Mike's Primal Journal page

[Fletch666]

Hey Y'all.

A bit of background, I suppose.

I'm 5' 9” and 40 years old. I'm an audio engineer (for a living) and occasional science-fiction/fantasy writer (a hobby that sometimes makes me a few bucks). Both 'jobs' entail sitting on my ass for long periods of time.

A decade ago I was 230lbs. I lost the weight by going the chronic cardio route and got down to 170lbs by running 65k a week. I managed to stay there for several years. I felt good and drank and ate a lot. It seemed like heaven. And then...blammo...catastrophe. My left knee made it clear in no uncertain terms that it was unwilling to keep running such distances. In fact, it didn't want to run at all.

Of course the weight slowly crept back on and in a few years I was back up to 200lbs. I tried jogging again but my knees threatened all-out rebellion. At some point I discovered Sparkpeople and calorie counting and I managed to drop my weight back to 180lbs. I religiously weighed my food and counted calories for three years. At some point I figured I had learned what a 'reasonable' amount of food was and stopped weighing and counting. Obviously I was wrong and my weight crept back up to 200lbs.

In April of 2011 I discovered Atkins. More weighing food and calorie counting. I found the VLC diet to be extremely easy and kept my carb intake under 20 grams a day and within 5 months was back to 175lbs. But I knew something was missing. Atkins worked, but it didn't feel like the whole answer. I decided it was time to try and educate myself on diet. CW was obviously crap. If I ate anywhere near 50% carbs I got fat and fast.

My studies led me here. I've been lurking and reading for a few weeks and made the transition to a Primal Diet. I've cut out all grains, sugar, and processed food. Whole foods only. Luckily I have an insane butcher right next door (all local, grass fed, no hormones, and beef is dry-aged 45+ days) and a fresh grocer across the street.

My weight has been holding steady, bouncing between 172-174lbs for several weeks. I love cheese. Probably too much. So I'm going to try cutting it out of my diet for a few weeks and see what happens.

I'm gonna time travel a bit and start yesterday.


Friday, Sept 23th, 2011

Weight: 173lbs

B: 2 coffee w/ 18% cream
L: Leftover chicken fried in butter w/ 3 eggs, broccoli
S: Nuts (macadamia, hazel, almonds)
D: Leftover chicken + 3 strips bacon fried w/ 3 eggsFriday, Sept 25th, 2011

Today was a sprints day and I completely ruined myself. Feels like I pulled pretty much every muscle in my groin. Oh yeah, I'm 40, not 20! I'm going to take it very easy this week and let stuff heal. Next week I'll start a little bit slower. Maybe just run kind of quickly.


Saturday, Sept 24th

Yeah, I already know what I'm going to eat today.

B: 2 coffee w/ 18% cream
L: Leftover chicken fried in butter w/ 3 eggs
S: Nuts (macadamia, hazel, almonds)
D: Salmon fillet, cauliflower

Today will be a Move Around VERY Slowly While Making Little Whimpering Noises day.

[Fletch666]

Oh yeah.
This weekend my daughter turns one.
At some point I'm going to have to face the dreaded BIRTHDAY CAKE at the in-laws.
As they're seriously Italian, I'm also going to be faced with huge plates of pasta.
Maybe I can convince the father-in-law to BBQ instead.

[Fletch666]

From now on I do these entries at the end of the day. Duh.

B: 2 coffee w/ 18% cream
L: Leftover chicken fried in butter w/ 3 eggs
S: Nuts (macadamia, hazel, almonds)
D: Salmon fillet (cooked in olive oil and white wine), asparagus

1 light beer
1 glass white wine
2 glasses red wine

[Hedonist]

Welcome. I hope primal goes well for you.

[Fletch666]

Thanks for the welcome, Hedonist. I checked out your blog and site. I'll be back to give it a more thorough reading over the next few days.

So...Today...
Avoided the obligatory plate of pasta and birthday cake, but I'm not sure it was worth the social repercussions. I think this might be one of those 80/20 things. Once every couple of months I'll eat a plate of pasta just to keep relations with the in-laws civil. In the greater scheme of things it shouldn't be a big deal. Right?
Anyway.

B: 2 coffee w/ 18% cream, 2 HB eggs
L: Unknown cut of Steak, lots of unknown meat kabab (very salty), salad w/ a shit-load of olive oil.
D: 1 glass red wine, 3 squares 85% dark chocolate (yeah, super healthy, eh?)
S: Nuts (macadamia, hazel, almonds)

1 Light beer

Exercise: 5k walk. A few handstands (with slight dipping action that may someday turn into actual handstand push-ups).

[Fletch666]

B: 2 coffee w/ 18% cream, 2 HB eggs
L: Pork sausage w/fennel seeds. From the local butcher so...hoping no weird crap was added.
D: Chicken breast, cauliflower, green & yellow beans, butter on the veg.
S: 3 squares 85% dark chocolate

Exercise: walked 10k. Some push-ups and planks.

[Fletch666]

B: 2 coffee w/ 18% cream
L: 3 eggs, 1 tomato, all fried in the fat from 4 strips bacon. This healthy eating is sooo hard!
D: Large salmon filet w/ cauliflower and a few carrots.
S: 2 squares 85% dark chocolate

Exercise: walked 10k. Some push-ups and planks.

[Fletch666]

B: 2 coffee w/ 18% cream
L: 3 eggs, 1 tomato, some mushrooms all fried in the fat from 4 strips bacon.
D: Striploin Steak w/ broccoli and a few carrots. My butcher is god.
S: Almonds and macadamia nuts.

Exercise: walked 10k. Some push-ups and planks. Figured out how to set up a chin-up bar. Hopefully I don't destroy any doors.

[Fletch666]

A long day with a constipated one year old. Let the ok times roll.

B: 2 coffee w/ 18% cream
L: 3 eggs, some mushrooms, one sausage all fried in butter
D: Roast chicken. A small amount of sweet potato, onions, green beans, carrots.
S: A hand-full of Almonds and macadamia nuts, 2 squares 95% cacao chocolate.

1 light beer.

It's weird, the chocolate used to be far too bitter to eat. Now it tastes sweet. What little sugar is in there I can taste.

I think my Dad is going to try the Primal thing. It'll be an interesting experiment. It's worked well for me, I'm curious to see what it does for a 70 year old.

[Fletch666]

Small Victories.
Today I stopped eating before my plate was empty. I am inordinately proud of myself. A little while back Mark talked about listening to your body. I'm trying. It ain't always easy, but I might be getting better at it.