Okay, Moving On.

This last week was a roller coaster for me. Not feeling like I'm making progress. The scale heard a few choice words from me. I'm putting that thing away for a while. And my measuring tape is my new best friend. It doesn't lie to me. So even when the scale says "You fat cow, you just gained 5 lbs even though you're busting your ass," I just pull out my handy measuring tape and realize I did in fact lose half an inch in my the waist, so "Scale: you can put that in your pipe and smoke it."

Also, I've been reading way too much on diets. My mind was more like scrambled eggs by the end of the week. I've read up on all the fad diets, which include taking entire food groups out of your life and replacing them with nothing. And then I've read a lot more saying "don't do that."

I've looked at before and afters of all of them and they are all impressive. I've looked at the science and the principles behind the different theories as well.

The good news is: there is a common denominator.

Cut out junk food and most processed foods. Eat more whole foods.

There. That's it. You are guaranteed to lose weight and feel healthier. It seems you can do slow carb, low-carb, no-carb or high-carb, low-fat and still achieve fantastic results. I think it does involve some experimentation to see what your body responds to. Try it. If you feel terrible, change it.

For most of the week I was reading up on this popular paleo diet and while the science sounds convincing and the before and after photos are impressive, I have some problems with it. For one, the premises and the science is based on evolutionary theory. That pretty much discounts most of the science. They start with the premise that man was originally a hunter-gatherer and base the workouts on that premise as well. Well, no, man was originally a vegetarian in the Garden of Eden. I'm sure plants had much more protein content before the Fall. And man's system operated at a different level. We may not have needed as much protein either because man's muscles probably recovered at a different rate. After the Fall and even more so after the flood, man's bodies deteriorated at a much faster rate and needed meat and carbohydrates to survive, besides the plants they already ate.

I personally think the Maker's Diet is the best one I've seen. He actually bases the diet from the Bible and looks at the guidelines God gave in both the Old Testament and New. I like his approach. While we are allowed to eat "unclean" meats in the New Covenant, that doesn't mean it went from bad for you to good for you. For example, pork still comes from scavenger animals. Not everything that is permissible is beneficial.

What about this whole grain-free fad? I think most processed grains like enriched wheat is acceptable to cut out of your diet. You don't need to eat that much wheat. Gluten in general is over the top in most American diets. Gluten is pretty much glue. How much glue do we need to eat? I'm skeptical of cutting out all grains entirely. I think some are very nutritious. I ate Ezekiel 4:9 bread this morning. Hey, if God gave the recipe, is it really that bad for you??

Anyway, that, and after I took a look again at the BodyForLife before and afters I realized there is not one way to get lean and fit. I've always liked Bill Phillips' program. He balances protein, carbs, fats at every meal if possible. You eat 6x a day. You workout hard most days of the week in short spurts. It works. Look at the results. No paleo person can say it doesn't work or that these people aren't healthy.

Anyway, I'm ready to move on to this new week with some new motivation. Mostly, because I got some Powerblocks!!

Just when I was feeling fat and defeated, Steve went and got me a serious upgrade from my little dumbbells that you don't have to spin the ends off to change the plates. Those are crazy-annoying when you're changing them between every exercise and you're trying to keep your heart rate up. Well, now in 10 seconds, I can change the weights and go HEAVIER! I can actually make some progress now!

They will take some getting used to.

They are big blocks. I'm used to small, round dumbbells.

They are color coded!

That white block is 5lbs all by itself. There is a pin that you slide over the colored plates to choose what weight you want. No more racks of dumbbells taking up space. Safer for having kids around too (or babies - wondering what the heck mom is doing?).

And my favorite feature: half pounds!

Just take out one of the adder weights (2.5 lbs) and you can do 7.5 lbs instead of 5 or 10.

That is a NICE feature.

So this will reignite my fire this week.

Hey, I'm six weeks in! Feeling good, even though I'm not seeing that progress I'm wanting. I think my body is freaking out a little right now. But I'm going to push until it realizes it's not hanging on to this fat anymore. I'm the boss.

I'll try to get a picture of me using them so you can see how big they are, LOL.



Moving on...