Primal Journal (Ecks) page 7

[Lex26]

Welcome to the Scotch Egg Club! It's pretty sweet! I'll bet that's a good breakfast for a leptin resetter. But I can't give you much advice on that protocol yet. I just can't eat that much in the morning yet, so in the meantime I'm incorporating the other habits of not snacking, not eating too late and exercising after 5. Then when I feel I have the digestion issues under control, and if I'm not losing any weight, I'll start that 50 grams of protein breakfast. God, I want to steer clear of that - that's way too much for me right now. But maybe working out after dinner will eventually rev me up for it.

More food for thought on the plateaus (not that we shouldn't continue trying to eat and exercise as healthily as we can) but I've read that with some people, they stall for a while, stick with it and then all of a sudden the fat-burning floodgates opened. I think I read something by Robb Wolf that said it may take a little while for our livers to heal from years of abuse and then all of a sudden they work and people start losing the fat. There might be a process of certain hormones correcting themselves before everything works right. Here's a link to the Mark Sisson/Robb Wolf interview:

Guest Post: Robb Wolf Answers Your Paleo Diet Questions | Mark's Daily Apple

and what he says about slow weight loss:

Some previously obese folks struggle to get lean. What is the best strategy (carb refeeds, IF, calorie restriction?) to really lean out?

Again, this depends. We have seen people eating an anti-inflammatory paleo diet for upwards of a year with little change in scale weight. They feel better, but weight is slow to budge. Then suddenly, “something” changes and weight loss is rapid and easy. I talked to several people at the AHS and I think severe inflammation is at cause here, and it may just take some time to turn things around. Here is a list of things to consider in general with weight loss:

Sleep. Are you sleeping in a completely dark room, waking up without an alarm? No, then have NO expectations of fat loss. If it happens, you are lucky.
Overtraining. Think that extra “cardio” is going to help you lean out? Have you ever heard of the “fat aerobics instructor” paradox? Less is often more here.
Food intolerance. So you insisted on having cottage cheese and a piece of toast for breakfast, but otherwise eat “really clean”…food intolerance can fire systemic inflammation and stymie fat loss. Or, I just make all this up to be mean…
Mouth or vacuum cleaner. A handful of almonds is fine. A 3 lb Costco container…not so much.
So, I’d get that stuff squared away, make sure your vitamin D level is good, take some probiotics and give things at least 3-6 months. From here you may need to tinker with a little intermittent fasting (16 hrs is fine) and a bit of planned calorie restriction but the above should address the vast majority of folks.

[ecks]

Thanks lex! I always love the info that you pass on. (Makes me wonder if I should get rid of the cherry tomatoes and green peppers because nightshades were listed as a potential problem. I think I'm going to give in and get a daylight alarm clock as well... I sometimes have to get up at ungodly hours for work. (Was up at 4:45am this morning, out of bed for 5:05)

[CSilivestru]

I've always personally found that the nightshade restriction is a bit much but I would either remove as little as possible (and then keep taking away things one at a time) or remove everything at once and start adding things in one at a time. That way, I can always tell what affects me the most. If you remove the bare minimum and then take away things one at a time, it kinda works the same as the other way around :-). If that makes sense....

On another note, the sunrise alarm clock is some of the best money I've ever spent. I highly recommend one!! Especially if you need to wake up at odd hours. That alarm clock will mimic the same kind of light no matter what time of day it is.

[ecks]

CS! You've gotta pass me the model of clock you got. I trust your judgement on which ones are good.

[CSilivestru]

Done and done!
In Canada so your best bet is Amazon.ca -- Philips Wake-Up Light HF3470: Amazon.ca: Home & Garden

You could pay a little extra and get the better version but I think it's a waste since I would never use the "dusk" feature (just the opposite of the sunrise feature) and I don't care about having it play music since the point is to wake up with light!

Only 4 left in stock......

[ecks]

I dunno... something about being able to control the time of dusk every day sounds beneficial. Especially in canada when dusk happens (at least in my area) as early as 4:15 in the winter and as late as 10:45 in the summer.

[CSilivestru]

Yeah but if you're able to blacken out your room then the amount of light outside isn't as important. At least not for me :-). I think the version that does dusk is $40 more but do't quote me on that!

Either way -- buy one. You seriously won't regret it!

[ecks]

Does the light from the digital clock itself ever disrupt you?

[Robthetrackie]

All the best Ecks, I am sure you will get great results.

The Many stories from big guys here should show that very clearly!

And congratulations on taking the not very big leap into a very different, fun tasty way to live :-)

[CSilivestru]

I cover the light up with something for while I sleep (like a card, or any object I can put right up against it). But the digital clock light is adjustable and it can go very dim. As in, you can't see what it says unless it's very dark in the room :-).