Paleo Texan

Hello everyone!

I've been a bit of a lurker these last few weeks as I have been getting my feet wet with how this site works. Now that I've had the chance to see things in action, I figured it was time to reach out and start joining more of the community.

Currently, I am out in Texas and am a huge fan of paleo. It's really changed my life and has done wonders for my ulcers! My GI team, nutritionist, and I all really think that it was a change for the best and is part of what keeps me in remission. My struggle with ulcerative colitis hasn't been an easy one with too many hospital visits, heart attacks, and flat line experiences. I've been fighting this since I was 17 and finally think I'm at a point where I'm in control of this and it isn't ruling my life. I still have a lot of considerations and have to be careful, but I know my life style changes will help me in the long run.

I am 26 years old, a full time student, and a Marketing Coordinator in Houston so my life is fairly stressful and busy naturally, but I find time to really focus on my goals and work on me. The joys of my life are my two dogs; Teddy, an American Cocker Spaniel, and K'ross, a giant Border Collie. The latter of the two is my running buddy as we've both worked hard to keep extra weight off - he's lost 23 pounds since we really started focusing on eating better and staying active! He's down to a moderate 77 which, for anyone that knows his breed, is still huge! While K'ross keeps me moving and running, Teddy is my companion that has helped show me that, no matter how I look, feel, or act, he will always love me and always make sure he gets the last bite off my plate. These two are some of the strongest motivators I could ask for and help me more than I could ever fully describe. They're my fur babies.

At the moment, I would like to lose another 10 pounds or so. I have a problem with my depression causing bouts of weight gain (lose motivation to run/stay active, make poor eating choices, etc) and successfully lost about 60 pounds a few years back. However, with moving and a job change, about 15 of that crept back in.

I plan on using this site to help me track what I'm eating, how much water I'm drinking, and to use it not only to monitor how much I'm putting in or taking out, but to really see what is paleo in my diet and what isn't. As I noted above, I fully believe that choosing to make this paleo life change has helped save me since I started this change in August of 2015. I've been balancing around 70/30% a week since I have a weakness for coffee in the mornings and enjoy a cold beer or two on the weekends, but isn't finding that balance point that's both physically and mentally healthy part of what paleo is about?

I would like to find more people in this community that have made the lifestyle change to paleo to find support, share recipes, and help stay motivated!