Of nutrition, commitment, and progress.

Commitment is a quality I admire.  With the exception of my wife and job, I have committed to very little with success.  One might say that a wife and serious professional undertaking are no mean feats.  They both depend on me in some way or another and that is the secret to my success.  You can rely on me…I cannot rely on me as much.  So, despite my track record, I’m going to jump in with both feet on the next layer in my self-administered life coaching: Strict Nutrition

My nutritional protocol will be a hybrid of paleo, primal, caveman, hunter-gatherer etc.  I’ll call it paleo, but that’s certainly an umbrella that covers many unique schools of thought.  My protocol will be defined as follows:

Standard Paleo

• No grains.  Not just gluten grains, but no grains of any kind.  Pseudo-grains like Quinoa are also not allowed.
• No legumes.  No beans, no bean products especially soy and it’s derivatives.
• Grass-fed ruminant meat.  Beef, goat, sheep.
• Wild-caught seafood.
• No seed oils (canola, corn, soy, etc).

TRB Paleo:  These are my personally decided allowances.

• Grass-fed butter; only allowed dairy, in small to moderate quantities.  This is to get more vitamin K2 in my diet.
• Conventional Pork and Chicken.  I have nothing good to say about the conventional method used in raising these creatures nor the resultant nutritive qualities, just that I cannot get/afford anything else right now.
• Fish oil, vitamin D, and magnesium supplementation.  The fish oil is to help balance the Omega-6 content in the pork and chicken.  The VitaminD is to make up for the lack of sun exposure (9-5 indoor job).  The magnesium is to help support good quality sleep.  Supplementation of any and all may be reduced or eliminated by improving food sources (fish oil), completing body fat reduction (fish oil), increasing sun exposure (VD) and increasing veggie intake (magnesium).
• Keeping carbohydrate intake low.  Low carb diets are healthy and help to reduce body fat and lower insulin levels.
• No caffeine.  This is going to SUCK like no ones business, but I think it will help improve my sleep quality in the long run.
• Count calories.  I have a pretty long history of binge eating, so counting my calories is important.  If you have ANY history of or proclivity for eating disorders be VERY careful with rigorous nutritional protocols!  I can over eat very easily and will even tend to, so it’s necessary for me to be keep an eye on what I’m taking in.

Progress So Far

In the two weeks I’ve been tracking my (CNU’s) training I’ve seen no statistically significant weight or body fat loss.  That’s not too surprising as I’ve been eating a lot and only being “ok” with my food quality.  I wanted to get a good start at things before I layered on the extra work and focus of strict nutrition.

I did not do any climbing this week due to my shoulder hurting last week.  I’ve made the mistake in the past of getting back at it far too soon and having to be off for a month.  I’m going to add in some training work this week that will help support rehab of the shoulder.

Going Forward

There will be a forthcoming post regarding the week ahead and what I come up with on the diet front.  I’ll tell you what I’m eating so you might get some ideas on the what’s and how’s.  Before that I am going to get out a post on physical training in the week ahead.