Paleo Diet Experiment: 30 Days to a Better Self (Part 1 of 4)

In this month of February, I will be taking on a challenge of a strict Paleo diet.

I know February doesn’t have thirty days but I will be counting the half days going in and coming off the Paleo diet.

My goal is to lose as much weight as possible while staying healthy and exercising. I’m not going to be using any crazy fad diet – just something tired and tested by human kind over the course of thousands of years.

That’s me to the right – chubby but tons of potential.

I’ve let myself go for years now and it doesn’t help that the majority of my work is in front of the computer doing freelancing or just lazily browsing the web during my off time.

I decided to take this challenge because I have already lost nearly 40 pounds in 2011 because of an extend trip to Japan and Thailand where we ate very little and constantly walked and explored.

I would like to reach a goal of 180 pounds but I don’t foresee it possible (or healthy) to push that weight loss in a single month so, realistically, I will probably hit my goal around summer time if things continue to work out as I hope.

I’ve been a nerd all of my life and it’s time for it to change. I’m ready to take on the hardship of diet and exercise but I’m also wildly excited to track my results and possibly help you in your own weight loss goals.

The Paleo Diet, in a nutshell, relies heavily on meat and veggies.

The idea is that human kind, ages ago, did not have access to processed foods and agriculture so our bodies aren’t naturally adjusted to foods such as bread.

The Paleo diet, in a lot of ways, is a more hardcore Keto diet which aims to eliminate carbohydrates. Carbs form insulin which makes you keep on weight vs. going into ‘ketosis’ through heavy amounts of protein, instead.

For additional Paleo discussion, I recommend the Paleo Sub-Reddit.

As for an actual break-down of what I will be eating:

• Breakfast: Mostly eggs, sausage or ham
• Lunch: Salad with 4 – 8oz of chicken breast
• Dinner: Turkey, Chicken or Pork with a heaping pile of veggies
• Rotation: Cod, Salmon, Tuna Fish, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Etc

The cost of running this diet isn’t all that expensive compared to what I would be investing toward junk food, gym memberships and exercise equipment. I suspect I will most likely spend about $100 - $150 which will mostly go toward meat and the rest toward fresh veggies down at my local farmer’s market.

Combined with this diet, I will be doing regular exercise such as riding my bike, walking and doing interval training which is nothing more than doing an action and then accelerating it in intervals such as walking for five minutes and then sprinting for two.

Here’s a breakdown of what I plan to do for exercise:

• A daily bike ride for 30 minutes
• Daily walking for 20 minutes
• Mon, Wed, Fri for 20 minutes of weight training

I have mapped out and explored a great route for my bike riding experience which has been phenomenal leading up to this challenge. I also have a great, side-road which will allow me to walk without the dangers of passing cars. Finally, my weight training will consist of pushups, squats, leg raises, lunges and crunches (nothing fancy but super effective).

I have found a lot of great resources for the Paleo diet across the web which I'd like to share if you too want to get on board with this challenge.

There is a lot of free info out there but it can be a bit difficult, at times, to understand and condense it all because there's simply so much of it.

On the right is a great little video I found about explaining the Paleo diet and beneath that are a few books and resources I'd recommend for getting up to speed (shouldn't cost much).

I plan to update these journals once a week to avoid feeling burned if certain days I don’t lose any weight or show any gain. A weekly update should also allow me to stay focused and spend more time away from the computer so I can get my exercise done.

I’ll need plenty of motivation which I’ll pull from my friends, family and maybe even you. I would like for you to join me on my challenge if you too need to lose a bit of weight. You don’t need to do the Paleo diet but maybe find something of your own and track the process.

Comment below if you’re ready to take or follow the challenge. Here we go!