day one done! page

[dollyrocket]

Hello everyone

I came across this site when researching IF for weight loss and it sounds like just the thing to get me back to optimum health and weight.

I’ve never eaten the ‘best’ diet but have always been fairly active and healthy until a back injury put me out of action approx 18 months ago. The combination of no exercise, comfort eating and a recently developed carb addiction has meant I’m now at 175lb and feeling awful. I’m sluggish and lethargic, my skin is pretty bad with acne and my general complexion is dull grey and patchy. Eating high salt, fat and sugar foods has lead to a junk food addiction with the associated gut problems and belly bloating.

My primary goal is to lose body fat. Although I felt my best when I weighed 140lb; I’m not that fussed about what the scales say as long as I can lose the belly flab, back fat, saddle bags, bingo wings and muffin top! Of course, the overall health benefits are very important to me as well.

I’ve just completed my first day and I’m feeling pretty good. Not as hungry as I thought I’d be without the filling bread products I’ve come to love. I feel full but a different kind of full…. I just need to reset my brain and stomach a bit I guess. I’m expecting some kind of ‘carb flu’ at some point as bread, pasta and baked goods did make up a massive part of my diet.

All in all I’m pleased and excited to see what’s in store!

[Lewis]

If you've got gut problems and acne, I should be very careful about steering clear of all sugar, processed foods, vegetable oils, and cereal grains, particularly wheat. Dairy products often seem to trigger acne for people, too. Professor Cordain has informatiion specifically on acne on his site -- unfortunately, it's not free, though.

Standard dietary advice in these circles will be to cut the "white foods" though. You might take a good probiotic, too.

I think with the comment about "low fat" you've got something to consider though. If you've dropped all the bread and pasta and cut out sugar, what are you going to fuel yourself on? Protein won't be more than 15 to 20 % of calorific intake for most people. That leaves a big gap to fill with no bread. You either have to eat a heck of a lot of fruit (or sweet potatoes) - which is going to spike insulin and so cause weight gain - or be prepared to use a little olive oil, coconut oil, or ghee.

[dollyrocket]

Hi Lewis

Thanks for the advice.

Maybe my post was misleading. My diet before was high fat but also, high salt, high sugar junk food. Not all the time of course, but the 'treats' became more and more frequent
I'm definitely not cutting out fat.... In fact, I can't wait to have full fat cream, butter, chicken skin, bacon, ghee.... all guilt free! I already use olive oil on veg and salads but looking forward to butter on my veg instead. I'm also going to buy some coconut oil tomorrow.

Day 2 is going really well. I had 3 egg cheese omelette with 3 rashers of bacon for breakfast at 9am and was completely full for hours. Got a bit peckish at 3pm so had full fat greek yoghurt with raspberries and looking forward to steak with veggies for dinner, dripping in butter of course!

[Hedonist2]

Welcome Dolly. Good luck on primal!

[dollyrocket]

Thanks Hedonist

I'm a week in and going well. A few days of feeling rubbish but generally fine. I'm enjoying discovering new recipes.