Prowling Mshathvri page

[Mshathvri]

Yes. Hello. I am journaling. With my fingers. On my laptop.

PRIMAL! I have just discovered it.

Ooh HOO! Say I. I'm poking it with a stick and giving it a massive college try. I've promised my friend Katie to follow the Primal lifestyle until my birthday. (July 24; send bacon.)

Right now, today, it is the 24th of June. I cut out grains on the 18th of June.

I am the newbiest newb of all Primal newbs. I am a very excited newb.

I never had any idea that cutting out all grains would be so easy for me. I mean, my head ached for three days. But I have not been hungry. I have lost 5.5 lbs. And now the headache is gone.

I mean, I went camping for three days and was able to stick with this. AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Today I began working on level one pull ups, and I just about lost my head with excitement. I mean, lookie here! There's a path! A path to pull ups! If I follow the path, one day I too shall do a pull up!

That seemed impossible a week ago. Today I told my husband that on the day I perform a pull up, I'll go rock climbing with him.

STATS: Starting weight 223 lbs.
Current weight 217.5 lbs.

(About me: new mom of a tiny little infant son. Piano and voice teacher. Adoring wife. Will be 32 next month.)

[Mshathvri]

I read a few articles yesterday about throwing away my scale. I know that I read Griff's post. I ruminated on that overnight, and I've decided to put my scale into my garage until my birthday. Eeeee!

Here's why: I've been obsessively weighing myself. Every time I poop, I'm back on the scale. And that means that I'm treating this like a diet: I've been behaving as though I'm more interested in the short term benefits than the long term rewards. Every diet that I've been on has failed. I'm trying something new this time.

So into the garage the scale goes.

I really responded to the idea that a scale with mess with your head. I don't want my head messed with. I want to continue this cycle of excitement, motivation, and joy.

***

By way of opening up, I should tell you that I have both a husband and a boyfriend. They both know and they're fine with it; it's a long-time relationship structure. My husband has been incredibly supportive. He's been buying cooperative groceries and helping me with my exercise. My boyfriend, however, has decided to JOIN me. He's been eating primally right along with me.

Yesterday I did strength training for the first time. This morning I'm enjoying my sore muscles and anticipating tomorrow, when I can strength train again!

[Mshathvri]

I totally just put my scale in the garage!

[Mshathvri]

Just so you can see where I'm coming from, here is my favorite motivation picture!

motivation pic.jpg

And you can see my face and also my! adorable! baby! Here's a picture of me pushing my kid in a swing for the first time:

wendy and sam at swing.jpg

Also! I do not plan to post as many times per day as I am today, but I wanted to tell you something! Earlier when I was feeding The Kid, I started thinking about how I was hungry and about how I should probably go eat a little something else. But I was stuck with The Kid for the moment, so I had time to think more about how I was feeling. Imagine my surprise! I realized that I wasn't hungry at all. I was having caffeine withdrawal. So when I was done with The Kid, I made myself a cup of coffee.

This anecdote isn't about how I ate less than I might have otherwise. It's about how I listened to my body and responded to what it wanted. That's new for me. Way new.

About the motivation picture! This is from Father's Day. June 17th, 2012. The day before I started reading about Primal Blueprint. That's the day I gave The Husband a canoe. A canoe! That means that we can spend many hours of long, easy exercise paddling around lakes and stuff. I'm so excited. It fits right in.

You should know that my husband is adorable and delightful and amazing and I love him so much.

Would you like to see another motivation picture?

my before picture.jpg

This is a picture that just kills me. Less funny than the first, more revealing. I should taking matching photographs later (butt first in the canoe; hanging out with my family).

[Mshathvri]

I asked my boyfriend to take a straight forward before picture of me. Today is the 26th. I've been primal since the 18th. Here's what I think we'll call my basic "before" picture. This is me as I was five minutes ago. Post coffee, before shower:

primal before pic.jpg

[Mshathvri]

I don't plan to post my workouts every day, but I do want to mention where I'm *starting*. This should give me motivation when I have my grand weigh-in on my birthday; I want to see how far I've come in a month.

This week, I've done two strength training workouts, using the four primal movements (all level one).

Day 1: 20 squats, 7 pull ups, 40 wall push ups, planking only belly side down.
Day 2: I "sprinted" by jumping up and down and jogging in place. I lasted five minutes--sweat poured, oh it poured!
Day 3: 22 squats, 8 pull ups, 40 wall push ups, planking like a rotisserie chicken.

Later on, I will be pleased to see my progress I'm sure. Today I'm just pleased that I'm getting started, and I'm excited to feel soreness in my arms and my core muscles.

***
Boyfriend has been diligently eating primally and has lost six pounds! His face looks leaner. Today I turned him on to planking. He's been concerned about his stomach strength, and he said he was surprised at how difficult planking was. So now we shall plank together! I made him a meaty salad in a jar and sent that along with him to work. I also sent Husband to work with salad in a jar and some pork shoulder cooked in tomato sauce.

[Mshathvri]

I just wanted to share with you that Boyfriend and I have reduced the number of spoonfuls of sugar in our coffee from two spoonfuls to one. Progress!

Last night we went walking barefoot in the park together, and we put our feet in all of that spongy, luscious grass. It was heavenly.

Also, yesterday I introduced The Kid to pureed green beans!

[Mshathvri]

Okay call me weird, but I'm a bit interested in poop today. I have a little baby, so I've been thinking about poop as an indicator of good health for a few months now. Doctors describe in detail what a baby's poop should look like over the first few weeks of life and when they drink milk or formula. So, because I care about my baby and I want him to be healthy, I was careful to observe his poop (which ain't hard).

I figure the same applies to adults. I've noticed that I've been pooping differently since I started the primal diet. So I'm doing some Google searching and saving the results here.


Poop Is the Most Important Indicator of Health

What Your Poop May Be Trying to Tell You

Stool - Healthy and Unhealthy Stool

[Mshathvri]

For my own reference, FITBOMB's What is the Paleo Diet? is full of extra links and is interesting reading.

[Kakes]

Hey Mshathvri! I just have to pop in and say that you are making me laugh out loud. You are quite entertaining to read. I used to weigh myself every time I pooped too! I'm still a bit of a scale addict out of observational curiosity (I can take days off now), I've just stopped reading into the flashy number on the tiny screen.
Nice job so far and good luck on your Primal journey!!