Positive Comments

I've started getting positive comments about my weight loss, so it is showing! My most recent weigh in was 14 stone 10.25lbs and my short term goal is 14 stone. I very much look forward to being able to fit into size 16 clothes. I have some ready from when I was a size 16 before (a long time ago!) and I even have some size 12s in a bag on top of the wardrobe. I KNOW I will get there at some point, even if it takes me another year.

My diet mostly consists of meat, eggs and veg at the moment, together with some coconut milk and a variety of oils. I had some wild salmon baked in tin foil with olive oil and lemon this evening, which helped to make it less dry. I have found that farmed salmon is much more oily and moist, but research suggests that it is much lower in omega 3 than wild salmon.

I seem to get an upset stomach whenever I eat the jerky I've made myself, so I'm going to lay off it for a while and buy some pre-made online, just so i can check it really is that causing the problem. I expect I'm leaving the meat in the fridge too long before dehydrating it. I also wonder whether it's actually cheaper buying it pre made, as the cost of running the dehydrator may well cancel out the convenience mark up. I'm investigating some British jerky makers and will report back.

Dreaming of Cake and Babies

I weighed in at an exciting 14 stone 10.25 this morning! The 14 stone milestone is in sight, which means that the very low carbing is working! I'm currently eating: meat, fish, eggs, green leafy veg and coconut milk. These are all very satisfying, tasty foods, but I have noticed that people are eating cake, wherever I go. It is usually very nicely decorated cake with coloured icing, or a wedding cake in a film on TV, or an advert for an instant cake mix, during which a child is licking the cake mixture spoon, watching the cakes bake in the oven and then for the grand finale he eats one in front of me. I've been dreaming about cake, and I mostly give in and eat it in my dreams, but in reality I have not eaten any cake or any other form of non-primal, high carb food. I have will power! I think it helps that even eating butternut squash makes me feel unwell due to the higher level of carbs, and I imagine how much worse I'd feel after eating cake. I may begin to indulge in a little cooled coconut cream when I've lost all the fat I want to. A friend asked me what my target weight was and I realised I didnt have an exact figure in mind. Having thought about it, I reckon that 10 stone would be ideal, given that I'm 5'6" tall. Since it's taken me nearly 3.5 months to lose 20.25lbs, it should take around a year to lose the reamining 66.25lbs. However, I expect that it will become easier to lose the weight as I become lighter and more able to exercise, so it may even happen sooner.

Oh, and the babies reference. Another friend recently announced that she's pregnant, which makes the total number of friends with either a baby, child or prenancy equal to 4299483202. They're everywhere, and I want one.

Very Low Carbing

I felt very hypoglycemic a number of times during the weekend. I asked for advice on the Primal Blueprint forum and a number of people suggested that I need to increase my carb intake. However, I tried this and felt even worse (panicky, anxious, irritable, brain fog, sweating etc), so on Monday I ate NO carbs at all until the evening. I felt better but still lightheaded. It was an improvement on how I felt on more carbs though, so I stuck at it. Today I've eaten only meat (duck leg, lamb chop), 2 boiled eggs, a stick of celery and a small avacado, and I've had no hypos at all. I can occasionally feel my heart beating quite strongly, and these palpitations are apparently caused by the extra adrenalin that is being secreted in response to a lack of easy access fuel in the form of carbs. I assume that their occurrence will cease once my body has adapted to burning fat and using ketones. Hopefully this will accelerate the weightloss a little, as I am disappointed at having only lost just over 1 stone in 3 months, regardless of my dedication.

I'm currently back at the grindstone making corrections to the book chapter. The new LaTeX format for Springer contributed books makes it look very professional though and it will be exciting to see it in print (end of 2011).

Fat Loss Update

I weighed and measured myself this morning. So far I have lost 1 stone 2.5lbs and my old and new body measurements are (old in brackets):

Hips: 46" (48")
Waist: 36.5" (38")
Belly: 45.5" (47")
Chest: 38"/46.5" (41.5"/49")
Upper arm: 16" (16.25")
Thigh: 28" (30")

Which means that I've dropped a dress size, going from size 20 to 18.

Losing Weight Again!

Having cut out the coconut crack (too high in carbs) I am now losing weight again and have reached an exciting 14 stone 13! I was delighted to see a 14 on the scale as it was my short term goal. Now my short term goal is to get to 14 stone 7 as that's what I got down to when I did Atkins 2 years ago. I've also dropped a dress size, down from 20 to 18, and when I'm approaching 14 stone I'll be a size 16! I haven't been a size 16 for ages and it'll be so nice to be able to shop in regular clothes shops as opposed to Evans and M&S. I think that the long walks in Wales helped kick-start the fat loss too, and I feel musclier now than when I started. I keep feeling bits of me like my thighs because they're much firmer and I can't get over it...

I've been 100% primal for nearly 3 months now and haven't cheated once. I have, however, cheated repeatedly in my dreams! I keep dreaming about plates of pastries, sweets and cakes and I used to refuse them, but now I eat them, feel very guilty and then wake up very relieved that I didn't *actually* eat them.

I started receiving a weekly organic veg box from Abel and Cole, which has introduced me to new range of vegetables that I wouldn't normally buy. It was fun receiving and opening the first box, the small was incredible and i wanted to eat it all there and then. I used to feel sick after eating more than one portion of veg, but I now crave veggies and love eating them, without the nausea. I get an 8 portion box, which is apparently for 2-3 people for a week but I've used them all up by Monday and need to buy more. Their customer service is excellent and I would recommend them. If you do sign up, mention that I recommended you and we will both get free stuff :) Abel and Cole So far, I have been introduced to celeriac, kohlrabi and have fallen in love with radishes. I look forward to discovering more new species on Thursday!

Hormones

It's been almost 2 months now since I went primal, and I've stuck to it 100%. Three months ago I was exploring the options for treating an eating disorder, in that I was compulsively overeating and just couldn't stop. The 'disorder' has now completely disappeared and I no longer have the overwhelming urge to eat sugary foods and non-veg carbs, which I find utterly amazing. I saw no end to the lack of control, as any negative event or interaction would trigger me to eat sugary food. I'm quite sure that the insulin resistnace did not help, as that also made me hungry every hours. I'm so thankful I've found this way of eating and I won't go back.

Unfortunately, I have only lost 0.75lbs since my last post, well, I've actually gained 3lbs and then lost 3.75lbs, but the gain may have been due to too much coconut cream. I stopped eating the cream and started exercising properly 2 weeks ago, which helped get rid of a bit of fat. I started doing interval training, walking, jogging and cycling. The first time I sprinted (just for 6 seconds, 5 times) I had a really weird reaction, in that I felt very emotional (in a good way) and ended up crying in the middle of the park. I guess it was due to the release of the good hormones that come from exercise. The cycling was the scariest because I'm not so confident on a bike. Getting on it was the first challenge as my leg wasn't used to being lifted up so high at such an angle. Then keeping the handle bars steady is way too hard at the moment! I'm weaving all over the place, so I'm hoping I'll get better at that with practise. Similarly, signalling to turn left or right is a nightmare as it involved letting go with one hand, leaving the other one with all the responsibilty of keeping the bar steady. I haven't fallen off yet though.

The painfully slow weightloss is probably due to the insulin resistance, which is taking time to correct. I have decided to start taking Metformin (Glucophage) to help with this, as lots of women with PCOS have found that it helps them to lose weight when combined with the correct diet and exercise. I have to gradually build up the dose otherwise it can cause digestive problems.

Better News!

I have found some fantastic creamed cocount! Most of the canned coconut milk I have tried so far had a funny taste to it, but this one was like white chocolate. The exact name of the product is Organic Creamed Coconut and it's made by Biona. I bought it from Ocado but it is available elsewhere.

Anyway, I'll keep it short as I'm off to visit my parents this weekend, and hopefully visit their local fishmonger, by the sea. I'm going to be like a child in a sweet shop. Ah, that reminds me, I gutted my first fish yesterday. I've never done it before and so I didn't know what to expect inside. It was quite grim and I had to start by handling the fish with plastic tongs, but I eventually got stuck in with a knife and tea spoon and cleaned it right out. I then cut off the head, and the fish seemed to freak me out a little less. I realised afterwards that I should have cut the head off first though as the guts are sttached to the head. I baked it in the oven, stuffed with lemon, drizzled with olive oil and warpped in tin foil (180 degrees celcius for 20 mins). It was good. I felt more primal afterwards and one step closer to going fishing.

Have a great weekend all!

Sprinting!

The weight doesn't seem to be going anywhere still, but I assume that this is because my body is still getting used to eating primally. The lightheadedness has subsided and I am feeling a lot more energetic. I am a lot less anxious than I used to be, and I feel a lot more positive, life seems considerably more exciting and inspiring now. Eating the way I do now has become a way of life and I am used to it, buying and cooking food is no longer a an epic task or a chore.

I've started going for walks and am working at University as much as possible now, so I'm getting more exercise. I do believe I shocked a few people in the park when I catapulted myself from a leisurely stroll into a 6 second all out sprint on Sunday. I repeated this 5 times and couldn't manage anymore. I did hurt my ankle, but it healed after one day, so it wasn't anything serious. I decided that I need to start wearing barefoot shoes in order to prevent further injuries and strengthen my feet and ankles. I've had lot's of helpful comments from people on the Primal Blueprint forum, especially this awesome link to minimalist shoes, which has inspired me to look in to alternatives to Five Finger Vibrams (expensive and hard to find to try on). I found that I already have some minimalist shoes in the form of water shoes (shoes you can wear whilst swimming in the sea), so I've been wearing them for the last 2 days. They feel quite liberating and it's nice to be able to feel the shape of the ground. Sounds odd, doesn't it? But I feel more in touch with my environment and plan to wear minimalist shoes as much as possible. I don't know how long they will last though because they aren't meant for lots of walking on hard pavement, so I'm considering making the Huarache sandals for summer.

I've been using my new slow cooker (see below) quite a bit and love the fact that it makes the meat so tender. I have also bought a Thermos food flask (see below), which keeps the meat piping hot for up to 7 hours, which is plenty enough for me to keep it perfect until lunch time.

Awesome products I'm using:

I've also worked out that I musn't slice the beef for dehydrating too thin, otherwise it dries right out and loses its flavour. The last batch, which was sliced quite thickly (3/8 inch) and sprinkled with salt and cayenne pepper is very tasty and I must refrain from eating it all at once :)

I realised today that I am finally free of my emotional dependence on food. Before going primal I could not control what I ate, I used food to make me feel better (which made me feel worse) and I could not see how to get a grip. This way of eating has helped me so much, and I would highly recommend it to anyone, whether they are overweight, underweight or have difficulty controlling what they eat. In fact, to everyone. It will make you feel better in so many ways.

Frustrated

My weight doesn't seem to be going down anymore, which surprises me givn how low carb I'm eating. It did go down temporarily to 15 stone 6.75, but it crept back up to 15 stone 8.75 again today. This might not seem a lot but it takes ages for it to go down at all, so seeing it go back up is very frustrating indeed, especially when I have been 100% paleo for a month now. I think it may be due to lack of exercise - I've spent the last month indoors writing my chapter and haven't even done much in the way of walking. I spent an hour walking today and plan to do so every day to see how that works. It should help me become more sensitive to insulin. I've been feeling light headed again recently, and the last couple of days I seem to need to eat all to often. Doing any form of exercise always makes me feel hungry again, even if I ate just before starting. I assume this is due to the insulin resistance and my body is still looking for the easy carbs for fuel and it struggling with accessing the fat. Theoretically I should be able to last months on the stores I have right now, so why should I feel the need to eat at all?!

Yesterday I tried some of the Primal Blueprint Fitness exercises. I managed 15 wall push ups before hurting my wrist, 20 squats and I only managed to hold the plank position for 6 seconds before collapsing (3 times). I have to work on these for them to improve, but I feel very unfit. Especially after watching all the amazing dancers at the University dance show this evening - they were all beautiful, had fantastic figures and danced all evening. It was amazing to watch, I did enjoy it very much, but I was painful aware of being overweight and struggling to just walk up the hill. I'd love to be able to run again. I used to run for 40 minutes on a treadmill at the gym and loved the feeling. I'd like to be able to run through the countryside and not have to stop after 10 seconds because I can't breathe. I shall start with the walking.

Meatier and Meatier

Hello!

So, diet-wise, I was finding that my weight loss had slowed down considerably (was at 15 stone 6.75 as of Saturday 19th March although I haven't weighed myself since as the stress can apparently hinder weight loss), so I have cut down my carbohydrate intake a bit more woth the aim of going into ketosis for a bit. I shall try to put off weighing myself for as long as possible and hope for a significant drop :) I have found that I can go for longer without eating and eat less when I do, which is a sign that I'm becoming increasingly sensitive to insulin. I hope to improve my sensitivity further by actually soing some exercise - I haven't even been out for a walk recently, so I need to get back into that and start some resistance exercises, as per the Primal Blueprint Fitness routine.

One side effect of this way of eating is that my favourite trousers are now embarassingly loose, in that I had to keep pulling them up whilst walking around the supermarket. I hope that I notice when they are so loose that they don't eve sit on my hips anymore before I leave the house. I have some next size down trousers waiting in the wardrobe for me. Another side effect is, ahem, libido. Or should I say, LIBIDO. It's nice. Although I have no one to share it with at the moment, which can be rather frustrating.

Work, Work, Work

Hello World, sorry I've neglected you recently. I'm getting faster at making food and have come up with some good, quick recipes of my own. Today I put some beef brisket in a casserole pot with some beef stock, onions, coriander, chilli powder and garlic and slow roasted it for 3 hours at 150 degrees C. It was utterly delicious and the meat was very tender. Slow roasting results in gorgeous melt in the mouth meat every time.

It occurred to me the other day that I no longer have any cravings, which is quite amazing. I don't miss any foods and I love the things I do eat, developing appreciation for a new paleo food every day.

My weight has been all over the place the last few days, due to my monthlies. Hopefully the line graph will start heading downhill again this week. Today I weighed in at 15 stone 8.75.

Jerky Consumption on an Industrial Scale

I've eaten so much jerky that my teeth and gums ache from all the chewing! It's very nice and rather addictive. Having tried a variety of spices and seasonings, I have concluded that the best one is a little salt on its own. I shall be buying more beef for further jerky making soon.

I lost another half a lb yesterday but went back up to 15 stone 9.75 today, most probably because my monthlies have just started, so I'm hoping for a few lbs off once they're over. I added a new plot of weight against time to the right hand side of the page, as suggested by Rachel (a most welcome commenter). I also took the liberty of adding some Amazon links to the blog, so if you are interested in buying one of the books, please do use these links.

I visited the lovely butchers again today and indulged in some more meaty goodness. I'm going to go to bed now as I feel quite battered from a long day of writing about genes and maths.

Jerky Making on an Industrial Scale

I have just sliced up a rather large amount of partially frozen beef chunks (freezing them a little makes them easier to slice thinly), salted them and put them in the dehydrator. I took some some photos so I can catalogue the whole process at a later date. I also soaked some nuts and seeds in wamr salty water, having been convinced by numerous sources such as this, that it removes the harmful elements and increases many vitamins. They are also in the dehydrator.

Food has been good today and I took some coconut and celery with me to eat while I wasaway from home. It sustained me for most of the time but I was pretty hungry by the time I got back home. I have also eaten today: scrambled eggs, avacado, pork belly slice, thai chicken curry with coconut milk, thai style salmon in coconut milk. Amazingly I'm not hungry now, I'm pleasantly surprised by how little I can get away with eating these days - more time for life!

I weighed in at 15 stone 9 this morning, which gives me a total loss of 7.5lbs.

Dodgy Fish

I think I ate some dodgy fish. It tasted a bit off but I decided to eat it anyway as i was hungry and didn't want more meat, but I'm experiencing the first digestive discomfort since going primal. It's only mild and I'm sure I'll live, but I have learned to trust my instincts and not eat food that tastes wrong. Especially fish.

I went to the butcher again today and had a different man serve me this time. He was also very nice - they're very friendly and polite there, and the meat last time was fantastic. I'm still enjoting what I eat and am loving the fact I don't have to eat so much as it means I can get on with things. Yesterday I had my first ever taste of cocnut milk and oh my god, it was like 1/2 of an orgasm. I don't know if it would have tasted sweet to me before going primal, but it was the sweetest, most delicious thing I've had this fortnight. Possibly for a long time. Coconuts are pretty cheap too, I bought mine for 69p from Ocado! I've been eating the meat as a snack too, so it's the best 69p I've ever spent and will be buying more of those.

I was relieved to see the scales down at 15 stone 9.25 today, so I'm back on a losing streak. I don't feel any different yet, as is expected after only 12 days.

Please Say Hello!

Hello blog readers. I'm a bit lonely out here with no comments, so it feels as though I'm talking to the ether at the moment! Anyway, I'm happy to report NO light-headedness today, but less happy to report a 1.5lb gain back up to 15 stone 11. I have consoled myself with the fact that my monthlies are approaching and I usually put on 3lbs just before, so it's probably just that, and it serves me right for weighing myself every day. I told myself this morning (in my head, not actually out loud else I scare the cat) that I won't weigh myself for another week, then I'll almost certainly see a loss, but right now I'm thinking sod that, I want to see a loss tomorrow. Is that bad, ether? Probably.

I realised I haven't been including what I've been eating, so here's the list for today: Scrambled eggs made with butter, streaky bacon, celery, romaine lettuce, cucumber, spring onions, olive oil, lamb curry made with lamk shank, cocunut milk, beef stock, carrots, onion, other veg, spices, herbs, (was amazing), mackerel, pork spare ribs.

I'm really enjoying my food now. Before going primal eating was a chore and I got quite fed up with it because I had to eat so often. Now I eat less frequently and less of it when I do, and it tastes so much better, the flavour really comes out when the food isn't processed or accompanied by uneatables.

Jerky

The jerky turned out great! I've had to stop myself from eating the lot as it's ideal for taking with me when I'm away from the house and need portable, quick food. I did treat myself to one piece though. I shall definitely be getting some more good quality beef and making some more, plus I may experiment with other meats, perhaps venison if it's not wildly expensive. I also rediscovered macadamia nuts today - ideal for a primal diet, they're bloody lovely and kept me going for quite a while too. It's always a relief to discover handy, portable snacks!

I've not felt light headed at all today, so I reckon the L-Glutamine is really helping. I'll stop taking it when I feel I'm through the transition period and then my body can support its own brain! I have been particularly thirsty again the last couple of days though, and it's not due to salt. I experienced the same problem whilst doing Atkins and it never went away (after 5 months), so I'm worried I may end up drinking water like its going out of fashion for the rest of my life...

On the plus side, I lost another lb! So that down 6.75lbs in total, from 16 stone 2.5 to 15 stone 9.75. It's been quite easy so far, apart from one wobbly moment today when I saw a box of chocolates in a promotional email from Tesco. I'm sure they taste disgusting.

Arrival of the Dehydrator

I was very excited to see the arrival of the dehydrator today. I thought I might miss the delivery as I had to be out most of the afternoon, and was rather disappointed to come home to a missed delivery note, but the lovely man came back this evening with a huge box. I didn't realise it was going to be so large! Its 4 times bigger than I expected and takes up quite a bit of space on the kitchen worktop, but it's sitting where the now obsolete toaster used to be. I've put some thin strips of good quality sirloin in there with various seasonings, so I can see which one I prefer. It's going to take up to 6 hours, at 150 degrees Fahrenheit. It's rather noisy, a little less annoying than a washing machine, so I think I'll aim to put it on when I'm not around next time.

Today I went to see my supervisor and felt light headed all afternoon, although was able to concentrate. I was just not so good at digging out vocabulary from the depths of my brain and so found it harder to explain things. I also looked at a couple of houses for next year with two potential housemates and we found an ideal house, so we're having a think about it over the next few days. When I got home I took some L-Glutamine and ate some celery and felt less light headed shortly after, so I dont know which one worked, but I'm going to make sure I keep up the L-Glutamine just in case! I stopped taking it after day 3 and started feeling more lighted headed after then, so it seems to be working (apparently it supplies or helps supply the brain with energy whilst my body is adapting to making fuel from fat and protein instead of using the easy energy from carbs).

This evening I discovered that my hard drive is about to fail, which is terrible timing given that I have a major deadline in 2 weeks time. I've backed everything up on an external hard drive and hope that the university computing people can sort it out soon. It seems I need a new hard drive. So instead of doing any work today, I've spent the time faffing with my computer, yet again. I had hoped to lock myself in my flat for the next 2 weeks to write this chapter, but I'll have to work in the noisy office with less access to food if it conks out soon. It's handy being at home for now, while I'm getting used to it, as I can cook something up whenever I like. If I'm at uni it'll mostly be cold stuff, which doesn't always work well with meat and veg. There isn't even a microwave in the entire building!

I had an Ocado shopping delivery today, and I'm finding that I'm so much more excited about a delivery now I'm primal - it's as though all food (primal) is exciting, and I'm even crazy about celery! I never expected that to happen. The excitement is also about the recipes I plan to make with the food. Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to make a coconut curry with chicken thighs. Maybe I'll wait until tomorrow as it's late now. Gosh, isn't my life exciting?!

So, I weighed in at 15 stone 10.75lbs today which is a loss of 5.75lbs in 6 days. A fast loss as expected in the first couple of weeks, hopefully more fat than water.

Meat Shop

I had a hungry day yesterday but it's been much better today, it almost feels as though my body is used to the low carb change now. I got a bit hungry when I went to the hairdressers this morning (just a trim :) ) but I ate some of the beef jerky I had taken with me. It was the first time I've eaten jerky; I've tried biltong in South Africa and didn't like it - I think it was something exotic like impala* meat, which tasted too strong for my liking. I might like it now I have more of a taste for meat. I like the jerky and plan to make some myself as it's quite expensive to buy already made. I've ordered a dehydrator, which is a machine that dries food by exposing it to low heat and circulates air to remove all the moisture in order to preserve it. Jerky is great to take with you as a snack when you're out and about, and you can make a wide variety of flavours by marinating it in stuff like coriander, salt, pepper, chilli, olive oil, etc. before dehydrating it. I bought some lean sirloin steak from the butchers today and they sliced it up thin for me ready to put in the dehydrating contraption. The butcher was a friendly guy and the meat looks great, so I plan to go back soon, although it is rather expensive. I won't tell you how much I spent on meat today. It was like going into the primal equivalent of a sweet shop so I had to restrain myself from buying one of everything. I just cooked the lamb shoulder - I slow roasted it with salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil, covered in foil, for 3 hours and it came out deliciously tender and oily. I don't think I've eaten meat so fast. I also bought some lamb mince and a ribeye steak and put them in the freezer for later next week.

Enough of the meat p0rn. I weighed in at 15 stone 12.75 today, down 1 lb! I really should measure the circumference of all my bodily parts as people on the forum say that shrinkage is a much better way to keep tabs on fat loss - some people find that they stay the same weight for a while as they are losing fat but gaining muscle. In fact, I'll do that right now...

So, the widest bit, in inches:

Hips: 48"
Waist: 38"
Belly: 47"
Chest: 41.5"/49"
Upper arm: 16.25"
Thigh: 30"

Wow, my thigh is thicker than most womens waists :-o

I'm trying to install an operating system update on my computer today, so no work done yet again, more attempting to back stuff up and rearrange the files on my computer. Must. Do. More. Work.

* It probably wasn't

A Lot of Washing Up

This way of eating is generating an awful lot of washing up. I bet Nigella doesn't do all her own cleaning up, so I think what I need is a cleaning wench to make this new lifestyle less time consuming. Most of the day seems to have consisted of cooking, eating, cleaning up and scouring recipes - there's no time for work. I assume I'll get used to it and become faster at all these tasks, and most probably collect recipes that are quick and don't involve roasting hazelnuts for 12 minutes before assembling complicated mixes of nut dust in an ordered sequence of trays for coating meat. Simplicity is the way forward,

Today I went for a walk! Hurrah! A much needed walk at that as sitting down was starting to hurt as I've done so much of it over the day few days, not wanting to be caught away from the house without access to primal food. I took some shredded pork with me but didn't eat it until I got back, by which point I was famished and rather light headed. The walk was lovely though as it was nice to get out in the sun (good for vitamin D production) and see the outside world.

Today I have eaten: boiled eggs, avacado, prawns, sesame oil, pork, lettuce, cucumber, spring onions, more pork (with garlic, cumin, lime, salt and cooked slowly for 2 hours), celery, duck cooked with carrots, celery, onion, garlic, ginger, lime zest and pak choi.

A further source of motivation today was seeing the scales go below 16 stone to 15 stone 13.75, which is a total loss of 2.75lbs in 2 days. My scales weigh me in 1/4 lbs so I can see progress daily, and it's nice to see it go down, even if it is only by 1/4 lb - at least I know it's going in the right direction.

I have a bit of a headache again today but not as bad as yesterday. Someone on MarksDailyApple forum said that the extreme thirst is normal during transition and that it will disappear eventually. Another person suggested that this is because I am flushing out toxins (presumably from grains and all the other cr@p I ate before).

It's nice to see that I have followers, that and the comments mean a lot to me, it's great support and helps to keep me going knowing that you are interested in me :)

Thirsty!

Today I ate: Scrambled eggs made with butter, aubergines cooked with lard, chilli and garlic powder, broccoli soup made with carrot, chicken broth, onions, ghee and coconut milk, chicken breast coated in almond and coconut flour, roasted hazelnuts and fried in ghee, some sort of white fish coated in coconut flour and fried in coconut oil, and a salad consisting of romaine lettuce, cucumber, spring onion, olive oil and chopped primal sausages fried in lard. Sounds like quite a lot but I've been a bit hungry this evening but felt a bit sick when I tried to eat some of the leftover chicken.

I didn't feel light headed until this evening, so was able to read a couple of papers this afternoon. Although I got enough sleep last night, I had a migraine all through the night and this morning, and I felt rather tired when I woke up, so I went back to sleep to get rid of the migraine. I think it was caused by the lack of caffeine over the last 2 days and my body has just realised there's none there because I cut down relatively slowly, so it took a while to notice! However, I have also been ridiculously thirsty since yesterday and woke up with an astonishingly dry mouth, which probably didn't help with the headache. Thankfully the pain is now much reduced and merely lingering in the background, so I can get on with things. Shockingly, I spent all day in my flat and didn't even have a shower, but I mustn't let that become a habit otherwise I'll associate a primal lifestyle with slobbing around on my own in an unwashed state and it'll be hard to adjust to continuing when I return to the real world.

First Day of the Rest of My Life

Well that went a lot better than I expected. I have mostly been able to think clearly but had a few moments of fogginess, which were quickly dispelled with food. I even got out of the house, went to the supermarket and visited friends! I took the liberty of dumping 6 carrier bags of uneatables on said friends and had a jolly good evening at the same time. I'd say my head isn't 100% clear, but way better than I expected and I even had what felt like an injection of pure energy in my brain whilst in the supermarket and I felt full of life. I'm hoping this is what I will feel like most of the time after the transition period.

Today I ate (each in some sort of a tasty recipe): 3 boiled eggs, small avacado, tobasco sauce, dash lime juice, S&P, water with squeeze of lime or lemon, mackerel (a real saviour), romaine lettuce, cucumber, spring onion, olive oil, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, prawns, Tobasco, pork belly, butter, bean sprouts, dill, parsley, chicken, red pepper.

And A LOT of water! I've been very thirsty all day, which seems to be typical of a low carb diet (sorry, Way Of Eating), probably because carbs contain a lot of water so i now have to get it from elsewhere. I had the raw red pepper at the end of the day and the taste was intense, it was though my sensitivity to flavour had gone off the scale, which was both exciting and a bit scary.

So I look forward to continuing tomorrow and hopefully getting some work done too, as I now have less than 3 weeks to write some sort of chapter on genetic regulatory networks, for a book. Oh yes, and I weighed in at 16 stone 2.5lbs this morning, and I undoubtedly won't be able to resist weighing myself tomorrow morning. And every morning. Yes, I know, i shouldn't, but it helps keep me on track if I'm constantly aware of how heavy I am...

Hideous Photos and Caffeine

I just have taken some photos of my pre-primal state and downloaded them onto my computer. I look utterly hideous and I don't know how I didn't notice this before; how did I let myself get this overweight?! I feel rather down now, but further encouraged to do something about it and I may even print out one of the photos and carry it with me, in case of rebellion. I will post some up when I no longer look like that, it's far too embarrassing to do now.

I have also decided to give up caffeine as it exacerbates insulin resistance and PCOS and I don't want to give my body any excuse to hang on the to fat. I managed to switch from 2 strong coffees per day to 2 cups of tea, and today I managed to only have one cup, with no migraines or withdrawal symptoms. I will go without caffeine as of tomorrow and hope that I don't get any withdrawal symptoms. If not, the next five days are going to be utter hell.

I had my last bar of chocolate today. Shortly after eating it my heart rate increased and I could feel it beating (not good, apparently), something I often experience after eating sugar or consuming caffeine, and increasingly so recently. It was scary and I felt unhealthy. I noticed that I could no longer find a sitting position that allowed me to cover my belly (in a subtle, draping manner), it just sticks out obtrusively, so I felt very self conscious during the stem cell lecture today and kept glancing down at the bulge. It's got to a point where being obese has become all consuming and I can't not do something about it now. I'm very grateful to James for suggesting this way of eating and look forward to seeing some changes.

In Preparation

I have spent the last couple of weeks preparing to go primal, by reading books and forums, finding recipes, making shopping lists, buying food and clearing out the cupboards of rubbish food. It's not something you can just decide to do tomorrow without knowledge of what you are doing and why, and what problems you might face.

On reading the forums at Mark's Daily Apple I noticed that the majority of people experienced 'low carb flu' during the transition period. Symptoms include:

• feeling foggy and light headed
• unable to concentrate
• trouble sleeping
• weak
• lethargic
• achey muscles 
• headache

This is because the body is used to employing easy glucose carbs and now must create glucose from fats and protein. This is a little more complex for the body to so but is entirely natural, it can just take some time for the process to get up to speed. I am fully expecting to feel like this for at least 5 days, as this is what happened when I did the Atkins diet, which is also low carb (lower carb and a lot less healthy). I have bought some potassium, magnesium and L-Glutamine supplements to ease the low carb flu symptoms during transition. The potassium and magnesium replace that which is lost in the extra water that is secreted from the body; carbs contain a lot of water and can cause bloating so quite a bit of water is lost during transition, and these good salts escape with it, resulting in a deficiency that can cause muscle cramps. The L-Glutamine can help fuel the brain while the body is adjusting to it's new fuel source.

I don't expect to be able to do any good quality work during this transition period, and plan to avoid social contact for fear of insulting or scaring someone; I become socially inept when my blood sugar is low, as my brain reserves what little fuel is left for basic functions such as moving and breathing, whilst the higher, more human functions are left somewhat wanting. I apologise in advance to anyone who may be in the receiving end of my low carb flu wrath. On the bright side, once I am through the transitionary period, I expect to feel full of energy, a bundle of joy and brimming with scientific inspiration.

Today I have emptied my cupboard of uneatables and coated my kitchen worktop with them, with the intention of organising them into bags and dumping them on my unsuspecting friends. Consequently, my cupboards were rather bare, until I went foraging at the supermarket, and a wonderful local store called International Foods. I have never been to International Foods before, but I shall certainly go there again as it sells most forms of coconut, nuts, seeds, ghee (clarified butter), nut oils and a plethora of huge bags of herbs and spices. It sells a lot more than that, but these are the foods that are hard to find elsewhere.

So the transition begins on Tuesday as I am going to a lecture on stem cells tomorrow and I would like to be able to successfully negotiate a bus journey without falling over, slapping someone or missing my stop. More importantly, I would like to be able to concentrate during the lecture because it's really interesting stuff, and network with potential future research collaborators without giving them the impression that I'm an irritable bitch from hell. Which I'm not. Mostly.

Before: Just how rubbish I feel prior to going primal

I expect that this new way of living is going to dramatically improve my health and fitness and help me lose a lot of weight, so I will outline how I feel and look now, before going primal. Perhaps one day I will pluck up the courage to upload some hideous before photos for your amusement.

I will list the negative features of my current state, in no particular order:

• My BMI is 36.3, which makes me obese. That sucks.
• Being obese, even walking is exhausting so I can't join my friends on hikes around the countryside - long walks hurt my hips, back, feet etc.
• Stairs frighten me: walking up more than one flight results in the rapid thumping of my heart, making me think that a heart attack is one step away.
• I can't bear looking at my flab in the mirror or in photos, my belly is especially cringe-worthy and it all needs to go before my self esteem is sealed in a lead-lined, air-tight case of doom and swiftly shuttled to the centre of the earth, where it is promptly and permanently destroyed in a sea of red hot liquid magma. Makes one wonder why the lead and air tight properties are required if it's going to be destroyed anyway. Perhaps it's to make darn sure that it won't escape on the way down. Anyway...
• I have PCOS, which may be a cause of or caused by being overweight, the jury's till out on that one. PCOS means that my hormones are all over the place, they aren't balanced, they aren't normal, and they'll stay that way until I lose weight.
• Insulin resistance is a result of both PCOS and being overweight. This has a massive effect on my life as I need to eat every couple of hours, which can get rather annoying if you're in the middle of something and you have to stop to eat to restore clear thought and a sociable mood. Insulin is required for cells in the body to take up and convert glucose into a usable source of energy, but if they are insulin resistant they allow much less insulin to enter. In response, the pancreas releases more and more insulin and eventually fails, resulting in diabetes. Insulin also promotes fat storage and prevents the release of energy from fat cells. The primal diet can help completely reverse this process by keeping insulin levels low and constant so that the cells can increase their sensitivity.
• PCOS has a number of other rather unfortunate symptoms, such as excessive hair. Also a nightmare.
• Pain: Being overweight puts a lot of strain on most of my body, especially my lower back and hips. I regularly have lower back pain, sore shoulders (due to poor muscle tone) and my hips become sore if I walk for an extended period of time. I also have a damaged nerve in my lower back that causes a weird combination of hypersensitivity and paralysis in a panel in my upper thigh. If I sit or stand in the same place for more than a few minutes, or walk for too long, it feels as though I'm being stabbed in the thigh with an ice cold knitting needle. I tend to jump and scream if someone pokes me anywhere on said panel. An osteopath informed me that it cannot heal until I lose my belly as it's pulling on the area around the damaged nerve.
• Fitting in airplane seats is a challenge, especially when the person sitting next to you is also hideously overweight and needs half of your seat too.
• Libido is an interesting one. PCOS means higher testosterone levels and hence an increased libido, but being overweight tends to stifle one's libido, so it feels as though there is a constant fight between these two factors. I can go for long periods of time with no interest in physical intimacy, and sometimes it swings the other way in an attempt to make up for lost time. I don't, however, experience the raging desperation I used to feel in my late teens to early twenties, but I get the distinct impression that if I was fit and healthy and at an ideal weight, few men would be safe. Many people on the Daily Apple Forum report that going primal has done wonders for their libido. I very much look forward to this rewarding aspect of the lifestyle.
• Enormous calves from supporting my weight are not only unfeminine but mean that I cannot fit into many boots. I love boots, so this sucks. Going primal can also mean altering other behaviours and activities, including barefoot walking for the health of your feet, legs and hips. I'll discuss this more in a future post, but I think it's something I will try, especially as I prefer to go barefoot whenever I can anyway.
• Anxiety - particularly when trying to get to sleep. Possibly due to high levels of cortisol (stress hormone).
• Sore knees and elbows if I over-exercise or strain them. Makes running impossible and interfered with badminton and swimming to the point that I stopped doing bother of them.

I hope to be able to come back to this list at some point in the future and be able to say that all of these issues have gone. 

Introduction

The purpose of this blog is to document my shift to a more primal way of life.

I have been overweight most of my life and I have felt increasingly unhealthy, so I decided that I need to do something about it. I was introduced to the Primal Blueprint (UK version) (US version) (written by Mark Sisson) by a friend who is a personal trainer and nutrition adviser. When first I looked at this book on Amazon, I was struck by the consistently high customer reviews, giving me extra confidence in the recommendation. The book is well written and scientifically compelling - I'd recommend it to absolutely everyone. I've also just purchased and started reading The Paleo Solution (UK version) (US version) by Robb Wolf, whose style is that of an inquiring, skeptical scientist, and close to my heart. Another excellent resource that I have and will be using regularly during my 'journey' is Mark's Daily Apple, which is a free website with loads of information on the primal way of life and a popular forum.

In a nutshell, the observations of a combination of modern genetic research, evolutionary biology, biochemistry and anthropology show that a primal diet (and way of life) will enable you to look, feel and perform your best. The Primal Blueprint consists of 10 laws that enable you to control how your genes express themselves in order to build the strongest, leanest, healthiest body possible. Many followers of the Blueprint have successfully reprogrammed themselves away from disease and pain towards a direction of effortless weight loss, vibrant health and boundless energy. Mark's Daily Apple forum is jam-packed with positive stories of transformation and support of the plan, acting as numerous testimonials.

Mark explains how the right high-fat diet helps you lose weight and how conventional low-fat, grain-based diets might trigger illness, disease, and lifelong weight gain. Briefly, the primal diet consists solely of meat, fish, nuts, seed, vegetables and fruit. Nothing else. "How can one possibly live like that??!!" I hear you ask. I thought the same until I saw the vast collection of delicious looking recipes on the Daily Apple, most of which are free - there are two down-loadable cookbooks, oodles of recipes on the forum and you can also buy a Blueprint cookbook. The had me from 'coconut'.

Exercise-wise, the book discusses how doing too much cardio might actually suppress the immune system and unnecessarily exhaust your body. The author promotes regular, slow movements in the form of walking, hiking, or gentle cycling, together with occasional sprinting and heavy lifting to increase your strength and physical performance. So no more hour-long sessions pounding the treadmill and abusing the cross-trainer in the gym.

If you want to know more or think it's a load of <bleep>, then please read Mark's highly rated explanations here. This website and the books explain it far better than I could ever hope to regurgitate it all on this blog.

I will regularly write about my experiences, discoveries, thoughts and problems. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful.