Cavegirl Reboot

Anyone who knows anything about my health and wellness philosophies knows that I am a big
believer in moderation. I’ve lost over 60 pounds by being pretty much fanatical about moderation (wrap your head around that one, kids), largely because I don’t believe in dieting - I believe in lifestyle change. Although I do the Paleo thing, I’m not super strict - I shoot for eating 80-90% Paleo. I am simply not going to spend the time seeking grass-fed, antibiotic-free, organic meat that has been blessed by the Pope. I also am not giving up good cheese - I don’t mind giving up bad cheese or mediocre cheese, but I am a firm believer that life without cheddar so sharp that it can beat you up and take your lunch money is not worth living. Yep, I’m an 80/20 kind of girl.

Except when I’m not, which is far too often lately.

Last Saturday, I stepped on the scale after 4 days in Minneapolis, which made 17 days out of a period of 23 days that I was gone, and saw weights that I hadn’t seen since 2012. The combination of air travel,dehydration, too much work, poor sleep, less working out, and what I’d guess to be about 60/40 track record of eating well took a huge toll.

That afternoon, after I’d recovered a bit from looking at the scale, I went to Evolve to meet with Caleb about some marketing stuff. He told me about a program called T School that Pilates 1901 is starting up later this month. T School is 12 weeks long, and consists of 21 days of complete sugar detox, followed by your choice of 3 clean eating meal plans - two of which are Paleo derivatives. Caleb told me he had signed up, and that Evolve would be doing some activities to support the program. Even though I’m not typically a fan of participating in programs like this, I’d never tried a sugar detox before. It simultaneously frightened and intrigued me, so I took some info home to read.

While reviewing the program, I learned that one of the recommendations is giving up anything with “Diet” in the name, which means my Diet Coke has to go. I immediately messaged Caleb to tell him that this was my biggest concern. Caleb may be cute and friendly, but he also does not mess around AT ALL. He told me, more than once, that the Sugar Detox part was only 21 days and that I should be able to do anything for 21 days. The message was clear.

So, I’m doing it. I signed myself up for the program, and 21 days of Sugar Detox starts on Monday, 1/27. But knowing my weakness, I am starting NOW on the Diet Coke issue. I had my last caffeinated Diet Coke this morning, and I am switching to decaf Diet Coke this week to try to get off the caffeine merry-go-round, and will ditch the decaf when the challenge starts - along with all the other natural and artificial sweeteners in my life. I’ll be writing about this from time to time on the Evolve blog and my blog, sincerelydianablog.com, and probably will spend some time whining about caffeine withdrawal headaches on Facebook. But if Caleb believes I can do anything for 21 days, then I should believe it to!

Live Paleo - and sugar free, too!

Diana