Friday, November 25, 2011

Day 2: Chocolate cravings and berry binge

Quick post.  Yesterday was another success in my adherance to primal rules: I didn't cheat and I did exercise (slow pace).

I ate: Bacon and egg casserole with veggies, chicken and veggies, and then beef and pork chili (with veggies), berries, cheese and olives.

I drank: coffee, green tea and sparkling water.

I moved: by taking two walks with the three doggies (about 2x20min walks).

What is okay to do but I should NOT have: I had cream and a bit of raw sugar (Grok and I have a rule that we can do whatever we want to our coffee as our only vice), and binged at 10pm on shredded mozza cheese, berries and olives.  Meh, I don't really feel that guilty.

I suffered: massive chocolate cravings and sluggish energy and focus.

I reaffirmed rules for myself: (1) lay off the food after 8pm; (2) no more coffee after 12pm (exception - weekends).

Happy Friday!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Back to Day 1 - A butt-dragging success



Photo: Maggie Smith
 Yesterday, I did not want to be primal.  Well, I did and didn't.  I wanted to be primal, but I didn't want to live primally.

The first few days of getting back into a primal routine is always the hardest.  Your energy sucks, and you're craving your favourites.  When I got home from work, it took every ounce of my being not to open a bottle of red wine or shake myself a martini.  I'm going to admit that last week, I had a drink (or two…) every night.  Why?  I was in love with a bad routine, and I used the excuse of after-wedding slack. 

But yesterday, I made it through.  And I dragged my butt the whole day.  I ate veggies and eggs and bacon and beef and pork and nuts and more veggies.  What helped was that my sister had dinner ready on the stove (beef stew!) so my evening routine included an earlier-than-8pm workout.

Unfortunately, my workout sucked.  I just didn't want to do it.  I went downstairs to my gym and looked at my workout log (lifting): October 8th.  HOLY CRAP!  It had been a whole month and a half since I last lifted!  (Not that the date made me put any more into my workout since I still didn't wanna.) 

Here's what I did: 
  • 10 minutes of sprints (5 x 20-30 seconds) on the elliptical
  • 3x12 of squats at 30lbs on each dumbell (60lbs total)
  • followed by 3x15 butt lifts (no weights). 
And then I quit.

I can't wait until my body is back to normal so I can actually enjoy a workout and do a lot more than I did.

But, at least it's a start.  Again.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Four months...

...since my last post, but that doesn't mean I haven't been primal, nor does it mean that I've lost sight of this blog.

photo credit:  Salvatore Vuono
For the past four months, I pulled off two things:
(1) the wedding of my life, for which I'll toot-my-own-horn by saying that I did one helluva job and it was my perfect memory; and,
(2) I lost 20lbs, by following my primals ways and I felt oh-so good!

Due to a summer full of weddings, parties, showers, and bachelorettes (including my own that was a full week in Cuba), I managed to only gain about 7-8lbs back from my lowest, where most of it was gained during the week of and week after the wedding.  I'm totally okay with this, and I am confident that going back to a strict primal diet will help me easily lose the weight, and hopefully more. 

In my quest to lose 20lbs, I learned some tricks that helped me:  Tracking my food and my activity was key (see previous challenge post); I learned that alcohol really does slow my weight loss; and, I don't lose weight if I don't move.

I've re-enabled this blog for the main reason that I really, REALLY, want to get back to a healthy routine after all the partying and carb-loaded fiascos, and I adore eating primally.  It's my wino pitfalls that really hurt my efforts.  And now Christmas is around the corner...

Also, a co-worker recently adopted a 30-day primal experiment that she's tracking on her blog.  After catching up on her posts, I realized how much I missed making primal a top priority, and also writing my own posts.

Here we go again!