Wednesday

I had my first Rolfing session last night - the one that concentrates on breathing, of all things.  When it was done, I stood up and felt like I'd been issued a new body.  Wow!  I'm a little stiff this morning, but not in pain, and I'm finding that I'm no longer feeling pain I didn't even know I had - that's the best way I can describe it for now, anyway.  Kind of amazing.

149.0 this morning; here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• beef jerky
  
• a bag of M&Ms (started to type, "a gag of M&Ms"; maybe that would be a better description)
  
• Chipotle barbacoa with salsa, guac, cheese, and sour cream
  
• iced tea
  

That was it.  Not quite a fast, but not much, either.  Effective in shedding a pound of something.

Tuesday

150.0 this morning; here's yesterday:

• scrambled eggs
  
• tea with cream
  
• bacon
  
• the usual supplements
  
• beef jerky (2 bags)
  
• taco salad with sour cream and cheese and beef
  
• egg nog (1 glass, homemade)
  
• cashews
  

I think that was it.  My head is less stuffed up and nasty, and for that, I'm grateful.

Monday

148.8 yesterday morning, the second day of reduction after a night on Advil PM (that is, I took it Friday night).  I think that the "PM" component, which is an antihistamine, has some diuretic properties, since taking Advil PM seems right now to be the ONLY effing way to make the weight go down.  150.8 this morning, and my head is stuffed up and decidedly uncomfortable.  I did some sinus irrigation yesterday that seems only to have made things worse - yippee.  So I feel like crap, I cannot get the water to go away for more than about 24 hours, and I'm frustrated.

I ate things like bacon, cheese, coconut oil, and meat and salad yesterday - the only carbs were 1 (yes, really) Nacho Cheese Dorito and a twice-baked potato half, and whatever carbs are in homemade eggnog (2 Tbsp sugar, and whatever is in 1.5 cups of milk, divided among 6 portions).  Granted, the coconut oil was in chocolate bark, but it was made with Lindt's 85% and a piece of bark probably has about 1/2 square of the chocolate in it, which equates to maybe 1 g carb, I think.  I don't have an exact list of what I ate yesterday, though; my head is so stuffed up that I can't do justice to coherent thought today.  I don't think it's an illness, but it is annoying.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow.  

Friday

Ugh.  I am in ketosis - verified that last night via some Keto-stix I had at home.  I am also swollen up and bloated and mildly constipated.  I do not feel particularly well.  Not pleasant.  And I gained weight yesterday - I'm at 150.8 right now.  Things are not going well.

But I have faith in ketosis.  I know it has worked in the past, so I am persevering.  Here's yesterday's eating:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• chef's salad (ham, turkey, cheese) with blue cheese dressing
  
• two or three pieces of cheese (dinner)
  
• about 2 servings of coconut flakes
  

Broken down, I'd say I had maybe 20g carbs yesterday - possibly less.  I know that I'm retaining water through some sort of hormonal hell, but I don't want to contribute to it any more than I have to.  And I successfully resisted chocolate cravings last night, so that's something.

Thursday

Dammit.  Back up to 150.2 this morning, after a day of perfect low-carb eating yesterday.  Very excruciatingly annoying.  Here's the list:

• bacon
  
• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• cheese (gruyere)
  
• a bit more cheese (cheddar)
  
• more tea with cream
  
• hot and sour soup
  
• beef with green pepper, no rice (gummy-nasty sauce, though)
  
• more cheese (gruyere and cheddar)
  

High fat, low carb - the carbs would have been in the cheese (minimal) and the soup and the sauce, and that's it.  And the net result was 0.8 pounds up.  Irritating.

However, I read Peter Attia's blog entry yesterday, all about how ketosis works, and I will keep on with the very low carb stuff to get back into it; my brain was mush yesterday, probably indicative of low-carb flu, and I want the sharpness of ketosis back.

Wednesday

I don't know if I weighed myself yesterday or not.  Regardless, I'm at 149.4 this morning, so some improvement from Monday.  Here's yesterday's eating:

• ham and cheese omelet
  
• bacon
  
• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• cashews
  
• two string cheeses
  
• beef stroganoff (no starch, just meat, mushrooms, and sauce)
  
• salad with blue cheese dressing
  
• red wine
  
• two pieces of cheese
  
• and a stupid fundraising chocolate bar
  

I'm still having trouble getting those last carbs out the door, unfortunately. But it was generally a good day, so I won't complain.  No idea what we're doing for dinner tonight.  I need to plan better, I think.  The stroganoff was composed of onions, butter, mushrooms, beef stock and wine, sliced filet mignon, and sour cream, and was oh-so-good.

Monday

I suppose that a Thanksgiving weekend where one comes out only 0.4 pounds heavier than one went in should be termed a success, but I'm still bummed.  The water, it will not leave!  150.4 this morning.  I saw 149.2 one of the mornings over the weekend, but don't recall which.  I know it's hormones, but it's annoying, and rather painful, and I want it to stop.

We did the Turkey Trot on Thursday - 4 miles in just over an hour - 1:07:55, I think.  Not bad, given that we all walked together and had the dog with us - and he was very well behaved, considering it was his first walk and first (with us, anyway) experience with large crowds.  Biz was a bit lingeringly stiff, but that might have been illness - she's been fighting a cold or something for about 3 weeks, and four days' rest gave the virus a chance to win, it appears.  Lee and I were very mildly sore on Friday, and pretty much had it all gone by Saturday.

Yesterday's eating was all over the board.  Here's a list:

• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• link sausage
  
• tea with cream
  
• cheese
  
• turkey leftovers
  
• Junior Mints (oops)
  
• steak
  
• brussels sprouts with bacon and pecans
  
• red wine
  
• raspberry ice cream
  
• a handful of cashews
  

I'm fairly sure that's all of it.  Fasting today - I need to get back into ketosis, and stick with it for the rest of the year.  I have let out my ballgown in the hips, which was fairly easy - doing the same with the waist would be much more difficult, so I would prefer not to have to do that.  So today's fast is very intentional and serious, and no matter how hungry I get (stomach growling at the moment, for that matter), I'm sticking with it until dinner, which can be meat-and-veg but nothing else.  The plan is to be very low to zero carb the rest of the week.