So: I only ate vegetable (except nightshades), meat, fruit and nuts. No grains, legumes, dairy, caffeine, coffee and alcohol.

I didn’t push on the fitness side of the equation. In fact, I was actually supplementing with whey protein before the challenge — and had noticed quick muscle gain there — and suspected I would lose some mass without continuing the protein. This proved correct, although not nearly as pronounced as expected.

Results

Anway, before I get into details, here are the results…

The visual changes aren’t as dramatic as I hoped, to be honest. The numbers have more to tell…

In other words, I lost weight and thinned up. Using this body fat calculator, I calculated my body fat and lean body mass. (I actually didn’t track my wrist or forearm measurements, so this is an approximation.)

What this means is that I lost 3.74 lbs. of fat and 1.25 lbs. of lean body mass (muscle, bone, etc.). There’s some variance in there for fluid retention, too.

Withdrawal

More important than the weight loss, though, was how I felt. Unlike my first jump into paleo/primal, my sugar-withdrawal headache only lasted 1-2 days, and it wasn’t nearly as bad. My cravings for grains and sweets disappeared almost immediately, and while I appreciate the convenience of bread, I still have no strong desire to eat it.

Energy levels

My energy levels and ability to focus shot up very quickly, too. When I was full paleo, it felt like I had 2-3 additional hours of productive time in my day. That’s mentally-sharp, high-energy time to get things done (or to better enjoy my evenings after plowing through a very busy and full day at work).

Sleep, stress and weight gain

Two unexpected variables proved to be sleep and stress. I knew intellectually how important it was to improve the quality and quantity (up to a full night’s rest) of your sleep and reduce your stress levels, but I hadn’t really had a chance to do that until the start of this challenge when a major change in my work situation freed up my evenings and eliminated a good deal of stress.

Halfway into the challenge, pressing demands at my new job inched my stress level back up and extra work in the evenings disrupted my sleep cycle. While I still felt mentally-sharp and enjoyed an extra couple of hours of productive time, my weight loss/toning effectively stopped as soon as that happened. I’d go so far as to say I actually put on some weight, meaning I believe the first two weeks of the challenge were possibly twice as effective as the data above suggests.

Tea and intestinal issues

I’ve long suffered from less than Gary Null-approved bowel movements. I was expecting full paleo to help with this, but it didn’t. That surprised me. Then, about three weeks in, I wondered if all the (decaf) tea I was drinking (about a pot of day) could be aggravating my stomach. I quit it and noticed notable improvement in about 48 hours. Was it the tea or had my gut finally healed enough from all the damage done by the gluten/grain/dairy/legume stuff I’d been eating. I don’t know, but my craving for tea has also subsided.

Lifestyle

One quick observation:Eating out full paleo is next to impossible. And not very enjoyable. You’re basically limited to plain meat with plain veggies. Why bother?

Reintroducing foods

The only food I really missed during my 30-day challenge was nightshades. I love salsa and tomato sauce. And eggplant. And BBQ. I started using salsa in my breakfasts again and haven’t noticed much of an issue.

Then, because paleo date night isn’t nearly as enjoyable as normal date night, I through it all out the window Saturday night. Grain (naan), dairy (saag), dairy (chai), and sugar (rice pudding) from Taj Mahal. It was delicious, and while I expected it to make me feel immediately sick — the way a donut does — I felt fine. The next morning, I felt good enough to dump the leftover saag on my eggs. It wasn’t until a few hours later that I noticed my head just wasn’t clear. Despite a relaxing evening and a full night’s rest, I just felt slow and cloudy and uninspired all day.

Then at dinner on Sunday night — Chicken Parmesan with extra tomato sauce — I overate and felt bloated, even a bit sick. I never felt that way during the 30-day challenge, even when I ate a lot. Was it the cheese? Was it all the acidic sauce? I’m not sure.

Going forward

I’ll keep eating nightshades (in moderation), but I’m going to leave the rest off my plate for the time being. Aside from a little white rice on sushi, I don’t see much need for the grain and legumes. (Alexa has a recipe for bread that only uses almond and coconut flour. And while I know it’s still not the best food, I am curious for the convenience of it. And I would love a thick slice of French toast on Thanksgiving morning.)

My main objective, though, will be getting my sleep and work schedule under control. As fun as it is to focus on the food and exercise side of paleo/primal living, I’ve seen how big an impact some of the other tenants can have. How to make these changes? That’s a tough question. It’s not as easy as “just go to bed earlier.” With so many things I want to read and write and learn, it’s a slippery slope from “I’ll just do this one more thing before bed” to “damn, it’s coming up on midnight already”. This post, case in point.

Any pointers you have on achieving this balance would be recommended.

I’ll check-in next month with more numbers and an update.

Syd likes the shower at the gym, and she’s fascinated by the body wash, shampoo and conditioner dispensers. After watching me use them a couple times, she stuck her hand out, palm open, to get a pump of soap herself. I obliged.

Then Sydney extended her other arm and started scrubbing herself. On her arms, then her chest.

I said, “Don’t forget your feet.”

She tried to bend over and suds up her feet. (Not easy when you’re being carried around.) Seeing that I wasn’t sudsy yet, she started to rub the soap on my chest and arms, too.

Then she wanted to try the other two. I gave her a pump of shampoo and said, “This one is for your hair.”

She started to rub it into her hair. I took a pump and helped until her hair was all soapy. And I did mine.

Not the most gentle soap, I’m sure, I didn’t want it to get into her eyes when we rinsed. So I said, “Close your eyes now.” She promptly covered both her eyes with both hands — although I could tell she was peaking. We started to rinse and she lowered her hands when the water running over her face caught her by surprise. That’s when she saw my eyes were open. She quickly extended her hands to cover my eyes, too.

How thoughtful. And adorable.

Then she insisted we condition our hair, too.