Primal Blueprint Fitness started

This is day 30 since “going Primal” for me and this was another great week.  I started the Primal Blueprint Fitness plan and got a couple of new gadgets.  I’ll be sharing about that as well as a quick review of the Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals Cookbook by Mark Sisson.

If we consider the first month a trial, then this marks the beginning of a long term lifestyle change.  I just feel too much better to go back, plus I know there are many improvements to be made and benefits to be gained by continuing to refine and improve the diet and fitness plan.

Primal Cookbook Review

I pre-ordered the Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals Cookbook at the same time as the order for the Primal Blueprint book and it arrived this week.  Thumbnail review: Several good recipes, but it would have been nicer had the cover been designed like a cookbook.  Either lay-flat or spiral bound.

Looking beyond the binding, the recipes are organized by suggested meal time, which is great.  There are wonderful photos showing both the ingredients and the finished product. Being a photographer myself, I appreciate the quality of the photos.  Co-author, Jennifer Meier is also the photographer. Kudos! 

We tried the Buttery Eggs with Leeks recipe this weekend for breakfast and I should have made my own photo of Amy’s version. Doh!  Maybe next time.  I loved it.  Amy likes her salsa with an omelet better, but it still gets a hearty recommendation from both of us.

New fitness plan started

I finally got the Primal Blueprint Fitness e-book and familiarized myself with what the “Lift Heavy Things” workout consists of.  Turns out the heavy thing is ME!  The suggested workout movements are simple and use body-weight for resistance.  It’s very intense compared to the Bowflex routine I was doing, but at least I’m not starting at the bottom progression except for pull-ups.  I’ve never done those at all.

Speaking of pull-ups,  I didn’t have a good pull-up bar.  I started out using the upper bar of the Bowflex, but it was really too narrow.  We went to an Aldi grocery store this weekend and they had an assortment of fitness gadgets (go figure!) for $5.99 ea!  One was a doorway pull-up bar so I got one.  The bar was of very good quality, especially for the money. If you have an Aldi in your neighborhood, check it out.

I started with the self-assessment which calls for doing certain movement progressions to failure and comparing the results to a chart to determine your starting point.  The self-assessment kicked my butt!  I went ahead and performed another cycle as best I could, but I had to put three days between the first and second workout, so no sprints this week.  Sprints are another component of PBF along with Moving Slowly, which I did plenty of.

 The PBF plan calls for 3-5 hours per week of “Moving Slowly” in basically any activity which causes your heart rate to maintain between 55%-75% of “max”.  This range keeps your body burning fat/protein without going into glucose reserves.

Without a heart rate monitor I really couldn’t be certain if my intensity level was correct, so I jumped on Amazon, read some reviews and ordered the Omron HR-100C Heart Rate Monitor for under $35. My net cost was $7.99 after using my gift card from Christmas 🙂  My copy has worked great so far and I’ve already found out that the first half-mile or so of my 2.5 mi walking route was a bit too slow.  On my last walk, I successfully got my heart rate up to target range and kept it there just about the entire time.  This shaved a couple of minutes off my walk…a bonus.

I must be at what my body considers and equilibrium weight, because I barely lost a pound this week.  That’s ok though, as I said, I’m in this for the long haul and it’s just a matter of time. I haven’t been below the weight I’m at now (about 195lb) in probably fifteen years, so it may be a tough plateau to break through.

New resources

I added two new blogs to my Google Reader this week.  One is by Matt Madeiro, who started his Primal journey exactly a year ago this week and he has some great insights from his experience. Find his Three New Leaves Blog here.

The other blog is The Perfect Health Diet.  It’s written by a husband and wife team of scientists.  I’m using this as another opinion on diet.  All of these bloggers have slightly different opinions and experiences and recommendations as to what can or cannot be included in the optimal eating plan and this is a good addition to the list.

Last but not least, we found a couple of sources for local eggs, so the continuous improvement of food quality has begun.  We’ll probably shop for a chest freezer after the tax return gets here and start looking to buy some local meat to store in it.

That’s it for this week’s update.  Feel free to share your “Primal Experiences” below.