First week check-in

I'm sure at this point people are a mix of headaches, foamy mouths, sluggishness, and cravings.

It's okay. You're going through "the change".

Changing habits doesn't make everything all better overnight.

Think of this not as just flipping a switch in the circuit breaker, but rewiring our bodies, changing the bulbs, and adding dimmer lights. It's a process. If you're not an electrician and you're trying to make these upgrades on your own, there will be a lot of questions and even some mistakes along the way. It's a learning process, and it takes time.

We're getting away from pre-packaged meals, fast food, and convenience of eating food with less nutritional quality. So make some time to find some recipes, read labels, chop veggies, roast chicken, and enjoy the time in the kitchen. Sure, it can be time consuming, but I love the smell of squash soup on the stove, or a pot roast in the crock pot ready to eat when I get home from work. I feel a sense of accomplishment to try a new recipe and I like to share it with others so they can expand their palate.

So let's keep sharing what works/doesn't work, how to deal with cravings, etc.

Here are a few tips that I've learned from previous paleo challenges

- Drink heavily - I mentioned it in a reply, but aim to drink half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 200 lbs, you should drink 100oz of WATER a day (minimum). This is just a guideline, but sometimes you might be thirsty when you think you're hungry. This doesn't apply to during working - you are neither thirsty nor hungry, you are stalling. (PS - how much water drinking went on during "Annie"?)

- Sleep - This is where I fail as I typically get 6-7 hrs of sleep. Your goal should be 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep in a dark room. What you do during workouts helps you get stronger, but you make your money when you sleep, which is when your body is working to repair itself so it can be ready for the next workout.

- Eat meals, not snacks - I used to snack a lot during the day especially on sugar snap peas, apples, carrots, etc. I'm to the point where I'm set with 3 meals, maybe something small post workout, and a handful of carrots and a hard boiled egg during the day. The last bit I'll grab when I don't have stuff together, but I like to have smaller meals in place of a snack. I'll take it with me to work, but I don't feel the need to eat it if I'm not hungry. Before, I felt like I HAD to eat everything I packed.

- Eat more - If you're getting plenty of sleep and drinking enough water, yet you still have headaches or cravings.. eat more. Protein and fat will keep you satiated and take longer to digest.

- It's okay to be a little hungry - Your body doesn't have the usual amount of carbohydrates to use as fuel and it doesn't know what to do, but the stored fat is there to pick up the slack. You can go more than 2-3 hours without eating, so have some water.

- Plan ahead - I find I have more structure and eating paleo is easier during the week than it is on the weekends. On weekends, I might spend more time in front of the TV where I'm more inclined to snack, or I might be out for a few hours running errands. In one case I might have the munchies and in the other I might forget to eat. In either case, have a plan. Either have a good, filling meal before or during your TV show(s) or before going out, and take some paleo snacks and water with you.

- Use frozen/pre-chopped veggies - If you're going to cook something in the crock pot, sometimes it's a timesaver to buy pre-cut veggies and throw them in the pot than it is to chop eevvverything up. However, if you've got the time to chop, chop away and store the extras to use on a salad, in an egg scramble, as a side dish, etc.

- Write it down - I don't want this to turn into a laborious process of weighing, measuring, tracking, tallying, etc, but if you're hungry, tired irritable and you can't figure out why, chart your progress. Jot down what you ate and how much sleep you got that night as well as rate your stress level on a scale of 1 (chill) to 5 (pulling my hair out).

Use this weekend to check out some recipes here on the website or on some of the blogs I've linked to on the side, then hit the grocery stores. Check out the Guide to the Grocery Store on the Whole9 website, and the FAQ section on Robb Wolf's website for some good ideas.

Finally, I would like to have a pot luck dinner at the end, and the only weekend I have available is November 19-20, which is the weekend before Thanksgiving. We could do Thursday the 17th if people are heading out of town that weekend. Or we could have two pot lucks! Even if we have to wait until December, we can do that to make sure as many people as possible can attend. Let me know if the 17th or 19th would work, or toss out some other dates that fit your schedule.

Keep it up!