{"id":272,"date":"2011-02-16T20:33:32","date_gmt":"2011-02-17T03:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.engrevo.com\/blog\/?p=272"},"modified":"2011-04-17T19:11:21","modified_gmt":"2011-04-18T02:11:21","slug":"guest-post-corey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.engrevo.com\/blog\/guest-post-corey\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Corey’s First Eight Paleo Weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s readers; my name is Corey, and I went primal\/paleo 8 weeks ago after hearing about it from Kit. I have known Kit for about a decade now. We have had some good times, and some bad, and have done a lot of things together; from spending lunch periods together in junior high, learning to skateboard, to hanging out in high school, losing friends, making new ones, playing hockey, to experiencing the outdoors, and now we have even become health conscious of our bodies together (Ed. Note: Not like in the same room or anything<\/em>), though the credit for that is all Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. After a few months of Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experiences, I decided I too would jump on the wagon and since then, he has asked me to write something about my own experience with living the Paleo lifestyle, and I am happy to oblige.<\/p>\n

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A quick note, then <\/em>I’ll let Corey take over again after the break. <\/em>For those of you who have never been here before and are interested in learning more about the lifestyle, start from “About<\/a>” or Eat This, Not That<\/a>. Also check out my “F6W<\/a>“. Or feel free to just browse through using the search bar or the tags in the left pane. When Corey sent me this package, he very modestly put his “before and after” pic at the very end. I bumped it up to the front page, because I know everybody will click on through to the other side<\/a> after seeing it. Read on, and enjoy Corey’s style of writing – I know I laughed out loud a few times reading his post.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/em>When Kit first started living Paleo and eating a high fat, low carb diet (it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good idea<\/a>), I was skeptical, as most people who hear about the diet are. I mean, come on, cavemen ate \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcthis way\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all dead.<\/strong> I mean isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the Agricultural Revolution the reason I can type this up on my Apple laptop? Or why I can go to the gun shop down the street, buy a box of .30-06 rounds and go hunt my \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmeal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 now with my rifle instead of an atlatl<\/a>? After all, when people first became sedentary, and shifted to an agricultural lifestyle, it was possible for people to have jobs besides simply hunting or gathering, it was possible to delegate food work to most and allow a few to specialize in things such as tool making. That was the birth of fast growing technological advancement. So yes, I can sit here on my laptop watching the San Jose Sharks<\/a> win games thanks to agriculture. However, I cannot say that thanks to agriculture, I have six-pack abs and look like I could beat up \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe Situation<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 from Jersey Shore, although I would still try anyways if I had the opportunity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The way that food is produced and processed today is not healthy and I decided that I want to step out of the system and get back to our humanistic primal roots eating-wise.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>The first few times I saw Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new lifestyle in effect was when he made adjustments to pre and post Hockey meals, and when he brought over a 2lb grass-fed steak to my house for a BBQ dinner. He also talked often about what he ate for breakfast and dinner and what-not, and most everything sounded good. This was a diet <\/em>though, eh?<\/strong> And there was then of course our August trip to Loon Lake<\/a> in Eldorado National Forest. During that trip, Kit brought an assortment of Paleo foods and for the first time, in a long time, he did not drink any of the beers. What?! Yes, it did happen. He did however supplement with a few bottles of wine and some of the communal Jack Daniels that our buddy Tyler brought up for the trip. He was serious. (Ed. Note: I was.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Intrigued by his results over the following few weeks and the simplicity of the lifestyle, as well as the actual science behind the process of fat loss through this diet making sense to me, I decided I would experiment with it as well. And Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wolf pack<\/a>, it grew by one.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been 8 weeks since the start of my own Paleo adventure. I started on December 18th, a Saturday. I had gone out the night before and was as hungover as a dead moose would be, if he were hungover. Basically I felt dead, and I figured that would be a good day to start, since I wanted very little to do with food that day anyway. I also took into account that day that I would probably be drinking less if I embarked into the world of Paleo, which that day was a comforting thought. As that day went on and my appetite grew I encountered my first test. My younger sister and her friend had ordered a pizza. Damn it. When it arrived I was ready to steal a slice, but to my own surprise I knew I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going too. It had begun. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel nearly as dramatic as I try to make it seem.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I started the Paleo lifestyle by going pretty much cold turkey on the carbs, hoping that after the first week I would have lost around 8 pounds, in water weight and some initial fat burn, as the lack of carbs would mean my body would need a new source of energy leading to an increase of fat burnt for energy, since I was holding out.<\/p>\n

It was simple<\/strong>, for one week straight I woke up and ate:<\/p>\n

Breakfast- 4 strips bacon, 3 eggs (fried over-easy in the bacon grease)<\/p>\n

Lunch- about 1\/3lb of beef and veggies (bell peppers and saut\u00c3\u00a9ed mushrooms)<\/p>\n

Dinner- large chicken breast, (fried in bacon grease and topped with crushed almonds (about 2 tbsp of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcem) and some garlic salt and spices) over a green salad with one whole avocado cut up, and a home made spicy \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcadobo sauce & olive oil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 dressing.<\/p>\n

I also only drank water, no beers, no soda and NO juice.<\/p>\n

Boom.<\/strong> One week down, satisfied with the eats and the results were as follows:<\/p>\n

Original Weight: 167.5 lbs
\nWeight after one week<\/em> Paleo: 160.3 lbs<\/p>\n

I had lost an easy 7.2 lbs, had to go down a notch on the belt and it felt good<\/em>.<\/strong> This was the first time I had ever really tried to lose weight, and it was successful. It was a new sense of accomplishment, and a nice Christmas present to myself. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Since then I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been diligently tracking intake like Kit did, but have a general idea that my average carbohydrate intake has been around 40-50g\/day and the caloric intake at about 2100cal\/max-daily, though 1800 might be closer to the average. I have however been taking daily weight measurements though I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t record them. The scale I used initially weighed me in at (as previously mentioned) 167.5 lbs and the scale was kind enough to calculate for me a body fat percentage of 22%. I take that BF% measurement with a grain of salt (or two). Eight weeks since my initial weight of 167.5 lbs, I am down to 151.8 lbs and by calculation on that BF% measuring scale I am supposedly at 14% now.<\/p>\n

I jumped into Paleo because of Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s results, but I have never been one to hit the gym or workout conventionally. I do however play Hockey like Kit (though not very much lately), as well as hike often (6-8 miles a trip, at least once a week). From Kit, I had learned I could be successful by just changing my diet, and be very successful with a regular workout.<\/strong> I am right there in the middle of the two and am happy with my results, something that might appeal to some readers.\u00c2\u00a0 My meals are the normal Paleo meals, lots of meat, plenty of fat, some cheese, very little fruit, plenty of vegetables, and as few carbs as possible.<\/strong> That last part (cut the carbs) should hopefully imply that processed foods are no longer a part of my diet.<\/p>\n

I find it tough to eat out at restaurants, but do not miss it much. I find myself cutting carbs every way I can; including booze. Whiskey and Scotch are okay, in moderation and so is Tequila. Wine is next on the acceptability list and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lowered my alcohol consumption for a couple of reasons. First off it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take me more than a couple glasses of Jameson on the rocks to do the trick and second knowing that though I love a good beer, and I mean love, it comes with a price; the carbs in beer and the gluten<\/a> in it too. Not to mention that when you consume alcohol, other metabolic processes are put on hold<\/a> until the alcohol poison is gone.<\/p>\n

Overall my results are promising. I have noticed that I have more energy in the morning and throughout the day, which is great, being a student. I feel healthier (placebo effect? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care because I FEEL BETTER.), I have lost weight (down to 151.4 lb on average these past 2 weeks), and once again I actually FEEL better.<\/p>\n

Results are real and the lifestyle is simple.<\/strong> I look forward to getting into more regular and scheduled conventional workouts, since for this lifestyle you need not a gym membership or a ribbed cotton tank top, nor do you need to invest hours in the gym working out. There is no doubt that I am still learning and I do plan on making some lean gains and hopefully getting down to around 10% body fat one day- but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in no rush so long as I keep the fat off that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already burned.<\/p>\n

Credit where credit is due. I have got to thank Kit for putting in all the work he does, without him and his curious mind, I wouldn’t be living the way I am. I lost 16.1 pounds in 8 weeks. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just over 2 pounds a week, although it was really 7.2 the first week and 8.9 over the next seven weeks. Overall the 16.1 lbs amounts to 9.612% weight loss, and we can assume most of that was fat.<\/strong> Thank you Kit.<\/p>\n

I suppose that if Kit doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deem this too much rambling, and that means you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re reading this, you readers, that some day in the future I may write a second guest blog. Until then, good luck and cook some meat in animal fat for me. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks to Corey for the great write-up and the very kind words. Feel free to drop me a line if you are interested in sharing your story as well.<\/em><\/p>\n

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*UPDATE* Today marks 5 months since Corey ditched the SAD. Here’s a new pic:<\/em><\/p>\n

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Also, I’ve heard rumblings that he may have convinced some family members to give this crazy paleo thing a shot.
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