Wren's Primal Journal - Recovering Adrenal Function page 5

[Wrenwood]

Jeez, I haven't been here in over a week! I still browse the forum almost every day though; just got my journal in the mail so it's time to fit that into the routine.

Had a birthday this week, celebrated with a lovely serving of gelato. Not primal but hey, delicious. I have one square of very dark chocolate most days too, it's barely above baking chocolate in sweetness but I love the taste. If I really want a treat, I put a little almond butter on it - YUM. I'm gradually wanting less of dairy and the falafel chips (no matter how I spell that word, it looks wrong) that were my other indulgence. No grains. No sugar. More salads recently. And I scored a large supply of really good, thick-cut bacon that is awesomely good.

It's really strange that my weight has been exactly the same for 2+ weeks now, but my clothes are getting noticeably loose. I can't figure that one out but it's OK with me. Now wearing size 12 pants, was a 14 or 16 when I started. So that's nice. I've been walking every few days, sometimes for up to 2 hours intermittently. Perhaps that's what's causing the shrinkage.

PrimalPumpkin, thanks for the kind words about Cat. Are you a pet parent too? I went right out and adopted another one who is ridiculously adorable, and so happy to have a home and be loved (he was a shelter rescue) that he makes up for the loss. Cat#1 was a stray who showed up in my yard, starving, filthy, and hollering at the top of his lungs for an owner. How could I say no? He barely had a year with me but it was a sweet one.

[Wrenwood]

Good primal weekend - spent about 3 hours just walking around over the last couple of days, felt really good to be moving. I still have to take it slow and rest often, but it's still an improvement.

I just went through three bags of my clothes from storage, and there are a bunch of things in there to try on. Yay, shopping without spending money.

I also found out I've been overcooking the grassfed beef (someone posted a link to Eat Wild yesterday - thanks, whoever you were!) and tonight's burgers with pico de gallo and sour cream were delicious. Made a smoothie for lunch with coconut milk, blueberries and half an avocado - it had great staying power with all that yummy fat.

No change on the weight loss front. I've been reading through the new journal to decide on what changes I want to experiment with and track. I have this fantasy where I can do at least one pull-up and I'm considering where I could put a bar in my house. DH used to hang from the hallway vent into the attic space but he was a LOT taller than me - I will come up with something. I still have his weights too, no way I can lift them properly but I could just move them from room to room periodically for a good workout.

Perhaps I'll try on some clothes tonight for motivation!

[Wrenwood]

So I tried on clothes the other night. Doubled my laundry with things I can wear now that haven't fit in 2+ years - yay!

Had an excellent primal day - I had been extra-hungry for several days and realized yesterday that I had gradually made the evening meal my largest. Before I was eating most of my calories before 3pm - switched back to that and it made a big difference.

The adrenal situation seems to be steadily improving too. I'm not ready to go throw truck tires around in the yard or run sprints on the beach barefoot, but I can work a full day and then go for a walk steadily for 20-40 minutes without having to rest which is a major increase in energy.

Life is so much better than it was when I first stumbled in here.

[Judg]

Wren, I'm so glad to hear you're making such good progress. And it's interesting that you find it works better for you to eat earlier. There was another woman on here who found the precise opposite. Just goes to show there's no one size fits all.

[Wrenwood]

Hi Judg, thanks! Cute profile pic too, you look liked you've lost more weight.

Yes, although I have been frustrated recently by the slow speed of recovery, I am definitely doing better bit by bit. However he past week has been just horrible for sleep - I wake up after 5 -6 hours and have a hard time getting back to sleep - which tends to make me a slug. I may be in bed by 9pm tonight since I woke up at 4:52am! So I ran around with my sister for several hours today and wore out my feet, hoping I'll be really tired tonight.

I started using the Primal Blueprint journal at the beginning of August and also wrote down all my measurements, body fat %, bone mass etc (my scale calculates those). I plan to compare it all at the start of September and see what I accomplished. It also helped me realize that I spend very little time on anything that counts as Play. So I am making a conscious effort to increase that (without turning it into work!)

Today I did 10 wall pushups for the first time. Seeing as I couldn't do one on the floor, and would last about 2 seconds in a plank, that's a start.

Still doing fine eating primally. I cut out almond butter over a week ago and have no more desire for the felafel chips. I wish I could bring myself to eat organ meats, I just can't get past the squick factor even though I think they would be good for me. Probably some childhood trauma relating to liver holds me back. Ah well.

[Judg]

Yes, I did lose a little weight between the two avatars, about 10 pounds I would guess. The old one was from my niece's wedding, at the end of last year, and the new one is only a few days old. I have not been a fast loser lately, but that's okay. There are few areas in which "Slow and steady wins the race" is more true than weight loss. When I lose my motivation, I stall, but I don't pack it back on.

Congrats on your progress. And for getting started on wall pushups. We all have to start somewhere.

I'm not a great fan of liver either. I do have one recipe I've been making for years and which my kids all loved (!) which I'll be making in a few days. Hubby's been asking for it. It's for chicken liver. I do eat beef or pork liver occasionally, but more out of a sense of duty. I'm getting better at preparing it.

[Wrenwood]

Funny, I remember liking chicken livers as a kid, now that I think about it. Paleobird posted a recipe for liver pate that I might try - heck, I used to eat braunschweiger so it can't be that much worse!

I think I am now doing a leptin reset experiment. I read a bunch about it last night, got up this morning and had a huge (for me) breakfast at 6:30am. Two eggs and a tin of kippers plus my usual coffee. I had to make myself eat it... but then I didn't want lunch until 6 hours later. I read a bunch on the Jack Kruse site yesterday - he gives a lot to sift through, wish it were more organized for someone coming in late to the party. Interesting though. I read Mark's blog posts on the subject tonight and they cleared up some things for me. I appreciate his accessible style.

<yawn> Seems to make me look forward to bed too! Not lethargic, but very not-wound-up.

[Wrenwood]

A quick post before I log off the computer - I'm trying to shut off the electronics earlier in the hopes of improving my sleep.

The leptin reset thing is harder than I expected. This morning the idea of eating so much was just "blargh" so I had my usual bacon and eggs and coffee at 6:30. I was *hungry* at 10:30 so I had lunch, then didn't eat again for 8 hours. That was a surprise!

My new plan is to spend a week or two getting used to eating a normal breakfast so early, and then gradually increase the amount of food. I've improved the primality (is that a word?) of my meals too - a little bit of goat cheese occasionally and cream in my coffee of course, but no other dairy, and no taste for fruit at all, which is good because I don't need the sugar.

I cooked some awesome coconut ginger garlic chicken the other day. Also discovered that grass fed ground beef is excellent topped with salt, pepper and chopped avocado. Tomorrow I shop, I may ask the butcher for broth bones and some fat to render.

Oh yes, and this morning I felt like taking a half-hour walk before work... what a surprise! Perhaps my adrenals are picking up steam finally.

[Wrenwood]

Yesterday I ate a big chicken-walnut-romaine salad from a restaurant for lunch - should have asked them to hold the walnuts which turned out to be CANDIED, limit the cranberries as they put on 1/4 cup, and switch the punishingly sweet strawberry vinaigrette for something/anything else. This morning I feel like crap. But it's good this happened, because next weekend I have a 3-day work seminar from 9am-9pm and I won't be able to control what I eat unless I pack all my food. Which I may just do.

On the plus side of things, I've lost 2 lbs in the past week after 6 weeks of stall. Maybe the leptin reset WOE is doing something, not enough data to evaluate yet.

[Wrenwood]

Gave up on the leptin reset for a few days. I may try it again, I haven't decided. I just don't like to eat so much so early in the day.

On the positive side, I just checked my exercise records and I have walked anywhere from 30 mins to 2 hours for 7 out of the last 8 days. This is amazing progress. A month ago a walk around the block was all I could do and that not every day.

Sleep is still not good though. I woke up at 5am today, couldn't go back to sleep, then accidentally took an hour-long nap at 5pm. Now it's after 11pm and I am wide awake. This may not bode well for tomorrow and I have a busy day planned. Oh well.