Elessar's Primal Journey

The couple that came to look at our farm on Saturday will be returning today, Monday, at 5:00 pm for a second look. Please let this be the one for them!

The electrical work on the new kitchen island at the new house is done and the plumbers will be there this morning to connect the gas. The A/C is working correctly now that the condensation pump was replaced and the washing machine needed repair too. It was a crazy busy day for having people all around but everything should be finished today. My diet suffered because I was not taking the time to prepare meals so I went to the market on Sunday and now we have the supplies for complete meals.

Saturday
Breakfast: none
Lunch: none
Dinner: 4 oz grilled chicken breast with BBQ sauce
Snacks: one cocktail, 1 avocado, 4 oz pistachios

Sunday
Breakfast: 4 egg cheese omelet
Lunch: none
Dinner: 5 cups Zatarain's Black Beans & Rice with ground beef, 3 cups mixed vegetables with butter
Snacks: several cocktails, 1 oz dark chocolate, 3 oz pistachios
Exercise:
50 push ups
50 crunches

Weight: 204.6
Bodyfat: 29.2

I figure drinking too much alcohol is really killing my program, not to mention what it does to your brain and the other parts of your body, because I see a dramatic difference when I've had too many drinks. I read an interesting article about how your body prioritizes and processes alcohol before food. Since you’re more likely to eat the wrong things while drinking, because your will-power is reduced, those things that you eat are more likely to be turned into fat because your body is busy processing the alcohol, which causes your insulin levels to spike as well. The entire affair is a disaster looking for a place to happen, and it will happen in your body if you're not careful. I'm planning to make a change in my drinking pattern by choosing to only have one drink, if I drink at all...

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

Easy day since we weren't trying to make any major changes to anything and the grass was mowed all around both the farm and the new house. New rugs arrived for the kitchen and they look great. The plumber finished the gas line install and the cook top is complete. The kitchen is fully functional and the island looks great. DirecTV completed their install so we are able to get both the local channels as well as the basic programing, which is all we watch anyway. Being in town will afford us the opportunity to go to the theater for new movies on a "date."

Breakfast: one cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: big salad
Dinner: 4 cups of chili with beans and shredded cheese
Snacks: 2 oz dark chocolate

Weight: 204.8
Bodyfat: 26.6

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

We visited the farm last night, just to check on things and to ensure security. Everything was good and the trip was a quick turn-around with another box of goodies moved to the new house.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and a cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: big salad
Dinner: cubed chicken breast sauteed in white sauce over lettuce (no noodles for me, thank you)
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate

Exercise
50 pushups
50 crunches
1 plank 30 seconds

Weight: 202.2
Bodyfat: 28.2

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

Another quiet day; things seem to becoming more stable around here.

Breakfast: 1 hard boiled egg and one cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: 5 oz almonds, 6 oz yogurt
Dinner: 5 cups chicken stir fry (no noodles)
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate

Weight: 203.3
Bodyfat: 26.3

Let's get out there and make this a great day (and mow the grass)!

 

Mowing grass at two places separated by 25 miles is pretty crazy but that's what we're doing while we try to sell the farm. We moved last night; I mowed the yard while my wife mowed part of the field. We included a walking path around the second field so prospective buyers could hike out through the tallk grass without feeling like they are on safari.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and a cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: 1 avocado, 8 oz almonds
Dinner: 4 chicken fingers from Dairy Queen
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate, 6 oz yogurt

Weight: 202.2
Bodyfat: 25.2

Exercise:
100 crunches (two sets of 50 each)

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

It's been a pretty good weekend. No, we didn't sell the farm, but we did have another showing and looking forward to the seasonal increased in prospective buyers.

Friday
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and a cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: 4 cups left over chicken stir fry
Dinner: four pieces Digiorno pizza
Snacks: 2 cocktails, 4 oz pistachios, 4 oz almonds

Exercise:
50 crunches
50 pushups

Saturday
Breakfast: Big Breakfast from McDonalds (swap the biscut for an extra sausage)
Lunch: sliced ham, lettuce, sliced colby/jack cheese, 1 hard boiled egg, baby carrots
Dinner: Taco salad
Snacks: one cocktail, 2 oz almonds

Sunday
Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled with sweet bell peppers, diced ham, shredded cheese and one cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: none (we were hanging pictures and unboxing at the new house)
Dinner: big salad with one cup chili on top and 2 Fritos corn chips
Snacks: 4 oz pistachios, 2 oz dark chocolate

Exercise
50 crunches
20 pushups

Weight: 201.0
Bodyfat: 26.8

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

When I started on my primal journey, I decided that I was not in quest of a specific weight but rather a healthier lifestyle. However, I have managed to loose almost 40#s in six months, which is exactly what Mark Sisson professed would happen, exactly on schedule. I need to state here that I have eliminated almost all potatoes and fruit from my diet to enhance my fat adaptivity.

I weighed in yesterday and again this morning very near 200#s and I feel like this is where I need to be. I have lost five inches from my waist, dropped almost two shirts sizes, and feel pretty danged good. But, I feel it's time to begin to moderate my weight loss. When I look in the mirror, I see a much smaller me, and I think that this area is about right for my size/condition/age. I still want to loose the final five pounds of fat that I'm carrying around my waist like a spare tire, but my body condition and overall sense of feeling is really good.

I've decided to add those elements that I had restricted back into my menu, slowly and with moderation. I want to continue to retain my status as "a fat burning beast" but stabilize my weight loss. I think that I can do this with very little effort and close attention to those few things I've mentioned: potatoes & fruits. The rest of my program will remain essentially unchanged: i.e. no sugar and no grain (80/20 rule observed).

What this means is that I'm switching into a maintenance frame of mind. I don't think my menu will change all that much and intend to continue to post my progress/status here daily for at least the remainder of this year, just to keep track of everything and offer some concrete evidence to anyone who might be interested in seeing my results.

Breakfast: 6 oz almonds (I forgot my lunch bag in the fridge at home, doh!)
Lunch: 1 avocado and 6 oz yogurt with 8 oz V8 juice spiced with a few drops of hot sauce
Dinner: 12 oz grilled Flat Iron beef steak, 4 oz broccoli, 6 oz new potatoes
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate

Exercise:
50 pushups
45 crunches

Weight: 201.7
Bodyfat: 27.3

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

To all that stop by here: thanx for taking the time to look in. I appreciate your comments. YD: Excellent work on your progress. I too am a much smaller version of me and I can't remember being this size. I also hope to work on conditioning now that my body is in the range that feels good.

Pretty normal evening last night and we'd planned to go to the farm to check on things and feed the barn cats, but the weather prevented that with forecasts of potential storms. So, we opted to hang out at the house and just chill. The front past so we went out for a walk and covered about a mile touring around town. It was a very nice change.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and a cup of black coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: big salad with 2 cups of left-over chicken stir fry
Dinner: four cups of chicken vegetable soup (made from frozen ingridients except for the new potatoes that I threw in there)
Snacks: 2 oz dark chocolate

Weight: 202.4
Bodyfat: 26.8

Special recognition to my co-worker who jumped on the PB bandwagon a few weeks after reading my copy of the PB book; she's dropped two dress sizes and is feeling great!

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

We mowed the grass at both places yesterday by splitting up so I ended up riding through a rain storm on my motorcycle to cover the 25 miles on my way home. I was more than a little afraid because of my experience last year but last night was easy peasy compared to that other stuff.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and one cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: 1.5 cups of chicken vegetable soup
Dinner: Monster big salad (actually two helpings because I was starving by the time I made it home) with marinara sauce (my wife had spaghetti
Snacks: 3 oz liverwurst, 3 oz pepper jack cheese, 2 oz dark chocolate

Exercise:
65 crunches
10 power pushups (slow up and down)

Weight: 203.2
Bodyfat: 28.0

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

Been there, done that. you can handle it.
as a college student my only transportation was a motorcycle, year 'round, through Ohio winters. just slow down, don't worry about deadlines, increase your braking distance, and watch that center of gravity. you will be fine as long as it is you stay focused.

 

We have decided to change realtors and try a new marketing strategy for selling the farm. Six months of almost two dozen showings and no buyers so we have decided that change is good. Time will tell...

Breakfast: one hardboiled egg and 1/2 cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: 2 oz liverwurst, 4 eggs scrambled with diced jalapenos and ham topped with shredded cheese
Dinner: 8 oz grilled chicken breast with BBQ sauce and 6 oz broccoli
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate and three cocktails

Exercise:
10 crunches

Weight: 202.4
Bodyfat: 24.1

Let's get out there and make it a great day!

 

Jimmus: Thanks for your kind words; wow, inspiration,...hummmmm. Never figured to be anything like that. I just glad that someone is able to use the information that I post.

It was a great weekend with visit to my Mother-in-law's as well as Father's Day. We enjoyed seeing those we could and chatting with those we couldn't. Beautiful weather made for great opportunities outdoors.

Friday
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and one cup of coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: 3 oz liverwurst, 4 oz left over grilled chicken breast, 3 oz cheese
Dinner: 12 oz grilled steak with 4 oz broccoli
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate and 2 cocktails

Saturday
Breakfast: 1 Lora bar (late because we loaded hay to take to the horses)
Lunch: 10 chicken tenders from Burger King
Dinner: 3 oz liverwurst, 4 oz cottage cheese, 2 oz sliced ham
Snacks: 3 cocktails

Sunday
Breakfast: 4 eggs scrambled with diced ham and shredded cheese
Lunch: we went to the theater and I enjoyed a monster bucket of popcorn w/o butter
Dinner: 5 grilled brats and 6 oz hominy
Snacks: 3 cocktails

Exercise: we rode around town on our bicycles for about 8 miles.

Weight: 206.6
Bodyfat: 27.7

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

I fixed a variation on my normal beef stir fry recipe last night for dinner that turned out great. I called it Hawaiian Chicken Stir Fry because I used coconut oil, sweet potatoes, and sprinkled a few coconut flakes on top for garnish. It was pleasant change from the normal recipe and my wife declared it was worth having again.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and 1/2 cup coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: big salad with 3 oz ham diced
Dinner: 6 cups Hawaiian Chicken Stir Fry with 1 cup Chinese noodles
Snacks: 1 oz dark chocolate

Exercise:
50 pushups

Weight: 205.0
Bodyfat: 25.7

Let's get out there and make this a great day!

 

MAN, I hate poison ivy. I really do; especially when you manage to get it in places that should never get any type of infection or rash. Yup, like, around your eyes and other places. I guess I must have got it on my hands and then transferred the ick to other places while I was sweating because I was weed-eating after mowing last night. BLAH!

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and 1/2 cup coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: 12 oz chicken breast and 4 oz liverwurst
Dinner: 6 oz grilled chicken breast with hot sauce, 1 oz dark chocolate
Snacks: 1 ruby red grapefruit, 6 oz yogurt, 12 oz V8 juice

Weight: 202.0
Bodyfat: 24.4

Let's get out there and make this a great day! (and stay outta the weeds)

 

'cuse me while I scratch...MAN I hate poison ivy!

I went to the drug store today to get some more stuff because I have this crap around my eyes. We were clearing the brush around a tree at the new house and I was wiping the sweat from my eyes so two plus two equals Yow!

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and 1/2 cup coffee with coconut oil
Lunch: Big salad plus 3 oz liverwurst
Dinner: 4 oz sliced ham & 3 oz liverwurst
Snacks: 2 ruby red grapefruits, 3 oz almonds

Exercise: 50 crunches

Weight: 202.0
Bodyfat: 25.5

I'm late posting this entry because they have blocked me from accessing this site from work, so I'll be reading more during my evenings and that may change my posting format. However, it won't change my efforts at remaining Primal. You just can't keep a good Monkey down!

Let's get out there and make this a great day!