Congratulations on your progress!  I'm sure it will continue and you'll see the pounds dropping off.

My own challenge has been that I have to cook so much more. My typical lifestyle prior to this was that we ate out about three to four times a week. I am working a project that demands a lot of time and it would be easier to just grab something so I could get back to work. But maybe having to stop and go tot he kitchen and spend an hour, or two, to cook a good and nutritious lunch or dinner is a good mental break from my workload too.

I actually found on paleo that I needed to cook less, because I'm ok with really simple meals 

Eg. Breakfast = boiled egg (easy) with fish (easy), beef patties or bacon (fry in 5 mins)
Lunch = meat (grill, fry or eat cold) plus veg (raw, steam, boil or sautee)
Dinner = meat plus veg (as before) or maybe every 3-4 days I will actually prepare something like a casserole or curry and even that doesn't take very long
Berries = eat raw, no prep
Nuts = eat raw, no prep

A lot of paleo recipes seem involve the grating or chopping of summer squashes, tomatoes or peppers, and I don't really eat any of those.  I also don't bother with paleo versions of regular foods that use coconut or almond meal instead of flour (in crusts, or baking or the like)

One of the most time intensive things for me seems to be the making of stock and the rendering of fat!

If it were just me, I could probably just graze on a salad with eggs and add in fried beef most days. But I cook for two (17 year old daughter)

aah, that explains it!  If I have non paleos for dinner then they usually get the casserole with potatoes on the side, or a curry with rice on the side.  My main issue is that two of my good friends are vegetarian and I resolutely refuse to cook them vegetarian meals! (as they are hypocritical veggies who eat cheese and weather leather)

Soon I am going to do an experiment in salmon cakes (with parsnip in lieu of potato) and crab cakes (with coconut for extra body and fat) - I'll put the recipes up for you

you may find these useful - (a lot of recipes have too many nuts for my taste but I am a bit militant about O3/O6)

http://www.thefoodee.com/blog/

http://www.chowstalker.com/

Today is two full months of eating pretty strict Paleo.

On April 3:
Weight: 208 pounds
Migraines per month: 1  (during THAT week. TMI for most men.)
Average pain index on 1-10: down to 3 most of the time
Number of boils I have at the moment: 0
Number of times I wake in the night: 1 (but have been getting right back to sleep)

One change I noticed the most is that I’m cold a lot. Feedback from the more wise and experienced of my fellow tribe members is that 1) I’m getting leaner (never occurred to me), and 2) I may not be eating enough, or enough fat. I’m also thinking it could be my low grade constant inflammation my body ahs been in since I was 16 has let up. I need a new thermometer and will buy one next time I’m at a store. My average temp runs between 99 and a 100 degrees all the time. I’m guessing that this is no longer the case. I will report back.

My fatigue is better. I still get the, OMG I can’t keep my eyes open, spells. But they are fewer and a short nap will usually remedy it.

My daughter got sick two weeks ago and was out of school with a pretty nasty cold. I usually get sick a few days after her but this time, I did not. Seasonal allergies are also starting. I am sneezing a little, and my nose dripping; but nothing like it usually is. In years past I have to start taking Allegra now through the first frost in order not to be miserable. On that note, my asthma has not bothered me AT ALL. I still keep my inhaler with me, but I haven’t had to use it in over a month.

I’m also boil free at the moment. I DID find that when I got sugar accidently in something when we ate out (vinegar and oil dressing is supposed to be JUST VINEGAR and OIL!) that I had a small boil the next morning. But it healed and closed within a few days. Tests in the past have shown these to be the same kind of staph that lives on everyone's skin. In my case, I get an autoimmune reaction and the boils form. Maybe sugar triggers some sort of autoimmune response?

Another thing that is sort of bothersome is that my skin is very dry. I’ve found that if I drink either a glass of coconut milk or almond milk it helps. By try I mean red patches on my face, and white flakes peeling off. I’m keeping it moisturized with some oil of olay every day, and that’s helped too.

I’ve lost about 2 and a half inches around my waist, hips and chest in the last month. So while I think the scale is shifting weight, I don’t think it’s a good indication of how much total volume I have gone down. I can be happy with a pound a week. I’m getting into pants that I haven’t in over a year and all my shirts are starting to look big on me. I don’t really feel like I’m working for weight loss anyway. I look at that as a benefit, but not really my goal.

My overall coordination has improved. I’m very clumsy. When cooking I will often slip and cut myself and/or burn myself. I also have a fair number of falls in my day to day life. In the past month I have not cut myself once in the kitchen. And this is cooking everyday! For me? That’s astounding.

This weeks physical challenge was I needed to get the moss growing on my back roof off. I had tried to get a couple of men to come do this for me FOR MONEY, and they didn’t show. I got determined on Friday, crawled out the bathroom window with a broom and a hose and did it myself. This would have been a very BAD idea a few months ago, and I did get the kid hanging out the window yelling at me if I’d lost my mind. But I did it, I didn’t fall of the roof, proving that I’m capable of doing the hard stuff too!

I’m looking at classes at the YMCA and I’m dithering. Not so much because I don’t WANT to, but work is shifting into high gear and I’m going to be on the road even more than I am at the moment. I’m going to be working projects in both Denver and Chicago and need to figure out best how to split my time between the two locations. That and we’re getting to the end of the school year, my daughter is a senior and we’ve got graduation insanity.

The next few months are going to be extremely stressful. I’m grateful the change in diet has made such a difference with my depression, otherwise I’d probably be coping with chips and beer.

That’s the general state of kyleen for the month. Next month I’ll figure out a way to get some pictures done. Lots of before, but I think “after” would be best after three months rather than two.

I'll second the fish oil and fat and also add water to the mix so that you stay hydrated.

The other things is, how stressed or busy are you and how well do you maintain focus? What I mean is that sometimes we think we are clumsy but it's really that we don't stay focused on a task. For instance, pick up something and go to take it somewhere but immediately switch attention to something else. This means we aren't watching what we are carrying nor are we watching where we are walking. Or chopping food, cooking and focusing on the next task rather than the one we are working on. This is a similar set of actions to those that can lead to being 'forgetful'.

Some people also don't filter so well and so they are taking everything in rather than just the few things they need to keep track of.

I actually think that more fat and less dairy help with mental focus. After all our brains are fat and neural pathways are protected by fat as well. Just my theory.

Today is May 14th. About a week late for my monthly update. This is end of my third month of eating Paleo.

On May 14:
Weight: holding at 208
Migraines per month: 1 (again, it was hormonal )
Average pain index on 1-10: about 3 most of the time
Number of boils I have at the moment: 0
Number of times I wake in the night: 1 to 2 (stress)

This past month I lost more inches (about half an inch to 2 inches in some places) but not a lot of weight. I did get to 206 and then when I started to move more, walk and ride the bike, it went back up. I’m pretty sure that I’m dropping fat and gaining a little muscle. Besides, it’s a process. I’m not doing this for weight loss per se, it’s just a good side benefit.

I did get a cold this month, which honestly surprised me. But it wasn’t that bad, I didn’t get the cough I usually do, and was able to shake it in about a week.

My skin has improved some, but I do have a couple of dry patches on my face. I’ve been trying to get more fish oil in, and I think that helps. I’m also using an Oil of Olay deep moisturizer daily which helps too.

I did cheat with a few items this month, and both times really didn’t feel that good after. Once I had a rum and coke with a REAL sugar Coke from Mexico. I enjoyed the drink, and my stomach was sour for two days. Also, I had a boil break out. I won’t do that again. Second cheat was on my birthday. Went out to dinner with my mom and we shared a cheese and chips as an appetizer. That didn’t didn’t upset my stomach, but my knees HURT the next day. I had trouble with the stairs even. It was deep joint ache of arthritis that I used to live with daily. I’m not sure if it was the corn chips or the cheese, but again, its not worth it. Also goes to show just how much what we eat really does play on our physical well being.

May is going to be a very stressful month. I figure if I can get through this one without jumping off a bridge, I’ll be lucky. My wonderful daughter is graduating from high school. I’m working two projects in two different states. I’m supposed to be working on a book for a children’s book publisher. And one of our dogs is very ill. She’s got a mass in one of her nostrils that could be cancer or fungal. We won’t know until the results of the biopsy and cultures next week.

Which brings me to my next move towards good health. I’m going to switch the dogs over to eating raw. If this is cancer, this will be the third dog I’ve had to die from it in fifteen years. It wasn’t until I started doing my own health research that I’ve been looking at how truly HORRIBLE commercial dog food is. This didn’t used to be as much of a problem! When I was a kid, our dogs, my grandmother’s dogs, and friends dogs, all lived to be 14 and 15 years old. The first one I lost was 10, second just 9. And if this is what is wrong with my current one, she won’t make it to 8. My mom has lost three Great Danes, all to cancer in just the same amount of time. Obviously we are failing in their care and diet somewhere. I’ve always tried to be a good dog mom, so I can’t, in good conscious keep feeding them the way I am. Not when I read the literature on raw feeding and the justification for doing it is almost identical to why the Paleo diet is optimal for humans.

Onward for the next month!

Thanks Warren. I did take your advice and I'll try and do my vegetable at dinner in Tallow for a bit to see how it works out. Earlier this week I was able to find some Suet while I was out looking for chicken deals for the dogs. I found a small grocery with a real butcher. They had a number of interesting meats that I'm going to look up recipes for. I want to render some lard too, but haven't come across the pork fat yet.

We did get bad news on our dog. She's got Cancer. We're going to see a holistic vet tomorrow. It's over a two and a half our drive. I need to pack food for me on the road. I'm hoping she can help. Then Sunday is graduation, and on Monday I have contractors coming to rip off and redo my front porch.

Oh yes. Next couple of weeks are going to be "challenging." But if it were easy, anyone could do it. Right?

I appreciate everyone's feedback and I'm sure I'll have even better progress next month.

We did get bad news on our dog. She's got Cancer.

Sorry to hear that.  Unfortunately I doubt there's much you can do with diet after the cancer becomes big enough to detect.  Putting your other animals on raw meat, and maybe giving them some liver for vitamin D, might help keep it from happening to them.

Overwork in the yard caused me to pull the tendon in my knee on my left side last Sunday.

Not superwoman yet, eh?  Hey, at least you are able to work in the yard!  I know a couple of people who have MS and I wish I could grab them by the throat and force them to read your journal.