In the first week I lost two pounds, some of which was water. While I expected maybe a bit more, I'm not worried. For once, I'm in this for the long haul, not for a quick fix.
I think the reason I was waking up so shaky is because I haven't been eating enough calories and maybe need a few more carbs. I wasn't going to track my calorie intake because I have a tendency to get compulsive and crazy about that, but I decided I should just check in and assess where I was at. On Saturday when I thought I was done eating I had eaten barely over 1200 calories and 60 grams of carbs, 25 of which were fiber. That is awfully low for an active person-- on a Crossfit day eating so few calories I might keel over, and I'm definitely not going to put on any muscle with that. So last night I had an apple and sunflower seed butter in the evening, and had a half of one of those plus lots more coconut milk (more on that in a minute) today, which helped. The pros of the apple + seed butter were that they seemed to help me perk up a bit, and it is easier to get those calories in than from meat/vegetables. I surprisingly, am finding it difficult to eat much more than 1200 calories from just meat/vegetables/fat. I get full from eating my meal and I just don't want to eat anymore-- it's a liberating feeling, and if I weren't also doing Crossfit I would be thrilled that I found a way to eat so few calories and not be hungry. Eating the apple and seed butter (which is not ideal as far as strict Paleo goes due to the excess of omega 6 fats, but I think I'm not ready to obsess over that yet) does help. What I'm less excited about with the apple is it gives me a mild blood sugar spike that makes me more hungry and feel like eating even MORE fruit or whatever for a while after I eat it. It definitely goes away after maybe a half hour or so, but I kind of like the lack of cravings I get with meals. Maybe more fruit (or yams) with my meals is the way to go.
The second way I got more calories in today was coconut milk in (decaf) coffee. I normally don't really like coconut milk but mixing it with the coffee was actually kind of yummy. I ended up having a lot today-- I made a mug of french press this morning with several large tablespoons of it in my coffee, and then M and I went and hung out Barnes and Noble to have coffee and talk about a potential trip reading guidebooks, and I brought my coconut milk with me.
Unfortunately my camera batteries are dead and I haven't gotten around to charging them, so no food pics today, but here's what I ate:
B: left over tilapia, squash and avocado (when I first read Rob Wolf's book fish for breakfast sounded disgusting but it actually was really good)
S: coffee & coconut milk
L: What I call Trader-Joe's stir-fry (because almost everything comes from there already cut up so it's super easy)-- this is also really good with yams, but I didn't have any today: saute an onion, 2 cups or so sliced mushrooms and 3 cloves garlic in 2T olive oil until soft, add two pounds grass-feed beef until mostly brown, and then add tons of greens (I used a bag of trader joes stir-fry which is mostly cabbage, and 3/4 of a bag of their dark leafy greens blend). Mix in, cover and allow greens to steam, about 5 minutes. I threw in a couple tablespoons of Tamari for extra flavor. (I probably had about 1/6 of this) Tomorrow I might try baking some into bell peppers. I also had a kiwi, and probably avocado since I pretty much add that to everything. (Trying to expand into olives, but am obsessed with avocado).
S: coffee & coconut milk, 1/4 apple and ~ 1-1.5T sunflower seed butter
D: Chicken breast cooked in the crockpot with garlic powder, tamari, and turkey stock. Turned out slightly dry-- I think it works better when the cooking liquid has some fat in it. I served it with (surprise!) avocado, which helped-- I considered adding salsa, but thought that might be weird with the tamari. On the side was the ever present broccoli with olive oil and sea salt. I just finished my giant Costco sized broccoli bag-- might need to go get another one.
Today's calories were closer to 1550, which is still on the low side, but much better, and I feel better. I do not want to be tracking my daily calories-- it messes with my head, but it's good to check in now and then and get an idea of where I'm at. Tomorrow it's back to Crossfit and I have a feeling I'm going to need a yam...
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