Jodi Goes Primal

So my goal for January was to do some sort of workout every day of the month of January.  In a few minutes I will do a stepping/yoga workout to complete that goal!  I literally did some type of activity for 31 days straight.  This is huge for me.  I actually took time for me, something I haven’t done in over 20 years.  I’ve been too busy mothering, wifing and working and have completely ignored Jodi…no more.  So now that the month is done and I’ve done my research, I will plan 3-4 workouts and one sprinting session per week.

My goal for February is to continue to do healthy workouts consistently.  I need to make sure the habit sticks.  It is one thing to tell myself I need to work out every day and be accountable for it to my family and Facebook friends, but another to plan and stick to workouts on a regular basis “on my own”.

The food business is still a struggle.  Especially this past weekend.  I did not eat clean.  I did not go way overboard, but did eat grain.  On date night with my husband, it was hummus and pita.  Of course the actual meal was a wonderful greek salad and gyro and completely primal, but I chose not to forego the hummus/pita.  I’ll keep striving for clean eating, but I’m not going to beat myself up for it either.  Right now my main focus is physical activity since it was where I was most lacking.  I think by the end of March, I’ll be in an excellent place as far as activity goes and then I can begin committing better on clean eating.

Thursday

B – IF

L – Eggplant/italian sausage mixture, avocado

S – Small tangerine, pecans

D – was a complete primal failure (burger and onion rings with my son)

Exercise:  Situps/pushups

Friday

B – IF

L – Chicken breast stuffed with prosciutto and cheese with mushrooms

D – Eggplant/italian sausage

Exercise:  Arms with weights

Saturday

B – IF

L – Eggplant/italian sausage (a lot leftover and no one else is eating it!!)

S – pecans

D – Gyro plate with salad and meat and hummus with pita

S – Pistachios

Exercise:  Stretching/abs

Sunday

B – Eggs, 1/2 banana

S – Pistachios

L – Eggplant/italian sausage (the end of it), orange

D – Pork/Beef stirfry (fresh broccoli, celery, onions, garlic, green beans)

S – “Almond Joy” (coconut milk, almonds, unsweetened coconut flakes, dark chocolate mixed together and eaten with a spoon)…my non-primal husband loves this stuff.  I’m going to play with it a little more and make some bars.  He wants to bring them to work.  I’m going to drag him to primal (like in that picture above), if I have to!

Exercise:  Stepping/yoga

Monday

Breakfast:  Fast

Lunch:  Fast

Dinner:  Mexican (Ground beef/chicken, onions, tomatoes, black olives, guacamole – ALL PALEO and cheese NOT PALEO)

Exercise:  Stretching/Yoga

Tuesday

Breakfast:  Fast

Lunch:  Deer sausage, grilled asparagus, grilled squash

Dinner:  Smoked sausage (homemade), tomatoes, pecans

Exercise:  Ab/Torso workout

Wednesday

Breakfast:  Fast

Lunch:  Cucumber wraps with snowcrab, asparagus, guacamole, 2 crab rangoons (skipped most of the outside non-paleo part)

Dinner:  Husband made a primal meal for me.  He called it Italian Eggplant Sausage Bake.  He took some homemade fresh sausage (removed the casing), seasoned it and put it in a pan with some chunks of eggplant, onions, celery, green pepper, baked in the oven, then a little parmesan cheese and back in the oven.  Yummy, spicy goodness!

Snack:  Protein shake (coconut milk, banana, chocolate whey protein, ice)

Exercise:  Cardio

So Saturday was Sprint day.  My oldest son was here, so he timed me.  The sprints (read: jog) that used to take about 60 seconds, I am now doing in 15 and 16 seconds!  6 sprints with about 60 second rests between, except for between #4 and #5, had to take about a 2 minute rest (needed to catch my breath).  My son, who played football, showed me a trick…lift my arms and put my hands behind my head.  It helped…he said it opened up my lungs.  I was bending over with my hands on my knees and he said that was closing my lungs off.  He was right.  After my sprints, he suggested I try to bench press some weight.  I did six reps with the just the bar (45 pounds) and then he added 10 pounds on each side and I did six reps with the 65 pounds.  I got to talk to him about what I was doing.  I told him my goal was to do a pull-up eventually.  He did a few in front of me and said, you’ll never do it if you don’t try.  Well, he didn’t laugh at my attempts…I’ll keep trying!

Breakfast:  Eggs cooked in coconut oil, mixed fruit

Lunch:  Ham, dates, pecans

Dinner:  Toppings off four slices of pizza and one thin crust edge (yeah…)

Sunday, I washed and folded clothes all day and cooked.  Waited for the husband to get home from work so that we could watch the Saints game.  I was supposed to do cardio, but somehow never got around to it.  I realized it after all the celebration once the Saints won.  So I did an arm workout with weights at nearly 11:00 pm so that I didn’t break my challenge.

Breakfast:  Sausage, mixed fruit

Lunch:  Ham, pecan, dates

Snack:  Chips and salsa

Dinner:  Rump roast (seasoned, seared on the stove in coconut oil, then dumped into the crock pot with onions, garlic, a little soy sauce, Chinese 5 spice and some grated ginger root – cooked all day), smothered okra and beets

Snack:  2 margaritas

I think, beginning February 1, I am going to try to give up the alcohol (at least for a while) and lower my fruit intake.  I need to plan better.  I need to up my veggie intake.  I need to get closer to 100%, which is hard when you live with non-primal people.  The chips and salsa call me and I can’t stop them from buying the stuff.  They only buy them for special occasions (like the recent football playoffs) and then no one eats it, it just sits there.  As of right now, there are no chips and salsa in the house.  At least I know, I’ll be good this week.

I’ve been reading about fitness options. For the month of January, I’ve committed to doing some type of workout every day so that I could establish a habit of making time to workout. It was necessary since I always found an excuse not to work out. I can get my food intake right, but it won’t do a whole lot of good if I don’t get the fitness/activity part right. So, I’m nearly done with my challenge to myself and I need to now find a reasonable fitness plan that will work for me. I’ve been reading alot about Crossfit, but I’m not sure if I am capable of doing most of that because of my current size. I’m sure there is some type of beginning level. I’ll keep looking.

Thursday
Breakfast:  Ham, 1/2 banana
Snack: tomatoes/carrots
Lunch:  Chili with 1/2 avocado, pecans, very small tangerine
Dinner: Steak with onions and mushrooms, asparagus (so good)
Snack: “Almond Joy” (shared it with my non-primal husband, he loved it!)

Exercise: Push-ups (female style, cause I am no where near able to do the regular ones) and sit-ups

Friday
Breakfast: 1/2 banana (woke up very nauseated and couldn’t really eat anything until after 10am)
Lunch: Seafood soup, tomatoes, pecans
Dinner: Ham, banana
Then, I decided to snack on some chips and salsa with my son (that sucks!)

Exercise: Arms with weights

Today I will probably cheat (next month, I may challenge myself to no alcohol, but I am not there yet – one bad habit at a time !) and I may try IF tomorrow if I do. I just need to manage my blood sugar. I know that I am still not eating enough food. I am finally ordering “The Primal Blueprint” next week so that I can get completely on board.

I can’t tell about my weight because my scale went kaput, but I can see that my body is changing.

Monday

Breakfast – Jerky

Lunch -Salad w/steak, onions, tomatoes, salsa, guacamole

Dinner – Chili

Snack – Coconut/Date Balls

Workout – Turbo Jam Ab workout

Tuesday

Breakfast – Jerky

Lunch – Chicken, grape tomatoes, 1/2 avocado, 2 very small tangerines, pecans

Dinner – Ham, mashed parsnips

Snack – “Almond Joy” (coconut milk, unsweetened coconut, almonds, melted dark chocolate)

Exercise:  Stretching

Wednesday

Breakfast – Ham

Snack – pecans

Lunch – Chili, 1/2 avocado

Dinner – Ham, mashed parsnips

Exercise:  Stepping, yoga

So, all in all it has been a pretty good week. I have been fighting low energy, nausea and headaches, but  not too bad after about day 5. I think I have pretty much stayed at least 90% primal, but I know I am not eating enough. I had meant to add at least a half of avocado a day, but both times I’ve tried to buy them from the store, they are out. I have to figure out a way to get some fat into my diet. I also have to plan better.

Breakfast – 1/2 omelet w/steak, onions and green peppers

Lunch – Roast, carrots

Dinner – Leftover steak fajitas (just the meat and veggies)

Snack – made some date, walnut, coconut balls (put some dates, walnuts and unsweetened coconut in the processor with a little coconut milk and banana extract and formed into balls). They were a little too sweet for me.

Exercise – Leg workout (forgot that I had to work the bookstore at the retreat center where I volunteer, so no sprints again today)

We had a football game watching party.  There were guests.  There was non-primal food and drinks.  It was hard and it was tempting.  But…my husband (who did the shopping) actually thought about me when he shopped.  He bought primal items for me.  He said “Grok would eat that!”  Yes, he did. He even explained to our friends how I was eating.  I was impressed!

He also did the cooking.  He made a duck, sausage and tasso sauce.  He did serve it over rice for everyone else.  He shot the ducks, he made the sausage and tasso.  I still haven’t been able to eat duck (I have a hard time eating anything with skin and bones in it…as long as it is prepared without the skin and bones, I may be able to eat it, but skin and bones freak me out.  I know it is not rational, but it is what it is.)  This pot was chockoblock full of duck bones.  I shuddered when I pulled out my sausages and tasso.  He also made green beans with bacon and potatoes.  I just avoided the potatoes.  He said that recently he ate duck that someone fried and he thought he could make it primal and he thought I would like it.  It was marinated duck breast.  I’ll have to be sure there is no breading, or maybe we could try breading made with coconut flour or something.  Once he makes it, I’ll share.  I also still have to read up a little more.  I’ve seen some places where mustard and vinegar are used, but other places that it is not.

Pretty soon, everything that I consume may be things that we grow ourselves.  (No one else is the family is ready to give up all the processed garbage just yet.)  We already have the chickens.  They are currently laying at least 4 eggs per day.  My husband hunts so we have deer and ducks in the freezer.  He will turkey hunt this year and we normally put up a hog each year as well. (He has been invited to elk hunt later this year.)  We have a spring/summer garden and this year, I will also attempt a winter garden.  We have a smokehouse where he makes sausage and tasso and we are about to try our hands at jerky too!

All in all the day was probably about 85% primal, not quite where I want to be, but not as bad as it could have been.  Our team did win!  Who Dat!

Exercise was supposed to be sprints, but I wasn’t feeling well and it rained all day, so I did arms with weights.  I’ll do sprints Sunday instead.

Breakfast – Beef Jerky, celery

Lunch – Seafood soup

Dinner – Steak fajitas, guacamole, pico de gallo, Margarita, 1 oz. tortilla chips w/salsa (I didn’t want to go over 20 grams of carbs)

Exercise:  100 situps

Down another .5 pound

The day started off great, but then not so great…

Breakfast:  Sausage, blueberries

Lunch: Steak, tangerine

I see the problem here now as I type it out…I didn’t eat enough and I didn’t plan for my dinner, when I knew I had to work at the bookstore tonight.  I stopped for a meal on the way home.  I hit a drive through and didn’t even try to make it primal.  I was starving and felt like crap after I ate it and to be honest, it wasn’t even worth the indulgence.  If I am going to have a cheat day, I won’t be wasting it again.

I was also worried about how I was going to get my exercise in, but I didn’t have to worry about that.  We had some work done in the bookstore and all of the books were moved to prevent them from falling when they leveled the building.  For over two hours, I carried boxes of books, reloaded books on the shelves, half the time on shelves over my head so my arms were above my head.  By the time I was done, I was nice and drenched and of course my arms are noodles.  Shoulders were worked pretty good as well.

Weight this morning was no change.

Workout this morning:

Stretch/Cardio/Cooldown – 15/30/10

Breakfast:  2 eggs, chopped into egg salad, with a little mayo, mustard, smidge of dill relish

Lunch:  Beef Jerky, Salad (cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, green pepper strips, carrots, olives and fresh pineapple)

Dinner:  Meat spaghetti sauce over zucchini rounds

I’m going to try to make a primal snack tonight.  Going to search some sites.  I have some Simply Fruit Strawberry jam, some dark chocolate chips, some unsweetened coconut.  Maybe try to do something like a chocolate covered strawberry…or something.

Even though I did my workout this morning, I am still going to do something tonight…maybe some ab work.