Is it bad to go primal if you're not exercising much? page

[Jlscott]

Hi all,

I'm trying to go primal (cut out my cereals, toast and sandwiches so far) but I'm not able to exercise much at the moment. We have a 3 year old and a 2 month old child and most evenings are full of cooking dinner and sorting the kids out. Then I'm too tired to exercise. I am going to try but I'm worried that eating primal without the exercise might be bad for me. I try to keep active in other ways at the moment; active run around play with my son, brisk walks to work and the occasional bike ride.

I'm not loading up on fats right now. What I do get is from olive oil, meats inc bacon and some dairy.

[teach2183]

Did you read the book? Mark clearly states that exercise is a minor part of the lifestyle. Focus on the changes to your diet and play with your kids. You could do some exercising with them... bench press the baby, carry the baby for a walk instead of using a stroller. Keeping stress low is important, so do what you can!

[Jlscott]

Actually not yet. I've read a lot of the site but the book is by my bedside waiting to be started!

Thanks, for the reassurance.

[a-ray]

You will be completely fine by not exercising much. When I first became primal, I didn't really do any exercising. The main thing for me we getting the diet part of the PB under control. Once I was confident enough and it was 2nd nature to eat right, that's when I started being concerned about working out.

[BigJilm]

^
Samesies. Ive dropped all my weight (about 20lbs) just through modification to the Primal diet.

Ive lapsed a little of late but now back on and looking to add exercise also. I've got little-uns too so understand your challenges.

Just do the diet and add the exercise when you can... especially go to bed early to get your rest!

[Graycat]

It doesn't have to be structured exercise. I'm sure with small kids and household chores you are getting plenty of exercise already. Slow movement is very important. Personally if I don't get a chance to go to the gym I try to incorporate lifting heavy stuff and squatting as I go about my day with my house work and stuff.

[gopintos]

As already mentioned, I havent this whole time either, and I am 60 pounds lighter. The first two months, I was chronic cardio and starving all the time. I was losing at a good clip though, 8 - 10 pounds per month, but I was so hungry. Upon waking, all day, going to bed hungry. I am afraid I might not have made it this far had I continued down that path. I found PB in Mid March, so I cut exercise when I cut carbs drastically, and just havent got back to it. Now I have done things like cardio cleaning around my home. You can get in lots of squats, lots of steps, etc just doing day-to-day stuff. I did alot of my own landscaping and yard work this summer, and sweated more than ANY of the dvds I had previously done. I also was doing a bathroom routine, which I just happened to start back up today. Which is a set of squats, calf raises, and wall pushups after I use the restroom. It is the one place I am alone and no one misses me for a few extra minutes. They probably just think I am doing something that no one wants to be around until the air clears anyways.

Now that I am about half way to my goal, and hunger is well under control and kids are back to school, I have just now turned my attention back to work outs, but not Chronic Cardio. Little ST and little elliptical w/alittle tabata couple times a week. I just started back up yesterday, beginning with my elliptical.

Oh, my teen age son just came in walla go, sporting some guns and nice looking definition in his shoulders and arms, that I hadn't seen before. He said he really hasnt been doing anything, except he cut out the Mt. Dew. He was already a bean pole, so it is nice to see some muscle on him. He also usually only eats once, maybe twice a day. But when he does, he can put it away and his size 28's still hang off his butt.

My daughter that lives here at home while going to school, had to buy new jeans for work this summer. Same kind she bought last year for her summer job, but this year she needed a smaller size. She told me that my cooking must be working for her also.

[Louisa655]

Good on you, Gopintos, for making a difference in the lives of your family. Moms rock!

[gopintos]

Thank you. My other daughter is gluten free due to intolerances. She has such a cute figure, and I am sure that with all the info I have bombarded her with, I am guessing she eats fairly close to primal so she can keep it. My other son is very fit and muscular also and he eats pretty well. I think he eats about once a day also. Thank goodness my kids do not have health or weight issues, but I never did at their age either, so I am hoping they will have learned something from my mistakes (and my attempts to correct it)

I am still working on DH though. He still likes steel cut oatmeal for breakfast. Could be worse I guess. Well it is worse if he doesnt eat the oatmeal at home, cuz then he reaches for crap out of the machines or at the c-store.

Lunch, he is left to his own devices, which isnt usually very good. But I think he has been doing better lately, opting for more salads over sandwiches/bread stuff. I know he thinks when he does Subway he is making a good choice but I keep preaching the bread/wheat song and I think lately when they go there for lunch, he has been getting salad.

Supper time, he does great, cuz he eats what I put on his plate. Trouble is, he gets the munchies for things like pretzels. So I stopped buying those and have switched him to pork rinds. He also likes coconut oil popped popcorn. Sometimes of an evening or weekend, I feel like a Food Monitor cuz I hear him digging around like a little mouse, so I have to go check out what he is getting into and offer better options. But the WORST thing of all, Keystone Light Beer. Over the course of the week (including weekends) he probably has a 30 pack, but that is just a guess. Could be less, could be more also I guess, but I dont think so cuz I buy it when it is on sale, and seems like about 4 a month.

He has lost about 20 pounds though since I started my journey Use to be whenever I would diet, everyone else lost weight but me.