170 lbs for over a month!

So, I have not had a lot to say because nothing is changed. That is exactly what I want to talk about today. I have leveled out with my weight through work outs and diet. So, a normal day for me starts at 6 a.m. I go down to get a cup of coffee, then head to the basement for a workout. In my basement I have a universal machine, a bench, some dumbbells, a pull up bar, a treadmill and a heavy bag. This is a luxury, meaning I could and have done with less. I do Arms Monday, Chest Tuesday, Back Wednesday, Legs Thursday and a run Friday. If I miss a day for something I skip the run. Runs, bike rides, hikes etc are also done randomly in the evenings and weekends. I am only concerned with the morning base work out as a routine. Everything else is just letting life dictate. Currently, I do 2 sets of each routine. For example; 2 X 12 Curls, then 2 x 12 Pull Ups etc. as time permits. I also do sit ups and stretches as time permits. Personally, I record nothing. When I am done I take a shower and get dressed. NO Breakfast. I eat Breakfast about twice a week as life dictates, but never planned. I eat a big lunch every day and a small dinner. For lunch I go out to Primal friendly restaurants and/or pick at my plate to avoid the grains etc. I do not get hungry at all because I do not start on the Insulin roller coaster early in the morning, I eat a big lunch and rarely want dinner, but I do eat it for two reasons. I cook for the family and we will sit down as one and I know I will not eat until noon the next day. I do not worry about any consumption after dinner, meaning dessert of any kind or the CW rule of "No Eating After 8". So, what I am saying here is "It gets easier once it is a routine". I no longer desire bread or any of the crap I used to eat. I would say it took a year to make it a routine and now I just tweak it as I read something new. I highly recommend you fast one way or another. At first, when i started losing weight everyone asks what diet I was on and when I told them what I do the were hesitant. Now they see I have not gained any of the 30 lbs I lost and they are ready to reconsider.

Update

I have been busy working on my Barefoot Run, living Primal and Intermittent Fasting. First, the run is now set for July 17th at Gallup Park. We are working on shirts, sponsors, advertising and volunteers.  I am concentrating on eating more meat and vegetables, less rice and fruit and no carbs. My work outs are Mon-Arms, Tues-Chest, Wed-Legs and Thursday-back. I take Friday off. I try to swim bike and run on the weekends with a couple of runs during the week. The week runs are usually two miles for distance and the weekend runs are one mile warm ups and hard sprints. The philosophy is lift heavy things and sprint. In the past I usually worked on mileage, but now it's just speed. My eating routine is now Mon/Wed/Fri-Lunch and snacks at night, Tue/Thur-Breakfast, shake for lunch and Dinner. The weekends are not structured, but I try to eat brunch and Dinner. I weighed in at 186 today after being at 190 at the beginning of the month! I should be at 175 by August. I actually think 170 is ideal, but figure I will plateau once first.

Life's Benchmark Moments

I had my 45th Birthday on the 27th. I consider this the half way point in my life. It got me thinking about everything I have done, wished I'd done and could have done if I focused. I realized there is a lot more life ahead of me and I was going to figure out some new goals and work towards them. I also realized that I have been handicapped by being an addict of one kind or another. At this point alcohol was my only crutch and it was a problem, so I decided to quit. Not for a while, but forever. That is quite a goal. It has been my biggest roadblock for being truly Primal. Whether you think drinking is okay or not really depends on your disposition to being an addict. Some people, like myself, can't have just one. If you can't have just one then it is a problem. That goes for anything. I also lost my mother to old age this last weekend. I have been practicing the Primal Lifestyle for a year now. It all seems to point towards an opportunity to begin a new era in my life. I don't know what all 2011 has to hold, but it looks like it will be a significant year in my life.

Holidays and the Issues Involved

Eating and drinking. It is such a big part of my Holiday memories that it creates all sorts of challenges for me. I spent the whole year avoiding cookies and the like rather effortlessly, but now I find it next to impossible to avoid. I am not even trying to justify it, which seems so unlike me. Drinking is even a bigger issue for me. I found myself drinking often and a lot since Thanksgiving. Finally, two weeks ago I came to grips with this and essentially quit all together. When I say essentially, I mean that I have had just one 3 times and quit. Unheard of for me. I put these two issues in the same post because I do think the not drinking part is one of the contributing factors to my eating. It is not uncommon to replace one habit with another. I guess if I eat a little unhealthy for another week it is better than forgetting what happened and not enjoying time with the family. So I guess I just did try to justify it! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Joyous Kwanzaa (always in that order).

Where To Begin

And How? I am inspired to write this after reading Girl Gone Primal explain how she got started. In many ways I have a similar concept as hers, less scientific and more practical. Don't get me wrong, I read all the scientific blogs, but they are experts in science. I have been constantly training, tweaking my diet and reading about training and diet for over 20 years. I watch the Colbert report on a regular basis and caught the episode with John Durant. Then I read Mark's and Ewan's blogs. Mark's book is a must read. It all started to come together. As a husband and Dad I had to make changes without disrupting the harmonious household.
     Of course, the Movnat stuff was great for my 7 year old daughter. I would chase her around the playground, found a tree we could climb, picked up heavy things on our hikes, etc. BTW, the tree climbing became such a hoot for the neighborhood kids, not so much for the parents. But I read a great article about playgrounds being made so safe kids don't even know how to get a little hurt. Then they grow up and break bones because they don't know how to fall or the ramifications of pushing limits. Yea, Haylee got hurt a few times, but it is all a learning process. I slowly incorporated these things into my workouts and began to change my workouts to sprinting and lifting heavier things. No more chronic cardio. This was actually the easiest. I no longer felt like I was dragging myself out to mindlessly put in the miles. I started going to the track, running barefoot, and keeping my warm up down to a fast mile. Then I did some all out 100 yard dashes and was done!
     Food was a different issue altogether. I had to make changes for me without making my wife and daughter pissed off. While I have not been completely successful at that I was able to make changes slowly. I cut out the carbs without much issue. If I make tacos, I eat a taco salad. If I make Asian dinners I limit my rice and give them more. Kristee says I make "a slab of meat and a bunch of vegetables". Well, that's what I would call a great dinner. For breakfast I make eggs and meat with the occasional hash browns. So, I simply started making her a breakfast burrito, like I used to eat, but put more eggs and meat on my plate, skip the wrap and give her most of the hashbrowns. As time has passed I have found I don't even care that I am not putting cheese on my salad or eggs, which was the hardest since I ate a lot of cheese. Now, the only cheese I will consume is the expensive stuff with a lot of Pancetta wrapped around it. I threw out all my breakfast cereal. Not at first, but after a month or two I realized I wouldn't eat it.
     Alcohol is another issue. I slowly cut out beer and moved to wine, hard cider and tequila for those days I really need the hard stuff. It makes for interesting social situations when someone says "want a cold one" and I have to decide if I want to get congested or just see what my other options are. Sure, it's a little awkward drinking wine at the bar when my friends are having a beer, but after two I don't care. I have started identifying bars that carry cider, but they are few and far between.
     So, to summarize, I am an experimenter and found that it is best to try eliminating or introducing things a little at a time in order to monitor your body's reaction to each change. I am now at the fine tuning stage. That is where I am reading the labels and making sure I am not consuming high fructose, which is in more stuff than I ever imagined, and other things on the "bad list". My recommendation is to cut the carbs and cut the chronic cardio. Eat more vegetables and have fun on your workouts. Stop the "weighwatchers mentality" of tracking all your intake and output. Have a routine, but not a regiment. Routines are flexible and that's what I love about the Primal lifestyle, it's flexible.

I'm Tired After Lunch!

It's that feeling that most people have grown to expect. Thank goodness for their energy drinks or coffee. So, I was staring at my computer and feeling tired and it dawned on me that this is a strange feeling that I haven't had in a long time. Yes, I had a less than Primal Lunch. Not bad by most accounts, but the kind that I used to eat before going Primal. Now I have the after effects from it. Sure would be nice to take a nap. In case you are wondering, I had a burrito and an enchilada, so I had plenty of flour, corn, rice and cheese. I also used to stop for a gourmet coffee on the way back from lunch in order to offset the inevitable effects of the insulin crash. Of course, it's these moments the reinforce the feeling that I am doing the right thing for my body by following this lifestyle. I just can't get past how tired I feel...

Poo or No Poo

That's shampoo, of course. Over three months ago I quit using shampoo, lotion, shaving cream and chapstick. In all cases I believe we have been convinced by years of TV and magazine ads that we need these things. Shampoo-I don't have much hair so that one is a no-brainer, but other bloggers I have followed say that after about 30 days their hair actually gets thicker and more manageable than with shampoo. It just takes a little while for your body to acclimate to the change. Lotion-occasionally I get dry skin, but again my body recognizes this and fixes the situation. I use a loofah pad and scrub hard with just water, so don't think I am dirty or smelly. I think I am cleaner with no residue left over. Even my psoriasis is better, but that is also due to no longer eating grains which trigger my autoimmune disease, but more on that in another post. Shaving cream- I still use this on my head when I shave, but when I run out I will not buy anymore. Not sure what I will do then. Similarly, on my face I am using a non alkaline soap for shaving, can't remember what brand it is, it creates a little bit of a slicker surface but that is almost gone and I will go to just water. Chapstick-this was actually the hardest! I can't remember when I last went without Chapstick. I usually had at least three sticks in rotation at one time for at least the last 20 yrs. My lips cracked and hurt for about a week. Then all of a sudden they were fine and I haven't had chapped lips since. I am still finding old chapsticks in different places. For the record, I do use a crystal for my under arms, which is chemical free and quite effective. I also use cologne which I spray two shots on my bare stomach/chest area. That's something I read in a GQ once. When you get a little warm it increases the smell. Of course, I do that just for the ladies!

The 80/20 Rule-My Interpretation

Mark talks about the 80/20 rule on his site and in his book. I have seen some comments on his site that I think misinterprets the concept. Let me begin by saying I am not one of those all or nothing kind of guys. I would compare it to my practicing Buddhism. While it is the philosophy that I believe in I am not going to become a monk. Likewise, I am following the Primal lifestyle, but I work and live with people that are not following my lifestyle and I can't control some aspects of my life. So, to me the 80/20 rule is to do the best you can within the constraints of your situation. For instance, I make burritos for dinner and my wife and daughter like beans and corn in theirs. I just make mine mostly meat and add a touch of beans and corn, but then put it on a salad instead of using a tortilla. Where this differs from others is that they may say 80% of the time they are adhering to the Primal way, but then have a big dessert or something along those lines. How I think this is different is that I try to adhere 100% of the time, but the outside forces will only allow me to be 80% compliant.