Leasas primal journey page

[Leasa]

Well, I thought that I would start a journal so that I can keep track of what I am doing daily and hopefully the veterans can chime in when they see me making a bad decision on something. I am new to the primal/paleo world so I am still learning. Yesterday was day 1, I will not weigh myself anymore after this morning, but it was out of habit. I put the scale in the closet....Yesterday morning I was 143 and this morning I am 140.2 so I assume its all water weight from my carbfest weekend.

B: a cup of coffee
L: Big salad with grilled chicken, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers and avocado. I did not think the dressing through, as I love apple cider vin on my salad. I was at work and we dont have that so I did use a little ranch dressing, just to moisten up the salad. I hate a dry salad.
D: 3 egg and bacon omelet and a banana

I know I did not eat enough of anything and I figure it will take me a week to adjust to being able to eat full meals. Coming from HCG, it was 6 oz of meat, 2 veggies and 2 fruits, all day, thats it. 2 oz of chicken and a tomato doesnt really compare to the salad I had for lunch. I was sure I would throw it all up after it settled and I felt like a cow.

I did not do any additional exercise yesterday. I work for Subway and I take care of 10 stores, so I do a lot of walking and lifting and so on during the day. But I do have a bike and a treadmill at home that I will start using nightly like I used to. I have full access to a gym but my weight restrictions are 15 pounds and no chest exercising still so the gym is pointless until my doctor releases me to do whatever. I am not going to the gym to use the treadmill and bike.....

I have a mild headache today but I think its from sleeping 9 hours instead of 6 as I have been carb reduced for over a year. We shall see though. I am hoping to avoid full blown carb flu with this lifestyle change.

So thats my first day. I am looking forward to another 29 days. I am going to wean myself off of heavy whipping cream and splenda in my coffee over the next few days. I dont know if its going to go very well.

[Leasa]

Today was fine, I really like not worrying about breads and pastas and rice. My 16 year old is on board after I showed her the shopping list of what was allowed, she wrote down what she likes and what she is willing to try. I was excited for her. She isnt over weight but can stand to get rid of 10-15 pounds. So I will go shopping tomorrow for her stuff and I am sure I will come home to find out she ate crap all day lol. My 13 year old wont even discuss it, she said her poptarts are her lifeline in the morning. I dont know if I want to pick that battle right now, I will just take my victory with my other daughter right now.

So for food today:
B: a banana and coffee with hwc and a splenda (I am working on this)
L: Another big salad with leftover grilled chicken from our kabobs that I froze. Lots of veggies, avocado, and apple cider vinegar
D: Wasnt really hungry but my husband grilled hamburgers so I ate one hamburger patty with nothing on it.

Thats it, I wasnt hungry all day, other than what is considered normal at meal time. I am concerned that I am not getting enough of everything. My food calculator showed 1,119 calories 57g carbs 60g fat and 86g protein. I dont know how this balance is? I suppose I can drop the banana and throw in some nuts? I am not a big meal eater, although it is nice to sit down and eat until I am full without worrying about what I am doing. My problem is that I dont seem to be eating enough even though I am full. Any suggestions or comments on my numbers would be appreciated.

I am going to skip my hwc in my coffee in the morning and then by the weekend I will eliminate the splenda......maybe. I love my coffee, more than I loved my grains.

[Mshathvri]

Hi Leasa! I'm no veteran; I just started this crazy ride in June. But I wanted to say HIIIIII! I've put away my scale too. I think it helps with the whole "this isn't a diet; it's a lifestyle!" thing. What do you think?

[Leasa]

I think it reinforces the whole lifestyle vs diet, not having a scale.

Today was ok, I wasnt hungry again at breakfast, didnt get hungry until about 11:30. And then I had my usual big salad. I did go shopping today and decided to try the commissary on post. I was surprised at the bigger selection of "organic" food. I bought some soy nuts, organic salted butter, organic milk (for my kids), organic eggs, some Gouda cheese and some sausage, although I couldnt find any free range/organic sausage. I need something easy for the mornings as I get up, shower, spend 10 minutes having my coffee and then I do a few minutes of work on my computer and then head out the door to work. So if I can whip up some eggs and sausage patties real fast, I can start my day with a nice meal too.

I keep reading, keep avoiding grains, very light on dairy. My only dairy right now is a little heavy whipping cream in my coffee in the morning. I sure hope I am doing this right. I am eating whats on the PB shopping list. I had a severe case of cravings today for Subway cookies, which made my day super hard. I am an operations manager for 10 Subways so I am in them all day. But the one good thing about Subway is that my salad is free, I bring my own meat and use Subways veggies, its kinda nice.

I do have a couple of questions though if anyone stumbles across this. Apple Cider Vinegar is ok on my salads right? And can someone point me towards some good recipes to use up some vanilla coconut milk? I bought it for my coffee but not real excited about it now. I found actual coconut creamer at the store, might try that.

[Leasa]

I am sure I screwed up at dinner tonight. I loved my pork steak, it was great. But I had broccoli with organic butter and gouda cheese, which was fabulous. But I also had a small sweet potato with butter and cinnamon. It was great, I loved every bite of it. Maybe a couple times a month I can do a sweet potato?

I did a 3.6 mile walk today. My intention was to walk half way to the main road, which is 3.6 miles but I was on my phone and lost track of miles. I was tired and hungry and my husband was NOT impressed that I called him to come get me But at least I did something. Next time, leave the phone at home.

[Leasa]

So I have spent the last few days working, spending time with my family and eating good. I have only had a few non-primal things and they were all yesterday. I had a 32oz white cherry slushie, which I drank half of and my husband made salsbury steak and he forgot to leave some meat for me that didnt have gravy on it. So my meat had gravy on it. I have also spent a lot of time reading on how to go 100% primal. I have decided that I will be 80/20 as I like my coffee and a little bit of dairy here and there. I applaude the 100% people out there, I wish I had the willpower and the desire, but I dont, I think 80% will work just fine for me. Its 80% better than how I used to eat. So I am happy with that. Will I ever move to 100%? Maybe, but its not an immediate goal.

Speaking of goals, I want to set a few short term goals to hold my self to. First, I want to teach myself to not want Subway cookies. Not sure this is an automatic thing to stop cravings or if I just have to keep telling myself no. Either way, no more Subway cookies for this gal. Starting 2 days ago, since that was my last cookie. I dont crave them unless I smell them baking Next goal is to convert a few things in my home to primal so that the rest of my family has no choice but to make small changes. I think my 13 year old is plotting bad things against me right now. She made it very clear that she was going to put my organic butter on her Eggo waffles and have that with a glass of my organic milk. So small steps with her and sleep with one eye open. Those are my 2 immediate small goals.

I think that I do want my next 2 goals over the next 30 days to be to lose a few inches and increase my exercise. I will be able to commit to exercise 5 days a week in the morning once the kids start school as we get up at 5:30am but I dont have to leave until later in the morning. During summer break, I sleep in too. I am not interested in power lifting, marathon running or anything like that. Doing a pull up is not a victory I am looking at. Nice long walks, a few miles jogged or peddled is all I am interested in. My kids and I do Zumba once a week for an hour at home, we dont do it right and its more for some fun time between mom and her girls. But we do get a nice workout and lots of laughs, so it works for us. Its usually them laughing at me for going right instead of left and knocking everyone off balance.

This morning I did weigh myself. I pulled the scale back out because I obsessed over it, I want to know what I weigh every morning, I want to take measurements every few days, even if there are no changes, I have to keep myself happy in this department so I dont run that obsession into a food issue. I was down 1 pound from yesterday. This puts me down 5 pounds for my first week and 4 inches lost. I only measure my hips, waist and stomach. I will wait another week and start measuring my thigh neck and upper arm too. No need to measure my bust, my boobs are fake, if they get smaller, its not because of being primal!

My 16 year old and I both had scrambled eggs and sausage for breakfast. We just put beef tips in the crock pot to cook for 10 hours, then they will get put in freezer bags and they make great to go food for me when I go to work. Pop them in my purse, they are thawed by lunch and I can warm them up and put them in my salad. I have a whole shelf of precooked frozen meats so there is no reason for me to eat anything fast food related while I am out daily.

Thats it for me for now. There will be no lunch as I am still full from breakfast and dinner will be grilled chicken and broccoli.

[Leasa]

I got a pair of minimalist shoes for mothers day and decided to wear them today. They are comfy so far, little weird driving though. We shall see how they feel after 12 hours.