Primal Challenge Journal (Griff)
(343 posts) (44 voices)-
klcarbaugh
MemberThat, Griff, to me is so interesting. I just need to stop my mind form roaming into the CW territory that tells us that overweight individuals ate a ton to get where they are...
My apologies. Maybe I am the one in need of a willpower pep talk.
This certainly show us how life is not fair because I am personally a carb addict and I am not really overweight. I am jealous that bread makes you sick! It's all in the hormones...
How is the lower protein going?Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
MemberSorry for the late post. Last night I ran out of oomph before I had a chance to update. My average yesterday was 111, with a high of 120 and a low of 94. I hiked across campus again, and I count that as exercise.
I ate breakfast, an afternoon snack, and dinner: my usual omelet and bacon in the morning, although I added bacon to add fat; some jerky for an afternoon snack; and summer sausage, colby cheese, and raspberries for dinner. I took all my supplements, and slept pretty well.
Today we went hiking with a friend. I say "hiking," but it was really walking on some gently sloped bike trails. We couldn't find the head of the shallow-incline trail up the mountain. Even so, we were walking for about 30 or 40 minutes without a break, which for me is pretty good. I haven't tested my blood sugar after that hike, and I don't want to. I also have no desire to eat - we ate at about 1:00 and went hiking from about 4:15 to 5:00, and I still don't feel even a little hungry. Low-carb burgers will do that, I suppose. Today and yesterday I've kept my carbs well below 20 - yesterday I had a total of 14g, and today so far I've only had 4 - so I think I'll be fine if I keep that up.
My left heel is bothering me - but oddly, it only hurts if I rest it. If I walk on it, like I did today, I get a mild ache. The drive back from the parking lot of the hiking trail start area to home, which took about eight minutes, seems to have aggravated it again. It hurt when I woke up this morning, too, but a few minutes of walking on it seems to have fixed that. I don't get it; it's a very odd injury.
I guess that's all I have for y'all. I don't have much to report in the way of weight loss or inches lost; right now I'm just hoping my sugars stay down where they've been for two days.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
MemberWOOT!
I just did my measurements. My waist is down to 56!!! And I know it's 56, because I measured about five times making sure!
I haven't had a 56-inch waist in... I don't know how long. Considering I started this journey seven weeks ago at a 69-inch waist, I think this is outright miraculous.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
Memberklcarbaugh: I stepped up the fats rather than decreasing the proteins. I haven't dropped weight again yet, but as you see, I've dropped inches today, and my blood sugars so far today are averaging out to a nice steady 105. That's really impressive, to me.
As far as being jealous that bread makes me sick - well, it's not just that it makes me feel nauseated to smell it. I discovered a wheat allergy when I stopped eating wheat. See how red my cheeks are in my icon? That's due to a wheat allergy, apparently. My complexion is slowly returning to normal now that I've cut out all grains and glutens. It's amazing.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
MemberSince I missed a day, I'm not going to try to catch up but instead I'm just going to continue with yesterday's news.
My high was 128 (before breakfast), my low was 96 (before dinner). Average was 111. I'm not happy about it because of the high morning numbers. I did some reading on what causes high morning sugars and there are two possible causes:
1. The Dawn Phenomenon, which happens to everyone and is a result of the body producing counter-regulatory hormones which cause blood sugar to go up. The only way to really combat this is to work out in the evening. If I work out in the evening, I can't get to sleep. Fortunately, it looks like my problem is the other one, which is called
2. The Somogyi Effect. In this problem, you have a low around 2 or 3 a.m. (or about halfway through your sleep cycle if you don't go to bed at ten like a good little boy or girl) and your body reacts by dumping glycogen from the liver, thus spiking your blood sugar. It's also called "reactive hyperglycemia." The way to combat this is to have a small snack just before bed that contains minimal carbs but also fats and proteins. I had two ounces of macademia nuts and a half glass of red wine before bed, and this morning my sugars are at 112. I think it's probably Somogyi, for me, not the DP.
Food yesterday? Well, I had breakfast - three-egg omelet and two pieces of bacon; starting today I'm going to reduce that by one egg and up my fats by adding more bacon. Lunch was really nonexistent; I had to take my kids back to my ex and so that ate up the lunch time; I had a leftover hamburger (no bun, of course) which wasn't that great. Dinner was my chicken-and-tomatoes-in-balsamic-and-red-pepper dish, which was lovely. Because we no longer add rice or couscous to soak up the broth, it's kind of like eating a very hearty, very spicy soup. Net carbs yesterday: 24g, 7g of which were the nuts and wine before bed.
As far as exercise, I didn't do much. Today I'm going to be doing a fair bit of moving around (and not slowly) on campus.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
MemberMy average today was 110.7, so essentially 111. My high: 120 before breakfast. My low: 98 before dinner. Not shabby, but still not as low as I want to go.
I had one less egg at breakfast today, and four slices of bacon instead of two. I'm trying to get my ratios up to above 80% fats to break this stall I seem to be having. Lunch was a couple hardboiled eggs and some jack cheese from the student grocery store on campus. Dinner was a 12-oz New York Strip steak, broccoli, and cottage cheese. I'm definitely over my self-imposed limit of 30 net carbs - I'm at 31 - but I didn't spike horribly after dinner.
I did a LOT of walking today, all over campus, and even after dinner when there were no seats in the bookstore. My feet are a little sore but nothing major. I'm just trying to figure out why the left heel, the one I bruised a week ago, is only sore when I haven't been putting weight on it for a while and why it becomes almost painless when I've been walking a while. Doesn't make sense.
Posted 5 months ago # -
kuno1chi
Member@Griff: "I'm just trying to figure out why the left heel, the one I bruised a week ago, is only sore when I haven't been putting weight on it for a while and why it becomes almost painless when I've been walking a while. Doesn't make sense..."
Sounds like it might be Plantar Fasciitis...that often hurts more in the mornings and after you've been sitting...had a bout a couple of years ago myself.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
Memberkuno1chi: Thanks for the advice; I'll start doing that first thing in the morning.
As for today's averages, I could have asked for better; an average of 114.6 isn't great. I skipped lunch, partly because I really wasn't hungry and partly because I didn't have any time to get lunch. My high was up at 126 before breakfast *sigh* and my low was 89 before dinner. Average: 114.6 - essentially 115. :(
Exercise was nothing today. I woke up tired and stayed tired most of the day.
Breakfast was two eggs and four pieces of bacon, along with coconut oil and cinnamon. Dinner was three-meat fajitas without any carbs, except for some onions, and a small dab of sour cream and guacamole each, and a salad.
Net carbs today: 28g. Most of that was at dinner, too.
I have a long day tomorrow, so I'll bid y'all good night.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
MemberMy average yesterday was 111, with a high of 126 after breakfast and a low of 96 before dinner. I ate twice: three eggs and three pieces of bacon for breakfast, and assorted proteins (ham, steak and chicken) for dinner with a salad and blue cheese dressing (we went to Hometown Buffet with the kids). I also made a point of taking more cod-liver oil before bed, and it seems to have helped some; my morning sugar today was 114. It was such a relief to see a morning number that wasn't in the 120s or higher! Net carbs yesterday: 14.
I had to do some pretty fast walking yesterday with my 60-pound backpack on my back, so I got some decent exercise.
It appears that the injury to my left foot is plantar fasciitis. I've been doing my stretches every morning like a good boy and it's only aggravating for the first minute or two after I get up. It doesn't bother me at all, otherwise.
I got really depressed last night after dinner for no discernible reason. My husband says it might just have been because I was tired after running all over the place all day and night (I hit the ground running at about 7 a.m. and we didn't stop until 11 p.m. when I went to bed, so he might be right).
In any case, yesterday was a roller coaster for me. I'm hoping that today, my day off, will be less stressful.
Posted 5 months ago # -
kuno1chi
MemberGriff,
My man has it in his right foot. A lot of his job involves rolling around in a car, hopping out and chasing people (he's a cop). So it pretty much hurts him all day, sometimes. I found if I give him a foot/lower leg massage with ice cubes (!) the pain will go away for the entire evening and part of the next day (I do both right and left).
Would the hubs be up for doing this for you? I like to finish off with coconut oil...makes him purr like a little kitten.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
Memberkuno1chi: I'm sure he would be, but I wouldn't - I'm desperately ticklish! I learned early on not to ask for foot rubs because I can't control my reactions to being touched on the feet. I inherited my mother's feet, and my dad had a chipped tooth all his life - he didn't have it fixed, to remind himself that you do NOT rub her feet if she says "don't rub my feet!" I'd like to avoid kicking my husband in the mouth as my mother kicked my dad once upon a time. I like the hubs' teeth the way they are. :D
Involuntary reactions suck sometimes.
But in any case, I'm doing the stretches and the problem seems to be going away, so I'm hoping this won't be a permanent thing!
Posted 5 months ago # -
maba
MemberGriff, I used to have plantar fasciitis in my left foot. I injured my foot once and continued exercising with the injury that seemed to have caused the inflammation. This was about 6 years ago and the pain just went away gradually. Have you tried rolling your foot on a rolling pin or one of those wooden foot massagers - may be those won't make you ticklish.
Posted 5 months ago # -
I've followed your journal for the past week or so Griff and I am happy to see your progress. A good friend of mine was just diagnosed with diabetes a couple months ago and he's stuck with the CW and the doctors telling him he has to have carbs.
I was wondering if you are still doing any heavy lifting/workout with your water bottles. That seems to be the only thing that has changed recently, which might be why you're feeling down.
It might feel depressing now, but you can always read the first few posts of your journal. It often helps to give perspective :D
Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
Member@maba: Thanks for the recommendation. I've also had SuperFeet inserts recommended to me else-site, and I'm going to try that too.
I may have a solution for my high morning sugars. In doing some reading about cod-liver oil, I found out that if I take it right before bed, it can lower my morning sugars. So I tried it.
Sure enough, my sugars this morning were only 114, and they never went higher than that all day, even after exercise. My low was 94 before dinner. My overall average was 104. That's awesome.
I think I'm going to be taking cod-liver oil at night, rather than in the mornings. This is great. And it set the tone for my whole day, too.
I had my usual egg-and-bacon breakfast, a bit of colby cheese for a late-afternoon snack, and a chicken taco (without the tortilla) and a chicken caesar salad for dinner. Net carbs today: 15. Pretty shweet.
I've dropped another pound. I'm now down to 358. If I've dropped more weight tomorrow, I'll have broken a week-long stall.
My one concern about the cod-liver oil is Vitamin A and D overdosing. I hear it's not hard to do that, so I want some guidance. How much is actually safe over the course of a single day? If it matters, I'm taking Carlson's Lemon Flavor Cod-Liver Oil.
Posted 5 months ago # -
maba
MemberGriff, happy to know taking CLO at night helped. About Vit A & D overdose, we had the discussion before. There's no definite answer but OD seems unlikely from the amount of CLO we consume:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/topic/too-much-vitamin-a
Posted 5 months ago # -
wug
MemberI actually invested in getting regularly massages for a while for the platar thing... and also went overseas and didn't do any high impact stuff. I'm good most of the time, but I still get pain if I am not careful (I KNOW I should wear heels, but I am so short, I can't bring myself to give them up completely). And I also regularly stretch the feet as well...
Posted 5 months ago #
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