Thus far I’ve posted mostly all successes on this blog. How I lost the weight eating great food, etc. Well, this past month has been a disaster : ( I was down to a very comfortable weight for my body type, hovering safely between 197 and 199. It sounds like a lot but I have very large thighs/calves naturally, so although I would prefer to be in the 185lb range it might actually be too skinny for me.
Regardless of that dream….I’m now back up to 202. The holidays have been killing me – constant parties and lack of discipline on my part are not a good combination. In years past I would have eaten completely differently at these dinners/parties – as much beer, stuffing, pie, etc., that I felt like eating. After all, “it’s the holidays!” This year I felt like I was eating pretty sanely. Much more than usual, but definitely sensibly. Nonetheless, the uptake in carbs was not met with an uptake in exercise and I think that was the culprit. I stopped doing typical cardio a while back as I was bordering on the chronic cardio addiction that is so prevalent. But I then slipped away from going to the gym for a couple of weeks straight, which was not good. Add to all of this the fact that I have just not been good about learning to cook for myself, and my wife has basically not cooked a meal at home in a month and we’ve been going out to eat constantly, and you can see how this has happened.
Tomorrow is the New Year and I have been trying to think about what my goals for 2012 should be. I’m still amazed at what I was able to do in 2011 and the awesome life changes that I achieved. I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit the last 4 or 5 months and I think it’s time to finally make the change and commit to a true Paleo/Primal diet and exercise routine. While 80% of what I do is aligned with it, I’m going to go heavier on the non-processed foods, and start following Sisson’s workout routine very strictly of moving slowly a lot, lifting heavy things, some HIIT, and sprinting. I’ve already started that this past week and now it’s time to implement the rest. So here are the key diet goals going into 2012:
- Conform more closely to the Paleo/Primal way of eating and exercising
- Learn to cook. Really.
- Macronutrient breakdown goal of 65% fat, 30% protein, 5% carbohydrate
- Organic, grass-fed, etc. as much as is practical. It’s worth the expense.
The biggest change here are bullets 2 and 4: learning to cook for real, and going full with the organic and grass-fed stuff as much as is practical.
I don’t really plan on ‘learning to cook’ – I plan on learning to cook my own damn food. I do a little bit of cooking – I cook breakfast every morning, and usually do my own lunch. Dinner has been a problem. My wife and kids eat mostly carbohydrate like most other family. That said, my wife is very good, when she cooks, to cook something that I can eat. So, for example, if she cooks spaghetti and meatballs she’ll always cook lots of meatballs for me to pair it up with a salad. But really, I need to just have a ‘food divorce’ from my wife and agree to split up and I cook my own dinner. Ideally I’d like to cook for the family a paleo dinner a couple/few times per week and share the responsibility with her, but only if she commits to eating right.
As for the organic/grass-fed foods. I’m gonna try going to Whole Foods and find a local natural food store/source and see what the true cost of this stuff is. I know it’s pricey as hell. But, and I know I sound like a car salesman here, I see it as ‘an investment’.
So that’s it. Sorry to disappoint : ) Tonight we’re going to a friends house for New Years Eve and I’m sure I’ll have beer and some type of junk food. Tomorrow, I’ll join the legions of Resolutionaries in implementing new life changes. Onward and upward.