Primal Journal - onalark page 12

**onalark** · 02-28-2012, 04:03 PM

Where was I? Oh yes. Eating paleo.

Body by Science didn't work out, but I also injured myself a little trying to do 100 lb squats so...scaling back on my heavy lifting, and going to a MWF program. Back's feeling better, thanks.

Breakfasts have been weird. I am not an egg eater, don't like them cooked, but getting in liver (which I do like) to cover my choline and K2 is not happening. So I started eating a raw egg yolk every morning. Gulp. Down the hatch. I also started drinking bulletproof coffee, and honestly -- I don't think it's mega awesome, but it does keep me fueled. So, go crazy coffee.

Happy to report my food sensitivities do not seem to be legion. Do seem to have some phlegmy responses to dairy, but then -- who doesn't?

And that's it for now. I'll update if my experiments with reduced caloric intake and high-fat breakfasts work.

**onalark** · 03-19-2012, 11:27 AM

My shoulder is still protesting, so no lifting today.

I've stopped eating breakfast. It's remarkable how I just don't need it. I drink a cup of coffee with a splash of cream, and that's "breakfast". Two meals seems to be working for me.

Friday was a bit of a carb binge, and Saturday and Sunday we were out and about. We're looking at cars and houses. It's definitely a busy week. My first new car in ten years. Excited and nervous. More nervous about this than I was with getting married. Yikes!

**onalark** · 04-09-2012, 01:19 PM

Interesting physiological changes. I dropped the 500mcg melatonin, which means for the first time in many years I am no longer taking drugs to sleep. Also dropped my allergy pills and evicted the furry ones from my bedroom. In fact, the only drugs I'm taking are my thyroid medications, plus some prenatal supplements, plus Xlear for my nasal passages. The thyroid medication, alas, is forever. The Xlear probably is, too, because I don't think I'll ever be rid of allergies.

But...weirdly enough, I am now waking up earlier without issue. Which makes me wonder if the melatonin -- despite being "natural" -- was mucking up my circadian rhythm somehow. Hm.

Anyway. Back to MWF weights. Starting from scratch, which means:

75# Squat (5x5)
45# Bench (5x5)
65# B.O. Row (5x5)

Oh, those weights make me weep. Weep, I say.

And my husband would like us to walk more, so we're going to do Tuesday and Thursday hour-long walks in the morning. I'm super fine with this. All steps we take to get me healthy pre-larval infestation are all right by me.

**onalark** · 04-25-2012, 08:58 AM

Newest body trick: waking up before the alarm. This has never happened to me in my life. Wow.

Monday there were emergencies, so I didn't get to do weights. But today I had no such excuses. Here's what I did:

95# Squat (5x5)
55# Bench (5x5) (started at 75#, but couldn't maintain)
75# B.O. Row (5x5)

We've also maintained our Tuesday/Thursday walking, which is about 2-2.5 miles depending on our pace and how much time we have. We walked on Saturday as well from our house to a restaurant in town.

In the TTC corner: Had some mild back aches Monday through Tuesday. Could be implantation pain, could be nothing. Testing in a week, because there is no point right now.

How's my food doing? Well, I keep eating corn tortillas. Not a lot, and only when we eat out (which, sadly, we do a lot of when we're house hunting, as we are doing now). I also have had a few bites of rice, and some beans may have snuck in there. I am surely going to paleo hell. Otherwise, still no wheat or gluten, no milk, and my weight loss remains in the same state as when I was strict as hell. Which is to say, nonexistent. I fluctuate between 152 and 155 during the week. Not much more to say than that.

Sleep-wise -- I'm falling asleep naturally between 10 and 10:30. I'm more alert during the day. I guess my body just needed 9ish hours of rest all this time.

Drugs: thyroid pills for life. Allergy pills gone. Melatonin gone. Xlear in each nostril once in the morning. Supplementing folate, Vit D, and Fish Oil.

**onalark** · 05-17-2012, 03:55 PM

The month is starting to calm down, which is good. It's been a little crazy around here.

We're actively TTC, and we're buying a huge house, and my work is a little nuts for the next few months. The bright side of buying a house you can barely afford is that eating out is no longer an option. Sad, but true.

I have nothing important to add. Drugs and supplements the same as last post. Blood test next week to check Vit-D levels, thyroid levels, all that stuff. Otherwise, just hanging on for dear life as the storm passes overhead.

**onalark** · 05-17-2012, 11:10 PM

Tonight, I made steak. Which is not all that unusual, except that usually I make two steaks. This evening, though, I made one 12 oz steak for dinner, and me and the man split it. Cost-saving measures have begun.

I served the steak with a large salad and buttered green beans. We had a little red wine and a little (72%) dark chocolate. And then we played some Diablo III coop and (now) are going to bed.

It was a stressful day, and when I am stressed my brain turns to steak. Steak and wine. Not too much wine, since we're TTC and I have to pretend like at ANY MOMENT there could be a fresh larva nesting in my girlparts, but a little wine. Enough to tell my brain to chill.

Since we were dividing the protein, I upped the fat in our meal for satiation. I threw some raw milk cheddar into the salad, and some avocado. I put a little extra butter on the steak. If I'd had some soaked and toasted nuts, I'd have added those two, but alas; I did not (perhaps as a weekend project).

I also made a faux-ranch dressing that looks like this:

Full-fat yogurt
Dash of coconut aminos
Heavy dash of garlic powder
Dash of onion powder
Fresh ground black pepper
Salt
Olive oil

No measurements, sorry. This is always adlibbed. You could probably do something similar with mayo and lemon juice instead of the olive oil and yogurt. But I had yogurt, so I used it. It tasted mighty good with the salad, but also on the steak. It's a nice break from our usual vinaigrette.

And that was dinner tonight. No leftovers, alas, but steak leftovers are never great reheated. Cold, sure. But I've never managed to reheat them properly. Maybe if I had one of those fancy sous vide machines. Maybe if we aren't broke in a year, I'll think about it.

Tomorrow...don't know what I'm doing for dinner. Hopefully tomorrow will be less stressful. Otherwise: steak again.

**onalark** · 05-28-2012, 10:49 AM

Found out Friday I was pregnant. This was desired and hoped for, though after a stressful month of work and home buying, not expected.

We've been trying...two months. Yes, two months. And I am in my mid-30s. And this is my first pregnancy. Part of it, I'm sure, is my family's prodigious ability to propagate (i.e., good genes). Part of it is also because we (me and the husband) eat primal (i.e., good gene expression). I've been taking supplements (fish oil, D, folate) for the last five months, and caffeine has been slashed for the last three (I think?), and I've been focusing on sleeping more, and we consistently hit my ovulation window, so --

So I'm not sure why this still caught me by surprise. Probably because I heard about other friends and family who had troubles getting pregnant when older. Probably because I also read journals that caution that getting pregnant when you're older is soooo muuuuch harrrrrdeeeeer. But here we are. Two months. One zygote. Er, it should be one zygote. Twins would be...um. Let's just not think about that unless we have to, okay?

There's still a chance things can go wrong. Miscarriages happen. But on the bright side: so far everything's going right! Let's keep it that way.

Anyway, this is week 3+6 days, so not technically week 4, but close enough. These are the easy weeks, I think. No period! No giant belly! Energy still high! No puking! And in about three weeks, I'll tell you how that's all doing.