Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Week Two of the Primal Challenge - The Good and The Bad...

All I want this morning, all I can think about in this instant is coffee and chocolate, chocolate and coffee.  Mostly coffee.  I know full well that coffee will be the first thing that I have next Wednesday morning after this challenge is over.

No weight loss this week which isn't surprising given the huge drop on the first week but I'm still feeling good albeit tired still even though I've been able to (finally) sleep through the night.  I went home after work last night and crashed for 12 hours - my body obviously needed it but I'm not sure why.

I'm pretty sure I'm not eating enough though that being said I'm eating when I'm hungry and enough so that I feel full but really no more - whereas I'd use to eat everything in my lunch/ on my plate so maybe I'm just adjusting to this - I'm also not balanced on eating meat and veggies together all the time - I'm fairly decent with getting the protein into me but I struggle with veggies sometimes though I'm trying and am conscious of it.

I've still been experimenting with recipes this past week and have made some wonderful things (coconut chicken nuggets, banana bread, zucchini ribbon stir fried veggies with chicken, etc) but I am also getting sick of food - I'll have something one day and it'll be amazing and then the next day with leftovers I just have no urge to eat it at all, it has no appeal which also is likely contributing to my not eating enough.  I'm trying to find the balance and the foods that I'm not getting sick of - morning protein shakes with almond milk, apple and almond butter afternoon snack, etc.

One more week of this challenge to go and to be fair I haven't found  it that much of a struggle, with a bit of planning it's actually quite easy.  Sure there are times when I crave things I'm not allowing myself to (hello coffee and chocolate) but it's also letting me see that I'm mentally strong and can overcome the urges - this will help when the challenge is over where I hope to not be as strict but to still moderate what 'crap' goes into my body - my awareness has definitely shifted to what I'm putting into my mouth.

A big success for me in the past week was to not give in to the temptation of cake on a coworkers birthday.  I sat in the board room while slices were handed out to everyone and turned down a piece myself.  The cake was right in front of me and I felt no urge to eat any.  When my coworkers curiously asked why I merely stated that I wasn't eating sugar, dairy or coffee for three weeks and told them a little bit about what we were doing eating primal.  I was quite proud of myself that day as I'm usually a big fan of cake.

I'm finding it quite easy to hydrate especially without my morning coffee - usually I'd spend the first part of my morning slowly working my way through a coffee and now I'm working my way through a liter of fluid.  One thing I love and is super easy - is to get some herbal tea (or in my case a dried berry mixture from a place in the Freo market) and steep some of it in a jar of hot water.  I then thrown this in the fridge which adds a little change up to just drinking plain water - sometimes I'll also add fresh mint or ginger as well which is super tasty.

As for an update on the "21 things" that were also part of the challenge (the ones I've completed at least):

-tell 3 people that you see regularly what you are doing and ask them to help hold you accountable - along with fellow crossfitters my office mates also know about what I'm doing (told them while sitting in front of and saying no to birthday cake)
-prepare your lunch the night before and take it to work with you - consistently
-eat a post-workout snack within 20 minutes of working out - always have an apple on my way home before dinner
-find and cook a new primal recipe - several! See previous posts
-plant at least one edible plant -my mint plant is thriving in my kitchen window
-buy and eat at least 3 locally grown products - every weekend from the market
-get a massage at least once in the next 21 days - done last thursday - it was *so* needed
-phone or catch up face to face with somebody you normally only connect with via email/ facebook - great reminder, I'm calling Lili now... boo, voicemail!

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