Wednesday

155.4.  Hands and feet swollen and uncomfortable.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• double quarter pounder with cheese, no bun
  
• side salad with ranch dressing (won't do that again; McDonald's salads suck)
  
• a vending package of skittles
  
• salad with blue cheese dressing and crumbles
  
• cheese soup with ham and veggies (probably flour, too)
  
• baked potato with sour cream, bacon, cheese
  
• two chocolate cherry almond clusters
  

Reasonably well balanced, not a lot of items on the list, but those skittles.  I am not entirely sure what prompted me to crave them, but it got me out of a chair and downstairs to get them.  I continue to be inflamed and swollen and cranky, but with no relief in sight.  

Brought strawberries to eat if the skittles craving strikes again today, and the plan is either a Five Guys or Jimmy John's stop for lunch.

The kitchen painting starts today.  We are at the beginning of the end.

Tuesday

154.4.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• salad with chicken and salsa in it from Chipotle
  
• hamburger with blue cheese (patty only), ketchup, mustard
  
• hot dog (no bun)
  
• small helping of potato salad
  
• small handful of potato chips
  
• strawberry ice cream
  
• two chocolate cherry almond clusters
  

That was it.  Sleep was crap; I've been awake since 2:30 worrying about things not done prior to the painter arriving.  Got up at 6 to do those things.  I'm a zombie this morning. Not good

Monday

154.6 this morning.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• ham, cheese, and tomato omelet
  
• a piece of bacon
  
• about a forkful of hashbrowns
  
• two chocolate-cherry-almond clusters from Costco
  
• chips and salsa and guac
  
• chicken fajitas, no tortillas (so including salsa, guac, sour cream)
  
• a small margarita
  

I think that was it.  We had family visiting all weekend, which was somewhat stressful and interfered with accomplishing much of anything; such is life.  I was down in the 153s at some point over the weekend, maybe Saturday morning, but the water returned.  Back to my routine of lunch and dinner this week, with lots of work at night for the immediate future.

Friday

I had bona fide cankles yesterday.  Ugh.  Painful and swollen - and my feet cramped up at the end of the day, probably as a result of my balancing on a step stool to paint some more.  So, no fun there.  155.4 again this morning.  I guess I should be grateful it's not worse.

Still fighting carb cravings - after work yesterday, but before dinner, I finished off a deli bag of Lays, with a small assist by Elizabeth.  I am assuming this is all hormones, but I guess I could be wrong.  Anyway, here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• massive salad with chicken, bacon, avocado, blue cheese dressing
  
• potato chips as described above
  
• chips and salsa
  
• cheese enchiladas with green chile
  
• 1/4 of a Hershey's dark chocolate with almonds bar
  

That was it.  Another short list, which is a good thing.  I'm working from home today, so the opportunities to eat are magnified.  I've already had 3 pieces of cheese.  

More painting this weekend, I think - trying to finish up the cabinets.  Also working on cleaning an sanding the doors and drawer fronts.  No idea when the water retention will stop - I hope soon.

Thursday addendum

I found the big-ass salad.  $10 worth, but pretty darn tasty.  It's interesting - with the shift in eating from breakfast-dinner to lunch-dinner this week, I feel like I'm getting a more varied diet - it's a second opportunity for the veg and fruits, I guess.

The migraine was mostly just the aura, although a co-worker talking to me shortly after it faded thought I had a cold - that my voice sounded stuffy.  Interesting.  I'd love to know what on earth I've been doing to trigger migraines all of a sudden - except for the weird crap-binge I indulged in last week.  That certainly could be it.  But it's been over a week since then, which makes less sense; I would have thought it would have passed through my system by now.

Anyway, this lunch thing is a bit expensive, but if I get into the rhythm of it, I guess I could start bringing the same basic stuff from home - once we have a kitchen, that is.  

Sigh.

Thursday

On the good side, I got eating under control yesterday.  On the bad side, I'm now at 155.4, and very stiff and swollen.  And am starting a migraine - the second one this week.  Ugh.

We put a second coat of paint on some of the cabinets last night, which caused my knees to swell up by bedtime.  Advil and fish oil helped with the pain, but I woke up feeling like a balloon - my eyes were swollen.  I know it's water, and I believe, under it all, that I'm probably building muscle - and my jeans fit better at the moment than they did a few pounds down from here - but it's still discouraging and annoying.  

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• a Jimmy John's "unwich" - lettuce wrap - with turkey, bacon, avocado, lettuce, and tomato
  
• half of a 10" gluten free pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, and green pepper
  
• a salad with blue cheese dressing
  
• some cottage cheese
  

That was it.  Assuming I don't eat until lunch again today, and I think I won't, I'll have achieved a tidy 16-8 IF pattern.  Still looking for a big-ass salad for lunch - Jimmy John's is just sandwiches - and no idea what we'll do for dinner.  More painting tonight, so I don't think the swelling is going to stop soon.

Wednesday

This week is not going well at all.  155.2 this morning - I don't think I've been this high since I was losing weight 3 years ago.  Not good.  

Sleep last night was elusive after 2:45 am, so I'm tired and cranky and feeling fat.  Although my jeans fit.  So that's something.  I was tired enough this morning that I put face lotion in my hair - it doesn't seem to have caused too much harm, fortunately.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• a slug of oil
  
• a Five Guys cheeseburger, loaded (2 patties, sauteed onions and mushrooms)
  
• two after-dinner pillow mints (trying to get rid of the onion flavor)
  
• shredded BBQ pork with Dreamland sauce
  
• cole slaw
  
• a very few potato chips
  
• mini Ritter Sport chocolate (milk with marzipan)
  
• ice cream with berries
  
• cashews
  

I should have skipped the ice cream - I wasn't sure I wanted it, and it didn't taste all that great.  I won't do it again, I think.  I am going to try for lunch again today, although I have meetings until 12 and resuming at 1, so the window is at the worst possible time.  But I want to find a big-ass salad somewhere.  Wondering if Jimmy John's does salads - they deliver, so I could avoid lines, theoretically.

Tuesday

Back on the oil yesterday; no obvious change, and I was starving at lunch. 154.6 this morning, and still quite swollen.  I slept better last night, though; that's something.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• a slug of tasteless oil
  
• the innards of a roast-beef sandwich (meat and tomatoes and mustard)
  
• strawberries (ultimately, about 1/2 pound of them)
  
• a small bunch of grapes
  
• potato chips (it was a long meeting - and we had more at dinner)
  
• hamburger patty with cheese and bacon, and truffle butter on top
  
• tomatoes and cucumbers in italian dressing
  
• strawberry ice cream (which I'd been craving all weekend)
  
• a small handful of cashews
  

I really hope that's a shorter list than on Sunday.  But I'm thinking it's not.  Will be having lunch again today - possibly going out in search of a Five Guys burger, and dinner will be pulled pork BBQ and cole slaw, probably with ice cream after.  Trying very hard to avoid the chips today.

Monday

154.8 this morning.  Yes, really.  Yes, water.  My finger joints are so swollen that my typing is affected - not sure if it's for the better or worse.  I think it's all a hangover from Saturday, when I crawled around the kitchen painting the inside of cabinets.  On my knees, on my back, on my elbows - no, that's not where I got paint, but the positions I was in to get at some of the more remote bits.  This was just no fun.  And it took, including the cleaning I started with, pretty much 8 full hours to complete.  I would say that the only part of me that isn't stiff and sore is my scalp, except that's not true either - I think I bumped my head on something at some point, so I have a bruise there as well.

And that's just the first coat - we have to have a do-over to get a second coat done.  That may be tonight's job.  Blecch.

Anyway, I didn't eat all that well this weekend.  Mexican food, lots of chips and salsa and queso.  Potato chips, dried cherries, cashews, chocolate.  Very little meat-and-veg, honestly.  So, a reset this week.  I'm going to restart (have, actually) the Shangri-La thing, and see if it helps at all if I'm able to give it at least 4 straight days.  Also, trying to be a bit more diligent about getting in at least 2 meals most days - I think the no-breakfast, no-lunch pattern I'd fallen into lately is not doing me any favors at all - probably slowed my metabolism to a near-stop.  Add the stress of the remodel and everything else that's going on, and I'm kind of a mess right now.

Here's yesterday's eating, as I recall it:

• tea with cream
  
• cheese
  
• cashews
  
• potato chips
  
• dried cherries
  
• dark chocolate with almonds
  
• chips and queso
  
• grilled chicken breast
  
• fruit salad (mostly berries, nectarines, grapes)
  
• tomato/cucumbers in italian dressing
  
• roasted potatoes
  
• a lime-flavored "fruit bar" frozen thing - way too sweet, but tasty
  
• a glass of wine
  
• a finger of scotch
  

Lordy!  No wonder my weight went up.  I'm surprised it wasn't worse!

Friday

The inflammatory crap masquerading as food that I've been eating is catching up with me this morning - I ache head to toe.  151.8 this morning.  Lunch was a sort of adventure; I ordered via the Chipotle app on my phone but never got a confirmation, so when I went to pick it up and they seemed only to be dealing with a giant order, I ended up leaving and getting a naked quarter pounder instead.  Apparently, they did have the order, but I couldn't get their attention to find out or not.  I may try again today.  Anyway, here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• cheese
  
• naked quarter pounder
  
• chicken breast
  
• sliced tomatoes
  
• potato salad
  
• potato chips
  
• chocolate bar with almonds - 6 sections of a Hershey one
  

I think that was it.  The chocolate was dessert; the potato chips were snacking that I meant not to do.  That's a bit of a struggle right now; not entirely sure why, although given that I'm in a horrid mood this week, I might be able to label it "hormonal".

Oh. Duh.

It's not like I haven't recognized that I'm a bit stressed out just now.  I've even said it in here, multiple times.  

And it's not like I haven't read, repeatedly, that IF may cause stress increases.  

Anyway, I'm reading today's Robb Wolf post (by Kevin Cann), and he includes the following statement:

"Eating 3 meals a day seems to be an effective way to avoid the stressors of undereating or going too long without food while allowing for our fat burning hormones to do their job."

I know this.  I also haven't been doing it.  I'm not eating enough, probably, not eating nutritionally, for sure, and going too long without food throughout the day, all while semi-snacking and messing with my liver and pancreas with the periodic macadamia nuts.  When what I should be doing is eating lunch while the world turns upside down on me.  So I'm going to.

Sheesh!

Thursday

Another Skittles hoovering incident yesterday.  Other than that, not a particularly bad eating day, I guess.  152.6 today - we were able to sleep in our own beds last night and use our bathroom this morning, and will be sticking around until August 7th, when the flooring process resumes with sanding, staining, and sealing.  

If I am reading correctly, I actually lost weight since Monday.  Not much, but still rather amusing.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• macadamia nuts - probably about 10 throughout the day
  
• a bag of Skittles
  
• Olive Garden salad
  
• Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo, no noodles - so steak with cheese and tomatoes and Balsamic vinegar, in Alfredo sauce that probably had flour in it
  

That was it.  Still not very healthy or balanced.  So I thought maybe the weird cravings (could one call them Pica in the case of a person who generally believes Skittles are not food?) could be a nutrient deficiency, and I've restarted on the iodine, copper, and zinc supplements, to see if it's one of them.  Who knows, though?

The kitchen mostly has a floor.  The flooring guy ran out of wood before completing the area outside our bedroom, so he will be back on Saturday morning early to do the last two hours' worth.  And I will, I hope, be spending Saturday painting the insides of the kitchen cabinets - prepping and painting, anyway.  Such fun - but progress.  We are finally putting things into the kitchen instead of taking them out.

Wednesday

Another day, another minor binge.  Potato chips this time; late at night, right before bedtime.  One would think that the inaccessibility of the pantry, due to floor primer drying between the rest of the house and it, would keep me from eating inappropriately.  Not so.  This is harder than it looks right now.  I wish it weren't.  I also wish we'd never started the kitchen remodel - but we have, and we need to plough through it now, in order to get our lives back to semi-normal.  Blecch.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• cheese
  
• salami
  
• cashews
  
• two ground beef patties
  
• raspberries and whipped cream
  
• potato chips
  

A fairly short list, but some of the individual items were fairly large.  No idea what I weigh, but my fingers and knees feel swollen this morning, so there's water weight there.  No oil yesterday - it was in the pantry - and I don't much feel like doing it today.  I need to get through some things before I can refocus on my eating, I think.  Like the kitchen.

Phew!

Stress levels have dropped precipitously; the flooring guy has come and has spread the primer on the concrete.  We are underway with the floor.  And he and I have come up with a solution for an issue we found with the floor's mild lack of level, so I'm confident it can continue to move forward.

Not so hungry for sugar today!

Tuesday

I hope it was stress; I'd hate to think my setpoint was going up.  Yesterday was a paleo "lost weekend", pretty much.  No idea what my weight is just now; the scale is not accessible until the kitchen floor is in.  Which is part of the stress, obviously, stress that was at an incredibly high level yesterday.  Here's my eating:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• a slug of oil
  
• macadamia nuts (about 8 throughout the day)
  
• a bag of M&Ms
  
• a bag of Skittles
  
• Chinese Fried noodles
  
• Mushu chicken
  
• a bunch of dark chocolate candy - very sweet
  
• cashews
  

By the end of the day, I was hollow and shaky and totally glucosed out, if that's a thing.  I hope not to do it today.  And once the flooring people arrive and start spreading around the sealant, I think I'll be okay.  We shall see.

Monday

152.8 today.  Probably inflammation from the weekend, which involved a lot of light construction work.  Vinyl tile removal on Saturday, and wallpaper stripping on Sunday.  I feel rather crappy as a result.  Sleep is pretty awful; a lot of stressful things going on and if I wake in the middle of the night, the things take over my brain.  So, a struggle.  

Still trying to do the Shangri-La thing, but it's hard at home on weekends.  Managed oil on Friday and Saturday, but still ate like a starving person in the evenings.  Here's yesterday:

• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• tomato slices
  
• tea with cream
  
• cheese enchiladas with green chile
  
• chips and salsa and guac
  
• raspberries and whipped cream
  
• cheese
  
• chocolate
  
• gyro meat with tzaziki sauce
  
• a little rice
  

I think that was everything.  Probably should be glad I don't weigh more.  No weight tomorrow or for the next 3-4 days; we're sleeping at the other end of the house to deal with the kitchen floor installation, and the scale there doesn't work.

Friday

Yesterday - an anomaly perhaps?  150.0 this morning, slept like crap.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• one shot of oil
  
• 3 macadamia nuts
  
• cheeseburger, no bun
  
• 2 hotdogs
  
• salad with cranberries, walnuts, and blue cheese, with vinaigrette
  
• half an avocado
  
• a handful of potato chips
  
• a handful of cashews
  

I was in small to moderate ketosis last night.

Don't know if I'll get a slug of oil in today or not; working from home, which is a different beast.  If not, I'll try tomorrow, and if the weekend is a fail, will resume on Monday.  Two days do not make a trial.

Had breakfast today as well; an omelet and hashbrowns.  Hoping the latter at least partly qualify as resistant starch, but not confident.  Probably no lunch, and no idea what for dinner.  I think Paleo may be a challenge without a kitchen.

Thursday

So I had a slug of light olive oil yesterday around lunchtime on an empty stomach, and did not enjoy that in the least - unpleasant, and seemed to make me hungrier.  However, I hung in there, drank hot water instead of tea, and got through it.  Ate nothing except maybe 3 macadamia nuts until 7, roughly, due to a long day and brutal commute (stress much?  yeah), when I had a 6-oz sirloin and some southern-style green beans.  Never got around to eating anything else last night, because a new cable modem had arrived and needed to be installed.  Went to bed feeling wired (the installation was also frustrating), but fell asleep within half an hour of turning the lights off, which I generally consider successful.  And slept like a rock clear through until 5 am.  Coolio.  

Oh, and I'm at 149.6 this morning.  For what that's worth.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• macadamia nuts
  
• a mouthful of light olive oil
  
• steak
  
• green beans
  

We went to Denny's for breakfast this morning, in order to get out of the chaos, I think.  By the time I went to work, the requisite hour had pretty much passed, so I have had my mouthful of oil for the day - this time, on a full stomach, which seems far less painful.  I'm drinking hot water again, as a tea substitute, and will until 9:22 or later - probably later, since I have a 9:00 meeting.

The reason I'm trying the Shangri-La approach right now is less (I think) to get weight lost than to see if it helps my emotional eating - boredom in the evenings and on weekends.  I'm a snacker - have been forever - and I want to stop.  We shall see what happens.

A side-trip to Shangri-La

I've been reading Seth Roberts' blog for a long time, and today, he posted a success story for his Shangri-La diet that I read in-depth (including all the forum areas).  Then I read some of the science and fundamentals behind it, and thought it might be a way to reset my setpoint.  So I am going to give it a try for a while.  I ran out during "lunch" to get some extra-light olive oil, and have had a slug of it - it's truly tasteless.  I figure I can keep it here at work in order to find my 2-hour window to drink it more easily.  I don't think it could possibly hurt, and it may reset things so I'm off this 150 pound plateau.

Note that I still intend to improve my strength and will continue to work on Primal exercises to that end.  We'll see what happens next.

Wednesday

More or less fasted yesterday - ate nothing but macadamia nuts until dinner, then had a piece of cheese and a bunch of Mexican food.  150.6 this morning.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• macadamia nuts - fewer than 20, I think
  
• cheese
  
• chips and salsa
  
• three cheese enchiladas with green chile
  
• cashews - not very many
  

That was it.  Short list - weight loss.  Definitely a pattern for me.

Sleep was crap last night; I woke up at 3 am and could not get back to sleep, so I'm running a bit slow this morning.  Not much else to report.

Tuesday

Carb/sugar cravings continue; rather annoying, really.  I succumbed twice yesterday; at lunch, with fruit and potato chips, and at my sister's birthday party, with ice-cream cake. Whick, truth to tell, was amazing good.  Soothed my soul.  151.2 this morning, thankfully.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• macadamia nuts - maybe 10 max, if that
  
• deli turkey 
  
• tomato slices
  
• strawberries
  
• grapes
  
• potato chips (2 handfuls, to my shame)
  
• ice cream cake with frosting and some sort of crunchy fudge center
  
• cobb salad with blue cheese dressing
  

That was it, and that was plenty.  Yikes.  But in our defense, we had a very stressful day.  Found out that we had to remove the probably-asbestos tiles before the flooring guys would do the floor - and they're due Monday next week.  Lee ended up doing a bunch of removal yesterday afternoon - got the eating area done.  Still have the kitchen proper to do.  But crazy annoying; we hoped not to have to mess with it at all.  On top of that, 4 meetings totaling 4 scheduled hours and something approaching 6 actual hours of the day - the last one was set to run from 3-4 and ended around 4:50.  Not a good day, overall.

Monday

Four-day holiday weekend.  I did not eat well.  Carbs included a small movie popcorn, the end of a bag of tortilla chips, corn on the cob, and sugar, including a triple-chocolate praline.  151.2 this morning, and not surprised by that at all.  I'm starting to have hot flashes and night sweats again; don't know if the hormone fluctuations are contributing to cravings or what.  I'll keep plugging.  

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• cheese
  
• the aforementioned praline
  
• cashews
  
• white wine
  
• olives
  
• one rice cracker
  
• salad - unknown dressing, but it had cranberries and walnuts in it
  
• corn on the cob - one ear, with butter and salt
  
• flank steak
  
• ice cream with fruit and chocolate sauces
  

We worked several hours taking the kitchen floor out yesterday, which helped mitigate the damage.  I guess, anyway.  My part was lugging the removed bits out of the house and into the trash.

A birthday dinner for my sister tonight - no idea what we'll eat, but I'd bet it's not going to be strict paleo.  And our kitchen is approaching near total uselessness with the remodel, so eating is going to get slowly weirder through mid-August.  Sigh.

Wednesday

Nice surprise this morning - 148.8!  I wasn't expecting that to happen; sounds like the weekend weight was either transient with the bad eating, or that I had some water hanging around that I didn't know about.  Fine by me.  And my jeans fit looser this morning, for what that's worth.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• macadamia nuts throughout the day - probably fewer than 20
  
• cheese
  
• pork tenderloin
  
• salad with walnuts, cranberries, and blue cheese, with balsamic vinaigrette
  
• two small handfuls of cashews
  

We did not make the gym last night - the kitchen remodel demanded our time instead - had to unload cabinets and order the countertop, and put plastic over everything in the living room to keep dust down while the ceiling in there is being repaired.  Maybe tonight, unless we have to go make an emergency cabinet purchase somewhere.  I rather hope not.

Sleep was okay last night - woke up at the wrong temperature a couple of times, but got back to sleep fairly quickly.  So far, this has not devolved into full-on hot flashes, and I'm hoping it won't, that the intensity of symptoms each cycle is diminishing.  That's a wait-and-see item, if ever one was.

Tuesday

Mild improvement in eating yesterday - until dinner, anyway.  We went to Country Buffet, and while I could probably cobble together a reasonably Paleo meal there, I didn't.  Ate the meatloaf.  My stomach has let me know that I probably shouldn't do that - a mild protest.  150.2 again this morning.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• crustless quiche Lorraine
  
• macadamia nuts throughout the day - probably fewer than 20
  
• salad with bacon bits and "blue cheese" dressing
  
• cottage cheese
  
• green beans
  
• broccoli with butter and cheese
  
• meat loaf
  
• cashews (1 small handful)
  
• cheese (2 pieces)
  

That was it.  Fasting breakfast today for no particular reason, other than that the kitchen is a bit torn up.  Probably the new normal (kitchen a bit torn up) for the rest of the summer.  I think we're having pork tenderloin for dinner - with a salad or something. Also going to the gym.

I did another set of 10 squats yesterday, in my cube at work.  I can feel that I did them in my quads, at least.  Definitely some strength improvements overall - which I need.

Monday

Not a good weekend; ate a lot of carbs, with the result that I didn't show even trace ketosis last night at bedtime.  On the good side, I did 10 real squats on Saturday - down to a 90-degree angle in the knee, anyway.  I feel stronger in my quads and knees these days, so the biking and weights and what-not appear to be helping.  150.2 this morning - down from a high Saturday morning of 150.6 (and I ate okay on Friday).

I'm thinking sleep may be part of the problem; we had a rough patch last week that I hope will be better this week, now that it's cooled down a bit.  I slept clear through to 4:30 this morning, which is a huge improvement over last week.

Here's yesterday's eating, as I recall it:

• tea with cream
  
• omelet with ham, cheese, and tomatoes
  
• a few bites of hash browns (should have skipped; they weren't that good)
  
• naked 5-Guys cheeseburger with mushrooms and onions and what-not
  
• more fries than I should have had (especially as I had fries on Saturday as well)
  
• cheese (about 5 pieces, maybe more)
  
• cashews (equivalent of 3 handfuls, I think)
  

I think that was it.  Not great.  Saturday started okay, with a coconut milk smoothie (trying to cope with no sleep that night), but degraded into french fries dipped into commercial ranch dressing by lunchtime, and culminated with ice cream.

Since our radio excuse to lie in has gone away (they've switched programming at 6 am to something we don't care to listen to), we'll be back eating breakfast again.  We had more egg "custard" for breakfast this morning - made to be quiche lorraine, this time.  Good stuff.