What goes in Sarah Nelly's Belly...

So this whole 'Paleo' craze is taking CrossFit folks by storm and I was one of those people about a year ago.  I got into it for the first time a year ago and I did the 30-day challenge.  Whoa... I guess I should back-track a bit.

I got married in 2006 to the greatest fella a girl could dream of.  He keeps me on my toes and makes me laugh incessantly.  He's witty and clever and wonderfully thoughtful.  He also ALWAYS want to make me happy.  He's a gift.  I was quintessentially 'fat and happy.'  About a year after Joel and I got married we got pregnant and had our first little girl, Anna.  She was my reason for being, my everything, my purpose.  She was also my scapegoat for PACKING IT ON.  I have been overweight my entire life.  I have never been one of those people that say, "I wish I could get to my high school weight."  Granted, my high school weight was better than it was after I had Anna, but still nothing to be terribly proud of.  I was gifted with confidence beyond belief, but for some reason (I'm sure this will come up again later), I turned to food to fill ANYTHING.  Not depression, not a void, EVERYTHING.  I stayed home for 6 months with Anna and that was TOO long for ME.  I admire stay-at-home mothers with every ounce of my being, but for ME, it was too long.  I lost touch with reality and didn't get out and DO stuff much.  I ballooned up to 296 pounds.  It took this picture from a 4th of July trip to realize it was time for a change.  I didn't even KNOW that person.  I honestly had no idea until I saw it in print that I had gotten that big. 

I remember going directly to the gym the day after we got back.  I weighed in at 296 and knew I had a HELL of a long road ahead of me, but for whatever reason, I was ready for it.  Then I got pregnant... again.  HA!  I managed to get through the pregnancy and weigh LESS than I did when I got pregnant and just kept the ball rolling.  I kept working out as soon as I could, watched what I was eating, and according to my trainer the first time around, kept track of every single thing I ate.  I really believe that was the key for me.  I needed to start understanding the numbers to help me get control.  I'm a BIT of a control freak and if I can make it in to a puzzle, I kick it's ass, because I don't want to fail.  

Anyhoooo... I stayed with it, watched what I ate (again... I'm sure there's more to come here) and got to where I was feeling pretty spectacular looking at pictures!  Three years later at 4th of July, I had gotten to where I knew I was in the home stretch. 

There are times that I am still completely BLOWN AWAY that I let myself be that person in the first photo, even for a little bit... but I did, and I still pay the price because it's hard work, every day.  It takes conscious effort and now I have discovered and re-discovered the 'Paleo' way of eating.  I started getting in to CrossFit over the course of the last year or so and doing so gave me muscles and definition that would have been LAUGHABLE when I first started this process.  My trainer encouraged me to try it and the first time around, I just don't think my heart was in it.  But now I'm it to win it, man.  I've become a TOTAL nerd doing article research, reading studies, studying the science of it all... it makes sense, and I'll tell ya' what, just 6 days into it, I'm singing its praises in a new way.  A big reason I decided to do it is because I was TOTALLY sugar binging.  I would literally stand in the pantry and take down like three Fiber One brownies.  They're only 90 calories, right?  HA!!!  Those add up fast, especially if you decided to smear peanut butter on them, just a hypothetical.  Oh, and maybe dip them in Cool Whip.  But like I said, that's just IF someone chose to do that.  WHICH I TOTALLY DID!!!  FREAKING CRAZY-VILLE!  At least I knew I was out of control, right??

So here is where I'm at.  My first day on Paleo I weighed in at 178.6.  That was on Monday, September 24th.  I will keep track of my weight because let's face it, that's a tangible number evidence that something is doing some good.  Otherwise, I'll also keep track of how I'm feeling, what's going on, the trials, the tribulations, and the triumphs.  I will also keep track of the food because let's face it... it's all about the food.  I LOVE to eat.  I need to be able to enjoy what I eat and it had to taste DUH-lish.  If it doesn't, it's not gonna' work for me.  I still love ice cream, I still WANT ice cream... but I made a choice, and this is place where I can rant and rave and help me stick to something I know is good for me to make a change from the inside-out.