A Healthy Body and Mind in 2011: First-Quarter Progress Check
Spring’s in the air, folks. As we round out this year’s first quarter, I’m checking in with you about those New Year’s resolutions. (Did you honestly think I’d forget?) A whole host of you out there took the chance to make your first forays into the Primal Blueprint – whether it be selective toe dipping or canon balling right into the pool. Other long-time Primal types (myself included in the bunch) set out to conquer lingering challenges: committing to more sleep, enjoying more play, stressing less (my personal Achille’s tendon). Where do you find yourself these days on the path you selected?
For you visual folks out there, I’m including a PDF follow-up to January’s original list. Print it out, fill it out, put it where you can’t help but see it fourteen times a day. Make it part of the mesh of every day’s thought process and practice. Use it as a launching pad for an ongoing record of your journey. Keep a Primal Blueprint log – complete with weekly goals and reports – or (better yet) hop on the forum and share your experience along with other PB readers.
What are your plans for the coming quarter? Will spring usher in a new set of adventures like trying your first CSA, taking up a new outdoor workout, or just spending more time relaxing under the sun and stars? Where do you want to be at our next update in June? What will you have tried? What will you have mastered? What will you have added to the enjoyment and health of your everyday life? What is the one thing you could do that would most benefit your overall well-being these next three months?
Finally, think about how MDA can help. Revisit past posts on whatever is most relevant to this stage of your journey. Introduce yourself to the forum. Shoot me your questions and stories. Changing your life isn’t about some magical secret, singular formula, or quick fix. It’s how the small efforts add up. I ran across this old bit of wisdom again the other day. It seems an apt choice for this quarter’s quote:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
-Aristotle
Pull up a chair, PBers! Share your stories, and enjoy those of others in the community today. Grand accomplishments, stumbling blocks, inspiring (or comical) anecdotes welcome! Have a great weekend, everyone.
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
I am pumped! Jan – March was not perfection, but each step makes me feel closer to vibrant health. On the agenda for the next quarter: finding more dinner recipes so my whole family can be primal with me, consistent sleep, and harder workouts.
Let’s go!
I set a goal to get STRONGER by lifting heavIER things..Squats, Deadlifts, DB presses, and chinups, almost exclusively for 4 months. It worked as I got better at all these big 4, now it’s time to start the leaning out for summer with sprints and more play.
Fat, unhappy, and failing to live up to the primal standards because I am a weak and lazy sub-human.
I haven’t met my goals either, but try not to beat yourself up, in my experience that leads to a vicious downward spiral of self-defeating thoughts and emotional eating. Chin up, it’s a new quarter, let’s both look ahead, not back.
Aw, don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s hard to make lifestyle changes, especially when everyone around you is practically force feeding you grains.
Right there with you. But I spent all of this month’s grocery money on meat and don’t have any left for gas. That should force me to be more primal than last month, I should think.
As a fellow weak and lazy sub-human, I say keep trying. It took me 15 years to quit my serious cigarette habit.
And the great thing about the Primal Blueprint is that it really is the lazy person’s to lose weight and get healthy. Try just walking a half hour a day, and eating primal 80% of the time, and doing a few pushups (knee pushups are fine) and a few wall squats a couple of times a week, and you will see improvement fast. Take the stairs for a few flights whenever you can, instead of an elevator or escalator.
And if you don’t feel like doing any of that for a week or so, take a week off and don’t feel bad.
take it in small steps. Over a year ago, I was the same, and I KNEW I could not go cold turkey on this cause it ‘just would not work’.
Knowing myself, I decided to start small. I would just look at every meal I was eating and started asking myself..’what can I switch out from grains and insert something primal’?
some meals I couldn’t, others it was easy..drop the pasta for a steak, drop the break for veggies, or more meat, etc.
It was not long before I realized I had gone fully primal..and the benefits have been worth it!
Your not done with your path till you die, so don’t give up..just one step at a time
That was…”drop the bread! not break
I started Paleo but I don’t think I was committed. I was faithful to 70 / 30 ratio but it wasn’t working for me. I felt a little better but I still had plenty of issues.
I’ve been going about 90 / 10 since Lent started and I feel amazing. It took a few weeks for the noticeable changes but they are here. My blood pressure has dropped to a point where I had to cut my HBP medicine in half and I’ve lost about 12 pounds. I have a better mood, better sleep and more energy. I can’t wait to see where this will take me.
MDA is where I started and I can’t thank you enough.
Tom in Douglasville, GA
Tom,
When you say 90/10 ratio do you mean 90 % protein 10% carbs???
I think he means primal 90% of the time, not-primal 10% of the time (i.e. better than the 80/20 Mark recommends as a minimum)
“Spring’s in the air, folks.”
Lol, if that’s the case then “April Fool’s” to all of us east coasters! We’re getting hammered with snow today!
I’ve been focusing on getting more sleep and not over doing my workouts. It’s amazing, my body has never been more fit because I’m doing LESS and giving my muscles the time they need to recover. Muscles which I will need later to shovel out my driveway…
I lived in Boston some years back when we got a major April 1st Nor’easter — 22 inches of foolery to be exact. Good news was, the next day it hit 60 degrees.
I live in Colorado. About 5 or 6 years ago, it was 70+ before noon on June 3. By 3:00 it was a blizzard and I had almost 4 inches of snow in my jeep when I was driving it with the top down. I had to pull off the side of the highway and put the top up – in my shorts and a t-shirt. Growing up here, I should have been more ready.
I think we’re gonna get a bit of that this week…77 tomorrow and snow and 27 low on Monday!!!
You must live near me!
March ’03 we got seven feet in 2-3 days
Shovellng snow is a great workout!
“Yet habit – strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?”
– from Moby Dick
Well, today is Day 1 of doing the Paleo Solution diet (we just happen to have that book at our library – no Primal Blueprint yet), and this will be my biggest concerted effort at being all-out primal/paleo, and this time with my partner. Unfortunately, my LHT routine just got derailed from an arm wrestling injury, but I’m rallying and finding other kinds of activities to do, and spending lots of time walking to work and getting out in the sun. Yay!
We’re close to moving to CO and will be surrounded by trails, mountains, and all of the outdoor junky friends a Grok could want, so I think that will really pump up my commitment to play and activity.
As far as suggestions, this may be silly, but one of my biggest obstacles in going primal is really cutting back on the alcohol. Would you be interested in posting some fun, summery, non-alcoholic drink concoctions? I’m sure I could come up with some virgin bloody marys and such, but if there’s an alcohol-free mixologist living inside one of your worker bees, this grokette could certainly use some inspiration.
Kombucha is awesome. It is surprisingly refreshing when I am hot or parched, it gives you all of the antioxidants of green tea and a healthy dose of probiotics,and you can flavor it with fruits to create all sorts of taste combinations. You can buy it premade, although it gets pretty expensive, so I would suggest getting a scoby (kombucha mother -easy enough to find online) and make your own.
Iced tea? Black, Green, or whatever your flavor may be. I drink mine unsweetened, but if you need it sweet try sugaring the rim of your glass with xylitol. That way your tongue gets a bit of sweet with each drink without gassing you up.
I’m going to start a Blog today as its been quite exciting!
With the help of the Primal Blueprint, I managed to meet my goal of an 18 lb weight loss since January 1, and today I was declared the winner of our Biggest Loser Contest at work. I’m going to buy a STEAK to celebrate!
My goal for the next quarter is to lose 10 lbs and fit properly into the size M sweater I bought today!
That’s just such a great achievement
Not only is that an awesome achievement, but you beat the pants off of the people who probably had to work far harder than you to lose. Good job!
Going primal has had it’s benefits and drawbacks for me.
Benefits:
Cleaned up my diet
Learned to cook
Enjoying food a lot more
Exercising and moving more
Drawbacks:
More stress
Worse sleep
I think the drawbacks are short term though. I’ve only been primal 4 months and couldn’t cook back then. Now I’m beginning to adapt, things are becoming more natural, and so I’m less stressed with each day. Always room to improve though.
Great list of benefits! I wonder where those two drawbacks came from, though? Do you mean you’re stressing because you’re trying to adapt to change, the stress of working out new ways of eating and moving?
I am about to open my second location of the gym I co-own. Lease is supposed to get signed next week.
that would knockout a big chunk of my resolutions for the year.
Recent quarter accomplishment: Nuts of all kinds are now a very rare (monthly?) treat rather than a daily staple.
Next quarter goals: Cut dairy consumption by 1/2 or more and double average daily walking.
Am right on track with the diet and exercise but not with fat loss. Am not experiencing the ‘amazing’ results that I read on some of the blogs here which is disappointing but am plugging away nonetheless.
Maggie check out Paleobird’s Reality Check: Counting Calories within the Odds and Ends forum.
Kelda I tried finding it but to no avail. Is it on Mark’s or your blog. Thanks.
Hi Maggie, try clicking my name for the link to the thread…
Very happy with my track: I have been primal for one year, with progressive tuning on primaldom: my latest additions have been the 20 – 22 hour IF at least once a week , much better timings in my sprints which now are Tabatas (but a little diluted, I confess). I have never felt better in my 59 years of life and do several of the WOWs better than people half my age. Fairly ripped at 181 pounds and 5′ 11″ .I am looking better now than ever before.
Grok On And Rock On!
New Goals: Improve waist/hip ratio,
Lower Bodyfat % to around 20%,
100 Push-Up Challenge,
1 Pull-up Challenge,
Improve Sleep Cycle
Maintain: Work-out routine, Supplements, Primal Eating
Just checked out my resolutions – really boiled down to being happier in the moment and not setting myself unattainable goals!
How am I doing … I’d say pretty good generally especially since I’ve cracked the reason for gaining 10 lbs of fat over the winter! Thanks Paleobird that thread of yours really got me sorted!
I think the next quarter will see me much better on the ‘happiness’ front and that’s thanks to finding Yoga since January and with resolutions on the MiniGrok situation. And I should complete a Pyrenean Traverse across the Tour De France Cols with my bestest bike buddy Dave!
Happy grokking!
My resolutions for this year are right on track – I am doing better than I thought possible. Becoming pregnant (woohoo!) is the most awesome motivation ever. My January goal was to go from something like 70/30 to an honest 80/20, but since getting the wonderful news in February I have been more like 98/2. And I have never felt better! I am experiencing none of the negative pregnancy symptoms so many women complain about, just a sense of health, balance, happiness, and well-being. I even started my own paleo-esque pregnancy blog over at amomonamission.wordpress.com – MDA has been a great resource and a wealth of information for me as I work to raise the healthiest baby possible.
Congratulations, Ellen!
My journey has been slow but steady. Hubby and I have been adjusting our menus to Grok status since the first of the year and we’re about 90/10; not bad for two old farts (over 55)! Our weather has been awful so he joined the gym and I try to do what I can at home. This hasn’t worked out well, but the good news is that with spring and sunshine, we both feel more energetic and now diet isn’t an issue. We need to add a lot more playtime to the effort and that’s what we’ll focus on this next quarter.
I quit eating nuts in January and lost five pounds promptly, within a few weeks. I am not overweight, and I am small, so these five pounds were a lot to me!
I learned to cure bacon in January.
I started eating a LOT of coconut oil and have had a pretty bad Herxheimer reaction, including skin rashes and flu-like symptoms, so I cut way back on that.
I have decreased the amount of fructose in my diet, and I stopped eating white potatoes altogether.
I started lifting small weights twice a week.
I think this is progress. We’ll see.
Another new habit: daily nude sunbathing when I’m not in the city. (The city has too much smog for nude sun-bathing to be effective.)
I did this even in winter, in January and early February, in a place with some shelter from the wind.
I am soooo happy!
At the start of the year, I’d broken my arm, gained 7lbs over the holiday, my fitness could have been better.
Three months on, I have lost the 7lbs (plus I am much smaller – the shorts I tried on today for the first time are HUGE,) I am sprinting but working out less. My PT, on my first visit, told me my arm was already rehabbed 90%.
But most importantly of all, my son (11) who was overweight and struggling has lost 6lbs and got much calmer – just small changes, no starch with dinner, fewer sugary desserts, less cheese. Cool!
I have been low carbing for over 16 months. I am 90 pounds down.
I found this place from a link on a post about skin folds.
I have about 30 more pound to lose, and I do walk, but not up to the level that you recommend in Primal Fitness.
I downloaded primal fitness and I am ordering the book from the library. I am pretty close to what you do here, but I still have dairy (not much about 4 oz in my coffee each day)
After seeing the success story for dave, I am going to give this a try, I like the fitness part of the program and will be reading the book.
While my weighloss is good, I want to kick this up a notch so that I am fitter, and this looks like it might do the trick.
Mark,
nice post.
I like your emphasis on goal setting and sleep. And holding folks accountable !;-)
As far as health and weight loss/leanness, I just finished a big post on the Japan Crisis,Radioactivity, Iodine and Weight Loss.
It’s just totally GREAT and incredible how important this trace element is for your health, your energy-levels, immune system as well as leanness!
Like I said, if there ever was a miracle “drug”, this is it !;-)
Iodine “Paleo or Grog-Style”: Integrate tons of Kelp and other seaweeds into your diet on a regular basis.
Have Fun !;-)
Mark
Oh, this could not have come at a better time. I went Primal in January. A worsening course of ulcerative colitis gave me the final kick in the ass (literally) I needed to give up grains entirely after 5 years of being gluten free and still going downhill.
The bleeding stopped almost immediately, the pain and, um, urgency took a little longer. But I felt well enough after a month to start on the basics of PF, and I must say I’ve been impressed. For someone who has never, ever been able to do a pushup, my first set of 20 was huge.
And today I went through my pantry and ditched bad things. Three garbage bags later (I have a big pantry) I’m feeling pretty smug.
I’m not all better yet. There are still setbacks in the GI department, but they are fewer and farther between. And I feel great. Only problem is, I’m a hard gainer and the doc is going to have a fit when he sees my weight.
Biking season is about to begin. And this year, I’m readier than ever. I have my snacks all planned out. But my carb loving biker friends are going to have a hard time with this.
I started with PB on Feb. 4th and haven’t had what amounts to a slice of bread(as far as grains go) no crackers, croutons, pasta, potatoes, rice and boy did I like the chips that I used to eat with salsa,etc.
I’m down 12lbs. and counting, I’m on my last belt hole, too! All of my clothes are fitting looser and I’m about to have to throw away a couple of my jeans that are just TO DARN BIG!!!I’ve got a bunch more fat to lose, but what PB has given me is hope that I didn’t have before. As I had tried so many times before to “Lose Weight”…Needless to say, I’m very excited about my progress. My wife has also started about 2weeks after I did and she’s down 8lbs. she’s off the charts excited, too!
BTW, My starting weight was 256lbs:)
I found the PB at the beginning of March this year and fully credit it for allowing me to meet my 18 lb weightloss goal (for this quarter) and to win my office Biggest Loser Contest. It’s not just about the weight – I feel so much better!
I can’t stop telling people about the PB.
My goal for the next quarter is to lose 10 lbs and get into the 150s for the first time in more than a decade.
As for Q2, I’m really looking forward to PrimalCon 2011! Two week from today!
Tiptoeing into the water so far. The mind would like to cannonball, but the body does not.
Improvement has been very slow – itty bitty baby steps to go along with my tiptoeing (boo!).
Here’s hoping spring weather will bring a few more baby steps forwards!
You didn’t make any fuss about Mark’s typo: “or canon balling right into the pool.”
I’m in my goal weight range, even after a gluten-loaded vacation. My shoulder is healed. I’ve been sleeping really well, and taking vitD and omega3 regularly.
Next up is to recover strength in my shoulder and start working on pushups and pullups again! My big goal this year is to get really strong.
Thanks for keeping us accountable! I’ve been able to stick to primal eating for the last three months, and this has been my first completely primal pregnancy. I didn’t have morning sickness, haven’t been nearly as tired, haven’t gained much weight (though the baby is on track), and I haven’t been getting the usual leg cramps and skin issues (this is my fourth pregnancy and it is a notable change!)
I’ve also been able to completely convert my family’s diet and my husband and three kids are thriving! Bonus: the kids are sleeping better, which means I might actually get some solid nights of sleep before the baby arrives in a couple months!
Thanks Mark!
Also, last day to sign up for the giveaway of The Primal Blueprint and The Primal Blueprint Cookbook Signed Copies!
http://wellnessmama.com/2177/giveaway-signed-primal-blueprint-book-and-cookbook/