Marathon, Not A Sprint

I've been thinking about this now for a little bit, about my goals to want to get flat abs and to get down to 15% bodyfat.  Right now, I'm at 20.3%.  I still have another 20-25 lbs left that I want to drop and I believe some of that is water weight.  This is the lowest my bodyfat has ever been, but not the lowest weight for me.

My clothes are fitting pretty good, at least the size 12s.  My goal ultimately is a size 6, but that may be too thin for me.

Being 100% perfect on a Paleo+Light Dairy way of eating all the time is a bit stressful, especially when I'm overloaded in things.  To save money, as well as for health reasons, I make a lot of things from scratch.  Though many meals are reasonably easy and quick, most of the meat is frozen, so there is defrosting time needed.  You definitely have to plan.

There are no TV dinners or store bought prepared foods in our home.  If I want things like crackers, there is no going out to buy a box of Ritz, rather, I need to make the crackers, any dips, sauces, etc.  We have the basic staples of meat or various types of protein, spices/herbs/seasonings, nuts/seeds, good fats, fruits & veggies.  Things like flours are often made from nuts or seeds.

Buying non-grain products that serve like grain products is expensive and much less expensive to make these things, but it does take some organization and time.  Being that it's getting so hot outside, not just warm, I don't feel like going to as many places or running as many errands.

When I have the time and inclination, it's not hard to stay on track the Paleo way 100% of the time.  However, when stuff gets super busy, I go as long as I can staying on track, but sometimes I just have to make the best of a not great situation as possible, which sometimes includes eating something that is not desirable.  However, I really do my best to make a great effort to minimize as much undesirable foods.

Okay, so I probably won't be dropping 1-2 lbs per week, but as long as the overall trend is going in the right direction.  I probably also won't have flat abs by the end of the summer or early fall, but I'm good with that.  I do know that a year ago, I was heavily eating loads of refined sugar and though I wasn't eating white flour products, I was heavy on the grains & starches.

Rarely do I eat grains & starches, and I do not do the refined sugar thing, so that's a huge improvement.  My diet on many days is on par, and those days that aren't, I typically eat a little, but not usually binge.  When I set myself to be perfect, I tend to fall short and feel like a failure.

So, when I do go off-track, the thing is to not go overboard, and to be intentional.  Life happens.  I think this is a much healthier approach.  Who knows, but maybe in 6 months from now, with a very busy schedule, I'll be able to juggle eating Paleo+dairy 95% of the time and still get great results without torturing myself with intense HIIT workouts 5 days/wk and working as if I was some super model, which I'm not.

And, maybe in the course of working this all out, my kids will be automatically making much better choices in their own eating and we will all be much, much healthier.

This is a Marathon, not a Sprint!