WEEK 1 CHECK IN.

Week one pretty much looks like this: 1. Wake up, pinch self to verify that this is actual waking life and not another weird, twisted dream. Pee A LOT, get dressed for workout, look at sticky note reminder about wearing socks, forget socks anyway. 2. Return home from workouts, watch brothers eating toast for breakfast, ponder temptation, begin singing I Want To Break Free by Queen, loudly. Eat kale, eggs, black coffee. Experiment with putting fish oil in variety of liquids. Determine coffee is not adequate base liquid. Declare fish oil a 'drink straight' item, for the duration of this challenge. 3. At work, drink so much water that colleagues legitimately consider me insane. Spend so much time visiting (peeing in) work restroom, develop ranking system for stalls based on time of day and circumstance. Habitually check challenge site, to get a sense of how people are dealing. 4. Pray that someone, somewhere, finds a magical combination of challenge appropriate foods that result in a chocolate-like substance. Declare myself an atheist, again, after 7 days go by without any such discovery. 5. Spend evenings mostly angry. Remind self that if I don't have anything nice to say, I shouldn't say anything at all. Read a lot of feminist blogs. Feel better. 6. Find strength to endure tucked into reframing situations and looking for positives. Where cheese, chocolate, Mama's Cough Medicine used to be a reward, trade for drawing a stupid picture or taking a nap or buying a book or Instagramming another insane cat photo. It's the little things. 7. When all else fails and it's 9:37pm and the world feels like it has no meaning unless there is chocolate being consumed IN tortillas while drinking beer chased by cheese (which actually sounds disgusting), it is best to just go to sleep. Sleep solves everything.

My biggest challenge so far is Paleo on the weekends while attending social events. So far, the score is Alcohol 2, Paleo zero on weekends. Weekdays I have been good. I am not missing coffee as much as the last challenge.

Something to remember right around this point for those of you feeling tired and/or hungry all the time. You're most likely not getting as many calories as you are used to. Primarily due to the fact that grains and sweets pack a TON of calories (but little to no nutrients). At this point, you really have to pay attention to your healthy fat intake. There's plenty of calories in fats (AND nutrients) and you get a ton of energy from them. Avocado, nuts, grass-fed butter, olive/coconut/grapeseed oils, etc. As your body transitions to using less calories from carbohydrates and more from fat (fat you EAT and, yes, fat you have STORED), you will notice some side effects like fatigue and difficulty concentrating. Push through it and you'll end up in a fantastic place. Keep rewarding yourselves!

Getting back into the Paleo groove was easier than I thought; like riding a bicycle, as they say. Weight is just falling off me, I need to eat more volume, particularly fats. Nuts, here I come! Unless I get distracted, drinking lots of water is easy for me, particularly since I'm not drinking wine or beer. :-) Similarly, fish oil is a daily habit anyway. The discipline of 10-minutes of daily mobilization is AWESOME! I notice I am already more flexible. This habit might become a keeper. Ten minutes of mindfulness will be something new, I'm interested to see what that works for me. Reading the blogs I'm noticing lots of others are dealing with carb etc. withdrawal. Hang in there, because it will probably pass by now if it hasn't already. By the way, if you were a big diet soda drinker and stopped for the challenge, that withdrawal is pretty nasty, but again, after a week, it's probably behind you now. Claw

one question- would you put cheap oil in your Ferrari and get a tune-up at Costco.... that is what I told a friend who said WLC food rules were silly

I can't wait to be back in Santa Barbara and around people who are actually doing this challenge instead of looking at me like, "so what CAN you eat?" On the plus side, this first week has helped refocus me on how what I eat and what I do makes me feel -- and reminds me that I am in control of my choices, no matter what the circumstances. That's a great thing to remember!

My hardest obstacle has been SWEETS. I'll start with the "no honey, agave, etc." piece. I was so proud of my previously "paleo approved" vanilla cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting....at first I felt lost, wandering aimlessly, with a sweet tooth that threatened to win. Last night, I found salvation in a giant batch of Paleo friendly cherry cobbler, and peace in my world was restored. My next thing to overcome was the "no fruit juice" issue. We had purchased a juicer during the last challenge just so we could have something good to drink after work (my FAV being orange, carrot and ginger juice), and now I was told it was going to be a bad thing. I asked the really nit picky question about blitzing the whole fruit for a reason... So yes, for brunch yesterday we put peeled oranges into a friend's VitaMix and mixed the pulpy contents with carrot and ginger juice from my juicer. Mission accomplished: blitzed whole fruit mixed with deliciousness. It actually made for a really good drink and possibly a new way to make this beverage. Lastly, we had purchased a grass-fed quarter cow for this. The thing I loved about the last challenge was learning to cook so many new things, and now, I will be learning how to cook all the less "sexy" cuts of beef (like an O bone steak), which I'm sure will keep me busy and entertained over the next few months. I suppose I am looking for ways to keep my brain engaged as we move through this. This week, I will be brainstorming ways to minimize damages from this weekend's impending trip to Vegas... I know this is stupidly long, but I have super loved seeing how we're all progressing through this and that we're able to answer questions and share thoughts/encouragement. Keep it up!