The Primal Life

I wanted to take this opportunity to blog about something I haven't blogged about yet. It's about our adventures in the Primal Life.

Now, some of you may have heard about the Paleo diet, and the Primal diet is very similar. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'll go back to the beginning.

Clay woke up on Ash Wednesday in 2011 feeling like God was calling him to fast from food completely until Easter. Long story short, he completed the fast, and lost a lot of weight in the process. It was at this point that he realized he needed to do something about his weight. On our first anniversary in 2011, Clay begged me and begged me for P90x until I caved. I don't know if you realize this, but P90x is expensiiiiiive. And since I control the money in our relationship, he had to ask permission. He purchased the videos, got some resistance bands, and set out on his P90x adventure.

day 1

working out like beast.

He worked out like a champ and sweated all over the living room rug that John and Lauren gave us. He started Couch to 5K and finished it. He downloaded this Calorie Count app to track his eating and exercise. We completely changed our diet and eliminated most processed foods and drank only water. We opted for turkey bacon and whole wheat pasta and egg whites. We incorporated more veggies and fruit than I think he ever ate when he was a kid. He dramatically lost weight, like, to the point where people were telling him he needed to stop (in Louisiana, you're not allowed to be skinny). A year later, in 2012, we were running the Crescent City Classic 10K, he was getting all tan as a lifeguard on campus, and he had lost 100 pounds.

one year later

Crescent City Classic!

That was when we needed a transition. Calorie counting was becoming old and tedious. Clay stumbled upon Mark Sisson's book The Primal Blueprint and pulled some concepts out of it. Basically, it is a lifestyle based on the diet/exercise of our ancient ancestors. Eat plants and animals (it says insects too, but GROSS). Play. Move around a lot at a slow pace. Lift heavy things. Get lots of sleep. Use your mind. Avoid poisonous things (one of which is sugar). Get a little sunlight. Run occasionally. This is what our bodies were designed for.

So we deleted the Calorie Count app. Clay quit running 30 miles a week. He still did P90x, but we started eating differently. The most drastic was absolutely no carbs, and not just the sugary things. No bread, no pasta, no flour, no oats, no grains, nothing. This was/is the hardest thing for me to deal with, which is why I'm still only about 50/50. But Clay plunged into it and guess what? He is maintaining a healthy weight without killing himself or denying himself. In fact, if you've seen his primal breakfast omelets, you'd think he was going to turn back into Fat Clay.

But here's the fun part. We get to experiment with new things. At first meals were just chicken or pork, and two different kinds of veggies. Booooooring. Now, I bake cookies with almond flour and coconut flour. I made a chocolate/cookie dough cake for his birthday that was completely primal. We use honey, agave nectar, or pure maple syrup instead of sugar. We slice up zucchini and saute it into "pasta" (and it's much tastier, lemme tell ya). We stick cauliflower in the food processor and cook it over the stove with spices to make "rice." We ditched the chips and baked veggies until they were crispy. We make pie crusts out of honey, butter, and cashews. Fajitas come in lettuce wraps now (and OhMyGoodness are they sooooooo good). We've started buying spices and seasoning everything ourselves instead of seasoning packets or sauces that are packed with sugar, salt, and corn syrup. Dessert became dark chocolate, strawberries, and homemade whipped cream sweetened with honey. Our friends Matt and Elise got on board and started to lose weight as well.

Zucchini Pasta

Birthday Cake!

Do I miss carbs? Yeah. Do I still binge on ice cream and cookies and bread? OOOOOOH yeah. But the Primal Life is completely satisfying. We don't have to "give up" anything. And Clay is still Mr. Skinny.

Wedding and 3rd Anniversary

2010 vs. 2013 - note that I'm in the same dress!

Sooooooo. For those of you who had questions about what we were doing or why, there ya go. For those of you who have never seen Fat Clay, welcome to the World of Crazy. And for those of you who are struggling with your weight, who are exercising a lot but not seeing results, or are dieting and experiencing the rollercoaster of weight loss/gain, maybe this is something to check out.

Until next time,
Carm

PS. I could not be more proud of Clay!