Caz1969's PM Journal page

[Caz1969]

I'm currently on day 2 of my primal journey. I know this journey is necessary for my health, but I also know it isn't going to be easy, especially for the next few days. The reason I know this is because I'm a self-confessed chocoholic. Almost every day for the past few years I've eaten little but chocolate (usually a family block every day) and drunk little but pepsi (minimum 1 litre per day) from waking up until dinner time, then followed that with a pasta or rice dish. I was depressed which is what started this pattern, but I'm not depressed anymore and I've still been sticking to the same eating pattern. It's time for a change.

So far so good. I feel ok. Was a little hungry yesterday, but this morning I didn't have breakfast because I wasn't at all hungry. Anyway to start with, here is a rundown of my first day going primal.

I weighed in this morning at 76.2kg.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, mushrooms, spinach
Snacks: prawns
lunch: chicken breast small piece with avocado, lettuce, cabbage, carrot, radishes, and celery.
Snack: more prawns, followed later by cashews and a small piece of dark chocolate (which tasted awful).
Dinner: chicken breast fillet.

I know it was probably too much meat and too little vegies, but I read that might make the withdrawal symptoms milder, and I'm hoping :-)

I spent around 10 minutes out in the sun, did the LHT workout, but only did 10 repetitions of each as I haven't exercised for too long. Unfortunately last night my dd had a late shift at work, so I didn't get enough sleep after picking her up. I felt a bit grumpy in the afternoon and had a mild headache around then too, but otherwise felt ok. I tend to be a barefoot person anyway, so going without shoes for part of the day is normal for me.

Day 2:
I woke up and had really blurry vision for about 15 minutes before I got up. Weighed in today just out of interest and found I was down to 74.5kg. I know I haven't really lost 1.8kg in 24 hours, and it's mostly water and fibre, but it's encouraging that it wasn't higher - I'm trying to be the optimist.
I took the kids to school, then went back to bed to catch up on the sleep I'd missed out on. Dozed for an hour or two, then woke to have lunch.

Breakfast: nothing - was more tired than hungry
Snack: nothing
Lunch: bacon and eggs with prawns

This afternoon I'll probably have some cashews as a snack, then chicken and a big salad for dinner. I wont get any time out in the sun today because it's raining and overcast between showers, so I took a vitamin D3 tablet as well as my usual multi and a mega B.

During my nap this morning I kept waking up to heart palpitations. I always have problems with them when my stress levels are high as they are right now. Reducing stress is something I need to work on. Due to my epilepsy and my daughters unstable blood sugars, I'm unable to work at the moment, so finances are always difficult to manage and this week has been a big one for bills. My daughter also has some issues with depression and has just broken up with her boyfriend (she's 17), so I'm worried about her. Apart from that, my life is just very busy raising 3 kids on my own.

Will update with progress reports at least once each day. Thanks for reading.

[Caz1969]

Just starting Day 3 here. Weighed in at 74.0kg, wow, that's 2.2kg down from where I started.

Yesterday I ate according to plan with a few cashews in the afternoon and a large chicken and avocado salad for dinner. This morning I feel fantastic. I slept really well and woke feeling like I didn't need any more sleep, which is really unusual for me. I didn't have any heart palpitations overnight and also didn't wake stressing over things during the night.

Today's eating will be much like day 1. The only meat I have in the house is chicken, bacon and prawns. I still have plenty of salad ingredients and I've woken up hungry but not starving. I'm taking the kids to school soon, then will have eggs, mushrooms and spinach for breakfast. I've also already been on a short walk and will be going on another one this afternoon. I also plan to do the LHT workout today.

Anyway, that's the plan for today. Will probably update later in the day.

[Caz1969]

Today was day 4. Yesterday I finished the day with some walking, also did a LHT workkout. Ate according to plan too so haven't had any cheats so far.

Weighin this morning was 73.6kg so I've lost 2.6kg since my first weigh in which is approx 5.75 pounds for those who use pounds.

I'm still feeling good. No sign of withdrawals. I'm not sure whether it's just too soon, or if I'm going to be lucky.

Today I did a half hour walk, and only had 2 meals due to just generally being busy. Breakfast was bacon and eggs, and dinner was chicken and salad. I've run out of prawns and cashews and they're not normally in the budget, so will have to shop tomorrow for some alternatives. I'm also running low on salad ingredients, but will restock them on Monday.

When I woke this morning, the flab around my tummy seemed to feel less dense. I don't think I look any different, but it feels different, so hopefully I'm on the right track. I carry most of my excess fat around my tummy, so losing it there would be fantastic.

[Annieh]

When I woke this morning, the flab around my tummy seemed to feel less dense. I don't think I look any different, but it feels different, so hopefully I'm on the right track. I carry most of my excess fat around my tummy, so losing it there would be fantastic.

Congrats Caz on jumping into eating primal, I am glad but not surprised that you are feeling different already. It really does begin to work quickly especially when you do it whole heartedly ie no sugar and grains, enough protein, plenty veges like you are doing. Your body will be enjoying the good nutrition. Keep up the good work.

All the best with the shopping. I am still trying to figure out if my budget is better off eating this way, overall I think yes. Even though good quality food is not cheap, I think it balances out because I'm not spending money on packaged and tinned products that I was buying before.

[Caz1969]

Day 5 here. Thanks Annieh for the support. I'm really surprised at how quickly things are changing.

Weighed in this morning at 73.3kg which is a loss of 300g from yesterday and 2.9kg from day 1. I'm still feeling good. No signs still of the dreaded low carb flu. This change in diet has also affected my PMT. Usually I gain about 2 kg in the days leading up to the first day of my cycle, but this time I've lost the 2.9kg during that same week. Interesting.

Todays plan is to eat whats left of my vegies with chicken breast fillets as I have no bacon or prawns left. No cashews left, but still have eggs and spinach to eat for breakfast and enough vegies to make a large salad to have with chicken and onion for dinner. Not sure about what I'll have for lunch, but it's the weekend and I'm getting a late start, so might just have late breakfast and early dinner.

[Caz1969]

All going well so far today. I've had a late breakfast of bacon (found one rasher in the fridge after all), eggs and spinach. I've also snacked on cashews that I went out to buy and have had 2 squares of dark chocolate.

I realised that while I don't have many of the symptoms of carb withdrawal, I do have a really foggy brain. I thought initially it might have been my epilepsy symptoms playing up, because I keep losing common words and can't hold a conversation well and this happens when my seizure threshold is lower. I'm treating it as if it is epilepsy based, as I really don't want to risk a seizure with the accompanying messed up brain for weeks and possible drivers license loss, but I'm thinking it might be a result of the sudden loss of carbs.

Will keep going.

I've also done my RVF workout by doing some sprints this morning. I needed to get some insulin for my daughter fast as she had run out and her blood sugar was going up fast, so I did sprints from the parking lot to the chemist and back. The distance is further than it sounds, and I'm not what I'd call fit, so I'm counting it as my weekly sprint.

Stomach crampy this afternoon but thats normal for this time of month.

Tonights dinner is chicken and salad and I should be in bed by 11 at the latest as my daughter is working until 10.

[Caz1969]

Day 6 today and still going well. My weight is the same as yesterday. I hadn't planned on weighing myself each day, but it's been great to see the numbers go down, so I've kept doing it for now.

This morning I didn't really feel hungry until mid morning, then had a snack of cashews and a square of dark chocolate. I wasn't hungry again until dinner when I had steak and mushrooms. I'll have some more salad a bit later, but I've nearly run out, so will have to grocery shop tomorrow.

I did the LHT workout. I was doing level 1 of everything, but managed to get to the required numbers to go up in everything but the plank. Next workout I'll try the level 2's and continue to strengthen my core with the plank. I think I would have been ok except that it hurts my hands. I'll find something more comfortable to put them on that's non-slip next time and see how I go. Side planks were fine and I finished my 45 seconds easily for those.

I'm generally feeling ok, but not very hungry. I'm guessing that's good after reading other people's journal. Will be back to update tomorrow.

[Caz1969]

Day 7 today. Weighed in at 72.8kg, so another 500g lost overnight and 3.4kg or 7.5lb lost in 6 days. Unfortunately the carb flu train has also hit me overnight. I feel bad. Really bad headache, tired, grumpy and generally unwell. Will ride this out, but will probably drop the kids off at school and take a nap.

Noticed I have 5 stars next to my journal on the forum page, not sure why? Does anyone know?

[Caz1969]

Back again and it's still day 7. I'm feeling a bit better now and have just eaten 2 eggs for breakfast and a square of dark chocolate.

Last night I bought some steak on special and had steak and mushrooms cooked in heaps of butter for dinner. It was so good. I have one more steak left to eat today and might have it for lunch with mushrooms again and salad.

I'm not going to do a workout today. I'm on track with the amount I've done this week, so decided that since I'm not feeling the best it can be a day of rest.

I noticed this morning that my profile has a flatter tummy this morning. Gotta love that. I took measurements yesterday so I can see any non-weight body shape changes. I'm really hoping to lose the muffin top.

Reading up on the forum I found out the 5 stars means that people reading the thread have voted that they're enjoying it, so thank you to anyone who rated my journal. There are lots of journals on this site, far too many for people to post in each of them, so the stars have encouraged me to feel as if there are people out there supporting me in making these changes.

I'm off now to have a quiet day. Hopefully will be feeling brighter again tomorrow.

[Caz1969]

Day 8 today and my first primal week is over. My weighin this morning showed 72.4kg which is 3.8kg lost in the week (or 8.4lb for those who work in pounds). A wrap up of the first week would be that it wasn't as difficult as I expected and except for a few headaches I've had very few problems. The weightloss has been great and my tummy definitely looks flatter. I don't really have more energy than before, but have read it can take longer than this to gain energy. I also have had an unpleasant taste in my mouth for the past 2 days, which I'm assuming means I'm in ketosis.

So for today I've reintroduced full cream milk. It's the only thing I've been craving over the past week so I decided to give it a go and see if I can tolerate it without any problems. The initial plan was to avoid dairy for the first 3 weeks, but I've been cooking in butter, and I've already given up sugar, carbs, caffeine (in cola, though I'm having small amounts in dark chocolate) all at once and can do the dairy elimination later if I need to. I think living primal long term will be easier for me if I can have some dairy. Without dairy I'm not sure I'll be able to last the distance.

I've found my skin seems softer and less dry than it was before probably due to the increased fat in my diet. I've also noticed I'm using the bathroom less often and there's definitely less volume to it which is settling down a hemorrhoid problem I've had since giving birth to my 15yo. Sorry if this is too much info, but I need to keep track of the changes to encourage me to keep going.

Today's plan is to eat primal and do a LHT workout.