Welcome to my first blog!!

I've decided to start a blog, after committing to participate in the Whole 30 Challenge, in order to track my progress and share it with others.  I discovered this challenge in the paleo/primal community.  For those of you not familiar, the paleo and primal lifestyle is basically "living and eating like a caveman".  This means lots of meat, eggs, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and occasionally fruits. I started eating a Primal/Paleo diet in November, after coming across the Wheat Belly book and website, and was then lead to Mark's Daily Apple website.  This finding was BIG!!  Basically, I discovered through these websites and forum discussions and other research, that wheats and grains are BAD!!  They cause inflammation which lead to a ton of negative things in our bodies- cause weight gain, skin issues, diabetes, arthritis, intestinal issues, etc, etc.

Real quick, here is my story:  4 years ago I was a lean 160lb with a nice 6 pack, but after losing interest in my job as a personal trainer, I began to slack in my healthy eating and exercise routines, and somehow managed to put on 80 lbs within about ONE year!  :(   One of my biggest regrets, obviously.  Since I ballooned up, I have found it very hard to lose the weight.  A year ago I managed to get down to 200lbs, but wasn't able to crack the barrier to get back below 200.

In August of 2010 I met with a sports dietitian, to have her analyze my caloric intake and exercise , to see if she could see what I was doing wrong and try to figure out why I wasn't losing much weight, despite heavy exercise and eating mostly clean and restricting calories.  The dietitian was just as surprised as I was.  Her suggestion was that I get my thyroid checked to see if there was an underlying metabolic issue.  She also mentioned that I try a gluten-free diet.   So immediately after this, I got bloodwork done, and my thryoid levels were just fine.  As for the gluten-free diet suggestion, I considered trying it, but then never ended up attempting it.  I was sure that my thyroid was probably low because my mom has hypothyroidism.  I was really hoping that I did have low thyroid levels, in hopes that getting put on medication would be my answer to losing weight.  After finding out that my results were fine, I got very frustrated and upset, and basically just "gave up" with eating clean and exercising.  I stopped running and biking for a few months, and put back on 30lbs.

Once the new year came in 2011, I started back eating clean and exercising, although my weight continued to fluctuate, as did my eating and exercise routines.  I just couldn't figure out what else I could do to get rid of this weight that I had put on 4 years ago.   I was so lean before, I knew that I could get this lean again, just could not find the answer to how to do it.

I had heard about the Paleo diet years before, but never gave much thought to it.  It's basically very similar to the Atkins diet, which I had always thought was bad for you (conventional wisdom teaches us these things!)  After talking to a cyclist friend, he suggested that I give the gluten-free diet a try, so I started to research online and came across www.marksdailyapple.com and from there I read Mark Sisson's book- The Primal Blueprint.  What a life changer!!  After reading success stories on this website as well as the Wheat Belly book blog and Facebook page, I was finally convinced that red meats and fats are actually good for us...it's the "healthy" whole grains and wheat that are the culprits!!!    Our society makes fat look bad and grains look good.  This is why so many people have a hard time accepting the paleo or primal diet  (which by the way, primal is very similar to paleo, although it allows a little slack in the diet, such as allowing dairy, and some red wine and dark chocolate on occasion).

Long story short, I read The Primal Blueprint, as well as Wheat Belly, and am now fully convinced that I should live the rest of my life eating like a caveman.  No wheat or grains!!

I ate Primal for about 6 weeks and lost around 8lbs.  I did allow myself some cheat meals about once a week- beer and pizza, etc.  Then, of course the holidays came around and that set  me back, as I allowed myself cookies and ate some wheat and grains.  I definitely noticed a difference- my energy sunk, skin flared up (acne, eczema), and I gained some weight back.  :(

So I decided I would start off the new year right, and accept the Whole 30 challenge (http://whole9life.com/2012/01/whole-30-v2012/)

Every day I will be recording how I do with this diet, as well as my exercise.  Although The Primal Blueprint doesn't suggest doing chronic cardio (marathons, long distance cycling and triathlons, for example), I will be training for a marathon (only because I've wanted to run one and now is a good time for me to train for one!)  I will be doing so by continuing to eat paleo/primal, and avoiding the Gatorade and gels during my training.  Instead, I'll stick to water and use sweet potatoes as my carb source pre-workouts and during long runs.  (I'll make sweet potato chips with my new food dehydrator!)

I hope you will join me on my 30 day journey on this Whole 30 Challenge!! My goal is also to convince YOU to change your life by cutting out the wheat and grains in your diet!  I highly encourage you to visit the Mark's Daily Apple website, as well as the Wheat Belly website, and read the books.  Seriously- I lost 8 lbs just by cutting out wheat, and that was with basically very little exercise!  I have finally found the answer to weight loss, as well as preventing acne and eczema flare ups!!

Start 2012 with a healthy start!!!!!!

Livestrong,

Tina