Thursday, December 31, 2015

Thursday

So all the weight I appeared to have lost earlier in the week? Gone. 158.8 today, for crying out loud. On an effing Fat Fast! I have legitimate water bags under my eyes right now, I felt so rotten last night that I couldn't do my exercises, and it was apparently for naught.

Well, shit.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • the egg souffle thingie
  • 2 portions of butter roasted pecans
  • a cup of chicken bouillon
  • broccoli-cheese soup
  • 2 pieces of cheese
  • about 7 cashews
And no, I don't think the cashews were what gained me a pound. Sorry.

I have been hungry for 3 straight days. I have exercised extreme self-discipline for that time, and avoided even considering eating the chocolates in the kitchen at the office (that I brought in on Monday to get rid of at home). I didn't even go for the third bag of pecans. And in that process, I gained weight. Nobody can tell me that's physics. That's hormones. So annoying.

I am absolutely in ketosis - at least, I'm peeing Moderate ketones. And that's quite something, really; I rarely see the stick that dark. Had a couple of leg cramps last night, too - despite the added salt from the chicken bouillon. Oh, and given that the salt is supposed to help me feel warmer, I found it super ironic that I was freezing all night.

Some days, nothing goes right, I guess. That sums up yesterday.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Wednesday

Yesterday was a rather aggravating day at work - lots of drama with stuff my team supports, unfortunately. So I was in a fairly crabby mood on the way home. But - and this is fabulous - I stuck to my fast. Had my broccoli soup, spent the evening working on putting Christmas stuff away around the house - we are doing it early this year because we don't have the luxury of time on weekends in January to do it slowly - and didn't snack. I did my stretches. I did have cheese again - I think I may have been skimping on the cream in my tea in the morning and was not getting the full 200 calories worth, so again, I was hungry after the soup. I also had some chicken bouillon - but without the protein this time.

I have been testing for ketones with keto stix this week, just to see if it was detectable. Not the first night, but I did have some last night. The keto stix are expired, but I figure a change in color of any sort is probably reliable enough for me.

With all that, 157.4 this morning. Just bother. Probably my gut; since Saturday, it's been extremely quiet.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • the ham and cheese egg thing
  • 2 portions of butter-roasted pecans
  • broccoli cheese soup
  • 2 pieces of cheddar
  • one pork rind
  • a cup of chicken bouillon
That was it. Same today, I expect.

Tonight is an exercise night for my back and shoulders. Now that I'm paying attention to them, I notice that my right shoulder clicks a lot more - indicative of loose support, I believe. It isn't hurting, though - and it was about a week ago, so that's already an improvement. The back stretches, and one bout of the exercises, do seem to have loosened up my hips a bit, too. Definitely worth continuing.

I'm also seeing some habit-improvements from the new Vivofit - I do things during the day to get up and move more, because I don't like the red band. So I had more steps yesterday than the day before, which is good.

One interesting thing last night. I was tired and cranky when I got home, but noticed that I had quite a bit of energy to start putting stuff away with. One of those great ketosis side effects.

So today is the last official fat-fast day. I think I have one more egg thing for breakfast tomorrow, and see no reason not to just eat butter pecans during the day, so I guess it will continue until dinner tomorrow, when Lee has some steaks wrapped in bacon for us. But then what? I'm thinking continuing on very low carb, trying not to get back into my "oh, a few chips won't hurt" routine, keeping the nuts low and portioned, staying in ketosis. And using the energy it gives me to get things done around the house at night - we will need that to get through the next month, that's for sure!

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Tuesday

I think yesterday went pretty well. I managed to stay within the fat fast guidelines until after dinner, when I had to have 2 pieces of cheese to allay actual hunger - and I know that with this way of eating, it's okay to eat when actually hungry. But other than that, I did not snack. 156.8 this morning; here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • egg, ham, and cheese cup thingie (from the fat fast cookbook)
  • total of 1/2 cup butter-roasted pecans
  • a serving of broccoli cheese soup
  • 2 pieces of cheese
  • a cup of chicken bouillon with gelatin
The chicken bouillon is an effort to increase my salt intake, because I read recently that salt may be helpful in reducing my cold sensitivity. I would love that, especially since our office at work is very cold, and since I've been somewhat freezing for the past year or so (in between hot flashes - no middle ground!). We shall see how that works.

Today's eating should look a lot like the list above. Although, if Lee opts for a steak for dinner, I'll make mushrooms with boursin cheese for my dinner, and split them with him. 

I sort of figured that my being in the 157-ish area was an aftereffect of my being ill on Saturday, and that it wouldn't stick around. If this fat fast makes it stick, I'll be quite happy. If it can get me lower than that, and into decent levels of nutritional ketosis through the end of January, I'll be even happier, even if I need to be super careful about drinking during Mardi Gras. I know my lack of estrogen is likely to make it harder to free up the stored fat, but post-menopausal women do lose weight without having life-threatening diseases, so it must be possible. Right?

Got in a marginally okay number of steps yesterday - what I did find is that the little chirp the new wearable makes when I sit for too long is making me get up and at least go to the restroom, to get rid of the red bar. I think that is a good thing. And last night, it had me walking up and down stairs a bunch (trailed by Charlie), which amused Lee no end. Also gave my thighs a good workout - they're a bit sore this morning.

Did my shoulder and back exercises again last night. I'm sore there as well, which means they're doing something. Stretching tonight only. I do hope this stuff works, because my shoulders have been obnoxious for about 4 years now, and I'm sick of it.

Three-day weekend coming up. If the weather is good, we'll try that whole walking thing again. No progress on the treadmill yet - that may be a post-Mardi Gras thing.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Monday

Day 1 of my fat fast. I've had probably 300 calories worth of food today - an egg/ham/cheese souffle thingie, and tea with cream. I have bags of butter-roasted pecans (with a bit of taco seasoning) for throughout the day, with the intention of having broccoli-cheese soup for dinner.

I can do a three-day thing. I've tried the Whole 30 twice that I can remember, and failed both times. They say that it's not hard, and they're right, of course. But I have not been able to do it.

So, anyway. I was sick overnight Friday-Saturday, and lost 4 pounds in the process. Gained much of it back yesterday, but it's gone again today. I hope it was at least a bit real. Or that doing the fat fast will make it real. 157.0 today.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • machaca (eggs, shredded beef, peppers, cheese)
  • a couple of pieces of cheese
  • 2 or 3 chocolates (bidding farewell to them for the foreseeable future, now that the holidays are done)
  • 3 almond-flour butter cookies
  • pot roast with roast carrots
  • mashed cheesy cauliflower
I think that was it. I was being cautious after the previous day, and wasn't super hungry anyway.

So my plan for the 4-day weekend was to walk every day outside. I managed once - on Christmas day itself. I really don't remember what stopped us on Thursday, and Saturday, I was basically hard down all day, although we did run some errands once I thought it was safe to leave the house. Sunday, we had weather all day - it rained a bunch, mostly. The plan to acquire a treadmill gains strength, because otherwise, I just don't have the option to walk.

One of our Saturday errands was to buy dumbbells. I am starting to work on fixing what ails my shoulders - mostly the right one but they're both wobbly. I found a routine created by a physical therapist that is short and sweet and very targeted for that, and another one for the lower back (which doesn't require dumbbells). Started the shoulder thing on Saturday, and will be doing it for the next 6 weeks (that's the plan, although I need to be more detailed about exactly how I will carry it out).

I have a new wearable tracker - a Garmin Vivofit. Got it for Christmas, and Lee says he bought it BEFORE Charlie ate the NikePlus. So far, I miss the colorful goal celebrations, and I really liked the overall design of the Nike better, but this thing is way better about step counts, and does what looks like real sleep tracking. Which is awesome. Also it has replaceable batteries that last a year or more. So I think it will be overall much more useful than the Nike one. That said, I've sucked at getting anywhere near the goals it's setting (it responds to your actual activity by trying to push you to improve on yesterday's effort, and I was a slug much of the weekend). I don't think I'll go into march-in-place mode like I did in my early days with the Nike one, but I will try to take the stairs more, things like that. And, if we can get the treadmill going, that will help a lot.


Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Wednesday

Still 159.6 this morning. I guess that's good, although I sort of thought it would be less.

My stomach was rather unhappy yesterday. Probably recuperating from the weekend's excesses. I'm not sure I'm fully over them, but I feel better than I did at dinner time last night.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • strawberries
  • bacon
  • the usual supplements
  • an apple
  • 4 pieces of cheese
  • a bag of trail mix that was mostly raisins
  • a large bowl of hot and sour soup
  • 1 Lindt truffle - white chocolate
  • another piece of cheese
Not ideal; could have been worse. No apple today. We have one Granny Smith left, and I'll use it for cooking - they're actually tough, and not fun to eat. No trail mix, either. Blecch. If I need more than 4 pieces of cheese, I'll finish the stupid almonds.

Achy this morning, although I generally slept well. Woke around 4:30 - that seems to be a thing. No leg cramps. I expect I'll have them next week with the fat fast - not sure if there's much I can do to avoid them, truly. Nothing I've tried to date has worked.

We cannot find the dumbbells that I owned before we moved. So we will be shopping for another set in the next few days - maybe tomorrow, since I'm off work. Oh - I should get some walking in this weekend - 4 days' worth. Good idea!

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Tuesday

I'm happy to say I was at 159.6 this morning; apparently, much of yesterday was water. Did not think it was. I'm still planning on the fat fast - have identified some specific stuff to eat for the 3-5 days' worth of it, and think I've figured out how to get Lee fed more or less properly while I'm doing it. Starting next week - Sunday or Monday, depending on how much prep I get done when.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon (I think; might have been sausage)
  • a Macintosh apple
  • 4 pieces of cheddar
  • almonds
  • a handful of Cashew coconut toffee
That was it. Stressful evening, and even with Benadryl, it took me over an hour to get to sleep. So be it. I'm feeling fairly okay this morning - didn't wake up until around 4:20, although I had 2 leg cramps.

Tonight, assuming I get home at a reasonable time (the stress last night was from working late, but that was a planned thing), I'm going hunting for my dumbbells. And starting to work on the exercises for my shoulder. My hip is also feeling better so far; I hope it will continue.

Ham for dinner, I think. With green beans. What we bought to eat on Sunday but weren't ultimately hungry for once we got home. I also have fresh salad dressing, and we should have a salad. If we could just discipline ourselves into doing that nightly, we'd both lose weight and feel better. But it's really hard at the end of the day to muster the psychic energy to do much of anything. Now that we're through the pre-Christmas travel burst, and have 2 weekends at home to look forward to, I think I'll do some crock-pottery and prep-cooking, and get food frozen so we can eat conveniently.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Monday

Spent the weekend in New Orleans. Need I say more? 161.0 this morning. Not surprised. Not thrilled, for sure.

I ordered fish for my lunch on Saturday. It was delicious. It was also breaded. Dessert was bread pudding. I ate it. I've kind of made up my mind that I need to put aside my personal preferences to avoid wheat when at a social occasion, unless it's generally easy to eat properly. So at the evening party on Saturday, I avoided wheat except in gravy and the one Mexican Wedding Cake I ate. But only one.

I told Lee that I'm planning a 3-day fat fast. Since we were gone this past weekend, I didn't start it today, though. I'm thinking next week, or this coming weekend. We will be home, and it should be fairly easy. I bought a big bag of frozen broccoli and some cream cheese, and will make broccoli soup, and I'm thinking I will do butter-roasted pecans and cheese as snacks. Relatively easy, all of it.

Sleep over the weekend was okay; we got in quite late on Friday and the hotel was a bit noisy (a little surprising, since it's in the very quiet end of the quarter). I'm also fighting some mild sciatica, and have tweaked my right shoulder - the sciatica is on the left side. It would be. The combination of those has made sleeping sketchy, because I can only stand to be on either side for a short time before I have pain. However, I bought a book that arrived over the weekend, about fixing the shoulder issues and keeping them from coming back, and read it quickly last night. Simple exercises, and he's reduced the routine to the smallest effective amount of work, which is perfect for me. We are thinking of using our "study" in the bedroom as an exercise area - getting a treadmill since I am not home during daylight for a good chunk of the year and can't go outside and walk. The shoulder exercises can fit nicely in that scheme.

Back to the routine this morning; eggs-and-bacon for breakfast, and I have an apple and cheese with me for lunch/dinner. Working long today, to get a new release into production. But a short week - and that's something to look forward to - we're off both Thursday and Friday.

Friday, December 18, 2015

A bit more Friday

I think I will start a proper fat fast next week - for 3 or 4 days. Heavy cream for breakfast, butter-toasted pecans, broccoli cheese soup for lunch and dinner. Maybe some meat. But really emphasize the fat for a few, and keep the overall volume of food as low as I can manage. Break for Christmas brunch, and then resume a VLC/keto eating approach for the month of January.

Also buy new Spanx. Because my ballgown is clingy.

Friday

Ate better during the day. Ate worse at dinner. Mexican. With a margarita. 160.2 this morning.

I need to get things under control, and right now, they're not.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Thursday

I took an apple and cheese to work yesterday to have when I got hungry instead of candy and instead of almonds. And it mostly worked. I still had almonds - for some reason, I'm getting super hungry mid-day right now - but was able to ignore the candy. So I did it again today.

After work, I had no chocolate. I would regard that as a triumph, except that I had cookies instead. Really good cookies - shortbread thumbprints with lemon curd. I made all of it. Lemon curd turns out to be super easy to make, and I had/have a LOT of lemon juice in the house just now, after making the limoncello on Tuesday. I will probably freeze both the rest of the juice and the lemon curd, which is apparently possible. 

159.8 this morning. So the candy was worse than the cookies, I guess. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • an apple
  • 2 pieces of cheddar
  • almonds (no idea how many)
  • 2 burger patties with green salsa
  • a salad with vinaigrette
  • about 6 cookies and some lemon curd eaten from spoons
  • 3 slices of Swiss cheese
The limoncello is starting to turn yellow already, and I read up on it some more yesterday, so I know what to watch for to tell if it's done steeping. Also how much simple syrup to add to make sure it's not super-alcoholic. Kind of fun making new things from the plants in our yard. And I have more lemons on the tree, and oranges starting to turn orange, so we'll have those all spring, I guess.

I brought 2 more of the cookies with me for "lunch" today. The only change I'd make is to cook them a bit longer - they didn't really crisp up, and are super fragile.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Wednesday

I brought an apple and cheese with me, to help keep me out of the candy at work - I hope! I brought some stuff from home for the team to eat, and they're slow at it. Cashew-coconut toffee has been my downfall. I think I hit it twice yesterday - and the plan yesterday was to fast. Not so much.

160.4 this morning. I need to get myself under control now. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • cashew-coconut toffee (two small handfuls)
  • almonds
  • Fet-zucchini alfredo (just what it sounds like)
  • potato chips
  • about 3 chocolates
Once I got home, it wasn't so bad - I spent much of the evening making limoncello (at least, I hope that's what it will turn out to be. Zested 12 lemons and added vodka - that sits for a month, then I add some simple syrup and let it sit some more. In order not to waste the lemons, I think I'm making lemon curd thumbprint cookies tonight - I juiced them all after zesting.

I'll be working on more lemon-centric cookery; that didn't even dent the tree, I think. Although it was dark when I was out picking them...

Hit the Benadryl last night - which helped. The dogs were fussy around midnight, apparently, and the only thing I noticed was that I had to shift Charlie around so I had enough covers. Around 2, we had a golly-whomping thunderstorm, but that only sort of woke me. I feel much more rested than last night. Tonight will be Lee's turn if he wants it, since he dealt with the dogs' issues.

I've ordered a couple of books on fixing some of our aches and pains - highly rated and by a physical therapist, and I will try them. Also a TENS unit, which I'd never heard of before, but which is supposed to help with pain. Worth a shot, especially at $26.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Tuesday

We got our flu shots last night - for some reason, this past weekend's fiasco led me to believe that we must guard against the influenza cratering Mardi Gras week, so I got feisty about it. 

My arm hurts. I slept like shit. I'm all downhearted this morning. At least one of those is related to the flu shot. I'm betting all of them are.

159.4, which is also depressing. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements with an extra bolus of D
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • almonds
  • a 6 oz sirloin
  • 2 helpings of green beans (BFF steakhouse)
  • random bits of chocolate - maybe 5 pieces
  • a handful of cashews
  • a small glass of eggnog
It's obviously the candy. I need to stop eating the effing candy. I need more fat in the mornings as well. So I stop with the almonds, because they're becoming a constant stream throughout the day.

If Lee was serious yesterday, dinner tonight will be hot dogs and what I'm calling "fetzucchini alfredo" (for me, anyway - he won't eat zoodles). Not sure that's the greatest combo on the planet, but I don't want to waste the zucchini, so that will be part of the deal regardless.

We need to remember we have brats in the freezer, and acquire some normal sauerkraut. I was initially thrilled that HEB makes their own naturally fermented kraut, but they don't make plain - it all has other stuff in it. Anyway, we should have some of that for dinner this week.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Monday

I'm really not sure how to tell this story.

We were supposed to spend this past weekend in Florida with friends. We had a pet-sitter arranged, and I noted here that I was stressing about it, that I was sure something was going to happen, that he wouldn't make it to the house. 

Something did happen. He made it to the house, and Charlie, our youngest dog, decided that he wasn't welcome there. Became uber-territorial. He thought he could make it work, long enough for me to get on the plane to Tampa. Sometime while I was in the air, he decided he couldn't, called Lee, and left the house. 

With the dogs roaming free. Alone at night - something they've never had happen at home.

I landed, heard the update, and rescheduled my Sunday evening flight for Saturday morning. Got maybe an hour of sleep (there were 3 available, I couldn't relax), and came back.

We lucked out. No destruction, no injury, although they all slept most of Saturday, out of relief, I think. A friend was able to come over on Saturday before I got back to give Anneke her meds.

We are working on alternative plans for our trips next month, obviously. And I'm super grateful that Charlie didn't bite him (not at all sure that he wouldn't have done so, given the chance, though).

I was 158.2 yesterday morning; 159.2 this morning. No idea what I ate yesterday, truly.

Slept Saturday night with Benadryl, and woke up with a migraine and loads of energy yesterday - not a great combo, really. But I got all of the presents wrapped, and when Lee got back (he dropped me at the airport and headed west shortly after), we got everything boxed up to mail. So that's done. He's taking them off this morning.

From the Facebook posts, it looks like we missed a fun weekend. There will be others. And the dogs will be at a kennel somewhere. At the vets this coming weekend, but hopefully somewhere a bit nicer after that. If we can find a place that deals with the insulin stuff.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Friday

Wide week. Short, but packed. Sleep last night might have been good, but for the fact that I was too tired to insist that the dogs kennel for bed, and ended up with 2 of them on the bed with me. They allowed me about 18" of mattress to sleep on. 

I've got a new interrupted-sleep pattern going right now. I wake up at about 1:30-2 am, need the radio to fall asleep again, and wake as soon as it goes off (generally 2 hours later). Depending on circumstances, I may be up for the day at that point. I think that was the case this morning. Not that I was let sleep, even if I'd been able to - they all wanted out of the house at 5 am, and breakfast at 5:40 am. So, since my flight to Tampa gets in at 11 something (Florida time), it's going to be a long damn day.

158.8 this morning. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • swiss cheese (3 slices)
  • almonds (lots)
  • 2 pieces of cashew toffee
  • a cup of hot chocolate
  • a lot of English cheddar cheese
  • an apple
  • some sort of chocolate, but I can't recall what it was - or maybe not
I was super tired last night - was in bed at 8. Not asleep until 9:30 when I noticed that I hadn't been reading for a while. I think I also had a leg cramp at some point.

Feeling less stressed, I think. I should have wrapped presents last night, but just couldn't. So it will have to be Monday, I guess - but by then, the weekend stress won't be a factor.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Thursday

Oh, jeez. I was really hoping to sleep well last night, and I guess I did. Until about 2:30 am. Woke then, couldn't get back to sleep until around 4. Slept from then until 5:45. Up, feed the dogs, grab some tea and cheese, head to work. 

Completely strung out with stress right now. Upcoming travel, new dog sitter, handling all of it alone right now because only I am able to get on a plane and Lee left yesterday. The dogs, thank goodness, were really good last night and this morning - they all went nicely to their kennels, despite being kenneled all day yesterday. I can't leave them out by themselves; Anneke and Roscoe would be fine, but Charlie is still eating things he shouldn't. Last night it was a wooden Christmas ornament  off the tree. In any event, I'm not beaten up with guilt about kenneling them; that's Lee's thing. And if he utters a word of complaint about my doing it, I'll bite him.

I won't go into details of the other causes of stress right now; suffice it to say that there are some. New ones from late yesterday - and they're what had me up this morning.

158.2 today; here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • almonds
  • about 3 pieces of some "cashew crunch" candy - no flour, but definitely not Paleo
  • 2 pieces of cheddar cheese
  • a small quantity of potato chips
  • a few chocolate covered raisins
  • some tortilla chips (about 4)
  • a Lindt truffle - milk chocolate, I think
From the cheddar down was what passed for dinner. I got home, got the dogs fed, and spent the evening tidying the house and wrapping presents. Nowhere near done - I may do some tonight, although tonight will be all about getting things ready for the pet sitter. 

Actually, I probably have to do some tonight - all of it that I can get done, as a matter of fact. We have to be able to ship things early next week - oh, and guess what? Early next week means me doing it. Somehow. I have no effing idea how we're going to get this accomplished. Guess the stress isn't likely to let up soon. Dammit.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Wednesday

159.6 this morning. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • almonds
  • salad with some sort of sweet vinaigrette
  • a chicken breast (it was chicken parmesan; I de-crusted it)
  • leftover potroast with potatoes, carrots, and green beans
  • 3 pieces of cheddar
  • a few cashews
  • lots of chocolate things (raisins, Nuggets, almonds)
That was it. I'm pretty stressed about the trip this weekend and leaving the dogs, and it's showing up in my evening eating. Slept less awful last night, but this morning's commute was fairly wretched, so I'm working to get calmed down for the day.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Tuesday

159.8; here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements (which I only take M-F, by the way)
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • almonds (salted)
  • grilled marinated flank steak
  • salad with faux Olive Garden dressing
  • chocolate covered raisins and almonds
  • a small container of potato chips
That was it. I was hungry last night, and this morning between 3:20 am and when I got up at 6. Unfortunately, I know that because I was awake the entire time. Sweating out the dog sitter stuff for the weekend. Not good.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Monday

159.8 this morning and damn relieved about it. I had half a donut yesterday, for starters.

Wait.

Should I get that stirred up about half a freaking donut? I'm starting to wonder. On the other hand, the donut came with a cup of super-sweet hot chocolate that I got in lieu of tea (they didn't sell it), and presaged a nosh-fest that lasted all day yesterday. So maybe the donut was the trigger for all the other sugar consumption. 

Anyway, that was our last semi-free weekend until Christmas - next weekend is the trip to Tampa, and the weekend after that is in NOLA for the Queen's Lunch and Chuck and Anna's Christmas party. I'm starting to feel a bit stressed about it all, but I do think we have managed to get some level of Christmas present shopping done for all the family and friends. Not quite done, but close. Just got wrapping and shipping to do.

With the Mardi Gras stuff right on the heels of Christmas, starting with our lunch on January 9th, you have no idea how much I'm looking forward to February right now. 

For sleep, I relied on Benadryl on Friday night, and got it by more normal means Saturday and last night - much better than it had been late last week, for whatever reason. Possibly it was due to getting a lot of sunlight on Saturday during the day and driving home in the dark from church that night. None of which applied to last night. Whatever.

Flank steak for dinner tonight, with salad, I think. Leftovers tomorrow, and the next 2 nights, I'm on my own - which probably means cheese. And that's fine. I'll eat light and wrap presents and be ready to get boxes out of the house as soon as I get back from Tampa, and hopefully that will be soon enough.

Oh. One sad note. Charlie got hold of my FuelBand on Saturday, and gnawed it enough to render it unusable. He didn't eat it, so we don't have to add the insult of a vet bill to the injury of losing expensive electronic toys, but it won't be part of my bio-hacking going forward. Bummer. Sort of, that is - I really hadn't been paying much attention to it of late, anyway, and had found that, in comparison with the FitBits and the Garmin VivoFit, it was super-inaccurate as to step-counts, which probably caused me to pay even less attention to it. Anyway, RIP. Don't know if I'll get one of the others to replace it or not.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Friday

The temptation to put my head on my desk and pass out this morning is strong. Woke with fasciculation and incipient calf cramps at a little before 1, and got back to drowsing some time after 3. I feel somewhere in the "hit by a bus" category; nasty.

159.2 this morning, so maybe the fasciculation was meaningful. I am going to try really hard to keep the ketosis going - and I rather wonder if the salt in the almonds is helping or hurting it. Which I think I said yesterday. I'm tired.

Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • almonds
  • salad with Olive Garden dressing (some breadcrumbs; we forgot to ask for no-croutons)
  • chicken breast with a clearish sauce
  • about 1 TBSP of mashed potatoes
  • 1 piece of cheddar cheese
  • too many chocolate covered raisins
  • 1 Hershey's Nugget
That was it, I think. Long day yesterday, long commute, and I fell asleep quickly and easily. It just didn't last. I've had that occur several times this week, don't know why. I hope it's not a new trend, because I was enjoying the uninterrupted 6-8 hours I was getting. Problem today was that I couldn't relax my legs or they'd cramp up - not painfully, but tightly. And I took the Potassium at bedtime, too. Bother.

Long day today; we're going to the city's tree-lighting ceremony. May get home around 8 if we're lucky. At least it's the weekend - our last one that is not fully booked up. May spend it wrapping stuff. Or something.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Thursday

Interesting. The last 2 jobs, writing here was pretty much my first task every day. They were both fairly boring jobs, which I'm thinking is why. Now, I have other things I want to get done first, and I get to this late in the day. Probably a good sign, as regards stress.

Anyway, 159.6 this morning, after a holiday party. I behaved myself. One glass of red wine, meats, veg, and cheeses. Here's the rundown:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • salted almonds - seem not to be causing problems, btw
  • salami and mixed cheeses
  • a couple of cornichon pickles (not sour, though, slightly sweet)
  • a glass of Pinot Noir
  • romain lettuce and tomato salad with a vinaigrette
  • brussels sprouts and pomegranate seeds
  • beef tenderloin, smoked
  • 2 Hershey's kisses
  • 1-2 Hershey's nuggets (leaning toward 1)
  • a couple of pieces of Cheddar
That was it. And I was hungry this morning around 5:30 am, which seems like a good thing. I also had leg cramps overnight, which is indicative of a low-carb diet and not entirely a good thing (since they wake me up). Interesting that the salt in the almonds is not enough to prevent the electrolyte leaching - and that the nightly Magnesium is not preventing this. Maybe I add a potassium to the nightly pile-o-pills (making it 3 - Mg, K, and Melatonin).

Still haven't managed any exercise, bar standing around eating finger food. I need something, because I'm feeling all balled-up - literally, it's like I'm curling in onto myself a bit, and standing for any length of time, or sitting in a pew in church, is getting uncomfortable. I do seem to be making progress correcting my seating posture, though - back onto my sit bones, not my tailbone, which I'd been doing over the summer. Need to stay vigilant about that one, I think.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Wednesday

The almonds I have at work are salted. I don't know how that will play out, generally. They're quite tasty, and have only almonds and salt in them, but I don't normally eat a lot of salt, and I'm a bit worried about water retention.

That said, I ate quite a few of them yesterday and wasn't much swollen last night or this morning. 160.0 today. Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • a slice of pumpkin pie (GF crust)
  • almonds - raw and salted roasted ones
  • vegetable beef soup (with carrots, peas, beans, and parsnips)
  • a container of cashews - probably 2 handfuls
  • 2-3 Hersheys Nuggets (wretched things)
I think that was it. It might have been a good idea to have a salad with the soup, rather than just the soup alone. Good soup, though, for throwing a bunch of stuff in the crock pot and hoping for the best. We had the parsnips left over from a dinner Elizabeth made us while she was here, and they seemed like a good soup vegetable, so I added them. No idea what they taste like, but good texture.

Sleep involved Charlie on the bed. I know I woke at 11:35 and was up past midnight, but not all the way to 1 am. Woke again after 5, so possibly a better night's sleep than normal? Hard to say. Three nights ago, Anneke was whining and we let them all out; two nights ago, we left her and Roscoe free to roam but closed Charlie's kennel, and that worked, but last night he was wise to us. Tonight, everybody's confined again, I think. I am a bit groggy.

"Dinner" tonight at a company cocktail party - no idea if there will be anything there not swaddled in puff pastry. I hope so. Puff pastry is not food. I think I'll be eating a lot of salted almonds today, just in case they have to sustain me.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Tuesday

So yesterday I sat here and said that I was going to be good about eating for the rest of the month - and wasn't. We ended up eating out for dinner at a sort of comfort-food place, and the waiter brought us fried green tomatoes and fried okra as a substitute for bread. Since they're breaded, not a very good substitute. I'd never had one, and tried them. They're tasty. So I had more.

My thumb joints hurt this morning for the first time in years. I think perhaps that a combo of flour (in the tomatoes as well as in some soup) and nasty frying oil is at fault. 

160.4 this morning, so a half-pound up overnight. From that mess, I imagine, and a very salty "chopped steak". Here's yesterday:
  • tea with cream
  • the usual supplements
  • scrambled eggs
  • sausage patties
  • almonds
  • fried green tomatoes and fried okra (breaded) with ranch dip
  • salad with blue cheese dressing
  • tomato basil cream soup (almost certainly with a roux)
  • chopped steak with onions and peppers (gravy on the side)
  • 2-3 Hershey's Nuggets
  • a handful of cashews
I think that was it. Obviously snacking was high at night, and dinner was far from Paleo.

Here's the thing. I've gained nearly 20 pounds from my low point, which was a weight I rather liked (from an appearance standpoint as well as everything else). I'm up 15 from where I'd be super happy, and up 10 from where I'd find it acceptable. Enough already. I was able to lose 50 pounds originally; why can I not lose 10-20 now? I could blame hormones/menopause, but I think that's all stabilized enough that I should at least be dealing with the world as it is - I shouldn't be having things shift out from under me all the time. 

Right. So, starting over. Meat and leaves. Stop eating the following altogether:
  • breaded and fried anything.
  • Fried anything (i.e., french fries, potato chips, etc)
  • sugar (candy, chocolates, maple syrup, honey, etc)
  • legumes (refried beans, charro beans, black beans, peanuts) except green peas and green beans
  • starch (potatoes, whatever else falls in that category)
I wonder if the old Archevore 12 steps are still out there? I should go review them again. Because that's what I want to do.