First day in, killer headache, but thats day one down! page 3

[shifty1]

Yeah I love Perth, originally I am from the uk but that was a lifetime ago. From a person who loves cottage cheese I personally wouldn't worry too much. You got to live life and seriously if that's what you like and it fits within the nutrition guidelines who cares. Others may disagree but then it depends how far you want to go!

Thats it for me... Im having my cottage cheese in the morning! Tomorrows portion in your honour Sarahz!

[shifty1]

Day Nine!

Today was a tough day, but mainly cause of my mood. A few things happened before I began PF, and given all the time I have had to play and think, it sorta crept up on me. A few times today I wanted to just eat and eat and eat... but I held myself back. :P

The good new for the day is that I woke up, and felt great, so much so that I started working on a story I had no time to write before. I grabbed my laptop, and started outlining the story while I was in bed. Before I knew it, it was time for class, but I had broken ground on something I had put off for months! Normally I have to drag myself out of bed... I like this energy feeling!

On my way to class, I grabbed another of my famous salads, and a small tub of cottage cheese (thanks Sarahz) and headed to class. I ate late in the day, so I skipped on lunch, and headed to the office, made some calls, then it was straight back to class. A handful of nuts kept me going, and I even got to write some more during the day! (My play comes in all types of forms!)

In the afternoon, I hit the kitchen, and prepared a stack of ingredients for salads during the week. I usually prepare about three days worth, looking at salads three times a day. Still looking for ways to change it up a bit, but I am not complaining. If your hungry enough, anything tastes good! The chef got a little miffed cause I spent an hour in there preparing! lol

Got to find time in the day to lift heavy things. One quick question. I walk up and down stairs constantly during the day, and before starting on the PF, I would bounce up and down those steps, never feeling my legs heavy. I am assuming I always had a good store of APT in my muscles, but for the last week, when going up especially, every step is a chore. I can feel my muscles straining... not like when they are overloaded, but more like they have no fuel. Anyone ever deal with this before?

As mentioned before, would love any advice, words, anything that would make this go as quickly and honestly as possible. If I know I can share, I know I cant cheat!

Day Nine down, and Day Ten is Here! Yeah! Almost another week down....

Love you all... you just didn't know it!

-Shifty!

[irenesom]

Great start! Just keep going.

I have pushed the restart button after 6 months of being on/off paleo. I am committed. Reading your entries about being excited about each day reminded me to keep looking forward. This is not a chore but a choice!!

[shifty1]

Day Ten :

Well, if you start anything with allot of enthusiasm, its bound to take a little bit of a slide, and that was what I battled with today. From waking up till dinner time, I felt very low energy and while I didn't feel sluggish per say, it was a chore to get around and threw the day.

Breakfast was the same old... Salad and cottage cheese... Lunch was a random luck of the draw The school made a Veal stew with veggies, and I had a great time eating my portion with everyone else for once! Usually I get way to many questions about my food, so I take it to the balcony, and it was nice to sit with everyone and eat.

I was really happy to get some meat into my system, mainly for the fat content. It help get me going, but I did still feel behind the 8 ball. Resting up, I hit my afternoon classes, then headed down for dinner. To my good fortune,there was stew still left over, and I grabbed my portion with delight. In cases like this, I never know when I will get the chance to eat like this again, the menu is usually stuff thats no good for the Primal world.

I hung out in the kitchen giving the guys who prep dinner a hand, and found a big can of pineapple chunks open and for the taking. Still feeling low energy, I threw caution to the wind, and help myself to some. Removing the syrup, I gave them a quick watering down (I used to do that with soda too... 1/2 water 1/2 soda!) and then ate away! The sugar definitely helped, I was keeping an eye on my insulin response, but honestly, I found that I didn't seem to have such a bad reaction. Its now three hours since eating, and I feel normal, no spikes like last time. Maybe I just needed to top up my ATP levels? Who knows... That was a better choice than the cakes and cookies everyone else was gobbling down!

I have been looking at finding more fat sources that I can use during the day as energy. Once I get a fridge in the place, I can store natural stuff, but till then I would rather not go through the day I just did, and I think eating large amounts of sugar may do the opposite of what my goals are! If you have any ideas, please sing out. All ideas and suggestions are always welcome and appreciated! I started a thread about alternate meals with limited resources, if you have any ideas, feel free to post here, or there. The URL is http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum...tml#post506173

Never thought I would look forward to chicken wings wednesday so much. At least thats a source of fats, even if I used to pull off all the skin, and wipe of the oil! :P LOL

Day Ten down, and Day Eleven is coming up! Now the real challenge begins....

Love you all... you just didn't know it!

-Shifty!

[shifty1]

Day Eleven :

Wow, I dont know if its carb flu, or just that Im dealing with a few things that has been getting to me, but today I woke up at 10am, and was behind the eight ball all day. I ran out of bed, making it to class a little late, and decided to skip breakfast. While I felt a little low, missing one meal was not going to break the bank!

Had class, then headed off for lunch, which was another surprise for me, rotisserie chicken! Grabbing a quarter, I had a quick lunch, the headed out to catch up on what I messed out on. More classes, but I found myself getting hungry about 4pm, so after I grabbed a handful of nuts, I headed to the kitchen for a quick salad, and found more booty in the fridge! Hard boiled eggs! Two made up my snack with a small salad, and I was on my way..

Time flew today, and by the time it was dinner a few hours later, I was greeted with some more chicken, and another egg. As i stashed some more eggs away in my box, I observed a tray of peanut butter slices, a extremely sugar heavy desert, and before I knew it, I had a small piece! Tasted great, but it totally ran up my insulin response. Still wheat free, but way to much sugar. Another lesson learnt... You have a low day, avoid anything tempting...

The days are going smoothly now, it seems that I turn around, and the days are done. It seems like it was only the morning a few hours ago, and now I am heading to bed! I take it as a good sign that I have yet to have a freak out.

Not to happy about the peanut butter slice incident, but I am going to amount it up to a little bit of play. Im sure I will bounce back!

Right now on the top of my list is to find an opportunity to Lift heavy things! I guess Im a little nervous about that part of the plan, and Im not to sure why. Something to think about....

Starting to feel thinner, if not actually looking thinner... Amazing how much we swell when bloated!

As mentioned before, would love any advice, words, anything that would make this go as quickly and honestly as possible. If I know I can share, I know I cant cheat!

Day Eleven down, and Day Twelve is a blink away! Yeah!

Love you all... you just didn't know it!

-Shifty!

[shifty1]

Day Twelve :

Were going through a heatwave here, and the night was long and restless. Took hours to get to sleep, and I was up early, so I am definitely breaking the "Get enough sleep" rule Have to see what I can do to change that!

Another late start to the morning, and really hit an emotional low. Grabbed a small salad, hit class. Missed lunch, but around two, grabbed some more salad, and some cottage cheese. Was able to talk to one of my teachers about all thats been going on, and that helped. Really needed to find some play, so I took the afternoon off, and just relaxed.

Was really restless and hungry after flicking threw a new book I just received - The Primal Fitness cookbook, so I went looking for food. Was going to get a stake salad from a take out joint, but switched to chicken wings at the last minute. As the cook was throwing them into the basket to lower them into oil, I cancelled the order. All that transfat and superheated oil ... I couldn't do it.

I headed back to my room, and listened to a few interviews with ark that I found in the Itunes webcast store. Was nice to finally hear the voice behind the program, and it reinforced some of those basic ideas that we all incorporate into our lives.

Hit the kitchen an hour before dinner, and found that the chef had some leftover hamburgers in the fridge. OK, not primal burgers, but better than what was on offer. Had three, and then found my score for the day. Half a cantaloupe! After getting permission to eat it, I devoured the thing, even thought I was planing to save some for the weekend. Sure my insulin levels would go up, but I was listening to my body. Especially after listening to what Mark had to say in those interviews, it was the score after the big hunt!

I didn't feel like stopping there, so I made myself my version of a Primal omelette, with butter, onions, red peppers, and two eggs spiced up! It was great!

And thats my day. I ate a lot more than I have since starting, but I I have an idea that thats normal. If its a problem, please let me know. Im still fighting all that nutritional eating and exercise crap that filled my life for so long. I felt totally guilty melting that butter in my pan.

Looks like I got my fridge organised. Should have it early next week. Now I need some small utensils, and I should be good! I'll let you know when its in my room, and humming away!

As mentioned before, would love any advice, words, anything that would make this go as quickly and honestly as possible. If I know I can share, I know I cant cheat!

The sabbath is comming up for me, so my next update will be Saturday night!

Day Twelve down, and Day Thirteen/Fourteen is a blink away! Thats officially two weeks. May the fat start falling off.

Love you all... you just didn't know it!

-Shifty!

[Roary]

You are doing super! Sometimes I have a "hungry day" where I eat everything in sight, and other days it will be late in the evening before I feel remotely hungry. Listen to it and roll with it! I am still feeling your joy all the way over here in California.

[shifty1]

You are doing super! Sometimes I have a "hungry day" where I eat everything in sight, and other days it will be late in the evening before I feel remotely hungry. Listen to it and roll with it! I am still feeling your joy all the way over here in California.

Thanks Roary... You made the last 48 hours of primal a lot easier knowing your enjoying the posts....

Very cool...

-Shifty

[shifty1]

Day Thirteen :

Friday was the usual start for me. Up early, and I was off to the office for a meeting. One bus trip, and a 20 minute walk later, I was there clocking the time up for more constant low impact exercise. Every pit counts.

Finished my meeting, and headed to the supermarket. To my wonderment, I found a personal food processor alot cheaper than I had previously found, and picked it up! One more small investment to my Primal Living! Totally inspired by my new purchase, I headed to the open air market, determined to pick up all the ingredient to make Blueberry Nutty Protein Balls, as found in the Quick and Easy cookbook. The walk to the market and back home was another 100 minutes, so I cleared my weekly exercise quota easily Love this!

On the way home, stopped into a health food store, and got myself some Coconut oil! Two weeks searching, and I finally found some! I was totally over the moon, and more determined to get some home cooking happening!

I went by memory for the ingredients in the market, and got everything together but the blueberries! (Doh) but I got home, mixed everything up, and man, are they good! I ate two then, and then put the rest in the fridge, but shared them around with my roommates! I really had fun, and I am already thinking about what else I can make using the protein balls as a basis!

Dinner was simple, and I did my best to keep it as primal as possible. I had a salad, and some soup. When I was finishing my second bowl, I asked the question "Does this have MSG in it?" and I was meat with laughter. Dinner was at school and everything has MSG in it! I was bummed out, but I couldn't do anything about it. Anyone know the 411 on MSG? I bet I know the answer, still, point me in the right direction!

Main was two pieces of chicken, and a piece of beef. And that was it. No bread, no cake, nothing that was toxic. As everyone was drinking huge amounts of soda, I did want a little sip, but stuck with water. Sugar cravings!

That night, I did wake up hungry and ate another protein ball. I felt guilty, then remembered that they were made out of 4 dates and nuts! How much sugar is in 4 dates! In the past, I'd eat 4 dates in a heartbeat!

Day Fourteen :

Had a really late start, sleeping in till 11am! Yeah, that was really nice!
Headed off to lunch, had some fish, and salad for lunch, then got out of there before dessert came out. I did treat myself to a small piece of halva, which is nuts and alot of sugar. Couldn't help myself, and found myself snacking on Protein balls all afternoon. I guess I started the insulin cycle again. I guess sugar is my real soft spot.

Dinner was salad and baked salmon, that was served up by some friends of mine. It was really nice to eat out, and not feel guilty.

OK, so its late here, and Im off to bed.

As mentioned before, would love any advice, words, anything that would make this go as quickly and honestly as possible. If I know I can share, I know I cant cheat!

Day Fourteen down! Day Fifteen is here (Its now 12am!) Two weeks begins now!

Love you all... you just didn't know it!

-Shifty!

[Roary]

I'm diggin' on it, Shifty!