What I Learned from the Paleo Challenge (It's Not What You Think)

The Paleo Challenge is over. 8 weeks of work. And I am amazed at what I learned and what I accomplished.

Let's start out with my measurements and other measured milestones:

Before                                                                  After

Waist     33.5 inches                                          29 inches
Hips:      40.5 inches                                          37 inches
Thigh:    26                                                        24.5 inches         
Bicep:    11.5                                                      11.5 inches
Clean
& Jerk:  95bs                                                       105lbs
400m
Sprint:   2:04                                                        1:58

Weight: 143lbs                                                  136.6lbs
(not part of the challenge calculation, only measurements counted)

These clearly show how hard I worked. But here's the thing. I worked my butt off, but not necessarily at eating. Here's what happened. I hit a plateau before the challenge while still eating Paleo. I continued with Paleo and incorporated the ZONE concept into Paleo. This taught me two things. One, I was not eating enough food. And two, I was not eating the right balance of foods. So I added more food and a better balance. This helped. A lot. I started seeing the weight drop again.

Now on top of the nutrition part of this, I have also been training for a competition. My first actually. So I was adding a minimum of 3 extra lifts per week. My coach has also been programming 3 extra lifts per week, on top of our normal. So basically, I significantly increased my lifting during this time as well. And so I needed more food.

Towards the end of the challenge, I went less strict. Funny, you would think it would be the other way around. But one thing I found is that when I was super strict, the weight was stagnant. This is not the same as it use to be when I was younger so it took some mental adjustment to realize this. So what did I do? I started eating a piece of bread here and there. Not white bread with crap in it, let's not get all crazy here. But I ate organic, all natural bread. I ate cheese. Not a lot. Maybe an ounce or two every few days. And what I found is that more weight dropped off. And I FELT slimmer. FINALLY.

So when it came time for measurements, I knew I had done well. I didn't know I had done as well as I did. I lost a total of 9.5 inches, 4.5 from my waist, 3.5 from my hips and 1.5 from my thigh. Even I was amazed. My Clean & Jerk went up 10lbs. My sprint time decreased by 6 seconds. Wow.

When I first lost weight and was thin in 2010, I use to take measurements. See, I am ALL about tracking. I have to see my progress, I have to be able to document the changes. Recently, I came across those measurements from 2010 randomly. So I compared.

I was confused at first to find that my waist and hips were exactly the same measurements as they were 5 years ago when I was 8lbs lighter. I had to ask my coach, how can this be? She told me, because you have muscle now. Oh, that's right. I knew I was missing something!


I really couldn't be prouder of myself, for probably the first time in my life. I have been sticking to this thing I love called CrossFit and it has been my everything these past 9 months. It has saved me in so many ways that I cannot even begin to explain. When I can really show my commitment and dedication, and have it show when I participate in challenges like this, I know I am finally on the right track, doing the right thing, with the right people. 

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