Friday

149.4 again today.  Can I say "stall"?  I think so.  Can I live with that?  Yes.  I am going to continue to work on strength right now, and keeping in ketosis - getting that cemented.  Which seems to be happening - I was in "moderate" levels again last night.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• macadamia nuts (10-16, in 2-nut portions throughout the day)
  
• Fuzzy's big shredded beef salad, avoiding the bits of tortilla chip
  
• iced tea
  
• a small handful of cashews
  
• 3 pieces of cheese
  

That was it.  If I had any belief in "calories-in-calories-out", this would be driving me quite mad.  Not to say that I'm complacent; I would prefer to be losing a bit of weight.  But I don't feel like my worldview has been shattered when I don't eat a lot and lose no weight.  And, apart from another night of crap sleep (heat, compounded by dogs), I feel as good as ever I have.  Well, except for the muscle stiffness from exercising the other day...

Onward!

Thursday

Held steady overnight at 149.4; we went to the gym after work and before dinner, which probably contributed (either through a kick to the metabolism or through increased inflammation for muscle recovery, I'm not sure which).  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• 5 macadamia nuts (I think)
  
• double quarter pounder with cheese, no bun
  
• 15 french fries (I did NOT order them, but found them and their insidious fragrance in the bag when I opened it.  So I allotted myself 15 and threw the rest away)
  
• cheese
  
• hamburger with blue cheese in it (not grassfed)
  
• salad with blue cheese dressing
  
• two small handfuls of cashews
  

Kind of a lot of eating.  I had thought that I might be stalling out my metabolism by overeager fasting, and I think that may be true.  So, since I hadn't had breakfast yesterday, I made sure to have lunch.  

At the gym, I did 15 minutes and a bit of recumbent cycling at a lowish setting (5 on a scale of I don't know what), with 2 15-second sprint intervals.  Steady state was about 60-70 RPM; sprint ran up to about 115.  I "covered" 3 miles, according to the thingie.  I also did some chest press and rowing stuff, fairly low weights, to start working my arms and shoulders and hopefully building up against future injury.  I can feel that I did both today - a bit stiff, but not unbearably so.  About right.  I really need to get the strength up; I don't intend to be a feeble old lady, but rather one of those that can outwork my juniors right to the end.  Not true at the moment, so I'm fixing it.

Ketosis in "moderate" at bedtime, despite the fries, thank goodness.  No leg cramps.

However, sleep has been utter crap lately.  It's been warm out, and our bedroom is unshaded, leaving it the only warm room in the house most days.  Great in winter.  Not so useful just now.  I recall re-awakening at least 4 times over the night, and had vivid dreams throughout.  And I feel much like a wet rag this morning.  Not helpful to stress or weight management, I know.  We're trying something new with the swamp cooler today/tonight, to see if we can get the room any cooler, and keep it that way.  And I think I will avoid tea after dinner, see if that helps any.

Push comes to shove, I'll try the standing on one leg thing from Seth Roberts again.

Wednesday

149.4 today.  Here's what I ate yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• cheese (1 piece at breakfast, possibly 1 after dinner)
  
• the usual supplements
  
• macadamia nuts (6-8 throughout the day)
  
• 2 skewers of Teriyaki beef (Chinese restaurant)
  
• the innards of an order of Chicken lettuce wraps, which was chicken, carrots, water chestnuts, and some sauce)
  

That was it.  A little salty, and I am a bit suspect of the chicken, which seemed a bit crusty to me and may have had some sort of starch on it when cooked.  I don't feel swollen, so I don't think it's excessive water.  We did not make it to the gym last night; Biz didn't feel well, and we had other things to do.  Tonight is now the plan.  And stuffed burgers for dinner.  I am feeling so much better right now than I had been before recommitting to very low carb and more nutrition, that I would like to say that I'm not going to worry about weight - but I know that's not true.  Right now, my goal is to lock myself into a ketogenic-adapted (whatever) state and up my activity to improve strength.  And on the first half of that, I had "strong" ketosis at bedtime last night - and a calf cramp to go with it.

Tuesday

Stress?  Not sure what was different today from yesterday, but I'm at 149.2 this morning. I'm starting to realize that I'm finding my job fairly irritating and while I haven't spent a lot of time on the topic, I don't think I'm in a position to change things to make it less irritating.  Probably not a good weight loss factor.  Anyway, here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• macadamia nuts (12ish throughout the day)
  
• Greek-style salad with salami, feta, and vinaigrette
  
• cheese (about 5 pieces?)
  
• strawberries and whip cream - this may be the issue
  
• cashews - two small handfuls
  

That was it.  A fairly short list, and I was solidly in the "moderate" zone on ketosis at bedtime.  So, today, I've had a piece of cheese for breakfast and will be keeping the macadamias down unless I get honestly hungry.  Tentative plans are to hit the gym tonight, but we don't know what we want for dinner.  Something to ponder over the course of the day - keep my mind off the irritation.

Monday

Good weekend.  Excellent weekend, as far as eating goes.  I'm down to 149.0 this morning and feel like I finally have that damn water gone.  I don't know if the 7 pounds down this past week are all water or if at least some of them are fat, but I certainly hope some are fat.  Anyway, success reinforces good behavior, and I had a very low carb weekend.  Saw the ketostix register above "moderate" on Saturday night, even.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• no supplements
  
• cheese
  
• cashews - two small handfuls
  
• a small glass of white wine
• filet mignon with truffle butter (oh my goodness, truffle butter is good stuff!)
  
• salad with blue cheese dressing
  
• strawberries, raspberries, blueberries with very lightly sweetened whip cream
  

And that was it.  Spent a good chunk of the morning outdoors gardening, and even went out for a bit of Vitamin D gathering - worked on some cross-stitch out on the front patio.  I can't say at this point that I'm in the clear, or that the increased carbs of the past year and a bit are to blame for me feeling somewhat ugh earlier this year, but I feel a lot better now - even after a night of frustration dreams broken by the room being a bit too warm, I feel pretty much able to tackle the world today.  So things are going well.

Correction

I was down more than 0.2 pounds.  Pretty sure today's weight was actually 152.6, not 152.8.

Friday

152.8, I think, this morning.  So, 3 pounds down for the week.  Not bad - and I'm feeling like I'm finally getting a handle on the knee-strength issue that's been bugging me for about a month, too.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• 2 pieces of deli ham
  
• strawberries (about 1/2 pound)
  
• macadamia nuts - a lot, mostly after dinner
  
• hamburger patty with bacon and cheddar cheese in it
  
• most of a sliced avocado
  
• two pieces of cheese
  
• white wine
  

That was it.  So, cool!

Thursday

153.0.  A little incremental improvement.  Day by day, that's all I'm asking for.  Here's yesterday:

• 1 serving (2 of them) of the egg custards from the 30 Day Guide to Paleo Cooking
  
• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• 4 macadamia nuts (throughout the day)
  
• 2 pieces of cheese
  
• 2 brats with Dijon mustard
  
• sauerkraut
  
• 3 homegrown strawberries
  
• a small handful of cashews
  

Found the strawberries in the garden; the net seems to be working, at least a little.  There are still quite a few white ones in there, so I have some hope of eating more - and maybe getting them just a tad riper.  They were tasty, though.

We went to the gym last night - I want to try using a stationary bike to work on my knee strength, hoping to get to the point where I can even attempt real squats.  So I rode for a combined half-hour, I think, with 3 or 4 15-second sprints worked in, and did some leg presses and arm extensions (triceps).  Not too sore today; I may be tomorrow.

I meant to mention something a while back.  It seems that all fast food joints have eliminated full-fat salad dressing.  I don't know who or what is pressuring (yes, I said that out loud) or motivating them to do such an unhealthy thing, but I cannot get blue cheese dressing at Chik-Fil-A or McDonalds, and everything else on offer appears to be the "lite" version.  Blecch.  Not that I eat fast food all that often, but I would really like not to have a salad morph into dessert when I do.  Back to naked burgers, I guess.

Wednesday

153.2 this morning, so nearly back to where we started before vacation.  Still feeling very much in charge of things - much like I did when we first changed to Paleo.  So that's good.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• roast beef (sliced - a full sandwich's worth)
  
• turkey (sliced - a half sandwich's worth)
  
• strawberries and pineapple (mostly the former)
  
• sliced tomatoes
  
• 3 potato chips
  
• 4 macadamia nuts
  
• salad with steak in it - and blue cheese dressing
  

Considering that I spent most of a 3-hour meeting sitting at a table with the bag of Ruffles right in front of me, I believe that eating only 3 of them is a mark of near inhuman restraint.  Could I have eaten none?  Maybe.  And they weren't as good to eat as to think about eating.  The strawberries were ones I'd brought from home - about 1/2 pound, I think.  The salad for dinner was awesome - and huge - I ate the steak, but did not finish the salad.  And I'm just now realizing, it was chock-full of red onions, which I didn't avoid, and which are not bothering my stomach at all - onions used to be a huge gas-producer for me.  Nice change!

I had a lot of energy last night - planted my lavender plant (souvenir of vacation), adjusted the strawberry bed net (so far, not very effective - and applied late), and made some egg-custard quiche things from the new Paleo cookbook I got at Costco (by the authors of Make it Paleo, but I can't recall the title - it's not Gather, that I know).

At bedtime, ketosis registered between small and medium.

Tuesday

Fast went well yesterday; I made it through the day on 10-12 macadamia nuts, eaten two at a time over multiple hours.  Had dinner and a bit of cheese after, and that was it.  153.8 today, probably mostly water, although to judge by how my feet and hands felt this morning, not all of the water there is to lose.  Annoying, really.

Here's yesterday in detail:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• macadamia nuts (10-12)
  
• chicken breast
  
• salad with blue cheese
  
• cheese (2-3 pieces, not sure)
  

That was it.  I'm feeling right now like I have some control; more like I did right after I started down this road 3 years ago, which seems like a very good thing.  I also had a lot of energy last night and put it to work around the house.  Fasted breakfast again today; we are being fed lunch at work due to a lunch meeting today.  I am steeling myself against eating potato chips, which I know will be there.  My plan is to eat meat and cheese from 2 sandwich pieces, and the strawberries I brought with me, and to stop after that.  Probably a couple of macadamias before then, to help foster ketosis and the sense that carbs are not food.

And that reminds me - ketosis at bedtime last night was in the "small" category, up from "trace".  Planning on continuing to work that trend.

Monday (post-vacation)

155.8.  

I'm quite annoyed at myself.  I didn't have to eat like that on vacation.  But there it is - and that's down a bit from yesterday.  Lee was up by 4 pounds, too.  So we are on a strict meat-and-leaves eating plan for the foreseeable future.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• sausage
  
• cheese
  
• green chile
  
• fruit - strawberries, pineapple, grapes
  
• cheese
  
• macadamia nuts (about 10, I think)
  
• hamburger patty
  
• 2 hot dogs
  
• salad with blue cheese dressing
  

Very slight ketosis at bedtime; I'm working on getting that up and keeping it there for a while.  Fasting today - on purpose.  Dinner probably chicken and salad, at least, I think that's what we'll have.

Suffice it to say that at one point during vacation, I single-handedly consumed 8/10ths of a packet of Walker's nonesuch toffee - which is basically pure sugar.  The only thing I can say in my defense is that I did not eat bread.  Big freaking whoop.  Not good enough.

Onward.

Friday

I went on a crazy carb bender after dinner last night - lots of potato chips and chocolate.  Pure, undiluted, stress eating.  Hasn't happened in a while, although I think I may have been doing it in a low-burn way for months.  So I learned something.  153.0 so far; I'm not counting on it to continue.

Why stress?  I have a long, traffic filled commute each day (except Fridays), and the country seems to be running toward something awful with gleeful abandon.  Add to that, my job involves implementing some of this overweening government oversight, and I guess it wears on a girl.  I will be giving some serious thought to stress management while on vacation this coming week (!!!), and hope to arrive at something I can do long-term, since I don't think quitting yet another job is the solution.  And I don't want to shift to the potato-chip/chocolate diet; don't think that would go well, somehow.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• no supplements (big mistake, that, by the way)
  
• a couple of macadamia nuts - maybe 5
  
• double quarter-pounder with cheese, no bun
  
• taco salad with 1/2 pound grassfed ground beef
  
• 1/4 Hershey's dark chocolate with almonds
  
• approximately a full deli bag of lays
  
• uncounted Godiva pearls - I just mainlined them out of the refill tube
  

I was able to stop after that, but wow.  So, of course, I was rewarded with crazy cramping of both lower legs - that escalated into pain just as I drifted off to sleep.  Twice.  I should probably take my vitamins from now on.

Thursday

Slept like a pile of logs last night - when the alarm went off at 5:30, I think I continued to sleep a bit.  Grateful that the radio came on for once, instead of reverting to the nasty beeping noise indicating a weak signal.  When the latter happens, I have to roll over, turn off the beeping noise, and turn on the radio - which inevitably sounds just fine.  Clock radio's a bit picky for me.

Anyway, 153.0 this morning.  I would like to state for the record that the macadamia nut's combination of fat and fiber is remarkably effective at restoring regularity.  Perhaps too effective.  Which is why I rather regret not having breakfast today.  Oh, well.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• 3 pizza tops (pepperoni and cheese)
  
• macadamia nuts - probably about 15
  
• burger patty with ketchup, mustard, and pickles
  
• salad with balsamic vinaigrette
  
• potato salad
  
• potato chips
  
• 1/4 of a Hershey's dark chocolate with almonds bar
  
• cheese
  

I think that was it.  Very light ketosis at bedtime - might have been more if I'd eschewed the chips, but there it is.

Wednesday

And, swollen up again this morning.  Completely out of my control at this point.  Fine, whatever.  153.2 again.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• macadamia nuts - eaten onesie-twosie throughout the day, probably fewer than 30 (so about 2 1/4 cup servings)
  
• the top off 4 pieces of pizza - cheese and pepperoni
  
• 3/16 of a Hershey's dark chocolate with almonds bar
  
• A bunch of grapes
  

That was it.  While the pizza was salty, I don't think it should have prompted water weight.  But something did.  Oh, and I was in detectable ketosis at bedtime, too - you think?

At this point, eating to lose weight is obviously a losing proposition.  I don't think the list above is particularly healthy, though, and that, I can improve.  I will be adding more salads, I think.  But first, I've had 1 piece of pizza top for breakfast today - wasn't hungry on waking, but was very hungry when I got to work - and will have 2 more at lunch.  And we'll go from there.

Tuesday

Some improvement yesterday; 152.6 today and less inflated-feeling.  Finally!  Sleep was a bit better last night - I tweaked my hip doing the Bolder Boulder last week and it's been causing just enough discomfort to wake me up early; I hit it with the pulsating massage thingie yesterday evening and I think that did help.  Now, if I could just get the cat to sleep in a bit - she starts walking on our feet and legs around 4 these days - I'm guessing because it's quite light out.

Not a great eating day yesterday, but I didn't eat a lot.  Here's the details:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• 3 macadamia nuts (I can be this precise because that was the end of the package)
  
• a vending bag of peanuts
  
• a vending bag of M&Ms
  
• 3 Fuzzy's shredded beef tacos, shells included (soft corn tortillas)
  
• 2 pieces of cheese
  

The merest hint of ketosis at bedtime, and I wasn't hungry this morning, so I didn't eat.  I have some more macadamias with me, and will eat them in ones and twos as I get hungry today, forcing a sort of fat fast.  Burgers and salad for dinner.

I'm just glad to say farewell to some of that water, at last.

Monday

Week before vacation - always fun.  Okay, not really.  We will survive it, but it started with a fairly intense "don't wanna go to work" morning this morning.  Consequently, we didn't get up at 6, and I'm working on no breakfast.  Which is fine.  Probably necessary.  153.2 this morning, and, frankly, damn glad to be there.  I think it could (should?) have been worse.  Here's yesterday, I think:

• tea with cream
  
• the insides of a breakfast burrito from Santiagos - eggs, potatoes, bacon? green chile
• 3 pieces of bacon
• grapes
• naked burger with cheese
• sweet potato fries
• more grapes
• possibly some cheese
• steak with chimichurri sauce (the kitchen still smells strongly of garlic - yum!)
• salad with balsamic vinaigrette
• 1/4 Hershey's dark with almonds bar
• cashews

Well, heck, that looks nowhere near as bad as it seemed.  The fries were really the big problem - because there weren't that many cashews left, even though I finished them off.  And we went for a walk last night after dinner.  So that's something.

I'm still swollen up.  I go to bed at night thinking I've made progress - and yesterday, I really thought I had gotten rid of some water - and wake up in the morning with my hands and feet feeling literally inflated - the skin feels stretched out.  Nasty.  

I think maybe I need to do a bit of research into anti-inflammatory food.