Am I missing something? page

[acire]

A friend turned me onto the primal diet last week...and I'm now on day 7 of my attempt at going primal.

At my heaviest, I've weighed 240 lbs. I've managed to lose a couple of those on my own...but not much (6-10 lbs). I've had a really hard time finding a diet I can stick with as I'm a bit of a picky eater...not as bad as I was as a kid...and I can sometimes make myself eat stuff I just don't like (but it's kind of hard to even contemplate making those things at home).

I'm probably at 70-80% primal so far...kind of hard to say as I'm still figuring out what's primal and what's not. For now, I've focused on cutting out grains and sugar. (I am a wine and cheese gourmand so, um, giving up dairy will be a long ways off...but I'm trying almond milk instead of milk now). I've had one day this week that involved crackers (day 3), but still managed to keep the carb intake to under 100g for the day. So far, every day has involved less than 100g of carbs...usually somewhere between 50-60g. (I've been journalling EVERYTHING). Every day has also involved less than 1500 calories with some days under 1000...but I haven't feeling hungry.

After a week so far, and making sure I've been honest in my journalling...I have to wonder "am I doing this right?" because it hasn't been mentally difficult at all. I haven't had that "OMG I WANT CARBS" moment. I walked through the grocery store this morning with the smells of fresh baked bread and just kept walking.

A lot of my diet this past week has involved:
- chicken (rotisserie)
- spinach
- cheese
- eggs
- carrots
- strawberries/raspberries (also, not at the point where I can give up fruit, but trying to focus on the berry type and cut out all other sources of sugar)
- red wine (A glass a day...one day with 2)
- cottage cheese

I've changed from beginning my day with a Venti Skinny Vanilla Latte and an oatmeal from starbucks...to making my own coffee at home, sweetening it with almond milk and agave nectar or pure vanilla extract.

But...this almost seems too easy so far? (I was a bread/cracker fiend...so it kind of disturbs me that I haven't had any symptoms of carb flu) So I wonder if I'm missing something. (Exercise is kind of mandated by a physical therapist to 30 minutes of rowing, swimming or biking 3x week and nothing more due to a knee injury). My scale went belly up on me just the other day, so I haven't had a chance to replace it. I guess ultimately that will tell me if I'm doing it right or wrong soon enough...

[Primal Toad]

Welcome to the primal world!

From what I just read and from my knowledge and personal experience of being primal for 2 months and 5 days... you seem to be doing great. Keep doing exactly what you are doing. Try your best to add more foods to your diets - more veggies and meats. Berries are just fine for fruit.

If it has been easy for you then you are going to love living a primal lifestyle a month or 2 down the road. It only gets easier and easier and much better.

In the meantime, feel free to send me a PM and ask me any questions you wish.

Good luck on your primal journey!

[jo]

Hi. Make sure everything you eat is full fat. Fat is good, and low fat products are often higher in carbs. I'm not sure of the benefit of almond milk over cows milk if you can get full fat. Maybe someone else can say otherwise. I personally have no problem with dairy so I can't see any need to remove it unless you know you are sensitive to it. In fact it is good to keep it in early on so you can get the right level of fat in your diet. It's ok if it's not perfect right away. My eating plan is a work in progress.

[ORBren]

Just keep it up - make small changes each week. One thing that has helped me alot is eating something with some fat whenever I have a sugar craving (I keep cooked bacon in my fridge). I have gone to black homemade coffee - your coffee sounds delish!!

[stockjohn]

You're doing fine but I'd ditch the agave syrup if I were you. It's still sugar. I still eat cheese and drink wine but I try to go a few days a week without every week. Carrots are also pretty high in sugar and have a high glycemic index, if you care about that sort of thing. I was surprised at how easy it was too. It only really gets hard for me when I'm socializing or when I'm stuck somewhere unprepared.

[GaTo]

congrats to the OP for the change... i just have a question though... isn't 1500 calories a little on the low side for a 240lb male? I'm not criticizing im just curious

[Chairdr]

Ill field this one... 1500 is quite sustainable, if he is trying to suck weight fast. Been there (am there).

[acire]

Thank you all for the input. I am doing this a bit in steps...the first step being mostly cutting out the grains. I'd say other than the one day, they've been cut out entirely...even cleaned out my pantry of carb stuff...I've been trying to cut out the sugar as well, but have also been doing it in stages (I need something sweet in my coffee in the morning for example...and heavy cream is not sweet to me yet). My sugar intake has been between 30-35g/day...and I'm sure I'll eventually get off the agave which will cut that in half even more.

I'm just really surprised so far that I haven't missed carbs yet...I used to carb overload on pasta, rice, potatoes...those were probably main staples of my diet (so...so far, this is actually a huge change, but one I think I can stick with)

I've stopped with the low-fat items...as I do realize now they often have more sugar added to make up for the lack of fat...and I'm learning to not be afraid of having fat I am not a huge fan of whole milk, but decided to stay away from the skim milk and switched to the almond milk as it appears to have a bit more fat, and less carbs and sugar. (And I don't drink much milk by itself either...so this won't go bad as quickly)

GaTo:
As far as the calories: I'm not currently 240, I've lost weight since then...not much but every bit counts...and I'm female. And while some of the days may have been light on the calories, it wasn't for the lack of food...and I wasn't feeling hungry.

But, thank you all, as it does sound like I'm at least starting out right and not missing something. I just expected cutting out grains to be MUCH more difficult than it's been. Watch, now that I've insinuated that it's been easy, it'll hit me like a train in a week or something

[GaTo]

acire i'm sorry for assuming you were male... it seems that you are taking the necessary steps to transition. I too am starting out and am finding it difficult to "figure out" what to eat and how much.

[iniQuity]

I never experienced a carb flu, and I was shocked and amazed when I realized I had gone a whole month without rice since I live with 3 other hispanics who eat rice almost every day and have not tried to change even if I cook for them sometimes. Be thankful you aren't missing carbs they might rear their ugly head. You're doing just fine food wise, I know some people here have already told you about certain items but don't become obsessive, I did that and cut out a LOT of veggies and stuck only to leafy greens such as spinach, kale, chard and broccoli, almost exclusively. I enjoy it, but eat your veggies if you want, without thinking too much about them. Eventually you may want to become stricter but for now keep doing what you're doing. All the best to you, this forum is ridiculously informative to stick around.