Paleo Testimonial - Bobbie Miller
I'm posting a testimonial and before and after shot of Kristi's mother, Bobbie, who started the Paleo Diet last year. Her transformation is incredible and I hope it serves as an inspiration to all of you kicking off this 30-day Challenge that Paleo will be your new LIFESTYLE. These are Bobbie's own words...
Throughout my adult years, I’ve always looked about the same…5’6” tall and around 120 lbs. Then, in December of 2010, I was shocked to see that I actually weighed 153 pounds. I stopped kidding myself about my clothes sizes and looked at how many size 10’s or 12’s I was buying instead of 6’s or even 8’s. I knew something had to change.
My daughter, Kristi Miller Odom, who’s been following Paleo dieting and doing Crossfit for quite a while had a talk with her dad, my husband Rich, and me about our diet, current health, physical activity, and goal setting. It wasn’t that either of us looked “bad” but we had to agree that we could look better!
Starting right after Christmas 2010, Rich and I cut out sodium. No more adding salt to anything. No more soda/pop. When the Christmas cookies, cakes, and breads ran out none were bought to replace them. The pantry was cleaned out, boxed up, and donated to St. Helen’s Food Kitchen. Following her guidelines and directions, Rich and I shopped “fresh” and literally ate nutritious food. We shopped the “fresh” perimeter of the store and were delighted to see how much LOWER our food bills were compared to the times when bags of chips, cookies, snacks, and convenience foods filled our basket. We stopped buying yogurt, cheese, butter, milk, and found ourselves satisfied with coconut milk! (great over berries or in a cup of hot coffee for a “coffee shop” experience)
Rich and I took time to experiment with favorite recipes, flavoring them with spices instead of salt. We created our own “beanless” chili that is now a family favorite. We rolled slices of fresh meats filled with spinach, sliced strawberries, shredded carrots, chopped peppers, etc. for lunch instead of building Dagwood sandwiches on bread. Substitution became the name of the game. Where we once used peanut butter we now ate almond butter (a little bit on celery…yum-mo). Where we would once eat a chocolate turtle piece of candy…or two…or three, we now ate one or two unsalted pecans while enjoying a cup of chocolate donut flavored coffee.
Dieting was fine but Kristi also encouraged us to look at our fitness. Rich has been running for over 20 years; alternating running with weight lifting. This was more a “Bobbie” issue. I’d let myself “stop” exercising. Yes. It was my own decision. Too busy, too tired…You get the drift. Kristi encouraged me to start walking again. Set goals. Do so much for so many days. Increase it each week. Set new goals. Happily, walking gave way to wind sprints mixed with walking, and finally to being able to keep up a slow jog for longer distances. Kristi also gave me a set of 5 lb. weight exercises to do after the “walking/running” I was doing each day.
The results took time. Gradually, Rich and I saw the first 15 pounds come off of each of us around Easter. That was good but it was what happened the next few months that has amazed and excited both of us. We continued losing weight and shifting our shapes. Rich dropped from 210 to 183 and went down from a “40” inch pant waist to “34” jean waist. He used to kiddingly say he had a flat cookie sheet when what he had was more like a deep dish baking pan! NOW he has the flat cookie sheet! He looks ten years younger.
I dropped from 150 to 117. That’s a size 10-12 to a 2-4. I love the way clothes fit but more importantly, I love the way I feel. It was great wearing a two piece bathing suit and running clothes at the family reunion in the summer! I had more confidence in my appearance than I’d had in years.
I’m 59 and will turn 60 in June. I don’t feel it. One year ago, I was on circuit overload, teaching 6 different computer preps/classes on two campuses and definitely out of shape/overweight. One year later, I can handle most anything that comes my way!
My only regret is that I didn’t do this sooner so I could have felt this good and looked like this when Kristi and Jared got married.
Dieting and exercise work together to produce incredible results. This isn’t about a “diet”…it’s about a change in our life style. The best IS yet to come!
Thank you Paleo…and thank you CrossFit!
Bobbie Miller
Before
After!
Workout of the Day:
AMRAP in 6 minutes of -
4 front squats 205/135
2 seated muscle-up to handstand push-up - video below (scale = 2 muscle-up + 2 HSPU)
- rest -
100-meter shuttle sprints (25 m down and back twice, touching the ground) - on the minute for six minutes
- rest -
2 sets of max effort supinated (underhand) strict chin-ups
Watch more video of Gymnastics on sicfit.com
