Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

Greetings all!

If you’ve read any of my post over the last little bit, you’ll see I’m making a big change to eating via The Primal Blueprint.  Honestly it is something I’ve considered and planned to do for nearly 2 months and I’m excited to jump in feet first (or mouth first, in this case).  It’s a daunting change and day one proved to be fairly easy to handle overall.  I’m probably a ways to perfection, but I can honestly say I ate well!

Of course, the entire concept of eating Primally is to eat similar to how Grok did, which may mean you do not eat 3 times a day.  And while I ate three “meals” (or just 3 separate times), they all occurred between the hours of noon and 8pm, a very similar schedule to an intermittent fasting regiment.  Intentional?  Nope…stayed up too late last night from New Years Eve, slept in this morning, and just could not squeeze breakfast in by then.

I started out by exercising:  P90X Kenpo X.  Having not done this one in a while, and exercising in a fasted state, I was pleased that I had enough energy to complete.  Not a problem.

And then, it was time to start eating.  Three egg omelet with onion, bell pepper, some cheese, topped with homemade salsa, and a few strawberries.  A great primal start (and a tasty one too).

That was a fairly small meal.  It was very, very low carb.  So for an afternoon snack, I had to concoct something with Shakeology.  I knew I needed the carbs, the shake has 17g of it (all healthy carbs), and I had plenty of wiggle room.  So I did a shake with 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 8oz almond milk, and 1 tbsp almond butter.  It was very good, but I do not like the taste of sucralose in the whey protein.  Time to order some of Beachbody’s whey with fructose (slightly more carbs, but anything is better than chemical sweeteners).

For supper, it was time to dine well.  We decided to do a beef pot roast (more specifically, it was a eye of round roast).  Potatoes were off limits to me right now, but we cooked some in there anyways.

We made the mistake of not thawing the meat well, and with as tough as this roast was made us think of ideas to tenderize the next one.  I’m leaning towards greek yogurt or buttermilk with spices….

Plus, since it thawed late, we did not cook it on a slower cook temp.  So while the meat tasted fine, it was a bit tough.  Lesson learned with the beef roast (we usually do pork roast, but this came in a rather large meat package we purchased).

Along with the roast and the veggies with it (potato, carrots, and onion in with the roast), I took some butter and a veggie meddly and sauted it all up (had broccoli, cauliflower, zuchinni, squash, and carrots).  But for the experiment, I made a gravy….primal style!

This was quite an interesting event.  The basics were all the same:  butter and broth.  But, the problem was avoiding flour.  My wife makes awesome gravy, but it has the white grain powder I’m avoiding.  So I used some arrowroot instead.  It worked wonderfully!  The viscosity and consistency was a bit like egg whites, but it coated the meat well and was very tasty!  Now that I know I can do it, it will be a staple in the diet.

Now, I can tell I’ve eaten less overall.  And I can tell I’ve had much less carbohydrates today.  I did have one piece of 90% dark chocolate and one strawberry post supper for dessert.  But my overall calories are in check, my carbs are definitely in the Primal Blueprint 50-100g range, and I feel fine.

I expect the wall to hit around day 4-5 though.  I’m mentally prepping myself for it (my wife is bracing for me to go through it too).

Speaking of all of this, admission time (I don’t mind telling on myself):

I gained quite a bit of weight back over the last 3 months.  Actually, I gained a LOT back. Most of it came within the month of December.  Cruise, Christmas, parties, just a bad thing.

But more than anything, I ate grotesque amounts of sugar laden desserts!  I knew coming into today that not only the reduction in carbs would be hard (as well as weening myself from caffeine drinks again), the detox from all of the sugar would be a pain.  So far, no major issues.

But, before measurements were done, pictures taken, and I hope that the combination of P90X and Primal Eating will produce some great results over the next 3 months.  A lot of people notice changes within the first 30 days of Primal eating.  I’m on day 1.  29 day days left!

Grok on, and BRING IT!

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, paleo diet, primal diet, the primal blueprint

Oh to eat like Grok….

In my previous post I talked about a move to following a more paleo/primal eating plan than what P90X plan or The Abs Diet offers.  My wife thinks its a neat concept and supports me, but I think she may think I’m nuts.  But before you pass judgement, I thought I’d share a bit of what I’ve been reading about, who I’ve been talking to about it, their experience, and why I think it may help me achieve my goals.

First, I purchased the book The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson.  If you’ve ever done P90x, you’ll recognize Mark as the guy at the end of the videos talking about P90X multi-vitamin, P90X recovery drink, etc.  But more recently, Mark is known for his book on Primal eating and his website, Mark’s Daily Apple.

I have a good friend involved with Crossfit here in Conway who recently went through a Paleo challenge.  I talked to him quite a bit during it about his experience with it, the ups, the downs, etc.  As I started researching more about it I learned that my mentor in Beachbody (Coni) also was now eating via The Primal Blueprint.  And after asking some questions, some more people I knew came out and said they were eating this way too.

I’ve seen the great results it produced for many people.  But more than anything, the #1 thing that convinced me to try it was this:  Everyone who followed it said they felt better than they had in a long time.

That was enough for me to start looking into it.  Plus, taking cues from my own body, I figured it was time I looked into it.

Cues?  What cues, Brent?

Well, for starters….

Even following the P90X plan, I noticed I lost fat well on the Fat Shredder plan.  It sucked for energy, but I always had great losses.  But when I’d go to eating whole grains again (or in larger amounts), I noticed my fat loss stalled.  When I did Insanity and Asylum this year, I noticed the less carbs I took in, the better my fat loss was (with Insanity month 2, I took in only 1.5 carbs a day, with Asylum, typically on 1-1.5).  Plus cutting out dairy I felt MUCH better in Insanity and Asylum.

But when I’d follow the P90X plan allowing for 3 carbs a day, my fat loss would stall.  And that was always frustrating.

The other cue I’m taking is how my body reacts to sugar.  It’s not pretty.  I’ve been eating a bit too much of it recently, but I always…and I repeat, always, feel like utter crap after eating anything with refined sugars.  I can drink a Shakeology with nothing but healthy sugars and feel fine, but one cookie and I feel miserable.  I’ve felt like this all of this year.  More on why this is important to me later (in regards to Primal eating).

So with all of this, the people I’ve talked to, and my own research, I feel like this is a good change for me to make.

You’re probably thinking….”Brent, instead of making this major shift, why not just eat on the Fat Shredder plan?”

Great point!  The problem with Fat Shredder is this:  It is high protein, low fat, low/moderate carb.  Our bodies use to prefer fats as the fat source, but the modern American diet shifted it to being carbs in the form of starches and sugars.  The Fat Shredder plan cannot be followed long term due to how few fats it has in it (albeit healthy fats, hitting only 20% fats and 30% carbs with 50% proteins is tough on the kidneys and energy stores).

When I followed the fat shredder plan, by week 2 I was miserable.  The food was fairly bland, there wasn’t enough energy to push through workouts, and simply hard to manage.  Not to mention that the plan is very strict on what you eat, portions, etc.  It works, don’t get me wrong, but is hardly manageable long term.

But won’t you feel like crap when start Primal eating?

Possibly.  I figure I will during the adjustment phase.  I’m going from eating 40% (or more somedays) of my intake in carbs to eating 100g or less (400 calories, or 20% of my intake roughly will be carbs at most).  I know my body is going to go through an adjustment phase and it is something I am preparing for.

In fact, I’ve already warned my wife that I’ll be a bit grumpy.

But, coming out of it, everyone I’ve talked to said they had more energy by the time the adjustment was done.  Sounds good to me!

So what will I be eating?

Meat and veggies.  Water.  I’ll be cooking with fats, including butter.  I told this to a good friend of ours who LOVES butter, and her response was someone amazed and amused that I’d be considering this move.  After all, I’ve been anti-butter for a while.

My meat will not be just lean cuts either.  I’ll be consuming animal fats.  I’ll be aiming for 100g max carbs, 170g protein, and the rest of my calories in fat.  I’ll be eating meats like bacon, fatty steaks, dark meat poultry, etc.

Now, if you’re a doctor or if you read a lot of modern medicine’s opinion on fat, you’ll probably freak out at this.  Just go read Mark’s site and the book and  you’ll understand why this is not really bad for you.

How much of a change is this for me?

Honestly, its a big change.  Meat is more expensive.  In fact, it’s a lot more expensive than carbs.  So I’m having to purchase in bulk.  If you read Mark’s site, you know he’ll suggest grassfed, organic meats over the mass produced meats you find in supermarkets.  Until I can get some things in place (i.e. a freezer to hold enough meet), I’ll be purchasing from a local meat market which is grain fed but no anti-biotics or growth hormones added to the meats.  My guess is these meats are grass-fed/grain finished.

My goal is to have enough freezer space to by either half or quarter of a cow a year and a whole pig.  I can then supplement with chicken and the occasional chicken or lamb.

I’ll be cutting out dairy almost altogether.  I’ve done this before and felt great.  I will use some in cooking some dishes, so I will not be 100% dairy free, just will not use it that much.  Most of the dairy I prep will be in specialty dishes.

So what about sugar you were talking about earlier?

Great question.  Again, sugar makes me feel like garbage.  Absolute garbage.  I hate the way I feel when I have cows milk and sugar more than anything.

But….I love sweets.  It’s a love-hate relationship.

The one thing I’ve been looking into a lot with Primal eating is how to handle my sweet tooth in the fall while still having some great dishes.  The great thing I have found with Primal eating is that there is a recipe for just about everything I love.  Pumpkin pie?  Yep, a great recipe.  I’ve found cookie recipes, chocolate mouse, etc.  In other words, when I want a desert, I just have to have the stuff on hand to make it.

And it’s not refined, processed sugars.

Even for non-sugar foods, I’ve found recipes to use for entertaining, such as meatballs, Buffalo wings, etc.  So when the Super Bowl rolls around, I’ll be able to have a Primal friendly feast.

So what is the biggest thing I love about this plan?

I find this plan extremely non-restrictive.  The Abs Diet wasn’t restrictive, but it wasn’t this loose.  It still wanted me to avoid fats, focus on grains, etc.  And I lost weight/inches on the plan.  But, I really don’t want to lose much weight, just fat.

Plus, I’m not going to count calories on this plan.  Remember, our Primal ancestors did not have My Fitness Pal to help them track calories.  So the goal is to eat sensibly and then adjust according to my energy needs.  I also plan on experimenting some with Intermittent Fasting to aid in fat loss (and from many people’s experience, muscle growth).  To help with energy during my workouts at first, I’m looking at adding in a BCAA supplement.

So my goal….

I’m hoping that my right shoulder heals enough to start P90X on January 1 when I launch many Beachbody Challenge Groups (more on this later).  I want to move into doing Crossfit as well combined with some additional P90X style workouts, and eat like a caveman.

That’s 2012.

Brent Nutrition And Diet, P90X2, Primal/Paleo Eating grok, P90X-Diet, paleo eating, primal eating, The Abs Diet, the primal blueprint