Go Paleo: An Interview with Two Online Clients!

I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing two very inspirational women today.

Meet Kate & Lisa. They joined my 30 Day Challenge last October 2013 and it wasn’t until I was recently driving to a local beach, that I saw them again (since finishing the 30 Days). Kate & Lisa were getting in to their car after a swim as I drove past, at this point I had nearly crashed – they looked like different women! So I thought I would catch up with them and find out how they are going post 30 Day Challenge..

I first met Lisa through a current coaching client one day at a local cafe here in Byron. Lisa approached me as it was nearing her girlfriends 50th birthday and she had decided that a great gift would be “the gift of health”. A few weeks later I released my second round of the 30 Day Program and Kate (& Lisa unbeknown to me) were all signed up and ready to go! Here is what these two lovely women had to say about their life since undergoing the 30 day journey!

Candice: So Kate and Lisa, you look like completely different women sitting in front of me now to when I originally met you three months ago. Do you know how much weight you have released to date?

Kate: I don’t know exactly, as I have never actually measured myself… I am not that type of person, but well over 10kg, possibly even 12kg by now!

Lisa: I have easily lost 10kg also! I feel fantastic.

C: So Lisa, originally you had suggested doing a bit of a health kick to your friends as a gift idea for Kate’s 50th birthday, but were advised against it as others thought Kate may be “offended” by the gesture of “needing to get in to shape” is that correct?

L: Yes but I knew Kate would love it and we had spent the year watching our good friend who gets coaching by you, transform via the dietary changes she has made under your guidance. We have been so inspired by the sparkle she now carries, we thought, we want that, we want to feel that sparkle! When the challenge came up and anyone could do it we thought, now is the time.

C: Kate you were going in between Byron & Sydney when you decided to jump in last minute weren’t you?

K: Yes, Lisa was on holidays in Sydney, so I was coming back and forth from there to Byron. but I decided that wasn’t going to get in my way.. I knew it was time. I had just turned 50 and decided I didn’t want to be that person, you know… that middle aged trap where you go all blubby and let yourself go? Lisa hadn’t originally signed up for it, but it kind of organically unfolded that way and she ended up really embracing it, which was great for me..

L: Yes I was in Sydney and was seeing Kate intermittently. I was actually staying at different friends houses throughout the month and I decided to take the approach of playing “guest chef” to all of the people putting me up. I got right in to it and before I knew it, everyone I would stay with started joining in on the program in too! I was having dinner parties and experimenting with all sorts of different recipes within the 30 day guidelines, it was so fun!

C: So did either of you experience detox effects at any point?

K: The kidney pain was a bit debilitating at first, I had a hard time with energy for the first week, but I knew I would come out the other side, as my skin was really clearing up within the first week. I came out the “detox” phase a few more days after Lisa. It got easier from there and I started to feel really great.

L: I had headaches and back aches for the first few days which I managed to get through by drinking green tea (suggested in one of your emails) and extra water. I think I was lucky to start feeling amazing very quickly though, people kept telling me how fresh I looked. I felt that way too, I wanted to do things with my body I haven’t done since I was much younger in my “fitter” days!

C: Kate what was your diet like pre challenge?

K: It’s amazing, I grew up on a farm eating grass fed, all organic meat and when I met Lisa 18 years ago, she was a vegetarian, so I just started eating like her (as you tend to in relationships). I was eating far more legumes and beans and it never really agreed with me. Come to think of it that is when I started gaining weight…

Since making the switch back to including more animal protein (which I have secretly loved), I have found my whole attitude to food has changed organically… I eat smaller portions at meal times, not because I am trying to, but because I know when I am full and I can read my bodies signals clearly.

C: Kate, how has that effected you physiologically? Other than the obvious weight loss…

K: I feel like my body has balanced out & I have let go of the bad habits that had crept up on me over the years… I feel more thirty now than I did when I was in my thirties! There is no need to fall in to that middle aged trap, I have overcome it. I went from feeling blobby back to my youthful self. It’s the best 50th birthday present I could have received! My body shape is different, I am the leanest I have been in my entire life.

L: Yes me too, your challenge should come with a warning: you will probably need a stylist for the new body you have created at the end of the challenge!!

C: Kate, you mentioned you stuck to the challenge to the letter.. how was that for you?

K: I did, other than my smoking habit… In your program you recommend having apple cider vinegar in the morning, which I came to really enjoy as my ritual. It actually effected how much I smoked (as I did continue to throughout the challenge) I was smoking far less when I started doing the Apple Cider thing. I found I didn’t have to think too much if I stuck to the meal plan, it felt very monastic. Reading the emails you sent also helped me understand more process and guided me along the way.

C: Lisa how has it effected you physiologically?

L: I used to be a dreadful sleeper. Prior to the challenge, I was in grief from my father passing and felt a little bit out of control… I felt so much clearer and able to cope with stress so much better. I felt like I had regained control. It felt very healing for me.

C: So now it’s going in to four months later and you still follow the the principles of the challenge?

L: Yes absolutely, but we do drink coffee now. It is so sustainable, it’s not a diet, it’s our new way of life. It doesn’t feel restrictive at all which is really nice. Doing the second month was very rewarding for us, it was like doing a course in nutrition, you learn to read your body & what tastes you favour depending on your where your eating habits lie…

K: My taste buds changed so quickly, I remember in the second week biting in to an apple and finding it too sweet.. Your senses get heightened and you shift from craving sweet to more savory. It really kicked the “one wine a day habit” that had crept in to my life ever so sneakily, for that I am grateful…

C: What advice would you give others thinking about doing the challenge?

K: I think the initial 30 days is very important, the monasticism, the discipline over the thirty days when you are shifting habits is very important, from there it’s easy. It becomes a very organic and sustainable lifestyle, you are able to read the signals your body gives you more clearly without the hazy blood sugar spikes you go through when you are consuming more refined, processed and carb dense foods…

C: What an inspiration!!!

Thank You So much for sharing your personal experience with me Kate & Lisa, and for being generous enough to allow me to share it on my blog. Much gratitude.

My next “30 Day Challenge” begins this coming Monday January 13th. To sign up, click here, follow the prompts and you are on your way to feeling fab, just like these two!

Here are some lovely little before and after snaps of K & L x