I final made a leap into the past today and went primal! Woooo! Feeling very excited about it right now.
I was wondering about when to start and how best to fit it into my insane schedule for the next month, but at the same time I was fed up feeling rubbish and lethargic and blah so I got up and did it.
When I say I just did it I don't mean I am totally primal now. There is a lot more to it than just food, but that is where I am starting.
Today's menu:
Breakfast - 3 egg omelette cooked in 1/2 tbsp coconut oil, with 1/2 avocado. 2 oz berries after.
Lunch - 1.5 cups of romaine lettuce, 1 whole yellow pepper, 1 cup raw spinach, 1 cup rocket. Tuna (from a can, though in future will be shopping for fresh when I can afford it). With homemade dressing (2 tbsp olive oil, 1 of red wine vinegar, dried basil and 1 crushed clove garlic)
Dinner - 1 organic chicken breast, 1 cup asparagus, 1 cup courgette.
Snack - 1 oz hazelnuts
Drinks - loads of water and 1 plain white tea
Fitday thinks this is 1,498 clas, 55% fat, 12% carbs and 33% protein. This is less fat than I am used to with Atkins but also less calories.
This is dairy free - I'd normally get more calories from cheese and cream and mayo. But I want to try this mostly dairy free for now, because with Atkins I couldn't get my net carbs above 30g and wonder if dairy is the reason.
But my net carbs from this = 26g so I could be heading for ketosis, which is not what I want. Maybe I should add an apple....
Still lots to learn, but feeling positive!
Friday 26 February 2010
Monday 22 February 2010
Musing Over Different Primal Approaches
I've called this blog Primal Ninja because I like the word Primal over Cavewoman or Paleo Ninja.
Having done some more research it is now clear that there are two main books about this sort of lifestlye. The first is the Primal Blueprint by Mark Sission. His website marksdailyapple.com is really good - a lot of key info on there. If I can work out how to make a link I will. I'm a book junkie, so I have ordered this book and am peering eagerly out the window each morning for the postwoman.
The second book is Loren Cordain's The Paleo Diet. There seems to be less about this online and when life is a bit less crazy I'll write a proper review here. This book has some simple rules, but they are also quite severe, to a 'normal' way of thinking. But I guess 'normal' is the problem, right? And having done Atkins I feel I am halfway there already. It involves: good quality lean meats and fish, vegetables, fruits. No grain, no dairy, no sugar.
Let me say that again. No grain, no dairy, no sugar. No grain, no sugar, fine - I can do that. No dairy?! Yikes, what am I getting myself into? I know I can probably get used to it, but no cream, no cheese, no MAYO?!?! Oh the humanity! Mayo got me through 3+ years of Atkins!
Even scarier - eggs are limited. I can see the reasoning Cordain gives - eggs wouldn't have been around with a great deal of frequency or in great number in the ol' paleo days. But as a low-carber I am used to seeing eggs as a fail-safe breakfast option. What will I eat for breakfast - a big hunk of meat?
This will take some getting used to. There are menu plans, and I'll share my thoughts and my menu plan when I have put some time in figuring it all out. But right now, I'm a bit nervous, but having read more I am feeling sure that this approach will work and make me feel good, IF I can sick with it.
Having done some more research it is now clear that there are two main books about this sort of lifestlye. The first is the Primal Blueprint by Mark Sission. His website marksdailyapple.com is really good - a lot of key info on there. If I can work out how to make a link I will. I'm a book junkie, so I have ordered this book and am peering eagerly out the window each morning for the postwoman.
The second book is Loren Cordain's The Paleo Diet. There seems to be less about this online and when life is a bit less crazy I'll write a proper review here. This book has some simple rules, but they are also quite severe, to a 'normal' way of thinking. But I guess 'normal' is the problem, right? And having done Atkins I feel I am halfway there already. It involves: good quality lean meats and fish, vegetables, fruits. No grain, no dairy, no sugar.
Let me say that again. No grain, no dairy, no sugar. No grain, no sugar, fine - I can do that. No dairy?! Yikes, what am I getting myself into? I know I can probably get used to it, but no cream, no cheese, no MAYO?!?! Oh the humanity! Mayo got me through 3+ years of Atkins!
Even scarier - eggs are limited. I can see the reasoning Cordain gives - eggs wouldn't have been around with a great deal of frequency or in great number in the ol' paleo days. But as a low-carber I am used to seeing eggs as a fail-safe breakfast option. What will I eat for breakfast - a big hunk of meat?
This will take some getting used to. There are menu plans, and I'll share my thoughts and my menu plan when I have put some time in figuring it all out. But right now, I'm a bit nervous, but having read more I am feeling sure that this approach will work and make me feel good, IF I can sick with it.
Sunday 21 February 2010
Low GL Diets
One final diet that I have tried should be acknowledged. I have tried the low glycemic load approach a couple of times - first in 2008 and then Summer 2009 when I was trying to find something other than Atkins that worked. GL is like more sophisticated glycemic index and it takes into account the impact of food on blood sugar but also factors of portion size.
I tried Patrick Holford's Low GL Diet and also Nigel Denby's Diet Freedom approach, one at a time or kind of together. Holford's book is well researched and well written. If I could chose a way to eat this would be it. Good carbs are eaten, proteins, some fats. It is like the most healthy diet you could sterotypically think of - oats, nuts, seeds, brown rice, berries, lean meats and fish, the whole bit. But after Atkins it seemed to make sense (as carbs were generally limited and good quality) and it seemed very relaxed in comparison.
So I planned and shopped and cooked and ate. For about a maximum of two weeks each time. It just made me feel ill. I am still not sure why, but I quickly became hungry, tired and always thinking of when I could next eat and trying to make bigger portions on the sly. I got dry skin - my skin is always quick to dry out and itch after a shower when I am not eating how my body likes. And I got, um, sorry for TMI, but bowel issues each morning. Like something was troubling my digestive system. I suspected the oats or the extra fruit, but I never could tell for sure.
The Diet Freedom Low GL plan is just 'sensible' no weighing, measuring, very relaxed and appealling. This seemed like the holy grail - if I could make it work. I imagined a normal relationship with food, healthy choices, normal portions, and being able to eat out or at friend's without being anxious or resenting my diet. In my imagination I imagined laughing, in slow mo as I chose cake cafe as an occasional treat, and not then going home and eating everything sweet in sight. But, like Holford's approach, but more so, the more relxaed approach was dangerous for me. Give me an inch of and I'll eat a mile - of chocolate. 25g grams of dark chocolate were allowed as snacks. So I bought some. The first night, I had it with my cup of tea. The next day I was thinking about it, there in the cupboard. That night I ate the rest of the bar. It wasn't even that nice - 70% chocolate is not meant to be eaten in that quantity. I felt hyper and wired all night. And Mr Primal Ninja, who had helped me work out the portion size, gently asked what I was doing. And it was all over.
For people who have failed at 10 million diets this could be a frustratingly familiar feeling. You don't want to be crazy, you don't want to have food issues, but for some reason you just can't control yourself with certain foods, no matter how sternly you talk to yourself or stick hideous fat photos of yourself on the fridge.
That night, of the chocolate binge, my sister mentioned the caveman diet. And I felt cautiously optimistic.
I tried Patrick Holford's Low GL Diet and also Nigel Denby's Diet Freedom approach, one at a time or kind of together. Holford's book is well researched and well written. If I could chose a way to eat this would be it. Good carbs are eaten, proteins, some fats. It is like the most healthy diet you could sterotypically think of - oats, nuts, seeds, brown rice, berries, lean meats and fish, the whole bit. But after Atkins it seemed to make sense (as carbs were generally limited and good quality) and it seemed very relaxed in comparison.
So I planned and shopped and cooked and ate. For about a maximum of two weeks each time. It just made me feel ill. I am still not sure why, but I quickly became hungry, tired and always thinking of when I could next eat and trying to make bigger portions on the sly. I got dry skin - my skin is always quick to dry out and itch after a shower when I am not eating how my body likes. And I got, um, sorry for TMI, but bowel issues each morning. Like something was troubling my digestive system. I suspected the oats or the extra fruit, but I never could tell for sure.
The Diet Freedom Low GL plan is just 'sensible' no weighing, measuring, very relaxed and appealling. This seemed like the holy grail - if I could make it work. I imagined a normal relationship with food, healthy choices, normal portions, and being able to eat out or at friend's without being anxious or resenting my diet. In my imagination I imagined laughing, in slow mo as I chose cake cafe as an occasional treat, and not then going home and eating everything sweet in sight. But, like Holford's approach, but more so, the more relxaed approach was dangerous for me. Give me an inch of and I'll eat a mile - of chocolate. 25g grams of dark chocolate were allowed as snacks. So I bought some. The first night, I had it with my cup of tea. The next day I was thinking about it, there in the cupboard. That night I ate the rest of the bar. It wasn't even that nice - 70% chocolate is not meant to be eaten in that quantity. I felt hyper and wired all night. And Mr Primal Ninja, who had helped me work out the portion size, gently asked what I was doing. And it was all over.
For people who have failed at 10 million diets this could be a frustratingly familiar feeling. You don't want to be crazy, you don't want to have food issues, but for some reason you just can't control yourself with certain foods, no matter how sternly you talk to yourself or stick hideous fat photos of yourself on the fridge.
That night, of the chocolate binge, my sister mentioned the caveman diet. And I felt cautiously optimistic.
Saturday 20 February 2010
In Which the Author Details Her Familiarity with Weight Loss Programmes of the Day
Ok, so I haven't done them all, but I've done a lot of diets or WOLs or whatever you want to call them. I started dieting when I was 14 or so, even though photographic evidence of the time reveals I was actually not overweight and actually, retrospectively, kinda had a nice body.
The 4 C's: Calorie Counting and Cindy Crawford!
Ok, so around aged 14 - 15 I calorie counted. I aimed for a probably insufficient 1,500 calories per day. But this was really all I cared about- I if I ate a Boost bar or two, then it was all good if it got me until 1,500 calories. I became one of those people who knew the calorie count of everything. At the same time I purchased a number of Cindy Crawford exercise videos (that sounds so darn quaint I might as well say I bought a bunch of Cindy Crawford gramaphone records). Anyway, Cindy was all about the 'music video' approach to exercise videoes - all big teased hair, lots of glamourous locations and a mixture of light cardio and resistance with light weights and high number of reps. Despite the fact that, in my living room, hair scraped back and wearing manky old tracksuit bottoms, I looked nothing like Cindy as she pouted gorgeously throughout, I did tone up and lost about a dress size (down to UK size 14) and I was pleased with this. Cindy has been criticised for including exercises that are seen as dangerous or not ideal, but I have found her various videos to be ok, if you take it a bit slower in places and don't wave your head around too much.
The Uniquely Dreadful Cabbage Soup Diet
Around this time I also had a half-hearted stab at the cabbage soup diet. Though designed for people about to have rapid weight loss prior to heart surgery (I think) I thought it was appropriate for a healthy, active, still growing 15 year old to eat nothing but cabbage soup for like 5 days. The diet is more complex than that, but I didn't do it right. It was pretty unfun and the kitchen smelt like an 18th century workhouse as my massive pot of ageing cabbage sludge sat on the hob for nearly a week!
Dr Bob - Hard Food Hard Body
Ok, so I kept up Cindy exercises and vaguely being ok with food until 1998 or so. Then I became a vegetarian (I absolutely blooming love the idea of being a vegetarian, but it doesn't love me). This caused me to gain a bit a weight, then I got a thyroid problem in 2000 or so. By this point I was away at uni and ate pretty much only carbs. We had tiny food lockers, and minimal cooking facilities. Unbelievably, not knowing better at this stage, I ate mainly white bread crisp or potato sandwiches (wtf?!), quorn spag bol, quorn with cheese and mayo on and a LOT of chocolate from the vending machine in my college. Jeez, I honestly can't recall veg or fruit, but there must have been some! I ate out a fair bit, always starter, main, dessert and drank enough on occasion to have actual palpatations. Me and future Mr Primal Ninja both love food, he was very skinny and could put away an inordinate amount of food in about 2 seconds and I upsized my portions accordingly.
So fastforward to 2002. Still a student, but a much bigger one (highest weight around this time unknown, but near my maximum of 217lbs), I stumbled across a book by Dr Bob Arnold 'Revolutionary Weight Control Programme' in a bargain books bin. Despite the cover revealing Dr Bob to have the appearence of a wax-work Clint Eastwood circa 1990, something appealed to me and I bought it for £2.99. Dr Bob's diet was about eating good instead of bad carbs, it was also lower fat. I am not sure I was doing it right, but I recall eating a lot of salads, beans, pulses and legumes (same difference I know!) It was the first time I'd come across the idea of carbs not being equal - but I didn't stick to it for long and then forgot about it. It was partly because Dr Bob was not an easy man to relate to as a plump woman. His only experience of being overweight was to deliberate break all his own diet rules to see what would happen. Whilst I applaud him for this level of self-control, as an overweight person, clamouring for and obsessed with chocolate 24/7, this didn't really speak to me.
Body For Life - Bill Phillips' Earnest Face
Ok, fastforward again to 2003. I am now a bit heavier, still a student and still a bit clueless about nutrition. In the very same book shop as I found Dr Bob I came across Bill Phillip's Body For Life. This instantly appealed to me and I jumped right into it and forced future Mr Ninja to take part as well. This plan is basically a weight-lifting programme for fast weight loss. You do 45 minutes of weight-lifting three times a week, and three sessions of High Intensity Interval Training each week. You eat a somewhat taxing six times a day - aiming for a fist sized serving of lean protein and a fist sized portion of good carbs. Good carb generally meant low-fat. Bread was allowed, fruit, etc. Fat was limited. Also, and very appeallingly to someone not really ready to address their underlying issues with food, there was a free day every week where you didn't have to exercise and you could eat whatever you wanted. While I can see this is wise for some people who might just choose to be a bit more relaxed, eact a single dessert or have a beer, for me it was a licence to binge like a crazy woman once a week. I practically got up extra early to give myself time to eat all the food I'd been fantasising about all week. And not only did I take the piss with the free day I also started to get slack with the other meals too. I wasn't one for meal replacement products (tasting like sick as many of them available in England did then). Like we used to eat burgers with mushy peas! Quorn burgers - not great protein, but still didn't eat meat then (did eat fish), in a white bun (white!) with frickin' canned mushy peas as my veggie portion. Looking back I amazed I was such a total moron, but I have found learning about nutrition to be a long journey.
Anyway, I lost about a stone (14lbs, 6kgs) and my body composition changed a whole load. I learned for the first time that I am actually quite strong, and also that high intensity interval training is not fun.
I have an affection for Body for Life - the book is encouraging, Bill Phillips comes across as a big muscly lovely earnest man who just wants to show you the right way. The testimonies and amazing before and after photos of Americans who have been successful (featuring one in a stars and stipes bikini which my sister promised she'd track down for me if I was successful) are inspiring and did me a lot of good. However, I didn't stick to it - eating 6 times a day was a big chore without meal replacement products and I still lacked the discipline to really take on exactly what was right. I did take from this that lifting free weights is not a bad thing for a woman - and spent many an hour with Mr Primal Ninja in the tiny, testosterone-saturated weights room. This gym was so small and old it had NO cardio machines.
How to Be Miserable and Obsessive - Weight Watchers
I should say I've nothing against Weight Watchers, but that would be a lie. I know a lot of people love it and get on well with it, but it did not suit me at all. In 2005, having gained back that BFL-lost stone and some more poundage I briefly flirted with weight-watchers. I joined online, perhaps the classes would have been better, but I worked out my points, planned, cooked and ate. And I was STARVING. I remember eating breakfast, being disappointed and then being hungry about half an hour later. I murderously hungry and obsessed with when I could next eat. I think I actually lasted about a week. I was running a bit at this point and any exercise was unappealing because it just felt like I was using energy I needed if I was going to eat so little.
The Glycemic Index and More Cindy Crawford
Soon after this, I tried Rick Gallop's low GI diet. This should have worked better than it did. GI, though less sophisticated than the Glycemic Load diet which was to follow, was a leap in the right direction for me. White carbs like bread, rice, potatos were out, beer was frowned upon. Veggies and some fruit were all good and so was most protein. I still didn't eat meat at this point and I found it really hard to stick to, but I was starting to learn that all calories are not created equal.
At this stage I ran - I read Sam Murphy's Run For Life (a great intro to running for beginners, and the starting point of my life-long worshipping of Enell's sports bras) and did a 5k. I also bought Cindy's workouts on DVD and a load of others too. I exercised about 5 days a week with these DVDs and running. It was hard at first but I began to feel better. Gradually I stopped fretting about my diet and I lost a bit of weight (about a stone again) and people noticed. Whoop!
But I slacked off again, Mr Ninja moved away for a while for work, I comfort ate, regained and moved to live with him again in 2006. By September 2006 I was around 210lbs.
Atkins Adventure
In September 2006 I began the Atkins diet. It was life-changing. More of this to follow - but I've got to run, I've got an eye test.
The 4 C's: Calorie Counting and Cindy Crawford!
Ok, so around aged 14 - 15 I calorie counted. I aimed for a probably insufficient 1,500 calories per day. But this was really all I cared about- I if I ate a Boost bar or two, then it was all good if it got me until 1,500 calories. I became one of those people who knew the calorie count of everything. At the same time I purchased a number of Cindy Crawford exercise videos (that sounds so darn quaint I might as well say I bought a bunch of Cindy Crawford gramaphone records). Anyway, Cindy was all about the 'music video' approach to exercise videoes - all big teased hair, lots of glamourous locations and a mixture of light cardio and resistance with light weights and high number of reps. Despite the fact that, in my living room, hair scraped back and wearing manky old tracksuit bottoms, I looked nothing like Cindy as she pouted gorgeously throughout, I did tone up and lost about a dress size (down to UK size 14) and I was pleased with this. Cindy has been criticised for including exercises that are seen as dangerous or not ideal, but I have found her various videos to be ok, if you take it a bit slower in places and don't wave your head around too much.
The Uniquely Dreadful Cabbage Soup Diet
Around this time I also had a half-hearted stab at the cabbage soup diet. Though designed for people about to have rapid weight loss prior to heart surgery (I think) I thought it was appropriate for a healthy, active, still growing 15 year old to eat nothing but cabbage soup for like 5 days. The diet is more complex than that, but I didn't do it right. It was pretty unfun and the kitchen smelt like an 18th century workhouse as my massive pot of ageing cabbage sludge sat on the hob for nearly a week!
Dr Bob - Hard Food Hard Body
Ok, so I kept up Cindy exercises and vaguely being ok with food until 1998 or so. Then I became a vegetarian (I absolutely blooming love the idea of being a vegetarian, but it doesn't love me). This caused me to gain a bit a weight, then I got a thyroid problem in 2000 or so. By this point I was away at uni and ate pretty much only carbs. We had tiny food lockers, and minimal cooking facilities. Unbelievably, not knowing better at this stage, I ate mainly white bread crisp or potato sandwiches (wtf?!), quorn spag bol, quorn with cheese and mayo on and a LOT of chocolate from the vending machine in my college. Jeez, I honestly can't recall veg or fruit, but there must have been some! I ate out a fair bit, always starter, main, dessert and drank enough on occasion to have actual palpatations. Me and future Mr Primal Ninja both love food, he was very skinny and could put away an inordinate amount of food in about 2 seconds and I upsized my portions accordingly.
So fastforward to 2002. Still a student, but a much bigger one (highest weight around this time unknown, but near my maximum of 217lbs), I stumbled across a book by Dr Bob Arnold 'Revolutionary Weight Control Programme' in a bargain books bin. Despite the cover revealing Dr Bob to have the appearence of a wax-work Clint Eastwood circa 1990, something appealed to me and I bought it for £2.99. Dr Bob's diet was about eating good instead of bad carbs, it was also lower fat. I am not sure I was doing it right, but I recall eating a lot of salads, beans, pulses and legumes (same difference I know!) It was the first time I'd come across the idea of carbs not being equal - but I didn't stick to it for long and then forgot about it. It was partly because Dr Bob was not an easy man to relate to as a plump woman. His only experience of being overweight was to deliberate break all his own diet rules to see what would happen. Whilst I applaud him for this level of self-control, as an overweight person, clamouring for and obsessed with chocolate 24/7, this didn't really speak to me.
Body For Life - Bill Phillips' Earnest Face
Ok, fastforward again to 2003. I am now a bit heavier, still a student and still a bit clueless about nutrition. In the very same book shop as I found Dr Bob I came across Bill Phillip's Body For Life. This instantly appealed to me and I jumped right into it and forced future Mr Ninja to take part as well. This plan is basically a weight-lifting programme for fast weight loss. You do 45 minutes of weight-lifting three times a week, and three sessions of High Intensity Interval Training each week. You eat a somewhat taxing six times a day - aiming for a fist sized serving of lean protein and a fist sized portion of good carbs. Good carb generally meant low-fat. Bread was allowed, fruit, etc. Fat was limited. Also, and very appeallingly to someone not really ready to address their underlying issues with food, there was a free day every week where you didn't have to exercise and you could eat whatever you wanted. While I can see this is wise for some people who might just choose to be a bit more relaxed, eact a single dessert or have a beer, for me it was a licence to binge like a crazy woman once a week. I practically got up extra early to give myself time to eat all the food I'd been fantasising about all week. And not only did I take the piss with the free day I also started to get slack with the other meals too. I wasn't one for meal replacement products (tasting like sick as many of them available in England did then). Like we used to eat burgers with mushy peas! Quorn burgers - not great protein, but still didn't eat meat then (did eat fish), in a white bun (white!) with frickin' canned mushy peas as my veggie portion. Looking back I amazed I was such a total moron, but I have found learning about nutrition to be a long journey.
Anyway, I lost about a stone (14lbs, 6kgs) and my body composition changed a whole load. I learned for the first time that I am actually quite strong, and also that high intensity interval training is not fun.
I have an affection for Body for Life - the book is encouraging, Bill Phillips comes across as a big muscly lovely earnest man who just wants to show you the right way. The testimonies and amazing before and after photos of Americans who have been successful (featuring one in a stars and stipes bikini which my sister promised she'd track down for me if I was successful) are inspiring and did me a lot of good. However, I didn't stick to it - eating 6 times a day was a big chore without meal replacement products and I still lacked the discipline to really take on exactly what was right. I did take from this that lifting free weights is not a bad thing for a woman - and spent many an hour with Mr Primal Ninja in the tiny, testosterone-saturated weights room. This gym was so small and old it had NO cardio machines.
How to Be Miserable and Obsessive - Weight Watchers
I should say I've nothing against Weight Watchers, but that would be a lie. I know a lot of people love it and get on well with it, but it did not suit me at all. In 2005, having gained back that BFL-lost stone and some more poundage I briefly flirted with weight-watchers. I joined online, perhaps the classes would have been better, but I worked out my points, planned, cooked and ate. And I was STARVING. I remember eating breakfast, being disappointed and then being hungry about half an hour later. I murderously hungry and obsessed with when I could next eat. I think I actually lasted about a week. I was running a bit at this point and any exercise was unappealing because it just felt like I was using energy I needed if I was going to eat so little.
The Glycemic Index and More Cindy Crawford
Soon after this, I tried Rick Gallop's low GI diet. This should have worked better than it did. GI, though less sophisticated than the Glycemic Load diet which was to follow, was a leap in the right direction for me. White carbs like bread, rice, potatos were out, beer was frowned upon. Veggies and some fruit were all good and so was most protein. I still didn't eat meat at this point and I found it really hard to stick to, but I was starting to learn that all calories are not created equal.
At this stage I ran - I read Sam Murphy's Run For Life (a great intro to running for beginners, and the starting point of my life-long worshipping of Enell's sports bras) and did a 5k. I also bought Cindy's workouts on DVD and a load of others too. I exercised about 5 days a week with these DVDs and running. It was hard at first but I began to feel better. Gradually I stopped fretting about my diet and I lost a bit of weight (about a stone again) and people noticed. Whoop!
But I slacked off again, Mr Ninja moved away for a while for work, I comfort ate, regained and moved to live with him again in 2006. By September 2006 I was around 210lbs.
Atkins Adventure
In September 2006 I began the Atkins diet. It was life-changing. More of this to follow - but I've got to run, I've got an eye test.
Overly optimistic first post!
Hello and welcome! I realise I am probably saying this to precisely zero readers right now because this is, for the time being, an entirely secretive squirrel blog.
So, what the heck is primal ninja all about? Let me explain about my self, my weight and exercise battles and the purpose of this here blog.
Primal is the diet/approach to life (not a fan of the 'd' word, but it is hard to get out of this mindset) that I will be trying out and discussing in this blog. Why on earth I am doing this crazy plan rather than just 'eating less calories' or 'watching my portions' (as advised by my Mum and most 'experts' 10 zillion times), is explained below.
Ninja relates to the fact that my exercise of choice is American Kickboxing, and I kinda liked the way 'ninja' juxtaposed nicely with 'primal'. NB I don't claim to be an actual ninja, so please don't comment saying if I'm a ninja then so is your Grandma etc, or that kickboxing doesn't = ninjahood. I KNOW that, and I know martial artists can be very pissy about their method and how much better it is than your's an all that - I just like the sound of the name and it is in recognition of the fact that I want to be a hell of a lot fitter and more impressive. I have a purple belt in American Kickboxing. and am working on blue.
About Me
As I said I am a 28 year old female, entirely new to blogging. I am a research student and work part time in the voluntary sector. I LOVE to read about exercise, nutrition and all that jazz. I am also into fitness (though running makes me actually cry). I love fiction, films and cooking. I am into current affairs and campaigning around human rights, more of that later I'm sure. I have a soft spot for Murder She Wrote like you wouldn't believe, no more of that later, I promise. I will happily watch any show about weight loss or fashion and I am partial to dressing a bit retro. I love the idea of meditation, but somehow am always too busy to do it.
This is not one of those blogs where I weigh a whole load and readers will be amazed by my losing like half my body weight - though there are a number of really great blogs out there that are like that and hopefully when I have a vague clue how blogging works I will link to some of them.
Ok, so weight issues: ten years ago I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I was 18, just started uni and in a new relationship and I gained 3 stone pretty darn quick. Surprisingly, this was not brilliant for my confidence or self-esteem. When I eventually began to feel better I felt like I had emerged from a cloud of blah and was amazed I had looked and acted like such a big slob to be honest. I was amazed to look back and think 'woah, dude, I was that me who went to seminars in dressed like that?!' I struggled to function well for a while - I aged overnight, my skin was dry, my clothes didn't fit, I didn't notice. I barely did any work for uni. I took up karate and weezed my way through each class and kind of half-passed my FIRST belt! The instructor was kind to me, and very encouraging, but I couldn't figure out why - he was treating me like some enduring lardo - but I wasn't that big, was I? Well, yeah I was kind big. Not huge, but not happy either. I got up to around 15 and a half stone (217lbs, 98kgs). I am 5ft 7in.
Luckily the relationship continued (I am now married to the same great guy, Mr Primal Ninja, who will probably feature here with vomit-inducing regularity because as someone far more famous and skinnier than me once said, he is my rock, but I think she was actually referring to someone else). Also the uni course went ok once I was treated and I went on to be in uni for the next squillion years and to make a great set of awesome friends who were as into sitting around drinking tea and pretending to be at uni in the 19th century as I was.
I should break up this stream of consciousness. I'll put my expansive diet history in a whole new post.
If you've read this far thanks so much!
So, what the heck is primal ninja all about? Let me explain about my self, my weight and exercise battles and the purpose of this here blog.
Primal is the diet/approach to life (not a fan of the 'd' word, but it is hard to get out of this mindset) that I will be trying out and discussing in this blog. Why on earth I am doing this crazy plan rather than just 'eating less calories' or 'watching my portions' (as advised by my Mum and most 'experts' 10 zillion times), is explained below.
Ninja relates to the fact that my exercise of choice is American Kickboxing, and I kinda liked the way 'ninja' juxtaposed nicely with 'primal'. NB I don't claim to be an actual ninja, so please don't comment saying if I'm a ninja then so is your Grandma etc, or that kickboxing doesn't = ninjahood. I KNOW that, and I know martial artists can be very pissy about their method and how much better it is than your's an all that - I just like the sound of the name and it is in recognition of the fact that I want to be a hell of a lot fitter and more impressive. I have a purple belt in American Kickboxing. and am working on blue.
About Me
As I said I am a 28 year old female, entirely new to blogging. I am a research student and work part time in the voluntary sector. I LOVE to read about exercise, nutrition and all that jazz. I am also into fitness (though running makes me actually cry). I love fiction, films and cooking. I am into current affairs and campaigning around human rights, more of that later I'm sure. I have a soft spot for Murder She Wrote like you wouldn't believe, no more of that later, I promise. I will happily watch any show about weight loss or fashion and I am partial to dressing a bit retro. I love the idea of meditation, but somehow am always too busy to do it.
This is not one of those blogs where I weigh a whole load and readers will be amazed by my losing like half my body weight - though there are a number of really great blogs out there that are like that and hopefully when I have a vague clue how blogging works I will link to some of them.
Ok, so weight issues: ten years ago I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I was 18, just started uni and in a new relationship and I gained 3 stone pretty darn quick. Surprisingly, this was not brilliant for my confidence or self-esteem. When I eventually began to feel better I felt like I had emerged from a cloud of blah and was amazed I had looked and acted like such a big slob to be honest. I was amazed to look back and think 'woah, dude, I was that me who went to seminars in dressed like that?!' I struggled to function well for a while - I aged overnight, my skin was dry, my clothes didn't fit, I didn't notice. I barely did any work for uni. I took up karate and weezed my way through each class and kind of half-passed my FIRST belt! The instructor was kind to me, and very encouraging, but I couldn't figure out why - he was treating me like some enduring lardo - but I wasn't that big, was I? Well, yeah I was kind big. Not huge, but not happy either. I got up to around 15 and a half stone (217lbs, 98kgs). I am 5ft 7in.
Luckily the relationship continued (I am now married to the same great guy, Mr Primal Ninja, who will probably feature here with vomit-inducing regularity because as someone far more famous and skinnier than me once said, he is my rock, but I think she was actually referring to someone else). Also the uni course went ok once I was treated and I went on to be in uni for the next squillion years and to make a great set of awesome friends who were as into sitting around drinking tea and pretending to be at uni in the 19th century as I was.
I should break up this stream of consciousness. I'll put my expansive diet history in a whole new post.
If you've read this far thanks so much!
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