paleo-diet-food-list

Hey everyone, it’s November 1st, and you know what that means right? Yesterday was the last day of the Angry Trainer Fitness October Diet Challenge.

For those of you who missed it, at the very end of September I issued a challenge  to Angry Trainer Fitness readers. And it was simple – commit to a minimum of 4 days per week of exercise, for 30 minutes, and change your diet – and stick to it – for 31 days. I have to say, I’m pleased with my results!

For the past 4 weeks I’ve eaten mostly a Paleo type diet that consists of vegetables, lean meats and some nuts too. Now I must admit, I had a very difficult time getting started but once I fully embraced the diet, I stuck to it like gangbusters. And I know many of you did as well. I partly started this challenge to encourage interaction between the readers of this site and myself and offered a free one-hour phone consultation for the person who most embraced the challenge in the form of updates and interaction. I have to admit it was really terrific to see participants interacting with each other here on the site – how awesome! As it turns out, Ingrid, Sara, and Laura truly participated the most, with Greg representing for the guys.

So I’ve decided I’m going to call it a tie between the ladies and am going to set up a web chat with all three of them. And since Greg was the leader of the guys, let’s add him too! Thanks everyone – you all did amazing! I’ll be in touch soon to set up our chats!

For me personally my results were quite startling. I had let myself go a bit following my recent biceps’ surgery, and although I only truly adhered to the plan for the last two weeks, I dropped about 6 pounds! And Ingrid clued me in that she too lost inches all over. Way to go Ingrid! I’m sure Laura and Sara have also made progress, and will update me shortly. And Greg, he posted in the first week he had lost pounds and was visibly leaner than just a week prior!

I think the most important aspect of this challenge is accountability. I know it helped to keep me focused knowing that others were doing the same thing. And reading the updates on the Angry Trainer Fitness Facebook Page  was truly inspirational, not only did everyone share diet information, but they also spoke of the struggles that they were going through. It was real, honest, and totally relatable.

As with all my experiences, I’ve learned from this one too. While the Paleo diet is a good plan, the lack of traditional carbohydrates from rice, beans and other grains clearly shows itself. The only non-approved food I used was a whey protein shake, but usually I’d also include some form of simple sugars before and after my workouts. In the absence of simple sugars, my muscles look flat, and not very shapely. My energy was good, but my endurance surely suffered. I couldn’t get the “pump” that I’m used to on a more conventional diet, and while I’m normally extremely veiny, I could barely see a trace of a vein. I can tell you that I’m definitely depleted, meaning I have very little muscle glycogen.

I’m thinking that I need to cycle on and off the Paleo plan a few days per week, maybe using it on days I don’t workout, or on lower intensity – just cardio / calisthenics days. On my regular weight training – circuit – high intensity days, I’ll be adding some sugars and other carbohydrates to fill up my muscle sugar stores and fuel my workouts.

I’m wondering if anyone else felt the same way or had a similar experience eating just veggies, fats, and meats? See this is another example of how science and real world results don’t always jive. On paper, scientists will tell you everything you eat gets converted to sugar, and should theoretically be stored in muscle tissue. How many times have you heard “a calorie is calorie”. But I say bull! There’s no way broccoli and peppers contribute to muscle glycogen stores the same as fruit, or any other simple sugars, even if they’re at the same caloric amount.

So I think the first Angry Trainer Diet Challenge was a huge success. My team and I are already planning plenty more follow up challenges for the months ahead, learning from this experience – and we hope to have you all on board.

Thanks everyone – you’re amazing!

Alfonso