I am happy to say that I made it through the Paleo Challenge...alive.  On Friday, we did our exit measurements and the exit workout (the crazy Burpee Challenge).  The next day we had our completion party at a local restaurant and let me tell you, that calamari with hot peppers tasted AMAZING.

You may be curious to know what the results of the 30 Day Paleo Challenge were for me.  They were definitely not what I expected.  I don't have all of the final measurements yet (i.e. I don't know what my starting or ending body fat measurements were/are), but I do know that I GAINED 3 lbs.  In.  A.  Month.  HA!  Everyone was telling me that I gained muscle.  I am not sure if that is true or not, although I would like to think that it is.  The good news out of this is that I didn't want to lose weight and now I am back to my regular weight of 118 lbs.  I don't think that weight gain was always typical for the other people that did that Challenge because one woman posted that, together, she and her husband lost 21lbs.  A few other of the smaller girls doing the Challenge also gained a few lbs.  Muscle weighs more than fat, right?

On the flip side, at the beginning of the month, I struggled to do my 55 burpees in 4 minutes (if you remember from the intro post you had to do 30 burpees in 2 minutes, then if you completed that you had 2 more minutes to do 30 more burpees, etc).  This time I got to 85 burpees!  I was almost to my 4th round!  I did 30 more than a month ago.  I was pretty proud of myself for that.  I am also now able to do regular push-ups like I have never been able to do before and I started doing some of the regular ab work that others do.

Here is my start picture (keep in mind that the goal here was not to lose weight!):

Here is my end picture:

I feel like I have gained some muscle tone in the past month and I do feel stronger and healthier, as well.  I have been sleeping great, when B actually lets me sleep. So far I have not gotten the Norovirus and I really haven't so much as had a cold all winter (knocking on wood).  I do feel like I am going to continue on this paleo "lifestyle" (not calling it a diet since I think that it is much more than a diet), with a slightly modified approach to what was prescribed by the CrossFit coaches.

Here is my fitness/diet plan:

• I am going to allow myself to have some breaks when I feel like it.  If I am at a party and there are some good looking cookies or an awesome looking piece of cake, I am going to have some.  
• I am going to try to stay away from refined sugars, for the most part.
• I am going to continue with high protein, but eat less red meat and more fish because I like it better.
• I am going to allow natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup, in moderation.
• I am going to allow (no sugar added) dried fruit.
• I am going to allow wine, and the occasional micro-brewed IPA because, well, I am obsessed. 
• I am going to stay dairy-free for the most part except adding in some raw milk cheese and some grass-fed butter.
• I am going to stay gluten-free for the most part and allow rice, gluten free oats, etc.
• Staying away from soy.
• I am going to stick with CrossFit 3 days a week.
• I am going to run the remainder of the days, if I feel good, but will take full rest days when I think I need it.

So what is my next goal??  Still looking to get my 5k time under 20 minutes and soon, I'll be starting my NYC Marathon training!

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Is it really possible??  I am 37 weeks, 3 days today.  It doesn't seem possible.  I had my regular weekly appointment this morning which consisted of a BPP and a growth check due to the gestational diabetes and thyroid issue.  My appointment was at 8 AM for the ultrasound and unfortunately my husband couldn't go so I had to drive myself there (since I am no longer working from the office).

I was early so they got me in for my scan a little earlier.  The baby was very busy as he usually is at that time of the morning.  He usually sleeps most of the night and then is up a lot in the morning.  He was practicing his breathing and karate chops.

He passed his BPP with an 8/8 and his growth checked out to 53%!  Almost right smack in the middle where he should be.  I am not sure how this happened, but I am really happy that he is measuring back to normal.  He still has "hi normal" fluid, but I asked the radiologist when she came in to do her double check and she said it was not a worrisome number at all.

Next I had my appointment with the doctor.  My BP was 110/77.  I was happy about that!  I am up 31 lbs.  Yikes.  I don't feel like I am gaining weight though.  My rings still fit (even though when I mentioned that I was still wearing them to the doctor he told me that have a ring cutter which they use frequently and suggested I start wearing them around my neck just in case) and I am not swelling.

The doctor was very happy with my blood sugar readings and with the BPP/growth scan.  His guess is that the baby will be in the 7 lb range when he is born.  Yay!  I was 7 lb 9 oz when I was born and I was my mom's first.  He asked me if I was familiar with the hospital check in and I told him that I had done a virtual tour.  He said that was good enough.  I was sort of hoping for an internal exam to see if I was dilated at all, but he didn't think it was necessary since I am not having regular contractions (or really any contractions for that matter, except in the middle of the night).  I go back in a week for another BPP.

I am getting so excited to meet this little guy.  The other night I was laying in bed before falling asleep and I started to get really worked up and excited, thinking about him.  I want him to come when he is ready, but I am so anxious to meet him as soon as possible.  Physically I feel ready.  I am tired, moody, and uncomfortable.  I am still nesting, but don't have a ton of energy to keep up with the cleaning.  My furbabies like to keep my house full of "furbunnies" (or tumble-weeds).  I can't keep up anymore!  I usually vacuum at least 1-2 times a week (if not more), but I find that I can't even do that anymore.  Walking just a mile is painful!  I know what I am doing after work today...

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This past Tuesday I had my regularly scheduled MFM visit with my doctor.  No ultrasound this time, so I was in and out fairly fast.  My blood pressure was still fairly consistent with where it has been at every visit to that place, higher than normal.  Tuesday it was a little lower than it has been at their office at 136/66.  They tend to use the machine when I go there and then they sometimes follow up with the manual one.  The machine always has a much higher reading than the manual one.  I am not sure why that is.

The next order of business was checking my weight.  I made sure to shed every non-essential piece of clothing for this, which is something that I have never done before.  For the first time in my life, I weigh more than 130 lbs (134 lbs to be exact).  I know, for some that doesn't sound like a very high number, but for me, the life-long athlete, it not the easiest thing to see.  I asked the nursing assistant how that number measured and she laughed (hopefully not at me) and said it was somewhere in the middle.

After all of that fun ended, the doctor came right in, which is not normal.  He is normally the doctor on call in the hospital.  Usually I wait around for a while, but I guess that today was a slow day or something.  He came in with a medical student, which I agreed was fine.  He mentioned my thyroid and I let him know that I was seeing an Endocrinologist who was seeing me every 3 months, still had me on the 25 mcg. of Levothroxine, and at my last check at the end of October my TSH was 1.07.  We was happy with that and I impressed the medical student by knowing my exact numbers.

The doctor had me lay down and he checked on the baby with the hand-held ultrasound.  Wow was this guy active while we were there (and then for the rest of the day).  He punched and kicked all over.  We even saw my stomach moving from the outside again.  The baby's head was down and off to the right and his feet were up to the top left, which was where we saw most of the outside movement.  I mentioned the Doppler incident and he mentioned that he doesn't recommend those to his patients for the very reason that I got worried the other night.  He checked the heart and said that it looked healthy to him, be he also said that during this time it can get irregular occasionally since it is working so hard to help baby grow.  At this point in time, however, it was beating away normally.  Phew.

We talked briefly about my weight gain, at my request.  I asked him what he thought about it.  I am up about 14 lbs.  He said he would like me to gain 25 lbs.  I gulped.  Note sure how I managed to gain 14 lbs already after losing weight in the 1st trimester.  I am also not sure how I am going to be able to only gain 11 lbs more during the rest of this pregnancy.  Any one have any tips or advice?  I walk at least 4 days a week for at least 2-3 miles at a time.  Plus, I walk to and from the train on most days which is a little under 2 miles round trip.  I eat healthfully (for the most part).  No soda and not a lot of sweets.  My typical day consists of (M-F):

5:30 AM
high fiber cereal (a God send)
fruit (usually a banana, berries, or an apple)
orange juice w/ calcium & vitamin D
water

8:30 AM
S.iggi's yogurt
berries
water

11:30 AM
leftovers from dinner or a salad
water

1:30 PM
fruit
Kind Bar
water

5:00 PM
hand full of trail mix
or
cheese and crackers
water

7:30 PM
chicken or fish (usually)
veggies
rice or quinoa
water

**Occasionally, I have a sweet treat or two in there like a snack sized peppermint patty or half of a Whole Foods triple chocolate brownie (YUM).  Also thrown in there as I prepare dinner might be some olives or some Cape Cod Reduced Fat potato chips.**

After that he asked me if I had any other concerns.  I mentioned my Vitamin D levels might be low and he offered to check them for me (it ended up being  on the lower end of normal at 38 ng/mL, normal being 20-80 ng/mL).  He told me to come in at the sign of any bleeding, prolonged pain, regular contractions, if I fall (in any direction), or for any other reason that I might feel concerned (gosh I love that place!).  He told me that he'd see me in a month and that we would do an ultrasound before the visit so he could better check how things were progressing.  I go back on 1/8.  I am excited to see my growing little boy!

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