Ben is working it out.

I have been on this low-carb/primal thing for about 60 days now.  All in all it has been a resounding success.  I have averaged a pound lost every other day, with a net loss of 30 lbs.  Though this sounds like a big number let me put this into perspective.  Before this recent change in lifestyle I had not consistently worked out for more than a year and a half.  My muscles had atrophied, leaving behind large masses of fat to hang off my body.  As part of the lifestyle change I have hit the gym, though not as crazy as you would think.  In doing so I have greatly increased my strength and changed my body composition.  Slowly but surely my body is changing from big-tittied having, pear looking motherfucker with flabby arms to actually seeing definition in my chest and arms.  I would say I gained a good 10-15lbs of muscle, so the net loss includes this gain of muscle, loss of fat tissue and change in body composition.

In my experience, if you do anything too extreme you will probably not be able to maintain it.  This is true of most behavior changes as the human brain and body is probably resistant to going 100 percent all of the time.  The beauty of the nutrition plan of Primal/LC is that it allows you to eat good tasting, satisfying food.  Calorie counting leaves you on an island when you realize that the high-in protein and delicious steak is about 1/2 of your daily intake in calories.  This poses a big problem for people to stay committed to a nutrition plan/lifestyle change, as it is very natural to crave things that are satisfying.

Back to the workout talk...  I have made it a custom to make it into the weightroom at least twice a week (Monday thru Sunday is a week to me, I either go Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday) and to do simple body weight exercises at home.  I also try to do cardio two to three times a week, and by cardio I don't mean chronic cardio like high-effort running or high-speed elliptical use, I mean just walks or hikes.  I usually walk with Grace for about 30-45 minutes, and sometimes I add sprinting when I feel like I have the energy to do so.  This has been very successful for me, and I am seeing rewards when I try on clothes or just look in the mirror.  Why did I torture myself with hour long runs on the treadmill?  That did nothing but create an environment for my body to (literally) eat itself and reduce my muscle mass.  It is a fact that the human body will burn protein (in the form of muscle) before it burns the fat it has stored away.  This is the point of getting your body into relying on fat as it's main source of energy, and the point of reducing carbohydrates in your diet.  You burn fat, and you get skinnier.  Isn't that the point?


I was always misguided when it came to working out in the weightroom.  I would seperate my workouts into days that focused on small muscle groups in my body.  I would have an arm and back day, and a chest and shoulders say.  This would be fine for someone who already had the body they wanted and just wanted to fine-tune their physiques.  For the obese and out of shape, this plainly doesn't work.

I am focusing on working the body as a whole, and increasing the strength of my core.  I am leaving behind the days where I spent an hour curling, or 30 minutes doing tricep dips.  Instead of the pointless bicep workout, I now do three sets of heavily-weighted squats with all my power in a very short amount of time.  The calories used and the strength gained from the squats is so much more important than the nothing I gained from 5 or 6 sets of bicep exercises.  My main goals are a) use as many calories as possible (lose weight!) and b) gain muscle (look better and be stronger.) I try to keep the weights as heavy as I can do, but I will sacrifice weight for form and the reps.  For example, yesterday for the Dumbbell Press I am did a set each of 65lb, 75lb, 85lb.

So in the 45 minutes to an hour that I am at the gym I do something like this:

3 x 8 reps Dumbbell Press (Arms, Chest)
3 x 8 reps Dumbbell Rows (Back, Arms Shoulders)
3 x 8 reps Bench Press (Arms, Chest)
3 x 10 reps Pistol Squats, unweighted (Legs, Lower Back, Glutes)
3 x 8 reps Military Press (Shoulders, Arms)
3 x 8 reps Barbell Curl (Arms, Back)
3 x 8 reps Sled/ Weighted Squat (Legs, Glutes, Back)

On my off days at home I do body-weight exercises:

3 x 10 reps Pushups
3 x 10 reps Pistol Squats

It's been a month now of being pretty consistent and I am seeing huge changes in my strength and the way I look in the mirror.  I am not forcing myself into the gym, and that is why I find myself wanting to be there.