Two Weeks

About two weeks in and I feel much better. My energy is much greater and more consistent (the post-meal drugged feeling is going away). My "fat pants" are starting to get loose again. I can feel my muscles "coming alive" a little bit. I don't have that bloated, swollen feeling all the time.

Exercise: I've done some work and heavy lifting in my yard and house (it's amazing how things get overgrown and cluttered when I get fat and lazy). Overall, I have been moving around a little bit more, too. Due to my schedule and the list of things to do for work and around the house (yard work and cleaning, once again), I haven't scheduled time for formal workouts. I'm planning on starting that within a week or two. There are about three more days of weeding, leaf mulching, pruning, and trimming to do this week, so I'll have plenty to keep me busy. While I do plan to start doing 2 intense workouts per week, like I did before, I'm more concerned with diet these past two weeks, ending my seemingly addictive consumption of junk food.

Fasting: I've fasted a few times for slightly less than 24 hours. The last time was before and during the yard work I did for several hours Sunday. Working in a fasted state makes me feel like I did last time I did the Paleo diet. Like riding a bike, my body quickly adapted to the change, without any negative feeling this time.

Food: I'm about 85-90% sticking to the diet I plan to make permanent. I have been able to resist the junk, with increasing ease. I estimate I'm eating about 70-80% Paleo (if you exclude dairy from what you consider Paleo). I plan to keep dairy in my diet, which probably accounts for about 10-15% of my calories now. I've been eating some legumes (pinto beans, chick-peas, and a few peanuts), which have some negative nutritional content, but I plan to eat those only occasionally.

I would like to have only strictly organic foods, but I don't yet know of any stores which carry meat or dried fruit which are completely unpolluted. The sausage, bacon, and dried fruit I eat do have nitrites/preservatives. The beef & eggs are not grass fed/free range (I'm guessing).

Cheats: My "cheats" have included a few tortilla chips (with pinto beans I cooked and guacamole I mixed), movie popcorn, a few breadcrumbs my wife put in a meatloaf, some rice and beans at a Mexican Restaurant while travelling, and 85% cocoa organic chocolate (which I eat with pecans and dried apricots). I plan to make the Green & Black's chocolate my consistent, occasional cheat.

Weight: I'm down to 230 lbs.. My morning weight two weeks ago was 235. I did weigh myself once in the evening (so it's "unofficial") and saw an eye-popping 240. The older I get, the easier it is to add weight and the harder it is to reverse that. Telling myself that I can lose my weight again, that I'll get back to eating healthy "soon" but putting it off has been very costly.