a Primal Birthday

So today was the husband's birthday. We had a celebratory birthday dinner at a Steak House and it was super delicious. I enjoyed every single bite. 

Oh - and I should mention that the husband has lost 14lbs. Not only that, but he's down a full clothing size. And since it's his birthday, I will celebrate his success and not be bitter over the fact that I am not seeing the same results (or at least I'm not seeing results as quickly as he is).

So with that, I'm headed to bed, as I have a pretty full day tomorrow. 

Good night!

moving on

So I'm getting yesterday's weigh-in out of my mind. Just going to focus on the next one coming. My work is super busy for me right now, so I don't really have much to say tonight. Sorry to be boring like that - but it happens.

And with that, I'm going to go watch an episode of Pysch before I go to bed. That's one of my favorite shows. The husband and I are in the 3rd Season right now. I hope it never ends. Because I love it so much.

great. just great. {and I don't mean that in a positive way}

So I GAINED .6lbs today. Which was super frustrating as the scale at home said I lost .5lbs. But I've been going by the gym scale ... which said I gained .6lbs. On top of that, the body fat percentage thingy was missing. So I couldn't even find out if my other numbers had changed - or what the heck was going on in my body. And on top of that, my youngest has a snotty nose (which is still kinda green-ish) which means he can't go into the childcare area at the gym which means I didn't get to work out.

LOVELY. 

I really wanted to have a good number since this was my 4 week anniversary of being Primal. Can you believe 4 weeks have already gone by? Seriously - that's kind of crazy.

(Oh - and I'm listening to the 'love song' channel on Direct TV and let me just say - Joe Jackson is an AWFUL singer. Seriously. How did he even sell a record?)

Anyway ... I hate that the numbers on my weight-loss log (on the right side of the blog) will now show an increase. I don't want it to look like I didn't try this week. I did! But I guess this is how it works, you know? There will be good weeks and bad weeks. But I just have to continue forward. 

So that's the plan. Just keep going. One day at a time. 

ugh ... another weigh-in

So ... I get to go weigh myself in about 9 hours. I'm not looking forward to it. I know I say this before every weigh-in, but the scale has NOT been my friend this week. I've had a good run for the first 3 weeks, so I can't complain. I did read that sometimes a stall in weight loss could be due to your cells holding onto water (since they're used to being full 'with fat') ... and then one day they just let go of the water ... 

Granted ... it's not like that happens every day ... nor is is super common (I'm guessing). But maybe I can just hope that it's happening to me. 

So good-night. I gotta scale to take on tomorrow.

one more thing

I forgot in yesterday's post that if you DO decide to try and go Primal ... don't worry about the exercise. For reals. Just start with the food. You can work the exercise in later. And if it seems like too much to cut out all carbs AND sugar, then just focus on one first ... and then work in the other. (so is anyone thinking of giving it a shot? hmmmm? anyone?)

I have a weigh-in on Tuesday morning ... and yet again, I don't think I'm losing weight. I think I might be stalling this week. And I'm not going to stress over it. I think I ate too much this week. I didn't fast as much as I did the week before. Honestly - I do great on 2 meals a day. I know that sounds like I'm starving myself, but I am SO NOT! My meals are large that I eat, and highly satisfying. I really wanted to get a good number to round out my first month of being Primal, but I can't complain over what I've accomplished so far. 

Oh yeah - I won't be watching any kdramas right now. I literally am SO far behind on my work schedule it's not even funny. So I really have to hunker down and bust a ton of stuff out. But I'll still be checking in here. 

So I'm not going anywhere (I just won't be sharing in any kdrama adventures for a bit!).

How To Go Primal

Sorry guys - I just went back and looked at some of the comments and saw that a few of you had some questions about going Primal. So I'm going to give you MY 'cliff notes' of what to do. That being said, I am NOT the end-all-be-all when it comes to being Primal. You can ALWAYS go to this website where you can read till your hearts content. I bought the book (it's crazy long - on my ipad, holding it vertically, there were over 700 pages), but you can find just about all the info on the website.

So here it goes, my version:

Here is the main list of DON'TS:

1) no sugar

2) no grains (bread, pasta, etc)

3) no legumes (beans)

4) no dairy (you can actually have 'some' dairy if you want - I'll go into that more in a sec)

Here's what you can have in MODERATION: 

1) sweet potatoes

2) rice

3) dark chocolate (the higher the % the better)

4) fruit

5) dairy (butter, ghee, full fat yogurt, heavy cream, some cheeses - think 'hard' or 'aged')

Here are GUIDELINES for what you're consuming:

1) To lose weight, keep your carb count under 100 GRAMS of carbs per day

2) To lose weight more 'aggressively', keep carbs under 50 grams per day

3) To maintain your weight, keep carb count between 100-150grams per day (after keeping your count under 100g, you'll find that 100-150g will feel like splurging)

4) Go to FitDay.com to open a free account to track your food. (I only track food on occasion. At first it was to gage where I was 'at' with everything. Now I have pretty good idea of where I'm falling with my carb count without having to log food everyday - but this is REALLY easy to do and it helps SO MUCH in the beginning)

SAMPLE MEALS:

BREAKFAST: cook some bacon. scramble eggs in the bacon fat and add whatever vegetables you feel like.

LUNCH: make a salad with lots of vegetables and at a 'meat' (this can be beef, pork, poultry, seafood, whatever). Just toss it with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I actually add 2 hard boiled eggs to my salad. I love how the yokes give it a slightly 'creamy' texture (and this is coming from the girl who hated yokes).

DINNER: meat of some sort, with steamed vegetables of choice, but finish the veggies in butter and add a little salt and pepper. 

Some Key Points to remember:

1) MAKE SURE YOU ARE COOKING WITH FAT. That means using butter, ghee, coconut oil, olive oil ... don't use vegetable or canola oil. Those are no -good. If you drink coffee, you can use some heavy cream if needed ... but try to go without the sweetner. If you find that your weight-loss is stalling, then cut out the heavy cream.

2) Limit your fruit. Although they do say that it's better to have a piece of fruit vs. having some kind of carby snack (like chips, crackers, etc). If sweets are your downfall, then by all means, use fruit as your crutch until you can make the transition. Berries are going to be your 'best choice' when picking fruit. I've found that a simple 'google search' will let me know what my best choices are for low carb fruit. 

3) Limit dairy. If you have to eat yogurt, then eat a full fat greek yogurt. But people see better results with no dairy. I eat a bit of smoked gouda cheese (that is my dairy), but I don't drink coffee (so I don't need the heavy cream) and I don't eat yogurt. For now I'll continue to eat a little cheese, but if my weight-loss stalls, that will be the first to go. Keep in mind, some people can eat dairy/fruit the entire time and still lose weight ... but if you're having problems, then try and eliminate those two things.

4) They say you can eat sweet potatoes and rice in moderation. I personally try and stay away from them. I know when some people get really hard core into their work outs, they eat a sweet potato. Granted, I'm no where NEAR 'hard core', so I don't partake in the potato ... but maybe one day ... maybe one day ...

EXERCISE REGIME:

1) walk. don't run. for reals. as I mentioned in an earlier post, it was best described that your cardio should NOT be faster than a walk, but slower than a sprint. It should be either or. So walk. They suggest 3-5 hours of casual walking A WEEK. (personally, I try and do an hour a day - but I probably get in 5-6 hours realistically, as something seems to come up every week).

2) Lift Heavy Things. This is in regards to weight-lifting or high intensity workouts. You don't need to do over 20-25 minutes, two times a week. If you don't have access to a gym or weight-lifting on your own, try checking out Shin Otake. This guy is pretty incredible. And no, I haven't personally tried to do any of his workouts as I'm too intimidated. You can also check out Zuzana and her workouts. It was one of her workouts (that I modified) that had me laying in the fetal position and calling it quits before I even finished the workout. If you try any of these workouts - PLEASE let me know what you think!

3) Sprints. You sprint for 30 seconds, rest for 90 and repeat 8 times. Simple as that. It's so simple, that I have yet to try it. But it's recommended that you do it once every 7-10 days. 

And that ... well, that's about it! I could talk about fasting, but we can save that for another time. I had NO INTENTION of incorporating fasting into my 'lifestyle' as I've always hated the word. But honestly, it came completely naturally. I love it. (and I STILL can't believe I'm saying that!).

Oh - now Primals will recommend that you eat as organically/grass fed/free range as  you can. If you can swing it - great. But if you can't, don't stress about it! Seriously, just making the basic changes will still give you results. 

So now ... I'm challenging YOU. Please - try Primal living for 7 days. ONE WEEK. That's IT! I swear you can quit it forever after that. But I think you'll be AMAZED at the results. 

I was a sugar addict. I drank so much diet soda it would probably make you sick. My portion sizes were OUT.OF.CONTROL. and I loved snacky carbs and could eat them all day long. I use to joke that I loved 'artificially flavored, pre-packaged food'. The sad thing was, I actually really did. But I got so sick of myself. I got sick of how I felt. I got sick of how I looked. And when my cousin introduced me to the Primal lifestyle ... it just came at the perfect time for me. For reals. 

Everything that has held me back in past diet attempts, doesn't even exist now. This is EASY. The food tastes INCREDIBLE (I'm so in love with bacon and butter it's ridiculous). I'm NOT hungry. My skin has improved. I don't feel bloated. I have way less gas (was that TMI?) and the best part, is that I am constantly encouraged by the scale. For the first time I KNOW that my body is responding and it's changing. I can SEE IT! And I've only been doing it for 3 weeks (well, almost 4 now).

I have a LONG way to go. A super long way. But I still want others to experience the limited success that I've had! Even if you only have 10lbs to lose - TRY THIS. You'll be amazed! This isn't a gimmick. This is a doable lifestyle. Giving up certain things does sound hard. Again, I'm Asian, I've always sworn that I would NEVER give up rice. But after losing 11+ pounds ... I will gladly put my rice bowl away for the time being. Rice is not gone for ever, but until I get to where I want to be, rice and I are breaking up for a bit. I'm sure we'll see each other from time to time, but we won't have long sessions together like we used to. 

And you know what? I'm okay with it. Because that is one relationship that I can fully walk away from, and know it's making me a better person. 

ahhh! Tired again

Sorry. This is gonna be short again. So tired, and I have to get to bed. Like a fool I tried to eat a bit of the cupcakes again and got sick (I even ate LESS this time around - hahaha!) So I threw them all away. Had a great dinner (pork chops - I took a picture but I'm too tired to load it right now ... will do tomorrow).

Anyway, I got a lot of work to finish up this weekend, so it should be a busy one. And with that, I'm off to bed. 

Anyone got any fun plans for the next couple of days?

what is HAPPENING to me?!?!

So today was my son's birthday. We had a little plan, but things got foiled due to him not feeling super good this morning. I had wanted to take him and the sister to get his 'birthday donut' (since we did that for the sister's birthday) but he just wasn't feeling up to it. Plus, we had a doctor's appointment we had to get to. So I decided on the way home that I'd get him some cupcakes instead of cake (plus it would help with the portion control). We pulled into our awesome Cupcake Shop and I was more than pleased with the selection. So much so, that I ended up buying 8. There were just so many I wanted to try!

I took a tiny little crumb off of my favorites, and they did not disappoint. Later when the husband called to 'check in', I told him about the cupcakes and how excited I was. We had decided to split some of them since I only got one of each flavor. My little taste left me wanting more, so I decided to go ahead and take some pieces of the cupcakes I wanted. I sampled 3 different ones and in total, it probably made up just over one whole cupcake. I took my little paper-towel-filled-with-treasures and sat on the couch so I could thoroughly enjoy them. 

At first it tasted good - super sweet - but good. But very quickly, it made me feel sick. Just a yucky feeling ... like I had eaten an entire sugary cake. And for the first time ever, I put down the cupcakes before I even finished.

Honestly ... I don't know what's happening to me. It's embarrassing to admit, but I could EASILY plow through at least 2 cupcakes in one sitting before I turned Primal. I LOVE dessert, seriously. That was one of my favorite indulgences. But now ... I just wanted to eat something clean. It was the weirdest thing ever. No joke. 

Thankfully, the husband made this for dinner.

the filet was quite big (and a little too rare for me) so I ate very little.

the vegetables were absolutely perfect ... in every way.

But don't worry - that filet will not go to waste. 

We plan on having 'steak and eggs' for breakfast tomorrow. 

and that sounds better than any cupcake. 

(I still can't believe I'm saying this!)

Dark Chocolate ... Let's DO THIS!

Alright ... here we go. Let's get our chocolate talk ON!

 

this is some of the dark chocolate I have in my house

(click on the photos to make them bigger, if needed)

some of them we have 'multiples' of, and some are just single bars.

I will say - when your only indulgence is dark chocolate,

it's easy to quickly turn into a connoisseur of sorts.

and I mean, why not, right? It's not like it's a bad gig. 

So here's a few I thought I'd talk about.

 

I got this one at Whole Paycheck Foods. 

(notice the 80% in the bottom left corner - try to stay at a minimum of 70%)

When I first tasted this one, I though it was pretty mild - which is actually

quite surprising as the higher the % is, usually the stronger, richer the flavor. 

But to me, there was a strong after-taste. And it reminded me of cow manure. 

So I quickly stopped eating it - and doubt I ever will again. 

(so this is the only 'thumbs down' review I have)

 

 Ghirardelli is probably going to be your least expensive dark chocolate.

These other bars will easily cost between $3-4, but sometimes you can find them on sale.

What's nice about these individually wrapped squares, is that

it gives you better portion control. There's something about having to open

up another package that makes you feel like you're eating more,

when in reality, one square could be less than eating part of a 'big bar'. 

The flavor is pretty good - not too strong, and I would say it's more on the mild side.

 

I just discovered this bar. And I am soooooo in love.

(no pun intended)

A cute little feature is that inside the wrapper there is actually a love poem.

I went to read it to the husband, but then quickly realized that it was some

Shakespearean sonnet (something in that genre) and I stopped. 

That stuff just messes up my 'flow'. Not my fave when it comes to poems.

But this dark chocolate is FABULOUS.

Before this whole Primal thing, I was a HARD CORE Milk Chocolate fan.

I'm not even kidding. Milk Chocolate is like heavenly bliss to me. 

But when you're changing your lifestyle ... well, beggers can't be choosers.

So I will gladly embrace the dark side. And this Dark Chocolate bar makes it super easy.

This one gets a HUGE double thumbs up. I highly recommend it.

 

These two are my other favorites. 

The one on the right ... it's more of a 'cheating bar'. I think it's only 70% ... 

I had a hard time finding the percentage ... which is never a good sign as it usually means

it's low (and you want as high as you can get). Both of the bars have 'mint' infused in them.

And ooooooooooh is it so good! The one of the right as some magical crunch nib thingys

in it and that makes it the most delightful treat ... but it also makes it very addicting. 

The one on the left is just straight up smooth Dark Chocolate with mint. 

It is awesome and definitely my 'go to' most of the time. I think I have 3 bars in 

my house right now. And I'm not even joking. The one on the right ...

I'll only buy 1 at a time of those. It's too easy to go crazy on them. 

So for now - that's my Dark Chocolate Review. 

Remember to aim for the highest percentage you can handle. 

and if you find a new one that I haven't seen yet ...
don't be shy - and let me know!

another good one!

Went to the gym and weighed myself ... and I lost another 2.2lbs and my bodyfat % went down .3 points. SUPER happy. That's 11.5lbs in THREE WEEKS!

But it's late, I'm tired, and so I'm keeping this one super short. Oh - but I did buy a bunch of dark chocolate today and took pictures ... so my 'review' is coming soon.

I'm coming clean ...

Okay. So there was something I was keeping from you guys for the past few days. Remember when I took that 4 hour drive on Wednesday? Well, that's because I had to drive to the airport (one that's in the Bay Area) and back, because the husband took the kiddos BY HIMSELF to Virginia to visit his Mom and her husband. I told him it sounded like a horrible plan as I cannot imagine taking the kids - by myself - on a red-eye flight. No way. No can do. 

But he did. Why? Because he's amazing (and it's just another item on the long list as to why I married him). Anyway, I took that four-hour-round-trip drive again tonight to bring them home. I must say, the kiddos didn't do the whole 'running in slow motion as they squeal in delight, 'MOMMA!', but I did get grins from their tired, exhausted faces. They did pretty good on the flight home. The youngest - not as good as the eldest, and I guess there was a short bout of screaming (as he wanted to get out of his carseat), which just proves that it was SO GOOD that I was not on that flight. That would have totally and completely  stressed me out.

Anyway, I love having my family back and getting back into our little routine. (and in case you hadn't caught on yet, I didn't go on the trip as I have my order to work on with a 'due date' looming in the near future. Oh - and nothing excites you more than instead of cutting 150 sets of ribbon you cut 750 sets, since you apparently do not excel in math - despite the ethnic stereotypes - which only wasted ... oh ... maybe 6-7 hours of your precious work time.)

Oh. So I guess I should get back to the weight-loss stuff. The scale said I gained a half pound this morning. Whatever. I don't understand. But I'm not going to freak. Instead, I fasted and ate one BIG meal at lunch time. I had 4 slices of bacon, 3 eggs scrambled with a little bit of onion, some cooked carrots and some cherry tomatoes. I also drank a good bit of water. So today's menu isn't for 'beginners'. Honestly, I NEVER thought I'd EVER fast, but hey ... stranger things have happened. 

Tomorrow I meet with my trainer and I'm going to have my body fat % done again and weigh myself on that scale. I'm sure Ryan will be annoyed that I'm doing this every week, but whatever. It works for me and keeps me motivated. 

So wish me luck. I'd love to have a decent number ... like two pounds. Just give me two pounds.

kind of time for a weigh-in

I say 'kind of' because I think I'm moving my weigh-ins to Tuesdays. I meet with my trainer on Tues/Thurs so I know I can use the same scale and body-fat-thingy so at least I know it'll be consistent. 

But I'll be honest with you. I'm not thinking I lost anything this week. The scale at home isn't showing it, and I still feel a bit 'off' from the Korean food. Nothing bad, but I don't feel super great either. I know that the weight loss is going to slow down now, too, since usually the first week or two can have some big drops. But I'm committed to this. I really do love it. 

Things that I did this week that probably contributed to my non-weight-loss:

1) I ate a lot of dark chocolate. They say you can do it with moderation, but I had it every.single.day (except for today - haha!). I'm going to try and switch it to every OTHER day.

2) I ate a lot of fruit this week too. I stopped by this local strawberry stand and they had the last of seasons strawberries out. They tasted like pure sugar and out of the 3 baskets I bought... I probably ate all 3 of them. I mean, I think the kids might have had some ... but I can't even remember, that's how many I ate. 

4) I'm going to try and cut back on the cheese. (haha - that sounds funny). Anyway, I was using my gouda quite a bit ... and I do think I'll scale back on that too. Maybe have an apple/gouda on the days I don't have dark chocolate. That sounds pretty reasonable to me.

5) Be consistent with my exercise plan.

Now, the Primal lifestyle actually discourages what they refer to as 'chronic cardio'. I read a really good description of it. It said that Chronic Cardio is anything that takes more effort than walking, but less effort than sprinting. They encourage just casual walking, and then doing actual repetitions of 'sprints' (I have yet to incorporate the sprints ... but I will soon). So I just want to make sure I'm getting in my daily walk (which is easy to NOT do when I'm working) and showing up to my training sessions. So far, it's been totally doable.

Oh, and the gym I go to is also a 'sports complex'. They have indoor soccer fields. So tonight as I was doing my walk, I was kind of watching a soccer game and kind of zoning off to my ipod. Well wouldn't you know it. I almost got hit by a soccer ball. I have no idea how they booted the thing up by me (since I was on the second story and there's a huge net that almost reaches the ceiling) but it actually bounced off my treadmill. I'm pleased to say that I didn't get hit in the face, but I had to jump off my treadmill to get the ball. I almost fell, but I don't think they could see me down below (at least I'm hoping they couldn't see me). Fortunately I only had 3 more minutes of walking and then I got the heck out of there. I'm telling you - this is why I used say that exercising was a huge safety hazzard. 

One more thing: I plan on being MUCH better about post what I eat each day. I know some of  you are curious about the Primal Lifestyle, so please, ask any questions you have - and I'll do my best to answer them! And then by seeing what I'm eating, maybe that will help too. But I'm telling you - I SO believe in this. For reals. It's totally and completely awesome. 

eh

So I don't think that Korean food agreed with me. I just felt gross today and to be honest ... I still feel a bit off.  I made a big salad for my late lunch, but I only ate about half of it. Besides a couple of small pieces of turkey jerky about 6 hours ago, I haven't eaten anything else. And I don't feel hungry (so that's good!).

I didn't go to the gym today since I wasn't feeling up to it. But I plan on going tomorrow ... as I got a weigh-in coming up!

***********************************

So I did end up watching the first episode of My Lovely Sam Soon. Did anyone else watch it? What did you think about the first episode? I will say that when I went to DramaFever I saw that they just got Winter Sonata in ... and I've been waiting for them to get it! So should we switch?!?!?!

mmm ... Korean food!

If you think about it, Korean food is pretty Primal. At least what I ate tonight was. I got my favorite thing (bulgogi hot pot) and I planned on eating my entire bowl of rice this time. I wanted to thoroughly enjoy it, vs stressing out over it like I did last time.

So I sat down to enjoy an absolutely delicious meal ... and guess what happened. I got full WAY before I normally would. I'm serious. I am pretty.darn.good at gorging on Korean food. And I just couldn't do it tonight! I had mentally prepared myself to eat my entire serving of rice, and all I could eat was maybe 1/4 cup. What is happening to me?!?!? I will say the pleasant surprise of the evening was realizing that the noodles in the japchae were made from sweet potatoes (Primal! Winning!)

Anyway, I got way full (uncomfortably so) but I had great conversation and a super fun time. I still plan on fasting for a bit tomorrow and then tightening up the reins some as I feel like I've splurge a bit too much this week. Maybe I've become a tad bit over-confident from this past weight loss (which isn't ever a good thing). So I gotta get serious if I want to add some more poundage to this week's weight loss. 

SHOOT. I think I was supposed to watch My Lovely Samsoon. I'm doing it later today (Saturday) and then will post about it on Sunday. Cross my heart.

tired

I'm tired tonight, so I'll be heading to bed in just a sec. But just thought I'd check in and say today was another good day. 

Because I'm not hungry, I can actually do some 'fasting'. Which comes in handy when I think I've eaten too much the previous day. I've been on track with my carbs, but I think I'm starting to snack too much on the dark chocolate again. I'm still within my carb count, but I think it's just unnecessary what I'm eating. So I want to cut it out. 

Also - tomorrow night I'm going out for Korean food with a girlfriend. I plan on totally enjoying my rice and my bulgogi hot pot (my FAVORITE dish). I know that there is sugar in the recipe, so my plan is to skip breakfast, and just have a light lunch. After dinner I won't snack at all and then fast until lunch the next day. Totally doable. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm telling you, it's SOOOO easy!

Again, it's one of the most amazing things EVER to not be hungry like I was before. I've NEVER considered fasting. I always thought it was something I couldn't do. I mean, I couldn't even go an hour or so before I found myself snacking on something. Now, I can easily go 4-5 hours in between meals ... and once I finish dinner and eat my next meal - its totally easy for 15-16 hours to pass. Craziness. 

Alright, I'm off to bed. Going to watch the first episode of My Lovely Samsoon (on dramafever.com) tomorrow. It's a funny one. I still want to watch Spring Waltz too ... gosh ... just too many good shows and not enough time!

accomplishment

So today I had to go on a drive... for kind of a long time ... and normally this means I eat snacky foods and drink a super large Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke. 

And guess what - I DIDN'T DO IT THIS TIME! Instead, I brought some beef jerky, blueberries and dark chocolate. And I only ate a LITTLE blueberries, 3 pieces of beef jerky, and a small piece of the chocolate. Oh - and I brought water. 

So while this may not sound super huge to you, it is to me. I LOVE that I'm able to make good choices instead of filling up on the 'bad' ones that I used to do. I had no desire to eat the snacky stuff that I used to, and I found that to be completely AWESOME. 

I have to say, it feels SO GREAT, to be free from food. That being said, I'm not saying that I'll never make a mistake or choose to eat something I shouldn't, but I don't feel like I'm a slave to the things I once was. And that is liberating.

Oh - and I think I'm going to start watching 'My Lovely Sam Soon' this weekend. It's another kdrama that I forgot about that I love (and it's funny!). Anyway, heads up on that ... more details will follow soon!

wait ... WHAT?!

Okay. So I gotta story for you. But I promise - it's SO real. I'm not lying in any way shape or form (just thought I'd give you all a heads up).

Anyway, this morning I was super excited about my 2.5lb weight loss, but I decided to weigh myself this morning anyway (because you know I just can't help it). So imagine my surprise when I weighed in 1.5lbs LESS than yesterday. I was like, 'wwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahat?!?!?!?'

So I went to gym and decided to weigh myself on their scale and re-take my body-fat % just to be sure. Last Tuesday I had it done using the same equipment, so I knew that the numbers would be consistent. Anyway, according to the scale, I lost 4.4lbs over the past week! And my body-fat % went down a half of point! My new trainer - Ryan - was totally stumped. I could tell he was pretty shocked himself. 

And I? well, I'm just FREAKING STOKED!!! I mean, I thought 2.5lbs was awesome, but 4.4lbs???? That puts me at just over 9lbs for TWO WEEKS!!!

What was that sound you just heard? Oh yeah ... that was just me screaming in sheer delight. Yup. It most certainly was.

time for another Weigh-In

I can't believe I've been Primal for 2 weeks now. And not only has it been delicious and satisfying but guess what?!

I lost 2.5 lbs this week!

So that puts me at a total of 7.5 pounds lost in 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS! I can't wait to see what I end the month at. For reals. 

By the way - the new 30 day Challenge is going on over at MDA - so if you've thought about giving Primal a shot - here's a fun way to do it!

funny how things change

So tonight we went out to dinner for the first time in 2 weeks. And let me tell you - that is kind of amazing since before we went Primal - we ate out all the time. We decided to go to our new favorite Japanese Restaurant that also has a few Korean inspired dishes. My plan was to get their 'Steak' dish (just sliced steak, very simply prepared - totally Primal), kimchi (awww yeah) and rice. I figured it would be fine because it was just ONE serving and technically you can have a bit of grains if you really want to and have it count towards your 20% (they say with Primal, you shoot for 100%, but if you hit 80% - be happy about it!). I've been super good these first two weeks, so I didn't think a small bowl of rice would be a big deal. 

And then we got to dinner. I ordered my food and then the husband and I decided that we'd share the serving of rice. At first I didn't want to, but realized that was the best choice to make. So I ate my 'half serving' of rice, but the crazy thing - is that I was TOTALLY freaking out the entire time. I'm not sure I actually enjoyed the experience because I was so afraid that the rice was going to bloat me out or something.

Which is really crazy because I used to eat rice as my most comfort of all comfort food. 

Crazy how things can change.

a MIRACLE happened today

So this morning there was no breakfast. The husband does most of the cooking and he had to leave super early for work (not to mention we were out of eggs and bacon - AH!). I wasn't worried though, as I decided that I would just eat lunch since we were going up to Apple Hill for a picnic (Apple Hill is where I grew up and there are a TON of Apple Orchards, Christmas Tree Farms, Pumpkin Patches, Wineries, etc. Very touristy, and the season starts every Labor Day). I ended up just bringing some salami/cheese and fruit for us (plus some other snacky stuff for the kiddos). I know that salami isn't exactly Primal - but hey. We do what we gotta do sometimes (and just as a side note, these are the kinds of things that I'm not going to stress over. Salami will not be a part of my every day life. But since my Parents were coming to the picnic as well, I wanted to be able to have something that they would want to eat too. I just had a very moderate serving... and surprisingly, I was totally satisfied).

But that wasn't the miracle.

My plan after leaving Apple Hill was to go to the gym. I even brought my clothes with me and changed at my Parent's house. So I arrive at the gym and get on a treadmill. After 15  minutes of walking, I thought to myself, 'I wonder what would happen if I tried to jog ... " So you know what I did? I tried it. And not only did I try it, but I ACTUALLY JOGGED FOR 10 MINUTES!'

Seriously. This is pretty freaking amazing for me. The last time I tried jogging (which was way back when when I thought I'd try that whole Couch-2-5K thing and quit after one day) I could BARELY jog for a minute... 2 minutes max but seriously - I don't think I even did that. 

My jogging was slow. But for me, it was huge. I'm not going to try it again any time soon - as I'm super afraid of getting shin splints and I want to lose more weight before I actually try jogging on a regular basis. But this was a huge accomplishment. On the treadmill, there is this little 'heart' as an icon next to where you measure your heart rate. That's what I focused on as I jogged. The original thought was to jog for 3 minutes. Just make it to 3. But then as 3 was approaching I thought, Well... maybe I can do 5 ... yeah ... just make it to 5. And once 5 came I thought, Make it to 10. If you can make it to 10 then you can share it on the blog and people will think it's good. 3 minutes? Not that exciting ... but 10 ... that's awesome!  And that's what I did. 

Well, that ... and when ever it started to get hard, I just thought to myself, 'burn fat! burn fat!' (that's what I was saying in my head). I also told myself, if it really starts to hurt, you can SCREAM 'burn fat' to yourself (as long as it's still in your head ... because if you screamed that out loud, people would think you're a freak). 

Anyway, that worked. Or at least it helped. Because I did it. And yes, it was nothing short of a miracle.

just another Primal day

So today was a good day. I went to my first MOPS group for the year and I heard they were having a pancake breakfast. So you know what I did? I brought my own breakfast. Yep. I put my bacon and eggs in a little tupperware container and grabbed my bottle of water and I was good to go. I did have some fruit when I was there (some blue berries and 3 strawberries), but it was pretty satisfying to know that I can now handle these kinds of situations. 

 

Lunch was a chicken breast and cooked carrots (one of my FAVS) and Dinner was some turkey breast and cut up english cucumber and cherry tomatoes.  I did have my apple and cheese today as I entered my food into FitDay.com and saw that I was SOOOOO good on my carbs (meaning, they were super low). I highly recommend using FitDay.com. It's free to sign up and it's SUPER easy to enter your food. Try it! It'll give you a great breakdown of protein, carbs, fat and calories. And then they also have this handy dandy 'pie chart' that visually shows you the breakdown in ratios of what you're eating. I LOVE IT (as I am very visual). 

Since I went to MOPS this morning, I didn't get to go the gym like I normally do in the morning. So I took the kids after the boy woke up from his nap. I really enjoy my walk I take. For reals. Again, who would have thought that I would actually like exercising! I'm still not fully able to wrap my brain around it. But of course, I'll take it. 

Tomorrow I'll be taking the kiddos on a little picnic up by the Apple Trees, so I won't be able to go to the gym. Guess that means I'll be doing another later gym run. But that's okay. I'll definitely be making it work. I got a weigh in coming up soon!

my ... um ... workout

Okay. So today didn't go exactly how I expected it to. When I got to the gym, my sweet little trainer boy (Jeff) greeted me, and then proceeded to inform me that he got a promotion and will be managing two gym locations ... and he has a meeting soon at the other location so he was leaving. But next to him was Ryan, who will now be my new trainer. 

Wow. I think I know what speed dating must feel like. 

I've seen Ryan around but have never talked to him. He's nice. But I still gotta feel him out for a bit ... see if we really get along. What I thought was funny is that Jeff turned, and said to Ryan, 'she really likes some Asian drama shows ... just so you know.'

And you know what Ryan's response was?

He said, 'oh hey - my wife is Thai, and I think those are the things she's into as well. But she watches some that are translated into Chinese as she can speak Chinese as well.'

IS THAT NOT THE FUNNIEST THING OR WHAT?!??!?!??!

Anyway, I had only allowed 15 minutes for the workout, so I could get my hour walking in and get back to the house before the husband had to leave for work. Ryan wanted to measure me, weigh me, do my body fat percentage ... the whole sha-bang. Which basically meant I didn't get my high impact workout in and only 45 minutes of walking. But you know what? I'm not going to stress about. 

Here's what I ate today:

B: bacon and eggs scrambled in the bacon fat (plus onion and orange bell pepper too)

L: approx. 1 cup of watermelon cubes

D: some left over pot roast and the veggies that was all cooked together. I also had another small apple and some gouda cheese.

I went to FitDay.com and put in what I ate and I'm GREAT on the carb count. I'm super excited about that. But I think I needed more fat (that's part of the reason why I was good with eating the cheese). I'm also kind of doing an experiment with myself. And the nice thing is that I've already gotten the results. See... I was pretty sure that I was using the dark chocolate as a vice. And I was allowing myself to have more and more of it (but I will say that I never had more than half a bar per day). So today was my no chocolate day. And last night I had an apple and gouda in the late evening because I needed something sweet. 

And then I read a comment by a Primal who said, 'sometimes it's not hunger that you feel, but it's the anticipation of food'. That my friends, is some WISE WORDS. I think that's me to a 'T'. I LOVE to eat, I LOVE to enjoy the taste of food... so I do think I've probably mistaken hunger for simply anticipation. Amazing. 

So tonight I decided NO APPLE AND CHEESE late in the evening. I had it with my 'dinner' but I made the conscious decision to not snack in the evening. That was my experiment. I wanted to see if I could do it. 

And guess what. I did. 

So now I'm heading to bed ... totally feeling like the fat-burning-rock-star that I am. 

time for my 2nd 'high intensity' workout

Tomorrow I'm supposed to have my second high intensity workout. I'm a bit nervous. My first workout focused on arms. And I was soooooo sore afterwards (and tired). I don't want to freak out my legs since I plan on doing my walking afterwards as well. 

*** side note real quick: in case you were wondering, the reason I'm doing my 'walking' at the gym, is because we're still getting days in the high 90's and low 100's. And the heat is hitting us early in the morning and staying until late at night. So if I went outside to walk, I would turn around and walk straight back into my house. Just thought you might want to know. ***

And another thing ... I keep forgetting to write down what I eat. I figure I might as well share it in case any of you are interested in going Primal. Or maybe if I'm not losing weight (like I hit a plateau or something) you guys can weigh in on what I need to do differently. 

So here's what I ate today:

B: Kielbasa, egg, onion scramble (cooked in butter)

L: small apple and some gouda cheese

D: pot roast, cooked cabbage, carrots, celery, one piece of sweet potato

After dinner I got kinda hungry. I think it's because my dinner was more like a 'soup'. So I had another helping when the husband got home, and instead of having more dark chocolate, I had another small apple and some gouda. I think I'm becoming too dependent upon the dark chocolate. There is a part of me that wants to cut myself a break since I've eliminated Diet Pepsi/Coke, Rice, Bread and all snacky carbs ... but I'm kind of getting worried about the scale. It hasn't moved since Monday. Yes, it's only a few days later, but I expected to see it move a little at least. I definitely don't want to become a slave to the scale ... but I can't help but look at it anyway. 

Oh well. It's time for bed. I got a big work out tomorrow. 

this whole Exercise thing

So today I realized that one of two things happened to me:


1) I became a Super Hero

or

2) My body has started burning fat

Here's what happened. I've been searching on MDA (Mark's Daily Apple - the website of all websites) to find out what people suggest doing in regards to eating and working out. It seemed like the majority of people don't eat before they work out. Which honestly - freaks me out. (in case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm always afraid that I'm going to be hungry. I think it's because if I'm hungry, I'm going to 'cheat' and I really don't want to do that) MDA also talks about 'Intermittent Fasting' (yet another thing I'm terrified of) and the weight loss benefits of doing so. But not only does 'IF' help with weight loss, 'they say' that you don't get that hungry. 

Let me give you a quick back story: Back a couple of years ago when I did a short stint at a different gym with a different trainer, I ate a small blueberry muffin before I headed off to my 30 minute training session. I nearly passed out. Like I literally had to lay down in the women's locker room with my feet elevated because I was pretty sure I was about to black out (and yes, I've actually fainted enough times to know when I need to 'hit the floor' on my own accord instead of falling to the ground unconscious). It was after that incident, that I always made sure I ate breakfast. There have been a few other instances where I came close to passing out, so I've just made it a rule of thumb, to eat before I work out. 

So today I made the conscious decision to work out without eating. And yes. I was terrified. Today was my first 15 minute 'high intensity workout', followed by an hour of walking. After the first workout, I felt a bit fuzzy for a couple of minutes. So I sat down at a table and drank some of my water. About 3 minutes later I was totally fine. So I got on my treadmill and walked an hour. 

And guess what?

I.FELT.GREAT. For reals. It was strange. Normally I get SUPER ANGRY when I work out. But this time I didn't. The whole time I kept thinking to myself, 'I need to do this so my body burns fat' - and honestly. It kept me going. It didn't hurt that I had my ipod with me filled with songs I just love (not necessarily 'fast songs', but just songs I totally love).

Anyway, I didn't eat my breakfast until NOON! I wasn't hungry, but once I started eating, I realized I definitely was. But then about an hour later, I felt hungry again. It was kind of concerning to me as I'm so used to feeling full for a hours after I eat a meal. So I decided to make a smaller salad than I normally eat. By the time the salad was made, I wasn't hungry any more. HA! I guess I just needed to give myself some time to 'register' that I was, indeed, full. 

So now I am a huge believer in working out before I eat. I know my body can handle it, and I know to make sure I eat fat/protein afterwards to feel full. 

I'm super stoked right now. I know I keep preaching the awesomeness of being Primal - but that's just because it is. 

ahhhhhhhhh ... I could SO get used to this!

awwwwww yeah!

First week down. And with it went 5 POUNDS! Seriously - I'm stoked. Five pounds is WAY MORE than I've ever done with any other 'method' of weight loss. But honestly - this isn't a diet to me. It will seriously be my new 'way of life'. The husband and I were discussing it this evening (like we do just about every evening) and we were saying how when we go into 'maintenance mode', we get to up our carbs. I seriously do not feel deprived right now. So it's going to feel like we're SPLURGING every day once we lose all our weight!

Anyway, it's way later than I thought, so I gotta run. Tomorrow is my first day back at the gym. I'll fill you in on how it goes tomorrow!!!

by the time you read this ...

... I will know how much weight I've lost since becoming Primal a week ago. It's my first weigh-in in the morning. Crazy that it's already here. And honestly - I'm super excited. I'm pretty sure I know what the scale is going to say, and I'm good with it. 

Another accomplishment happened today. Remember how I said I wanted to cut out my dark chocolate for today? I DID IT! I guess I have more will power than I thought I did. And it wasn't hard! I did have some berries tonight, so that was my 'sweetness'. Oh - and just a little Primal tip for you - when you eat fruit, eat it with fat (like nuts). The fat will slow the insulin response. Seriously, I will never eat fruit without fat again. 

Well, I hope you all are enjoying your last day of BBQs and picnics! I'm really looking forward to weighing in. For reals. So I'm going to bed. The sooner I sleep, the sooner I can wake up!

HUGE accomplishment

So I went to my BBQ. And honestly ... I think I did awesome. I had a bun-less hamburger. I did put half a slice of processed cheese on it (as I didn't have any other options and eating just a burger patty is a bit bland for me) but I 'wrapped' it in lettuce. I added a couple of tomato slices and a few pickles. Fabulous. and then I had brought a big salad that was totally Primal. I used olive oil/balsamic vinegar and I passed on the croutons that I brought for everyone else.

I also passed on all the chips but I did have a glass of raspberry lemonade. I passed on the ice cream and had a piece of watermelon. And you know what? It wasn't that hard! I will say that I did feel a bit guilty about the sugar I put in my body ... but one meal isn't going to set me that far back. I'm just going to eat really clean tomorrow, and I'm also going to NOT eat dark chocolate tomorrow either. That's my little mini-goal. I think I'm becoming too dependent on it. It's not a bad thing (in fact, many Primals talk about the 80/20 rule. You shoot for 100%, but if you hit 80% be happy! So my dark chocolate falls into my 20%. But I just want to make sure I'm not pushing that 20%... you know?).

Also - Monday I'm starting my workouts. I'm VERY excited about this. Which again is SUPER strange. I text my trainer today and hopefully he'll get back to me soon about his availability. Here's what I'm planning: the basic Primal workouts consists of doing slow movements, lift heavy things a few times, and sprint. 

That translates to me as:

Monday: walk 1 hour on treadmill (just a very moderate pace)

Tuesday: walk 1 hour, 10-15 minutes of High Intensity Workout

Wednesday: walk 1 hour

Thursday: walk 1 hour, 10-15 minutes of High Intensity Workout

Friday: walk 1 hour, Sprints (30 sec sprint/90 sec rest - 8 sets)

Saturday: walk 1 hour

Sunday: walk 1 hour

If I don't get to walk an hour on any of those days - I'm not going to stress about it. And if I need to, I can switch it up (30 minutes at the gym, 30 minutes after dinner ... or whatever). I also hope to build up my High Intensity Workouts to 20-25 minutes - but not anything longer than that. 

I'll be honest - I'm a bit nervous about taking on my workouts, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that exercise is going to make a huge difference in speeding up my weight-loss. You can only lose so much bloat before you need to move onto the hard core stuff, right? 

So that's the plan. I'm getting mentally prepared, and honestly, I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it. So pray this mind-set continues!

oh ... duh

Yeah. It's a Holiday Weekend and I totally forgot that means people get busy. So let's forget watching Spring Waltz right now. I'll start up on Monday or something. I didn't have time today. I've been on the phone going back and forth all day regarding my next order, and trying to get things lined up. Good news is it's all figured out. Bad news is that I didn't get anything else done. But good news again, is that I still love being Primal. Bad news again is that I think you guys are probably sick of hearing me go on and on about it now. (right?)

Anyway, hope you have a fabulous weekend ahead! I'm going to a little BBQ tomorrow where I get to catch up with some 'long lost friends'. Super excited. 

 How about you? Anything fun planned?

Spring Waltz

Okay, so Spring Waltz can be viewed at dramafever.com - and just so you know, they are 1 hour episodes, but I can't remember how many are in the series. I PROMISE to not run ahead. For reals. 

So let's start the fist episode ON SATURDAY. That gives me a day to watch the first episode so I can write comments on it the night before. That way we can be on the same page. So again, don't watch until SATURDAY!

Well, I'm off to bed. There was a Project Runway marathon today so I finally got caught up thanks to my DVR. How did we ever survive without it? 

Oh - and my eating is going fabulously well. Still love being Primal, still hardly believing it. Now I just have to figure out my work out schedule. Looking forward to my weigh-in on Monday. I really hope to have some phenomenal results. But until then, I'll just keep enjoying eating tasty food. Good times. Good times. 

So do any of you guys have fun plans for the Holiday weekend? Do share!