Puh-lee-oh, pay-lee-uh-oh... the WHAT diet?!

I'm starting this blog for two purposes: 1) It is going to hold me accountable as I (hopefully) transform my life and body over the next year or so, and 2) I hope others find it informative and useful as I overcome the everyday struggles with this lifestyle change.

I first heard about the Paleo diet from my wife's cousin.  He had lost roughly 60 pounds in the past year.  But - he didn't look the normal sickly, sucked-up skinny that fad dieting produced.  I was shocked, and he gave me some information on where to start.

I'll give you a little background information to get you started.  I'm a 30 year old man, and my wife is 29.  I don't mind sharing my starting weight, as I believe that's part of what is going to help keep me motivated.  As of Saturday, I weighed 261 pounds.  My goal weight?  When I got out of Marine Corps bootcamp years ago, I was about 175, and felt fantastic.  So for now, that's going to be my goal weight.

Part of the reason I'm diving headfirst into this new lifestyle is because of some blood tests I had done recently.  I sell insurance for a living, and see time and time again people get declined for life insurance because of their unhealthy lifestyles.  I decided I would try for a small amount - $50,000.  I needed to get a blood test done to get approved for this amount - and that's where I got nervous.  Generally, my blood pressure is fine.  It's gone up and down in the past year or so due to some stress with work and life in general - but it's normally 120/80.  The thing I was worried about is my triglycerides.  Just for the heck of it, in the spring of 2008, I had our family physician test my cholesterol.  Healthy triglycerides are between 0 and 150.  Mine came back at a staggering 500.

I thought there had been some sort of mistake.  Maybe I didn't fast right.  Maybe I chewed a piece of gum that morning.  There was absolutely no way they could be that high.  Wrong.  My life insurance blood results revealed that my triglycerides were at 471.

I have two beautiful daughters - one 4, and the other a little over a year.  Something has to change.  My boss recommends "everything in moderation".  I'm not a "moderation" kind of guy.  Generally when I do something, it's full-force.  So...  here I come Paleo diet.

This is day three of the diet, and I've already lost about 6 pounds.  I'm sure there are still things that I'm eating that I shouldn't be, but tomorrow I'll be getting the books which will help guide me in the entire process.  I'll keep you posted folks.