Paleo Diet - Day #1

So I have toyed around with starting the Paleo Diet for months now, I've given it a trial go a couple of times but have yet to stick with it for more than a few days. I finally decided that the only way to do this is much like everything else just jump in with both feet and "just do the darn thing" so today starts the quest.

First, for those not already familiar with the Paleo or "Cave Man" Diet, it essentially is eliminating any processed food and only eating foods that would have been readily available to early man. So meat, fish, poultry, fruit, vegetables and nuts. No white sugar, flour, bread, pasta, pizza etc...

Now before I continue let me state for the record that I do not intend to follow a "Strict" Paleo Diet, I will adhere to the basic principles but I will be modifying to accommodate my endurance training by following the eating principles laid out in the book The Paleo Diet for Athletes, which more or less allows for certain modern foods to be eaten immediately before, during and after intense and prolonged training and or races. I will still have 1-3 meals a week that wouldn't even come close to counting as a Paleo meal, hey I am a husband and father whose family isn't exactly on board with my idea of a diet. And there will be those times when traveling, vacation, family get together etc. where I will have to set aside principles for practicality.

I'm starting this now with the intent to get as lean as possible over the winter, in addition I will be focusing more on strength and conditioning by lifting weights, incorporating a Crossfit style workout 2-3 times a week. I know that the first week or 2 will most likely be the most difficult but I'm dedicated to following the diet as strictly as I am able to. I know by best weapon to achieving success is preparation and planning so meal planning will be essential. I have a Paleo Cookbook that I will be using for recipe ideas and hopefully that helps, because no matter how much I love grilled meat, fish, chicken with sweet potato's, eating that 2-3 times a day everyday will get old very quickly.

Tomorrow I will weigh myself in like I do every Tuesday morning to get a starting point to track my progress through out this journey. Looking forward to some awesome results, and I know that the scale will not be the ultimate determination, body fat % is really my main goal to get it down to the 10% range, I currently (according to my scale at home) am around 24%. At 215 pounds that's roughly 50 lbs of fat I'm carrying around, I would like to lose at least half of that.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.