Update on the PB21DC... and other stuff

First off, I'll go ahead and put it out there that if you're starting to miss Hark and I, don't be mad at us.  We're both really busy in school right now, not to mention work, and in my case a child.  We're still trying to eat healthy and exercise too, but it's hard to fit so much into a daily schedule.  If that's not proof enough, look at the date stamp on this post.  Yes, I really wrote this at midnight.

At the time of this post, we are two full weeks (14 days) into the PB21DC.  Personally, this is the best effort that I've made to eat Primally since before the mess of things in June of 2011.  I don't know if I've lost any weight, because I've not had time to weigh myself.  I will admit, that I've cheated a couple of times on my diet and I haven't been able to exercise like I want to.  I still get a lot of low level cardio in at work because of all the walking and lifting I do though, so there is slight compensation.

Here are some things that are working for me that I thought I would share, so that you might see if they work for you:

1. Follow Marksdailyapple.com.  This is a great source (the original source) for the Primal Blueprint.  Mark gives out great advice every day of the year for how to live a Primal lifestyle, great recipes, cool links, and success stories to motivate you.
2. If you're not sure about how or what to eat, start slow.  Over the summer, I regained a heavy addiction to soda.  When the challenge started, I switched to diet soda's to take the edge off and keep the carbs at a minimum.  Now, I've been completely soda free for three days and I'm feeling fine.  I supplement the caffeine need with delicious home-brewed coffee.  The key is to keep in mind what the healthiest choice is for you to make and then strive to meet that goal.
3. Keep a journal.  I went bought a pocket-sized journal to track my food intake, energy level, physical activity, and general thoughts daily for the challenge.  This can be so beneficial when you're looking to find out, "What went wrong?"
4. Make the effort to coexist with non PB'ers.  In an ideal world, we all live either by ourselves or with people who want to eat as healthy as we do.  This is not an ideal world.  Nearly everyone has a roommate, housemate, or family member, and they may not be cozy in your PB lifestyle.  It would be nice if you could throw out all the crap food in your pantry and fridge, but they may protest.  Personally, my son has a hard time adjusting to this diet.  When he's not with me he's with my family or at school.  Neither of those places are exactly on board with the Primal eating plan.  All that being said, he's not sure why we don't have buns or bread for the hot-dogs, hamburgers, and other sandwich items in the house and he hates that he's not getting french fries and tater tots anymore for his side item or snack, and instead having to eat carrots with dip.  It's all about compromises, and remembering which food items in your home ARE NOT YOURS.  Other than that, it's all about patience and discipline.

I thought I would shoot a link for you guys over to the guy that got it all started for me.  I know him as Cormac, and I met him on a video game message forum (geeky, right?).  Cormac was the guy that started talking about paleo dieting and the Primal Blueprint.  He's insanely smart when it comes to this stuff, and he's started a blog that answers questions about how he lives his PB lifestyle in Japan.  Before I give you the link, I will warn you, he uses a little bit of non-family friendly language, but it's worth it for the knowledge you get out of it!

Cormacaroni.tumblr.com/

Recipe Corner

This is actually Rachael Ray's "Chicken in a Pot, Not Pie," but the picture is better than the one I took.

September is here and the fall is right behind it!  It's my most favorite part of the year.  The colors, the smells, and the foods this time of the year are the best.  I decided to get an early start on some of my favorite cooking that comes along with the fall too, and I stumbled upon something while cooking up dinner for the kiddo and myself the other day.  Get ready for a super simple slow cooker meal that makes itself for you while you get other things done.

Mostly-Primal Chicken Pot Pie minus the Pie Part

Ingredients:

1 chicken bouillon cube

2 cups water

6 frozen chicken tenderloins (or two frozen boneless breasts)

2 bags of frozen spring vegetables mix

2 packets of chicken gravy mix

Directions:

Mix it all in a slow cooker pot and leave it to cook.  Try mixing in the water, bouillon cube, and gravy mix first for a good consistent base.  Put the chicken and veggies in next!  Enjoy it when it's done.  

Serves: 5-7 people

My slow cooker has different settings for cooking time, so I started mid-day and had it ready in 4 hours.  Adjust your cook time and temperature settings for when you need it!  I'll be putting my leftovers in a container for tomorrow!

The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge

Hey Fatnicians!  I know it's been a while since I've said anything, and I'm sorry about that.  I've had some things come up in my everyday life that I had to deal with and they took some precedence over the blog.  Fortunately, Harrison has been doing a great job while I've been gone and now that I'm back, we'll be an unstoppable team!

My return to posting on the Fatnicians is going to start with something that could help all of us.  Harrison, Steven (who isn't a Fatnician yet, but he should be!) and I have a little over a month before it's time for us to run in the Tough Mudder in Maysville, Ky.  Hark and Steven have been working their butts off getting ready for the event, and I have been slacking.  It was completely convenient for me that Mark Sisson started the Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge up today!

For those of you who remember the challenge from last year, it's basically a month of trying to live, eat, and act out a primal (paleo) lifestyle.  Mark usually makes the challenge last 30 days, but he worked with his team and decided to shorten it to 21 days.  He believes that time-frame is enough to break any bad habits and help keep up new ones (of course, it does coincide nicely with his 21-Day Primal Blueprint Total Body Transformation book that debuted a few months ago).

Sisson is really going all-out this year and giving away lots of prizes for PB'ers who participate in the challenge.  The first prize to be given away is a $200 gift card to PrimalBlueprint.com to one lucky person.  All you have to do to enter is to share their status and post your goal for the challenge!

This should be fun!  I'm going to be updating weekly again and while the challenge is going on, I'll be talking about that as well.  Won't you join me in the challenge?

If you're interested, click here to learn more about it.

Weigh-in

My friend, Steven (the Tough Mudder in training mentioned last post), brought me to the gym yesterday to show me some shoulder and chest workouts. With all the intravenous lines I've had as a kid, my upper body strength is severely lacking and it was getting very difficult. I like to think that my determination was proved yesterday and now one more person can see why I'm going to do Tough Mudder. I may not be the strongest, fastest, most athletic, or even the bravest. But I'm definitely the toughest, most headstrong, stubborn, and tenacious. Like Charlie B. Barkin, you can't keep a good dog down. Like the honey badger, I don't care and I take what I want.

Ahem. Yeah, got a little carried away there. Let me poorly attempt to segue. In this case, the taking was taking away my weight. And take it away I have! I'm down to 246.1 pounds! That's ten pounds! Go me!