Tuesday

After reading The Art and Science of Low-Carb Living over the weekend, I decided to get some data and try to figure out the sweet spot for me with regards to carb tolerance and weight loss. For the moment, I'm using LoseIt to track everything. So, here's yesterday in details:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• 1 almond/tapioca flour blueberry scone
  
• 2 pieces of bacon
  
• 10 olives
  
• 1 slice Colby cheese
  
• 1/4 pound deli roast beef
  
• 2 brats
  
• a cup or so of sauerkraut
  
• 3 pieces of cheddar
  
• 2 tiny strawberries from the garden
  

That was it. It rang in at:

• 131 g fat (71%)
  
• 31 g carbs (7%)
  
• 93 g protein (22%)
  

and around 1500 calories. I measured between Small and Medium urine ketones at bedtime, and with a similar intake today, hope to see it actually hit Medium. The book says urine ketones are deceptive, but Jimmy Moore's tracking seemed to indicate that the sticks are accurate enough. I will also be watching for ketone breath - my mouth starts tasting interesting when I'm in a groove. The percentages above are pretty much my target for the week, although I would like to see the protein up just a tad - I'm shooting for 100 g per day.

So, all that said, I gained weight overnight. And my ankles are very un-swollen, so it's not foot-water-retention, at least.

Sleep last night was dodgy - woke around 2 am and had a hard time getting back to sleep - but did manage it before 4 am, I'm pretty sure.

Finally, we got a walk in after dinner. Plan on doing more of that this week, as well.

Monday

Weird weekend. No exercise to speak of (only partly attributable to the weather), reasonable eating, sort of, but accompanied by a margarita last night. A lot of stress underlying all of it. Mixed-bag sleep.

154.4 this morning. Not as good as a week ago, but I am NOT complaining. Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• omelet with ham, cheese, tomatoes
  
• cheese (1 hunk of cheddar, a medium-sized piece of Gruyere)
  
• < 1/2 cup cashews
  
• chips and salsa - more than I should have
  
• 2 cheese enchiladas with green chile
  
• a margarita
  
• 2 tiny home-grown strawberries
  

That was it. At least, I think so; it was a day of errands, mostly, so mid-day eating wasn't easy since we weren't home. We went to a wedding in the afternoon, but did not stay for the reception (part of the weirdness of the weekend).

And I read Volek and Phinney, at last. I've been wanting to for years, and finally got the Kindle version. If they're right, my carb tolerance is pretty low, and to lose any of my current weight, I need to be strict about keeping totals under 50 grams. Since I lost weight on a more relaxed approach originally (or did I? sometimes I think I was very strict VLC/ZC), I tend to think the tolerance change is to do with menopause - and that would certainly make sense if estrogen is part of the mechanism to free up stored fat for energy. Anyway, a very interesting read, and I learned several practical things - like why salt turns out to be important on a VLC eating approach (and why we had such nasty leg cramps the last time; salt should make them not happen). 

Out of all of this, I am going to be doing a bit of research, to get my target protein level and map out what an 80%+ fat diet needs to look like for me to lose weight. Given my response to the fat-fast soup, I do think it will work. But I want to have a lot of the answers figured out - I think that at the moment, winging it won't work for me.

Friday

157.0 and constipated. Lovely. Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• the usual supplements
  
• fat-fast broccoli soup
  
• cheese (I think)
  
• an egg roll (flour and fried in seed oils)
  
• mushu chicken, no pancakes
  
• a fortune cookie
  
• 1/2 cup cashews
  
• 4 salted dark chocolate almonds
  
• 1 tsp honey
  

Sleep was awful; woke up at midnight with hot flashes, ended up getting up to read for a while, back in bed at 3 am, asleep sometime between then and 4. Jack woke us all up at 4:45 by barking. Could be a rather long day.

Getting back on the wagon, as it were. One of these days, I'll find a good way to lose weight without these lurches.

Thursday

A pattern emerges - over the weekends and early, I appear to have lost weight, which spends the week disappearing. 156.0 this morning. The only heartening thing at the moment is that the loss reappears on the following weekend as a greater loss than before. If I can keep that up, my sanity will stay intact. However...

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• savory scone with melted butter
  
• 2 turkey sausage links
  
• fat fast broccoli cheese soup
  
• 2 pieces of Cheddar
  
• about 6 oz steak
  
• salad with blue cheese dressing
  
• 2 squares Lindt 85%
  
• a bag of cheese crisp things
  
• 1 tsp honey
  

No exercise, more stress, slept well. Working this morning on a RedBull, nonetheless. I'm really looking forward to the weekend, and not just as regards weightloss.

Wednesday

Yesterday was not a good day. Stressful, exhausting, just weird. I ate Skittles mid-day, just to show you. 155.6 this morning, and very grateful. To boot, my ankles are a bit swollen and achy. Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• a sun-dried tomato cheddar bacon scone
  
• 1 tbsp butter (approx)
  
• fat-fast broccoli cheese soup
  
• a package of Skittles
  
• cheese (4-6 pieces)
  
• 4 salted dark chocolate almonds
  
• 1 tsp honey
  

The scones are not a keeper. Worth a try, but they have no holding power at breakfast, even drenched with butter, and they don't taste nearly as good as they sound. We had them again this morning but will return to eggs tomorrow, I think. And if I make scones again, they will be the Nom Nom Paleo dark chocolate cherry ones.

No exercise, no dinner, bad sleep, night sweats, and cats making eerie noises outside our window at 3 am. I'm buggered. I hope today goes quickly and smoothly; I can't cope with much more.

Tuesday

So this morning I'm at 155.2. My fingers are a bit swollen, but my ankles are in good shape, so I was a bit surprised. Maybe lingering inflammation from the gardening on Sunday? I don't know. We ate fairly well, but ended up with Mexican for dinner, not steaks or LC pizza as I had thought originally. Trying again tonight, I think.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• the usual supplements
  
• fat fast broccoli cheese soup
  
• chips (about 5 total) and salsa
  
• chicken fajitas with bell peppers, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole
  
• about 1 tsp each of refried beans and rice
  
• 2 squares Lindt 85%
  
• 1/2 small savory scone (see below) with a bit of butter
  
• 1 tsp honey
  

No real exercise yesterday, although I came home and cooked - made almond flour scones with sun-dried tomatoes and bacon and cheese. They're not bad - a little saltier than I would like, possibly because I swapped salted butter in for flax seed meal in the recipe. We had them for breakfast this morning and will probably continue that the rest of the week. I want to put them in LoseIt to see how they break down.

Slept like a log again until first light, when I got up to use the bathroom. At least that's working, even if everything else is bafflingly catty-wampus.

Monday

I am happy to say that I did nothing over the weekend to screw up a trend I saw Saturday morning. Weight today is 153.8. Same as Saturday, slightly up from yesterday (153.4). Woo-Hoo! It's been slow, but maybe actually real this time. I will keep doing what I've been doing. And here's yesterday not in order at all:

• tea with cream
  
• cheese - maybe fewer than 5 pieces, I think
  
• crispy cheese-only crackers
  
• 1/2 cup cashews
  
• Fuzzy's taco salad (small) with ground beef)
  
• a glass of pinot grigio
  
• chicken souvlaki salad (lots of full-fat yogurt, olive oil, veg, feta)
  
• 5 Junior Mints (leftovers from the movie on Saturday)
  

That was it. I wasn't hungry, except at dinner time, when I was slightly ravenous. And I did a lot of stuff yesterday - went for a 45-minute walk first thing, gardened, did a bit of shopping. A very nice puttery sort of day. Beat my daily points goal on the Flex both days of the weekend - probably won't do it again today unless something major happens after work.

Nearly no ketosis at bedtime, which rather surprised me. Slept like a giant pile of rocks until 4:49. 

I made more broccoli cheese soup for lunches this week, to keep the momentum going. Probably LC pizza for dinner - at least, that's my plan. No idea if it will hold. And maybe a walk tonight.