She's not Fat, She's Healthy

I am Indian American or first generation American to Indian immigrants. I hate calling my parents immigrants since they have lived in America for 40 years now. Anywho, Indian parents who call you Healthy are really calling you Fat. Yes you read that correctly. You have no idea how many times I have heard someone say, "She's not fat, she's just healthy" and then they stretch their arms out and puff up their face to show just how healthy the person is! It's true. But that's exactly the opposite of what this post is about.

Americans have become scale obsessed. We all have scales in our bathrooms and weigh ourselves daily or weekly. Why? Does losing a pound or two really matter? On days our weight is less, we're happy and on days we're we weigh more, we question why or think we ate too much the previous day. In other countries, it's uncommon to have scales in the bathroom and they seem less concerned with an "ideal weight" as well. I'm 125 pounds and I used to walk around saying that my ideal weight was 120. However I am a lot stronger now at 125 than I ever was at 120 and my body isn't too much different. That whole logic that at 5 feet, you should weigh 100 pounds and add 5 pounds for every inch above that, is bullshit. Muscle weighs more than fat.

I mentioned before I'm reading The Paleo Coach. If you haven't read this book and want to eat cleaner, you really should consider reading it. I'm not saying go 100% paleo but the author makes several really good points throughout the book. One of them is "...the number of the scale will go down if you have a lot of weight to lose. The problem is the scale will not tell you if it is no longer serving your goal, and in reality it is never entirely accurate. Nobody loses all her fat before she begins gaining muscle." If you're trying to lose a lot of weight, the scale will be a good indicator but what comes next? You'll eventually plateau or maybe put on a few pounds of muscle and get discouraged because your goal is your weight. I have to admit I weigh myself often but I don't get upset about how much I weigh. I look in the mirror and if I like what I see, some muscle in my arms and definition in my legs, then I'm doing okay. If the scale shows I'm a couple pounds more, so be it. I'm stronger and happier. There's a picture in the book that brings it home. Both pictures depict a woman that is 155 pounds - the same woman. In one she's carrying a lot of extra weight in her stomach and hips and the other, she's fitter, has a flat stomach and much more muscle. Guess what? She still weighs 155 pounds. So saying you have an ideal weight is crap. Forget the scale, workout like a beast and eat clean. You'll never need to weigh yourself again! I'm happy I don't let the scale get me down anymore. The next step is to get rid of it.

Sadly, the last time I worked out was 4th of July. Little Beast was sick over the weekend and I wasn't feeling that great myself. I did however get a crazy workout in on the 4th. Hubby and I went to CrossFit together and this was the WOD:

400m run
50 box jumps
50 KB swings (I used 26 lb)
50 butterfly sit ups
50 pushups
50 wall balls (I used a 10 lb ball)

From what Hubby tells me, I turned purple halfway through. It was really tough! I had to overcome my box jump fear quick since there was 50 of them. I did surprisingly well however since I had no time to think! Since it was only my second time doing wall balls, my form was way off. The closer you stand to the wall, the easier it is. I'll figure it out. Practice makes perfect. Here's a picture of wall ball torture if you are unfamiliar.

It's tough being Paleo and I've had meals where I am 100% paleo and meals when I'm not. I try for the most part to stick to being at least 80% paleo. Paleo Coach suggests picturing a scale in your head and weighing what you want to eat vs meeting your health and fitness goals. It works for the most part but the other night when I imagined a canoli on one side of the scale and my health and fitness goals on the other...well the canoli won. I'm human afterall.

Because of my sweet tooth, I decided to bake something that I could have when fruit doesn't cut it so I baked a Paleo Banana Bread. It's a little dry (think I need to use extra ripe bananas next time) but it tastes wonderful. Hubby is enjoying it just as much as I am!

My Paleo Banana Bread

Change

Immediately after I wrote the title for this post, I thought of the South Park episode about Change.It's where everyone turns into a bum asking for change. Got any change? Change? Change? You should see it if you haven't. It's hilarious. While I don't need that kind of change, I do need to change.

It's been nearly two months, well I think more like 6 weeks, of consistent exercise and while I see a difference, I don't see as big a difference as I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect instant gratification (or maybe I did) but I'm not disappointed so much as ready to really make it happen. I realize that most of it is what I eat. While I have worked at eating better, there are still some days I eat crap. And since Little Beast is a toddler, there is plenty of cereal and goldfish in my house. And I just love goldfish. More than anything, I just love snacking with him.

So change. On Friday night, I was having a much needed glass of wine and I was doing some research. I looked up the hype on grass fed meat and was surprised at what I found. I'm not going to recite from a website and try to act smart so here it is if you're interested - Why Grass Fed Animal Products are Better for You. That led me to do some Paleo research and I found this blog - PaleOMG. Not only is the author hilarious, but what I like most is that she was thin and wasn't happy because she wasn't strong. Strong is the new skinny. I'm all over that bandwagon. I also went through some of her recipes and decided that Paleo was worth a shot. Friday night I decided I am going to try Paleo until our vacation at the end of the month and see how I do. I am proud to say today is my 3rd day on Paleo and I feel great!

Last night I tried a recipe from PaleOMG - Crockpot Ropa Vieja and it was delicious! I didn't have time to make the cauliflower rice because I had a bridal shower to go to but Hubby said he would eat that any night. Woohoo! Paleo wasn't so bad after all. I do have to say that it is tough. I ate veggie sticks and fruit at the bridal shower and refrained from muffins, cake, pita, and kieshes. It was tough but I'm determined.

I also thought I would NEVER be able to have my coffee black. This suit is black..NOT. If you don't get it, I can't help you. Anyways, I started black coffee Saturday morning and have had no issues the past 3 days. Where there's a will, there's a way. I'm not sure I will stay on Paleo for the rest of my life but I will say that avoiding processed foods is huge. Just knowing I am committed to eating clean keeps me away from the snacks I give Little Beast. Otherwise, it's 1 goldfish for you, 2 for Mama.

So far today, I have had a cup of black coffee, two boiled eggs - just the whites and I just had an apple with almond butter. I bought fuji apples from the store over the weekend and Justin's Nut Butter Natural Maple Almond Butter. I get the packets because it's easy to take to work and it's already portioned for me.

Yum!

I will probably have leftover Ropa Vieja for lunch and then I'm going to make another recipe from PaleOMG  for dinner tonight.

I am going to post a post Paleo picture right before we go on vacation. Wish me luck!