Primal Journal (tim_1522) page 4

[supersellen]

I stopped to pick up four more dozen eggs at our local source on the way home from work. Since they are a cash only operation, I first stopped at the local Walgreens to buy *something* in order to get cash back. It turned out that something was the Lindt 85. But, while I was there, I noticed that roughly half of the store's business (based on product layout) stemmed from products/services related to Diabetes. Of course, there were 2 full aisles of candy (with the Lindt 85 being one of the few redeeming itesm) along with another full aisle devoted to chips and soda...coincidence? Anyways, the whole experience was somewhat uplifting and re-emphasized the importance of what we're trying to do here which was good considering I've been navigating a rough patch the past few days.

While saddening at the same time, it is always nice to have affirmation of the decisions you are making for your health!

[tim_1522]

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Breakfast: none
AM drink: 24oz black coffee combined with 6.75oz (half the can from Whole Foods) coconut milk.
Lunch: none, really...but when I got home from work at about 4pm, I had a leftover sausage link from breakfast
Dinner: Kind of screwy. My son had a "back to school" event which was for the family, too. I meant to eat before heading that way, but I was not hungry at lunch and then I got busy and didn't get out of wore when I intended to. As a result, I had the sausage link of the kitchen counter (listed above) and the we went to the event which was a BBQ. I ended up having 2 burgers and 2 bratwurst, which wasn't too bad, except I know they were the frozen "crap in a box" as I like to call it variety. Also, there were NO burgers without BBQ sauce, which I know was the HFCS containing kind. But, I avoided the buns (even though there were NO utensils, either) and the cookies and the sugar water -- I mean "lemonade". So, I think I did pretty good.
PM snack: leftover pork chop, square Lindt 85
Activity: A few short walks during the day and then a decent amount of "walking around" at the back to school event. Probably got 15 min of good sun in 3-4 shorter stints. Also did some more walking after the event. Did NOT get around to doing LHT which I had planned for today as we got home late and were pretty exhausted by that point.
Supplements: none...forgot...
Cheats: Did you notice the "Dinner" section??
Thoughts:
1) There was a box of donuts at work today. A co-worker brought them in as a "treat" for everyone and I suppose that meant me as well. They were situated that in order to get to/from my desk to anywhere I had to go past them. I walked past them each time and didn't succumb. This was probably a first.
2) Macros for the day: 2412 calories, 131g protein, 47g carbs, 184g fat. I don't know how for sure that my carb count is so low. I plugged myself with a 22g hit on the BBQ sauce (4tbsp serving size estimate) but it still seems low. Must be from not eating much early in the day. Most of my numbers seem "ok" but it doesn't *seem* like I ate well today. The fat is a little higher than usual -- that's the brats talking -- but even that's not too bad. Of course, none of this counts all the chemicals that were probably added to the boxed frozen burgers and brats have...

[tim_1522]

Friday, August 26, 2011

Breakfast: none
AM drink: 24oz black coffee combined with 6.75oz (half the can from Whole Foods) coconut milk.
Lunch: Had lunch with a former boss at a place that does Gyros. They have a platter that's divine (had it in the past, pre-PB days) that comes with a TON of meat, a whole tomato sliced up, a whole onion sliced up, big thing of the cucumber sauce and 3 pitas. And, according to my lunch-mate, it's "real" carved Gyro meat not "fake stuff" which I had no idea of there being a difference. Anyhow, when I ordered, I asked if they could drop the pitas and give me some lettuce instead, which they did without any effort at all. So, I basically made Gyro salad! The platter also, came with fries, which while potatoes were probably fried in bad oil. But, you know what? I don't feel guilty about it AT ALL!
Dinner: After my LHT workout, I had about a pound of blueberries, avocado and then a chicken breast cooked in coconut oil.
PM snack: square Lindt 85
Activity: Did the LHT workout that I was supposed to do last night. Walked up to the local elementary school to do the five essential primal movements, again. Results:

Knee Pushups - 27, 19
Two Legged Assist Pullups - 21, 21
Full Squats - 60, 65
Elevated Jack Knife Press - 31, 28
Front Forearm/Knee Plank - 100, 94 seconds
Right Side Down Forearm/Knee Plank - 65, 63 seconds
Left Side Down Forearm/Knee Plank - 95, 70 seconds

I dropped back to level 2 on the planks because my first go at level 3 went so badly on Monday. I stayed at level 4 on the squats and I will stay there for a while and see how my knee holds up. Basically, I got back to where I was last Thursday with tonight's work. Hopefully, I can start working forward again, now.

Supplements: none...forgot...
Cheats: The fries (nightshade, questionable also quantity was probably too high), tomato (nightshade, questionable) and the cucumber sauce (probably had added no-nos) at lunch. Probably too many blueberries as well, but at least it was post-workout.
Thoughts:Finally got around to Macros for the day: 3998 calories, 127g protein, 230g carbs, 272g fat. Ouch! This is just a guess because the place I went for lunch doesn't have nutrition info -- which, sadly, is probably a sign I should avoid going there. Needless to say, potato is a killer! Also, since I didn't get around to doing these calculations until Monday morning, I'll be be taking this potato hit a few more times.

[tim_1522]

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Breakfast: 2 slices bacon, 4 sausage links, 2 scrambled eggs with heavy whipping cream, asparagus, spinach
AM drink: 18oz black coffee combined with 6.75oz (half the can from Whole Foods) coconut milk.
Lunch: none
Dinner: t-bone, broccoli, lettuce, celery, 1/2 sweet potato
Misc: small handful of microwave popcorn while at the pool, 1/4 baked potato when we got home
PM snack: square Lindt 85
Activity: Lots...
"Fun(?)" -- In the afternoon, went to try out a rock-climbing place that opened this weekend and had free climbing all day long for their Grand Opening.
Sorta "LHT" - Did 3 sets of 25 Kettlebell swings right before dinner
More "Fun" -- walked up to the neighborhood pool, then swim for about 3 hours, including some swim "Sprints" where I went really hard for about 30 seconds, then rested about 30 seconds...repeated about 10 times. But mostly, I was just messing around, and then walked back home.

Supplements: none...forgot...
Cheats: sweet potato, popcorn, baked potato
Thoughts:Macros for the day: 2451 calories, 154g protein, 121g carbs, 150g fat. Not too bad considering...I thought the carbs would be worse...

[tim_1522]

Sunday, August 28, 2011

AM drink: 18oz black coffee combined with 6.75oz (half the can from Whole Foods) coconut milk.
Breakfast: Large Smoothie -- can coconut milk, whey protein, almond butter, blueberries, some dark chocolate with ice.
Lunch: none really, but went to a (required attendance) function in which it was somewhat necessary to have a small handful of potato chips and a glass of Sherry late in the afternoon.
Dinner: Screwy...got caught at another function (it was a stupidly busy day) and ended up having 2 burgers and a brat (both bunless) some salad (with dressing already on it that probably sucked) and broccoli and celery from a veggie tray as well as some mixed fruit off a fruit tray. Also had a small serving of apple cobbler (looked like an oatmeal based crust) and a small square of rice krispie treats.
PM snack: none
Activity: Not much...
Was crazy tired/sore from yesterday's rock climbing. Part of the reason I ate so poorly is that I had zero energy/motivation to leave the house to get groceries and there was not much left in the house to eat, hence the stupid protein shake. Then, I had the afternoon of family commitments.
Supplements: none...forgot...
Cheats: lots of processed food, potato chips, alcohol, lots of "unknowns" with food choices, cobbler and the desert.
Thoughts:
1) What a crappy weekend to ruin what had started out as a pretty good week. Even when I set out to do a "good' primal dinner on Saturday night, I shot myself in the foot with the potato and sweet potato.
2) Macros for the day: 3298 calories, 123g protein, 193g carbs, 213g fat
3) Summary for the week coming shortly...

[tim_1522]

So, Monday, August 29 (4 weeks in) weigh-in results and thoughts:

8/22/2011 - 200.8lb total weight, 25.1% body fat, 54.6% H2O. This works out to a "calculated" mass of body fat 50.40 lbs. So, I am now showing (overall) a slight GAIN of .75lb in body fat by weight. On the other hand, I'm also still showing (overall) a slight gain of .65lb in body lean by weight. Both of these numbers are so small, that they are basically inconsequential.

**ADDED when I finally remembered - Took my blood pressure and it was 126/79 with a pulse of 51.

Since I wanted to track my macros for the week, here's my (7-day) daily average:

2701 calories, 157g protein, 113g carbs, 179g fat. From an "average" point of view, I feel like I hit these on the head, staying below 150 on carbs and above 150 (based on my lean body mass) on protein and having an slight caloric deficit of 290/day. Even with this being a less than perfect week, all the #'s look pretty good, although there were 2 days of pretty high carb counts.

I'm starting to feel like I'm getting into that same "rut" that I was in with the Slow Carb Diet I was on before. Slight movements back and forth from week to week but overall no real progress. I know there were some mess-ups this week, but I think even this week fell with in the "80%" guideline. It seems to indicate that there's almost no room for error if you want to get anywhere and even the slightest of missteps will result in quickly giving back any gains from times of perfection. I don't know if that's tenable for me.

But, I can try to keep at it and focus areas of improvement:

1) Having tracked macros for a week, I don't know how much value there is. I appear to be "hitting" my numbers, but that's not getting it done. I knew pretty much every time based on what I had ate, BEFORE calculating when I was going to have an issue with carbs. I know what NOT to do, just need to be better at not doing it and I don't know if macro counting helps.

2) Time to limit carbs to 100g/day no more and that's a hard daily limit with no cheating with averages. Potatoes have to go away for awhile and fruit needs to be strictly limited again. If I am going to track anything numerically, perhaps only the carb number.

3) Although less of an issue, still need to limit cheese intake. For now, I'm going to continue to allow some use of butter on veggies because I think the fat benefit outweighs the fact that it's dairy detriment.

4) Exercise -- I think it's time to start pushing the envelope a little on my "move slowly" days. I like the walks and all and will continue to do those as well, but I think a couple of 30 min runs (staying out of the Chronic Cardio zone) are in order to maybe kick start some fat mobilization from that side of the equation.

[tim_1522]

Monday, August 29, 2011

Breakfast: 3 1/2 strips bacon, 2 fried eggs, small serving broccoli
AM drink: 24oz black coffee combined with 6.75oz (half the can from Whole Foods) coconut milk.
Lunch: can tuna, 1/2 head red romaine lettuce, celery(1 large stalk)
Afternoon Snack: 1/2 chicken breast cooked in coconut oil to tide me over until dinner was cooked
Dinner: 4 pieces (mixed) grilled chicken with butter&spices, medium bunch of broccoli
PM snack: square Lindt85
Activity: 15 minute walk to take my daughter to school (~3/4 mile) and got good sun along the way. 25 minute walk at lunchtime (~1 1/4 mile) and more good sun. A little bit of activity/moving around while I cooked the chicken on the outdoor grill.
Supplements: 3(1200mg each) fish oil capsules
Cheats: none
Thoughts:
1) Still...very...sore...from...Saturday...
2) Speaking of Saturday, ran into someone at the Rock Climbing place that told me about an area Meetup group that does Paleo/Primal eating/pot lucks as well as CrossFit workouts. May look into this down the road.
3) I keep forgetting to mention this, and I should have put this in my overall intro, but I have High Blood Pressure. I am currently medicated at 10mg daily of Enalapril. I want to start including a weekly BP measurement along with my other numbers I report. Also, it's a long-term goal of mine to get off the stuff as well. My Dr. is not the least bit helpful with this just repeating "Well, some people just have hypertension and that need medication to control it" I'm hoping that continuing to work on getting healthier and (hopefully) improving my body composition and get more sleep and sunlight exposure and less stress will help. I'm also looking for any suggestions for non-Rx ways to improve hypertension outside of what I'm already doing.
4) Macros for the day: 2613 calories, 207g protein, 37g carbs, 174g fat -- I think the total protein count for my dinner is higher than what I actually took in since I entered in generic pieces like "thigh, medium, bone-in, skin eaten" as opposed to actual weight measurements of the meat consumed. That 207 seems awfully high. Either way, the carb count was kept pretty low. I could have probably had it under 30 if I had not forgotten that some of the spices in my "family recipe" sauce for grilling chicken had some added sugar and if I had skipped the Lindt before bed. Either way, this is a big improvement on the last couple of days.

[tim_1522]

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Breakfast: none
AM drink: 24oz black coffee combined with 10.125oz (3/4 the can from Whole Foods) coconut milk.
Lunch: 4 strips bacon, 2 scrambled eggs with heavy whipping cream, ~1oz spinach (This was my breakfast, that I didn't get around to eating until lunch time)
Afternoon Snack: leftover grilled chicken breast with butter sauce from last night, 1/2 lb broccoli, 3 oz spinach, boneless skinless chicken breast cooked in coconut oil, and a package of "Wholly Guacamole" 100 cal snack pack -- normally not a fan of the whole "100 calorie" craze, but this contains only: avocado, jalapenos, white vinegar, salt, onion salt, and granulated garlic, so I think it's an acceptable substitute for "whole" avocados, of which I had been throwing way too many away due to spoilage/timing of eating issues! (This was my lunch, which I ate about 5:30pm)
Dinner: Well, I had kind of intended to not eat anymore after the late lunch, which I had timed such that I ate right before attending a social engagement with food. Didn't work, though, as I ended up having 3 slices of beef brisket and a scoop of pulled pork. Unknown sourced stuff, but I did manage to avoid the corn on the cob, dinner rolls, and Bud Light. Probably took in too many calories today as a result.
PM snack: none
Activity: Not much. A little walking around midday at work. A little moving around at the social event. Short (3/4 mile) walk after I got home. I should have, in theory, done LHT tonight, but just didn't feel like it. Believe it or not, I was *still* sore from Saturday.
Supplements: 3(1200mg each) fish oil capsules
Cheats: some unknown source food for dinner and too many calories in general
Thoughts:

[supersellen]

You're doing great, and it may just be to play around with things a little bit. I for one had to eat lots of fat at first to transition to a primal diet, but eat a moderate amount now compared to a lot of other primal people to see progress. If you find yourself cheating a lot on the weekends and doing your weigh-ins on Mondays, that can certainly be misleading due to water retention from eating crap.

[tim_1522]

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Breakfast: 2 strips bacon, 2 scrambled eggs with heavy whipping cream, ~8 asparagus spears
AM drink: 24oz black coffee combined with 10.125oz (3/4 the can from Whole Foods) coconut milk.
Lunch:
Afternoon Snack:
Dinner:
PM snack:
Activity:
Supplements: 3(1200mg each) fish oil capsules
Cheats:
Thoughts:

You're doing great, and it may just be to play around with things a little bit. I for one had to eat lots of fat at first to transition to a primal diet, but eat a moderate amount now compared to a lot of other primal people to see progress. If you find yourself cheating a lot on the weekends and doing your weigh-ins on Mondays, that can certainly be misleading due to water retention from eating crap.

1) Thanks for the support. You are right, I think I need to ratchet down the fat intake, although getting the fruit intake limited and avoiding stupid carbs from the potatoes is probably also important. Obviously, the solution to cheating on the weekend potentially mucking up my weigh-in is to stop cheating on the weekends.
2) I also need to do better in social situations as I tend to fold pretty badly to my hunger as well as not wanting to "stick out". Fortunately, the amount of these should be winding down now for awhile...until the holiday season rolls around...ugh!
3) If stress is potentially a roadblock to fat loss, I'm seriously wondering if adding the time commitment, the extra effort, the double checking labels to make sure shit doesn't get snuck in, the fighting upstream against CW, the inevitable situations where I'm in a bad spot (and the resultant stress) are all wiping out any of the potential "good" of following PB is providing. I guess that's a fancy way of me asking if it's all worth it...