Baers go Paleo: Weirdness - Megan

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Weirdness - Megan

I'm feeling weird this morning.

I'm frustrated because yesterday was an AMAZING day. I had such a lovely day yesterday. (my day off now that i'm working four 10's) Started off at the gym with a 4000m row, came home and got ready, met Brig at work and went with her to her yoga studio for a free trial - got my ass completely kicked in an hour of semi-hot yoga (wowza! I've not used my muscles like that in a long time) AND managed to complete like 85% of a freestanding headstand! THAT was awesome. (which, by the way - after I left the class and went to my friend's house later that night i actually DID complete a full yoga headstand. awesome.) after yoga had a salad the size of a house, chatted with brig some more, went to an appointment, met two girlfriends and walked a lap of greenlake, and then had japanese happy hour (even stuck to the Paleo there, except 1 glass of wine) with teriyaki beef, tempura broccoli (ok a little batter there), and some sweet potato things. Great day, no?

I dunno, for some reason this morning is 180 degrees different. I feel completely like this isn't working as much as it should. I've not seen a SINGLE change in my body, and i'm on day 10. Is that unrealistic? I'm feeling very discouraged. Which is dumb because i know i've felt physically better than I have in a long time - but I just don't understand how i am working out 5ish times a week and FINALLY got my eating habits under control, and still nothing. I'm trying to teach myself that I don't HAVE to be psychotic about diet and exercise just to be in shape - Trying to learn that you can be healthy and normal and still have what I want without being a crazy, no fun, obsessive dieter/exerciser. Ugh.

I think part of it comes back to the fact that it's just another thing that i'm realizing (within the last week or so...which all came to a head late last night) that I'm simply putting a whole hell of a lot of effort into a lot of things in life that aren't returning the favor.

Le Sigh.

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At thirty-five years old, I am the oldest of our little team; make no mistake, this has never meant the wisest. Oftentimes I learn from my sister, Kimberly, as she researches new ideas and concepts. The Paleo lifestyle is yet another of her discoveries that I have embraced wholeheartedly.

During my adolescence, I was the girl who lived on McDonald's and Snickers bars, and rarely gained an ounce. As a high school cheerleader, I stayed fairly active without even trying, and assumed (with the innocence and optimism associated with the teenage years) that I would never have to worry much about weight or health.

Now in my 30's, I am far more interested in creating a healthy, strong body that will sustain me for the remainder of my years than one that fits into a certain size of jeans. As I've gotten older and kicked the diet pills of my 20's, my metabolism has slowed and my ever-present sweet tooth has taken over my eating habits to a terrifying degree. Enter: Paleo. In the first 3 weeks of eating Paleo I lost several pounds, several inches, and gained energy and mental clarity that I hadn't experienced in years. I am excited to have a place to share, commiserate, and celebrate with my family of sugar-junkies!

I am 33 years old and a homeschooling mama of six boys. I was first diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes in my fifth pregnancy, but I found that by carefully monitoring my diet, I was able to avoid taking insulin until the last week before my baby was born. After delivery, I swore to work hard at taking off the baby weight to reduce my chances of contracting Type 2 Diabetes. Instead, a barrage of back problems landed me at the chiropractor's office for six months and kept me out of the gym.

By the time I was seven months pregnant with my sixth son, my Gestational Diabetes had come back with a vengeance. Immediately upon being diagnosed I was put on insulin, and found that I had to continually increase my dosage to keep up with the growing level of pregnancy hormones. In my last few weeks before delivering, I stumbled upon the Paleo diet/Whole30 food challenge and had a sneaking suspicion that it would do wonders for my sugar numbers. I began altering my diet almost immediately with great results. Not only did my numbers decrease rapidly, allowing me to cut my dosages of insulin, but I found that my sugar withdrawal and cravings were almost nonexistent (or at least nowhere near as bad as other eating plans I have tried). I was excited to share my newfound knowledge with my big sis and encouraged her to send the news to our cousin ASAP.

My new son was born May 27th. I am getting back on my feet and am hoping to use the Paleo diet to drop these extra pounds and get my sluggish pancreas working well again!

The youngest of the sleuth - and the last to jump on the bandwagon. At 27 years old, I am currently the most active and fit I have been in life. Having never participated in sports as a child or teen, I steadily gained weight out of high school, reaching an unhealthy weight. I became active about 5 years ago, thus slowly taking it back off. It's been a difficult process, but after persistence I now have 7 months of crossfit and a half marathon under my belt.

Having chosen nutrition as my career, you'd think this would be easy - Far from it. I've dabbled in about a gazillion different types of diets (nothing extreme, I know better than that), but ultimately didn't stick to much of it. I've always had an extreme sweet tooth - but even moreso a bread tooth. Give me a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter and I will eat PB&J sammies until the cows come home. Not to mention the fact that all three of us have also acquired exceptional baking and candy making skills - easy to indulge when you know how to make delicious things....

After eating a steady diet of all high-glycemic carbs and virtually no protein (I gravitate towards vegetarianism and veganism as a general rule) I not only became physically ill but had exacerbated my already-wild insulin roller coaster. I lived on cereal and chocolate covered protein bars, and the abundant cake and cookies at work - constantly craving and crashing.

After learning that both Brigitte and Kimberly struggle as much as I do, I stopped beating myself up for lack of "willpower" with sweets and began to think about the fact that we could very well have a genetic link of blood sugar issues. After seeing their success, I decided to try.I'm not doing 100% Paleo - I am including nonfat and low fat dairy. It is still difficult for me to get adequate protein (as I'm getting used to eating meat regularly again) to counterbalance the heavy weightlifting I participate in. Other than that - going mostly-paleo has dramatically changed my entire physical well being, and I can't wait to see what other changes are in store.