Time to start blogging again! Day 1!!

Hey everyone!  It's been a long time since I last blogged, but thought it was necessary for me to start blogging again.  I really need to hold myself accountable to the Paleo lifestyle that I am trying to live by, and preach!  So I hope I can get some followers who will read this blog and give some comments.  

I wanted to "start over" by starting this blog with another "challenge", but this time, "Day 1" should go all the way to "Day 25,000."  ;)    Since I last blogged, I have made my move to California and in the 8 months that I have been here, I have lost weight and inches, but it's been an up and down process, and pretty slow.  I can do really well for weeks, but then there is a temptation that will throw me off track for a few days, or even a week.  This is exactly why it's so important to stay on track.  You cannot (or I cannot) allow even one "cheat".  Eating gluten or sugar will only trigger the desire to eat more. Then one day of eating junk quickly becomes 7 days in a row and 5lbs later.  So today I started over.  

Physical therapy school is going very well, so far.  I'm enjoying Los Angeles for the most part.  The biggest downside is that I am extremely busy, more so this semester than last semester.  I am running the Cincinnati Flying Pig Half-Marathon again on May 5th, but unfortunately my training has been slacking in the past month, so now I'm trying to get caught up.  I was really hoping to run this year at least 20lbs lighter than I was last year.  I think that puts me around 5 more lbs to lose.   I'm also about 5lbs away from hitting a weight I haven't seen in 5 years.  For whatever reason, I can come within half a pound of it, but just cannot break it!!   I've been so frustrated, so I finally decided to look into seeing a naturopath, to see if there is an underlying hormone issue that is preventing me from losing weight.  My appointment is in early May, so hopefully the doctor will find something and I can get on my way to treating the issue and dropping the weight for good.   In May, I start my summer semester and in one of our classes, we have to be in shorts and sports bras.   Besides the fact that I am the only "fat girl" in my class (the other girls are 20 something skinny girls), I have a big self-confidence issue.  There is no effing way that I'm going to take my shirt off for all to see my fat rolls!!  This is somethign that I knew would be coming, and have been dreading.  I tried my best to prepare for this, but this weight that I put on 5-6 years, just will not budge much.  :(  I absolutely HAVE to eat a 100% clean Paleo diet from now on.  No gluten, no sugar, no junk EVER.   One slip up will sabotage all of my efforts.  

I am going to try to blog daily, to give updates on how I'm doing.  I hope you all will follow and provide encouragement, as I surely need it.  I cannot continue this up and down process.  I must get this weight off and start living the life that I really want.  I cannot continue to being so depressed and frustrated.  I want my 6 pack back, and I know I can do it if I stay disciplined and figure out what may be going on with my hormones and get that taken care of.

Anyway, I could babble on for a long time, but I cannot.  lol  In summary- Day 1 went well!  I had my usual eggs for breakfast- straight from the farm of a friend's family!  I cook my eggs in KerryGold butter which is grass-fed and very paleo.  I also had 3 slices of bacon which I had made a few days ago. When I got to school, I bought a coffee and put 2 Truvia packets in it and some half & half.  I shouldn't really be using it, as I really want to avoid dairy as much as possible, but I can't drink my coffee black!  For lunch I had my homemade chicken lettuce wraps, veggies with my walnut red pepper dip, and a few strawberries and blueberries.  Dinner was a salad with cherry tomatoes, an avocado, mushrooms, shaved parmesan (only dairy I am allowing myself), and grilled chicken, with an olive oil vinaigrette.  This time around, I am going to really limit my carb intake, yet try to eat a minimum of 1800 calories.  When I did really well with eating clean back in February, I didn't really lose any weight, and I think it was either because I was stressing my body too much with running and workouts (raises cortisol levels which holds onto the fat cells), or I wasn't eating enough.  Probably a combination of both.    It's such a difficult process!!!!  Ahhhhh.   I'm so jealous of people that have amazing bodies yet can eat whatever they want.  It's so not fair.   :(

Ok, I really gotta go.   See you tomorrow!!

The pic of me is when I did my first race in LA-  Manhattan Beach 10k in October  :)