Grandma's on a mission.... page

[SuziW]

I'm on a mission - to finally get the body that I've always known lies under this body fat!

I'm a Grandma - albeit a young Grandma and as I head into my 50's I'm determined to finally get my body sorted out. I've had weight problems my whole life - right from a young child and that was back when overweight kids were rare in NZ where I grew up.

My weight problems really became a problem at 17 when I had my first child - I gained 5 stone in 5 months during my pregnancy leaving me weighing in at around 100kg (I'm about 5 foot 3 inches tall or short depending on your point of view...).

The weight since then has gone up and down and up - until at 30 years old I weighed in at close to 120kg.

From there I lost 45kg over 4 years when I quite smoking and started exercising.

Since that time, I've kept off 35 of those kilos always but the rest well it comes and goes - mostly comes...

I don't really have a goal weight - more a goal size which would be about a size 8 (Australian sizing) and lean - I don't give a shit what I weigh. At the moment I'm a size 12-14.

I have an autoimmune thyroid issue that's been there forever I think and a few other niggly things that have been going on. I started on the GAPS diet a few months ago to try to resolve the autoimmune disease and it's making a massive difference, but since starting on it I've realised that maybe the sugar in fruits has always been a part of my problem.

I've been on a pretty clean diet for a long time, with very little if any wheat but was eating rice, raw (sprouted oats and buckwheat) and a lot of fruit. On GAPS I've been off ALL grains and pseudo grains (quinoa and buckwheat) and at the beginning was off all fruit and sugars. Things were good (I've also suffered with IBS pretty much all my life).

Then I started introducing fruits and dried fruits and starting noticing problems - and weight gain. Hmmmmm

So sticking with the GAPS diet, but planning on following Primal blueprint also. I just bought the book so reading and getting ideas. I'll be posting regularly - we'll see what happens...

[NZ primal Gwamma]

SuziW, a huge welcome from one Gwamma to another !!!!!
You have come to the correct forum for all the infomation we could ever want, to do with that infomation what ever we want !!!!
You also have a big network of Aussies, according to the many threads on MDA.
That is great ! We are slowly flushing out the Kiwis as well, and they are proving to be many all over the country. The word is getting out there !
How old are the grandchildren ?
Mine are nearly 3 and 18 months. Very cute. Anyway well done on where you are at - it can only get better !
G

[perennialpam]

Hi and welcome to MDA.

I have followed the primal blueprint for 1 1/2 years. There are still times that I am 20/80 but mostly 90. For the first time in my life I have been able to keep the weight I lost off. Very exciting.

I need to hunker down and begin more of the workouts proposed too. I am a gardener but with winter on the way and earlier darkness already arrived, I find I don't move as much. That can end up being a problem.

I went from a 12 to an 8. Most of my closer friends eat the recommended way - low fat, whole grains. They don't understand my way of eating and they are so in the know about the CW that the USDA has suggested that I don't bother trying to change their minds any longer. For instance, when I say I'm not eating grains, they still try to get me to eat a pancake, or find something that is gluten free. It gets downright funny but frustrating.

I didn't realize that I should eliminate fruit because of autoimmune issues. I also have a thyroid issue so I may try that out and see how things go.

Best wishes and onward and downward (on the scale)

[SuziW]

Hi Gwamma - thanks for the welcome! My grandson will be 2 in January. I have a confession - I"m actually a Kiwi - well Scottish, brought up in NZ and then lived in Aussie for the last 24 years or so.

How long have you been doing the Primal thing and how are you going with it?

[SuziW]

I didn't realize that I should eliminate fruit because of autoimmune issues. I also have a thyroid issue so I may try that out and see how things go.

Hi perennialpam, thanks. I wanted to clarify - you dont' necessarily need to eliminate fruit - I've stopped eating higher sugar fruits and I'm only really eating berries and kiwifruit most of the time because I'm suspecting that the higher sugar fruits are a problem for me.

[SuziW]

Well it's been a couple of weeks - I had a bit of trouble finding my journal again! lol If there's a trick to doing that can someone let me know....

I'm finding I'm feeling great, but getting a little frustrated with my weight as I seem to be getting fatter around the middle although on the scales I'm not really moving too much.

I've cut out almost all fruit - just having berries in the morning usually with my home made raw milk kefir. I'm actually wondering if I should cut the kefir, but I'm also following the GAPS diet to heal my leaky gut so really wanting to keep the cultured foods as much as possible and love the kefir.

I am going to have a go at making it with coconut milk instead and see how that goes.

I've toned my exercise down the last few weeks - was training for a 10km run which I did in July and then haven't run since lol.

Planning on doing sprints every 7 to 10 days as advised in the book (just finished reading it this morning).

Also wondering if anyone uses skipping instead of sprints? It really gets the heart rate up - I did some the other morning - just went flat out for 15-30 seconds and rest in between.

Also using a suspension trainer for body weight exercises - it's awesome! Brilliant workout. We've just ended our gym membership because we're heading off traveling for a while and need something portable. We'll be taking our pushbikes, the suspension trainer and we're also going to buy another portable gym type thing that has bands and like the suspension trainer can be used anywhere.

My difficulty is to stop beating myself up for not exercising as much as I've done for the last 20 years - I've been a chronic exerciser and used it to 'manage' my weight (even though I never really got the results I wanted).

I've just started having the carrot salad in the morning to help manage estrogen levels - hoping it might help and I've only got two days left at my very stressful job - so that should help.

I'd really like to start losing some weight...

[SuziW]

It's ok - I worked out how to find my journal.... via my profile! Duh...

Well, my last day at work was yesterday so no more sitting in a call centre, listening to people abusing me every day -that will be very good for my stress levels and hopefully help on the weightloss front.

More playtime is about to happen as we head off in three weeks time to travel 6000km to Perth in our campervan. The plan for next year is to do some house sitting in WA and live a relaxed, rent free lifestyle for a while whilst I carry on with my study and my writing.

We're taking the frisbee with us....

My son and his girl arrive from NZ today to stay with us for 10 days before they head off for a week on the Gold Coast - I'm soooo looking forward to them arriving. The last time we saw them was around christmas when we were in NZ, but we didn't get to spend as much time as I'd have liked - too many family members to see!

I did my first sprint session on the beach yesterday morning - I can feel it today! I haven't done any for a couple of months so the body's not quite used to it at the moment.

I'm excited to be out of the call centre and getting ready to head off to a new life once again. To working on my tan and seeing more of Australia over the coming year

[NZ primal Gwamma]

Well it's been a couple of weeks - I had a bit of trouble finding my journal again! lol If there's a trick to doing that can someone let me know....

Also wondering if anyone uses skipping instead of sprints? It really gets the heart rate up - I did some the other morning - just went flat out for 15-30 seconds and rest in between.

I'd really like to start losing some weight...

Suzi - hi again, when I had just begun, I also lost the odd thread. If you go to your profile at the very top of the page, check in there for your old threads. Easiest way until you learn to navigate around the forums.

I have just been thinking about skipping. great minds.....
and yes me too wants to lose some weight, am struggling a wee bit , but would need to possibly ditch the wine !!!!

It's ok - I worked out how to find my journal.... via my profile! Duh...

More playtime is about to happen as we head off in three weeks time to travel 6000km to Perth in our campervan. The plan for next year is to do some house sitting in WA and live a relaxed, rent free lifestyle for a while whilst I carry on with my study and my writing.

We're taking the frisbee with us....

My son and his girl arrive from NZ today to stay with us for 10 days before they head off for a week on the Gold Coast - I'm soooo looking forward to them arriving. The last time we saw them was around christmas when we were in NZ, but we didn't get to spend as much time as I'd have liked - too many family members to see!

I did my first sprint session on the beach yesterday morning - I can feel it today! I haven't done any for a couple of months so the body's not quite used to it at the moment.

I'm excited to be out of the call centre and getting ready to head off to a new life once again. To working on my tan and seeing more of Australia over the coming year

fantastic exciting times in your life. Hope the visit goes well, and good luck with the sprinting !!!

[Annieh]

Hey Suzi, good to hear from you and welcome. Your campervan trip and proposed lifestyle change both sound fantastic.

I'm so glad you've discovered primal, as for me it has been key to learning not only to lose weight (I could do that with low carb) but also to keep it off and most of all to feel well and healthy.

Overall I found that after ditching the sugars and processed food, the next biggest key was to eliminate grains, especially wheat. I could not believe the difference this made!!

To get started I just did the basics - eggs for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, meat and veges for dinner. Now I am trying to branch out more. Nuts, fruit, cheese, olives, bacon, coconut oil. etc. I still haven't got into fully organic, organ meats, seafood or fermented things that people on here have been trying. I guess I haven't felt the need.

It's pretty easy to stick to at home, harder when on the road as I have just discovered. So, good luck with that.

[SuziW]

Thanks to you both. I think the skipping would count as a similar type of workout to sprinting - it has a similar effect when done in short sharp bursts!

I've actually been off all grains and pseudo grains for quite some time. I've also been making and eating fermented foods for the last couple of years - sauerkraut and kefir and other fermented veges.

Because I'm following GAPS to heal my digestive system and therefore my autoimmune disease, I've been off all processed foods and sugars etc for the last 5 months or so. No weightloss tho.

I've actually gained weight, but I think that's been a lack of vitamin D which will be rectified from now on.

I don't miss grains at all or sugar. I think that means things are improving. My appetite is decreasing the last few days and I'm not wanting to snack between meals which is a bit of a miracle for me!

Things are looking up I feel