It finally clicked and here I am. page

[Joe Grok]

Hello all,

My name is Joe. I'm 24 years old and I work in a health and safety role with my state health department in Brisbane, Australia. I can't wait to start contributing to and learning from this forum.

How did I get here?

Well, like many people my age, I was raised on all the wrong foods. I was overloaded on processed junk, accepted sugary deserts as a required part of dinner and for most of my childhood was completely sedentry. Needless to say, I was a fat kid and who grew into a fat teenager, and a fluctuating overweight adult. In my late teens and early 20's I started to devour knowledge on nutrition (sadly most of it CW) and exercise (again, CW) and really tried very hard, but predictably didn't get the long lasting results I was after... at least I now know why! I first became aware of primal eating through the Spartan Health Regime, written by Aussie amateur nutritionist, Anthony Bova. The Spartan diet was very heavy in fruit and stressed eating nothing but fruit until lunch time, followed only by as-close-to-raw-as-you-can-handle meats, veggies and nuts after that. I definitely felt better in terms of energy, and did lose some weight - arguably due to detoxing - but found it hard to stick to longer than three months. Having a girlfriend at the time that insisted on ordering pizza for dinner three nights a week didn't help.

I strayed away from the Spartan diet as, even though it was on the right track, it still didn't make complete sense. This year I started looking a bit deeper into primal eating, and two friends of mine in Melbourne both independently pointed me towards MDA and the PB. I've read the site from time to time over the past few months and found it very entertaining and thought provoking, but hadn't put it into action.

Just over two weeks ago my girlfriend Amanda (not the pizza-monger, a much better one now ) had a nasty health scare. Despite not having my problems with obesity, she also had been raised on a diet of processed foods, chocolate, soft drinks and potato chips. While she was in hospital, with an illness no one could diagnose she made the decision that she wanted to turn her health around starting immediately. I could think of no better method than the Primal Blueprint. Several days later, I had a copy and started reading. Amanda was released from hospital in seemingly perfect health and her illness was put down to stress, but the urgency for a lifestyle change has remained.

On my side of things, I had my second full knee reconstruction in July, and had been inactive whilst waiting for surgery for four months prior to that. During that five month period I'd allowed myself to gain 10kg of fat and I knew that I too needed a change. Starting out at 128kg I set myself a goal of getting under 115kg (my "fighting weight" as a competitive martial artist) by the end of the year. I expect progress to my tough as I'm very limited as to what exercise I can do, but hopefully I can rectify that over the coming months.

Anyway, I'm probably going to start a log, so I'll continue to ramble in there! Look forward to many thought provoking discussions to come!

[thanatos]

Hey there.

I started with the Spartan Regime too back in about 1996 and got one of his early additions. I know what you are saying. It was very hard for me to stick too...something never quite right for me.

Exercises were great though. Very similar to PB.

Good luck.

[queen_sheba]

wow - great post, thanks for the story.

good luck! least you have lots of light and warmth to get out and about Grok style - we are about to lose all of our light outside of working hours from October till about March! pitch black mornings, constant rain, blistering winds...ahhh!! God's Country! *eyeroll*

Our squash minileagues have just started so hoping to play 2-3 games per week. Isn't swimming an option for you? would be good on the knee - just plan it so you don't eat for about an hour afterwards and don't binge! (the cold of the pool makes you uber hungry and people tend to overeat)

[Joe Grok]

Thanks for the welcome, guys.

What I meant to add to the original post is that Primal Blueprint is the first one of these lifestyle change programs that has actually affected me on an emotional level. Having a history of heart disease on one side of my family, diabetes on the other and obesity all through it, actually seeing that change was within my power was well, powerful to me. As soon as I read the chapter on insulin, I believe I changed for good. The following day I wrote this on my Facebook:

"Honest and everlasting change will very rarely come from anticipation of perceived benefit. Rather, it will manifest when the alternative becomes too terrifying to persist with."

That's where I'm at with PB. It's not a change so that I can get ripped and sexy (a nice plus for sure) it's a change because I can't bring myself to face the alternative of poor health and a short life.

My journey is made infinitely easier by having my wonderful girlfriend (in the process of registered now - Amanda Grok) also following the Blueprint.

To answer your question Sarah, yes, the pool is definitely an option for me going forward. I'm going to attempt to do water sprints tonight and see how I go. Before my surgery I was training fairly heavily in powerlifting and kettlebells to supplement my martial arts, so I can't wait to get back into some of that. I'm currently at 8 weeks post-op and told I can recommence heavy lifting at 20 weeks. I'm hoping I can get a clearance before that though.

Anyway, thanks once again for the warm welcome.

[shannon]

welcome aboard, good luck on your journey here;-)

[cillakat]

Thanks for the welcome, guys.

What I meant to add to the original post is that Primal Blueprint is the first one of these lifestyle change programs that has actually affected me on an emotional level.

I should be bookmarking posts like this. You're not alone. Many of us have similar experiences.


K

[Suse]

excellent. Welcome. I love ramblers

[Piscator]

Welcome Joe Grok!

Wow, lots of representation from outside the US here; Australia, Scotland, New Zealand, Atlanta - sorry Cillakat, couldn't resist.

[Sam Cree]

Joe, I think you lose the weight more from the diet than from the exercise, so weight loss shouldn't be a problem, even though exercise is an important contributor.