Week 5 of Strict Paleo

Following the return from Chelan, where I broke my 27 days of alcohol abstinence, I weighed in at 182.2 Tuesday morning, down about 8.5 lbs from 4 weeks ago, and up a bit from my lowest weight of the month. I'm back on my normal schedule, starting with an omelet and bacon for breakfast. I went to lunch at Portage Bay Cafe, but didn't have the corned beef hash. Had a walnut salad topped with a piece of smoked salmon, strawberries and balsamic vinaigrette. Yum. In the afternoon, I ate a Nugo Organic bar AND a Builder's Bar. I had both of these partly because I was still hungry and partly because I wanted to have enough calories/carbs in me for my workout with Steve in the evening.

Evening workout started with Bent Over Rows (3x10-12) super setted with Barbell Walking lunges (3x10-12 per leg). Weights were 20, 40, 45kg. Then we got to the fun part of the evening. Every 90 seconds: 4 Hang Power Clean (60kg), 8 air squats, 12 KB swings (24kg). .If you finish in less than 90 seconds, you get to rest for the remaining time. I did the first round in 43 seconds, and was able to maintain/beat that time in each successive round (11 rounds). the last round I did in about 38 seconds. Pretty happy with myself, assuming that this wasn't too easy of a workout. Steve said we are striving for consistency so I feel good about that.
After my workout, I had my egg protein powder shake mixed in Almond Milk rather than water. It was pretty yummy, although it didn't mix as well as it did in water or coconut milk. I think that this is a keeper though. For dinner, we had steak (I only had about 2-3oz since my shake filled me up) and broccoli/cauliflower.
I did 3x15 OHS with the PVC pipe after dinner. It's getting easier each time, and takes less warm up than it used to.

Wednesday
Weighed in at 180.8 (10 lbs down!) There is definitely a correlation between eating a small dinner and the morning weigh in, at least in the short term. Had an omelet for breakfast, a salad with salmon for lunch and a leftover omelet packed with veggies, meat, and topped with cheese, as well as a bowl of blueberries.
Did 3x15 OHS with the PVC again after dinner.

Thursday
Started the day with usual bacon and eggs. Eating lunch out at Mio Sushi - Two spicy tuna rolls, with Tamari Gluten Free Soy sauce. More rice carbs than I would like, but I am working out tonight so it's not terrible to have some extra energy. In the afternoon, I was going to grab a Builder's bar from the vending machine, but didn't get a chance to. Worked out with Steve in the evening. Did some presses, rowing and airdyne. Finished the evening with 3 sets of 2 rope climbs. My technique is actually getting much better (thanks Steve!) so it was pretty easy. Looking forward to knocking out sets of 5 at a time. When I got home, I had an egg protein shake with almond milk and some blueberries. Had a couple tsps of Almond Butter  before bed, and then again in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. :( Also had some intestinal distress, wondering whether it was from the shake with no other food... This was the first night in several where I didn't sleep through the night, so wondering if it was because I didn't eat enough after working out.

Friday
My calendar was clear today, so I was able to sleep in, take the day off and get a nap in the middle of the day. I didn't have breakfast, and had leftover steak from Tuesday for lunch, along with a bowl (1/4 cup) of blueberries. Went to massage with Marin, where she also made me do headstands (I'm getting much better!) Afterwards, I went to the juice bar and got something called the attitude cleanse, which has beets, carrots, ginger, cayenne and other stuff run through the vitamix juicer and straight into my cup. Yum and healthy!
For dinner, we had stew with beef, onions, carrots and parsnips. Gluten free flour thickener. And Cauliflower cheese bake with soy-based cream cheese, some sheep parmesan, and cow cheddar melted on top.
Finished the evening with 3x15 OHS for dessert!
Later in the evening, I had some beef jerky and a bowl of blueberries...not quite enough at dinner.

Saturday
Went to the gym for an all day workshop on "movement." The first two sessions were on handstands and hanging, as well as some tips on squatting. They recommend squatting for 30 minutes per day! For food, I had some summer sausage and blueberries for breakfast, an uncured, grassfed hot dog for lunch, and for dinner I went to Staple and Fancy with some friends. There were many courses of veggies, and a braised beef short rib. All Paleo, until we got to the cheesecake for dessert :( And 3-4 glasses of wine. So I guess we'll chalk this up to a cheat day!

Sunday
I snacked throughout the day on summer sausage, blueberries, almond butter, deviled eggs and a protein shake in almond milk. For dinner, having a ceasar salad with sheep parmesan and no croutons, and some beef jerky.
The other big achievement of the day was accumulating 30 minutes squatting. The folks from our workshop yesterday suggested 30 minutes/day of squatting for 30 days, so 1 day down.

Monday
Omelet and bacon for breakfast
Steak salad at cuoco (hold the croutons!) for lunch
Drank three Gin and Tonics at the bar, along with three plates of tuna-stuffed peppers appetizers. This made for dinner.

Tuesday
Omelet and bacon for breakfast
Salmon salad at the cafeteria for lunch
Nugo organic bar for snack in the afternoon.
Worked out this evening with Steve - Trap Bar DL and rowing, 4 sets. Wide Grip DL and Airdyne, 4 sets, L sit Situps, 3 sets.
Dinner - Ribeye steak, pureed cauliflower, and Broccoli and Cheese.

Coming up on a month of strict paleo

Stopped I'm on week 4, and I'm down about 7 pounds from where I started, although most of that loss was in the first week. Today, I stuck mostly with my normal diet.
Monday
Breakfast - Omelet and side of Bacon
Lunch - Steve's Paleo Jerky and about 10 almonds
Snack - More jerky (Golden Valley Natural) when I got home.
Dinner - Left over corned beef brisket, cauliflower, and broccoli
I went to the gym after dinner and did Wendler back squats, finished at 5x130kg. Hard!
Post-workout snack - Protein shake and blueberries

Tuesday
Breakfast - Omelet and side of Bacon
Snack - 10 almonds
Lunch at the airport, Qdoba steak, veggies an guac
Snack on the plane - Beef jerky and potato chips
Dinner - burger with goat cheese and onions, no bun or fries.

Wednesday
Breakfast - Omelet and bacon, and some chicken sausage
Lunch - corned beef sandwich, hold the sandwich. Tuna salad and a bit of salad
Dinner - ceasar salad with steak tips, no croutons
Snack on the plane - Beef jerky and back of potato chips
Snack at home - 1/8 cup blueberries, tsp of almond butter, and some beef jerky

Thursday
Breakfast - omelet and bacon
Lunch - salad with salmon
Snack -nugo organic bar
Pre-workout - Gu packet
Workout with Steve: Trap Bar DL, finished w/ 5@150kg. Not too shabby!
Then did a WOD - AMRAP 12min:
6 Push Press (45kg)
8 burpees
10 KB Swings
Steve diagnosed my problem as burpees, and BW exercises in general...something to work on!
Post-workout snack - Protein shake and a few slices of sweet potato, and two tsp Almond butter
Post-snack snack - 1/4 cup blueberries and some beef jerky.

Friday

We are headed for chelan this weekend, which will hurt the diet a bit, but hopefully not disastrously. 

For breakfast, I had the usual bacon and eggs. Didn't have lunch because I was booked at work and them off to massage (yay!)

We then loaded up the van around 4 and headed for chelan. I snacked on beef jerky and had a diet Pepsi (boo!) to stay awake during the ride. Stopped at cle elum for dinner at a Mexican place. Had carne Asada with no beans and rice.

Saturday I worked out at cvcf. 5 rounds of 400m run, 20 burpee box jump overs, 30 75 lb push press...40 minutes, ugh!

Had an omelet after that at the apple cup cafe. We went to "sip and stroll" that afternoon where we tasted 10 wines while walking around downtown chelan. That evening, we went to dinner with friends: ribeye steak, caramelixed onions, asparagus. For appetizers, had artichoke heart and goat cheese dip on gluten free crackers. And a bunch more wine. 27 days with no alcohol, not too bad!

Sunday

Went to 8am hot yoga to get rid of the toxins from night before. Had an omelet with summer sausage for breakfast and a bottle of Kevita lemon cayenne probiotic cleanse. Snacked on summer sausage and late lunch of blackened salmon Caesar salad. Finished off the day with goat cheese on rice crackers, an uncured hot dog, and a bowl of blueberries.

Monday (no weigh in this morning because we're in chelan)

Omelet with summer sausage and goat cheese and bolt house farms veggie juice. it advertises the veggies in large print on the bottle, but when you read the small print, the first ingredient is pear juice. 19g sugar. Not sure if the goodness from the veggies outweighs the badness of the sugar.

Stopped at the Roslyn cafe on the way back from chelan and had an omelet with sausage, bacon, onions and peppers in it. Topped with cheddar.
Didn't really have much for dinner. Felt bad from the big omelet. Just a bowl of blueberries.

Tuesday morning weigh-in: 182.2, down about 8.5 lbs since I started 4 weeks ago.