Paleo divergence and a half-marathon

Sunday was a day of firsts.  I ran my first ever half marathon and followed it with my first non-paleo meal in 7 weeks.

The half marathon went well.  I finished in 2:15 which is a 10:22 min/mile.  That is 0:10 sec/mile faster than my stretch goal, so I'm pleased.  I'm also super sore today, but that's to be expected.  I've now got 8 weeks until my next half marathon and I just picked out my training plan.  Yay!

And then there was pizza.  Honestly, it tasted amazing.  I savored every bite AND I savored getting to eat at home, watching football and not having to cook or clean up anything.  I ordered a small pizza with spinach, mushrooms, onions and diced tomatoes and I ate almost all of it.  I figured I had the calories to spare after running 13.1 miles.  I was worried about what the crust was going to do to my gut and to my cravings, but my body has behaved well.  I did have some stomach discomfort last night as I was trying to sleep, but really, compared to my leg discomfort, it was barely noticeable!  This morning, I moved immediately back to paleo (I threw out the leftovers) and I feel fine.  I'm still sore of course, and I haven't had a 'movement' yet, but I don't think I'm any worse for the wear.  I didn't like the bloated feeling from eating the pizza, so I certainly don't want to make this a common occurrence, but really, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  It looks like if I want to occasionally splurge on pizza (once I make my weight goal), then I think I can do it.

We'll see if this triggers any cravings in the next couple of days...

The Paleo Journey Continues

I can't believe that it's been a month since I last posted!  My, how time flies.

I've been eating following the paleo guidelines for a little over 6 weeks now.  I lost a ton of bloat in week one.  I stayed the same on the scale for weeks two and three but I was feeling so good, it didn't matter.  In week four, the scale started to move.  I'll do my week 6 weigh in on Friday, but based on a weight I saw a couple of days ago, I'm thinking I'm down more than 10 lbs since I started! Wow!

I'll also be taking my full list of measurements including body fat over the weekend, so it'll be interesting to compare.  I haven't measured any of those things since the end of my summer challenge which was also the end of my first paleo week.  I can't wait to see the difference.  I know there will be a difference because my clothes are all fitting differently on me.

What else am I noticing?

 I am sleeping better.  When I sleep, I'm sleeping soundly.  That's amazing to me.  I've always been a lousy sleeper, so knowing that I'm getting better at it is truly exciting.

I no longer worry about digestive issues when I run.  Ever.  It doesn't matter when I last had a 'movement' - it's just no longer an issue.  I go when its appropriate and when it's not, I don't.  Period.  (and also unreal based on my history!)

I'm thinking more clearly.  I don't forget stuff as much and I'm not in a constant state of panic that something important is going to slip my mind.  I'm seriously feeling like my brain is working as it should again.  I swear that for the last few years, I started feeling like my brain had reached 'full' and that I couldn't put any more info in there without deleting old info.  Now I know that's not the case!

My period was a piece of cake.  Typically, I have light flow nowadays, but I do often have other issues from zit flare-ups to cramps to digestive problems to sore breasts.  Not anymore.  Now, I've only had one period while on paleo so far, so it might have been a fluke, but we'll see.

Speaking of skin - mine looks fantastic.  No more zits.  None.  I swear that the bags under my eyes (with the exception of last weekend when I had a cold) are smaller too.  Of course, that could be merely from the better sleep.

I don't think about food anymore.  OK, let's be honest...I don't obsess about food anymore.  I swear, I feel 'normal'.  When it's time to eat, I don't care what it is as long as it's paleo.  I don't get cravings.  I don't think about food every second of every day.  I don't long to eat things I shouldn't.  I'm not even slightly tempted by non-paleo foods floating around the office.

Well, that's not entirely true.  I'm still having this obsession with pizza.  I'm not sure what to do about it, either.  I'm not a huge pizza person or anything but for some reason, pizza is the one non-paleo food that I keep thinking about that I cannot shake.  It doesn't help that I see about a billion ads for pizza everywhere I go or that I smell it often.  I'm either going to just have to splurge and eat pizza (and then suffer the consequences and hopefully get past the craving) or I'm going to have to make one of the paleo pizza recipes I've seen floating around and hope that it'll be good enough to kill the craving.  My guess is that eating the actual non-paleo pizza is the smarter move to truly kill this craving once and for all.  Maybe after my half-marathon on Sunday?