HEY from over the pond! page

[urbancaveman]

Hi!

My name is Owen I am from Manchester UK, I stumbled on this site when surfing the web for Paleo diet etc.

I am looking to become a new person through eating and exercising primal. I play American Football as an O-Lineman, I am 6ft 1 and 295lbs so I am severly overweight! I am not only looking to lose weight but I am also wanting to become healthier, fitter, stronger and look great too, which will hopefully get me happier! I have yoyo dieted in the past which hasn't got me any where and in fact has got me feeling worse about myself which is really frustrating!

I joined this forum, to hopefully learn from the community of primal eaters and exercisers and hopefully I have come to the right place.

Are there any more people from UK here?

Cheers

[katiepotato]

Hi Owen - and welcome! Yes there are plenty of Brits on the board (I'm from Newcastle but now living in Dubai) as well as lots of other nationalities.

I've been about 90% Primal for 2 months now, like you I have yo-yo dieted in the past, I had most success with Weightwatchers but was ALWAYS starving and surprise, surprise, put all the weight back on and more. I decided in June that I didn't want to moan about how I looked my whole adult life (I'm 31) and having dabbled with ancestral eating before decided to give Primal a go. As of this morning I've lost 17lbs, I have more energy and much more even energy levels, and (after a few days of carb flu) I haven't craved or missed grains or sugars anything like as much as I expected. I also have a much more positive body image and (thanks to better food and more sleep) am generally feeling happier and healthier.

I'm certainly not an expert so have found the forum really helpful, both in terms of answering my questions and just hearing about other people's experiences.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

[hulahoop]

Hi Owen

I'm from Liverpool so not so far from you.

I used to follow weightwatchers which is basically calorie restriction and my weight was up and down and it was extremely hard work. I've been primal for 14 weeks and have dropped 30lb. It's soooo much easier and i feel so much happier. Give it a go, aim for 100% and you'll get surprisingly good results.

Good luck!

[Tribal Rob]

*WAVES THE WHITE ROSE*

Aye up, I'm from t'other side o' t'ills

Welcome, this is the best way of eating I have found, my goal weight is in sight (about another stone and a half to go) I've stalled, cheated with gluten free crap along the way, but I have never gained, and never considered not eating primal since starting. 19st3 to 15st13 so far, so good, qnd you'll apreciate this being a 'football' player - my arms looks huge, I swear on CW diet you lose far more muscle than you realise, I've defo gained lean mass with primal and I've not really being doing 'bodybuilding' stuff, just bodyweight stuff, currently once a week.

[Nigel]

Are there any more people from UK here?

Yes, quite a few. I started back in March and have lost 32lbs. I'm on holiday at present and likely to put a bit of weight on with the wine I've been drinking, and, I did succumb to fish 'n' chips with the family one evening.

[Tribal Rob]

Yes, quite a few. I did succumb to fish 'n' chips with the family one evening.

Just take most of the batter off and it's nearly primal

[Gary Conway]

Hi & welcome to the forum! I've been primal for a few years and really enjoy it - it's great that it doesn't feel like a diet.

[Lewis]

Hi!
Are there any more people from UK here?

There are a lot. There are also more Australians and New Zealanders than you'd expect if you were going purely by population numbers.

It's a language thing. The heart of the movement's the U.S., so people from other English-speaking countries have easy access to the material. And continental Europe's fairly well represented, because English is widely understood there. I should think there are also factors around relative wealth -- and hence access to internet technology -- playing into this. The internet is a great democratizer, but the technology still isn't cheap.

I think there's an interesting paradox at the heart of this. What that is is this: in some ways the U.S.may have gone farther down the wrong route than others. I don't think that becomes fully visible till one see the wider picture, where what you eat becomes seen in a wider context of what you grow and how you grow it, and, even wider, how most of us get our livings and spend our days. See here for that:

The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer: Amazon.co.uk: Joel Salatin: Books

So the author there talks to an art teacher and she tells him that one assignment she used to set for the children was to bring in a cooking pot and draw it. Year and after year drew in, and eventually she got to the point where no child in the class could bring in a cooking pot, because no family owned one.

That's just wild. As the author says, "Folks, this ain't normal."

I don't think you're near that situation in, say, France or Italy. But just because you are in the U.S., so the problems that causes are already more evident. That spurs people to recognise that and to look for solutions.