I lost HOW MUCH??? Happy Friday!

Fridays are my scale days.  The one day a week I step on the scale.  Which is pretty funny to me, since before I started eating a Paleo diet, I hadn't voluntarily stepped on a scale in a dozen years!  Failure has a way of making weighing yourself no fun at all!

And then I did my Whole30 and wasn't allowed to weigh myself for 30 days and it drove me NUTS!  I drug my scale out so my family could "weigh in" the morning we started.  (We took "before" pictures too...which was every bit as much "fun"!).  And then I immersed myself in research, shopping, cooking, recipe modifications and meal prep for my family for hours and hours of the first week or so.  And then I got pretty caught up in how great I felt (after my Day 4 sugar detox...that felt like a big ol' hangover!). 

I could tell I was losing weight - my pants, especially, were really loose.  And I wanted to KNOW...I wanted to step on that scale and get that reward!  But I am a rule-follower from 'way back - so I put the scale in the back corner of the closet so I would be less tempted.

I couldn't believe it when our first 30 days had passed and I'd lost 18 pounds.  Eighteen pounds in one month????  Are you kidding me????  I never dreamed that was possible. 

It was a total high!

And I know me - and knew I needed to set a boundary for me and the scale so I wasn't on it twice a day looking for my validation.  I decided on Fridays, but I think any day of the week works.  And, now that I'm committed to PaleoPlus eating for so many other reasons than weight loss, weighing myself is more part of my routine than it is "how much did I lose this week?".  I don't change the way I eat on Thursday trying to achieve some kind of number or goal.  And I don't worry (anymore) if I haven't lost any weight during a particular week. 

I usually lose a pound a week.  And, if I'm being honest with myself - now I kind of EXPECT to lose a pound a week!  I still don't count calories or try and eat only low calorie foods.  I eat what I love within the PaleoPlus guidelines and sometimes I have seconds!  But I still expect to lose a pound a week!

Which is why I was so surprised when I discovered I had lost FOUR POUNDS this week...whaaaaa???  I haven't done any extra workouts or skipped any meals or lived on celery sticks. 

The only thing I can think of is that I tested quite a few new recipes this week, so I've eaten a much wider variety of foods than usual.  Could that be it?  Who knows...there is a ton written on why it's okay to limit variety in your diet (to break your food addictions, etc) and the nutritional and emotional values of adding variety (more macronutrients and phytochemicals, diluting food toxins, pure enjoyment).  And there are pages and pages written about weight loss plateaus (I know because I read them all during my first 2 plateaus!!), but very little written on why I lost nearly 4 times the weight I usually lose.  I guess nobody complains about that enough to get an explanatory blog post!

Oh well, thanks to my -4, I have achieved another milestone.  60 total pounds lost!  Which is really hard for me to get my arms and brain around.  Even though I am living proof of the power of eating clean - it seems too simple.  Too easy.  Too "why-wouldn't-every-single-person-on-the-planet-who-wants-to-lose-weight-give-this-a-try?!" 

Truth is, I believe I will continue to lose weight until I am finally at my healthiest weight.  I believe all the way down to my toes that by eating real food that was designed to nourish my body, and by cutting out all the toxic, preservative-laden, sugar-filled foods that were working against my optimum health, my body is settling back into the body it was designed to be.  So, somewhere in early 2016 (by my best estimations) I will stop losing weight and will be exactly where I am supposed to be - healthier, stronger, able to move and perform at a higher level, with boundless energy!

I'll be curious to come back and reread this in a year or so and see if I was right.  It's so easy to get caught up in every day busywork that I forget to chronicle the thoughts and experiences I am having living this new PaleoPlus lifestyle.  But I've always journaled - and I have personally benefited from reading other people's blog posts and IG comments and essays...so I will keep writing and sharing.  You know, just in case someone out there might learn something from my experience!