Paleo Dan

Note: I reckon this is what you call a plateau… I haven’t changed weight more than +/- 3 lbs in over a month. I’ve cut my carbs to try and jump start some fat burning (I’ve been eating too much fruit and crutch foods such as primal muffins, etc). Once it’s started, that should be enough motivation to really control my carbs and keep to a stricter paleo diet.

Here is my entry video for the DailyBurn Fitness Challenge:

I am ashamed to admit this, but…

I fell off the wagon almost three years ago. Over those three years, I regained much of the weight that I had lost while living the paleo lifestyle. I’d like to blame this failure on the stresses of moving from North Carolina to Virginia, or perhaps on the birth of our third child, or, or, or…

Oh, who am I kidding, I failed for three specific reasons:

First, I allowed myself small “rewards” for having done so well over the previous year. The problem, though, was those rewards began to come more frequently and in larger portions. It did not take long to completely undo all the hard work.

Speaking of hard work, the second reason for my failure was the lack of a fitness program to go with the change in diet. Oh yeah, I ran once in a while and tried to make it into the gym on occasion, but that just did not cut it.

Finally, I failed because I was not prepared to deal with failure. During the first year, I was fanatical about eating right and staying away from “harmful” foods. When I realized that my reward meals were, in fact, failures, I did not have the strength of will to recover my wits and get back on the program.

Enough! I’m tired of being fat! Again!!!

As of August 18th, 2009, I am recommitting myself to a paleo-esque lifestyle, but with a quality fitness program this time. I have signed up at DailyBurn, a website that offers body, nutrition, workout tracking, and more. But, it also has a section for challenges. One of these challenges is the DailyBurn Fitness Challenge, a 90 day challenge “to eat right, workout hard, and get fit.” My DailyBurn public profile is here: dandavis.

Here are the ways that I will meet the goals of the challenge:

• Eat Right I’m currently back on a (mostly) paleo way of eating. I have made minor changes to “pure paleo.” I’m eating small amounts of dairy in the form of cheese. I’m allowing for small servings of corn on occasion. And, finally, I’m adding various legumes to the diet.

• Workout Hard I’m following “[t]he Eternal Beginner” program found in Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove’s New Rules of Lifting. When done correctly, the workouts in this book are short, but intense. They knock me on my ass, but I love ‘em!

• Get Fit In addition to correcting my diet and adding in the strength training, I’m spending time in the pool and on my bike. Once I get more weight off, I plan to add running into the mix. If it sounds like I’m gearing up for attempting a triathlon, yeah, that’s one of my long term goals: by September of 2010, I plan to have completed at least one sprint distance triathlon.

Well, there you have it. I may have fallen off the wagon (and gotten trampled by the horses) but I am back on and this time I’m strapped in and ready for the long haul.

-Paleo Dan

Oh, and here’s an updated “before” image: