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!