Faceplant

If you take a look at my posting pattern, I start some time around the January/February transition with some new diet plan, because I feel fat as fuck after the Holidays. I stick with it for a little while, then I give up, and I even quit posting here.

Here's what happened with my try at going LCHF. It was working. Then I got violently ill. I was sick as a dog for a week, with everything coming out of both ends for a couple of days. All I could keep down was real (full sugar) Gatorade. Once I started to feel a little better, I went on the BRAT (Bananas, Rice Applesauce, Toast (dry, of course)) diet to get my digestive system primed back up. I then started eating "regular food", meaning the "Standard American Diet".

Needless to say, I gained back every pound that I lost, and then some since my last post.

I've got a FitBit. It lets me know how lazy I am. I'm supposed to get 10k steps in every day, but I've never hit that in the 4 months that I've had it. If I'm supremely lazy, and just sit around the house, only going between my computer, the bathroom, the kitchen and bed, I barely get 2000 steps, which I get just going between my office and my parking space every work day.

I keep talking to the wifey, saying that we should go for a walk once she gets home. She's usually too tired, and whines about it; so I'm going to strap on the walking shoes and go myself. We'll see how that works.

Almost through the first month

I'm right at 28 days into my diet, and I'm seeing good results. I'm able to fit into pants that I haven't been able to get into for months. I have more energy during the day,  and have been sleeping well at night, save the times I have to get up and pee because I'm drinking so much water.  SRH still bitches at me about drinking water, but she doesn't see how much I'm consuming because we're apart for 8 to 14 hours a day. She certainly doesn't complain about the food that I'm cooking, but I have to tell her to stay out of my stuff, because she's still eating the same amount of carbs as before. Much of what I cook is no or very low net carbs, or is high in fat to fit in with my diet. At least she doesn't want any of my fat bombs.

Day 15

Wow. I can't believe I've been doing this for 2 weeks. I think it's so easy because I'm not tempted to cheat. The fat and protein are keeping me full, and what carbs I do have are mostly fiber, so things are moving slower but smoother. I'm still eating at most of my favorite restaurants,  with just about everywhere willing to accommodate my little requests. No rice, a whole egg instead of just the white, extra salsa or fatty sauce, etc.

I haven't been back to a "burger joint" yet, but I haven't really missed it. I've been eating a lot of  Mexican and Chinese food,  but no rice or noodles. I have to be careful with beans, because the carb count could get nasty if I don't pay attention. The black beans that I had for lunch gave me a net carb count of 12, with 11 grams of fiber.

I'm eating a lot more meat and above-ground veggies, and haven't had any root veggies besides carrots. No fruit. No bread. No taters. I found low carb tortillas,  so I'm going to make some breakfast burritos on Sunday.  

Back to the gym

SRH and I went back to the gym for the first time in well over a year. I hopped on the scale, and I was down to 297. The last time I was on that scale, I was at 303, so I've lost between 6 and 11 pounds, depending on the calibration of the scales.

We're going to try the other gym that is closer to the house by about a mile. Its a little smaller,  but it has all the same stuff. Hopefully it won't be as busy as the big one that we've been going to.

Day 6

I'm waiting for SRH to get finished with her eye surgery,  and we'll have breakfast after that. We have a couple of kickass breakfast places, but I usually would have a country fried steak with all the trimmings. It will be an adventure trying to figure out what I can have without blowing my carbs for the day.

Day 5

Saturday, I picked up a few more goodies. I got some coconut oil, greek yogurt, almond butter, and nuts to snack on from Trader Joe's. I found the recipes for "Bulletproof Coffee", which is a breakfast replacement, so you don't have to eat bacon and eggs every day.

I'm drinking water like it's going out of style, and by adding the coconut oil, it's going to kick up my fat intake to where I want it to be. I need to pick up some Ketostix to see if I'm in ketosis yet.

I had to force myself to eat this morning. I wasn't hungry, but I made a plate of sausages and eggs topped with cheese and hot sauce. I slowly ate that over the course of about 45 minutes, along with drinking some regular coffee with a little heavy cream.

Noob mistakes and a eureka moment

It's more important now that I track my food. I can't just "wing it" or "guesstimate" point values and nutritional information like I used to do. In Day 2, I'm short on protein and calories, and on target for fat and carbs. Between MFP and the Calculator, I know what I need to be hitting every day to kick my body into ketosis.

The good thing is that I'm not hungry through the day, which was a problem with my last few diets, including WW. I've been reading books and looking at websites, and I've come down to a couple of simple conclusions:

1. The whole "Breakfast like a king" mantra makes sense. A big protein and fat laden meal to start the day will carry me through well past noon. I've noticed this during my Sunday breakfasts, and other times when I've had a "hearty breakfast" that I'm going 6-8 hours without even thinking about food. 
2. Sometimes, traditional wisdom is bad, such as the need to eat a whole crapload of grains and fruits. "Going Paleo" or going back to a diet that is short on anything processed and long on raw, fresh, natural, and protein- and fat-rich seems the way to go. 

I'm going to start going back to the gym once I see my body kick into a fat-burning mode, and hopefully that will accelerate things. Maybe I can take 15 minutes twice a day and walk around the block to get a little bit more movement, and to get my ass out of the office. 

Day 2

Breakfast was a quad venti heavy cream latte. Lunch was steamed veggies and kung pao chicken from Panda Express.

I'm having some intestinal disturbances to put it politely. This is probably because of the amount of fat that I have been eating. My body doesn't quite know what to do with it yet, because of my high carb diet previously.

Edit: Dinner was 3 eggs scrambled with a little milk, and 3 Cheddarwurst. I cooked a pan of bacon, so I'll have some breakfast goodies. 

Dinner Day 1

SRH wanted fish tacos. So we went to Rubio's. 2 grilled Mango Habanero Mahi-Mahi tacos and stevia -sweetened mango iced tea. I probably blew through the 50g of carbs I was trying to stay under, but it was good. I should do the salad next time.