Stop Weighing Yourself
I have talked to many of you lately who are getting frustrated at the lack of weight loss you have been seeing on the Paleo Diet. My answer to this question is simple: “Stop weighing yourself!” Contrary to popular belief the scale is not the most accurate tool to measure the success of CrossFit + Paleo eating. The goal of this program is NOT weight loss, it is definately a part of the program and you will most likely end up losing weight while eating this way, but success should not be measured by a scale. I have known people who have done this 6-week challenge and ended up gaining 2-3 pounds. If you saw the before and after pictures of this individual, you wouldn't believe the transformation that took place yet they were unaware because they were so focused on what the scale was telling them. Your body shape will change during this 6-week challenge, your weight may or may not change that much. What I can gurantee you is that the more you look at the scale, the more you will drive yourself crazy. How you should measure the success of this 6-week challenge in my opinion would be:
1. Do I feel better? Have more energy?
2. Am I more conscious of what I am putting into my body?
3. Is my performance during the WODs better?
4. Has my body shape changed?
Another thing to keep in mind is that most of the changes that will take place during this 6-week challenge will take place in the last 2.5 – 3 weeks. It takes your body a little time to get acclimated to the changes and start running the way it was meant to. This usually happens after the first 20-25 days of Paleo. You have come this far, be patient and ride this thing home. You have already got past the hardest part, don't give up and throw the towel in now or you will regret it. It would be the equivalent of finishing round 4 of “Kelly” and deciding that you were pretty tired and should probably just skip the last round as everyone else grinded on. Bottom line: Suck it up and don't quit. Don't use the excuse of, “This diet isn't for me because I am not losing any weight”. It will work, give it time. Last I checked, most of us have about 15 years of eating far from Paleo and we can't expect that to change in 20 some days. Refer back to earlier post about how we have now become the society that has to have immediate gratification. We don't want to have to work for anything unless we can see immediate results.