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Total Body Challenge

The 31 days is up. The Paleo Challenge is over. The way I eat has been altered forever. There has certainly been some highs and lows, but eating this diet has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for me - mentally, physically, and emotionally - and I will probably continue with it. I will certainly reintroduce some whole grains and a little dairy (can you really live without cheese?), but I will keep eating like this because it feels great. I feel better now than I did when I was 20 years old (18 years ago). Because I am a geek, I have compiled a Harper's style index, below, to summarize my Paleo Diet experience...

31 days  - length of time I ate like a cave man
$650 - approximate grocery bill for the month
20 - number of meals that I prepared and cooked from scratch in the last month
100% - percentage increase over all previous months of my life combined
195lbs - my weight prior to the challenge
178lbs - my weight at the end of the challenge
75 - approximate number of beers that I consumed in a normal month
0 - number of beers that I drank in March (I stayed up past midnight on the 31st and drank a cold one, though)
10 - number of Crossfit workouts in March
115 - number of dead lift repetitions
10,650lbs - total combined weight for dead lifts
125 - number of back squat repetitions
12,575lbs - total combined weight for back squats
3 - number of bicycle rides I completed in March
164km - total combined distance for bicycle rides
10 - number of points scored I had scored in 24 hockey games since the beginning of the season
10 - number of points I scored in the last three games
6 - number of visible abdominal muscles when I take my shirt off ;)

Thanks to Dave for suggesting this diet in the first place, and for all of the information and support throughout the challenge. I learned a ton. I cooked like a chef (and ate like a king). I felt like a champion. And I finished something that I didn't think was even possible in the beginning (which is the best feeling in the world). That's the total body challenge!

Jer

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