Paleo Diet - Day 330

Well, it looks like things are changing, though I'm not sure what is changing, yet. Looks like my body fat, though, which has moved up some more, to 12.4%, which is still in healthy territory, but lower than it has been. Meanwhile, I gained back a pound, so I'm back to 160 lbs after two weeks at 159. Again, I would rather the weight gained have been muscle, as opposed to fat, but, at least I'm not continuing to lose weight. This changes my BMI (Body Mass Index) to 21.7, which is still in the "normal weight" range.

As usual, my blood sugar, despite a meal in the wee hours of the morning, is normal, at 95 dcl/ml. So, nothing wrong with that.

As for my blood pressure, it's at a normal 106/73, right in the middle of the normal range. As I've mentioned before, this is with medication, so I'm still waiting for the day when I can discontinue the use of that and remain consistently in the normal range naturally. Maybe after I've been on the diet a year, which is coming up in just 35 days.

Speaking of which, I've been thinking about the logical limits of this blog, lately, which, despite as much fun as it's been, does take up some of my time on Saturday mornings, when I could be doing other things. I have toyed with the idea of letting it end at the one year mark. After all, Loren Cordain promises, in his book, The Paleo Diet, that it will take about a year, in most cases, for the diet to reach its peak effectiveness in returning one to normal weight and health, and it seems I'm well on schedule, as far as that is concerned, so, what would be the point in continuing to report my results to the world beyond that point?

I'm certainly not expecting to return to the state I was in before the diet - ever again - and the continuation of a monotonous normality of health surely can't be entertaining anyone anymore, though I suppose it does inspire those who have been wondering if the paleo diet is for them or not. It is for those people that I have continued this blog as long as I have, in fact.

I think that, by now, anyone who has been following my progress has seen and been convinced by the results I've had that the paleolithic diet is the most effective means of regaining one's lost health, almost no matter what condition one is in when they begin. It is certainly not a cure-all, of course - nothing ever is - but it is the closest thing to it and, as I've said before, this is because it is man's natural diet; the one our species evolved on. Thus, it is the diet we are genetically adapted to and, of course, eating that diet on a consistent basis, as I have been doing for nearly a year, now, should - at least in theory - return one to his or her natural state, or give that state of health to those who may never have known of it, in the first place. If it has done so for you, as it has for me, then congratulations!

If only one person out there is reading this and has tried the diet and benefited from it, then I have achieved some semblance of the goal I had in mind by beginning this blog, in the first place. And, if there is no one out there reading it, well, what's the point, right? So, I am announcing that, effective November 2nd - my one-year paleo diet "anniversary" - I will no longer maintain updating of this blog. Of course, I will leave it out here on the web for posterity - or until Blogger or Blogspot decide to pull the plug on it, if they ever do, and, in that way, it can continue to be found and read and, hopefully, used by others who can benefit from the information I've provided. That is, after all, what my goal has been all along, in writing this.

Paleo Diet - Day 323

Well, at least my weight has stabilized, now, at 159 lbs. Which means my BMI (Body Mass Index) has also stabilized at 21.6, which is within normal weight range. Meanwhile, my body fat percentage has gone back up to 12.7 %, where it had been a couple of months or so. I would have preferred muscle gain as the means of stabilizing or gaining weight, but this body fat percentage is quite normal, so I can't complain about it.

My blood sugar is at a normal 97 ml/dcl this morning, so, nothing to worry about there, while my blood pressure is down from last week's 120/72 to 113/73 today. That's solidly within normal range.

Paleo Diet - Day 316

Looks like I need to eat more. I've dropped yet another pound, down to 159 lbs from last week's 160. However, according to the charts, I'm still at normal weight for my height, even down to 135 lbs, below which I'd be underweight. I'm 23 lbs above that point right now. Historically, I've been a skinny guy, though. In my thirties, it wasn't unusual for me to weigh 145 lbs. But, I bulked up by working out in my forties. Perhaps I need to do the same again. I need to, anyway, just to get my HDL up and to lower my LDL. The weight loss translates to a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 21.6, which is still in the normal weight range. My body fat percentage remains unchanged from last week, when it had fallen to 11.8% - the first change in over two months.

Meanwhile, my blood sugar is normal today at 94 ml/dcl. I was eating in the wee hours of this morning, so that's not unusal. No problem.

My blood pressure is up a little, but still well within normal range at 120/72, so, nothing there to worry about, really. In fact, my diastolic is down from last week's 77, so it's only the systolic side that has risen. This will probably come down again by next weekend, with continued walking exercise, and may, in fact, have spiked in response to an increase in strength training over this week, which would have the effect of raising blood pressure slightly.

Paleo Diet - Day 309

Hmmm...changes, changes - and all in a positive direction, I think. First of all, my weight has dropped some more, to 160 lbs. That, in turn, drops my BMI (Body Mass Index) to 21.7 (still within "normal weight" bounds), and, for the first time in a long while, I'm seeing some change in my body fat percentage, downward to 11.8% (from 12.7%, where it's been for over two months). I think it must be due to my increased walking this week. Hopefully, this will translate to a lower LDL and higher HDL by the time those are tested again in February.

Meanwhile, my blood sugar dropped some, also, to 88 (from last week's 103), again, probably in response to an increase in daily walking.

Then there is my blood pressure, which is 114/77 this morning, as opposed to last week's 115/73, so it looks like that's remaining consistently in the right area, now. As Freddie Prinz and Tony Orlando used to say to each other on the Tonight Show, back in the seventies: "Loooookin' goooood!" Why I chose that particular reference, I don't know, but it fits. ;)