Countdown to Boot Camp

Today was my last day of "free" eating before boot camp starts. To be honest, I've been eating pretty clean - no processed foods, and very little grain. I've seen a two-pound weight loss since going back onto my "mostly" primal diet last week, with three workouts in there for good measure.

Yesterday (Saturday) I went out with friends to an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant and I gorged on salmon sashimi, salmon and crab sushi, crispy spicy salmon rolls, and California rolls. I figured my total dinner calories (plus three large beers) was 2218, with carbs: 254g, fat: 44g and protein: 79g. Wowza.

Tomorrow marks the first day of my bootcamp program. My goals are to lose fat (cut) and gain strength. I've been provided with a nutritional plan, a workout plan, and will chat one-on-one with my trainer once a week and will have access to a private FB group where all the members can provide each other with support and encouragement.

My ultimate goal for this 12-week session is to lose 20 pounds. Theoretically, I could lose more, but I'll be very happy with 20 pounds in three months. I'll keep going, of course - because I think I could go down a bit more; but as long as my old clothes fit, I'll be singing with joy. Obviously, I will make enormous strength gains, and I hope that by the end of three months, I'll be able to do at least one unassisted chin up. We'll see.

I've taken my "before" photo (shudder) and will post it alongside my "after" photo when this is all over.

And now...I must go to bed before I decide to eat something, like a handful of oreo cookies. ;)

Primal Lunch (pre workout) October 27, 2011

I'm not sure I'm a fan of quinoa. Having said that, that's what I had for lunch today - a stirfry with quinoa as a base instead of rice. Did you know that quinoa is not a grain, but a seed - and therefore allowed on a primal diet? Quinoa is very easy to make, is totally good for you, chock-full of essential amino acids - and has a slightly nutty flavour. If you decide to try it, make sure you buy organic because it can be high in nitrates if grown conventionally. You can get it at bulk stores. It even comes in fancy colours - red, black, and the regular colour.

Dinner last night (and lunch today) is organic red quinoa, ground beef from pastured cows, broccoli, zucchini, onion, and mushrooms, with a dab of HP bold. (That's the shiny brown part in the photo, I guess I should have stirred it in first LOL.) Carbs are fairly high in this, so if you're keeping your carbs low, you might want to eat this on a workout day. One serving of quinoa is 1/4 cup, and has 170 kcals, 3g of fat, 30g of carbs, and 5g of protein. Wowza, that's a lot of protein. Long-grain brown rice only has 5g of protein in a whole CUP!

I actually didn't eat the larger chunk of apple,and so didn't count it when figuring out the nutritional info on Fat Secret. There's a half-cup of cottage cheese in that measuring cup, with salt and copious amounts of black pepper. Baby dill pickle. mmmmmm salt. If you'd like to see my food and exercise log, check it out at FatSecret.

This meal broke a fast of almost 20 hours. Feel great!

Nutritional info for the meal:
401 kcals
8.18g fat
46.77g carbs
33.75g protein

18% fat, 47% carbs, 35% protein

The scales told me today I have lost another half pound. Today is Week 4 Day 3 (so almost 3 and a half weeks since I started Primal and LG). Woohoo!

By the way, my post from Tuesday is up on the FFF blog - go have a look.