Day 10... Need some advice (Longish post) page

[DDisNow]

Hi everybody!

So how did I get here?

For the past 8 months or so I've been suffering from frequent sinus congestions, chronic PND and some reflux... sounds yummy, I know.

Anyway, I treated the reflux with a low acid, low fat diet and it worked. Within 3 weeks it went away.

However, the sinuses kept bothering me, I was prescribed antibiotics, nasal steroid spray and all that good stuff but to no avail.
I was doing some online research and read almost as a footnote that it may be caused by wheat allergy.

Sounded interesting, I did some more reading, found the book "Wheat Belly" and when I was done with it, it took me quite a few hours to pick my jaw off the floor. Needless to say, I had no idea, I was clueless.

So I quit all wheat and grains cold turkey that very same day. In addition to that I should mention that as part of my reflux diet, I quit dairy, caffeine and also quit smoking. Have no interest whatsoever in getting back to any of those.

So for 10 days now I've reworked my diet completely, The only processed food in my fridge is Unsweetened Almond milk.

My diet nowadays is comprised (in no specific order) of 1-2 Avocados, 1 gallon of purified water, 1-3 pieces of fruit (Berries, Apples or Pears), Green Vegetables (Kale and Spinach mostly), 2-3 Tomatoes, 2-3 Bell Peppers, 1 Cucumber, 2-3 Eggs, 4-5 spoons of raw Tahina (Made out of sesame seeds) mixed with water, 2 servings of meat or fish (Chicken breast, Red meat, Salmon, Tuna) 1-2 glasses of that Almond Milk.
Some days I also eat a couple of strips of bacon.

No starches at all (well, except 1 carrot every couple of days), no processed foods, no wheat. You get the picture.

The first 5 days or so were kinda difficult, going through withdrawal from bread and wheat (I used to LOVE bread and ate lots of it!), but the past 2-3 days I've been finding my groove and learning to reevaluate the feeling of hunger and fullness as it doesn't feel the same as when consuming carbs. Also I wake up easier in the morning, have no crashes during the day with steady energy and sleep very well at night. I also feel improvement in my sinuses but I am still taking the nasal spray, and Quercetin supplement so I can't say for sure if it's the diet or if the medicine is helping.

The past couple of days I also started walking 3-4 miles in the evenings.

My current weight is 205, would love to get to 180-175 (5'9)

I'm not stepping on the scale yet cause I know from past diets that it's a mistake and can be frustrating. I'll know when to step on it.
However, I can feel that I haven't lost any weight yet and as a matter of fact I look puffier in the mirror and feel slightly bloated. What gives?

What do you folks think? anything else I should do, add to my diet, increase or decrease intake of certain foods? Am I doing it right?

Appreciate the input. Thanks!

[Megatron]

It sounds like you're fine to me, but I'm a bit of a newbie myself so I'll let others weigh in. I felt a bit puffy the first few days but I think I just wasn't used to the sodium yet. It went away.

I mostly wanted to give my congrats on your new healthy lifestyle, in particular:

You quit smoking, caffeine, and dairy all at once? With no desire to go back? You clearly have a will of IRON and will have no trouble with primal. Quitting smoking was one of the harder things I've ever done, and I'm a beast without coffee, so huge kudos.

[magicmerl]

I'm not stepping on the scale yet cause I know from past diets that it's a mistake and can be frustrating. I'll know when to step on it.

How about never? Waist size and body fat % are much better indicators of health than weight, since part of getting healthy is putting muscles on (in addition to lsoing body fat).

However, I can feel that I haven't lost any weight yet and as a matter of fact I look puffier in the mirror and feel slightly bloated. What gives?

What do you folks think? anything else I should do, add to my diet, increase or decrease intake of certain foods? Am I doing it right?

Appreciate the input. Thanks!

Sounds like you're on the right track. How much fat do you have in your diet? If sounds like you've gone low carb, but you need to replace some of those vanquished carbs with fat...

[DDisNow]

It sounds like you're fine to me, but I'm a bit of a newbie myself so I'll let others weigh in. I felt a bit puffy the first few days but I think I just wasn't used to the sodium yet. It went away.

That's very good to know, I really hate that bloated feeling, can't wait for it to go away.

I mostly wanted to give my congrats on your new healthy lifestyle, in particular:

You quit smoking, caffeine, and dairy all at once? With no desire to go back? You clearly have a will of IRON and will have no trouble with primal. Quitting smoking was one of the harder things I've ever done, and I'm a beast without coffee, so huge kudos.

Thanks for the kind words. That's probably my strongest quality, when I make my mind up about something that I believe to be the right thing to do (even though It's not always right) and say "I'm gonna do it", than I do it. No backtracking, no second guesses, no "think about for a couple of days/weeks" or "Sleep on it" , always right here, right now and cold turkey.

[DDisNow]

Sounds like you're on the right track. How much fat do you have in your diet? If sounds like you've gone low carb, but you need to replace some of those vanquished carbs with fat...

I couldn't tell you exactly how much, but as I wrote earlier, roughly 3 eggs daily, 3 chicken breasts or red meat or salmon equivalent daily, a couple strips of bacon every other day, 1-2 avocados daily. Is this not enough?

[Cryptocode]

Your diet sounds pretty good. We generally strive for 65-70% fats, 25% protein, 10% carbs, with the carbs range < 150grams. If you want to loose weight drop the carbs to 100 or less. Below 50 is ketosis and you're not ready for that yet. There are many macronutrient tracking sites, paleotrack.com I find easy to use. Use one for a week to get a good sense of what your diet is, and then you only need to use it if you're adding new foods or really changing what you're eating.

Congratulations on jumping right in and welcome to our community. The 'carb flu' usually lasts 1-2 weeks. Just hold on and suffer through it.

[DDisNow]

If you want to loose weight drop the carbs to 100 or less. Below 50 is ketosis and you're not ready for that yet.

According to my loose calculations I'm somewhere between 50 and 100g of carbs everyday. Wouldn't 50/ketosis be a starting point?

[Cryptocode]

According to my loose calculations I'm somewhere between 50 and 100g of carbs everyday. Wouldn't 50/ketosis be a starting point?

No, I don't think so, although others might disagree. This is not a race, nor is the primary goal weight loss or gain. The primary goal is good (excellent) health and fitness. I also think age is a big factor in achieving the different phases of 'health and fitness'. The younger you are the faster it goes; you haven't spent as long destroying your body.

Your body has a great number of changes to go through, you'd be amazed. In your 20's I'd recommend 1 to 1.5 months adapting to primal, at around 100 - 150g carbs. Then if you feel good with extra energy unused, drop to 50g carbs for ketosis.

You don't need to be in ketosis to loose weight. You'll loose weight between 100-150g carbs, and you'll loose even more inches.

[Cryptocode]

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