Week 6

Weight: 193.4 lbs
BMI: 24.2
Body Fat: 12.6%
Blood Pressure: 112/77

I'm well over-due for an update: Thanksgiving I of course put on some extra weight, however it was gone shortly afterwards. I picked up the book The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf about 2 weeks ago and it has been quite the read. I took my blood pressure for the first time in at least 2 months last night and everything was a lot better (Note: my grandmother had a stroke about 5 months ago and our family charts our blood pressure about once every two weeks). My blood pressure's systolic number has dropped by about 20 points and my diastolic number has risen by 5. Lastly I've made some really good meals:

Lemon Chicken Asparagus
1 to 1.5 lbs of organic chicken
2 lemons
1 lb of asparagus
- lemon pepper and poultry seasonings
- Olive Oil and/or Coconut oil

In a 2 quart container, place chicken at the bottom after coating in seasonings. Place asparagus on top of chicken, pour the juice from lemons on top of the asparagus. Sprinkle lemon pepper on top of dish and then pour some oil. (2 - 3 Servings, each piece of chicken is enough for a meal)

Cave Man Breakfast Steak
1 lb steak (grass fed)
1 container of baby bella mushrooms
1 diced red onion
1 teaspoon of diced garlic
- steak seasonings
- steak sauce (optional)
- Coconut oil

Cook the steak in a wok with only a tablespoon of coconut oil. Add seasonings and steak sauce to give everything more flavor. Temporarily put the steak on a plate, while leaving the juices behind. Put in the onions and mushrooms. Then return the steak. Cover the wok and let everything simmer at low-medium (4 out of 9) for 10 minutes. (3 servings, cut sreak into 3 pieces: its a lot of food with the mushrooms and onions)

Week 3

Monday morning weigh-in: 195.2 lbs and 13% body fat.

I've been rather busy so updating this will be sparse at best, I've continued to cook and eat the chicken tortilla-less soup. Last night, I cooked Thai Curry Butternut Squash Soup and I'll be trying it over the next few days. I think I'll need to add some more protein to my diet, so I'll make more chicken tortilla-less and add some quinoa to the butternut squash soup. I've cheated a little bit on the diet (eating peanut butter kind bars, they were on sale). I know I need to remain active this week (several Thanksgiving meals), so I'll try to continue walking at least 5,000 steps a day.

Week 2 Part 1

This is my first whole week to make a post on the diet and I've gotten a new scale which will tell me my weight and body fat: 198 lbs 13.7% Body Fat as of today. I'll use it to chart progress, should I encounter any.

Sunday (the 4th)
Breakfast: Green Smoothie (Pineapple, Mango, Banana, Spinach, Lifeway Kifer, Almond milk, and some Orange Juice) [ran out of almond milk and the smoothie was too thick]
Lunch: Chicken Tortilla-less soup
Dinner: Chicken Tortilla-less soup

Monday
Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Lunch: Chicken Tortilla-less soup
Dinner: Chicken Pita (Cheat meal with friends)

Tuesday
Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Lunch: Chicken Tortilla-less soup (This stuff is amazing, I made this batch with habanero peppers and taco seasoning instead of poblano pepper and fajita seasoning, respectively)
Dinner: Chicken Stir-fry

I can't wait to try the stir-fry, it looks amazing. I've got about 3 more servings of this soup, so between it and the stir-fry I should be covered for the remainder of the week. Thursday I'll have work related travel, so I'll very likely be off the plan.

Wednesday
Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Lunch: Soup or Stir-fry
Dinner: Soup or Stir-fry

Week 1 Part 1

I'm going to Appended two more item to the exception list: Kind Bars and Quinoa. They are Gluten and Dairy free, I don't plan to eat too many (Mostly on mornings where I have very little time to prepare breakfast and as an after work-out snack).Quinoa is gluten free, however this one exception is temporary (to help me ease onto the diet). I will not buy any more, and it will only be an exception until my pantry runs out.

November 1st

Breakfast: 1 Apple, 1 Coconut Almond  (Kind) Bar, and Water

Lunch: Beef Stew, 1 Banana, and Water

Dinner: Beef Stew, 1 Banana, and Water

November 2nd

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: Beef Stew, 1 Apple, and Water

Dinner: Very likely a "free" meal (dinner with friends)

Living a Busy/Working Life-style it is really hard to cook, Soups seem to be the easiest to prepare by throwing the ingredients in a crock pot and letting them cook over night.

Here are some recipes that I've found:

Chicken Tortilla-less Soup

Beef Stew

Paleo Butternut Squash reciepes

Attempting the Paleo Diet

My name is Matt currently I am a 25 years old, that is 6'3" and weighed 202 lbs this morning; however I am constantly wanting to lose weight. When I was in College I weighed at my lowest point 165 lbs. My goal weight is 175 lbs, however that may be a bit unrealistic as I've put on about 15 lbs of muscle since college. Since College, I've remained very health conscious and I try to live an active life style with a steady healthy diet. My physical activities include: lifting weights twice a week (breaking every 4th week), rock wall climbing twice a week, and trying to walk an average of 2 miles a day; however back in College I lifted twice a week and walked close to 8 miles a day on average, and my diet contained many foods that would be classified as the Paleo diet. After reading several articles and one very convincing one, I've decided to try to live the "caveman life-style" for at least 30 days. I'll post recipes and my experiences in this blog. I will allow a few exceptions to the diet; they are more or less for a matter of convenience and to help me get adjusted to this life-style.

1) Holiday Meals: I've been a vegetarian at Thanksgiving before its just not worth it.
2) Kiefer: its milk derived (99% lactose free), but it also helps to make my breakfast smoothies more filling (cutting out whey completely).
3) Almond Milk: I'll probably start making my own eventually, however for now I drink about 1 cup a day.
4) Olive Oil: its benefits and taste for cooking make it worth keeping in my opinion.
5) Green Tea: for now its my pick-me up, later on I'll switch to white tea.
6) Up to Two "free" Meals a week.