Sunday, March 24, 2013

40 Day Paleo Challenge - Days 38, 39, & 40


Today is the last day of the challenge! I have some good news and some less-than-good news. I won't call it bad, because I am not regretting what happened.


Less-than-good news first -- we went to a wedding yesterday, and decided in advance that we would have some wine or champagne (or whatever was being served) to celebrate with the couple. We felt that it was okay because it was a special occasion. And like I said, we don't regret it. So we were not perfectly aligned to Paleo for the 40 days, but we were darn near close. And we feel so good at the end of it all, that we have decided to continue Paleo eating for all meals except our weekly date night. So we'll give ourselves one meal a week to "cheat."

The good -- or maybe I should say -- GREAT news. I got my thyroid blood work results back from the doctor. ALL OF MY LEVELS ARE NORMAL! Actually, my T3 Total was a smidge low (68, normal range is 80-200), but the doc said it wasn't worth worrying over. So, in 3 months, I'll go back and repeat the blood work to monitor my levels. So the part I find interesting, is that my first blood work was done as part of my annual check up in January. My TSH level was 5.9, and normal is considered 0.4-4.0 or 0.3-3.0 (more recently it was lowered to the latter range). The 5.9 was taken before the Paleo challenge. The test I took recently was about 35 days into the challenge, and my TSH was 3.09. So the question is -- why did it change? Could it be the Paleo change in diet? And is that only related to the food, or no alcohol?  It's hard to say. It will be interesting to see what the results is in 3 months. I'll keep you all posted.

So just because the Paleo challenge is over, do not think I'm done blogging. It was difficult to maintain on a daily basis, so I will definitely be posting less frequently, but I promise the content will get better. Thanks for following me on this journey :)

2 comments:

  1. Good Job Dano.
    Your commitment to good health is actually rather inspiring. I'm planning on doing P90X this summer. And I will start keeping a food journal. I have been working out a lot lately and have seen results.
    It is difficult to do this sort of thing I've learned. But I imagine somewhat worth it.

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    1. Thanks, Josh! I love P90X - Tony provides a great workout and his a trip. If you can, follow his nutrition guides. You are right - it can feel difficult at first, but as you slowly change your diet, it gets easier. And it IS worth it. One piece of knowledge that took me longer to realize than I care to admit: it takes 80% diet, 20% exercise. If you are fueling yourself with good foods, you can only yield good results. And another hint - if you force yourself to publicly state your progress, you have a little more pressure to do well :)

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