Journal of a Weary Dragon

Hi All. In October this year I shall be 50. By then I want to look like I have never looked before - fit toned & full of confidence. This is the start of my journey.

I started Low Carbing last March & have ended up Primal by accident really. From the start I didn't cheat as I felt that so much healthier & thought that if I slipped up once & ate grains it would ruin everything. So I became evangelical about 100% no grains & no sugar & no dairy. Anything with a hint of sugar or starch has been banned from my life. I can honestly say I have not cheated once. If I don't know the origin of something (ie does it contain even a hint of sugar or wheat) I simply won't eat it. It took a while for friends and family to get it but I learnt to keep saying no & finally they have now got it - this is how I choose to eat & nothing they say or do will change that.

So for 9mths I religiously tracked all my macro-nutrients to ensure I was not eating more than 12g carb per day & lost 30lb but more importantly went from a UK trouser size 18/20 to a 12/14. Everyone has commented on how much weight I have lost even though on the scales the loss has not really been huge. Exercise wise I joined a gym & started the body for life program but disappointingly my LBM has stayed roughly the same.

Then came the big stall. For 6 weeks nothing moved. Then I had to stop the gym as it cost too much & I stopped tracking my food intake. But I still ate the same. Last week two things happened. Someone mentioned my eating plan sounded primal & to check out Marks Daily Apple (I had heard or paelo but not primal before that) & I discovered that excess protein can be turned to glucose & thus stored as fat.

So fed up with my body I started to look at MDA and have been eagerly devouring it for the past week. At first I was concerned because the emphasis is on low cardio & my ultimate goal has always been to do an ironman (even though I am hopeless at swimming & have a dodgy knee). So at first I thought that PB would not work for me. Then I read some success stories where some people had managed to be primal & still do endurance events. Finally it began to make sense & so here I am. My aims have now changed - instead of being able to complete a 10k by the end of the yer (I have now moved that goal to next year) I intend first to get the body I want by following the PBF regime. This will make me happiest & by building my core strength & fitness should enable me to up the cardio without getting injured (another secret dream of mine has been to do push-ups dips & pull ups but my upper body strength has always been hopeless - reading the PBF makes it all seem possible).

In preparation for my new journey I weighed today for the first time in 2 months & found I had put 6lb on even though my measurements haven't changed Had been eating the same apart from the odd orange.

My overall goals for the next 9mths are:

1) to drop from 42.4% to 19% BF (never thought this would be possible for me 'til I found MDA)

2) drop from 182lb to 137lb (this is supposed to be my ideal weight based on BMI but I think I may have to go 132lb to look good naked)

NB: upon further research it seems my HSIS weight is 130lb (100 + 5lb for every inch over 5') but that seems a little low to me

My short term goals for the next 12 weeks are:

1) get my stress levels down - this is going to be my biggest problem as I have lots of emotional stress going on

2) stick to the PBF program & not miss a workout

3) lose 6% BF & 21lb

4) eliminate dairy & chocolate (I only eat 90%) completely (as well as the odd diet coke which has crept in recently)

Great journal name. ;)

In terms of replacing dairy I've found coconut milk to be ridiculously helpful. For some reason coconut milk can make a meal insanely creamy and bordering on comfort food, but still sticking to the plan. It also has a thick layer of cream that you can scoop out and put on top of berries or just eat by the spoon :D

And so to my program:

I know from my weight gain over the last 2 mths that I have to count cals to lose any weight. I also know that I cannot keep treats (90% chocolate & dairy cheese) in the house without eating it all at once & that the idea of my body telling me not to eat doesn't work. Even though I am not hungry I can still eat for England given the chance.

As no one thing works for everyone I am going to use this journey as a bit of an experiment to see if I can finally work out what works for me. I would love to get to a point where I can buy a bar of chocolate & only eat 1 square a day.

I have now found The -Eat More (or Moar) Fat- January Challenge

[url]http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread73597-170.html[/url]

and spent some time reading about Jimmy Moore & his experiments with Nutritional Ketosis based on the book ‘The [I]Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance’ by [/I]Jeff S. Volek which is apparently the ultimate state to aim for. From what I’ve researched it all makes perfect sense to me, as I have never been able to record a reading with ketostix even after eating <10g carb for weeks. Can’t wait for my copy of the book to arrive.

During his 180-day experiment Jimmy Moore he achieved deep Ketosis & lost a considerable weight all the while eating 85% fat.

[url]http://www.carbsmart.com/aint-that-nutritional-ketosis-thing-just-another-way-of-saying-atkins.html[/url]

So I am going to forget BMR & TDEE & everything else I have learn re weight loss & stick to a very high fat moderate protein low carb plan to see what happens.

He also shows that after a few months efficient fat burning becomes a steady state & that is when it is possible to do hard exercise in a fasted state without any ill effects. This sounds very exciting given all the benefits of IF. As I have not exercised for a few months I am going to start out with walking & doing light weights while learning good technique

Hi Neanderthal Betty. Thanks for the info. My interpretation of no dairy is no cow which means keeping away from cream & cheese made from cows milk I have been eating feta & goats cheese but not in huge quantities. Haven't quite worked out if this is strictly PB as I can't find anything in MDA about goats milk. I also have an issue with butter made from cows milk (read Marisa Peers' You Can Be Thin a few times & you wont want to touch anything made from cows milk but goats milk seems to be ok). My main problem is my occasional hot chocolate treat (life has to be worth living). I currently make it with raw coco powder & soya milk as before I read MDA I thought that was a healthy alternative & is very low carb. Just checked coconut milk & its very high is carb by comparison. Also does it taste of coconut as I don't like it (although I can happily eat coconut oil by the spoonful)?

I just looked at my can of full fat coconut milk and per 1/3 of a cup it only has three carbs, the whole can only has 15 carbs so I think that's pretty doable in the general scheme of things.

I find coconut milk to be very subtle, as it's unsweetened so you really aren't smacked in the face with a ridiculously sticky sweet over powering coconut taste.

I'll certainly give it a try when I get nearer my goal weight & ramp my carbs up a bit. In the mean time, given my protein restriction I'm going to have to manage without my hot chcolate

Have just re-worked my food menus.

My HSIS weight is 130lb (59kg). This means I should eat 50g protein 30g carb & 118g fat based on the Optimal Diet formula. But this will give me a calorie intake of 1416 & ratio of 16.5-8.5-75. Cals are too high & fat % too low so I am going to tweak it slightly. Also I want to stick to 5% carbs as I have been doing.

I have managed to come up with the following 2 menus:

[B]Menu A:[/B] Spinach Omelette [I](Goats Butter (5g), Mushrooms, Raw 1 (25g), Spinach Frozen 100g, Egg Yolk 1, Egg Whole 1)[/I] / Chicken & Mush Soup [I](Mushrooms, Raw 400g, Chicken, Dark Meat (175g), Onion ½, Celery 2 Sticks, Goats Butter (10g), Chicken Stock Homemade 3lt, Coriander, Fresh (60g), Flat Parsley, Fresh (60g) – makes 8 portions) [/I]& 1tsp EVOO / Rocket/Watercress/Spinach Salad with 1tsp Walnut Oil & 1tsp Cider vinegar & ½ Tin Mackerel (44g) in brine/ 50g Macadamia nuts / Spinach & Smoked Mackerel (67g) with HM Horseradish Mayo / 25g Coconut Oil [B]Cals: 1349 Ratio: 17-3-80 grams: 56-7-118[/B]

[B]Menu B:[/B] Spinach Omelette / Chicken & Mush Soup made with HM Stock & 1tsp EVOO / Rocket/Watercress/Spinach Salad with Walnut Oil dressing & ½ Tin Mackerel / 25g Macadamia nuts / Cauli & Ground turkey [I](Cauliflower (200g), Goats Butter (10g), Mayonnaise, Delouis 2tsp (10g), Turkey Mince (Dark Meat) (75g), ½tsp paprika)[/I] / 40g Coconut Oil [B]cals: 1336 ratio: 18-3-79 grams: 57-8-114[/B]


I know the choice of alternate daily menus is a bit limiting but I’m on a tight budget & I want to use what’s in my freezer (EV coconut oil & macadamia nuts are expense so most of my food budget will be going on them). Given my difficulty up to now of trying to up the fat & lower the protein & cals I think this is the best option for the next 4 weeks. If at the end of the 4 weeks I have not lost any LBM & have lost a reasonable amount of weight (6-8 lb) I will up the calories to reach the 85% fat level.

I’m going to start with eating 6x3hrs to give my metabolism chance to get use to this WOE & lots of daily walking. Again at the end of the 4 weeks I will aim to cut down to 3x day

I recognise this is going to be a long journey so am happy to take it 4 weeks at time.

NB: for first 2 wks read rapeseed oil for olive oil. At this stage I am more interested in upping the fats than anything else & a decent olive oil is out of my price range at the moment. Baby steps & all that.

Today I managed to get some high end extra virgin olive oil for a reduced price - tried the taste test & it seems I've got a bargain so will be going back for more. Have also made the switch to cooking with butter but finding it a lot harder to measure out (1tsp oil is so quick & simple) so have been making progress on the nutrition front.

Have still got 3 bottles of organic cold pressed UK produced rapeseed oil sitting in the cupboard. I was going to move it to the bike shed ready for lubrication duties but I have to admit I am still not convinced it is bad for me. It also makes a wicked mayo & I can't seem to find a primal replacement which makes the mayo taste as good.

I get the problems with Canoil - highly processed GM muck, but the 3 bottles gleaming in front of me are cold pressed from an organic source & the UK is apparently GM free with regards to rapeseed.

I also get that all rapeseed used for human consumption has been modified at some point to lower the erudic acid content but then, just about every fruit or vegetable has been modified at some point over the last few hundred years or more (hence orange carrots). Also the ration of omega 6 to 3 is much better in rapeseed oil than EVOL so at the moment I think the bottles are going back in the cupboard. I shall continue to use the bottle that is already opened & hope that before I need to buy some more someone on this forum can convince me not to. In the mean time I remain unconvinced but open to persuasion.

[U]Monday 28/1 [/U]Started today but have found the change of menu hard. Am working from home this week & the hot coco was too inviting. I altered the menu to fit around it & managed to keep the ratio to 19-3-78 but, partly due to a very late night working, the cals were nearly 400 over at 1765.

The good news is I lost a lb last since last week having cut out the diet coke & oranges completely. I definitely feel so much better. SO my starting stats are:

Wt 181lb (12st13) Goal wt in 12 wks: 11st7
LBM 104.2lb BF 42.4% Goal BF 36.4%
Measurements (cm): Bust 95, Under bust 83, R Arm 32.5, L Arm 33, R wrist 17, L wrist 16.5, R thigh 58, L Thigh 58.5, R Calf 39, L Calf 38, Waist 85, Stomach 95, Hips 98

[U]Tuesday 29/1 [/U]Missed B/fast today so I could fit in a hot coco later. Wasn't really hungry all day. Ratio 19-4-77 cals 1111 which makes up a bit for yesterday.