Primal Journal (maba) page

[maba]

Mamatha's (maba) Primal Journal

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I've been hesitant to start a primal journal because I wasn't sure if I could stick to it w/o cheating but realized having an online journal that my fellow groks can peek into will give me more accountability and determination to stick to it. I'm yet to figure out how to use fitday and track my macronutrient composition.


Day 1 - so far

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b/f:


Coffee with milk

2 eggs fried in Ghee


Snack:

2-3 strawberries


Lunch:

Ethiopian-Indian Chicken Soup (recipe in the Recipe section)

Kiwi + a few strawberries


Exercise:

A 1-hour walk on a trail during lunch break


I would appreciate your feedback on what to add to/eliminate from my diet and how "primalize" it better and also tips on exercising. Thanks much.

[maba]

Can't seem to find the edit option, so rest of the diet here:


Snack:

A few pieces of dried coconut

A Cup of Chicken Soup


Dinner:

A small piece of Thai-Style Salmon Satay (will post recipe in the recipe section shortly)

A small amount of zucchini-mushroom stir fry


I seem to be having a bad appetite today for some reason, feel neither satiated nor hungry, just uninterested in eating. I'm jet-lagged and haven't had a good night's sleep in 2 days.

[DiabetesCanKissMyButt]

Sorry about the jet lag, maba. Did you have a decent vacation?

[maba]

Yes, it was a wonderful vacation, it wd have been better if I'd managed to convince my parents and m-i-l to become primal. Thanks for asking DCKMYB.

[maba]

Day 2

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B/f:

Coffee w/ milk

2 eggs scrambled in ghee


Snack:

A few walnuts


Lunch:

Thai Style Salmon Satay

A simple salad made with Romain lettuce drizzled with olive oil+garlic+pepper dressing


1 Kiwi


Dinner:

1 cup of raw milk


Exercise:

1 hour walk


Bad day today, been having a severe headache almost all day, haven't had decent sleep in 3 days. No appetite, so just milk for dinner. I've lost weight but looks like most of it is muscle weight according to my scale.

[OnTheBayou]

maba, that isn't enough food to sustain a chihuahua! And you perhaps wonder why you are feeling well?


If my experience is anything to hold forth for others, know what your intake (www.fitday.com) is before dieting. Then work your way down from there, not all at once. I was doing 4000 cal/day and more in the old days. Now half that and often less. I'm about 3600 cals/day energy expenditure even without walking.

[Clint]

I have to go with OTB here.


Your meals seem to be an extremely low caloric load. You need to see how many calories you're actually eating. If you're in too much of a calorie restriction, then you go into starvation, which could account for you're symptoms.

[maba]

Thanks OTB and Clint for your input. I haven't started using fitday yet and I basically eat when I feel hungry and till I feel full and make sure it comprises fats, protein and veggies.


I'm 5'0" and I weigh 115 lbs with BF 26% and muscle mass as of this morning 39% (used to be 42% a month ago). Pre-primal, I would work out for about 6 hours a week - 4 hrs a week of intense step-climbing (real stairs) and 2 hours of light weights (5lb). Starting this week, I've been going for walks and this morning did a 20 min upper body workout with my dumbells. I work at the desk most of the day. Before I went primal my daily intake was about 1800-2000 calories, most of it from whole grains and some protein. Any advice on where I need to improve or concentrate.

[SassaFrass88]

Maba,


What about trying to eliminate the dairy and snacks between meals and incorporating more fats and protein in your 3 meals?


That's my focus, since my body seems to respond to that fairly well.


I'm still experimenting, but the more protein & fat consumed in one meal, the less hungry I am for a snack inbetween meals and thus the ability to fast a meal, here or there. I feel much better and tend to lose weight with this 'method'....

[Clint]

First, if you're numbers are correct, then you're losing muscle mass. That is a BAD thing. This is, more than likely, due to eating way too few calories.


I'm no dietician, but your pre-PB calorie intake may have been closer to optimal even if the type of foods weren't. Honestly, eating primal or not; man or woman; active or sedentary; tall or short, I don't think you should ever drop below 1500 kcal a day.


I think you need to really shore up your diet/nutrition first.


Step 1. Make sure you're getting enough calories in. You do NOT want to go into or stay in starvation mode.


Step 2. Make sure you're getting in enough vitamins and minerals. Even if you're getting enough calories, a prolonged vitamin/mineral deficiency is nearly as bad.


Step 3. Make Primal food choices. (Which it looks like you are!)


Once that's dialed in, you can start tweaking your exercise protocol.


1. Forget about "splits". No "upperbody day followed by lower body day" stuff. Stick to full-body, multi-joint workouts for most "bang for your buck".


2. Make the workouts intense. This will shorten the time of your workouts. One of my favorites is to pick a compound movement such as deadlift or squat thrust and do as many reps as I can in 20 min. You want to pick a weight that keeps the reps between at least 50 and no higher than 100 in the 20 minutes. The closer you are to the 50 reps, the more strength focus. The closer you are to the 100 mark, the more metabolic recovery conditioning (MRC) focus.


I hope this helps and if you have any other questions, people here on the board and myself will do our best to answer them.