I'm Happy About Everything Except Sleep

Nothing to see here.

It's day 19 and I have been trying to write for a few days. This is interesting because for me it's a sign that this is no longer a novelty -- I'm having trouble getting motivated to write about it. Nothing earth-shattering is happening. I'm feeling pretty great, I'm slowly losing weight, I almost never think about food except when I'm hungry.

POOF! No more headaches!

On day 12 my "Paleo flu" disappeared. I had been having a very low-grade headache on and off since I started strict paleo. I believe it's because I cut out the diet soda, artificial sweetners and occasional Kemps Frozen Yogurt I'd been eating, but I have no proof. I have anecdotal reports from others to support it and I can say I changed nothing and it just went away on its own. Okay, I did start trying to drink more water as I thought it was due to dehydration, but once they went away so did my meticulous water drinking work ethic.

Threw 5-hour window out the window!

The biggest change that I've made has to do with when I eat. In the beginning I chose to combine the Fast-5 schedule with Paleo to a) quickly get mindless eating under control and b) lose weight as fast and efficiently as possible. About 2 weeks into it I realized I'd been stretching the window to 6 hours. Then in week 3 I decided 5 hours wasn't working for me at all. The reason might surprise you: I couldn't fit 2 meals into the window.

I would eat a late lunch around 2 or 3pm, then when it came time to eat dinner with Bryan I wasn't hungry. I ate anyway because I needed the calories. Without them I eventually felt wonky. It just didn't feel right for me, eating when I wasn't hungry. I mean, isn't that one of the reasons I wanted to do this experiment? To stop eating mindlessly or when I wasn't really hungry? Ugh.

So I've relaxed on the 5-hour window and it's more like a 8-hour window. I basically skip breakfast, eat lunch, eat dinner which is what I was doing before but condensing it down to 5 hours just wasn't working for my lifestyle. I absolutely have to eat dinner with Bryan (hubby) because that's one of our family activities. No way am I giving that up. And I certainly wasn't going to fast until dinner to make sure I was hungry at that time! Insanity!

Cheating? Why, yes, I have cheated.

I had a couple of days where I drank diet coke from McD's. Yup. I did it. I also had the insides of 2 sausage egg McMuffin sandwiches twice. That's not super bad, but not great. Sausage is already processed and I'm sure McD's is processed even more. Eggs, totally fine. It was one of those typical things where you're on the run, don't have time to do much else but really need to eat. I could have stopped at the sandwiches and had water. The diet coke was definitely a really flimsy rationalization. Actually, no, it was simply me deciding not to give a shit. I had those diet cokes and enjoyed them.

I've also had a very, very occasional cheese. I had sprinkles of parmesan in the homemade, scrumptious marinara sauce Bryan made for us (we use spaghetti squash instead of pasta). I had farm produced blue cheese in my lettuce wrapped burger last night with a slice of American cheese (my biggest offense to date).

Oh, and I also started putting raw honey in my coconut milk coffee/cocao. And sometimes I have it in the morning before I'm supposed to, which means I'm not really always fasting these days. As soon as you have calories you are out of the fast. Sigh. And I'm not even craving this hot drink, at least not physically. I am craving that hot cup between your hands in the morning, while sitting outside listening to the birds - even in summer. It's me chasing an emotion.

Weight loss is slower, yet steady - 10.6lbs, 38% of total goal.

It's funny too because the actual drinking of said drink is never as good as I imagine it will be. I'm also wondering if breaking my fast and adding the honey to what I eat is the cause of my slow, slow weight loss. I'm toying with getting recommitted to no sugar and a strict 8-hour fast for the last 11 days (cuz I'm having a cup this morning on day 19 so I'd start tomorrow). It would be really fascinating to see if I suddenly lose weight faster. Oooh. I just got excited because that's new data to collect!

Generally, I'm happy -- I have had no problems sticking to paleo eating by and large and when I have strayed it hasn't been an all-out binge on something crappy. In fact, that's probably what pleases me most -- I feel normal about food. I don't eat anything to excess or even want to. I'm not saying that I was out of control all the time prior to this, but there were times I ate too much and there were certain foods I wanted to eat long after feeling full. I think we don't talk about this enough but we have many, many processed, sugar-laden foods that are addictive.

The blame is squarely placed on individuals who can't moderate, but it's one of those battles that's pretty hard to win and there are an awful lot of people battling it out for it to simply be about willpower or discipline. I eat delicious food right now, but I don't think about it like I thought about the last few spoonfuls of ice cream. What did I think about them? I'd think, crap, I'm almost done. I want another bowl. I don't want to be done with the ice cream. I couldn't even enjoy the last few bites because I was sad I didn't have a lot left. WTF!?

Sleep -- still a problem

I haven't had a good nights sleep since I started, but I really must reiterate it's due to my 3 cats who take turns waking me at all hours. Over the last 3 days I've increased their wet food intake right before I go to bed and that's helped stave them off until after 6am. Yet, I feel my body is not used to sleeping longer so I still wake up on my own! I would guess I've started getting a solid 6 hours each night though and that's a freakin' improvement, believe me! But I really want to sleep a solid 8 hours each night. I haven't figured out how to make that happen but I suspect it will involve:

• Going to sleep at 10pm and waking at 6pm. 
• Working out so my body naturally wants to sleep more.
• I may have to help retrain my body with some over the counter sleep aids.

I know that getting enough sleep is important in all aspects of my life and it's important to weight loss and building/repairing muscle. I have to solve this. Until I do, my progress will be limited.


Until next time -- thanks for reading.

Sleep, Hydration and Missing Foods

Since I posted my last update I've been attempting to improve my sleep (so, so important to health) and decrease my headaches. A note about the headaches: They are like no headaches I have had because they are so mild, rest on my face more than my head and I can tolerate them very well. They are like that buzz your refrigerator makes that you don't notice for hours and then suddenly you're like, "You've been annoying me all day!".

Sleep:

For sleeping purposes, I had to adjust my cat's desire for waking me up at all hours. I've added catnip playtime right before I go to bed and it seems to have helped them. They still get antsy around 6am, but I have noticed I'm sleeping for 6 hours before I wake up naturally. I do feel loads better, but I still feel I am not getting enough sleep. I would like to sleep 8 hours.

I may look into adding Vitamin D and Magnesium to my nightly ritual (right now I take Niacin and no other medication or vitamins). I'm also wondering if I need some potassium which can be found in Avocados and Salmon.

Headaches:

I upped my water intake to help deal with the face-ache and it has helped a lot, but there is still this nagging bit hanging about. I was laying around this morning in bed with curiosity and realized that some of what I am feeling is reminiscent of the after effects of my (also mild) migraines. My migraines are linked to my digestion. So, I'm wondering if it's just my digestion readjusting itself to the improvements I'm making *and* I'm wondering if I'm missing some sort of food.

While I am totally sated and eating protein, veggies and the right fat, I am not sure I'm getting enough fat. I am not shy about eating good fats (Coconut oil, animal fat, extra virgin olive oil), but as I think about it, what I am eating may not be adding enough because it's pretty lean.

I'll add a bit more and report back the results -- remember, this is partly an experiment to see what happens in a month. If it's not working for me either because I still don't feel 100% or I'm not seeing any improvements I'll adjust for the next 30 days to see. What once worked 3 years ago may not work since I am getting to that age of major womanly changes.

Food I'll add:

Usually I can tell what my body is craving, but I can't this time so I'm going to guess and add some avocado as a snack to the mix. Mmmm. Actually, I may make tacos as one of my weekly meals. YUM!

I actually make my own taco seasoning and have since I completed this challenge in 2014. It's actually cheaper and has no preservatives:

2 Tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 ½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp. paprika
1 tsp. sea salt
¼-½ tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

You can mix and match to your own taste. You may, for example, want to add black pepper.

We then make homemade pico -- OMG, you'll never go back. Tomato, red onions, pickled jalapenos, cumin, salt, pepper.

The guacamole is simply 1 or 2 avocados mashed up with some of the homemade pico added. Then we usually salt and pepper to taste.

Now we just need iceberg lettuce for the taco shells, ground beef cooked with the taco seasoning and tabasco sauce for me (paleo makes me LOVE hot sauce -- and most other hot sauces have preservatives to I stick to this). My mouth is watering now.

Weight loss:

I'm down 7.3lbs as of day 11. I lost 5lbs in the first few days and since then it's been pretty slow with many days at the same weight. I'd be lying if I said it's not hard to see changes in the scale, but I remind myself that this is a lifestyle change and I am doing it as part of a journey to be healthier. As I have gotten older (I'm 44) I have noticed that my feet don't carry me as far without complaint, my knees are hyperextended and I often have moments of sharp pain because my muscles have atrophied. I see weight loss as one equation to lightening the load, but more importantly as the first step that will lead me back to weight lifting to strengthen my body.

Mood:

My mood's been really solid throughout. I feel balanced, calm and focused on meeting whatever needs pop up. I had one evening where I felt lonely and a bit sad but that's not so abnormal anyway -- life is not always roses. I'm an introvert and spend lots of time by myself -- I need to -- but sometimes I realize I need my friends and at times I realize that after I've already felt the pangs of loneliness. I actually bounced back by first confiding to my husband how I felt, getting a much-needed hug, and then making plans with friends. I don't think it had anything to do with paleo.

Exercise:

I really haven't done much exercise, not because I don't want to, but because I recognize that if I pile too many challenges on at once I will stop them all. I feel like any desire to eat crap has faded and it might be time to add exercise more consistently. What I need most is to strengthen my muscles so that my core and knees are more supported. Oh, wait! I started a plank challenge yesterday so that is a start to core work. Here's where I want to be again -- I love my muscles! 

This is me at my goal weight with one major difference -- I was lifting weights so I was leaner and much stronger than I am right now. That said, it only took me about 3 months to get here. If you are curious, in this photo I am performing in a musical number -- cell block tango -- such fun! He definitely had it comin'.

Incidentally, notice how oily my face is. I actually solved this problem by switching to washing my face with -- you never will believe this -- OIL! I'll write a separate post on this.

Writing this blog helps me stay excited and curious to see what happens in 30 days. Thanks for joining me on this journey.