Bob C. participated in our “Choose your Challenge” challenge, which started on January 1st and ended January 31st. Bob choose to eat strict Paleo for 31 days and as a result, he lost 12 lbs. Bob is a triathlete that started CrossFitting with us in October 2010 to supplement his training. I got the chance to speak with Bob and ask him a couple questions in hopes of inspiring others!

What was your main goal for choosing to eat Paleo for your challenge? I wanted to loose some weight and to try to incorporate a healthier diet into my lifestyle in hopes to set a good example for my kids.

What was the easiest part of eating Paleo? Actually, the Tamalpais CrossFit website made it easy with the recipes that were provided- they were easy to follow and did not take a lot of time to prepare.  Often I would just double the recipe to have enough left over for lunch the next day. When one is eating healthy, there is a positive mental effect, which made it easy to forgo any temptations.

What was the hardest part of eating Paleo? Preparing 2 meals -one Paleo for myself and one non -Paleo for my family. Also, the doughnut dreams that consumed my sleep 🙂

How was your energy during the challenge? At first it wasn’t good, I wasn’t getting enough protein so I added more to my diet and that helped to raise my sustainable energy.

How did it affect your workouts? I feel as though it affected my attitude during my workouts. The drive to push myself beyond my comfort level was more powerful than before. The “light bulb” moment for me was when we did the CrossFit Total. My numbers improved by leaps and bounds above my previous total.

What can you suggest to others? I recommend it to others because it is not that hard to do. You can purchase the food items anywhere. When I leave my house, I bring fruits and nuts with me so I am never unprepared. My wife is going to start the Paleo diet with me in 20 days. I just ordered my Six Pack Bag so I will use that in my next challenge. Once the challenge was over, I ate some unfavorable foods and felt terrible. A lot of the oppositions that we face are mental, you think you want the unfavorable foods but after you eat them, you realize you only think you want them, they don’t taste the same as they use to and the affect on the body is not worth it.

The best part of eating Paleo was when my daughter asked “Dad, where’s your pillow” referring to what use to be my stomach 🙂