First Month is OVER!!

Hi everyone! Okay, so I know I haven't updated in a while but I was busy! School is getting busier and busier but I'm determined to keep this blog. Also, I haven't been following my "low carbs" goal like I wanted to. I've stayed away from wheat (with the exception of a burger + bun the other night and breaded chicken yesterday and a couple days ago), but I'm starting to feel like I'm letting myself slip. I keep allowing multitudes of carbs into my meals, whether or not I realize how much I actually eat. I've stopped measuring my carbs too. Which is a step in the wrong direction. 

Above is a picture of me from January (left) and from today (right). I was going to post the first picture in January but I wanted to show some difference, so I kept it till now. I can't tell much of a difference between the two (other than the fact the January one is blurry! 😉 ) but it's not really discouraged me. I just think I need to keep watching what I eat and make sure I don't slip up as much. Besides, I'm doing this for the rest of the year (and on) so I've got time. 

So when I started I weighed 174, but I weighed myself this morning and it was 168! So about 6 lbs. lost! The most important thing to me is that I'm feeling better, but the weight-loss is also a plus.

I've also been trying to stand up straighter since I started. I took the picture on the left after seeing how much I slouched in the above picture. My spine looked super curved and that alarmed me. In the picture on the left, I'm standing up straight, whereas on the right, I am standing like I normally do: slouched over. It's amazing how much better I look when standing up straight.
 I've always had trouble with standing/sitting up straight, but I've been working on it over the past month. I've been trying to be mindful about the way I walk and sit, and trying to stretch my shoulders back and head up, too. Hopefully there's a subtle difference. It seems like it's easier to do now, whereas before it hurt when I sat up straight for too long.

So anyway, this is my way of reapplying myself to this diet. I haven't cheated too badly but since it's a new month I'm trying to be good again. I'm sticking to my guns and eating what's good for me, not just what tastes good (just because mashed potatoes taste good doesn't mean they don't have carbs). This isn't to say that primal food doesn't taste good, because it does. But what I eat ain't healthy. 

The blog post I had planned to write back in January was about counting calories vs. counting carbs. My stance is simple. I do track what I eat and keep track of the calories but that's only to get a rough estimate of how much food I'm eating. If I'm eating good Primal, it's kind of hard for me to get enough calories. So I make sure I'm eating enough by keeping track of that. I'm also keeping track of my macronutrients: protein, carbs, and fat. I want to make sure I stay under 100 g of carbs or make sure I eat enough protein (I've found that ~90 g protein a day is good for me). This way I can look back if I need to and see how much I was eating in terms of these macronutrients and I can adjust my current eating. If I feel sick and shaky one day, I might have eaten too much or too little protein. (Weird things happen when I eat too much protein in one sitting!). And I need to go back to when I felt good. 

I wouldn't really advise you to count calories unless you really have to. Most people tend to obsess about staying under their calorie goal. A calorie counting app should be a tool that helps you with moderation, rather than a source of stress. If you find yourself going over your allotted calories for the day, ask yourself why. Is your calorie goal too low? I find that 1200 calories is much too low for me. I'm in the 1500-1800 calorie range. Check your calorie goal and see if it's really right for a person of your age and gender. 

For me, it helps keep myself accountable for what I'm eating. I have to manually enter the amount of food I ate and I know I also have to post that on here. But I think the good thing about Primal is learning for yourself when to stop eating, because you feel satisfied. But I know that for a lot of people, myself included, it's hard to stop eating once you've started. And counting calories/macronutrients can really help. Whatever works, go with it. Don't give it up because someone on the internet told you to.

Anyway, I will talk to y'all soon,
Stay cool and be Excellent to each other!
Sam