First week page

[Tiger]

This is my first post, so I figured I'd ask how my attempt at a Primal lifestyle shapes up to y'all.


A little background info: I'm a college student who commutes from about 15 miles away to get to class, plus I help my sis take care of our disabled dad, so I really don't have time to hit the gym for lifting. Nor do I want do, I hate gyms, especially with all the campus gym rats.


I'm 5'3", around 130 lbs, a LOT of lower body muscle and smaller arms. Downside: I'm out of shape and not that strong or have a lot of endurance.


Here's how the week went---


---Tuesday---

Breakfast: 3 egg omelet fried in 1 pat butter with 1 cup chopped baby spinach, a green bell pepper and a few jalapenos cooked in olive oil


Lunch: 1 salad with around 4 cups baby spinach, 3 oz turkey, 4 oz ham, some shredded cheese, almonds, broccoli, some olive oil and a half packet of Chick Fil A honey roasted bbq.


Dinner: Chicken with peppers cooked in olive oil, 1 cup of broccoli and 2/3 cup of yellow squash (all from frozen cooked on the stove) and 2 cups of baby spinach as a salad.


Snack after workout/before bed: 1 cup 2% milk (all I had).


Sorry, no nutritional facts, didn't keep them. All I remember was around 1800 calories with around 75-80 carbs.


Workout:

Walked to classes (total of 1/2 mile to and from class from parking garage, running up a total of 10 flights of stairs and squeezing my abs for about 30 minutes, all spread out through the day).


Tabata bodyweights in bedroom, 20 sec on 10 rest: Pushups

dips

squats (prisoner and "crab" squats, which works the groin muscles)

calf raises

supermans (lay on the floor, lift legs and chest)

mt. climbers

burpees - all as far as I can remember, maybe did more.


---Wednesday---


Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with a couple jalapenos and a half of a bell pepper all in two pats of butter. 1 cup of blueberries.


Lunch: An apple before my geography class at 12:30.


After class - Salad with 5 cups of baby spinach, some broccoli, cauliflower, almonds, carrots, a small amount of red beans (bad idea, tasted bad), about 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, olive oil and a full packet of ChickFilA honey roasted bbq.


Dinner: 1 cup of green beans and a 5 oz chicken breast cooked in olive oil. 1 salad at bowling with lettuce, shredded cheddar, black olives, sliced ham, bacon, tomatoes and yellow mustard (if you can't tell, I HATE salad dressing with a passion).


nutritional data: nil, sorry.


Workout:

Besides walking to classes, bowled league from 6-9:30.


In bedroom; prisoner workout, 25 reps of:

pushups

dips

mt climbers

prisoner squats

squat jumps

close-grip pushups

"wall angels" (perfect since I don't have a pullup bar in the house: back and butt against a wall, raise arms above your head and reach all the way up against the wall; bring them down, shoulders straight and elbows at 90 degrees, flexing shoulder and back muscles, all against the wall)

wall sit for 45 seconds - once

elevated planks (front and both sides for 1 minute) - all as far as I can remember, maybe did more.


---Thursday---

Breakfast: 3 egg omelet fried in 1 pat butter with 1 cup chopped baby spinach, an orange bell pepper and a jalapeno cooked in olive oil.


Lunch: Salad with 4 cups spinach, 10 baby carrots, broccoli, 2.5 oz turkey, 4 oz ham, 1/4 cup cottage cheese, almonds, olive oil.


Dinner: A 5 oz hamburger patty (sorry, needed some ground beef!) with 1 cup green beans and 1 cup baby spinach with hamburger fat as a dressing (wish I had more)


After workout/before bed: 1/3 cup prunes (I know, I know, it blew my goal of around 50g carbs)


nutritional data:

Calories - 1,696

Fat - 100.5 grams

Carbs - 85.3 grams

Protein - 123.6 grams


Workout, apart from walking to classes: Tabata sprints, barefoot. 3 sets of 20 sec sprint, 10 rest with a 90 second rest at the end because I'm out of shape. Another 20/10 and a a 15 before I just quit from exhaustion. Felt good, just too gassed to continue.


---Friday---

Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with a half green bell pepper and 5 oz ground turkey fried in 1 pat of butter. 1/2 cup of blueberries.


Lunch: McDonald's Caesar salad with grilled chicken and 1 pack of honey mustard (ran dad around town since I don't have classes on Friday)


Dinner: 5.25 oz of beef stew meat cooked with the other half of green bell pepper in olive oil with a sauce (10 cherry tomatoes, 1 jalapeno and a teaspoon of Sriracha pepper sauce; added water to thin, HUGE mistake!). Also, 1 cup broccoli and 1 1/2 cup yellow squash, both boiled from frozen and 1 cup baby spinach.


Nutritional info:

Calories: 1,748

Fat: 104.6 grams

Carbs: 62.5 grams

Protein: 146.6 grams


Workout: Being my rest day (along with Mondays; giving plasma and night class on Monday), no formal exercise. Did help my sister clean out a cluttered house for about 3 hours from 9-5ish, running my dad around town and getting errands done between 11-4.


---Saturday---

Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with 1 green bell pepper, 2 jalapenos and 3 oz of leftover pork cooked in 1 pat butter.


Snack: handful of almonds (about 2/3 serving roughly)


Lunch: Mcdonald's: Grilled chicken Caesar salad and 10 Chicken McNuggets with Honey Mustard and sweet chili sauce (I goofed, I know, I was hungry by this time and a 274 calorie salad wasn't going to do it)


Dinner: 5 oz. chicken breast with 1 green bell pepper cooked in a little over 1 pat butter with tomato sauce from last night. 1 cup broccoli and 1 cup spinach.


Nutritional info:

Calories: 1,780

Fat: 90.8 grams

Carbs: 87.3 grams

Protein: 159.5 grams


Workout:

Completed Bodyweight 100 in 4:08. Celebrated with a quick 1/2 block sprint back to the house from playground. Also, worked with sister at cluttered house from 9ish until 6ish, hauling more stuff and whatnot.


---Sunday---

Breakfast: Quick smoothie (1/2 blueberries with 1/2 cup 2% milk and 1 tablespoon of honey blended with ice)


Lunch: Chinese buffet. Had 3 small pieces of sashimi (2 with LONG pieces of imitation crab and 1 salmon with small amounts of rice), 2 sticks of teriyaki chicken, 2 cups egg drop soup and small portions of: beef with broccoli, bourbon chicken, Italian chicken, (SMALL) fried dumpling and Sweet & Sour chicken, small salad, bacon-wrapped shrimp, wasabi, black pepper chicken and two other vegetable-rich dishes I can't remember. Overall, about 1200-1400 calories. After reading breakfast, which I ate almost two hours after workout, you'll see why I ate so much here.


Dinner: Quick smoothie (3/4 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup half & half blended with ice).


Sorry, no nutritional data. I'm estimating between 1850-2200 calories.


Workout:

Bodyweight 100 warmup, then went crazy on the playground, doing anything and everything that came to mind for a total of 25-30 minutes. By the time I was done, I was too weak to do another pushup or pullup or one more second of an elevated plank. Also sprinted a block back to the house to even things out.


Fitness and nutrition-wise and all other points: I'd appreciate any and all feedback (on the McD's and Chinese, had no choice to go there).

[TenYearStorm]

Wow that's one long post!

Your workouts sound great!


What is your goal? To loose weight, gain strength or muscle, improve lipids?


Seems like a lot of your meat is lean (chicken breast). Whenever the meat isn't dripping in fat I would pour on the bacon drippings or butter! Having more fat and less protein is healthier and will allow you to loose weight faster and/or give you more energy than leaner stuff. I eat about 50% more fat than you do!


Your calories look fine and I know you are working to get the carbs a little lower but I think you are doing awesome with running into restaurant obstacles!

Have you tried IF-ing when I are in a sticky situation?

[Tiger]

Yeah, sorry about the length, I'm OCD on getting EVERY detail in.


My goal is to get into good physical condition, gaining lean mass without Hulking out or putting on too much body fat. Oh, and to look good for the ladies, but that's more of a byproduct than anything.


As far as IFing, I've ran it through my mind a bit. Trying to figure out how to incorporate it in with everything.

[TenYearStorm]

About IFing:

It will help stimulate the release of hGH (growth hormone to build muscle!) if you fast before a work out. You shouldn't really be hungry at all during the fast. Simply skip meals whenever you aren't hungry. Working out instead of eating a meal and waiting until the next meal to eat (for example, work out instead of eating lunch and don't eat again until dinner) will give you about a 10 to 17 hour fast depending on which meal you replace) while the exercise will dull hunger. 24-32 hour fasts with a huge workout and then a huge meal afterward would be the ultimate thing for releasing hGH and building lean muscle but they shouldn't be attempted until you have been adjusted to burning fat for energy instead of carbs or you will be very hungry!