Getting fit!

I have never been fit! For as long as I can remember I've always been terrible at sports, easy to tire out and totally lacking in any stamina!
I have on one or two occasions attempted to start running, and although I have enjoyed it at the time, I've ended up with shin splints! This plus a lack of free time has meant that I gave it up!

I now have two beautiful children, aged 3.5 years, and 20 months. I was overweight when I fell pregnant with my first, continued to get bigger through that pregnancy, failed to lose any weight after, then fell pregnant again with my second and ended up being 3.5 stone over my ideal weight!! It was a bit of a shock, and when afterwards, the only clothes that fit me were maternity clothes, I knew it was time to do something about it!

Just over a year ago, I decided to join Weight Watchers. Having joined before and successfully lost over 2 stone I was quite confident that it would work for me again! And at first it did. In the first 6 months of 2011, I lost 1.5 stone! That was half of what I had to lose! Then I started to slip, and I found it so hard to get back on track that I spent the next 6 months on a plateau, neither losing nor gaining, but having terrible love/hate issues with food!

I had almost given up ever getting back to a reasonable weight, when my good friend Angela told me about her new diet! (Or should I say healthy eating lifestyle?) Ang has been eating a Primal diet since October last year, and has done fantastically well on it!! After lots of discussion, I decided I would scrap Weight Watchers and try it myself! I did in fact decide to start by going Paleo, which is a little more strict than Primal, but I felt that if I was going to make the change, I may as well go the whole hog!

For those of you who don't know what a Primal or Paleo diet is, I'm afraid there is no hard and fast rule, and everyone's interpretation of it is slightly different! I can only say that generally it means No grains, No gluten, No legumes, No processed sugar, No white potatoes, No dairy. Primal does allow for some dairy, but it definitely has to be of the full fat variety!! There are plenty of sites which give you more information, but the diet consists mainly of meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds and some fruit and dairy. Check out some of the links on Ang and my pages!

And so in just 9 weeks, I have lost 13lb! I am now 12lb off my target weight, and have never felt better! The change in diet, mainly cutting out grains and gluten, have had a huge effect on my energy levels! I have been out jogging, and on long walks, without the usual burning muscles or feeling out of breath! I have over the last few weeks increased my dairy intake but it has only benefited me!

All I have to do now is continue to eat healthily and I am sure those remaining weight will drop off! There are definitely many benefits to eating like a caveman!!