DW's primal journal

I've got the mashed cauliflower thing down now. 1 oz sharp cheddar, 1 oz mozzarella, a 1/4 teaspoon looking sized pile of garlic powder and about that much again of black pepper, and probably half that of salt, to 200 g steamed to death cauliflower, mixed up with a stick blender. I couldn't go paleo... without cheese I'd be waving a white flag a long time ago. Lately the go-to lunch has been romaine, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, flax seed, and mayo w/ cajun seasoning on it. Depending on what's for dinner, sometimes I'll add a piece of bacon or a can of chicken to it.

Changing up the weight lifting a bit. Instead of 3-4 sets of 15 reps @10# dumbbells on bicep curls I'm switching to 5 sets, 5 reps @20# dumbbells. Basically amping up the weights to the max I can push out 5 at a time of. Had a trainer back at 18-19 and he had me doing that, liked the results back then and it beats endless reps. Told the Mr. I wanted a dumbbell rack for Xmas... the dining room table is littered with weights. Been doing plie and regular squats just with body weight, but about to add weight to that too. Starting to add deadlifts too, but slowly since my right knee protests a bit too much on those.

Making salmon cakes tonight Primal Salmon Cakes | Pragmatic Paleo with green beans on the side. Or maybe asparagus... have to run to town in a bit, will see if the store has any that looks good.

Scale: - 1.4
Total loss: -56.6

 

Why the mashed cauliflower? Is it a primal must? Personally I like cauliflower with some butter and a dash of soy sauce. Yummy!

 

It's a low carb substitute for mashed potatoes. Frankly I think it smells vile while steaming and the taste does nothing for me. But with cheese and garlic? Then it's edible.

 

Ohhhhh, I just love your shoes...but I digress. It's been a while since I've posted but I needed to check in here and am glad to see you're doing so very well. Great job on the cauliflower. I agree with your opinion of the smell while cooking and the finished product become palatable as a filler. Better than starving. I'd rather have a good plate of broccoli.

Hope you have a great holiday. Blessings on your head!

 

Had the third vein surgery on Thursday, been rather inactive ever since. My right leg was swelled up as big as a Ford Pinto (and almost as ugly) yesterday. Today it's still a bit swollen and I'm black and blue from calf to crotch but at least it isn't not sore any more. Followup ultrasound on Monday, then I can go back to the gym after Xmas. In the meantime I've been assembling rabbit cages, telling myself I'm going to lift weights, and watching back to back episodes of Criminal Minds on Netflix.

So far our more primal holiday fare for eve/day includes
Breakfasts: Spaghetti Squash Breakfast Casserole - The Paleo Gypsy
Warm Banana Coconut Breakfast Bowl

Snackies: Jalapeño Cilantro Deviled Eggs - Ancestral Nutrition
Paleo Cupboard - Mobile Uploads | Facebook
The Comfort of Cooking » Chocolate Dipped Clementines with Sea Salt
Pineapple Cheese Ball | Chef in Training
White Cheddar, Toasted Almond and Crispy Sage CheeseBall Recipe | How Sweet It Is
Cranberry Orange Bars No Bake (Paleo, Vegan, Gluten Free) | Primally Inspired
And some paper thin smoked salmon I picked up... I could eat a pound of this stuff in half a minute. The Mr. has a chub of summer sausage and I've got some sharp cheddar and some jalapeno maple bacon to smoke this afternoon.

Xmas Eve Dinner: STEAK BABY! Aged ribeyes. And a salad. But mostly steak.
Xmas Dinner: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey and Cinnamon Recipe : Tyler Florence : Food Network
Maple Glazed Carrots - South Beach Primal
The Mr.'s company gave all the guys these huge boxes 'o meat from our neighbor/butcher, full of ribeyes, pork chops, german sausage, and a big spiral cut ham. I'm doing a maple glaze for the ham. Doing a traditional stuffing... I don't really groove on stuffing so no biggie to skip that. I think the Mr. is making some cheesy potato layer thing too.

Dessert: German Chocolate Pecan Pie in a Coconut Crust - A Gluten Free Recipe - My Humble Kitchen

Scale: -1.4
Total loss: -58

 

Off to see the wizard. Or rather the doctor. I miss the days when the doctor's office actually asked you what time you'd like your appointment. Now they just tell you when to show up. This early AM stuff blows. At least I can run errands while in the city... Home Depot, a decent grocery store for things I don't keep on hand but need for Xmas recipes, Tractor Supply, and maybe the Asian market for some more pork bellies if I'm still feeling up to it. I really, really hate shopping, and this close to the holiday the stores will be hell so I may be ready to flee after the grocery store. Since I'll be stuck there probably until late this afternoon am taking my lunch with me. Cold enough outside it'll be ok in the car. Otherwise I'll wind up going to Pei Wei and I swore I'd not break my no-more-than-20-net-carbs until Christmas morning.

Made meatloaf last night, turned out pretty good. I usually do an equal mix of ground beef, pork, and turkey (used to include lamb or goat but those days are sadly gone) but last night just half and half ground beef and turkey. 2 eggs, bit of dijon mustard, a bit more Cholula, bunch of dried thyme, marjoram, and oregano, sprinkle smoked paprika, and then half and half parm cheese and almond flour in place of bread crumbs or panko. Usually add in a 1/4 cup milk, did cream instead. Mix, mold into loaf shape atop rack covered in perforated foil, coated all sides with mix of ketchup, coconut palm sugar, and cider vinegar (put most of it on his side), hour at 350, voila! Little bit drier than my old way of making but not actually dry. Next time I may do half cream half water.

Scale: -2
Total loss: -60

 

Between the cotton gin stirring up my allergies and some croupy, hacky, sneezy kid sitting behind me for three hours at the movie theater last week I'm a snotty, wheezy mess now. Allergies, asthma, upper respiratory infection. Walking across the house puts me out of breath right now. Dr appt at 11. Probably get shots for the allergies and asthma. Ugh I hate shots. Been too crappy to go to class, so just doing flexibility exercises. I had a goal to be able to do a standing split by Christmas... I'm alllllllmost there, the left side is about a foot away from being completely vertical, the right still has a ways to go thanks to my whiny hip.

I tried making sweet potato "noodles" the other night and they turned out pretty good. Sweet Potato Noodles with Spinach and Bacon | I'm A Celiac Tonight I think I'm going to make pork chops with Roasted Butternut Squash, Cranberries and Celery with Pecans, Rosemary and Lime - keviniscooking.com since I have squash, cranberries, and celery all in need of using up.

Scale: -1.2
Total loss: -61.2

 

March 7 marks 1 year since I started this. I'll come in short of my admittedly ambitious original goal but I'm not complaining. Especially ATM when everything is clicking and the scale keeps dropping. Docs had me on steroids for my hip all through January so nothing moved then, but off them now and back at the gym and it's rainbow roses and unicorn kittens now. The office clothes (aka my pajamas) that I got last September are too big now. As in, if I forget to tie the drawstring on the pants they fall off too big. I had the pleasure of throwing out all of my undies last month and buying all new stuff... for the second time. The Mr is highly appreciative of marked lack of fabric involved in this latest installment, heh.

Scale: - 8.8
Total Loss: -70

 

I track what I eat over on MyFitnessPal, abeit rather sporadically, and every now and then I read on their forums. I am always ... amused? entertained? saddened perhaps?... by the sheer volume of "OMG I'M STARVING" and "THIS IS SO HAAAARD" posts by people who are trying like hell to lose weight on low fat rabbit diets. And more painful, the ones who lose a ton on these weird diets and then it's like YAY I'M THIN and they go back to their old habits and gain it all times 2 back. And people tell them oh eat more lettuce and carrots, which I can tell you know don't do squat to make you feel full. If anything it'll make you crazy until you raid the fridge and then wake up in a puddle of empty bags and shame afterwards. But if you say anything about paleo or primal or gluten free you get pounced on by the MFP nazis. *shrug*

Honestly this hasn't been hard for me. There were 2-3 months when I went pretty much off as far as watching what I was eating, although I continued to avoid grains and processed foods for the most part. I didn't do hardly any exercise because of injuries, and I didn't gain a single pound. When I got back on, it was easy and the weight started to come off again. I lost 8 over the T-Giving/Xmas holidays. And I DO eat a lot of veg, probably twice now what I used to. Lunch is generally 3 cups of baby spinach or assorted lettuces, a handful of cherry 'maters, half a cucumber, maybe a few stalks of celery, and a half handful of sliced almonds. Dinner has asparagus or sweet peppers and onions or even *gasp* cauliflower. My fav snack is celery with almond butter.

I have new goals for this year, set them a little more attainable, and provided all goes well I'm getting a pair of platform heels for my birthday in August that'll have Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow custom painted on them.

 

-70 lbs! WOW!
Nice job DW!
That's in just a little under a year?
I have 4 friends about my age. All are overweight and not just by 10 or 15 pounds. Three were surprised when they turned up diabetic. Well duhh!
I like bread, rye, pumpernickel, etc. Two loaves consumed in a three week period = 5 lbs additional weight every time I've tried it. I no longer eat bread and I've dumped the last 5 pounds I put on with that little stunt.

 

Most of my friends are very overweight. One of our paintball buddies was hitting 350 so his doctor put him on phentermine. He's lost 40 pounds in 3 months but it's sent his blood pressure through the roof and he doesn't sleep more than 3 hours a night. And what he does eat is still crap, so my money is on him going right back up as soon as they take him off the pills. I feel for him tho, he's got a mean wife and three kids who all demand fast food takeout as often as possible. Another one will try every diet potion out there. Plexus, WW, Jenny Craig, SlimFast. She'll lose 10, gain back 15.

Mostly they think I'm on crack to be eating steak and bacon and still losing weight.

 

I've been holding off on getting clothes. Working from home allows me to get out of needing a lot of stuff. As is I'm down to one pair of jeans that I have to roll the waistband to keep on, 2 t-shirts that were a little small when I got them and now fit loose, and 1 nice shirt I can go out in public in. My gi is 5 sizes too big, I look like a kid wearing daddy's clothes at class now. A fat kid, with a really really fat daddy.

 

I've been fortunate and never really ended up severely overweight. When my weight began to creep up, I'd just cut back a little on food and beer and it would back down in a few weeks.
I'm 5'10" and 174 lbs. Could probably stand to lose 5 - 8 lbs or so but at age 61 no complaints. As I said before though, bread is virtually an instant +5 lbs. I suppose corn chips would be too if I ate a lot of them.
Never did the Primal thing but eat lots of salmon, BBQ or baked white chicken.

 

It's funny how you can be tooling along and think you're in ok shape, then someone takes a photo and posts it to facebook and you be like OMG OMG OMG WTF HOW DID I GET SO FAT????

Maybe that's just me.