Thursday

Apparently, I'm not permitted to sleep just now. Took a 10 mg Melatonin last night, got nice and sleepy, drifted off, and, BAM! My right calf cramped up enough to launch me out of bed. Around 10 pm. At 12:48, I know I was still awake, and think that's when my left calf followed suit. I had a very hard time getting drowsy again, but was, apparently, asleep at 3:30, when Lee woke up for the day. Red Bull on the way to work this morning, and I may wish I had one on the way home. I had to fight to stay awake on the commute home yesterday, which is very much not a good thing.

153.4 this morning; things starting to settle down a bit from last week. Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• 1 piece of thick bacon
  
• about 10 strawberries
  
• fat fast broccoli cheese soup
  
• cobb salad (chicken, bacon, blue cheese, avocado, blue cheese dressing)
  
• half a handful of cashews (far less than I usually eat)
  
• 3 salted chocolate almonds
  
• another tea with cream
  

It worked out to:

• 126 g fat (70%)
  
• 48 g carbs (12%)
  
• 73 g protein (18%)
  

Today is likely to be similar, with the addition of the Red Bull. Except we're having lamb burgers for dinner, probably with a salad. See how that goes - they're an experiment.

I was at "Small" on the keto-stix last night, so I think we're more or less back in business there. I would like to get the diet a bit fattier, and lower carbs, but I'm still in the basic zone I aimed for.

Wednesday

Still stiff and sore, and my feet - well, my left foot - look like blown-up surgical gloves at the end of the day. 153.8 this morning. Sleep last night would have been fine but for the dogs and a couple of explosions in our neighborhood. I'm assuming it was fireworks or something un-sinister in nature, because it hasn't been on the news, but it extended the dogs' issues by a good hour, during which I mostly did not sleep. So I'm quite groggy today.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon (2 pieces)
  
• fat fast broccoli cheese soup
  
• chef's salad with ham, turkey, and cheese, and blue cheese dressing
  
• raspberries and ice cream
  
• 1/3 cup cashews
  
• another tea with cream
  

In the end, I overtopped the 50 g carbs target - I guess because of the ice cream. Here's how it broke down:

• 152 g fat (72%)
  
• 58 g carbs (12%)
  
• 73 g protein (15%)
  

So the ratios were fine, and I showed up as "Trace" on the keto-stix at bedtime. Hot flashes were more annoying than usual yesterday; I guess something has increased, or decreased, or something, hormonally speaking. Annoying.

We didn't get a walk in, due to having to clean up after our thunderstorm the night before - we had several large tree limbs down, but the roof appears to be okay. Planning on a repeat of the dinner tonight, and the walk.

Tuesday

Yesterday, my weight was a bit mysterious; I didn't feel swollen up or stiff, much. This morning, my fingers are puffy, my elbow is sore, my ankles are stiff, and I have detectable water in my feet. Same weight - 154.6. Go figure. I guess it was in there somewhere. And I guess last week involved a lot of inflammatory eating, or more than I've been doing lately.

Anyway, here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon (2 pieces)
  
• fat-fast broccoli cheese soup
  
• a chicken breast skewer with curry powder on (ick)
  
• a 1" long egg roll
  
• the tops of 2 pieces of pizza, 1 pepperoni and 1 margherita
  
• 2 pieces of cheddar cheese
  
• about 1/4 cup cashews
  
• 3 salted dark chocolate almonds
  

It worked out to:

• 111 g fat (70%)
  
• 37 g carbs (10%)
  
• 70 g protein (19%)
  

which is back in the sweet spot for me. And at bedtime, I was showing "Small" levels of ketones, a first in about 5 days. No exercise to speak of; I'm hoping to get a walk in tonight.

Sleep has been pretty good lately - although I'm taking Melatonin to achieve it. Some hot flashes, but they're not as strong as they were there for a while - the pattern seems to have shifted, so that they don't go away entirely, but they don't bug me as much, either. I can keep this level up indefinitely, although I would prefer not to.

Monday

Last week was a lost week, for sure. 154.6 this morning. And back to it.

I do think some of it is inflammation - I'm still a bit stiff from Friday's race - and some is intestinal distress of a sort. But I definitely had no weight lost last week. Ugh.

I don't think I can list out yesterday's eating; it was a weird day and I just don't recall all of it. Probably wasn't enough fat, for sure. Today, I've had my eggs-and-bacon, and I have fat-fast broccoli soup with me for lunch. Dinner is at some (ugh!!!) retirement planning thing that Lee felt compelled to attend, and will probably involve pasta, which I won't eat.

Anyway, life should be settling back down now. My plan for the week is to get back walking in the evenings, with at least one long walk this weekend, even if it's by myself.

Thursday

I'm going to count this week a bust for weight-loss purposes. Family in town, lots of eating out, holidays, and what-not. Getting NO exercise, and that's annoying me, which I guess is a good thing.

I put new batteries in the scale this morning and hope it will stop being stupid.  Before the replacement, it told me my weight was: 1) 153.6, 2) 152.4, 3) 153.4. After the replacement, it settled on 153.4 and stayed put, so I'm guessing that's the verdict this morning. I would prefer it were less, but we ate at a fried-chicken restaurant last night, and it's not surprising. Although I did not have chicken; I had turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce. And cottage cheese and bean salad and a corn fritter. I behaved as well as could be expected given the menu - well, almost. They actually had a "no carb" option with meat and a salad that I could have chosen, but I only get their bean salad once or twice a year, and it is delicious, although mildly poisonous (IMO, anyway).

Oh, and there was an employee lunch thing at work, so I had a burger patty with cheese and sauerkraut as well.

So I won't list the day - it could have been better and wasn't. Today is better so far - a normal breakfast and an extra cup of tea with a lot of cream in it on the way to work. Macadamias mid-day, I think - IF I'm hungry, that is. I may not be. And low-carb pizza split among 6 people tonight (I hope to keep it to 2 pizzas, since one of the 6 is a 3-year old). 

No ketosis last night, and no surprise. I slept well, but had another leg cramp overnight - I should probably do a cup of bouillon today, as well.

5K tomorrow morning - I may do it without eating first. Because I can - and sometimes, that's just a good reason to do things.

Wednesday

Exercise are not us this week. I rather suspected it would be the case, although Lee was quite sure we could get walks in. And the women of the family will, on Friday, when we do a 5K.

Anyway, 152.6 this morning - or 152.4. Or, being very pessimistic, 153.6. Our scale has lost consistency. My first step on it registered 153.6, so I got off and tried again. Twice it displayed 152.4. Then, a bit later, I zeroed it out completely, let that set in, and tried a fourth time, when it displayed 152.6. In absolute terms, I guess I don't care what I weigh, but I would like to know whether my weight has increased or decreased relative to yesterday or last week or whatever. That makes this annoying.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• scrambled eggs with sour cream and green salsa
  
• 2 pieces of bacon
  
• 12 macadamia nuts
  
• a hamburger patty
  
• zucchini parmesan noodles (sour cream, butter, cheese)
  
• 5 potato chips
  
• 3 strawberries
  
• a piece of cheese
  
• 2 salted dark chocolate almonds
  
• another tea with cream
  

That worked out to:

• 125 g fat (71%)
  
• 37 g carbs (9%)
  
• 77 g protein (19%)
  

It's getting pretty easy to maintain ratios, and I think having some consistent (bar the scale's vagaries) positive feedback has helped a lot. I know, from reading Jimmy Moore's n=1 ketosis blog entries, that he was running closer to 85-5-10 ratios, and I honestly cannot imagine how. If I stall within the next few pounds, or start reversing at this level, I will try to figure it out, but I hope I don't have to. This feels a lot like what I was eating during my original loss.

Sleep interrupted once by a leg cramp that I had to get up for - haven't had too many of those this go-round. I will try to get a cup of bouillon in today, see if that helps.

Tuesday

Um, nothing is coming to me this morning. Yesterday was an okay day, and I took a 10 mg Melatonin at bedtime, so I got some sleep. Maybe I'm just exhausted. 151.6 today; here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• no supplements (too tired)
  
• scrambled eggs with extra yolks (to use them up)
  
• 2 pieces of bacon
  
• a can of Red Bull (sugar free)
  
• 12 ish macadamia nuts
  
• chips and salsa (about 5-6 chips)
  
• guacamole
  
• "steak ranchero" - chunks of steak in green chile
  
• the cheese off the refried beans
  
• 2 pieces of cheese
  

That was it. It worked out to :

• 109 g fat (71%)
  
• 27 g carbs (8%)
  
• 73 g protein (21%)
  

Nearly perfect on the ratios, and not too much protein. I started today with eggs and bacon and sour cream and a bit of green salsa. Quite tasty.

No exercise recently; we still have houseguests, and while Lee thinks we will somehow get walks in, it appears he is relying on me to make that happen. And I had production emergencies all yesterday into the dinner hour, so that was not happening. Probably not tonight, either, since he has a golf course meeting at 6. Unless he gets back quickly enough that it's still light out.