Day 24: Getting the hang of this

It's been 24 days of sobriety and paleo goodness and overall, I feel really good. I'm glad I embarked on this little experiment. I'm not gonna lie, there have been times when I forget I'm doing it and am about to order a glass of wine somewhere or want to wolf down a whole plate of cheese but alas I've been good.

I added a few more corners to the whole paleo side of the this two month journey. For example, I went to a backyard birthday this past weekend and ate sweets, cheese, and chips. I think that as long as I have those days or moments in moderation, but still mostly stick to paleo stuff, then I should be good. I've also started to take the gym more seriously, built up a little routine and sticking to that as well. My goal is to have a nice bubble butt by June lol...we'll see if the Minaj is with me.

As far as drinking, I still don't have the urge or anything like that. As I explained before, and I think this is due to me being a social drinker, I'll be with friends somewhere and they'll be ordering wine or something like that and I have to remind myself to get water. Another thing that I've found is that I still have great will power lol. I've attended parties, get-togethers, and social gatherings with no problem. I still don't see me going to a bar-bar (where all you would do IS drink) but everything else seems to be going fine. My weight is still in the lower 150's and I can feel my strength getting better (10 consecutive pull ups okrrr!).

Day 17: Holy Will Power!

When I first started this journey I told myself I wouldn't be going to bars or clubs because I knew myself...I'd be at a club or bar and be really tempted to drink and then go have some fatty food. Well, I was invited to go to a bbq with some friends and I thought to myself "Well, lemme just go and feel it out, I'll probably have some meat, chat with my friends, and try to have a good time. When I arrived my friends were all eating and drinking and I went straight for a cup of water. I was astonished...I went the whole night just sipping my water (and eating my delicious Mojo marinated grilled chicken) without thinking I needed a drink or anything like that. I had a blast and all sans alcohol. I was tres impressed.

Now came the tricky part. I watch this one show pretty religiously -Rupaul's Drag Race- and the queens from the show were going to be at a club in Orlando this past Saturday. I thought "Damn, they just HAD to do this while I was on this whole hibernation thing" but then I thought "what if...". Well, I decided that if I had enough will power to make through this bbq, where by the way alcohol was plentiful - then maybe I could make through the club. My main focus was just going to be seeing the show anyway, and then I could leave immediately afterwards if I wanted to. Well, I decided to go. I got there with some friends just in time for the show and then did a meet and greet. It was phenomenal! I had a bottle of water whilst my friends were getting totally wasted but it didn't really bother me. Then my friends wanted to dance and lemme tell you, I had fun just doing that, being with friends, dancing and drinking water lol. I was and have been really impressed with my will power. So far, still going strong, not going mad, and making it!

Day 12: Cheat day and the gym

Ok so cheat day was pretty good....I ate me some mushroom pizza, a bread stick, and some Ranch. I also had some fruit punch....it was good and I didn't gorge myself or anything. Later that day I went to a restaurant downtown "Ceviche" where they serve tapas. It was SOO yummy! I had two tapas, one with a mixture of meats and this awesome sauce, and the other with chicken. I also had bread but did eat everything with water. I felt like yeah I definitely ate some stuff I shouldn't be eating, but it wasn't going to kill me, and it was YUMMY!

Today I finally went to the gym. It was good actually. I hadn't been in a month and I completed all of the workouts I wanted to just fine. I did mostly cardio, and then fit in some arms and legs in there. I now need to create more of a routine so I can track my progress. I'm feeling good!

Day 10: I'm feeling tres better!

Sooo I'm feeling better this week. I'm not crazy tired and I'm still maintaining my weight in the low 150's (which I like) and I can do 8 consecutive pull ups lol. Ok so Easter....my sister had me over for food. As I mentioned before, I'm Latino, so everything was going to be fried, of course beans and rice, tostones, and salad drenched in some mayo mixed dressing. I decided to go. Yes, I'm on this Paleo thing but it's Easter, and come on lol.

I ate ribs, tostones (fried plantains), and some of the salad. I had water instead of the suggested grape soda, and I skipped on the rice and beans. It didn't kill me and I went back to my paleo self soon after. I did it strict for a week so I felt like half of a meal of "bad stuff" was ok. My friends that have done this do tell me it's ok to have a cheat day or to get some cheap food once in a while, just no gorging on it.

Well, tomorrow is going to be one of those days. My friend won a lunch for 4 coworkers at a pizza place we all love to go to so I decided I wouldn't be a party pooper and go. I'll just have less than what I usually get (aka 3 slices of pizza and many bread sticks all drenched in ranch) and just have a slice, a bread stick, and salad. It should be good = )

Day 7: Beaching it

Soo I ended up at Palm Coast yesterday, going to the beach, relaxing, and overall just having a great time...sans liquor lol. Then everyone decided that they wanted to go have dinner in St. Augustine, which I was all about since I was pretty hungry. So we got there and and had to wait about an hour or so, which I didn't mind too much because we spent the wait time taking pictures and being stupid. We then go seated and I looked at the menu....there was barely anything that I was allowed to eat lol. Everything was either seafood (which I can eat but I don't like), pasta, fried ______, or cheesy. I finally decided to get a salad with bacon and just added chicken. To those of you that are gonna be going out and ordering a salad with chicken added, here's a tip: order double the chicken! Everyone around me was eating delicious pasta or fried chicken, and gator tail, and BREAD with butter, while I had to wait for my salad (and ps I got the half portion bc I'm sorry but I was NOT about to order a $14.99 salad...just was not gonna happen) and when it finally came, it was good, but I wish I had had more to eat.

Another thing...I was looking for a snack on my way back from palm coast....everything was sugar or grain or crazy....luckily they had a nuts and raisins trail mix...which was pretty good. Overall though it's a bit tough. I could not believe how much self control I had...I was about to do a "well just one gator tail thing" but then I thought "I did not just do this for this long to give it all up on a gator tail" lol....Also, I've lost some weight...down to 148/149....okrr! Oh yeah...and today is the official WEEK ONE on this crazy hibernation...status: getting used to it and surviving = )

Day 5: sick?

My friend that did this told me about feeling groggy the first week and omg she was NOT kidding. I had two emergen-c packets today bc I seriously thought I was getting sick. I'm better now but def still feeling tired. I was tres glad to get my foreman grill back, which made it way easier to grill some meat. I cut some up today, put some garlic, cilantro, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and lemon on top, and grilled it. Soo yummy!

I also reloaded on some greens and fruit. I was talking to my friend about how expensive it is to "eat healthy". I could go to taco bell right now and get a meal for two bucks, but the lettuce I got (yes in a bag with other stuff or whatever) was almost that if not more...cray cray! I did figure that the money I'd be spending on going out is being put to use on this food at least, so all in all not so bad = )


Now just waiting for that end of the week mark.

Day Four: The Continuation of continuing

This "tired" period needs to end lol. I've been holding up fine but I do miss having more energy. This morning was eggs for breakfast as usual, with bacon. I need to come up with different breakfast meals as eggs and bacon are becoming a bit redundant.

Today I also went with my coworkers to a pizza place (we go every week, it's fun) but of course I couldn't eat pizza so I got a salad with bacon, chicken, eggs, and balsamic vinaigrette. It was yummy but I definitely felt some difficulty as my coworkers wolfed down some cheesy pizza. I survived though so all is well.

For dinner I had Chorizo salad with a whole lemon squeezed on it...it was AMAZING. I know that'll be happening again. I had some grapes and will probz have some carrots later on tonight for a snack.

Sidenote: Yeah I know it's the fourth day but I have yet to lose any weight, maintained though so that's good. I'm at 154 = )

Day Three: le tired

Yesterday ended on a good note. I went to see RuPaul's Drag Race at my friend Crysta's house (who is also really into Paleo btw) and she taught me how to make kale chips. You basically get some kale, put it in a bowl, put some olive oil on it, sprinkle some garlic salt if you want, and lay it out on a tray. You bake it at 350 for a few minutes and voila, you have kale chips. They were good, and I usually hate vegetables so I think I would give it another go.

She also gave me some tips on how to survive the diet, the reason why I took nuts to work today. I've been good so far but today I was feeling crazy tired, which I guess is a side effect of your body getting less carbs.

Anyhow, I got home, made a grilled pork salad again (tastier this time bc I cooked the meat differently) and ate a whole bunch of grapes. I'm gonna be working on a gym routine of sorts that I hope to start next week. OMG OMG, I was most definitely offered taco bell AND M&Ms and I seriously don't know how I turned them down lol. On a positive note, I can do 6 complete pull ups (which is a lot for me considering I could do NO pull ups lol)

Day two: I survived day one, yay!

Like I said in the first day post, my day was pretty chill. I ended up going to my friend's house for some board games and tea. Yes, board games and tea lol. When I did arrive though I was offered wine AND my friend was making some awesome looking cookies. It did take some effort to choose water over wine but I did. The cookies weren't that hard to turn down (I know, cray) but my other friend was peeling a mango so I had some of that. Later on we sat down and played some board games and drank some tea. I felt really British lol.

Anywho, I had eggs with salami and strawberries for breakfast, which was good. For lunch I had rotisserie chicken. Finally, when I got home I prepared some grilled pork, tossed that in a salad, sprinkled some homemade balsamic vinaigrette, and had a side of strawberries and grapes for "dessert".

My friend was telling me that the first week is the hardest but so far I'm doing ok. Now I think I'm just gonna be investing in coconut oil (which I couldn't find at walmart) and maybe coconut milk.

Day One: it starts!

I had the epitome of the "Last night being a bad idea bear" last night, so I awoke groggy and READY to take this challenge on. The first thing I did was make this video...kind of like a day one sort of deal.

So like I say in the video...I went shopping at the local "WalmarK" for some paleo items

And I prepared myself my first "official" paleo meal...Eggs and Bacon = )

I also purchased some new strings for my guitar and restrung the it. Today I would usually be basking in "Sunday Funday" but instead I chilled, ate, and will be going to a dinner later/game night at my friend's. Definitely different from the usual