primal4fifty... and beyond! page

[primal4fifty]

Hi...
New member/new journal...

No reason to start today other than the fact that I was busy the other 3 days of the new year, and now I have a moment carved out to start!

Enjoy this site; enjoy reading the journals of others....

Started eating primal the weekend after Thanksgiving 2011. Just fed up with feeling overweight, and ready for something new! This was after 3 months of unlimited zumba, pilates and yoga at a wonderful dance studio in my neighborhood. I was in splendid cardiovascular condition, but my weight had hardly budged. I had lost about 20 pounds a few years ago doing calorie counting on sparkpeople, but I was hungry much of that time and the minute my attention strayed from religious calorie counting my weight gradually drifted back up...

So, I was ready to try something radically new and different for me. I was aware of the issues around low-carb diets, but frankly found them unaesthetic. No vegetables? Puhleeze! And I hate craptastic fakey foods like lite mayo or fat-free brownies. Having been raised a Christian Scientist as a child I just never ventured into the whole "food allergy/elimination diet" morass... I figured if the food was healthy and wholesome homemade organic food, how could any of it hurt me? But after being an effortlessly thin and fit young woman, I had morphed into a very stocky, chunky yet still active middle aged woman. Who wanted to wear a bikini again. In this lifetime, thank you very much.

So I stumbled on this site and the more I read, the more it made sense... Decided I would jump in the weekend after Thanksgiving because if you can eliminate grains and sugars in the 4 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas that's gonna make the next 11 months feel easy! My waist immediately slimmed; my breasts lost a cup size... but the amazing thing was that I was sleeping like a normal person again, 6 or 7 hours without interruption! And I felt so positive and energetic, not sleepy or cranky after dinner.

I started at 187 lbs.; my low December weight was 178. I drift around 3 or 4 lbs in any direction so I'll probably only record one, lowest weight each month going forward. I went off plan the week between Christmas and the new year... my MIL was in hospital and I spent a week actively running her household, cooking and entertaining for other visiting family members and just generally stressed out by her medical situation, the logistics of moving my family there, etc. etc. I would say I ate 50/50 primal/SAD that week and I was impressed by how stark, how clear the consequences were! I was a little disappointed at myself, but the learning curve it provided was invaluable so in hindsight I am grateful. It was a tough week and I learned some very important lessons. The beauty of primal eating is that it is a lot like the newspaper business: you're only as good (or bad) as your last meal, and each new meal provides a place to begin again....

I don't like to proselytize or preach about my new eating habits. I live in liberal, tree-hugging Sonoma County and let me tell you, there is nothing so tedious as a middle class, middle aged woman who would like to "share" her dietary restrictions with a broad audience! hahaha! So I am practicing what I call Dorothy Parker primal: "Never complain. Never explain." I smile sweetly and just say no thank you to anything I don't want to ingest. I have had people ask me what I am "doing" which always makes me smile... (Botox? Kick box? Sex toy? Boy toy?) And one of my very best friends decided to go primal with me, which is fun!

Because I am a wife and mother, I continue to cook and serve a lot of standard foods. We already ate a lot of locally produced organics and pastured animal foods. I just generally incorporate in extra choices or options for primal combinations. For instance, we host a weekly pasta night for guests (my husband is Italian American), and I just set out a dish of spaghetti squash or zucchini ribbons or eggplant cubes in addition to whatever pasta noodle is being served with a homemade sauce. Last night I made latkes, and there were 6 or 8 lovely pale gold turnip latkes in addition to the dozen or so made with potatoes. Again, without much commentary or fanfare. I think being at table together should be treated as a sacrament, not a station of the cross, and I don't enjoy harping on foods being "bad" or "good." I am blessed to be a competent, confident cook so adding/tweaking a few new dishes each meal doesn't flummox me.

I still use a small number of convenience items, like lemonnaise for mayo, and I will lightly sweeten things with some maple syrup or honey if I want them sweeter than they are naturally. I drink a glass or two of wine most evenings. And I like to end every day with a small square of super dark chocolate, which I wash down with a big helping of gratitude for my day, for the abundance of life, for love and health and all that good stuff. So I'm not perfect and don't imagine I ever will be!

I don't have a weight goal... (Underachiever here)... I'm really not the same woman I was 15 or 20 years ago, so I find it hard to pin a number on myself. I'm 5'6" and I have an athletic, broad shouldered build with long, strong limbs. I'm breasty and always looking for a little more junk in my trunk. I wear an 8/10 in pants and skirts, and a 10/12 in dresses and blouses at my current weight. I suppose that 150 would be a good healthy weight for me, and would probably take me down a size or two in the process. I'll start taking pictures at the end of the month maybe... just to see my progress... if I can muster up the proper mojito of narcissism and diligence to make it in front of a camera clad only in sports bra and swim briefs!

I would like to get a running start on age 50. I turn 49 this spring (an age that could probably be better described as one-year-away-from-50... it seems to loom large, that milestone!) I intend to keep zumba dancing as much as I want throughout the week because that is pure joy, and not really even very taxing at this point because I was a dancer as a young woman. I walk a lot; just started sprinting. I enjoy sprinting. Lifting heavy things is harder for me. I am figuring out how to begin. All I've done so far is some body resistance work at the park parcourse where I walk my dog.

So here I'll just record how its going... what I've eaten maybe... what I've tried. When I fail (and I will fail! repeatedly!) I'll look for a lesson, if any, dust myself off and get back on task. Minimal whining; maximum fun. Grateful... always grateful... for the chance to be more, to try something new, to learn some new and surprising truth about myself.

Thanks to anyone looking in! I look forward to seeing you around the site...

xo L

[dave155]

Hi L, I love your approach of just saying no and quielty presenting alternatives to the SAD. I also love where you live. I'm in Chicago and don't have the enjoyable outdoor activities you have there in beautiful California!

Good luck with your journey!

Dave

[primal4fifty]

Thanks for the encouragment, Dave. I do love it here in wine country... but Chicago is one of America's great cities! And I go up to oregon regularly to do all the snowy, blustery cold stuff that I can't do at home. Do you get enough snow accumulation to snowshoe or xcountry ski the parks in the winter? When I lived in the northeast it was in Pittsburgh, and that's a place that doesn't get a very generous snow accumulation most years. But it certainly was cold! Warm regards, L

[namelesswonder]

Your attitude is lovely! I look forward to reading more about your adventures into primal living. Do you think you will incorporate any strength training? I'm jealous of your Zumba classes, I am really uncoordinated and can't keep up with even the most basic series of dance moves.

[winencandy]

Hi primal4fifty!

Your attitude is lovely! I look forward to reading more about your adventures into primal living. Do you think you will incorporate any strength training? I'm jealous of your Zumba classes, I am really uncoordinated and can't keep up with even the most basic series of dance moves.

What she said
My friends are trying to talk me into Zumba classes...but I KNOW what will happen

[primal4fifty]

Thanks you guys! I've visited both of your journals... the journals are fun, arent they? Liked the image of you, wonder, and the boyfriend rolling thru the grocery with you saying "no!" to almost everything. I do that with my husband: look at a food and very quietly, just for him, say "i don eat dat!" We laugh a lot about it, but he's not laughing at the changes in me... And you are a funny, funny girl Wine'n Candy! Hearty belly laughs peppered throughout your journal. Well, I've got to pack it in for the night. Had a girls-nite-out dinner with my little ones and my primal friend and now need to get all settled for bed. Great first journal day. Thank you all. Tomorrow I'll discipline myself to talk about what i've actually done, not just what I hope to do... L

[Hedonist]

I think being at table together should be treated as a sacrament, not a station of the cross.

I love it. Great post.

[primal4fifty]

Thanks Hedonist! And I checked out your website... I am seriously going to make some of your siracha guacamole! Love that stuff; i use it to make buffalo chicken wings...
And back a few posts, re: Zumba... Just try it! Its fun. If all the steps seem overwhelming at first, just try to tackle a particular song or a few steps at a time. Don't incorporate the turns until you've watched enough to block them out mentally... and if you start to drift, focus on the beat, then the feet, then the rest of the body (eg, just match the beat first with a noncommital bounce in place... get the feet moving with the basic steps... then worry about what the arms are doing, etc.... it always works... and your brain will begin to train itself to learn zumba routines just like it trains itself thru repeatedly doing crosswords, or practicing an instrument, or riding a bike. Its mainly embarrassment that stops people from pushing on thru in dance... And trust me: nobody's watching you! nobody really cares how you're doing! everybody's just trying to make it thru themselves!)

So yesterday was pretty good:

This is what I ate: Primal Blueprint's hot 'cereal' with half a banana, coconut milk, and some chopped nuts. I am in love with this dish. I haven't missed oatmeal because I never really loved it that much. This, I love! Two thin slices of deli ham, griddled. Coffee w/a little heavy cream. A cup of leftover homemade french onion soup with about half an ounce of grated gruyere melted on top. I'm a cheese fiend... trying to use it more like a condiment and less like an undignified binge... Flavor restaurant burger with Pt. Reyes blue, bacon, caramelized onions; no bun; green salad in balsamic vinaigrette on the side. Two glasses of wine. Two squares 85% cacao dark chocolate. No snacks... this amazes me. When I want a snack I have one... But to not want a snack? Shocking!

This is what I did: Rode my bike a little on some short errands (I'm a eurotrash biker, not a spandex biker... i like to go slow and enjoy the street scene); about 50 minutes of Zumba, full tilt because I know this instructor's stuff; walked downtown for my dinner out.

Here's how I slept: Well, but not enough. My bad: stayed up late watching 'Bridesmaids' whilst chatting on FB with an old friend in my hometown...

Hope everyone has a truly splendid primal day! L

[namelesswonder]

With that description of your biking habits, I imagine you on a new vintage-styled bike with the mustache handlebars. I'm a struggling biker: I can't get anywhere quickly.

[primal4fifty]

speed is overrated! and yes, you've nailed me... I have a townie electra cruiser with 3 speeds, fauxwicker front and back baskets that detach for shopping, and a cunning little coconut tiki cup holder which mostly holds water bottles but occasionally conceals an actual open container when i make my annual visit to the strand in soca. i like to bike in dresses. and heels. so slow it is. xoL