Days 4-6 (Recap)

I can't really say that I've been lazy, per se, about the daily updates, but that I truly have hit the "first two weeks of sluggishness" business.

Days 4 & 5 just sort of sucked. On Sunday, I believe as I wrote, I woke up with a headache, feeling hungover, blah, and groggy. Day 5 (Monday) thus far has been the worst. I had by far the slooooooooowest run I've had in months. Maybe even a year. I crept down to a 12:00/mile pace. I felt like I had mono by the end of the run. And I had totally talked myself out of my weight/resistance workout because I felt like I could not do it. It wasn't even that hot outside either, so blaming the heat was pointless.

Look, I knew I was going to feel like crap at some point, but I had forgotten why, or rather the physiological reason why. And as I was reading Monday afternoon, I found it, which I don't know why I hadn't paid attention to this in my other books or why I had forgotten. I'm a moron. But here's why for the 2 week sluggishness. When you eat a bunch of grains or cereals, or those non-grains that act like grains like quinoa, they are quick sources of carbs (even yes those "low glycemic" and "low glycemic load" grains and "whole" grains and what have you). When you're used to eating them, even if they are gluten free grains (like I had been doing), your body looks to them first for energy. When you cut them out, your body doesn't know where to look for that energy, even though the body is totally capable of pulling, and from an evolutionary standpoint prefers to pull energy from protein and fat. So it takes about two weeks for the body to reprogram itself to look for the protein and fats as primary energy sources and not grains and then pulling what's needed from the carbs in fruits and veggies.

This is not the same thing as what happens on Atkins, or rather not ketosis to that extent since that really is a low carb and unhealthy diet. The body isn't pulling energy from the muscles and causing muscle breakdown rather than repair and building. Contrary to popular belief, Paleo is not low carb, it's just no grain. If I did a macronutrient breakdown, I feel quite confident that my carb intake, with all the veggies and fruits that I eat, has got to be at least 40%. So let's not confuse that.

In any case, as I was re-reading some stuff, the books say that during this time, the first two weeks, you might have to back off on the exercise intensity a little bit as your body adjusts, which you know, sucks when you're hoping for some weight loss here. However, as I recall from a few months ago when I completely cut out gluten, I went through something similar, and by the third week, I had gone from working out for maybe 35 minutes to an hour a day, four to five days a week to 45-90 minutes a day for a good 7 to 10 days before I needed a rest/recovery day AND was not wiped out during the day AND was getting work done like a mofo (as I mentioned in my very first post). So I know it's coming. If nothing else, the Whole30 is also teaching me patience.

Since Boudreaux tends to take things easy anyway, gets way more sleep than I do, and takes many more rest days during the week from his workouts (of course, he's neither trying to lose weight nor bulk up and is pretty fit), he is not noticing such extreme changes in energy levels.

Yesterday, however, the tide seems to be shifting a little bit here. I woke up with a little bit of a headache (there may be some caffeine stuff along with allergies still going on here), but not with that hangover feeling I had been having. Rather, I felt pretty rested and decent. My run was much better than they had been--still a little bit slower than I liked, but nowhere near as arduous as Monday's run. AND, I was able to come in and do my Cross Fit workout as well which amounted to 250 air squats and 70 towel pull ups (with the pull-up assist band) which should be the equivalent of 10 rope climbs. I was tired, but not exhausted like I needed to spend the rest of the day napping or something. so that's a positive development there.

Sleep has been excellent for the most part. The Red Rocket woke me up a couple of times last night, so not great, and I'm still having this allergy issue, but it was okay. I'm glad that today I get to focus just on the run since it's a Cross Fit rest day as I get back into the swing of things. But today marks the end of the first week. I don't feel as if I look like I've lost any weight or inches. But honestly, since I have to adjust the working out because of energy levels, I'm really not expecting to see any real changes until the end of week three, which is frustrating, but if takes two weeks to jump start it and if I see some losses in the weeks three and four (visually) and then in the weeks following that, then it will be okay, especially if I'm feeling great.

And now that I've heard the dryer sing its end of cycle song, I'm going to go for my run.