5 lbs have been VERY slow going to lose, but I’m losing them. The biggest change has been losing over 2″ off my waist. I am now into 32″ trousers, and even these are starting to feel big. I can wear size medium shirts and jackets, and more recently, all my new shirts and coats are smalls.

If you endeavor to lose weight, go all-in. It’s hard at first, but if you use some of your ample willpower and motivation (you know you have it in you; you just need to tap into it and USE it), you will get through the hard part and make it into the phase where you lose weight and make steady progress. I’m not saying you will lose weight fast, but you will make progress. Remember, progress isn’t always just what’s on the scale, either. But commit. Go all-in. Do it right. Don’t waste your own time. Each day we burn? We don’t get those back. Make the best of each one you get.

Another exercise post: this one about rest

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file_000-52A common mistake that nearly everyone I know has made when getting into exercise is doing it too much. Being motivated and wanting to make progress quickly is something we all go through. I wanted to hit the road every day when I started running again, but this time, I let my brain override my overwhelming desire to get out there every day and I sat out every other day. This turned out to be the single most important key to my success in being able to continue running without injury for my first three months of running.

How I started back into running

The only plan I had was for 30 minutes of nonstop running. I didn’t care about my pace or speed: just shuffled along for 30 minutes. Looking back, it was a laughably slow pace, but I did it; I made it all the way through without stopping.

I continued by increasing my pace every time until I started noticing that the distances I was running were creeping up. I hit two miles, then two and a half, then three… and I was up to four and a half when I got sick and had to stop running for nearly two weeks.

That two week break was hell for me. There’s no other way to put it. I wanted to get out there so badly to run. I had time to think about what was compelling me to go, and I think it came down to the following:

  1. I had begun to enjoy running. It was something I was looking forward to every other day, and not being able to do it actually made me feel anxious.
  2. Didn’t want to lose progress. I had been increasing my pace and distance nicely, and I was very proud of the progress I was making. I was feeling good after runs, and sometimes, even during them. I didn’t want to go back to when runs were difficult.
  3. Had a 5k coming up I was training for. I was hoping to be in as good of shape as I possibly could before the run. With the cold hitting me when it did, I was unable to train until a week before the run.

Where I am today with running

Now, I’m back to my regular running. My last run was 3.53 miles at a 10 minute mile pace. It’s not my fastest, but it was comfortable. I will not push myself; I will do as I did before I got sick which is to allow my body to gradually get used to the distance and increase the pace enough to remain comfortable. I’m not competing with myself or in any hurry. I do push enough to keep improving, but I’m not looking to win any races, so I’m allowing my body to make its increases naturally. I am also making sure to take a day off between runs. This seems to be helping so much with regards to the progress I make. By giving my legs time to heal and strengthen, I am better able to get back out and run a little harder each time.

This isn’t a novel concept. It’s what I’ve been taught since I was in the Marines: a run/rest cycle is important to safely build muscle and stamina.It has been working for me for the past three months. I recommend you try it yourself.

The Spare Skin Update

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This post may be a bit into TMI territory. If you don’t want to read about extra skin and my body image, then I suggest you skip this post. Continue reading “The Spare Skin Update” →

Cost and Paleo

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File_000 (41)Once again, someone told me today, “I love Paleo, but I can’t afford it.” I asked them what they were buying, and they said, “Well, all the organic, free-range stuff is so expensive!” I asked them about buying the non-organic stuff and just cooking them as Paleo, and they reacted as if I were speaking Martian to them.

Yes. You can do this. It’s allowed.

Is it better for you to eat the “Good” stuff? Of course it is. But why go completely off-plan and back to a diet that you know is not good for you just because you can’t afford the more expensive organic or free-range foods? All the recipes that Sherry and I post are just as doable with the non-organic foods as they are with organic.

Yes, adopting a Paleo lifestyle can be expensive, but it’s getting better. More and more places (like Kroger, Sam’s Club, Costco, and H*E*B to name a few) are all carrying more and more Paleo friendly or even Paleo-focused foods for good prices. The prices are even dropping month-over-month, and going Paleo is getting more and more affordable.

Don’t let cost convince you to look elsewhere. You can do this on the cheap. Sure, you have to use some ingredients that aren’t as great for you as they would be if you could get the organic, free-range, no hormone or anti-biotic versions, but at least you will be cutting out grains, beans, dairy, and foods with added-sugar and soy. The benefits are overwhelming.

Perspectives on Diets

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I don’t mean weight loss diets. I’m talking about the way we eat. There are many diets out there: Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, Ketogenic, etc. Every devotee of their respective diets get pretty evangelical about the benefits and virtues of these diets (guilty as charged!), and tries to recruit others to “See the light.” Some (I don’t do this) even look down at others not eating the way they do and diet-shame them. “Eww! You eat MEAT!?!? That’s SO BAD FOR YOU!”

I have adopted the Paleo Lifestyle, and while I think it’s right for me and possibly could be right for you, I won’t preach it unless you want to hear it. Well, except for this blog, because it’s my mouthpiece, and I figure if you don’t want to read it, you’ll click elsewhere. But beside that, I never tell people about my diet unless they ask. And even then, I start with a very short blurb about it unless people want to go deeper with it.

I recently encountered someone who was a vegetarian and they admonished me for being Paleo because it was “Bad for you, bad for animals, and bad for the environment.” I didn’t feel like arguing with them because everyone I know who is Paleo tries to take our environment and the treatment of animals into consideration. Sherry and I prefer organic and free-range food that is free of antibiotics and hormones. We prefer that any meat we eat has been ethically treated or wild-caught. Are we able to conform to this 100% of the time? No, but we try, and we do when possible.

I don’t really care what you do, what you’re eating, how you’re eating, etc. That’s your business. If you ask me about my diet, I will tell you. If you want to go in-depth about it, I will. I refuse to go into debates on the different diets, though. I honestly just want people to eat in a way that allows them to be healthy and is conducive to being fit and living longer. If you can do that and you’re happy with your method, then more power to you!

I will say that the cabbage soup diet and any of these single-food weight loss diets are the only diets I will openly look down on and speak out about. They are stupid, have no basis in science, and fail miserably. Every person I know who has done any of these “Diets” has failed and packed on more weight afterward than they began with. They are all horrible and dumb.

All the others? Rock on. Do what you do. As long as it’s making you healthy, helping you lose weight, and aiding your journey in getting fit, then I’m all for it.