Friday, March 30, 2012

Friday

Mexican for dinner, and the usual aftermath - 146.3 this morning.  No real worries, though.  And it tasted really good.  Cheese Enchiladas with green chile - mmmmm!

Slept horribly last night - another night of waking up repeatedly thinking it was morning, only to find out it was 10:48 pm (or something else well shy of dawn).  I'm getting overheated; with a predicted high of 78 today and no snow anywhere on the horizon, I'm thinking it's time to swap the warm duvet for the thinner one.  We have a two-piece set from IKEA that, when used in tandem, can keep one warm at something like 30 below.  One half is thicker than the other, and we use that one for winter, with the thinner half available at the foot of the bed for support.  If I swap them, we can cope with snow by doubling up again.  I need to do something.

It could be worse.  I was looking at posts from last March, and was reminded that, a year ago, I was suffering from hot flashes.  My current issue is nothing like that, I'm glad to say; I think it's just become Spring.

I finally took a look at the nutrition label on the Godiva Pearls.  A "serving" consists of 68 of them, and provides 26g carbs.  So my periodic "binges" amount to maybe 1/8 serving and 4-5g carbs, max.  I feel much better about them.  The chocolate cherries go at 26g carbs for 1/4 cup - which I haven't measured accurately.

Anyway, here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • the usual supplements
  • bouillon
  • 3 oz cheese
  • about 8 chocolate cherries (guess we could call that a serving?)
  • chips and salsa - we did not finish the chips between us, but I didn't ration myself either
  • green chile
  • cheese enchiladas
  • walnuts - probably fewer than on previous evenings

During one of my wakeful periods overnight, I did have a mild sensation of bubbling in my calves, but not anywhere near the cramping level.  So far, I'm keeping the magnesium as a morning thing, but then, I'm not eating very low-carb just this week, either.  Morning still shows very slight signs of ketosis - I tend to guess that it's the result of the overnight "fast".

Here's hoping that a minor change in bedding fixes the sleep!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Thursday

Maybe it's that it's Spring.  I lost another bit overnight, despite another rather bad eating evening.  145.5 this morning.

Of course, maybe it's the springs in the scale.

Well, whatever it is, my sense is that I've lost somewhere between 2-5 pounds of the weight I put on over the extended holidays, and that 145ish is my actual current weight.  And now that it's Spring and I can get outside more, I hope to work on strength gains and things of that sort, which may increase my weight, but in a good way.  But then, I say that a lot, and not much ever happens about it.  So no breath-holding.

As I said, a bad eating evening last night.  No dinner, since Lee was out late for work, so I snacked.  Lots of food in small pieces.  Here's the list:
  • strawberries and cream
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • cheese (2 pieces at work)
  • 5-10 Godiva pearls (fortunately, they're awkward to get out of their container, or I'd probably eat more of them)
  • more cheese (a total of 4 pieces over the evening)
  • a bag of Lays (the size larger than in a vending machine, smaller than "family size" - not big)
  • walnuts until I was sated
Out of curiosity, I looked up 6 ounces of Cheese in my handy nutrition calculator.  668 calories, 6g carbs, the rest a fairly even (gram) split between fat and protein.  Not as bad as I'd thought.  So maybe yesterday was a mild ketotic calorie deficit after all.  Because I tested for ketones this morning, and am still seeing a very light trace.

I mean to go further into ketosis, hoping that the weird carb bender is over for a while.  Which means I need to get back to the bouillon, and I will have some this morning.  I've started Lee on the mag citrate at breakfast, as he's been cramping up like crazy of late.  Could be stress on top of whatever he's been eating.  I don't know - haven't been paying much attention to his diet this week at all.  Anyway, if I start sensing any personal fasciculation, I will move my mag citrate dose to after dinner, chased with another cup of bouillon, to see if that heads the leg cramps off at the pass.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Wednesday

And now, introducing the UTTERLY ANTI-PALEO DIET!!!

Two days in a row is not a coincidence (well, probably it actually is).  I'm down to 145.7 this morning, after another evening of gorging on malted milk eggs.  Although, once I took a hard look at what I ate yesterday, it did occur to me that I'd built up a pretty tidy calorie deficit - while not being hungry.  Here's the breakdown:
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • one piece of cheese mid-day
  • probably 10 Godiva pearls
  • a snack-sized bag of beef jerky
  • two pieces of cheese once I got home
  • the final 20-25 malted milk eggs (they gave me a stomach-ache, too)
  • a lot of plain hot tea
And that was it.  If it weren't for the candy, I'd almost call it a fast.

Sleep is much improved; I opened the window over my side of the bed last night, and didn't get quite so hot.  That seemed to help a lot.  I still had vivid dreams, but less of a sense of the night going on forever without providing rest, which is what I was feeling all weekend and until yesterday.

To close the loop, no, I am not going to switch my eating over to an all-junk-food approach - nasty!  And I have no idea why I'm seeing the scale go down after a couple of days of old-style sugar binges.  I'm in hopes that it might continue now that the sugar bombs are gone and I return to eating real food.

We are expecting a shipment of non-ground grassfed beef today - I was expecting it yesterday, but it didn't show up.  I hope it shows today, since I don't think it will stay frozen much longer than that, and I don't want to try to eat 25 pounds of beef for dinner.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tuesday

Wait.  What?  Seriously?
After work yesterday (I guess the more accurate description would be "between work", since I worked until 5 pm, went home, and then had an 8 pm call for work), I got home, had Chinese for dinner (and ate the damn fried noodles; the smell is addictive, for Pete's sake!), settled into the den to avoid watching "Alcatraz", and ate my way through, oh, probably 20 malted milk eggs.  Massive infusion of nutrition-free sugar bombs.  Very bad for me.  Weight-inducing, right?

Wrong.  I'm down to 146.8 this morning.  Or maybe 146.2 - I'm a bit fuzzy on the detail this morning, unfortunately.  In any event, significantly less than yesterday.  Does that make any sense?  Not to me.  But there it is.

I am not advocating the use of Easter candy as a weight loss tool, that's certain.  But it was odd.  Here's the whole day:
  • scary-yellow scrambled eggs from pastured chickens
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements (I've stopped the L-Lysine to see if my sinuses stay calm)
  • cheese - 2 oz
  • Godiva pearls - more than 10, I'd say
  • hot and sour soup
  • half an order of Mongolian beef (no rice)
  • about 8 of those fried noodles
  • a fortune cookie
  • the aforementioned binge on malted milk eggs
Fortunately, I'm nearly out of the wretched things, and I have no intention of buying any more.  A once a year indulgence, and for whatever reason, I've not been punished for them - yet, anyway.

I meant to mention earlier that the walnuts had been entirely effective in banishing my constipation issues.  I will now go without them for a week, again, to make sure it wasn't something else - but I think it wasn't.

On other fronts, since I've blasted my ketosis out of the water (so much so that I haven't even tried testing it for the past few days), my electrolyte balance seems to have settled back down.  I suspect that I need to try taking the magnesium after dinner, along with some salt/bouillon, maybe, once I get over whatever is driving me to eat so very badly right now.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Paul Jaminet Nails It

I had to share this quote, because I think he's managed to sum up where the whole food reward thing contributes to the discussion while simultaneously shoving it gracefully into the corner it belongs in:
The difference with junk food is not that it is more palatable at the time it is eaten, but that it does not satiate or nourish and therefore the brain forces the person to go seek more food. What they are seeking is nourishment, not palatability. But they have learned to seek nourishment from unnourishing foods. That is the problem. 
 This is from one of his comments on his most recent post, here.  Just stellar.

Monday

Well, gosh.  From an eating standpoint, it was a Lost Weekend.  No other way to describe it.  Giant tubs of ice cream (Friday), a chocolate-cherry binge and an evening consisting mostly of chips and guac (Saturday), and the invasion of the malted-milk eggs (Sunday).  I craved sugar all weekend, and gave in more often than not.  Which could have been bad - yesterday morning I was at 147.9 - but in the end, settled down a bit.  I'm at 147.2 this morning, having seen 146.5 on Saturday morning. 

Back to ketosis (if I'm still in it, there's something wrong with the test sticks, I'd say).  Not sure what that was all about, but it seems to have subsided.  Here's yesterday:
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • cheese
  • a hot dog with mustard (no bun)
  • probably some chocolate cherries (maybe only 2, though)
  • malted milk Easter eggs (10 or more)
  • walnuts (a lot)
  • a taco salad with avocado, grassfed beef, sour cream, cheese, and salsa
  • strawberry ice cream
Yikes.  Just Yikes.  I spent much of Saturday morning doing miscellaneous stuff in the garden - got some sun and fresh air, and it felt great.  I have now planted carrots to go along with my lettuce, and have rigged up the drip system on its timer, so they'll get water enough to sprout.  Yesterday, on the other hand, was all about taxes, and had both of us fighting mad (not at each other) well before completing the job (we haven't, yet).  Very stressful, which may have led to the malted milk eggs.

We had some eggs from a friend of Lee's who keeps chickens, and finally ate some of them today.  Scrambled, they were nearly fluorescent yellow - or maybe taxicab yellow is a better description.  I have never seen anything quite that bright at that hour of the morning - and I must say, it makes commercially produced eggs look pretty insipid.  I'm hoping he can persuade her to sell us some on a regular basis, because they were quite wonderful.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Friday

Sleep was not much of an option last night, due to some work issues, so I'm struggling this morning.  I opted for sleep over eating breakfast, but have had several Godiva pearls already.  Weight this morning was 146.8, I think (first pass typing said 168.2 and I know that's wrong).  I am still showing very light levels of ketosis as of this morning.

Here's yesterday's eating:
  • strawberries and cream (fwiw, these are not a particularly sustaining breakfast item)
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • cheese - 2-1/2 pieces
  • Qdoba naked chicken thing, no rice or beans, with guacamole, salsa, sour cream, and cheese
  • iced tea
  • walnuts (lots of them, eaten mindlessly)
  • about 5 chocolate cherries
  • salami (I wanted more salt)
I had, I think, maybe one mild cramping incident overnight, so I think that's getting under control.  Though I suppose it's possible that my not being asleep for much of it might mean that I didn't relax enough to cramp up.

Doing Slow Burn workout over the weekend sometime - also rather a lot of gardening stuff, since the weather is supposed to be wonderful.  No idea if either will add to my weight.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Thursday

Last night was better, although only a little.  I slept until about 2:30, I think, then woke from a dream in which I was in a good mood, to find that my right shin was cramping up.  Apparently, it caused me to thrash around a good bit, which woke Lee up; he went to the bathroom, and I used the time to try to kick the cramp out using my left heel.  Didn't work, but I did find a position that allowed me to control it without using my calf muscles, and managed to get back to sleep - although in the process, the arch of my left foot started to join in. 

I never had to get out of bed for any of it, and that's why it was better.  And there was only the one episode, which was actually a big improvement.  Unfortunately, I don't feel as rested today as I did yesterday.  And yesterday was a very long day.  With luck, today will be better - I have more meetings, for one thing, which I don't have to run.

Yesterday's eating went like this:
  • strawberries with cream
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • bouillon
  • cheese (2 pieces)
  • fajitas without tortillas (beef, peppers, onions, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, tomatoes)
  • two chocolate cherries
I think that was it.  I remain in very light ketosis these days, but in it.  145.9 this morning, which I think I can explain.  The bouillon is specifically to add salt to my diet, to help keep the electrolytes in balance; I can only assume that yesterday's issues had more to do with dropping water weight past some threshold and unbalancing things in the process, and last night, while I was improving, I had not achieved the balance necessary.  But with salt comes a bit of water weight.  In addition, Lee and I went to the gym last night, and with signup for the Bolder Boulder happening on Saturday morning, I felt compelled to start some rather more earnest training.  So I walked to a random selection from The Beach Boys - and they are generally pretty quick-paced stuff.  I'm a little stiff this morning as a result - in a good way.  The racewalking form may have contributed to the shin cramps, too.

A couple of odds and ends.  I haven't stopped eating walnuts, but I didn't have any last night because I simply forgot about them.  I will be eating them regularly for about a week, to see if they have any effect, and then I may stop again, to see if the effect also stops.  I'm also still taking L-Lysine with breakfast, and I do believe it is clearing up the mess in my sinuses - either that, or they just got better all by themselves, which is certainly possible.  I'll be keeping that up through the end of the week, and will then stop with it.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Wednesday

Wow, really?  This week is going fast.  Today, however, may slow things down a good bit.  I am exhausted.  Sleep last night was fitful, punctuated by the worst set of leg cramps - set? no, suite! - I've had in probably a year or more.  My calves cramped.  My shins cramped.  Both at the same time.  My ankles cramped.  The arches of my feet cramped.  I'd drift off to sleep, be in the middle of a dream one moment, and on the floor, covers flung back, trying to get my heel on the ground the next.  I would feel them coming on, and any attempt to prevent one would set off the opposing muscle.  Just awful.

And I have no idea why it happened.  At bedtime, if I was in ketosis, it was nearly undetectable.  I'd not eaten particularly well all day for maintaining ketosis, or for weight loss, I think.  I'd not walked long distances in new shoes.  It really made no sense.  But for once, unlike a few past, far milder, episodes, the cramps did augur a drop in weight: 145.7 this morning.

Here's the food log for yesterday:
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements 
  • cheese (2 pieces, one rather larger than usual)
  • 4 Godiva chocolate pearls
  • chips and salsa, but not very many
  • carne asada with avocado and pico de gallo
  • iced tea
  • a slightly smaller quantity of walnuts than yesterday
  • 4 chocolate cherries
  • a bowl of fresh strawberries
No exercise yesterday; got home from the haircut and basically just sat around.  At that point, I did notice a bit of mild fasciculation in at least one leg, but nothing that out of the ordinary.  I tend to think it's associated with a drop in water content - and I'm guessing that the weight missing this morning spent the weekend haunting my feet and ankles.  I will make sure to get my bouillon today - maybe even have a couple of cups of it - and will be interested to see if that helps at all.  I hope so - that was very much not enjoyable.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Tuesday

Wow.  Nothing.  My mind is a complete blank this morning.  I was - still! - 147.9 this morning, displaying light ketosis at bedtime last night, and my ankles are feeling better.  I was able to fast yesterday until around 3:30, when I ate 2 pieces of cheese because I was starting to feel slow and stupid.  It helped.  Here's the day's eating (I was about to launch into a lyrical description of dinner, but that's really all my eating, so let's have a list):
  • tea with cream
  • Monday supplements
  • two pieces of cheese
  • ribeye steak - probably about 1/2 pound
  • salad with ham in it
  • homemade ranch dressing
  • two handfuls of walnuts
  • 4 chocolate cherries
  • one other piece of cheese somewhere along there.
It breaks down to 144.3g fat (82%), 28.4g carbs (7%), and 43.5g protein (11%).  And over 1600 calories, for what that's worth.  Seems strange to think it was that much, more or less all at one meal.  If true, that would explain why no loss, I think.

I ate the walnuts consciously, to attempt to correct the lingering constipation issue.  Nothing else seems to be working, and I figured that maybe the nuts had been helping in the past; I'd stopped eating them completely about coincident with the issue surfacing.  I will reduce the quantity tonight, but will keep them up for a week or so to see if that helps.

Biz and I will be signing up for the Bolder Boulder this weekend (the race itself is on Memorial Day), so I really need to get cracking with some sort of exercise.  But not tonight - got a haircut appointment tonight.  Maybe afterward, I'll try 3 more very slow pushups - see if I can do the fourth this time without collapsing.  And if that works, I'll move to whatever the next exercise might be.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Monday

Quite the weekend, I must say.  Friday evening, I had five hours to kill between the end of the workday and my flight to Phoenix; I had dinner at Ted's, consisting of a naked bison burger with blue cheese, a wedge salad with bacon and tomato and blue cheese dressing, their half-sour pickles (which may or may not be naturally fermented), and all the french fries.  Come to think of it, since I was fasting, that is my day's eating on Friday right there.  It used up about an hour, which wasn't nearly enough.  At the airport, I happened to glance down at my feet and was annoyed to find that my ankles were bloody balloons - truly disgusting to look at.  Sitting in jeans all day will do that - and it did.

Saturday, we did our Trader Joe's shopping (for the next year, if we're in a TJ's town, we go and stock up; after that, we'll have our own), and went to the ballgame after wandering around old town Scottsdale and a lunch (for me, another wedge salad; I wasn't hungry) at a BBQ place.  The wandering was nice - the Scottsdale farmer's market was open, and we took that in as well.  They had two grassfed beef stalls and one for heritage pork - if we had lived there, I would have been an instant customer of all three.  We got a little bit of sun at the ballgame - the weather was a bit overcast, but in the 80s and perfect for sitting around outside in shorts.

And then there was Sunday.  I ended up driving back with Lee and Elizabeth, rather than taking my flights - and I may have made it home a little bit earlier as a result - the weather in Arizona and New Mexico was ghastly and I had a connection in Albuquerque.  We spent all day laughing as I got text message updates on flight times, the last of which had my final flight leaving close to 9:00 pm (I was originally scheduled to arrive home by 4:15 pm).  However, we also had to fight blizzards (in Arizona) and dust storms (in New Mexico) and high winds (throughout) all day, and when we got home at 10:30, we were all exhausted.  The eating was sketchy, to say the least.  I did sleep like a cold dead rock, once I took 3 Advil for the nasty headache I had.

I got up this morning at 147.9, which, considering, is not all that bad.  I'm good with it.  Here's yesterday's eating:
  • tea with cream
  • a small bag of M&Ms
  • 5-10 handfuls of cashews
  • a KFC "grilled" chicken breast (not sure what they "grilled it on", since the skin had achieved a degree of crispiness that looked fried to me)
  • naked quarter pounder with cheese
  • small fries
  • a medium "shamrock shake" from McDonald's - nominally mint-flavored; it tasted to me to be industrial cleaner flavored - and I drank all of it.  Blecch.

So, given that I had fries twice this weekend, and had a Mexican dinner on Saturday that probably had flour in it, from my reaction after, and am still suffering from swelling in my ankles, things could be much worse.

I'm probably fasting today.  I opted to trade breakfast for 15 minutes extra laying around this morning, so I'm running on tea with cream and supplements so far - and quite happy about it.  I do have a couple of pieces of cheese available, should I need them - but right now, I'm thinking that I won't.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Friday

This whole weight-maintenance process is a horrid mystery to me.  I ate garbage (from my point of view, anyway) most of last night, and lost weight this morning.  Stayed in mild ketosis the entire time, too.  I'm back at 147.4; yesterday was a blip, apparently.  Maybe our scale is subject to solar flares or something.  In any event, I guess I'll just pretend it didn't happen.

Here's yesterday's pigging out:
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements (L-Lysine does seem to be helping with the sinus thing)
  • bouillon (I have been forgetting this, since I don't log every cup of tea I drink, and it's a hot drink)
  • cheese (3 pieces)
  • more cheese (this was once I got home)
  • two handfuls of chocolate cherries
  • walnuts
  • strawberries - to finish them off
  • a piece of coconut-chocolate-almond bark, for energy
  • more cheese
You know, seen in a list, the garbage doesn't seem all that bad.  At the time, though, it felt like some sort of addictive behavior - I just needed the chocolate and walnuts - badly.  Hormones, I think.

On other fronts, I did a bit of the Slow Burn workout last night.  Just the pushups - I was really tired by 7:00 pm and couldn't bring myself to do the whole thing.  And I think I can say now that I have a very clear understanding of the meaning of the phrase, "work the muscle to exhaustion".  I set my timer, set up the towels as instructed, and did some pushups.  After three of them, I started to descend to begin the fourth - and did a face-plant.  My arms got about half-bent and just gave out.  I had no actual pain or anything, and I got up and went about my business for the rest of the night, not thinking about it much.  But I'm thinking about it now - because I can feel it.  I guess you'd call it a pleasant surprise, to find that so little time could produce such tangible results.  Pleasant, indeed, but I think I'll go find some Advil.

I'm fasting today, partly because I want to, and partly because my morning was full of guinea pig maintenance activities, since I'm the only human in the house just now.  No time to do much of anything.  I will be trying for a 20-hour fast (holding out until around 5, I think); will be fine if it's less.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Thursday

I. Want. To. Scream.

Got up this morning and the scale said 148.5.  WTF???  My eating yesterday was fairly pedestrian and I cannot imagine what is going on.  What on earth gained me a pound and a bit overnight, if this was the input?
  • strawberries and cream
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • cheese (2 pieces)
  • ONE Godiva chocolate pearl
  • salad with homemade ranch dressing
  • half pound of gyro meat with tzaziki sauce
  • 5 chocolate cherries
I do not get it.  108.5g fat (73%), 48.1g carbs (14%), 42g protein (13%).  So a bit out of balance, but also (if it counts) less than 1400 calories.  Nothing there to make weight WITH!

It's just annoying.  My body is holding on to weight like grim death.  I assume it will eventually give up, but what I'm doing now worked just fine for weight loss before, so something weird is going on.  I have a mild sinus infection of some sort, my shoulders are annoyingly stiff and don't want to let loose, and I continue to have foot swelling.  I have a new job, the time change was Sunday.  And I'm still(!) a bit constipated.  Could be anything.

Bother.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Wednesday

Not much to say today, really.  147.4 this morning; I blame the french fries at dinner - not them so much as my eating of them.  I remained in shallow ketosis as of this morning, and I think that's a good place for me to be, but it's obviously not doing a thing for my weight.  Based on the way my feet swelled up on the drive home last night, I would have to say I'm not done with the water - and oh, would I like to be. 

I did not get to the Slow Burn exercises yesterday after all; we went furniture shopping instead.  Thinking about a complete redo on the living room, so we started looking at options.

Here's the day's eating:
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements, plus L-Lysine to try to knock out a lingering sinus issue from the non-cold I had a month ago
  • cheese (2 oz)
  • small sirloin steak
  • french fries - probably about 10 of them
  • zucchini in a weird herb mixture (this all was at a "fish" place, but all the fish was fancied up with heaven knows what)
  • iced tea
  • 4 chocolate cherries
  • 2 more pieces of cheese (I was still hungry after getting home)
And that was it.  Probably won't worry about the Slow Burn stuff until tomorrow night; tonight, we are packing for the weekend in Phoenix.  It might still fit in, but if it doesn't, then I'm on my own tomorrow and can do it as I please.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Tuesday

I think patience is paying off.  That, or the time change is just wearing me down.  We both took an Advil PM last night to ensure reasonable sleep quality - and for me, it worked until 4 am, which was much better than last night.  And after waking at 4:00, I was able to crash back into good sleep within 15 minutes or less, and slept until the alarm went off.  I feel much better this morning as a result.

And a bit thinner: 147.2 this morning.  I can't quite believe that my woes late last week - all the aches and pains - were the result of about a pound of excess water, but that's the net loss as of this morning, and much of the pain and swelling are gone, so maybe it was just bad placement or something.

I remain relatively ketotic - the measure this morning was "small", which wasn't too surprising considering I had both chocolate cherries and strawberry ice cream after dinner last night.  Here's the day's eating:
  • scrambled eggs
  • leftover filet mignon (not a good idea at breakfast, it turns out - rather nasty
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements (extra fish oil)
  • cheese (2 oz throughout the day)
  • pork tenderloin
  • green chile (made with a rice-flour roux)
  • salad with blue cheese dressing
  • chocolate cherries
  • strawberry Haagen-Dasz 
That was it.  97.1 g fat (62%), 37.9g carbs (11%), 94.6g protein (27%).  Fairly well balanced, according to my standards.  We've been eating our way through several homemade salad dressings, since we will be in Phoenix over the weekend and don't want them hanging out in the fridge while we're gone.

I guess tonight's dinner will include fish - that's what I've heard, anyway.  Probably a trip to Red Lobster or something of the sort. 

I watched all the demonstration videos from Fred Hahn's vook yesterday, and I get what he's suggesting.  One of the things I plan to do tonight is try out the workout - but to do that, I will be writing all of the relevant info on a card - exercise, timer settings, etc - rather than trying to play "follow the iPad" throughout the whole thing.  I believe I have it on my phone, so I can do the prep this morning some time.  I downloaded a timer that sounds like it's designed exactly for this sort of routine, and will try to set that up as well.  If it works as advertised (the workout, not the timer), I may not have a very long entry tomorrow.  Just sayin'.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Monday

Ah, Daylight Saving Time.  I thought I had the going to sleep part nailed when I found myself asleep a couple of times during the news; of course, the reason I knew about it was that I woke up from the sleep.  "Sleep" overnight consisted primarily of dreams that I was awake, until 3-something a.m., when a weird noise woke me up.  Turns out we had never closed the dogs in their kennels, and they were wandering the house.  After that, I tossed and turned for 2 hours, then fell asleep enough for the alarm to wake me up; after that, I slept another half-hour until the actual "get up, already!" time arrived.  Bleahh.  At least a week's worth of ugh until I get acclimated again.  And of course, we'll be in Phoenix this weekend, where people are sane, and they don't do the clock shifts, so I may undo all the good done this week.

I got out and got fresh air yesterday, in spades - as I did Saturday as well.  Gardening on the latter, a long walk with a friend on the former.  I have officially started the garden - with mesclun mix seeds.  There was more to the work than that, of course - had to clean out the beds and spread a layer of cow manure first.

I think I ate pretty well all weekend - although on Saturday, I found myself noshing on nuts and chocolate against my better judgement, and we had a dessert that included stuff from a box (by accident, sort of).  But I stayed in some level of ketosis throughout the weekend, so I guess I did okay on that front.

However, I have lost basically no weight.  I was at 147.9 this morning, which is where I was Saturday morning (yesterday, I was back up at 148.1 again).  Quite annoying.

And, now for the food log:
  • western omelet (Denny's)
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • salad with blue cheese dressing
  • chile (no beans, but I'm not sure there wasn't flour in it)
  • iced tea
  • cheese
  • pot roast
  • salad with blue cheese dressing
  • strawberry filled with Jello no-bake cheesecake filling (leftover from Saturday)
  • chocolate coconut almond bark (Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy recipe, made with 85% cacao chocolate)
That was it.  Now, admittedly, I am pushing into ketosis more for the mental energy associated with it than for the weight loss benefits, but I'd like to see a bit of weight loss, nonetheless.  And maybe I have - after all, I am down 2 pounds for last week.  Which puts me exactly at the weight I was a week ago last Friday, which was up a bunch from two weeks ago.  Hormones, I'm nearly certain - or the dragged-out aftermath of mild food poisoning.  So maybe I should be grateful that I'm able to keep it basically under control.  I just wish there were five fewer pounds of "it".

I bought and downloaded Fred Hahn's Slow Burn vook yesterday - a vook is an e-book with videos, apparently.  Haven't watched the videos yet, but I've read the descriptions, and when he says "slow", he apparently means it.  Doing pushups to a count of 7 seconds down, 7 seconds up, per rep?  That hurts just thinking about it - but I bet it works.  I will be giving his workout a try over the next few days - need to contrive some ankle weights first.

Finally, I would just like to state for the record that my new Vibram Jayas are more comfortable than bedroom slippers.  I've worn them to the gym for 1-mile walks on the track (primary function - get the blood moving), and now on a trail walk that lasted about an hour, and they just disappear - I simply don't feel them on my feet.  Love them!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Friday

After a bit of thought yesterday, I decided to cut back on the between-meals cheese a bit.  If you look back at the food logs, you'll sometimes just see "cheese", but when I mention quantities, it's hardly ever just one piece - and that's because I tend to grab two or three at minimum.  So when I got hungry yesterday, I grabbed only one piece of cheese, with the intention of returning for more, if that didn't work.  And I got hungry again - about 3 hours later, and grabbed another single piece.  And one more, at home, before a trip to the gym.  Did it work?  Maybe.  148.1 this morning.  I was in ketosis ("small", per the jar label thingy) at bedtime last night and again this morning.  And I have to say that I'm starting to feel a lot better - more energetic, and if I'm achy, I'm not noticing it as much.  I also slept very well last night.

So, here's yesterday:
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • tea with cream 
  • the usual supplements
  • bouillon
  • cheese (total of 3 pieces throughout the day)
  • the "Chicken BLTA 'sandwich'" from the Quick and Easy Primal Blueprint cookbook (oh, my, was that good!)
  • more tea with cream
Rough breakdown was 95.9g fat (68%), 20.2g carbs (6%), and 82.6g protein (26%).  And while I know that calories are somewhat subsidiary, much fewer of them satisfied me yesterday than the day before.  Whether or not that was the difference, I don't know, but I feel like I've paid attention to what I'm doing again, and that attention has borne fruit.

The Chicken BLTA thing we had for dinner was amazing good - a butterflied chicken breast, grilled, spread with mayo, and layered with BLT ingredients and half an avocado - only we didn't have actual lettuce leaves so we omitted the "L".  In theory, one then folds the chicken back up and eats it like a sandwich.  In practice, not even close - we ate it open faced and with utensils because the chicken would not fold.  Still, really delicious.

Don't know if I'll be in ketosis much this morning; I had a bowl of strawberries and cream and two sausage patties for breakfast.  Not sure how many carbs that would be, but probably more than I would want at a sitting right now.  If I find myself hungry at mid-morning, though, I will have a piece of cheese.  Just one.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Thursday

I worked very hard yesterday to put myself in ketosis.  Nasty coconut smoothie for breakfast, nothing but cheese all day, a dinner composed of ground beef, green beans, salad, and blue cheese dressing (geez, guess I don't need to do the list - but I will; I like the detail).  And, at bedtime, I'd achieved a slight level of ketones.  Glad to see them.  Saw a lesser level of them this morning, which seemed odd, on the heels of the overnight fast (and I had nothing after dinner except tea with cream). 

And then I stepped on the scale.

148.5 - what?  I gained 0.2 pounds yesterday?  How?  I was hungry when I woke up this morning, so it seems extremely unlikely that I overate.  Lee, who was less strict, and who ate a corn muffin that I saw, gained about half a pound.  Very annoying.

Here's the breakdown for yesterday:
  • fat-bomb smoothie (coconut milk, protein powder, strawberries, vanilla)
  • the usual supplements
  • tea with cream
  • a cup of bouillon for the sodium (thanks to the waroninsulin blog)
  • cheese (5 pieces - three to supplement breakfast, two later on)
  • small salad (lettuce and tomatoes) with blue cheese dressing
  • half-pound "chopped steak"
  • green beans
  • iced tea
  • more tea with cream
That's all of it.  Ended up being 154.3g fat (68%), 33.9g carbs (7%), and 128.6g protein (25%). 

We are a little baffled right now.  Especially since, in addition to achieving ketosis, I think I'm more or less over the constipation, and one would have thought I'd shed a pound or so in that process yesterday.  I tend to blame stress, since we are both dealing with new jobs, and I know I've been moving in a fog a lot as a result.  Mine could also be the annoying side-effect of menopause, frankly.  Or perimenopause-ha-ha-ha-we're-not-done-with-you-yet water weight.  Or a lack of sleep.

Speaking of sleep, I finally got a good night's sleep last night, mostly.  Except that one of the dogs began being sick at 2 am, launching Lee out of bed to hustle her outside.  That wasn't terribly helpful, but I don't feel hammered this morning, for which I'm grateful.

I think the gym is beckoning tonight.  Need to get some miles in or the Bolder Boulder is going to bite me badly.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Wednesday

Oh, Death, where is thy Sting? 

Constipation is hell.  I've been suffering from it for about a week, with periodic moments when I think it might be over, all of which turn out to be mere respites.  Bleah.  Went to bed last night with a stomach ache and managed to compound it with leg cramps; a "mere respite" relieved the former and allowed me to get up and stretch out the latter.  I still slept like crap, though, so I am tired and achy from that on top of the stomach ache which at times this morning has extended up the back of my neck to provide me a headache.

Well, enough of that.  148.3 this morning, so I lost some more of the water - I think that's what precipitated the leg cramps.  I am still not in ketosis as of this morning.  And here's why:
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • tea with cream 
  • the usual supplements
  • a very few chips (certainly less than 10 - possibly less than 5)
  • salsa
  • carne asada
  • guacamole
  • iced tea
  • cheese
  • chicken in a parmesan crust
  • riesling (probably a glass and a half)
  • more tea with cream
  • chocolate cherries (a lot - had some work related stress and was popping them like addictive pills)
  • cashews (less than half a cup, but I was hoping that they were less damaging than the candy)
So yes, definitely not a ketotic sort of day.  I reacted to stress by reaching for the sugar - interesting; did I need it to replace the energy that the adrenaline or cortisol was sapping?

I opted for a fat-bomb smoothie this morning, to get some MCTs going in the system - both for the kickstart to ketosis and for the instant energy that they provide.  It is not sitting well, hence the start to this post.  It also tasted absolutely wretched - I thought I'd be smart and use fresh strawberries instead of frozen, and ended up not with a smoothie but with an insipid, watery mess.  Great start to the day.  Although I am feeling a bit more energetic, so some benefit is kicking in.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Tuesday

I still feel rather ugh this morning - swollen and sore throughout.  But I did lose 0.9 pounds, and the scale seriously considered making it a round full pound before settling down.  Water.  Inflammation.  Nasty stuff, regardless.

Here's yesterday:
  • strawberries with heavy cream
  • bacon
  • tea with cream
  • the usual (Monday) supplements
  • cheese - 2 pieces
  • two Godiva chocolate pearls
  • two ground beef patties (probably about 1/2 pound total)
  • salad with ham in it; dijon vinaigrette
  • green beans
  • more cheese (we were seriously starving all evening for some reason)

A few odds and ends that are somewhat apropos.  On Saturday, I was at the local REI to buy a second pair of Vibram Fives (I have a small hole in the toe of my Sprints, and now own a pair of black Jayas in the smaller size, and I think they fit better).  I was amazed at the number of people there on the same errand - nearly everyone in the shoe department was at least trying a pair along with other shoes, and I overheard a clerk explaining to a couple of folks that it would take some time to get used to them, that they needed to be patient at first.  Lee says that a couple of the clerks were wearing them - I didn't notice that.  Intriguing that they seem to be catching fire this spring.

I ran across this blog not long ago, courtesy of Gary Taubes' blog, and I really like it.  If I gather the drift in the Paleo world of late, based on the other blogs I read and my twitter feed, it appears that Paleo is de-coupling itself from low-carb, although most of the bloggers seem to admit to a variant called "low-carb Paleo".  Fine by me, that makes me a low-carb Paleo eater, I guess.  Anyway, I am enjoying reading another science-based defender of low-carb eating and ketosis, and am feeling inspired to tighten up the ol' way-of-eating.  So while we were out shopping last night, I picked up a new package of keto-stix, so I could monitor whether or not we are actually achieving ketosis, and found this morning that I'm not - even after a night's fast.  Something to work on.

Another kind of creepy article surfaced on the That Paleo Guy blog - about the effects of statins accompanying a high-fructose diet.  His post also referenced this blog, which goes into a lot of detail on just what happens when a person is having his cholesterol artificially reduced.  And then there was this, from the Fat Head blog.  Reading each of them made me want to rush over to my parents' house and dump any and all statins down the toilet and forbid them from taking any more.  I retweeted a link to one of them, in hopes that Lee might read it and rethink his ongoing consumption of the damn things.  I sincerely hope that this information gets a lot of publicity, and that they stop being so common.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Monday

Ugh.  Bad eating weekend.  We had a guest, so we ate out every meal except Saturday breakfast and dinner last night - and by then, the damage was well-done.  149.9 this morning, and I ache from head to toe.  Can you say, "Inflammation"? 

It didn't help that the kitchen sink decided to clog up on Saturday morning, and that we couldn't get a plumber until Sunday morning, and that he was then nearly an hour later than the early boundary of the appointment window.  Or that we had to get up at 4:45 Sunday to be dressed and coherent when our guest left to catch his plane home.  Exhaustion breeds eating, no doubt, and I ate chips and salsa yesterday.  Among other things.  Here's the list:
  • ham, cheese, and tomato omelet
  • bacon
  • sausage
  • strawberries
  • tea with cream
  • cheese
  • chocolate (about 2 oz of 60% cacao stuff from Trader Joes)
  • chips and salsa
  • meatballs with spaghetti sauce
  • three chocolate cherries
There may have been more - the day was just surreal and all I wanted to do was take a nap - and I couldn't fall asleep in my recliner. 

So, back to it.  Probably a fast some time this week, too; they seem to help in inflammation situations.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Friday

Where there's a will, well, you know the rest.  That said, I feel like I ate bupkus yesterday and managed to gain nearly a pound.  Hate it when that happens.  147.9 this morning, of all things.  Here's the scoop:
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon (3 slices, for some reason)
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • cheese (2 pieces)
  • salad with ham and swiss cheese in it
  • blue cheese dressing
  • strawberry ice cream (one of those Haagen-Dasz individual cups)
  • more tea with cream
  • two chocolate cherries 
And that was it.

Fat 70% (109.6g), Protein 21% (74.5g - better than I would have thought), Carbs 9% (33.6g). 

I did some calculation on the protein intake I should be hitting, and it looks like I should be between 66 and 130ish grams per day, so that's in there, although on the lower side.  Will keep plugging.  I certainly continue to feel healthy, so it's not like I'm going to stop or anything.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Thursday

Well, this should be interesting. Looks like my personal email server has been classified as a security hazard at work, so I can't get to it anymore, and that's how I've been posting these. I can still get to it from my phone, though.
So - a brief update, possibly with autocorrect errors. 147.0 this morning, again. Here's yesterday:
  • Scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • Tea with cream
  • The usual supplements
  • Cheese
  • Chicken, rice, guacamole, cheese bowl
  • About 6 chips
  • Chile con queso
  • Wedge salad with bacon
  • Blue cheese dressing
  • Glass of Pinot grigio
  • About 2 bites of chocolate lava cake
  • About 1 bite of ice cream
I think that was it. We will be eating light this evening, apparently, so maybe I can get the weight thing sorted.