Another one in Ireland

[sarahfancy]

Hi all,

I've found my way here through various Paleo sites.

I've been steadily gaining weight since I turned 16 -- I'm 40 now -- and the more diets I do, the bigger I get. Right now, at 5 ft 2, I'm around 185 pounds. I've done Weight Watchers, Atkins, Slimming World, vegetarianism, and most recently, vegan. I'm tired.

As a kid, I was tiny. I didn't start gaining until 16, when I started working at McDonald's. I've never been a big junk food eater, but I do enjoy my wine and I suppose my biggest problem is portion size. I'm American, but I spent 15 years living in Germany, where the big focus is on bread, and am now in Ireland, where they eat a lot of bread, too, but it's mostly white bread! I work full time in an office in an IT company and have four kids. I'm not making excuses, but I'm pretty busy as it is.

I've been trying to "do" paleo for the past couple of months. After a couple of weeks of whole30 type eating, I lost about 9 lbs. I just started with kettle bells at home and the Kettleworx DVDs. I find that if I plan to exercise at night, it's not going to happen, so I'm getting up early and hitting those 20 minute DVDs. It's working, and I can see a change, but I seem to keep making excuses and finding situations where I eat something I shouldn't.

Feeding the kids is also a challenge. My poor German husband tries to cook according to my latest "diet," but it isn't easy. He seems to be more enthusiastic about the paleo thing, because he is very keen on quality food and we don't really buy much processed food at all.

I feel like I've been rambling away here. But I need some support to keep me on track.

My goals:

Lose 50 lbs (ideally, be halfway there by the time I fly home to the US in October)

Get stronger

Find a way to deal with stress

Stop making excuses

Finally stick to something!!

Sarah

[Good Row G]

Hi Sarah!

Welcome! I've been to Galway and am a little jealous to hear you live there. Hopefully I can get back sometime.

Good goals! Totally sympathize on the stumbling blocks. I've got some similar ones myself. But this seems to be a great community to address them.

Cheers,

Gena

[VorJoshigan]

Congrats on making a commitment!

I'm meandering in a paleo direction, so some of the following is aspirational.

The thing I like about paleo is that I don't think of it as a diet. Or maybe it's THE diet - the one that evolution or god designed us to eat. Paleo means old. I think of this as "returning to the old ways".

Dude. It's mystical. Totally.

[tigersheart]

Welcome Sarah! Good starting goals, I wish you the best.

and I love the paleo/primal ....way of eating. Mainly cause I am lazy and it is easy, and the rewards are amazing!

[sarahfancy]

Thanks everyone, for the warm welcome. And Gena, Galway is beautiful. I love being near the sea, and it's a cool town. The weather is a bit...meh, but you deal.

Paleo eating seems to do my body good. I just need to get consistent with my weights and all. Do y'all think that the body weight workout is the best place to start?

[Neit]

Hey Sarah welcome and Best of luck in your Goals , Quick Tip on the kids get them involved in your training

[Eve]

Thanks for the friendly welcome Best of luck with training! The beginners body weight workout still seems a bit tough for me (except for the dumbbell rows), but I think it's a good start, other trainings with push ups seem a bit difficult for a beginner.