Uncharted rambling of a Primal mind...

I started my "Primal Journey" back in June of this year. I retired from the US Navy waaaaay back in the last century. During my last 2 1/2 years of service I started a diet regimine (mostly due to finances) and exercise (mostly jogging/running) and got the tha point wher I was down to about 195lbs on a 6 ft frame. I was running 5 miles a day and on weekends I'd run a long slow run in preparation for a marthon. Long story short- when I retired, I quit running, I quit shaving, didn't cut my hair.... all the things I had been forced to do for 20 years I quit. Needless to say, my girth increased and my health decreased. Over the last 13 years Ihad gained 80 lbs and couldn't climb a set of stairs without getting winded, I was on a BP medication and I felt like crap. I came across Robb Wolf's name on a news/opinion blog I visit and decided to check out his book. I found that the idea made sense to me, and any diet plan that lets you eat all you want and still lose weight, I'm ALL IN!!!. So I started Paleo using Robb's book as a guide. I then read several other books and ran across The Primal Blueprint. I read it and I knew that I could do this. So I started with diet alone. By the middle of July I lost about 15 lbs, and I knew I needed to add exercise to the mix. I plotted out an exercise routine and started very slowly.... walking, incline push-ups, body rows and squats. So, I want to track my progress with exercise and diet. What better place for an introvert to do that than on a public blog! Makes perfect sense!
As of today, I have lost a total of 32 lbs. My wais measurement is down 3 1/2 inches, my chest measurment is down just an inch. My exercise routine is a 3 day cycle of Circuit training, Interval training and resting. My circuit is a short walk (about 6 minutes), squats, push-ups, body rows and sit-ups. I do 3 sets of each circuit, and the number of reps increases every 2 weeks. Currently at 20 reps. My "interval training" is a a timed jog, currently at 50 minutes, which increases by 5 minutes evey week with a goal of 60 minutes.
Today was a rest day..... so I worked in the garden hoeing weeds.... yup I'm rested! Tomorrow it's circuit

Diet: B: Tuna salad and yogurt

s. Greek yogurt

l. Hamburger patty w/ slice of cheese

d. BAS with grilled chicken breast

Goals: My target weight is 200lbs. I may go lower, we shall see. As far as fitness goals, I am not sure how "fit" I want to be. I do want to have a physique that looks fit. I would like to participate in some local 5K and 10K runs. I ran across the Spartan Race website, and that looks like it might be fun, in a sick twisted way. To get myself on the road to be able to do one of those, I do have an intermediate goal of passing a Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test by my next birthday (Mar 2013). The last time I ran one of those was in 1980. I had to pass that to graduate from Field Medicine Service School. I think it would be a gas to be able to do at the age of 54 something that I did in my early 20's....

Saturday;

Exercise: 3 sets of squats- 20 reps
push-ups 20 reps
body rows 20 reps
sit ups/crunches 15 reps
with a 6 minute walk before the first set, in between each set and at the end of the last set

Diet: B: scrambled eggs (3) and 2 sausage patties, 2 large cups of coffee 1 pink and 1 blue sweetener

L: BAS with grilled chicken breast, feta cheese and olive oil for dressing

D: Another BAS with grilled chicken breast, feta cheese and olive oil dressing

S; @ 1/2 cup full fat greek yougurt and 2 teaspoons of home made peach preserves

Sunday:
Exercise: 4 mile jog, 55:07, nearly 2 minutes faster than the 1st time I jogged that distance. Yeah!

Diet: B: Scrambled eggs (3), 2 sausage patties, @1/2 cup Greek yogurt and 2 tsp peach preserves, 2 large cups of coffee with 1 pink and 1 blue sweetner.

L: BAS with grilled London Broil and sauted onions

D: BAS with left over London Broil and onions

Monday

Exercise: Rest day, so I will work in the garden instead. yeah, bending over pulling grass for a couple of hours is restfull! lol

Diet: B: BAS with grilled chicken breast, feta cheese and olive oil dressing

S: mixed nuts and dried fruits, 1/2 cup Greek yougurt w/ 2 tsp strawberry preserves

L: Sliced London Broil with sauteed onions

D: BAS, grilled hamburger patty

wt: 249 lbs neck 16 1/2" chest 48 1/2" waist 46 1/2"

Some days life can be a pain in the arse... You make a plan and some unseen force applies itself to circumstances and sure enough all your plans go to hades in a handbasket. Such are the toils of modern life! No, I didn't make it in to the garden to do any weeding. K-sera-sera. Maybe today will be a good day for that. It is a circuit day, AND I take delivery of a new storage building.... I see time conflicts on my horizon!!!

The plan for today will be a circuit day with 3 sets of 20 reps of squats, push-ups and body rows and 15 reps of sit-ups. A walk to start, in between each set and at the end.

Diet:

B: BAS with 2 grilled burgers

S: 1/2 cup yogurt with strawberry preserves and some dried fruit with a few nuts.

L: sliced grilled London broil

D: Beef stir fry.... Bok Choy in the fridge is screaming to be cooked!!!

Well, the time monster landed exactly where I thought he would... fortunately before he made his appearance, the shed got delivered and required no adjustments... it sits nice and level... Sweet! Now, to fill it with hay and chicken feed!

Got my circuit training in after the shed's arrival. I think it is time to bump the squats to 25 reps per set and the sit-ups to 20 reps per set. I think I will stay at 20 push-ups and 20 body rows for another week....

The time crunch bit into my diet, so I didn't get dinner... fasting isn't gonna hurt me, so, no biggie. Instead, I made the stir-fry for breakfast! The leftovers will be my luch. I chopped 2 small onions in to large chunks, 5 crimini shrooms chopped in to good sized pieces, chopped the Bok Choy in to large chunks and stirfried in olive oil. Added a few dashes of Tamari sauce and it was good to go. Very savory!

Today will be a jog. My goal is 4 miles. I'm not worried about the distance, it is the time that is my "concern"... I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it, but I would like to see "improvement". To put my concern in perspective though, I didn't start exercising until mid July... and it was a 30 minute walk back then, so to be jogging for a distance of 4 miles approximately 2 months after starting to exert my self again (after a 13 YEAR lay off) is indeed an improvement!

Diet:

B: Beef stir fry (10 PM)

S: 1/2 cup yogurt w/ strawberry preserves. Dried fruit and nuts

L: Leftover stir fry (5 AM)

D: BAS w/ feta cheese and olive oil, 2 grilled hamburger patties (1 PM)

Here in the near future I should dig out an old photo from a few years ago and compare that to a recent photo.......

Well, yesterday's run went pretty well.. Finished it a minute faster than the last time I jogged 4 miles. Good times!

Once the run was done, then it was time for farm chores! Thank goodness for bush hogs! Literally... On my second pass over the field I was cutting, I saw something on the ground that looked out of place. I slowed the tractor down, and sure enough it was the cut up body of a copperhead... apparently it had gotten under the bush hog for hide/rest or whatever copperheads do.... and it was to the snake's undoing. Fired up the cutter and instant minced snake! No, Primal fans, I did NOT take the snake in side and cook it for lunch! I dont even go near snake skin wallets! After all was said and done, I wasn't hungry when it came time for dinner, so I fasted instead.

Today will be a "Rest" day, but i have plenty of stuff to keep me busy, so "Rest" is a realtive term....

Diet:

B: Man, I love home made bacon... had 5 thick sllices of crispy bacon with 3 scrabled eggs and some salsa on top.....

S: Handfull of walnut halves.

L: 2 grilled hamburger patties with sauteed zucchini and patty pan squash. The patty pan was a first. I have never eaten them, and these came out of my garden. I think I need to grow these things again next year! They have a lighter texture and milder flavor than the zucchini. Pretty tasty.... sauteed in bacon fat to boot! Did I mention that I like bacon???

D: BAS, grilled boneless country ribs... maybe I'll wrap them in bacon before I cook them....... yummmmm

Thursday's rest day was productive. Got some mowing done, which keeps the wife happy.... Happy wife; happy life! Fortunately no encounters of the snake kind. Got the greenhouse plants fertilized. I think the lettuce, bok choy, red cabbage and kale are ready to go out to the garden. Other than that, it was a quiet day. The new layers are almost ready to go out to the pasture. Next week or the week after...

Friday is an circuit training day. I think I want to add an exercise or two to the sets I am already doing. I picked up a couple of tires from the side of the road, and I may try tossing them around and see how that feels. I think I will try tossing them to one side and then the other, and then overhead as one set. I will probably start with 10 reps per set. So today the circuit will be 20 squats, 20 push-ps, 20 body rows, 15 sit ups, 10 tire tosses.

Diet: I didn't eat dinner last night, but I did put the boneless ribs in the crock pot before bed.. damn they smelled yummy when I got up. I cut up an onion, yellow squash, zucchini, patty pan squash and some bok choy, sauteed them in walnut oil and a little Tamari sauce. I put a couple of pork ribs on top and enjoyed a savory dinner for breakfast. I have leftover veggies and ribs for lunch. Dinner tonight will be a crap shoot. I have some cubed steak thawed in the fridge. Looks like it's gonna be a BAS with country fried steak tonight. Almond meal makes a decent breading too, and I use an egg with greek yougurt and milk for the glue to hold the breading on with.

Friday's training went rather poorly.... got through the 1st set of squats, push-ups and body rows. Motivation evaporated... just wasn't feeling it. Instead, I ran some errands that needed to be done.
Fridays are a looooooong day for me. Every friday is a 24 hour day. I normally work nights, and on weekends I keep a "normal" schedule, so Friday is my "transition day". When I get up on Thursday night, I am up until I got to bed Friday night, and it's usually between 8 and 9 PM. Pretty beat by then. Tonight I was REALLY tired. Got the chickens put up @ 7:15 and I went to bed... No dinner... didn't care I was tired.
I get up this AM and it's raining lightly.... hmmm it's a run day. I slacked off yesterday, I can't slack off today, so it's run in the rain day.... I finished the 4 mile course that I started running last week 5:13 faster than my initial run time. I have completed this distance 4 times.... I think next week I go to 5 miles.

Diet: B: 1/2 cup yogurt w/ strawberry preserves, 3 scrambled eggs, 2 sausage patties.

S: Dried fruit and nuts

L: BAS with pork short ribs leftovers

D: BAS with beef cube steak breaded in almond meal, sauteed veggies

Sunday... a rest day as far as exercise goes, but it was anything but restful..... Went to the rental property and spent 3 hours with a mattock and pry bar in hand to pull out 30 year old shrubs....A truck and logging chain helped too!
No rest for the weary! lol I guess these are the joys of home ownership!

Sundays are a "short" day... a transition from "days" to "nights", so it's off to bed in the middle of the afternoon.

Diet: B: 3 scrambled eggs and 2 sausage patties, 1/2 cup yogurt with strawberry preserves

S: no snack today.. hands are full of pry bar! yum

L: Yeah missed that one too... to hot to eat.

D: Got home to late to eat before going to bed. The shower felt great though!