Primal Journal (Rock 'n' Roll) page

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Well folks. Here we are again.

I first went primal in December of 2009. I lost about 15 pounds and felt the best I've ever felt, way better than even when I was in high school. Unfortunately, I fell back into a conventional diet in February 2010, put back on all the weight, and then some. I've had a few false starts eating primal but no luck until now.

As of December 2010 I am 21 years old, 5'11" and 215 pounds. I want to get to around 185 pounds and see how I look and feel. I started eating and exercising primal this past Monday, the 27th. Here's what I've noticed so far.

-I had near daily, almost constant heartburn for the past few months. On day two of eating primal, it's completely gone. I haven't taken one "tums" since I started eating well on Monday. Fantastic!

-I've gotten sick. I have a nasty feeling in my tonsils and my lymph nodes are swollen. However, I barely have any other symptoms. The fatigue is very mild and the fever only lasts about an hour each night. I don't know how much of this to attribute to eating well.

-When I was primal before, I was a big fan of IF. Once I fasted for 48 hours. The first two days of eating primal I felt similar to when I did that long fast; slightly nauseous, always hungry and completely devoid of energy even though I was eating full meals (okay, it was worse than the two day fast). I'm on day four now and that has finally stopped. I only had coffee for breakfast this morning and I'm feeling fine.

-I already have a ton more energy! The first few hours at work are way better than they have been for the past few months.

I recently moved out and turned 21 on November 19th, which means I've been drinking a lot over the past few months. I decided to limit my alcohol intake to one drink per day maximum, and I'm only drinking red wine and bourbon, scotch, or brandy (though I haven't tried brandy yet, anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?) My other 20% is made up of dark chocolate and an occasional potato.

There's only one aspect of PB that I'm not sold on yet - saturated fats. My homework for the day is to re-read Mark's guide on saturated fats and look more into the studies that all these doctors are citing when they say red meat contains saturated fats that lead to heart disease and cancer. The one I've looked at so far followed 17,000 women for more than a decade. The women all ate a typical western diet: red meat, french fries, carbs, etc. They found that almost all the women had a greater risk for heart disease and cancer. I thought, "What self respecting scientist would use that data to say that red meat was the casual factor of the increased risk?". Come on! Way too many variables in that study to be conclusive.

I'll try to continue to post in the journal section every weekday. Thanks everybody!

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Happy New Years Eve everybody!

Last night was poker night. I kept my drinking to a minimum, one shot of jager and a glass of wine. I fed some of the non-primal food I have left in my cupboards to the participants, including burritos, mac and cheese, potato and leftover Christmas candy.

Made breakfast this morning for 7 people (snow storm plus drinking last night meant lots of people slept over). Tons of eggs and bacon. Accidentally ate some hash browns my girlfriend made (damn it! fall for the potato every time.) I've been playing around with the espresso maker we got for Christmas. Trying to determine which kind of steam milk I like best for cappuccinos. I'm going to try coconut this week, hope it steams well.

Lunch will be some meatballs with tomato sauce. Dinner tonight is fried squid! I'm excited to try out the recipe I found out in the blog.

Still debating exercise today. Feeling quite tired due to being sick. I'll probably take my dog on a long walk or do some pullups.

I got in a debate about saturated fats with one of my coworkers yesterday. Via email, I kept demanding he list a source, and when he would I would point out the results weren't conclusive then link him a study that would suggest the high amounts of carbs the participants ate could well have been the factor.

He's not convinced on the carbs, but he did come around on the saturated fats. He even linked me a few articles that basically said "eating saturated fats is not linked to heart disease".

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New Years Day

Out of all the bad decisions that people make on New Years Eve, mine was cheese fries.

After drinking much more whiskey than I had planned on at the new year party, I offered to buy everyone food at the local greasy Mexican food joint. For myself, I bought carne asada fries. French fries loaded with steak, beans, cheese, sour creme, and guacamole. I didn't drink enough to get sick, but boy I was feeling lousy after downing those greasy bastards. I felt perfectly fine before I ate, but ended up puking within in hour. Lesson learned!

Made the primal breakfast casserole with turnips, spicy Italian sausage, cheese, and eggs this morning. Was a little bit lacking. Next time I'll have to include more cheese and spices.

Did a puzzle for mental exercise today and am thawing squid for stir fry as we speak.

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I started PB fitness for the first time again today. Wow am I weak! I did the following for most consecutive reps, here's my stats:

Knee Pushups: Best- 20 Goal- 50
Reverse Pullup: Best- 4 Goal- 7
Squats: Best-50 Goal-50
Elevated JK: Best-12 Goal-25
Planks:
Top: Best-60 Goal-90
L Side: Best-30 Goal-45
R Side: Best-25 Goal-45

My leg strength is still pretty good (guess all that mountain biking paid off) but my arms and core are terrible. My arms start shaking the moment I get into pushup position. I'm going to move up to the next level on squats and keep working on everything else. I'm going to try the workout of the week later this week too (ratcheted down a few steps, of course).

A note on hunger - it's non-existent. I don't get hunger growls anymore, it's hard to know when to eat. My new hunger signal is when I'm getting tired or grouchy. Also, finally posted an avatar picture!

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A friend and I are going to take fitness classes through our University this semester. The option is to do 1/2 semester of weight lifting, then 1/2 yoga, or a full semester of yoga. The classes are twice a week and the semester runs January through the end of April. Those who have done yoga on a regular basis, do you recommend it? I'm shying away from the weight lifting because I'm trying to lose weight, and I want to avoid bulking up.

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Yesterday -

B - 2 egg omelette with onion, olive, pepperjack cheese

L - Hot wings with a beer (not horrible for a cheat meal)

D - Cashew chicken stir fry

My girlfriend (known on the forums as redhead) has also decided to go primal. We've been working out and going on walks the past week. Did LHT today with her. Also made an excel spreadsheet to track progress over each workout.

Today

B - 2 eggs over medium with 4 strips bacon.

Now I'm going to go chase a small child around Ikea for a few hours to get my move slowly/play in!

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The week before Christmas I weighed 215 pounds (at 5"11'). I weighed myself yesterday and I am down to 207.5. Thats 7.5 pounds in a little under three weeks! Of course it is mostly water weight, but there's nothing wrong with that. If my body was holding on to that much water weight I was obviously doing something wrong. I'm really looking forward to hitting the 199 lbs mark!

I started school again today. I'm taking 7 credit hours ... and working a full 40 hours a week. 6am to 9pm days every week day, whoo! It'll be a challenge to continue to make good food as often as necessary. I will be grocery shopping and preparing food every Sunday to make it through the week.

Initially I was concerned about exercise too, but look at what I'll be doing: Walking all over campus three times a week, school sponsored yoga class twice a week, lap swimming every Friday, as well as nighttime walks and LHT exercises. I think this will be a habit that starts to stick.

B - Greek yogurt with honey and peaches

L- Broccoli and pulled pork, cheese stick, apple

D- Cheese, orange, beef jerky

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I'm sure there are dozens or hundreds of dead journals here on the forums, and I'm determined to not let mine turn into one!

I "fell off the wagon" for the past two weeks. Lots of eating out and tons of sugar and dessert. I was feeling sick after nearly ever meal I ate due to the sugar/carb content and the fact that I was overeating. No wonder I gained so much weight the past few years. But no more! As of yesterday I'm doing well again and I hope to get back into the exercise habit this week as well. Once you understand how much better you feel when you exercise regularly, it's easy not to shirk it off.

I've lost 20 pounds since Christmas, my goal is 30-40. I would have never thought I would make gains that fast. I can do ONE WHOLE PULLUP! Soon to be 2 I'd hope. On the menu this week is talapia fillets with lemon and tarragon butter, as well as Mark's recipe for celery root soup. Still doing yoga twice a week, as well as LHT twice a week, swimming once week. Also I'm hoping the weather will be decent enough to go on a hike or walk this weekend.