PALEO, 6 MONTHS LATER

I started the Paleo journey at my heaviest (non pregnant) weight.  I weighed 137 lbs, had zero energy, anxiety up the wazoo, serious sciatic and joint pain, and no drive to much of anything, let alone work out or cook healthy.  Food was my weakness.  I loved all food.  Sugary foods, savory foods, fast food (though I didn't indulge in it often).  And I seriously loved eating out.  We would eat out and or order take out probably 4-5 days a week.  Thats just sad, my friends.  One day I stumbled upon a 30 Day Paleo Challenge (found here: www.robinssweetconfessions.com/wp/category/paleo-challenge/) and my husband and I just decided to go for it.  We dove in head first, no questions asked.  By week 2, I was feeling immensely better, had lost a lot of weight, and enjoyed cooking at home for my family.  After that first month, I had lost 7 lbs, abstained from candy and sweets both on Halloween AND my 4 year old bday party.  The challenge was up on Thanksgiving.  I did have dessert, but other than that continued living the Paleo lifestyle.  It was a bit harder during the holiday's, but we made it and continued seeing success.  Fast forward 6 months, I completed my first Whole30 (see details here: www.whole30.com) *Talk about life changing and difficult!*, am down 16 lbs and 2 dress sizes, I fit into jeans that I bought before I had kids, and even though I'd like to fit into even more things that are smaller, I'm pretty damn happy.  But it goes deeper than the scale.  I'll save you all the boring "i learned so much about my unhealthy relationship with food!" - even though I did, and I'll skip right to the awesomeness that has come from it:

- joint pain GONE
- sciatica GONE (I attribute this to Paleo as well as finding an amazing masseuse and chiropractor)
- strength - way up
- skin - clearer than ever
-anxiety - next to none
- cellulite - let's just say I'll feel pretty confident in my two piece this summer :)
- sugar cravings - finally gone after completing Whole30
- sleeping WAY better at night.  Since I still have little one's it's rare that I actually sleep through the night, but my brain shuts of at a proper hour now
- We have influenced quite a few family members and friends to at least look into a real food lifestyle, and some of them are living it.

Really the list could go on.  But I'll let the before and after pics speak for themselves: