Going Paleolithic

It's been a stressful month. We bought a used Durango, and a trailer, and I was worrying about the shrinking budget. Then, Miach's old metal fillings began cracking his teeth and we have a whole new bunch of expenses!
Miach has been to a couple of BART fighter practices now with Gunther, and he's holding up but it's a challenge. He's hanging in there, and having a great time.

So, I was over at Miriam's helping make household banners today. Miriam has been following a paleolithic diet for a few months, and I think she looks pretty good. She and Michaell are going to kick it up a notch for the next few weeks, because they have a daughter getting married. So, they are going to modify the diet and add some body-building supplements and some weight training.
Now, I was shocked to discover that they both entered a body-building contest a few years ago -- and if you've seen my picture down a few posts you may be shocked to discover that I used to work out several times a week with weights, myself. I didn't intend to enter any contests, I just wanted to increase my muscle to fat ratio and I enjoyed weight lifting. I did not enjoy aerobic exercise, unless it was attached to something more interesting like skiing or mountain-biking.
I never got that "cut" look, but in retrospect I was firm and strong. I was also terribly upset that several hours of training a week did not make me look, in my eyes, that much better than not working out at all. I've since been assured by family that my eyes were deceiving me. And I also don't really care so much about looks now, but I care a lot and am caring more each day about health and longevity.
It's challenging in my mundane life to do what I get paid to do and look so obviously like I ignore my own advice, which I DO. And it's not pleasant to drag all this weight around, either. There have been various times in the past few years that my knees or back hurt so badly that I couldn't do things I wanted to do. It's one of those cyclical things, where the less you can do the more you sit and eat, and the bigger you get, and the less you can do. I hate scales, I hate shopping for clothes, and I hate pictures of myself. It's hard to acknowledge that yes, that huge woman is ME.
Having tried repeatedly for a lifetime to lose weight or to maintain a healthy weight, I think I reached a point about 5 years ago where I just gave up. And I was wrong to do that. It hasn't made my life easier, or more enjoyable, and I've aged way more than 5 years.

Something clicked for me today, and it actually started before I went to Miriam's, after a night of bad dreams and feeling like I couldn't breathe.
I think I'm going to give this Paleo thing a whirl. It seems like a basically sound diet, similar to the low carb diets I actually lost weight on in the past, with more vegetables and fruit and no dairy.
We're getting ready to go to Crown and Great Western, both in the next 2 weeks. I have a picture of us at our second Great Western, and I thought I was fat at the time -- I probably easily weigh 75 pounds more currently. It sure would be nice to be lighter and stronger by GWW next year. It sure would be nice to actually take up the combat archery I always intended to do.