It’s been one week since I started the 30 Day Paleo Challenge.

I decided to do a weekly reflection, in case anyone else out there is doing a paleo challenge and wants to know how someone else is feeling (I know I do! So if you have a blog, share it with me!).  In case you need a recap of the week, here is:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3 & 4
Day  5, 6, & 7

Before I started the challenge, I read all these blogs with people saying things like “It’s only been a week but I already feel awesome!”  “I already notice a huge difference in my complexion” “I have so much energy!”

Well guys, not to be a debbie downer…

…but I going to go against the grain and say I totally do NOT feel awesome.  So let me elaborate a little more…

• I’m hungry all the time.   Seriously.  I’m hungry ever 2 hours and ravenous every 3 hours.  Honestly, it’s just not fun.  Not to mention, a lot of times, I’ll eat and when I’m done, I feel like I haven’t actually eaten.  I’m not sure if I haven’t been eating enough fat or sweet potatoes, but this weekend it felt like a minute didn’t go by when I couldn’t have eaten a huge plate of food.
  
• Because I’m hungry all the time, I think about food all the time.  As a foodie, I think about food a lot, and I’m totally ok with that.  But this is a different type of thinking.  I feel like I spend the day obsessing about what I’m going to eat next, which makes me feel like I’m on my way to an eating disorder.  It’s pretty sad when your boyfriend has to tell you to stop thinking about food…
• My skin is NOT clearer.  I realize it’s only been a week, but I actually feel like I have more breakouts around my mouth/chin.  This might not be tied to diet, but just pointing it out.
• I don’t have tons of energy.  I will say, the mid-afternoon sleepies have gone away.  So that’s a plus! But this weekend, I was just exhausted all the time.  Maybe because I just didn’t sleep well this weekend?  Not sure this has anything to do with diet.  I think I was just super sore from crossfit on Friday and couldn’t find a comfortable position all night.
• I still want sugar.  Not all the time, actually I realized that having a real, filling meal makes me less likely to want something sweet afterward.  But last night, all I wanted was a brownie covered in ice cream.
  
• I lost 1 lb.  I guess I can’t complain about this, since weight loss isn’t my number 1 goal, but for the amount of time that I’ve spent being hungry, you’d think I’d at least have lost more than 1 lb.

So obviously, 1 week is not long enough to truly reflect on whether or not this is a lifestyle I like.  Right now, most of my thoughts are probably a withdrawal symptom.

Unfortunately for me, the biggest negative is that because of the above points, I’ve been in a terrible mood lately (particularly this weekend).  Honestly this has been my biggest motivation to quit.  I’m generally a happy, positive person, but apparently when I’m hungry I turn into grumpy cat.

I’m not trying to discourage anyone from trying Paleo, but I want to paint a realistic picture based on my own experiences.  It hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns over here.

That said, I’m not quitting yet.  Just writing down my thoughts and hoping it gets better.  How about you?  Have you tried a paleo challenge?  How’d you feel after 1 week?

Any thoughts? Please share!