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.

My Story: From High Life to High Fat.

Welcome to Wheat City Paleo!

I guess I should introduce myself...

Hi my name is Jason and I was addicted to fast food and unhealthy eating. 

Simple beginning, you bet. Simple story not so much.

For many years I worked in a local bar here in the Wheat City, 7 of the longest years of my life, my city is a town of 50,000 (maybe closer to 65k now) but back then NOTHING but bars and 7-11 were open past 10 PM. my shifts would start at about that time, so on the way to work I'd grab take out chicken, a burger or 2 or anything else that was handy and take it to work with me. This was fine dining as far as I was concerned since I couldn't cook worth a damn at 19 years of age...at home it was Ramen, or Pizza Pops, or some other processed food....

I was caught in this trap for many many years and eventually other things caught up with me, I became (more) overweight, in a co-dependant relationship with someone that enabled and encouraged unhealthy things, and eventually I spiraled into depression and alcohol abuse.

Fast Forward to 24.


My journey to a healthier me gets a very very real wake up call...one night I finally hit absolute bottom, my self esteem and image in the gutter with no feeling of self worth, I tried to take my own life in the most selfish (to me) way possible... I drank and drove. I Ran my truck into a Hydro pole doing about 65 km/h on a cold and icy night in December.


Needless to say I handled my more...serious mental health issues first which took a long time, therapy and a good swift kick in the ass from the wonderful people in the judicial system. In the preceding years I tried my hand at college, Met the love of my life and her three wonderful children, and got my shit together and started living a life.

So there I was about a month ago (now 32) sitting in the Doc's office awaiting the results from my first full physical ever. I thought I was doing pretty good, I had quit drinking, quit smoking, and started eating 3 meals a day. I was following healthier eating than I had in a long time, and that's not saying much.

The Verdict ? 5'9, 235 Lbs, 33.1 BMI Pre-diabetic, and high Cholesterol.

Needless to say one of my greatest and worst assets is the fact that I can be stubborn as hell, especially when I get mad...I was rip roaring pissed at myself...so I immediately came home and thought long and hard about where I wanted to be....the Doc gave me until November just before my 33rd birthday to see what I can do with myself.  So I did what I usually do, I jumped on the trusty interwebs and prepared to use my Google-fu.

I don't remember what led me to it, but I came across Mark Sissons site Marks Daily Apple. Did some reading and I was hooked... paleo/primal living made perfect sense to me, it wasn't just a "do this and profit" website, it was a community that explained, and built on principle! I could do this !

My Girl Friend D has been immensely supportive and decided to join me on this journey and although she has issues with certain red meats we are going to modify her primal experience to focus on non-red meats and fish...

In the past 3 weeks I have lost about 11 lbs and am down to 224.6lbs as of two days ago...We start at the Gym next week as it falls on a pay week.

my biggest stumbling block at the moment is the city that we live in, there is one store for grass fed beef and Bison, however my attempts to find free range chicken and pork have not gone well, so I have resorted to using Maple Leaf Naturals products, as well as the nitrate free naturals bacon.

So here we go...I'm ready to completely flip my lifestyle and embrace primal...yeah it was originally for health, but now it's for a brand new me.

P.S: as a Disclaimer I can have a bit of a mouth, so in advance I apologize for the occasional Cussing and probably warped sense of humor.