The Last Day Of Carbs

Tomorrow I begin my carnivore diet. I'm a bit reluctant to call it a diet; it is not be a diet in the sense of a weight-loss or fat-loss plan. It is instead my first attempt to start what I wish to be a permanent dietary change. But, I will still refer to it as "diet" as it deals with what I eat, and it's just easier to call that diet. My plan is to use the month of August as a ramp-up, a time of trial and error while I am getting used to the diet. I will try to be as strict as possible, but will not chastise myself if I eat off the diet once or twice. And, as of now, I am going to eat whatever I want for my Birthday Meal. Then beginning on 9/3, will do my best to be on the plan completely.

The rules I will be following will be the ones set by The Bear, a person who has lived on the carnivore diet for 47 years. He sounds like he knows what he is talking about, so I will borrow his rules. Here they are:

SEVEN SIMPLE RULES FOR THE HUMAN CARNIVORE

1) Eat only from the animal world (eggs, fish, redmeat and fowl and some dairy are all animal sourced foods, i.e.: meat).

2) Eat nothing from the vegetable world whatsoever. (Very small amounts of flavourings such as garlic/chillies/spices/herbs which may be added, are not ‘food’).

3) On diary: avoid milk and yoghurt (heavy carbs- lactose), use only pure (not ‘thickened’- heavy) cream (read the label), cheese and unsalted butter.

4) Don’t cook your meat very much- just a little bit on the outside- for flavour- blood-rare or bleu. For this reason I advise against eating pork.

5) Eat liver and brains only very infrequently- they are full of carbs.

6) Be sure to have plenty of fat of animal origin at each meal and eat mostly of the fat until you feel you have had enough- you can eat more lean at this point if you like- calories are not important, nor is the number of meals/day. Vegetable oils are not good food.

7) You do not need any supplements of any kind. Drink a lot of water and do not add salt to anything.

They only digression from these rules will be that I will finish my Fish Oil supplements until they are gone. No need to waste them. Other than that, I'll be following these rules. Oh, except for definitely NO liver and brains--gross!

I will try to make beef the staple, and eat from other animals for convience and variety. I've already done some preliminary research on storing meat, and have recorded prices at my favorite supermarket, Publix. I also priced out some grass-fed beef at the local co-op, but with those being about $3 a pound more than Publix, poor-man Mike is gonna stick with the Big P. Plus, Bear's forum posts got me thinking grass-fed isn't all it's cracked up to be. It is definitely more expensive, that's for sure.

I am not worried about missing vegetables; I was stuffing them down during BFFM and RTP anyway. Fruit, now that is another story. But, this whole thing is really an attempt to eat as healthily as possible, and modern fruit is more of a creation of man than nature. Plus, the more I learn about carbs, the more I want to avoid them. Now, I know I am venturing into the whole "demonation" of a macronutrient, but I just can't fight the logic that man lived mostly, if not entirely, on meat for most of existence. I am beginning to doubt the whole paleo/primal belief of large quantities of "gathered" fruits and vegetables. I'll go into more detail about that in future posts.

Speaking of paleo/primal, I was originally planning on doing a Primal Blueprint/Mark's Daily Apple 30-Day Challenge, in which a person adopts the primal lifestyle fully for 30 days. Well, seeing as I am going significantly off the diet, and I just don't want to do organized sprints/HIIT, I will make my own rules on the non-diet aspects of my challenge.

• For my weights, I will continue on the Stronglifts5X5 program. It rocks! I will do this for a while, to see how strong I can get.
• I will start the transition from running with running shoes to running wearing my Vibram FiveFingers. This will be rough; I will have to seriously ease into it. My weekly mileage won't be nearly as much, as I will be walking mostly, and running only a little each outing. But I want to do this, and I have to begin the transition at some time. I have read it can take 6 months to a year or more to fully make the switch. So, the earlier I start the sooner I get there! But I will take it WAY SLOW.
• I will occasionally go for walks barefoot. I don't like hiking that much; I prefer running. But I like short walks aroung the neighborhood, and I will experiment doing this barefoot.

• I will get on the bike. Sunday Club rides, or with Marc, and during my days off when I'm wanting to ride. I will not force myself on the bike; my weights are my top exercise priority. Riding will be for fun, not really for exercise. This will be my form of "active play."

I will be blogging daily. I will not do an exact description of what I eat and amounts and all that. I may do a food list, or not. I may take pictures, or not. As far as that goes, I will just wing it. But I will blog about this diet every day of the month of August. I have the time, and the desire. I did it with RTP; now I will do it because I want to, not because I have to. I will write about how I feel, how I am adjusting, what is working, what is not working; basically how I am doing with an all-meat diet. I will include non-diet topics also, just to keep it interesting. But this will be primarily about the diet.

And so it begins tomorrow when I wake. I've been reading up on Bear's forum posts. I've had what will be my last Coke Zero for a long while. I didn't binge on junk food today; in fact, except for about a cup of whole milk it has been a ZC day. I am ready to take the plunge. See you tomorrow, on the other side!

Thoughts on Zero-Carb

So I'm reading Bear's forum replies and I must say, he puts on a good case for ZC. So here are my thoughts: Could he just be a unique individual who thrives well on ZC? Maybe. He has thrived, that is true. Could it work for me? I will not know unless I try. Why do I want to try? I am fascinated by it, and it seems to be a diet I could stick with, and would help me meet my goals of health, leanness, strength, and maybe even endurance. As far as adherence to the diet, I don't think it will be very easy. On the other hand, I don't think it will be very difficult. It will be somewhere in the middle. Let's face it: I was stuffing down those veggies, unless they were in some sauce. The only veggies I can say I love are green beans, and even then only flavored with bacon or ham like Mom made, or in GBC, in which most of the taste comes from the fat and salt of the cream of mushroom soup. I like onion, but as a flavor enhancer. I like tomatoes, but they are really a fruit. I like salad, but only with dressing, which is seasoning and fat. Other than that, I love popcorn, but that is a grain, not a veggie. So I can honestly say that I could give up veggies and be okay with it. But fruit, that is a different story. I like sweet things. I like candy. I like fruit. I like bread and grains and pasta, which are essentially sugar. Giving up grains, no problem. Sugar, that will be hard. Fruit, that will be hard. But can I do it? Honestly, I believe I can. I believe I must stick with it, and then I will reach "the point of no return," where it will be not something I miss. That is not to say I will never eat it again. As I put it in my previous post, I will allow indiscretions on special occasions. But for the month of August, where I have nothing special going on, I can stick with it for the month. Then indulge on my B-Day, and back at it on the 3rd.

From Bear:

We are the eaters of cows, and we must NOT eat their food. That is the way of Gaia, the Conscious Planet who has

placed us at the very pinnacle of the food-chain-eco-pyramid which is very small at the top. If we had remained

where we belonged, rather than stepping down a level or two, not only would we live well and enjoy good health,

but there would only be as many of us as the world can support. There would be no crowded struggling cities filled

with the desperately poor, no pollution and no destruction of the ecosystem. The planet cannot carry us at the

present population level, it is rapidly failing. The worst, most disastrous move we have made, worse even than the

wide spread havoc caused by our uptake of the fundamental superstitious religions, is the consumption of

vegetation. It has allowed us to infest the planet like ten thousand fleas on a Chihuahua. At least that is how I

view it. 5 million, or up to 10 million, maybe- but no more is a good human population level, NOT six thousand

million.

Interesting point: Only after agriculture did we begin to overpopulate the planet. But we also may not have had the technological advances. Hmmm.

Taking The First Financial Steps

The previous post was actually written on 7/6/09, and this was written today, 7/7/09.


Today I called OnStar to cancel my subscription in my attempt to eliminate all extraneous expenses. I would like to keep OnStar, but it is not necessary, so it gets cut. So I call, and work my way through the menu to cancel, and speak to a nice girl who goes through her spiel and eventually I tell her I just want to cancel. She asks me why, and I tell her I just can no longer afford it. So she offers a reduced rate, from $18.95 to $12.95. I tell her no thanks, I still can't afford it. So she offers to give me 3 months for free, and then the reduced rate beginning in October. I agree to this, and since I am not on any contract, I could cancel before I get charged the reduced rate. Or I could include it in my budget. I will evaluate as it gets closer. All in all though, I am getting 3 months free of a service I was planning on doing without! Sweet.

I also changed my W4 online to from 0 allowances to 1. I will see how much more my check is, and maybe go up to 2. I do need more now, but at the same time do not want to pay any tax come April. My goal is to get a return, but it be as small as possible. With my low fixed income, 1040EZ, and starting this job close to the beginning of the year, I should be able to be okay come tax time. I will research online to see if I can figure it out.

I've also begun my Internet research into personal finance. A lot of it doesn't apply to me, but there is still good information that I can use, once I sift through it all. Not surprisingly, there is a great deal on the net about how to handle money. I'm kind of looking forward to getting inundated with all the penny-pinching info.

I'm unexpectedly off for my normal two days now, and this will give me time to cancel Gold's, work on my 4th step, and get a haircut! More later.

-------

So even by trimming everything I can off my budget, I am still at -$200. Cutting AA donations, that still puts me at -$170. The only flexible categories are food and gas. All others are fixed. As much as I don't want to do it, I will have to rely on credit to make up the difference. That is, if I can get more credit. So far, it's not looking good. Well, I just have to do what I can to reduce what I can. So far, my research has told me ways to save on things I can't afford to buy.

I have reduced grocery and gas as low as I think I can, and that puts me within $100 of my income. Maybe I can squeak out enough credit to cover that, in addition to less withholding. I won't know about the withholding until the 17th. I've already been rejected from AmEx, but that was a long shot anyway. I believe I got an approval from some discover card, but will have to see how that turns out. I'm expecting to get refused from all of them. I will respond to any pre-approved ones I get in the mail. I would rather not acquire more credit, but have to do something. I will look into debt consolidation.

Just did preliminary sign-up at creditcareone. It seems I can save money on my credit card bills. I will seriously consider this tomorrow on my day off. Must do serious work on 4th step!

Try to see if refinancing car loan would save on monthly payment.

I wish I could increase my income without getting a second job. My free time is that of a normal 40-hour-a-week person, except I work 4 long days and have 3 days off. Maybe I could find a way to make extra money without cutting into my free time too much, or at least be doing something I don't mind doing, maybe even enjoy doing. Once I have exhausted cutting my expenses, then I can research increasing income.

I really don't want to lose Gold's. I really like working out there. I will work on this. It is the one part of my budget that is not absolutely necessary, but I do use it a great deal. Definitely enough for the $22 a month. I will discuss this with Marc and see what he thinks. Just keep on working on my finances!

Personal Finance Begins

I did a basic budget last Thursday, with some help from Marc.  Here it is:

 

 

 

Bill	Amount
Rent	$700
Car Payment	$432
Car Insurance	$75
Student Loan	$64
UWF	$125
Gas	$75
Grocery	$275
Credit Cards	$135
Gold's	$22
Total	$1903

 

I make $825 every two weeks, bringing my monthly income to $1650.  I am making $253 less than my monthly expenses. 

So in order to become financially sound, and since I really can't increase my income, I have to decrease my expenses.  This is how I intend to do this:

 

Marc is going to help me by reducing my rent/utilities to $600. 

This is a huge help.  This is a fine example of my brother helping me out in while I get on my feet financially.  This would not be possible if I were living by myself.  I must not take this for granted, and work hard to get where I can fully carry my weight of the rent and utilities. 

 

I am going to cancel my membership at Gold's Gym.

This makes a bit sad, but it must be done.  I simply do not need a gym to exercise.  I can do all cardio and resistance exercise either at home or outside.  I actually prefer cardio outside anyway!  As for weights, this gives me a chance to experiment with body weight exercises.  Plus, I still have all the P90X discs and my pull-up bar and all the dumbbells.  I will be starting marathon training in about a month, so I will be limiting my weight training to 2 days a week anyway. Also, I won't be cancelling until next week when I have a day off during the week, and I believe I have to give them 30 days notice, so I will have a few more weeks to workout at the gym.  This is the first expense that I can cut that is an example of a want, not a need.  This is an attitude I must keep up if I am to close the under-employed gap.

 

I can no longer buy any out meals.

This means NO out meals.  The only time I can buy a restaurant meal is when I can't avoid it, which hasn't happened yet, and then will come out of my grocery budget.  Coffee, sodas, vending machine, any food purchased must be taken from my grocery budget.  If this runs out, I eat what I have at the house.  THIS MUST NOT RUN OUT.  If it does, figure it out then.  This is a high priority category.  It is controllable, but I must eat.  This will be tracked carefully.

 

For now, there will be no purchases except for what I have in my budget.

Any purchase not included in my budget must come from somewhere.  Presently, I can not afford anything other than what I have in my budget. Any expense not listed, such as a haircut, will have to come from somewhere in my budget.  The only categories I could take from are grocery or gas.  This is not desirable, so I have to limit those expenses as much as possible.  I have a free haircut coming, and I can tip $2.  Also, although I didn't list it, I am allocating $25 a month for AA donations.  This is a necessary expense.

 

I will try to get more credit in the form of credit cards. 

I'm not really excited about this, but it will help me make ends meet.  That is, if I can get more credit.  This may not be the best move, but as long as I keep it on a need basis and not spend on wants, I should be able to keep it under control.

 

Which reminds me of something.  When I got on at Waffle House, I got all these credit cards with the intention of staying at WH, with the good pay and better future pay.  So I charged and charged, not thinking I would have trouble making the payments.  Well, that plan didn't work out, and here I am, making $25K a year.  Don't get me wrong; I love my stress-free job, and the benefits are excellent.  But the pay is low, and I have no idea when I will get a raise or how much it will be.  I am assuming I will get a raise after working for a year, when I get off probation.  But that is a while off, if it even happens.  So for now, I must do all I can to reduce my expenses.  This will be a learning experience, with knowledge gained from asking questions to Marc, maybe Dad, and Internet research.  Marc says if I put the energy I use on researching diet and exercise into researching personal finance, I should be alright.  Sounds like something I ought to do. 

I must keep at it, keep looking for ways to save expenses, or possibly increase income.  Thus begins my path of financial Independence.  I will blog about this regularly.  But I'll still blog about diet and exercise!  Especially with marathon training coming.  Stay tuned!

 

 

Thought For Food

So I'm not feeling all that great today.  I don't mean physically, I mean mentally/emotionally.  I want to try a 24 hour fast, but truthfully am scared of being hungry for that long.  Really, I would rather not fast.  As great as the proponents make it sound, you still have to go all that time without eating.  I tried the leangains 16/8 fast, and I couldn't keep it up.  I have never even tried a 24 hour; it seems so daunting it scares me from even trying it.  So for now, I won't.  My eating is still unstructured, but not completely ad libitum.  I want to try a low carb again, and am thinking about trying it after Peachtree.  My diet is a work in progress.  I don't like the confines of a strict diet, proved by my rebellious cheat meals.  I enjoy the freedom of eating what I want, but know that that will lead me to weight gain, even with heavy exercise.  So what is the answer?  I think I will work on my food plan some more.

 

 

Right now, I am planning on going on a moderate-carb diet starting on 7/10/09.  A moderate-carb diet will be a daily carb intake of less than 150g.  I will try that for a while, and see how it goes.  I will still have whatever on my free meals, but try to keep them to 2 a week.  

 

As much as I don't want to, I believe that I must track my calories if I am not going to gain weight.  I would love to not count calories, but I think that would require great restriction on what I could eat.  I have time on my workdays before work to track my calories.  I should do this as much as I can.  On free meal days, I will just watch what I eat for the rest of the day.  I need to work on not eating if I'm not hungry.  This would help me at least maintain my weight. 

 

You know, I'm sitting here thinking about trying to not count calories for several weeks, and see if I gain weight.  I will be tracking my body composition weekly, along with taking weekly pictures.  Screw tape measurements.  I will continue with my Sunday weigh-in, and see if I am gaining body fat.  Gaining muscle mass wouldn't be such a bad thing, but I can't believe that I can eat freely and not gain fat.  I guess I am going to put to the test the whole homeostasis thing.  Well, maybe 3 or 4 weeks won't be long enough for my body to work toward a stasis.  But I am tired of counting calories for now, and am definitely tired of dietary restrictions.  

 

I feel I should eat more vegetables, but I ate so much of them during my fat loss phase, I am a bit tired of brocolli and cauliflower.  I will eat up the ones I have in the freezer, and then just eat salads for a while.  Or soups, like my Pritikin vegetable soup. 

 

I wish I could eat whatever I wanted.  But I know that would make me fat.  I need to fine the balance between eating what tastes good, and what is good for me.  I do get tired of trying to find a diet that is sustainable.  I keep thinking it is out there, I just have to find it.  I do enjoy reading about low carb, for some reason.  It just seems like a healthy diet, and yet tasty and satisfying.   More on this later.

 

My Current Weightlifting Program

Copy from ShedderSphere:

Wow. So, I took a week off from the Sphere, to relax, recover nd reset myself. I must admit though, that I did indulge myself in more than a few reward meals. I won't go into details, but let's just say I ate like a horse! I gained a few pounds, gained a few more in water weight, but now am back on my brand new diet and workout plan. So without further delay, I will lay out what I am now doing, my new "mission", if you will. I officially began on Sunday, 6/21/09. Summer Solstice!

Preface: I thought long and hard about exactly what I was going to do with my new diet and exercise program. I laid it out in my main blog, if you want to check it out.

Here is my exercise program:

Weights 4 days a week

Sunday
Lower A

Squats 4 X 12, 10, 8, 6 (ALL the way down!)
Walking Lunges 3 X 12
Romanian Deadlifts 3 X 12, 10, 8
Donkey Calf Raises 3 X 20
Abs (Upper, Lower, Obliques) RTP Style


Monday
Upper A

Bench Press 4 X 12, 10, 8, 6
Bent Over Barbell Row 3 X 12, 10, 8
Standing Military Press Barbell 3 X 12, 10, 8
EZ Bar Biceps Curl 3 X 12, 10, 8 (Slow negatives)
Triceps Push Down Rope 3 X 12, 10, 8


Wednesday
Lower B

Deadlifts 4 X 12, 10, 8, 6
Front Squats 3 X 12, 10, 8
Lying Leg Curls 3 X 12, 10, 8
Standing Calf Raises 3 X 20
Abs (Upper, Lower, Obliques) RTP Style


Thursday
Upper B

Pull-Ups 3 Sets to Max (Alt. Grips: Wide Front, Chin-ups, Neutral Grip)
Dumbbell Incline Bench Press 3 X 12, 10, 8
Seated Dumbbel Shoulder Press 3 X 12, 10, 8
Crouching Rear Delts 3 X 10
Standing Alt Dumbbell Biceps Curl 3 X 12, 10, 8
Dips 3 Sets to Max

On the ones with decreasing reps I increase the weight each set. I will increase the weight by 5 or 10 pounds each week, depending on the exercise.

For Cardio:

Tuesday: Run 5K
Wednesday: Bike 1-2 hours
Thursday: Run 10K - 16K
Saturday: HIIT Outside, Different Each Week
Sunday: Bike 1-2 hours

All my cardio is down at a fairly easy pace, with some faster parts if I'm feeling strong. Sunday will sometimes be a bike club ride, and Saturdays will sometimes be a running road race. For July 4th, I will be doing the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, the biggest 10K in the US! 55,000 runners!


Friday is my Off Day, on which I either take it completely off, or do my stretch DVD or try to do a yoga session.

So that is my workout plan. I will stick with this for 6 weeks, and then move to a 5X5, I'm thinking.

That's enough for now; my next post will be all about my diet. I'll include a current pic, too. I'll be browsing the blogs the next couple of days, checking ya'll out and maybe posting a few comments. Until next time, keep on Shredding!

80/20 Rules!

1st day back on the clean eating wagon.  Started the day with tired at a 5am alarm to get me to the gym for my only 5am weights workout.  I had a bad night of sleep last night, due to all the bad food and Coke Zeros I ate and drank yesterday.  I figure it will take about 3 days to get out of my system, and then I will start feeling better.  I am also pretty sore from Sunday's lower body workout, so being tired and sore is always a combination for me feeling bad!  But I did stay around 2400 calories for the day, with a carb count of about 160g I think. 

 

I want to experiment more with the low carb diet.  I will finish my bread and oatmeal, but I don't think I will buy any more grains.  Oh I will continue with my fruit though.  That will last for a while.  I'll give up the grains first and then work on limiting fruits and vegetables, maybe.  Maybe I should buy Protein Power and see how they say to go about it.  But all this is still in the future.  For now, I have a big can of oatmeal and a whole loaf of bread to go through first.  Baby steps.  I will still eat carbs on free meals, tho.  Not willing to give up pizza! 

 

I read Mark Sisson's 80/20 post today.  It was one of the better ones, because I can totally apply it to my diet right now.  Instead of doing the daily grade like I originally planned, I will just try to adhere to my diet as best as I can, and use the 20% as a cushion.  20% is much easier to maintain than 10%.  It really takes the edge off.  I can maintain a good, clean diet 80% of the time easily.  I will move to low carb slowly.

 

I think I will try to eat less on calorie count and more on hunger.  I will try this tomorrow.  Today, I had my recovery drink, protein shake, my banana and my oatmeal and I felt like I was stuffing it down.  Screw that!  I am not going to eat tons in the morning just because some say it is better.  I think I will ditch the recovery drink thing, and just drink Gatorade after runs.  Yep, I like the sound of that.  I think I need to start listening to my body more on how and when I should eat, and heed less to what I read on the blogs.  Low carb is appealing, and I will continue to consider it and experiment with it.  I kind of want to try the zero carb deal for a week to see what happens.  I also think I may try to give up dairy, specifically milk.  Just kicking it around. 

 

No matter how I eat on a daily basis, I will (for now) still have my 2 free meals a week where I eat whatever, however much I want for one meal.  That means one meal, desert if I want, and an appetizer if I want.  I will not go stupid, and I don't go to buffets, so I can keep it relatively sensible.  And if not, and I totally gorge myself, I will pay for it.  Hey, it's a journey.  What I need is the freedom to eat anything, in moderation.  And 2 meals a week is totally moderation.  And, I will give up a couple days like when we go to Atlanta for Peachtree.  Or if we go to NOLA, or to FWB.  That completely fits in the 80/20 rule.  Sounds good to me!