Primal Summer Survival Plan (Primal-JoJo) page 2

[Primal-JoJo]

Aww thanks, everyone! I really appreciate all your encouragement! Self-restraint is really difficult for me, so this is definitely a big challenge. On the bright side, I have a lot of time being nearly 100% primal under my belt - so it's actually easier than I thought it would be - lots of stuff doesn't taste as good as I remember, and I'm pretty good at coming up with creative primal substitutes. Also, the last few weeks I gave in to many temptations - so I've sort of got things out of my system, and had enough shitty time in the bathroom (literally lol) to motivate me to keep at it.

@ Abby - I think its more my body being at a point where I can feel what's right for it, as opposed to self-restraint. There's no way I could have done this, just beginning primal.

Also it's not forever. Once I'm back at home, I'll go back to dealing with my 20% as I used to - I love trying all types of foods, and as long as I'm 90% primal, non-primal indulgences actually seem to help me keep up with my eating habits. @ Sabine - this journal is definitely just to keep track of myself so that I don't go over board, and weigh my indulgences accordingly during this extra challenging time.

@ Ecks - yeah, being a grad student with a flexible schedule rocks!!

@ Perks - what's the most original recipe you got??

[Primal-JoJo]

So my sister brought home this nifty little exercise toy! Unassuming little thing - it's an ab wheel and boy is it a challenge! I love it! I also love that I'm better than my sister at it lol. She's definitely the "sporty" one, and always looks fit and awesome, while I've always been sort of the wimpier one. So it was a surprise to both of us that I seemed to do well with this thing (yay planks!). At least on my knees. The real challenge is doing a full one from the standing up position.

I've realized that I love a challenge that seems near impossible. Seriously, when I tried to do the full exercise I thought my back was going to break in half. But I just can't help but take a crack at it every time I walk by it lol. This is gonna be fun.

I've also been learning to do pull-ups. Something else that a over a month ago seemed impossible. I can almost do 1 full pull-up. Which is pretty awesome considering I've only been practising sporadically whenever I find access to a bar. Muscle growth is a spectacular thing!

This shit is fo REALZ. I'm gonna be Sarah Connor bad ass.

[Primal-JoJo]

Day 4

As usual, got in a bit of sunbathing this morning. It was a bit cloudy at moments so that sucked, but I'm sure it was enough to get some vitamin D. The tan's not looking too shabby either. Hope it's sunny tomorrow morning too! Honestly, I think I just want an excuse to wear my new bathing suit more. It's so cute and colourful- hot pink with colourful leopard print *squee*! Plus I look pretty darn good in it. I think it keeps me motivated to get into that bathing suit every morning and check out my flat stomach. Yes, primal has made me completely and totally vain. It's not perfect, but damn do I love my body more than ever! I finally feel like I've finally got my body figured out. Primal has made me feel so much more in touch with it. Getting up and seeing and feeling my non-bloated hour-glass figure just makes me want to nourish the shit out of it! Anyways, I'll stop now...

Fitness: After sunbathing, I did some strength training. Just a bunch of random stuff: weighted squats, pushups, bicep curls, dips, weighted lunges, ab wheels. Felt the burn. My sister also bought some 10 lb weights recently, so those have been kicking my ass. Glad she didn't get wimpy weights. Also did some more random ab wheels through out the day.

Took my supplements: B12 and omega 3 x3. Then I basically sort of IFed today. Wasn't really hungry and didn't eat til about 2pm (that said I don't get up early, 10, 11am ish lately). Around 2 I had some sauerkraut and some cold cuts and cheese. Felt too lazy to make a proper meal, plus we were out of eggs!

Dinner: Dinner sucked today. But I just sort of accepted it. Sometimes I feel like a primal snob and I hate myself for it, so I didn't complain too much about and just ate it. IFing is fine for breakfast or lunch, as everyone's kind of on their own for that. But I don't wanna ditch dinner with everyone. I like family dinners. And a lot of the time my sisters skip out, so I try not to, just to be social and show that it's important to me. Anyways, dinner was (all home-made, but bleh...) french fries, caesar salad with crappy store bought dressing and bbq sausages (that I find way too salty). But I ate it all. The portions were actually pretty small (for everyone) so that's good, but not quality eatings unfortunately. 20%... tomorrow's another day.

Dessert: My "crack", dark chocolate with coconut oil and tea with honey and whipping cream. Although surprisingly for "crack", one piece and one teaspoon or so seems to do it.

I think this forum is actually more like crack. I've always been a bit of a nerd, and I've just remembered how much I used to love blogging and forums. Been staying up late lately as I really love reading new posts. I'm gonna try to cut it out tonight and just read a book instead. I'm done eating for today... but I may have some camomile tea with cream and honey later if I hear any rumbles from down below later.

Laterz.

[his_chick]

I love how happy you seem! I'm loving reading your posts! I'm the only primal person ins my world too so it is interesting to see people's reactions and slow acceptance. Your love of food really makes me smile too, I love food and can not imagine not being able to eat the things I love. Good thing that I love primal foods I suppose. Happy day!

[Primal-JoJo]

Day 5

Yesterday was a pretty fantastic day! Pretty primal, and lots of fun times

As per usual, some sunbathing to start the day. I hope the sunshine continues! Haha or maybe not. I suppose I could use some rainy days to get some reading in for school - have definitely been neglecting my studies. But eff it. Life is too short to work all the time.

Took my supplements: B12 and Omega3x3.

No crazy exercise today. Was freaking sore from the day before! Yay ab wheel! My arms and shoulders and abs were feeling it. Gotta improve the squats and lunges though, or do more. Cuz I wasn't very sore from those.

IFed til about 2. So I had a pretty late brunch.

Brunch: Scrambled eggs with bacon and sausage. Tomatoes with sour cream, green onions and s+p.

Then me and my sis went strawberry picking! Sooo much fun. And delicious. Finally, we didn't miss strawberry season, as we usually do. We always forget, and by the time we usually remember, strawberry season is done. Not this time.

Snack: Lots of strawberries!

Then I had some fun times hanging out with Ecks! We haven't really hung out since highschool, but it was great to catch up and hang out. It was a really fun evening! We went for some walking in the park. So I guess technically I did do some exercise. Then we went out to a really neat restaurant called Bhima's Warung, that had some pretty close primal options. The meat was from Ecks' butcher and everything was seasonal and organic. I think it was an Indonesian place, but they did also have some Vietnamese dishes so not totally sure.

Dinner was: Pork ribs in some sort of hoisin sauce with lots of veggies on the side. This was super good! My only issue with it was the sauce was bit too sweet for my tastes. My pre-primal self would have loved it more lol. Then I had milkey, honey, ginger tea. This was also delicious, but a bit overkill (and by a bit I mean A LOT, lol) on the honey. Unfortunately, I didn't feel well after this. BUT I did enjoy it, and will definitely make a more primal version of this tea at home some time. I have to say, overall this experience has taught me that my taste for sugar has seriously decreased, which is good as I'll be more careful now when eating to make sure to ask if something is very sweet before I eat it, also it gives me a little more motivation to avoid the sweets at my parents' house.

I have to say though, the restaurant was seriously top notch. I'm usually pretty hard to impress at a restaurant, since I cook a lot of crazy things and usually feel I can make a dish better (and cheaper lol) at home. So for a restaurant to impress me, it has to serve me something that I've never eaten before. The tea definitely did this for me. Same with Eck's amazing curry he had. Plus the portions were quite generous! Just lots of great flavours. Would love to go back and try more stuff!

Really, really great night! Thanks Ecks! You're definitely my kind of company!

[Primal-JoJo]

@ his_chick - yeah thank god primal foods are most of my favourite foods!

[Primal-JoJo]

Day 6

So the day started off right. Sunny, cute bathing suit, flat stomach, sunbathing, not hungry, IFing, good vibes... and then the door bell rang. It was my neighbour (Polish as well) bearing gifts of.... APPLE FRITTERS!!! AAHHHH %&*#$*@@%# OMFG!!!!!

Warm and freshly fried, wholly eff! Hahaha not even being in my bathing suit could stop me from eating not one, but TWO of these babies!! I held back, lol, but only cuz we had to save some for my Dad. But wow. Okay, so seriously, no regrets. They were truly heavenly. Not too sugary either which was nice. The best of the best of Polish crack. I also seemed to get away without any ill after-effects - so bonus. Anyways, so much for IFing til 2 as usual, lol. But afterwards I did my work-out, so I guess it's all good. The rest of the day was primal.

Fitness: Strength training today. Upon Eck's suggestion I tried a timed 100 squats. I did it in about 3:55 mins. I hadn't had enough so I kept going. Did my ab wheel exercises (still loving this thing!! so fun!), push-ups, weighted lunges, side planks, dips, and then I did a wall sit and did 15 bicep curls with the 10lb weights in each hand. Okay, I'd BETTER be sore tomorrow, as I literally collapsed after that last one. I did a few sets of the above.

Lunch: Left overs from last night; a rib and some veggies. Shared it with my grandma, who was impressed. Had a few strawberries from yesterday.

Supplements: B12 and omega 3x3.

Dinner: Cabbage soup (sooo yummy, a Polish classic); made my own side salad since I didn't want to eat the shitty soybean oil filled caesar dressing my mom was using. My salad was: romaine, carrots (julienned with the peeler Ecks gave me! He's so sweet! And I had too much fun making my carrots!), green onions and parsley from the garden, sour cream, mustard and s+p. Some more primal BBQ drumsticks (2) and a small potato with butter.

Later snack: piece of dark chocolate and half a banana.

I also went for a walk and wandered around the grocery store by my house after dinner. I finally found some pork rinds!!! Can't wait to try those bad boys out! I also bought a macaroon treat in the health section - it looks good and pretty primal! I'm making salmon for dinner tomorrow - so I'm looking forward to that! I also bought some coconut flour, and cannot wait to make myself a little goody tomorrow with those strawberries But I'll discuss that more tomorrow...

[Primal-JoJo]

Day 7

Sunbathing. Check. Feel like I got a bit too much sun today. No burn... but yeah. Gonna cover up over the weekend, take a break. (I'll miss you bathing suit!!!)

Lunch: Coconut flour pancake made with 3 eggs. Strawberries and whipped cream on top. Oh yeah!

Snack: A few pieces of salami, and piece of cheese.

Dinner: Made my salmon florentine (recipe here). Everyone loved it! This also came with a side of rice, made with broth, garlic powder, fresh green onions and parsley - I had a bit. Also made my summer citrus salad: spinach, carrots (julienned! haha I'll never get sick of using that peeler!), red pepper, green onions, lemon juice, lemon rind, balsamic and evoo.

Dessert: Tea with lemon and honey.

Snack: Pepperette thingy from the euro store.

No exercise today - rest day.

[Metric]

Subscribed.

[Primal-JoJo]

Weekly Recap 1

Week 1 complete! Yay! I feel like my 20% wasn't too shabby: 4 perogies, 2 bites of bread, cappuccino, 1/2 piece poppy seed cake, crappy dinner on Day 4 (that was out of my hands), super sweet tea when eating out, and 2 apple fritters. I'm pretty happy with this considering all the bad stuff I did manage to avoid and that I could have easily eaten all the above just in one day, but that's one week.

I've managed to avoid quite a bit of bread. There's temptations some mornings when my mom's toasting some bread - I used to love toasted bread - especially the rye bread my mom gets from the euro store. Luckily I'm not hungry when I first get up and have IFed through this, and then made my own primal brunches. There was also a fresh loaf of white french style crusty bread bought the other day. THANK GOD I went out that day and avoided that. Also dodged ice cream.

I've also sort of made the rule to not touch processed, store bought desserts. Stuff like coffee cake or doughnuts, that are usually super sweet and not that satisfying. Same with all the little biscuits and chocolates that are store-bought. Dodged some of that this week as well. I figure if I skip this stuff, I can enjoy home-made stuff more freely. (Like more apple fritters, LOL!)

I also tend to snack on deli meats, which are not the best. But they're pretty fresh from the euro store, so I'm hoping they're a bit better than what you get from the grocery store. But oh well, can't really help that. I figure my omega 3's should help even that out.

All in all I'm pleased. I've learned that I can resist temptations right in front of me, planning really helps, as do boundaries, i.e., allowing home-baked goods but not processed. It also helps that my mom plans dinner usually the day before and asks for my input. She doesn't always really listen to me, but at least I have a chance to think of ways to dodge stuff.

I'm also super happy about my fitness. I've finally gotten back into walking a lot this week, which was a conscious effort. On my own, walking is usually just part of my lifestyle, so I don't have to think about it. Lately I've been pretty lazy, since I don't really have any responsibilities or places to go. So glad I've done better on that. Also really enjoying my strength training!! This is the most I've ever enjoyed working out. Surprisingly, this last while I've also had some of the best energy levels I've had since going primal. That's something I've always struggled with. Probably being on vacation and not worrying about anything lately has something to do with it...

Tomorrow's my Dad's birthday and we're heading to the falls. On the way out we're surprising him by stopping by this lake side restaurant he's always wanted to try. I think for the weekend I'm gonna let my guard down a bit and let stuff go. I'll try not to go crazy, but if there's a bread basket and it's tasty bread, I'm going for it, no regrets. And if the bday cake is something good (like a specialty cake from a real bakery, not grocery store bought), might do that as well. After the weekend, back to primal dodgeball lol.

If any one's got any comments on if this looks like an acceptable 20% let me know what you think. Also any comments and suggestions in general are more than welcome!