Althaur's Primal Warrior Journal. page

[Althaur]

Time to start my own journal on here after lurking for so long.

I'm 41 years old, 6'1" and currently 215 lbs. I've been eating Primal since the beginning of 2009. When I started I was at my heaviest at 245. My lowest was 190 lbs, but I've put a back on by getting a little sloppy with my eating. Also, before I deployed, it was a lot easier to go home and snuggle on the couch with my girl than it was to get to the gym.

Since we're going to Jamaica when I get back from Afghanistan, it's time to make sure my beach body is back in order. I'll use this to track my meals, and workouts. Also to post my general ramblings and rants.

I'm a soldier currently on a wonderful all expenses paid vacation thanks to Uncle Sam. So eating is a challenge. The chowhalls aren't always accomodating.

So, for today so far, I've had a Primal Fuel Chocolate Coconut shake made with coconut milk, milk and a scoop of whey protein. I also had some milk duds while I was sitting at my desk bored out of my mind. Sigh.

Avoiding the grains is so easy for me. It's the sugar that has always been the hard part. The stuff is like crack! One bite and I want more. Hopefully, writing about my indiscretions on here will help control it.

I don't have any good before photos out here, but here are some before and after photos. Hopefully someone finds this entertaining enough to read and comment every once in a great while.

Stay safe!

Josh

[Crabbcakes]

Hello, pleased to make your acquaintance!

You will find me boring in the extreme when it comes to the workout thing because I just don't (yet), but otherwise I think I am okay company. I can relate to the sugar thing, too, it is one of my challenges. And military service, in a second-hand kind of way, as I was a bona-fide Army brat with the list of "Fort"s to prove it... Fort Leonard Wood, Fort Hood, Fort Benning, two bases in the then-West Germany, etc.

Milk Duds? Man, you should go for something at least a little more respectable like Junior Mints - that way you get a two-fer - sugar shock AND fresh breath! And keep smiling like that - you are gorgeous to begin with, but that smile is megawatt!

Happy New Year!

[Althaur]

Thanks Crab! Appreciate the compliments. I love Junior Mints as well. I'll have to stick with fruit and the rare dark chocolate for now though.

I went to Basic and AIT at Ft Lost-in-the-Woods, hate Ft Hood and have been to Benning several times for training. Never got stationed in Europe.

Thanks for chiming in! Happy New Year to you as well.



Lunch was 3 grilled chicken breasts with butter, half of a baked potato and roasted vegetables. I looked at the butter packet after I was done only to see it was butter WITH vegetable oil. Needless to say I was rather grumpy. The nitwits behind the counter at the chowhall had no clue what I meant by "do you have any REAL butter". Guess I won't be using anymore of the butter at the chowhall for fat. Sucks too, because the brand is a Danish butter which is normally damn good.

Arghhhh!!! Plenty of deepfried and breaded meats, pasta and margarine though. I get really sick of eating hamburger patties here. A coworker and I make Hamwiches. Two hamburger patties with cheese and veggies in the middle. Pick it up and scarf.

Also got to the gym. Only did a 2 mile run when they decided to close the gym for cleaning. Jumped off the tread mill and finished up before leaving.

Workout today:
Run - 2 miles
Dips- 45 lbs 3 sets of 5, bodyweight 2 sets of 5. Dealing with a bad right shoulder, so I can't really do anything else for chest.

It's steak night tonight. So I'll be having a very bad Ribeye steak, salad and maybe another half of a baked potato.

[Althaur]

Yesterday was a long day. I'm dealing with a slight cold which is annoying. I took the day off from working out just to kick this cold. Will most likely take today off as well.

Yesterday's eats:

Breakfast - Primal fuel shake with extra protein, coconut milk and milk.
Lunch - 2 VERY dry hamburger patties with bacon and swiss cheese, beets and half of a roasted potato.
Snack - 1 cup of cherry yogurt, mixed nuts and raisins.
Dinner - taco meet with salsa, cheese, onions and a bit of lettuce and 1 cup of cherry yogurt.

Not a bad food day. Managed to get about 9 hours of sleep last night as well. I was beat after being woken up at 0100 yesterday morning.

[Althaur]

Yesterday was a good day. My cold was feeling a little better. I had a great night sleep which helped.

Breakfast - Primal fuel shake with extra protein, coconut milk and milk.
Snack - Summer sausage and cheese (while the sausage isn't primal, it's a nice treat so I indulged).
Lunch - Primal fuel shake with extra protein, coconut milk and milk.
Snack - pistachios and one square of Lindt 85% dark chocolate.
Dinner - 2 chicken thigh/leg quarters, salad 4 buffalo wings (unbreaded) and one cup of black cherry yogurt.

Got to the gym as well. I've gone back to the workout routine which has ALWAYS shown me the best results. It's a pyramid routine that goes up in weight an down in reps for several sets of the main lifts. Here is my workout from yesterday.

Weighted dips - 30 lbs/8 reps, 35 lbs/6 reps, 40 lbs/4 reps, 45 lbs/6 reps, 30 lbs/10 reps, bodyweight/10 reps.
cable flies - 3 sets 50 lbs each arm.
Standing over head press - 95/8, 105/6, 115/4, 125/3, 95/8, Olympic bar/10
Lateral raises - 25lbs for 2 sets
Over head cable extensions - 120/12, 100/10 (no rest in between and immediately jump to next tricep exercise)
Pushdown - 100/8, 80/8 (no rest between sets again)

The program is really good for adding strength. Ideally, you start with a weight you can do for 8 reps fairly easily. Each set goes up be 5-10 lbs and down by two reps. Your heaviest set should be a weight you can only get about 2 reps on. Go back to your starting weight and crank out as many reps as you can for your last set. When I'm able to crank out 5 or more reps with my heaviest set, my starting weight goes up by whatever amount I'm increasing between sets. So, as an example, my dips will start at 35 lbs next week, but my Over Head Presses will stay at the current weight.

[Althaur]

Yesterdays eats.

Breakfast - my normal shake.
Snack - beef jerky and mixed nuts.
Lunch - turkey, collard greens and one cup of cherry yogurt
Dinner - grilled in our compound, 2 new york strip steaks, coleslaw and fried potatoes.

Workout was a 4.5 mile run. Probably shouldn't have done it with my cold still hanging on a bit. Coughed for a while afterwards and had some great Afghan dirt snot to blow out of my head.

As an aside, my freaking biceps are killing me from my chest and shoulder workout!!! All I can think is on the negatives for the dips and overhead press my biceps were stabilizing. Should make today's back and bicep day extra fun.

I was also pretty stoked to get a box from my wife. She sent me 8 more cans of coconut milk, Dunkin Donuts coffee, and of course a card covered with her perfume. Mmmmmm. Always brightens the day in this craphole.

[Althaur]

Well, today was not an ideal day for eating. Bleh. Bunch of crap due to sitting at my desk all day and it being around.

Breakfast - normal shake
Lunch - Big Ass Salad with about 16 oz of New York strip and blue cheese dressing
Junk - 2 chocolate cupcakes and a small bar of Galaxy silk milk chocolate, beef jerky
Skipped dinner

On the plus side, I had a great workout today.

Bent over rows (parallel to the ground, pulled from the ground) - 135x8, 145x6, 155x4, 165x4, 135x8
Pullups - 8, 6, 4, 2 negatives
Shrugs - 220x15,12,10
Bent over lateral raises (rear delts) - 25x14,12
Bicep superset - standing DB curls 40x12/30x6 Incline DB curls 25x7/15x7
Hammer curl - 25x7

I'm in and out of the gyme pretty quickly. Normal time is 35-45 minutes. I was a little miffed today. In my experience the WORST gyms I've ever been to for proper etiquette and politeness are military gyms. I don't know what it is about them, but it seems to bring out the asshole in people. They're rude, don't put shit away and will hog up equipment while they take a 10 minute break between sets. Makes me want to drop a plate on their foot.

It's raining now, so tomorrow may be a rowing day instead of running. Should be fun after doing back. Ug.

[Althaur]

Today has been a good day. Got a lot done for work first thing this morning so I could spend the rest of the day wasting tax dollars.

Breakfast - normal shake but I cut out the milk this morning and just used the coconut milk and water.
Snack - beef jerky.
Lunch - Stew, 2 chicken leg/thigh quarters, vinegar cole slaw and the chow halls version of a Greek salad (bleh!).

It was a gorgeous day here, as far as a day in Afghanistan can be gorgeous. Kind of like saying the air has a pleasant aroma in an outhouse. Anyway, I digress. It was so nice, I decided to run.

Ended up doing a 5.5 mile run with my 35 lbs rucksack. Finished it in 59:14, which isn't my best pace, but I'll take it considering I've been slacking on my running.

I had a square of Lindt 85% dark chocolate after I got back. Now I just need to hose myself down before I head to dinner. No sense competing with the chowhall for the worst smell. I'm sure I would lose.

[Althaur]

Dinner last night was three Salsbury steaks, vinegar cole slaw, a few fried potatoes and a cup of kiwi yogurt.

Breakfast - normal shake.
Lunch - 16 Oz of New York Strip on a plate of salad with blue cheese dressing.
Snack - Beef Jerky, 3 squares of 85% Lindt and 1/4 cup of dried plantains.
Dinner - most likely another shake as I have a VTC at dinner time. Sigh.

Workout today was good. I'm going to be very sorry tomorrow.

Squats - 6 sets
Deadlift - 3 sets
Standing Calf raises - 2 sets
Squatting calf raises - 2 sets

The squatting calf raises are something I came up with a few years ago. They are great for helping to increase flexibility, but also really hit the soleus and some other smaller muslces in the lower leg. You squat all the way down, the Grok Squat as I've hear some on here call it. In country it's most oftern called the Hajji Squat. I know, not PC. Anyway, you place a dumbbell on your legs so it's cradled between your knees and chest. Put a hand on a bench for stability. The ONLY joint which moves is your ankle. Leave your butt down. Raise up onto your toes and back down until your heels are on the ground. It's a smoker. The burn gets really deep.

Hopefully my legs are too trashed tomorrow. Hoping to do another run, but may have to settle for some rowing. Or maybe taking the day off. Have to see how hellish the stairs are tomorrow morning.

[Crabbcakes]

I was also pretty stoked to get a box from my wife. She sent me 8 more cans of coconut milk, Dunkin Donuts coffee, and of course a card covered with her perfume. Mmmmmm. Always brightens the day in this craphole.

Nice! Hubby and I did the long-distance dating thing for three and a half years, me in Germany and he stateside. We have been married 19 years now, with 4 halflings (as I heard Warmbear call them a couple days ago) to show for it.

I used to send him perfumed cards, too. Back then it was Ralph Lauren's "Lauren" that was "my scent". The first time I did that, I got a call in the middle of the night - he almost hopped a plane over for some together time (ahem).

How long have you been/will you be separated? And what area of the States do you call your home (for example, are you a nice Midwestern boy or a Southern gentleman, that kind of thing)? As I was raised Army and my mother is a German immigrant to the US, I have no real "hometown" per se, just where I happen to hang my hat at the moment, which currently is Ohio.