Falling off the Paleo wagon, and not getting run over.

First off let me apologize for being gone so long, I've had a hell of a couple of weeks...I've had some issues with my Paleo/Primal journey, and I've hit a few stumbling blocks.


Let me explain a bit about myself. I have a huge self esteem issue, notably a complete lack there-of. I am most definitely an instant gratification kind of guy, which has led to some things paying off very well for me but also some spectacularly self destructive moments.

So how does this fit into the past few weeks ?

Well I've gotten myself a personal trainer...Surprisingly a paleo friendly one. We've had 3 sessions thus far, and we've begun working on the fundamentals, some cardio, light calisthenics/stretching and will sortly be moving into weight lifting. I've had a V.O2 Max test, and seem to be on my way. We discussed my eating/Paleo diet and he agrees I picked the right style of eating, apparently my body comp has indicated I'll thrive on low carb high protien. We are currently experimenting with me eating 225g protein a day which = about 1.5g/protein per lb of lean body mass.


This is about the time my first issues started popping up. So, for a week I ate...ALOT. here came the problem, my weight started maintaining, I was sitting steady at 205lbs for about a week and a half and  to me anyway I saw no visible weight loss or body composition changes. I've begun getting depressed and worn down with the grind of cook, clean the kitchen, come back and do it all again. Eating out has been very difficult as well, Finding Paleo(ish) friendly fare in this small town is very hard. For example, out to eat Order a steak (medium well) and ask for seasonal veggies instead of a baked potato or french fries, and you get a small scoop of corn. So one cheat day turned into two or three.

Enter Samhain.

Oh the sweet sugary joy that are Carmel squares... all day before and of Samhain I snacked on them...and the night before Samhain while sitting with Dot and 2 of the kids I really fell off the wagon, 6 slices of pizza later I felt like utter crap. I was (and am) disappointed with myself, I chose to do what was easy instead of what was healthy for me.

So here I am 3 days after Samhain and I need to start again...I have an appointment with my trainer tomorrow at 9 AM, and after I am headed to pick up some fresh vegetables. When I quit drinking it was hard, but I never relapsed, so here it is my first real "relapse" I guess the only thing to do is get back on the wagon and keep going.

Have you ever fallen off the wagon, and if so how did you deal with it ?

Motivation, Competition and Paleo.

I want to talk a little bit about motivation for this Paleo experience I find myself on.

Now, Paleo eating is tricky at the best of times for me, I'm not used to cooking meals that take a lot of prep or consideration. However I seem to have things dialed into a pretty good routine for making meals on the fly, my biggest issue so far is the time it takes to prepare meals. I've pushed myself to actually get off my ass and saute the veggies and cook the meat. That was the first major obstacle actually forcing myself to DO what needed to be done. Much of my initial research was on the diet component, tricks, tips and recipes from reputable paleo sites helped immensely

So with that dialed in, I find myself at my second major hurdle, the drive to work out. A lot of folks may wonder what so hard about it ? Well for the past 12 or so years I have been sedentary to an extreme... I used to joke it off saying I had learned "economy of motion", which is bullshit I'm lazy.  Plain and simple, I found shortcuts to simple things, I stopped walking, stopped martial arts, stopped swimming. I lost my will to push myself somewhere along the line.

I found myself yesterday feeling like hell, I still struggle against my depression, and lack of self image and yesterday was worse than most. I ended up kicking my ass and walking 20 blocks to the local YMCA, I worked out for about 20 minutes doing the few exercises I know from Robb Wolf's Paleo solution, and I actually felt good after...well maybe not good, but better than I had going in, then the 20 block walk back to my duplex both the walks done at what D calls a "wal-mart" pace, she really hates that place so imagine Olympic style speed walking. I'm not really sure what prompted me to head down to the gym finally but I am glad I did.

I am currently looking for a way to compete against myself, competition has always been my strongest motivator, but somewhere along the way my love of competition turned self destructive, I needed to be the guy that could drink the most and still function or be the toughest in a fight. Relearning to channel my competitive nature into something positive will take time and planning. I know this, and I will keep working on it.

My Keys to Motivation:

1. Get off your ass and DO IT.
2. Figure out what drives you and grab it in a choke hold.
3. Stay Positive.

Current weight 217. (up 4 lbs since my fasting experiment)
I shall see where I stand in a few more days I am allowing 5lbs error for water weight and other biological factors)

Until then, be safe and healthy.

A week of relaxation.

Well, it's been a little while... whats been going on with me ?

D has been on vacation so I have been busy! we've been busy taking care of domestic stuff. Laundry, Food, picking up K and taking her to/from school...

The week has been awesome so far, I am experimenting at the moment with eating only one large meal a day, as I find I am just not hungry, now don't get me wrong I'm not letting my body stay hungry, this is not another fast. If I wake up hungry I eat. Generally I have been eating a big ass salad, mixed greens, sauteed veggies, and whatever protein source I have on hand grass fed beef in the form of burgers, Chicken, etc. As well as a different herb every meal to change the flavor oregano, basil, thyme, you get the idea.

This week as part of my Primal experience I received a (very) early Birthday gift from D and K, A copy of Robb Wolf's Paleo Solution. This book is AWESOME, if you are even considering a low carb or Primal approach you need to read this, he lays everything out in a hilarious yet intelligent way. D also treated herself to Dr. Loren Cordain's Book The Paleo Diet. I've already demolished Robb's book and look forward to borrowing Dr. Cordain's book after D is finished.

The End of the Great Fast.

Well, the fasting experiment is over.

I have a confession, I didn't make it the full 48 hours, however I did make it 36 hours, I broke my fast with  a couple of grass-fed beef and pork sausages, and 2 fried eggs.

Now, what caused me to end my fast early ? A couple of factors actually, at about hour 34 I started feeling light headed and started getting a headache, that coupled with fatigue gave me some signals that I should likely end my experiment.

During the experience I did do a very light strength workout. 20 push ups, 20 squats, 20 jack knife presses, and 20 two leg assisted pull-ups.  The work out itself went well, I felt very good afterwards and can still feel the effects today. After the fast D and I went for a short walk (about 2km) and I slept soundly.

So, the dreaded weight plateau WAS broken, as of this morning I weighed in at 217lbs Prior to a  4oz steak and 2 boiled egg breakfast, a couple of hours after I weighed myself again and saw a 2 Lb weight gain putting me at 219lbs a loss of 1.4lbs from the day Prior!

Fasting does indeed appear to have some fantastic weight loss benefits if used as a proper tool however it's a lot tougher of a process than I assumed...

Definitely a tool I'll be keeping in my arsenal!

The Great fasting experiment.

So today is a pretty important day for me, I've started my first serious intermittent fast.

Now what is an intermittent fast ? well, pretty much what it sounds like, intermittent fasts are a period of time you choose to limit your food intake for a variety of purposes, mine obviously is weight loss.

So I have decided on a 48 hour Period where my intake will be nothing but water, my daily supplements (5000iu of vitamin D, 500mg magnesium, and 1000mg x3 of Omega-3 fish oil), and 1 cup of coffee from Tim Hortons, trust me, without coffee I'm a miserable bastard.

I am doing this in the hopes that this will help accelerate weight loss, as I will be walking tonight, and then again tomorrow afternoon for a short period. with dinner tomorrow being the breaking of my fast. My last meal was last night at around 6 PM and consisted of about .2 kg of chicken breast cooked in coconut oil with Oregano, some steamed Veggies (Yay Green Giant) and sauteed mushrooms with garlic.

Now, as i come off my fast I've decided on 3 small meals to get my body used to food again, a light salad with salmon, a small sirloin steak and almonds, and some nuts with dried fruit, these will of course will be broken into 3 small meals I will eat from 5 PM to about 8, then giving me about 5 hours between my last meal and bed.

I am hoping this fast will help me break a Plateau of weight loss, I've been hovering right around the 220lb mark for about 3 days now, yes, 220lb, that's down 15lbs so far, GO ME.

So, I'll be writing about my experience and how I fared next time.

Until then,


Be safe and healthy.

Poor Chicken didn't stand a chance.

So, the weekend is over...

Not A lot to really Report, I spent some time at the local farmers market with D and K on Saturday morning, Picked up some garden fresh Carrots and Cucumbers, and managed to get them all cut up and ready for my Big ass salad, pretty easy to make and if you have stuff prepped for it it's almost 0 prep time.

Sunday was a lazy day, went for a walk with D, and we spent the night relaxing on the couch with K.... however no night on the couch is complete without a snack, and boy did we have one in true Paleo style! D had some left over rotisserie chicken which we brought out and just tore into bare handed... I don't think there was more than a half a meal left by the time the 3 of us were done, lol. Now this is a HUGE departure form my normal being fat on the couch routine, normally it was chips and dip, or popcorn, or nacho's and cheese. However the chicken was twice as tasty and filling! we even had a towel around to wipe the hands on in true primal fashion... Also I was very proud of myself I politely declined a Dr. Pepper from Diana's houseguest which was  monumental thing, I LOVE Dr. Pepper and was one of the few Soda's I would drink on a regular basis...Go me!

Well, just a short update... I have many things to do around the house, but I have a nother update, hopefully with some more substance tomorrow!

Be safe and Healthy

Paleo Life Meets Modern Man.

Well, now that my Inaugural post is behind me, I suppose I should talk about my first few weeks as a Paleo convert, or at the bare minimum how I started Primalizing (ok, if it wasn't a word it is now damn it) my life.


The Ice Age Cometh.

Me being me, as of late nothing I do or commit to ever comes without research. I don't want to be told, I want to understand.

I spent a good portion of the next day or so reading and absorbing information. I went back and read primers, F.A.Q.'s and testimonials on many of the major Paleo/Primal sites which you can find on my blogroll.  I built a list and working knowledge of what I could eat, what I shouldn't eat, and why that was...I was surprised at the amount of scientific and layman studies, observations and discussions examining paleo fundamentals and not just the HOW to do it, but the WHY.

Make Mine Paleo!

With the research out of the way, I had a basic understanding of what I needed to do....so I did what any self-respecting early 30's guy in my place would do, I called my mother. The first words out of my mouth were "hi mom! come shopping in my cupboards and fridge!". Naturally I needed to reassure her I was not insane, or in the midst of some psychosis, but she eventually came on over and I loaded up 3 reusable shopping bags full of my entire stock of canned soups, beans, gluten laden sauce mixes, Processed cheese, frozen pre-made hamburgers....you get the Idea.

Now, as you may remember I was convicted of DUI (Driving under the influence) so i don't have a license, So again mom to the immediate rescue, she took me shopping! I paid, but still, if I don't have to walk or take a taxi I'll continue to be a cheap bastard thank you. I picked up Stuff for a weeks worth of clean eating, Organic Mixed greens, Veggies, lean meats, and I embarked on my first Primal "experiment" Home Made Beef Jerky.

As a side note, the jerky turned out fantastically, I used a very lean cut of Brisket and had enough for about a a pound of jerky.

Gathering the Tribe

Lets take a small step backwards... I would be completely out of line (and a Giant Douche), to not mention the commitment of my D.... upon discussing with her I wanted to commit to the paleo lifestyle, she did what she always does. Supported me fully, having been a Librarian and the more logical of the two of us, she went home and prior to bed that night I am sure (even though she won't admit it) read and recommended many many articles... she also informed me she was coming along for the ride! Now, D has issues processing red meats, and Pork. However the Naturals lines seem to work for her, so we have developed a plan to modify her Primal experience accordingly. We decided to join the YMCA with a "family" membership, so that her 3 kids K,W, and D could use the membership as well, K being the only one still at home, with one in Regina and the other in Winnipeg.

Urban Nomads

D and I walk a lot now...She works a night shift at a local meat plant (Ironic as she is/was vegitarian), so many of our walks happen after 1 AM, and on busy nights, or nights where she has to stay later, I walk by myself....most of our walks range from 3 to 7 or 8 Km's, and are the basis of the Primal Pyramid, for the most part "Chronic Cardio" (long bouts of high impact cardio) are frowned upon, unles you are training to be an athlete, soon we will start on the second level of the pyramid at the gym "lift heavy things" power/weightlifting to gain muscle and burn glycogen to accelerate health and fat loss.

So there it is, the first few weeks of my primal journey...

On the go tomorrow - a visit to a local farmers market and some time outside in this gorgeous sun! it's the weekend after all, so go out and experience it, I know I will ! 

Be safe, and healthy.