NEWBIE transfer from Weight Watchers page

[superal]

I'm so excited for this transition to Primal Eating.... I have lost 100lbs with weight watchers and a lot of exercise but once I hit my high goal weight I was struggling to maintain and eventually got severely ill. I was diagnosed with Hashimotos Disease in May 2011 (an auto immune disease that attacks the thyroid) and was prescribed a gluten free diet. Not a hard transition but I found myself replacing my gluten foods with sugar. Now I've gained 10lbs from my lightest weight a few months ago despite training and competing in a triathlon and teaching Zumba several times a week. I stumbled onto this page a week ago and really got excited about how this type of eating might free me from my compusive tracking and counting of food eaten and calories burned during exercise. I'm on day 2 and feeling pretty good. Already I'm able to eat and feel full... haven't felt satisfied in a long time by foods. I am still eating eggs and a splash of dairy here and there but really trying to focus on meat, healthy oils/fats and veggies. The area I'm struggling the most to understand is the exercise. My usual workout week looks like this: running 1hr 2-3x week, teaching 3 1hr Zumba classes, 1 yoga class, 1-2 kettbell or strength workouts. How do I change this to fit the PB exercise lifestyle??? I want to tighten up all the areas of mushyness... and hopefully tighten some of the skin I have leftover from such a large weight loss. Any ideas???? Here is my before weight loss and after 100lbs pics... I'd love to see another 20lbs of fat gone!!!!!!

[IcarianVX]

I can't see your pictures yet (approval stuff) but congratulations on the successful loss. You, essentially, lost a whole other person.

As far as the fitness goes, I would just ditch the running for an hour and keep everything else. Running/jogging actually helps you to keep bodyfat, not get rid of it, especially when you are already fairly lean. Counter-intuitive, I know, but it's true.

The tightening of mushyness will come in time with this WOE and lifestyle. If you have severely stretched skin then that might require surgery, but that would be a last step. You can also look up MSM and loose skin on Google. There is a guy on youtube (I think TigerLily posted the link once) that lost more than 100lbs and had no loose skin and he attributes it to using MSM in large quantities.

Anyway, good luck with the rest of your life and welcome to MDA.

[Hedonist]

Welcome. Congratulations on your fat loss and finding primal.

Eggs are fine on primal. Nearly everyone eats them. Dairy is fine if you can digest it and if it doesn't prevent weight loss. Butter, yogurt and cheese are good, especially if from pastured cows.

Stop the running and add one or two short sprint sessions/wk.

[jhc]

Perhaps a better suggestion would be to ditch the running in favor of high-intensity intervals once a week. Unless you specifically enjoy running it is considered "chronic cardio" because of the stresses it places on your body.

I am still eating eggs and a splash of dairy here and there

As a heads up, eggs are an excellent source of nutrition and are strongly encouraged in the primal diet. Nom nom!

[superal]

Thanks guys for the feedback!! I actually have always hated running but was training for a small triathlon and started run more and more... I'll try sprinting this week and see how I do. Are kettle bells are good strength idea and what about TRX?

[jfreaksho]

I highly recommend you read the Primal Blueprint Fitness e-book (look at the top of your screen for the "Start Here" button, then look for the free e-book in the list). That will explain more of the basics about running, sprinting, lifting, and walking, as well as give a handful of foundational exercises for building a fit body. PBF will explain why you should quit running those 3 hours a week and start walking instead.

Lots of people here do the Primal Blueprint Fitness which is pretty much all bodyweight exercises plus sprints and walking. Many others do some other bodyweight training such as You are Your Own Gym, Convict Conditioning, or Building the Gymnastic Body. TRX fits in very well with those.

Kettlebells fit in a bit more with the many people who lift weights here, and seems to be a pretty good way to go, but I've never done it.

[primalrob]

congrats on your success. i also lost 100 on weight watchers, but felt like crap until i switched to primal. the advice you've gotten so far is great...add some sprinting, cut back on the running unless you enjoy it. zumba and yoga are great things for the primal blueprint, and plenty of people here use kettlebells. i think a little heavy lifting is a big help too. i used to lift weights, but now all my work is body weight and i'm losing even more body fat. i also think it's a great idea to just go outside...go for walks, hike, bike, climb on things, and play play play.

regarding that extra skin...just stay the course with primal. i had a lot of what i thought was extra skin, but it's really going away the longer i stay with primal. turns out, it was just really loose body fat. if you pinch a little bit and roll it between your fingers, and you feel little squishy beads...that's fat, and it will go away eventually based on what you eat and what you do.

get ready to feel a million times better than you did on WW. Congrats, and keep it up.

[superal]

Thanks primalrob.... I agree that I felt like crap after weight watchers... it's been 3 days and I feel better than I have in months and have already dropped 4.8lbs (of I'm sure bloated crap weight). I'm really excited to start with body weight exercises... and am off the buy a pullup bar today! It's amazing that it took me this long to find primal and I'm super excited to not have to count everything all the time. I am still writing down what I eat to make sure I'm really staying healthy and not going overboard. Already getting feedback from friends about how I'm not eating healthy... amazing how quickly people are ready to critique. Well to heck with them.... I'm finally able to eat and feel satisfied and super excited to get ripped with body weight exercises and sprints!!!!