2.5 weeks on...

So I have been eating paleo... mostly. Typically I start the day with a sweet potato and bacon omeletee (I fry a handful of grated sweet potato in a little bit of ghee, put that side then chuck a generous amount of bacon in, once that's cooked, the sweet potato goes back in, level it all out and pour two whisked eggs over the top... when done top with a bit of guacamole and goats cheese - yum!). For lunch I will generally have left overs from dinner... I haven't been particularly adventurous in this - this week on Monday I bought a bbq chicken from woolies, on Monday night I picked off and ate whatever I wanted of it, then split the remainder between two containers and that was my lunches for two days this week. I had a steak for dinner (topped with a fried egg) one night, I also bought some organic tomato and basil sausages but they weren't very nice so I only ate about half of one of those. On Saturday I went out with the FarRiders to Leeton for dinner. I packed a little cooler bag with a couple of types of salami and this actually worked well for lunch on the go. That's good to know. For dinner I had a steak and it was fabulous. It was topped with mushrooms, bacon and cheese and had big chunky chips on the side. I ate about half the chips. I also had a hot chocolate after dinner, it came with mini-marshmellows which I tried to scrape off but they just stuck to my spoon so I ate them. I didn't feel any worse for eating the above. On Wednesday I had my annual performance review. So did my manager. My manager achieved an important personal milestone (mine wasn't too shabby either) so we decided to go out to lunch to celebrate. Scotch fillet burgers at the Uni Pub! I deconstructed my burger, took off the bun and the lettuce and tomato and ate the remainder (steak, beetroot, egg, cheese, onion jam). it also had chips and I did cave in and have a diet coke. I was really thirsty and in the past when I have been thirsty like that water doesn't help (I had drunk a heap of water already that day) but coke does... this time it didn't. anyway the coke was really nice but I could have just had water in the end. I had had a migraine that day and ended up going home early and in the evening my tummy became very swollen and bloated. Not sure if it was the coke or the chips but I am thinking the coke seeing as I have eaten chips a few times in the last couple of weeks with no particular consequence. Anyway so far I have lost 4 kilos! I feel smaller, I think my tummy is just less swollen. Maybe I do have some kind of grain intolerance! I feel really tired during the day, and I am usually in bed by 8 - 8:30pm (I do read for a bit though). I generally fall asleep as soon as I turn the light out but I have been having to get up during the night 1 - 2 times to pee, I guess as a result of all the extra water I have been drinking. I go back to sleep though and I have been sleeping pretty well. On the whole I feel pretty good and this feels pretty sustainable. This week I stumbled across the Zeroing In On Health website - which is about zero carb diets. It's pretty interesting. I said I'd do 4 weeks on paleo and I will stick to that... but after that I might give zero carb a go and see what the difference is. Paleo is fairly easy to follow for me, but given my dietary prejudices (ie. I generally hate most vegetables and fruit) I'm eating a decent amount of meat anyway. Zero-carb as far as I can tell, they eat meat, eggs and water, maybe a bit of dairy? hopefully some herbs and stuff are okay. I have a bit of time to read up more on it. I have been tracking my food intake on myfitnesspal and I maintain about a 300 - 500 calorie deficit each day. I don't try to do that, that's just how it works out. I am completely satisfied by my meals and I have no real desire to snack. The other day at work we had a birthday with cake. I went in but didn't have any cake. that was quite easy to refuse actually, I didn't desire it at all. Every one was astonished though, which was a bit embarrassing. Oh well. yesterday, I woke up feeling great, went for my little walk but while I was out my migraine showed it's ugly head again, so when I got home I took a couple of Panadeine. I made myself breakfast but after Wednesday's struggle to eat breakfast I just made a smaller omelette with one egg, as i felt a bit sicky. Turns out I felt great after I ate but eating the smaller amount played havoc with me all day, I was STARVING. By lunchtime I was ravenous. I managed to be good though and just each my left over bbq chicken which satisfied me, but by the time I got home I was really hungry again. But was able to easily withstand snacking on anything (I have a number of chocolate bars up in my cupboard and I didn't even think about those) and just had an earlyish dinner and that was that. Today I am heading up to Sydney for weekend school. The place I stay in has a 'fully equipped kitchen'. I've not ever paid that much attention to it, but I am assuming they have a microwave. I have prepared meals (shakshouka) to take with me, so I have dinner sorted for tonight, Saturday night and Sunday night. I bought a steak yesterday that I am going to have for lunch today before I go, and I am going to make an omelette to take with me for tomorrow morning, as I have to be at uni for an 8am lecture tomorrow. I might just make my breakfast there on Sunday and Monday as I am not in such a rush, or I might go to a cafe, I'm sure I'll be able to find something suitable. Lunch might be a bit more of a challenge tomorrow, I am supposed to be meeting a girl I met through the course for lunch and she has a particular cafe in mind. I guess I will find out tomorrow! On Sunday I only have a 15 min break between lectures so will probably have an early lunch before they start and just bring some cold meat to have for lunch. Well this turned into a bit of a novel! Oh well :)