Back to Paleo (-ish)

I'm freshly back from an eight-day stay in beautiful Ireland, and was amazed at how I wasn't sick the whole time. Not even a smidge. I do believe my GI tract wants me to move to Limerick.

Until such time as I can make that happen, I am taking a lesson - fresh foods for the win. Before I left, my rheumatologist told me to go gluten-free, as he believes it will greatly help reduce inflammation. I'd fallen off the Paleo-wagon because I am lazy, and promised him I'd do it when I returned. In Ireland, great pride was taken by many restaurants in using all fresh ingredients, most locally grown (including the meats). Most meals were heavy on protein (quiche, lamb stew, mussels, shepherd's pie, bangers & mash, chicken) with the occasional pie crust or side of bread and potatoes. Fresh food, fresh air, lots of walking. and good sleep, and I felt fantastic. 

And so, I'm back home and gluten-free and semi-Paleo. (I say semi because I'm using beans for today's lunch.) I've decided to try for a gluten-free, HFCS-free, dairy-free, semi-Paleo existence. The kitchen has been cleared. My gym bag is packed. Let's do this thing. Again. But this time with inspiration provided by my best friend - more on that soon.

Today's lunch: half a can of black beans, half a baked shredded chicken breast with Penzey's "Forward!" spice, one chopped avocado. (Same as yesterday's lunch. Delicious.) For those not going dairy-free, some shredded cheese would be a great addition to this. Microwave for 2 minutes on high and you're good to go. (It's also easy to put together a few lunch batches of this at the beginning of the week, making life easy for the kitchen-lazy.)

It's Working...

Well, despite an on-again off-again relationship with Paleo during the holidays, I'm getting back into the swing of things. It's hit and miss, but more hit. I'll be sharing a recipe for a Phenomenal Awesome Salad of Doom - probably tomorrow, since I'm planning to make it again as soon as humanly possible.

In any case, Long-suffering Trainerman Alec weighed me this Thursday during our session to see how things are going. The scale (and my pants) say that to date I've lost about 15 pounds. I don't see much of that happening in my face or my waist, and for that I blame the steroids. But seeing the difference in my strength, my stamina in terms of the repetitions I can do and the weight I can work with, and watching my pants get longer because there is less booty to inflate them makes me feel very, very good. I am making good choices more often than not (though I'm probably only a B student, since I still occasionally indulge), and that is a major improvement.

And so, back to Paleo, back to the gym. The funny thing is, the more I eat well in terms of more salads and lean meats and fewer fast food/junk/carbload meals, the more the food I crave is of the good-for-me sort.

The Incredible Shrinking Booty?

2012 started out well, wonderful and rested after a week at home with mom and visiting family. Lots of sleep, lots of bonding time, and my sister and I trying to explain the phenomenon of hashtags to the Reilly clan. It was a great time.

I spent the first weekend of 2012 back in the hospital for tests, all seems okay for now. My slacks have been slipping off my waist a bit, looking a little droopy. (One of the first signs of weight loss for me is that my pantlegs suddenly get longer when my behind is not taking up as much room. Since I'm already short, this leads to me walking on the edges of my pants. Not fun.) Anyway, I thought I might have lost enough to try on some old pants, and so tonight after seeing Trainerman Alec for my workout, I came home, showered, and broke out The Pants The Preceded My Current Behind. (Also known as The Size Before, Minor Goal Pants, and The Pants of Hopeful Thinking.) Slacks one size down are just a little snug in the middle, but jeans one size down fit nicely. Hooray!

Four pairs of jeans have been resurrected from the Drawer Of No Return, and I've decided to have Trainerman Alec level up to Necromance Trainerman for bringing the pants back from the dead. I'm still a large lady, but things are moving in the right direction, and that makes me terribly happy. It also helps fuel me to stay on track in terms of hitting the gym, eating properly, and resting well.

Now, hashtag practice:

Do your booty fill your jeans? #mybootydo
Do your booty bounce? #mybootydo
Do your booty shrink? I can happily say, #mybootydo