Primal Journal (Inksplat) page

[Inksplat]

So, today is the day I start this.

Like I posted over in Meet & Greet, I'm doing this to help immerse myself in this community and the motivation I hope that will provide.

I've been overweight for most of my life, and the couple of times I've managed to be less overweight, I was never able to keep it up for very long.

So, now, I've just had enough. For the past couple weeks I've been trying to get back into Primal Eating (I had a lot of success with it previously, dropping 40 pounds in a fairly short amount of time. But I let myself get dragged back into SAD around the time that cake tastings for my wedding began, and just never managed to make it back.

In a the two years since I fell off the wagon, I've put on 100 pounds. Which.. I don't even know how to deal with. Its ridiculous, and I'm just completely disappointed in myself.

Anyway, none of that matters so long as I make the change and stick to it. So, here I am.

Age: 27
Height: 6'2"
Starting Weight: 324.6
Waist (just below navel) 53 inches.

Not sure what ratios I'm going to be eating--somewhere between 90/10 and 80/20 most likely. Also, the goal is to stick as well as I can to a 19-5 IF schedule. At the moment, that means eating during a window of 1-6pm. In the past couple weeks I've had some success with that, so I think I'm going to stick with it and see how it works for me.

In terms of Moving, I plan on following something akin to the Primal Blueprint Fitness plan. Sprinting, 2 Days of Bodyweight exercises, as much walking as I can fit in (though that is probably going to be the hardest part, with 90-plus-degree days at the moment. I'd also like to fit in some yoga, as my flexibility is kind of crap, and I figure it can't hurt.

Though, in regards to the Sprinting I found the most recent Link Love posted my Mark pretty interesting, regarding the 20-minute Sprints 3 times per week. But yeesh, today was the day I decided to do my sprints, and rather than the Tabatas I had previously planned, i just tried to see how long I could maintain the 8 on/12 off routine put forth in the study. I lasted about 5 minutes.

I had also done a tabata set last Monday as well, and I'll say that I definitely felt more of a burn in my lungs after that than I did today, despite spending more overall time on the bike today.

I'm thinking of maybe just sticking with the Tabatas, at least for the moment, and just trying to add a second round in down the road a bit. Maybe a second day of them as well.

For meals, today looked like this:
"Lunch": Italian Sausage & Peppers, with a tiny bit of leftover scrambled eggs. Multivitamin + fish oil capsule.
Dinner: Unfortunately, just more of the above, as I didn't have any other meats thawed due to being forgetful. Multivitamin, Fish oil, + about a tablespoon of Coconut Oil.

First day is always easy though. Tomorrow is where it'll begin to suck, ha. Definitely made a little harder by having a ton of junk food in the house that I have zero control over. But, that's the goal behind this, to make up for that.

Here goes.

[Inksplat]

So, yesterday was a bit crazy. Definitely a moment of weakness, but, rather than let it become anything more, I just moved on, and at least managed to keep the IF portion of the day on-track. I don't usually do that--which has always been a part of my problem. But, today has been fine so far, other than a small headache at the moment.

Did the PBF routine today.

[/b]Wall Pushups[/b] -- 60/30
2-Leg Chair Assisted Pull ups -- 20/20
Despite hitting the number, I definitely think I'm going to stick with this for another round, because on the second set, it was definitely tough.)

Wall Squats -- 22
Wall Squats are not for me, is what I decided. Maybe its just the walls in my house or my shirts, but this is the second time I've attempted them, and it was just a really uncomfortable experience. However, when I shifted to Assisted Squats, using a pole in the basement, it was so much better. So, moving on from Wall Squats to Assisted Squats, despite not hitting the "goal" number.

Assisted Squats -- 25

Hand/Knee Plank -- 25/30
Hand/Knee Side Plank -- Left: 15 Right: 15
Forearm/Knee Side Plank -- Left: 30 Right: 30

For the planks, my arms were the weak link more than my core. So, for the second round of Side Planks, I switched to my forearms and felt like it was a whole lot better. I was torn about switching, but upon realizing that the final planks are all forearm-based anyway, I figured I'd just shift over like I did from Wall Squats. I'd rather have my core getting a decent workout than adding a bit extra to my arms, when they've already got their share during the routine.

Oh, and for meals:
Lunch: A mixture of hamburger, mushrooms, spinach, and bleu cheese. Vitamin/Fish Oil.
Didn't turn out quite as good as I was imagining it, but oh well.

Dinner: Used the last of the Italian Sausage, mixing it with some spinach and eggs into a nice scramble. Vitamin/Fish Oil/Coconut Oil.

[Inksplat]

Today was an alright day. Had some bad cravings for a little while, but a small bit of raisins, plus some pepperoni seemed to get me through them. So, yay for that!

Only managed a half an hour walk today. Went out in my flip-flops, not really thinking about it. Ow. Not a comfortable experience. But, a mile is a mile, and its better than nothing. But next time I'll be going out in my chucks, I think.

Still, that's 4 days of sticking to my 19-5 IF schedule, and 2 days straight without a poor food decision. So, now to just keep it up.

Lunch: Last of the Italian Sausage/Egg/Spinach scramble from yesterday. Vitamin/Fish Oil, and added Coconut Oil to my first meal.
Snack: Smaaall amount of Raisins, a few pepperoni
Dinner: Leftovers from the hamburger/spinach/bleu cheese..thing from yesterday. Some pepperoni + cheese. Vitamin/Fish Oil/Coconut Oil.

Thank god I'm going to the store tomorrow.

[Hedonist2]

Welcome and good luck!

[DashFire]

Inksplat... welcome!

Noticed we're not terribly far apart on our starting points (I'm 6' and started at 340lb on June 1, though a bit older at 35).

Was surprised to see that you're already starting with IF and such a small window, with what looks like a rather low-calorie approach (or at least low on veggies). Maybe check this post from Mark where he talks about who should and shouldn't fast, and starting when. It may be worth waiting a bit till your body has more fully adjusted to Primal and can handle the stress of IF. Personally I decided to wait until week 5 and am slowly introducing it 1-2 days a week.

Again, glad u signed up. I've subscribed to your journal and will be checking in. Mine is linked in my signature if you're interested.

[Inksplat]

Inksplat... welcome!

Noticed we're not terribly far apart on our starting points (I'm 6' and started at 340lb on June 1, though a bit older at 35).

Was surprised to see that you're already starting with IF and such a small window, with what looks like a rather low-calorie approach (or at least low on veggies). Maybe check this post from Mark where he talks about who should and shouldn't fast, and starting when. It may be worth waiting a bit till your body has more fully adjusted to Primal and can handle the stress of IF. Personally I decided to wait until week 5 and am slowly introducing it 1-2 days a week.

Again, glad u signed up. I've subscribed to your journal and will be checking in. Mine is linked in my signature if you're interested.

Thanks for the welcome!

And part of the reason I started with IF is that when I was previously eating Primal, I was pretty much never hungry. I'd make breakfast for my wife, and eat a bit, but I'd almost always skip lunch, and then only eat dinner when my wife was wanting it. So I knew that my body naturally shifts that(this?) way.

Also, the interesting thing, at least to me, is that I'm fine until after I eat my first meal. So, once I wake up, I'm pretty much fine. Then I'll eat my first meal at 1, and by 3 I've got a slight headache. But before then? No fuzziness or anything. Once I eat for the day though, total low-carb flu.

If I was having to starve myself, I wouldn't be doing it. When I first went Primal a couple years ago, I ate three meals a day plus some snacks. And it worked great. Had a relatively short "induction", and managed to do pretty well for quite a while.

I think part of going for the fast was to just do it. For a couple weeks before this journal started, I had tried and failed to go Primal more than a handful of times. And then I would get frustrated and just say "screw it" the next day.

With the "Fast5" fast, I think I'm more aiming at a psychological victory. I know I don't need it for the weightloss, but at least for now, its helping me prove to myself that I'm strong enough to get healthy again.

Hopefully that all made sense, ha.

As for vegetables...I'm just not a huge vegetable person. I love mashed cauliflower, and broccoli is good as long as its cooked to mushiness, but other than that.. there isn't a lot that really does it for me. Learned recently that I like cabbage pretty well (again, so long as its cooked), and Zucchini and Squash are okay, but very little wows me enough to go through the effort of cooking it. And since I do all the cooking, that is sort of a setback, haha.

If you've got any good suggestions for vegetable sides, feel free to let me know!

Aanyway, for today:

----------

No real exercise other than going to the grocery store and a few other places on errands. Was kind of a hectic day. Had planned on more, but eh. I did manage to pick up a 10lb sledgehammer though, and plan on diving into shovelgloving, because it sounds like a blast.

Lunch: Buffalo wings + a few slices of roasted potatoes. Vitamin/FishOil/Coconut Oil.
Dinner: Chipotle Barbacoa burrito bowl. No rice or beans, double meat, sour cream, cheese, guacamole, hot salsa. Yuuuummy.

I really need to get my crockpot out and do some shredded meats.

Made a trip to a natural marketplace to pick up some Fish Sauce & Coconut Aminos. So, I'm hoping to get some of Nom Nom Paleo's dishes made this weekend. They all look delicious, but I'm really looking forward to the gravy--sauces are one of the toughest things that I've encountered when going Primal.

[DashFire]

As for vegetables...I'm just not a huge vegetable person. I love mashed cauliflower, and broccoli is good as long as its cooked to mushiness, but other than that.. there isn't a lot that really does it for me. Learned recently that I like cabbage pretty well (again, so long as its cooked), and Zucchini and Squash are okay, but very little wows me enough to go through the effort of cooking it. And since I do all the cooking, that is sort of a setback, haha.

If you've got any good suggestions for vegetable sides, feel free to let me know!

I'm not either and don't get terribly creative with them. The key for me is having them on hand, ready to eat and the right seasoning. Lately it's been spinach in my morning eggs. Or garlic & broccoli cooked in Bacon Butter (mixture of half butter, half bacon grease, which is what I'm cooking almost everything in now days). That and lots of avocados. They're in season and pretty cheap. Either just eating with a spoon or making guac and dipping with peppers, carrots, celery. We have a bunch of tomatoes in the house right now, so having a sliced tomato with most meals this week.

Also try to do a BAS (Big Ass Salad) at least twice a week.

[Inksplat]

The Rundown

So, today was a really good day. Definitely the best I've had, and hardly any low-carb headache at all. Got my round of bodyweight exercises in, and then proceeded to push back what had been my previous IF window of 1-6. Didn't up eating until 2, because I just wasn't hungry. I only ended up eating when I did because I still wanted to finish up eating by 6.

I'm glad I didn't push lunch back any later though, because in the end I couldn't even finish my whole dinner, I was so stuffed.

I really don't think I could do the whole single meal a day thing, like some people in the IF threads talk about. Not because I don't think I could handle the gap without eating..but I have no idea how they eat that much in a single sitting.

On the bright side, I tried out Paleo Nom Nom's herb gravy (which is essentially broth, garlic, and onion, with a bit of cream), and it was really good. I have a ton of leftovers for it too, so that's nice. Will tweak it a bit next time I make it, but there will definitely be a next time.

Exercises went okay. It was weird though, because while I was doing it, it was like I was expecting to see hefty increases in my numbers after just a couple of days. Which is totally ridiculous. But that's just immediately where my brain went. "Why am I not leveling up, damnit!?" haha.

Looking forward to playing with my sledgehammer tomorrow, though!

The Workout

Wall Push ups: 50/50
On the second set I took a couple short (2sec) breaks, one after hitting 30, then 40. But I really wanted to hit 50, damnit.

2-Leg Chair-Assisted Pull ups: 20/20
I think I'm going to start trying to do a few pull ups every day. Was reading some stuff suggesting that a lot of gains can be made in pull ups by repetition, because your brain and muscles just don't know how to communicate correctly at first, because the movement is so alien in our modern day. And apparently it has some good results. No doing it to exhaustion or anything. Just 5 here and 5 there.

Pole-Assisted Squat: 25/23
Crazy how few of these I can do. And as straight as I try to keep my back, I still start getting the burn in my lower back toward when I give out. Hopefully the shovelgloving will help with that.

Forearm/Knee Plank: 40sec/45sec
Forearm/Knee Side Plank: 45sec/40sec (Left) 45sec/40sec (Right)

The Food

Lunch:
The last of my hamburger/mushrooms/bleu cheese concoction.
Vitamin/FishOil/CoconutOil.

Weirdly, I felt a little nauseous about an hour after eating. It passed, but it was weird. Today was also the first day since we ran out of bottled water and I drank tap all day. I kind of think that might of had something to do with it.

Dinner:
two 1/4 pound Hamburger patties with Paleo Nom Nom's gravy, and half of a sweet potato.
Vitamin/FishOil/CoconutOil

Already mentioned how I couldn't finish, and that the gravy was tasty. Sweeter than I thought it'd be though.

[Inksplat]

The Rundown

So, today was mostly okay. No real carb-flu, just a tiiiiny headache after I ate lunch. That was probably the only "not so great" thing. Was out running errands with my pregnant wife and she got a craving for Qdoba, and I gave in. Did as well as I could there--Naked Burrito, no rice, no beans. But when I came home and checked the nutritional info, I wasn't totally pleased. But, nothing to beat myself up about, as it wasn't like I succumbed to cravings or anything. Just wasn't a high-note.

Other than that, it was fun to play with my sledgehammer a little bit. Only did 6 of the 14 minutes, but it was my first time, and I felt a bit in my back, so didn't want to push it. But I can definitely see sticking with it. And what more could I ask out of a workout, really?

Actually, I take back what I said before. Worst part of the day was dinner. Made chicken that just wasn't very good. I marinated it in the sauce from last night. Really, I just hate cooking drumsticks. I just can never get them right--the skin is always still a bit mushy, and the meat is...too juicy? I don't know. I just can't cook them to save my life.

The cream spinach I made came out pretty good though. Not as good as some I've had at nice restaurant, but god only knows what they put in them. (also, apparently I am so bad at spelling restaurant that the forums spell check couldn't even figure it out, haha)

I needed to walk today, but I am so bad at that when my wife is home. Also, it being hot and icky doesn't help. And I really don't want to spend 30+ minutes on the stationary bike in the basement. But I need to stop making excuses and just get myself to do it. I'm at half an hour out of the 3 hours I'm supposed to have for the week. And to think, I used to go for 2-4 mile walks every day.

The Workout

Shovelglove: 6 minutes
2-Leg Chair-Assisted Pull ups: 5, 1 Reverse

The Food

Lunch
Naked Burrito from Qdoba. No rice, no beans. Double Shredded Beef, Salsa Verde, Queso, Sour Cream, Cheese.
Vitamin/FishOil


Dinner
Baked Chicken Legs + Cream of Spinach
Forgot Vitamin/FishOil/CocoutOil

Already mentioned that this was pretty disappointing. Not looking forward to the leftovers, ha.

[DashFire]

Other than that, it was fun to play with my sledgehammer a little bit. Only did 6 of the 14 minutes, but it was my first time, and I felt a bit in my back, so didn't want to push it. But I can definitely see sticking with it. And what more could I ask out of a workout, really?

I just discovered a sledgehammer in the garage, that I didn't even realize we had, and thought about giving shovelglove a go. Some other stuff I want to try first, so probably not a near term thing for me, but definitely curious to hear how this goes for you as you progress.