This is Emily with the girls from her CrossFit Gym in St. Louis prior to their flashmob WOD. Stay posted on Heyday’s Flashmob coming soon. 🙂
When I went to St. Louis last month to visit Emily I was there as she was about to begin her own Gym’s Paleo Challenge.
I have long thought of doing one, and saw that their challenge commencing was a good time to get some insight and begin planning our own. I was interested to see how she was going to feel and what results she’d get because she is generally healthy and slender.
So, she went to her meeting, took her pictures, went grocery shopping, and began her primal journey…
I soon realized that she had a lot to benefit from only a few weeks into the challenge. I wanted her to share her account of her experience as she is in the thick of it. She is halfway through her challenge and very much enjoying the benefits of it. I’ll let her fill you in.
Enter Emily….
I am currently in my fourth week of being completely Paleo.
I absolutely LOVE it now!!! I want to start off by first noting that my diet pre-paleo was not horrible. I tried to avoid grains, most of the time. I never cut out dairy, because I didn’t really believe that it was that bad for you. The worst thing I ate was probably the sugar, which at times was A LOT! I thought my eating habits were pretty good though; I knew I was not perfect, but I didn’t realize how much some of the things I was putting in my body were damaging me.
Anywho, I started my Paleo Challenge on October 2nd. The first two weeks were really difficult, especially being around kids and at the hospital where free treats (pumpkin bread, cookies, cake, etc.) were constantly offered. I just kept denying it, hoping that saying no would soon not be so hard. I think in time as my body completely rids itself of  lingering sugar cravings, it won’t really be a temptation.
We had our half way check in this past Saturday and got to see how our body’s have changed.
I currently lost 6lbs, which I was seriously astonished by, since I never thought I would be below 135 in my life again. I lost an inch in my hips and an inch and a half in my waist. My body fat dropped 6% to 14.4%.
One of the biggest things I have noticed and love is how I feel during workouts. I have always DESPISED pretty much anything cardio (running, burpees, wall ball, box jumps, etc.), however, recently I feel like those are the things I fly through.
I took over a minute off of my mile and I have not been doing anything different except eating Paleo. I definitely feel more awake throughout the day than I did before.

Some Advice

Things that helped me when I first started were making sure I had enough food on hand, and knowing what I was going to eat throughout the week. I planned out all my meals for the first week, so I didn’t have to worry about it. I eat the same thing pretty much every day for breakfast, but each week I try to give my self two options for lunch and two for dinner. I find by doing this its a lot more simple, and I also don’t waste food because it went bad.
There are also things I try to ALWAYS have:

• chicken
• eggs eggs and more eggs
• roasted in house turkey (whole foods)
• ground bison
• apples
• oranges
• grapes
• lots of frozen veggies
• raw spinach
• avocado
• coconut oil
• almond butter

Almost all of my meals consist of these ingredients.

There are a couple Paleo dishes I love to eat.

Ground bison with taco seasoning (have to look at packages some have sugar) is awesome to put with spinach, guacamole, salsa, and tomatoes.
I also will use it with steamed green beans and some avocado. I make chicken with coconut oil and seasoning which is easy and I love the taste the coconut oil gives it. I recently made some Paleo chili, which is also awesome.
One thing I recently realized was that I needed to eat more veggies; I definitely was not consuming enough and eating too much fruit. You can eat way more veggies, and they keep me full longer.
Well, I definitely plan to keep this up after the challenge and adopt it as how I will routinely eat. I have a ways to go but I am so happy with the results so far.
Good luck to everyone!
***
I wanted to give you guys a one week meal plan (courtesy of Robb Wolf) to give you some ideas for next week so here is a simple one to get you started.
Week 1
Monday
BREAKFAST: 2–4 poached eggs, almonds, small piece fruit or berries
LUNCH: Chicken fajita salad
SNACK: 2oz chicken, apple, few avocado slices
DINNER: Grilled salmon, roasted green beans, side salad
Tuesday
BREAKFAST: Leftover salmon, walnuts
LUNCH: Lettuce, tomato, onion, and condiments of your choice over 1–2 burger patties, orange, almonds
SNACK: Jerky, macadamia nuts
DINNER: Rotisserie chicken, steamed broccoli, side salad
Wednesday
BREAKFAST: Leftover chicken w/salsa, ½ avocado
LUNCH: Tuna and cabbage salad
SNACK: Remainder of tuna and cabbage salad
DINNER: Crock-Pot pork loin, tomato sauce, zucchini, chopped cauliflower, basil. Make a large portion, leftovers will be used for several meals!
Thursday
BREAKFAST: Slice of ham, 2–3 scrambled eggs, fruit
LUNCH: Leftover pork loin
SNACK: 2 hard-boiled eggs, almonds
DINNER: Stir-fry beef salad. Serve over bed of greens with balsamic vinegar
Friday
BREAKFAST: Sausage stir-fry breakfast
LUNCH: Easy ceviche
SNACK: 2 oz chicken, apple
DINNER: Spaghetti squash or kelp-noodle spaghetti: cook either choice with marinara sauce, ground meat, olive oil
Saturday
BREAKFAST: Chicken apple hash
LUNCH: 5–6 oz deli turkey, ½ lb steamed broccoli, drizzle with olive oil
SNACK: 2–3 oz turkey, carrot sticks, almonds
DINNER: Indian-style coleslaw, leftover pork loin, side salad with olive oil
Sunday
BREAKFAST: Western omelet, sweet potato hash
LUNCH: Lamb patties, tomato, lettuce, strawberries
SNACK: Turkey, avocado
DINNER: Halibut, roasted asparagus, berries with balsamic vinegar
WOD:
5 Rounds
3 Shoulder Press
Max Rep Ring Dips
Then, Paleo Benchmark:
400m Run