Caution, Turbulence Ahead

Hello Day 12 of 30! I feel like I’m finally getting into the zone of the Zone.  I feel like I’m starting to see some physical changes, which is motivating me to keep measuring and weighing, watching the clock and eating, packing containers and washing containers.  How many of you are doing this challenge with a spouse, significant other or friend of a different gender?   This is a source of contention and general frustration with me because I don’t like that he loses weight or inches faster and easier than I do. I’m the youngest, and reminded all the time that I suffer from Youngest Child Insecurity of Not Measuring Up (that’s an official-ish psychological illness coined by my husband). Between being a physiological step behind him and stepping on an airplane tomorrow, I am feeling the stress today knowing the most difficult part of this 30 day challenge is ahead of me.

First, Men vs. Women.  If you are doing this challenge with a partner, which I know a few of you are, try to keep it in check – believe me I’m trying.  Men are biologically advantaged in weight-loss over women.  While all you men are putting a little hash mark and a smiley face in the “Win” section of your head right now, the women will actually read why we are at a slight disadvantage, so therefore end up working harder to achieve successful results (there, that’s our “Win” hash mark – we work harder.)  There are three main physiological reasons why men lose weight faster than women.  These are the reasons the cards are stacked against us from the get-go:

• Men are born with a lower percentage of body fat and greater percentage of large muscle than women
• Men have a faster resting metabolic rate than women
• Women have greater hormonal fluctuations than men

From our first day, a 9 lb boy baby and a 9 lb girl baby have different percentages of body fat.  In general terms, the male body is constructed of more muscle and less body fat than the female body.  The types of body fat males and females tend to have are even different.  Men tend to have more visceral body fat, whereas women tend to have more subcutaneous body fat.  The visceral (think organs) fat typically is mid-section, deep body fat.  Subcutaneous fat is under our skin, which happens to be everywhere, and is harder to reduce.  Because the men have more muscle to begin with, they burn more calories with the exact same activity or inactivity than a woman doing the same.  This metabolic rate, either resting or active, can be up to 10% more efficient than that of a woman, because of the muscle mass.  So, when the two of you are sitting on the couch watching a movie, the man gets another win hash-mark for burning fat.  Even though they have a whole variety floating through their bodies, men answer to basically one hormone – testosterone.  We all know the ways testosterone governs their lives and decision making, but it helps them significantly with muscle development.  Women have all the same hormones as well, but we answer to the two big ones, Estrogen and Progesterone, or lack thereof.  Our bodies wax and wane with these constantly fluctuating levels – mood, energy, metabolism and fluid balance are affected depending on these two little P.I.A.’s.  Women can also be affected by thyroid function much more commonly than men, which is a key component in metabolic rate.

Chris and I are competitive with each other - that’s no secret to anyone.  I know that eating the same things and going to the gym together will give him higher percentages of weight and fat loss than me.   I will refrain from locking him in the dog crate and force feeding him cheesecake and pie.  Every morning he struts down the stairs like a peacock and shows me how the inches are just vanishing from his waistline.  That’s okay, he doesn’t always get the Wins, so this is an easy one to let him have.

Tomorrow, Chris and I begin a second Challenge within a Challenge.   Unfortunately, my zone is about to be rocked a little, but once again, with planning and adaptation I will get through.   My family is going on a long-planned ski trip to Colorado.  We planned this trip long before we committed to this challenge, so I knew that this would be a glitch in the 30 days, a challenge I would meet either successfully or unsuccessfully.  When I first started the challenge, I figured it would be a break, and I wouldn’t worry about it.  As I progressed through the first week, my thoughts and planning evolved.  Now, I’m worried about maintaining my progress and not taking too many steps backwards, and essentially undoing the progress I’ve already made.  I can assure you that if we were not part of this Paleo Zone Challenge, our food and beverage bill in Colorado would look a lot different.  However, with a great deal of planning, and the willingness to be adaptable, we are hoping to turn this part of the challenge for us into a learning experience and a success.

We have talked extensively about what our meals are going to look like.  Our plan is remain on a Paleo diet, and keep with proportions as much as we can by visual calculation.  We bought Camelbaks for backpacks so that we will have water on us at all times while skiing, 3 L of water per Camelbak.  However, we won’t have access to many bathrooms while we are swooshing between 12,000 and 9,000 feet, so we may have to reduce our water intake.  I am certain that finding a tree to go behind in 10 degree weather is not going to work out for me. Also, the initial bathroom-free gondola ride up the mountain is between 30-40 minutes, so I will have to reduce my morning coffee intake as well.   I’ve located a Costco and a health-food supermarket so that we can stop and load up on supplies between the airport and the condo.  I’m fairly certain that between these two stores I can closely replicate my home refrigerator and pantry.  We have agreed that breakfast, snacks and lunch will be in the condo, not in the cafeteria line at the ski lodge.  Because we are staying in the heart of the ski village, I know that we will want to eat out at restaurants.  I’ve already googled their menus, and I know that we will be able to order healthy, Paleo options from the places we eat.  Yes, I will have a drink or two with the meal, to say that I will not is unrealistic.  But, I’m assuming the combination of being a high altitude virgin and several weeks of abstaining from alcohol will result in me being a complete beverage light-weight, the cheapest date Chris has had in years.  I will have a NorCal Margarita or two, or a Ciroc and Soda, (vodka made from grapes, not potatoes) or a glass or 2 of white wine.  Previously, I would have killed some red wine, but red wine and I are going to keep our distance from each other for now.   

While I’m super stoked about skiing in the Rockies for the first time in my life, I am not abandoning the Challenge and the progress I’ve made.  If you decide to continue a Paleo diet after this challenge, or if you take on the 10-week challenge in the spring, there is no doubt you too will be faced with travel on some level.  I’m hoping that I can learn from this and apply it to future trips, and that when I return, I jump right back into and onto the Box without difficulty.