Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

Day 2 of following The Primal Blueprint and it hits:  The wall.

Now, I will admit this:  I’m not counting calories.  I’m not logging what I eat.  I’m simply being aware of carb intake.  I keep a rough count in my head and an awareness as I try to hit the sweet spot of 50-100.  I don’t want to go over, and if I am a bit under, I am okay.

With that in mind, I know I under-ate yesterday.  I’m not sure how much under, but I doubt I hit near a 2000 calorie mark.  And I’m okay with that.  I’m more focused on eating until satisfied than eating to meet a number.  But, when you wake up and do P90X Plyo X fasted, and after a low carb and low calorie day, you should expect the wall to hit.

And it did!

I’ll say this:  My energy has not been too bad.  In fact, it has been better than what I thought, although I expected the toughest time to be days 4-10.  With all of this though came a massive headache.  It almost felt like eye-strain and very well could be (I’m in contacts that are underpowered as my doc did not have my Rx in stock).  I’ve managed to shake it for the most part though.

I am a bit grouchy.  I was warned of this.  I’m trying to control it, but with three young kids at home all day with you, the fuse has been a bit short at times, mainly around the not listening and mild tantrums they like to think they can get away with.

The good news is, I ate well today.  I probably still did not eat enough, but oh well.  That’s part of getting adjusted to it.  The big problem I had was not snacking here and there.  I needed to take something in that would help offset how I was feeling and did not.  I did, though, snub a major temptation.  As part of a potty-training award, I took my youngest for frozen yogurt with the entire family.  I chose not to indulge.  And I LOVE fro-yo!  But I never fix it healthy…

So a recap of food today:

Post Plyo X – 3 slices of bacon, a sweet potato hash cooked in the bacon grease (sweet potato, onion, bell pepper, scallions), 2 eggs over medium.

Lunch – Salad with romaine, tomato, cucumber, cheese, left over pot roast, and a homemade honey musturd based dressing that I whipped up (tasted good, too…quite proud of myself for that one!).  Had about 1 cup of grapes after lunch.

Supper – Chicken fajitas in a romaine lettuce wrap.

My biggest obstacle:  I’m using a bit more cheese than what I’d like overall.  Not that I’m anti-cheese (nor is The Primal Blueprint), but I’m finding myself adding it just to squeeze in some extra calories/fat.  If I am going to continue to include dairy I’m going to move to using cottage cheese (full fat) as a snack.  I’m still thinking through that one.

Tomorrow is a more laxed day for exercise…somewhat.  I’ll do Ab Ripper X in the morning, and then have PT in the afternoon.  We’ll see how the body reacts.  It is also my first day back to work since the change in nutrition, and will be a welcome return to my normal routine!

Got questions on Primal nutrition or how I”m handling it?  Post a reply below!

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, paleo diet, plyo x, primal blueprint

Last year when I was following The Abs Diet from Men’s Health Magazine, the one thing that was always encouraged was a “cheat meal.”  In other words, focus for 6 days a week, and on the 7th, rest…er….cheat, but just one meal.  I loved this rule!  I love the thought that I could eat on a strict plan for most of the time, but then take a cheat meal.

Of course, leave it to me to screw up the concept of the cheat meal.  I often turned it into a “cheat gorge” where I’d eat a big, greasy cheeseburger and fries, often well over 1,000 calories in one meal.  Now, I still lost weight (7 pounds in the first 4 weeks of P90X using a cheat meal) but then it started slowing up.

As I’m sitting here evaluating how to do things differently in the new year, I find myself revisiting this thought of a cheat meal.  And I’ve come to a conclusion:

I had to have a cheat meal because most of the foods I ate where fairly bland and not mentally satisfying.

Sure, I ate well.  When you eat “healthy” (or the mainstream version of healthy) you eat a good portion of food.  4oz of chicken is only around 110 calories.  You could eat half a pound for only 220 calories, and that’s a lot of protein!  Of course, veggies have little calories, and little flavor.

I love cheat meals.  I looked forward to them.  They were my “reward” and something I had a hard time not doing.  If it was not a burger, it was pizza.  Those were staples.  There were two burger places here in town I visited frequently for these meals and enjoyed every bit of it.

Of course, I can now ask if it hurt my progress, and my answer should always be yes.  And looking at Primal Blueprint eating in 2012, I have to wonder what a “cheat meal” would look like?  I’ll explain in a bit…

The other philosophies around this are the thoughts of 90-10 or 80-20 eating, or just 80-20 in general.  Tony Horton of P90X fame talks about a progression to healthy eating that involves starting 50-50, moving to 70-30, 80-20, and finally 90-10 as the ideal sweet spot (although Mr. Horton would be the first to tell you that 95% or better is ideal, especially during P90x).

But how does all of this fit into Primal eating?

First, let me talk about the cheat meal.  I do not feel I’ll take any cheat meals.  I’m not saying I will eat 100% primal, but there is no real “cheat” that makes sense on this diet other than a dessert.  And even with desserts, there are plenty of options of making primal style desserts without sacrificing the premise of the plan.

Nor do I see myself thinking of 90-10 or 80-20.  Mark talked about the idea of 80-20 being “aim for 100%, you’ll probably hit 80-95%.”  I like this theory.  It’s near impossible to be perfect unless you have unlimited time and deep pockets.  For instance, condiments will fall into a gray area for me.  I do plan on making my own Primal BBQ Sauce and possibly my own salad dressings, but mayo is a harder thing to avoid.  So I allot for it.

But when I would follow 90-10 before, it was literally 90% healthy calories, 10% whatever.  When my food was restricted to whole grains (near tasteless), low fat or no dairy, lean meats only, very selective fats, etc, that 10% of whatever became cherished.  It was what kept me sane.

On the primal plan though, my goal is closer to 100% than 90%.  I get to eat things with flavor.  I get to experiment more.  I’m finding more and more recipes that I am wanting to try that fit well with the primal lifestyle.  All of the sudden, I’m not thinking how I’m looking forward to that cheeseburger (which, is primal, once I ditch the bun).  Instead, I’m more looking forward to cooking my own food, using ingredients I select, putting as much flavor in as I can.

And amazingly, the Primal/Paleo community is HUGE.  Need an idea for a recipe?  Simply Google and you are likely to turn up something.  Think you have something that sounds good?  Make it!  My brain has been spinning with different sautes and sauces to make for various meals.

I’m not saying that cheating is wrong.  If it keeps you accountable and focused more than not, by all means do it.  I did it and still lost weight.  But be willing to find ways away the cheat meal.  Go primal.  Find ways to eat within your nutritional plans and make things that will satiate you.

(Shameless Plug for a friend:  See the burger posted at the top?  That’s from Wimpy’s Burgers and Fries in Conway, Arkansas.  My good friend Cotton is one of the owners.  Great cheat meal location.  I’m able to get a bunless burger there, so it is not off limits!  And if you really want to cheat, get the onion rings and milkshake….best around!)

Brent Primal/Paleo Eating cheat meals, paleo diet, primal blueprint

This is hard to see, but this is my freezer.  It is packed full of meats:  Ground beef, steak, pork chops, chicken, and bacon!

This is just one part of my Primal eating strategy that I started talking about a while back.  If you have not had a chance to review what Primal eating is, I encourage you to check out The Primal Blueprint and Mark Sisson’s website.

This is a medium amount of meat.  My goal is that between this, Shakeology, eggs, veggies, fruit, and some whey protein, I have about 2 months of consistently Primal food intake.

So with all the food in place, now I had to think about what I was going to do for exercise.  I’m still doing quite a bit of physical therapy, but the sessions there are starting to resemble workouts and not just therapy.  The shoulders are getting stronger and impinging less, but I’m not quite released to do a full round of P90X or what I really wanted to do first, P90X2.

But, this presents an interesting scenario:

Part of Mark’s Primal Philosophy is that exercise should be fairly moderate overall:  3 days of lifting (P90X has it), 1 day of sprinting (can you say Plyo?), a few days of moving around or just resting.  The issue you can run into with P90X is the intensity and length of the exercises could cause you to deplete glycogen, forcing you to have to take in more carbs such as yams or sweet potatoes.  My goal is to stay under the 100g/day for the first 2-3 months and train my body to care more about burning fat than carbs, so I do not want to force my body into needing more than necessary.

But, with the use of PT in my P90X routine, I should only get close to depleting glycogen on Plyo days.  And that can be combated via a little pre-workout nutrition (half a banana, for instance).

So the plan is this:  P90X with the upper body days (Chest and Back, Shoulders and Arms, Chest Shoulders and Tri’s, and Back and Biceps) to be subbed in for the sessions with the therapist.  I will still do Legs and Back separate with the knowledge that all pull-ups will be done using an assist and will not be through the full range of motion at first.  The goal there will be to just engage the lats enough to cause muscle growth, but not torque the shoulders.

I’ll still follow the recovery week protocol, and will still do Yoga (I’ve learned to modify the vinyasas to not bother the shoulders too much).

The idea is that as soon as the therapist releases me, jump in to whatever week I’m on with the normal routine.  If it is week 6, jump in to CST, B&B, etc.

And really, P90X is a great Primal exercise routine and can be modified down to not deplete glycogen (hence the need for the recovery drink, but at 32g of carbs, in a weight loss phase that is just way too much for me).

So that’s the plan for now:  Eat lots of flavorful meals, do a modified P90X, act like Grok.  And enjoy life!

Got questions about incorporating Primal eating into your exercise plan?  Drop a comment here!

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, p90x2, paleo, primal blueprint, primal eating