As promised, I embarked upon my second Paleo challenge yesterday morning. This challenge is a bit more involved than my previous challenge in two ways: first, it is double the length of any formal nutrition plan I have ever followed. Second, this challenge combines a very specific training regimen with a diet designed to build the maximum amount of muscle in an abbreviated period of time. Sure, it’s still Paleo – but it’s like Paleo on crack. In the next 8 weeks, I am going to get kind of jacked.
“Wait a second, Brooke… you’re a nutrition coach!” you say, “doesn’t that mean you eat perfectly 105% of the time?!”
No… No it does not. I am far from perfect when it comes to my dietary choices. I adhere to Paleo approximately 80% of the time. The other 20% is a constant struggle between my chocolate-and-cheeseburger-loving subconscious and my nutrition-loving professional self. While my internal battle wages, I am faced with a problem every single fall. The onset of fall brings with it my favorite time of the year: FOOTBALL SEASON. I live and breathe for Saturdays spent watching the Huskies and Sundays spent yelling at the Seahawks on tv. Not only do I love the sport, but I really love the food. And the beer. ”It’s only 12 weeks! I can totally indulge for a minute!” I tell myself each year… and then I rapidly gain approximately 10 pounds in the blink of an eye.
This season, I am attempting to combat my traditional fall gain with three days a week of CrossFit, two-three days a week of running (the Seattle Half Marathon is in only seven weeks!), and a protein-heavy Paleo diet. Yesterday was a breeze – I skipped happily through the grocery store picking up the finest vegetables and organic meats for a delicious Paleo bolognese sauce paired with spaghetti squash. I spent the night marathoning through a few episodes of Dexter while Pinteresting my heart out before crashing out at 10:00pm (SO early!). I expected to wake up bright and early with a chipper attitude, feeling ready-to-go for my work week. I did not. I woke up tired after 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I took Blaze for a walk and came home for breakfast before jumping into my daily grind. Two articles, one newsletter and a blog later… I’m still tired. Call it the carb flu, or call it a cloudy day, but I can’t shake the tired monkey today. Just. Can’t. Do. It.
I managed to eek out a couple miles of a run while picking up the car this morning and was pleased to find that my body is starting to heal from the marathon on Sunday – I was surprised to find myself enjoying running today. Tomorrow I am scheduled for CrossFit plus a 4-mile run and am hoping to be back around 100% by then. I thought that today’s challenge would be the short run, but it hasn’t been. It’s been managing my hunger levels. I’m usually famished when I wake up, but I wasn’t hungry at all this morning. Typically, I make it to 1:00pm before lunchtime rolls around; today, I couldn’t make it past 11:30 without lunch. I’m drinking a ton of water and plan to avoid all but 8 oz. of coffee each day of this challenge.
So… there it is. Day 2 is nearly halfway in the books and I’m ready for a nap. Being that it’s my Monday, I have stocked up on a variety of goodies to keep on-hand in case hunger strikes at work tonight: beef jerky, 88% dark chocolate, Go Raw! pumpkin flax snacks, Muscle Milk and Lara Bars. Looking forward into the week, I will dodge a couple of football bullets with a work schedule that doesn’t accommodate football at all – I’ve been scheduled both Saturday and Sunday this week, which is both sad and relieving. Without football to look forward to, I will be able to focus on finding my energy levels again.