Alex Going Primal - Dorm Room Style page

[nowakow2]

One of my biggest goals for this challenge is to drop the extra weight that I have been carrying around for as long as I can remember. I have never been over-weight, but I have never been fit or thin. I would like to be as healthy as possible, and for my body to look it's best! I also think eating Primal is fun, and that I feel better about myself when I'm not stuffing "fake food" into myself, ie. your typical everyday carb-loaded snacking and meals.

~

Starting on Day One along with everyone else, and I think this is exactly the motivation I need! Already started my day off right and I am in the perfect mindset to accomplish this. It feels awesome to have the whole online community behind me too!

I'm currently living in a dorm, meaning my access to top quality meats and veggies is a little limited, but I'm gonna do the best with what I've got. I've been experimenting a little with Primal for the past couple months and I'm ready to take the dive! On my journey, I'll also be eliminating dairy. I think it'll be a nice little extra kick for me.

My meals today have been spot on.

BF : Wasn't too hungry, just had a cup of chai tea.
Pre-lunch snack: 15 almonds
Lunch: a huge salad! Chicken, eggs, sprouts, tomatoes, 6 grapes, 2 tablespoons red pepper hummus, olive oil & vinegar with 2 cups lettuce. Yum!

Haven't had dinner yet, and the menu is "glazed wing-dings..." questionable as usual. I may grab some and rinse off most of the "glaze" (because who knows what's in that stuff!) and have some green beans on the side. I'lll grab two eggs for a late-night snack if I get hungry, or tomorrow's breakfast! I really wish our dining hall offered more vegetables, but I'm gonna make do with what I've got.

I'm expecting a little nausea and headaches from the decrease I'll have from sugar, but I know I'll get through it. So excited for this challenge and so excited to keep track of myself!

Edit: nausea happened. Dinner was these sketchy "wing-dings" and peas. Cashews as a "late-night" snack!

[nowakow2]

Okay, Day One ended successfully! Day Two has also been grand! Here's my menu:

BF: two hard-boiled eggs with 2 tablespoons salsa, 15 almonds
Lunch: 4 slcs roast beef, 1 cup baby carrots, 1 cup cucumber, 1 laughing cow cheese wedge, 2 tablespoons almond butter
Dinner: Veggie stir-fry, boiled baby carrots, beef strips
Snack: 1/4 cup cashews, 1 tablespoon almond butter

Overall, a successful day because of two reasons: 1) I did not eat fruit. It's really important for me to learn to have fruit moderately, so I'm thinking 3x a week. Also, I avoided dairy - also important for me. (Not sure how dairy-free that cheese wedge was, but I figure at 35 cal it wasn't totally killing my Primal eating patterns). Tomorrow I'm going to strive for less nuts and more veggies. I like the idea of setting daily goals, because I KNOW I'll be able to keep those! I can do this. We can all do this!

Go Grok!

[AbigailLyn]

Congrats on your success so far! Fruit's the big one for me too and I've noticed it DEFINITELY drives my sugar level way up. Been trying cut up veggies but it's just not the same. Let me know if you find any strategies to kick that one

[nowakow2]

Also doing some heavy lifting tomorrow, and yesterday was a 30 minute walk and bike ride. Today has just been some walking to class, if you can count that.

[nowakow2]

Congrats on your success so far! Fruit's the big one for me too and I've noticed it DEFINITELY drives my sugar level way up. Been trying cut up veggies but it's just not the same. Let me know if you find any strategies to kick that one

Thanks! &tell me about it, fruit was such a staple in my diet! Esp when the USDA makes it seem you can eat either fruit OR veggies and of course everyone goes for fruits... but sometimes I'll eat carrots or celery with almond butter and it almost tastes a little bit sweet to me? The hardest habit to kick is "an apple a day!" I just try and make a conscious effort and it's hard but I'm excited that Day 3 is already around the corner!

[Hedonist]

Welcome. Good work dealing with your dining situation.

[nowakow2]

Day 3 is wrapping up and I'm still going strong. These three days flew by and I haven't messed up once! I'm assuming it's because of a few things: I can eat almond butter (nomnomnom...). I can have honey. I can have coffee. And I've also had Arctic Zero - the perfect icecream substitute. I actually only had it on day one and two, and at 37 cal per serving, good ingredients and low sugar & carb, I figured it would be following this life-style change and help me transition to a no sweets diet.

So I didn't meet my goal of eating less nuts (actually that's pretty much all I ate today) so I'll strive for that tomorrow.

Today's Intake:
BF: 1 cup baby carrots with 2 tablespoons almond butter, 1 cup coffee, 5 almonds
Lunch: 1/2 cup cashews, 1 orange
Snack: 2 tablespoons almond butter, 15 almonds, 1 cup chai tea with 2 tablespoons half & half
Dinner: 1 filet baked tilapia, about 1 1/2 cups steamed broccoli and cauliflower
Snack: ...more almond butter hahahah

Waayyyy too many nuts today! Most of my calories came from nuts. Definitely going to strive for more meat and veggies tomorrow.
I also did a strength class tonight and did some weight lifting. A pretty successful day Primal! On to tomorrow.

[nowakow2]

Today's Intake:

BF: egg omelet with 1 sausage, 3 small circle-slices of ham, chai tea with 1 spoonful of honey
Snack: 1 tablespoon almond butter
Lunch: fuji apple chicken salad from panera, small apple
Dinner: about 2/3 cup tuna salad, 13 baby carrots, 1/2 cup cucumber slices, small salad with tomato, eggs, green peas and cranberries

So I ate totally Primal again today, and successfully avoided dairy. I wasn't planning on getting that salad from Panera, however, so I had to decide quick, and I ate the salad with one little cup of dressing. Probably the only bad thing I ate today - maybe had a little too much fruit (cranberries + apple).

My tummy's feeling weird. And only have a slgiht headache today. I feel like counting these calories just for fun but probably will not haha... no work-out today, still sore from yesterday. Successfully avoiding all sweets - it's a miracle! I used to be addicted. Literally I would plan on certain trips to grocery stores and spend 20+ minutes looking at one section of ice cream or candy deciding which one would be the best purchase that I can enjoy by myself the most. It was really sad. I have waited a long time to be successful and this 30 day challenge is exactly what I need.

Day 4 coming to a close.

[nowakow2]

Day 5 ended with some strays from the Primal diet, but other than that was a good day. Saturday, however, has started off with pistachio gelato, candy corn, and more ice cream... has anyone come up with a good way to avoid sweets? Is the real secret willpower? How can I truly rid myself of this addiction? I am going to stop the madness and get right back on track. It's game day so that means Buffalo Wild Wings is in order, and I think it'll be relatively easy to go Primal there. But none the less, there have been far too many sweets entering my mouth in the past 24 hours. Stop this madness! I wouldn't say it's a binge, because I'm not eating it all at one time, it's like they're replacing my meals! Sigh. Nutrition is a life long struggle that I hope I will master.

[BeckaSki]

Nice work eating primal in a dorm room! I feel your pain a bit, since I travel almost 100% of the time for work, so I'm limited to a mini fridge and a microwave in a hotel room. I eat a lot of roast chickens from the deli. Last night I discovered pre-cooked shrimp, frozen broccoli, and pesto sauce. The pesto probably isn't the most primal in the world, but man it was tasty.

I used to be a sugar-holic like you, but I've found that the more I eat primal the less I'm interested in it. It was raw willpower at first, but I went with a zero tolerance approach to cutting it out and just didn't eat it. Now things I used to love, like oreos or candy corn, don't even smell good anymore.