Week 45 Update

My astute observers will note that I did not post an update last week. Christy and I did a late-night dinner and movie the night before weigh-in, and, well, we’ll call the week 44 weight “artificially inflated”. 

I did 15 miles by foot this week and ate well, so I’m pretty surprised that I’m not back down to 242 today.  So, I’m still sitting at about 67 total pounds lost.  

I ate at the Cheesecake Factory yesterday, and I was good; I ordered the roasted half chicken with green beans and broccoli . . . then bought some cheesecake to eat after my weigh-in today.  So, with cheesecake today and Thanksgiving on Thursday, I’ve got some cards stacked against me.  

At the same time, I realized this weekend that over the last three weeks, I’ve celebrated three family members’ birthdays and Halloween, while maintaining steady weight.  I guess that’s what you’d call a “moral victory”.  

AAARRGGHH! My belly aches!

I was able to don me olde sea captain costume last night fer the first time in many a year, but I fear it fit me a might more snug by night’s end.  Amidst the witches and their rounds, I fell hard beneath the spells of candies cursed.

I woke this mornin’ with fleeting, foggy memories of mouthfuls of peanut butter fillings and smooth chocolatey shells, but with a hankering fer but one thing: PROTEIN!  A hearty serving of bacon and eggs has me back on course, the dismal, choppy seas cast now well behind in my wake!

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

If Only I’d Known . . .

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison

In all my efforts to lose weight before, a minor setback or two was a kiss of death.

I might have lost 20 lbs fairly easily, but then would come Girl Scout cookies or a birthday, and I would splurge.  I’d sing the Birthday Song then have a piece of cake, which, of course, you can’t have without ice cream.  And then my mind would reason, “well, I already blew it, so I might as well go back for more!”

Before I knew it, I would be stuffed sick and sick of myself for being so weak.  And that sickness would feed into a heightened state of vulnerability that only propagated failure. One slip became two, which then gave way to a whole day lost.  And a day is practically a whole week, so then the whole “I’ll just start back next Sunday” mindset would creep in, giving me a free pass to fall whole-hog off the wagon for the rest of the week.

At that point, you might as well be sunk. Again. But sunk even lower than before.  As any smoker can attest, the slippery slope of failed self-control always seems to leave you in a deeper hole than you climbed from before.

It is truly amazing how an addicted mind can justify its enslavement, and being enslaved just plain sucks!

This year has taught me an invaluable lesson that I pray I can hold fast to for the rest of my life.  A slip isn’t a bad thing; it doesn’t even have to be a “slip”.  It’s a treat to enjoy. It’s the enjoyment of a moment, not the failure of a lifetime.

This past Sunday’s update was short-winded (“and thankfully so!” you might say) because of the weekend rush, so I didn’t expound on just how poorly I ate on Saturday and Sunday. Suffice it to say, I ate very poorly.

But you know what? I kept finding myself thinking, I’m sharing a wonderful experience with my little girl . . . we’re fishing, we’re hiking, we’re laughing and tie-dying, and by golly we’re eating hot dogs and s’mores! And when we get home, I’m going to bounce right back!

On our way home, I told my daughter I’d probably gained eight pounds on the weekend. When I stepped on the scales Monday morning, I’d gained over eight pounds!  The lesson I’ve learned during these last nine months is that as long as I isolate such “splurges” as the exception and not the rule, my body will bounce right back.

As of this morning’s weigh-in, I am already back to within ounces of my pre-camping weight and feeling great.

Any time before my experiences this year and a weekend like that would’ve killed my diet.  Now, I see my body is progressing. It’s now working with me down this road, not against me.

As awesome as it felt to break the 250 mark the first time, it felt just as awesome to break it again this morning so quickly after my lax weekend.  If only I’d known I could recover so quickly from “weak moments” in years past, perhaps I would have not failed so many times before.

As long as I succeed this time around . . . that’s all that matters.

Week 38 Update

Down 1.2 this week. Had to weigh in yesterday before going camping for the weekend with my daughter and hundreds of Girl Scouts.  Great fun but terrible diet-wise.

On the bright side, I found out that dark chocolate makes the absolute best smores! On the dark side, I ate many of them.

Back on board tomorrow!

Week 35 – Now That’s more Like It!

Lots of notes today, so bear with me. First, the brass tacks . . . after cutting out popcorn, sodas, and eating after 9PM for a week, I weighed in at 251.4. That is a drop of 4.5 pounds from last week and a new overall low by 3.5 pounds!

Observations on Popcorn:
– Popcorn did not cause my plateau, as I was a couple weeks into my plateau when I started eating it regularly.
– It did, however, delay my progress from that plateau, perhaps by as many weeks as I’ve consumed it. Just thankful to God for the awareness and discipline to cut it out and stick to it; hopefully in time!
– A bag of microwave popcorn alone is not terrible in the grand scheme of things; in fact, it appears to be a solid treat when I reach the point of sustaining my weight. That is encouraging for 2013 . . . I LOVE popcorn!

Observations on Not Eating after 9PM:
– I am a night owl. Frequently my popcorn consumption came after 9PM, while working on my blogs or watching a movie, etc., along with a couple squares of dark chocolate.
– Adding more exercise, cutting out sodas, and not eating after 9PM have given me an urge to go to bed earlier, which I have heeded.
– This more regulated schedule has led to a more natural adherence to my circadian clock, an ideal of the primal philosophy. This means that I’m waking up without an alarm on most mornings. A simple alarm sound triggers a chemical fight-or-flight . . . well, ALARM response in the body, resulting in a biochemically traumatic event to start each morning.
– In theory, all this should translate into my body working in greater chemical harmony, with solid sleep cycles, natural muscle development, more optimal caloric need, etc..
– In other words, all good things . . . 🙂

Finally, just some general feel-good milestones from this week:
– Went “closet shopping” and fit into several pairs of pants I’ve never fit into. They’re snug, but they button, and in a week or two I should be able to include them in the rotation.
– I have several important business dinners coming this week, including one that will be business formal. Coincidentally, I tried on my suit that I interviewed in to get my current job 12 years ago, and it fits! Great timing!
– Did my first 5k on Saturday! No, it wasn’t a race. I did it alone and still came in last, but I did it. Probably ran a mile of it, and my knees were killing me, but it’s an achievement nonetheless.

If you’d like to add your support to Tip the Scales 2012!, please email me your pledge today at tipthescales2012@gmail.com!

Post-Beach Reset

I just returned from a week long R&R at Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Vacation’s a challenging time to maintain a good diet, because you get out of your routine.  You suddenly have down time, frequent meals out, etc..

Still, I did very well for the first half of our vacation. I promised the kids we’d have pizza on Sunday after my weekly weigh-in, and when the time came, I had more than I should have.  The idea was to get right back on the “TS2012 train”, but instead, I progressively drifted further and further off-track for the remainder of vacation.

It is just amazing how quickly the tide can change with the re-introduction of processed carbs into a diet.  Not only am I up about six pounds from Sunday, but also my energy has wavered, and daily headaches that plagued me before I “went primal” returned.

I just feel pretty “YUCK”!

Yesterday was probably the single least-disciplined day I’ve had this year.  Today is for bouncing back, and tomorrow is for reclaiming my “Friday Fast,” after taking a break from it last Friday.

It will be interesting to see how quickly my body recovers with some renewed resolve. Check back Sunday evening to see!

About This Low-Carb Thing

A couple people have asked me for a little more detail in how I manage protein versus carbs, so since I wrote a response anyway, I figured I might as well post it here.

The Primal Blueprint book I recommended cites 50-100 grams of daily carbs as the general fat-burning/weightloss “zone” and 100-150 for weight management. I don’t count carbs, as a general rule.

I generally consume the following each day to get my carbs. These give me all my carbs and, in lieu of “counting”, I trust the rest takes care of itself.
– a good serving or two of fruit
– a handful, or so, of pecans or almonds
– a couple servings of veggies
– a serving of dark chocolate
– a glass of red wine

I eat NO cereal, rice, pasta, or potatoes, and I am very limited with breads. There are a couple kinds of loaf bread that are tasty for an occasional sandwich. Sara Lee “45 Calories and Delightful 100% Whole Wheat Bread with Honey”, for instance, only has 10 net carbs (carbs minus fiber) for 2 slices, and that’s pretty great.

As for protein, I feel like I can eat pretty much as much lean meat as I need. I also love eggs, and they are squarely on the menu.

A frequent knock I hear about a low-carb diet is the lack of variety. Here’s where creativity and experimentation come into play.  In one scene from Pink Floyd: Live in Pompeii, drummer Nick Mason orders a piece of apple pie with “no crust”.  Why not take something you love and cook it without the carbs?  I cook a tasty shrimp alfredo primavera and simply eat it without the fettuccine.

The good thing about the whole low-carb method is that if you can be attuned to what your body’s saying, you’ll hardly ever get “hungry”. My problem has always been that I love to eat and often ate when I wasn’t hungry and usually ate stuff that wasn’t going to sustain me (i.e., processed carbs) and, therefore, would make me hungry more often. I truly lived a cycle of hunger then carb-up then crash then repeat.

I feel so much more consistent energy throughout the day now, and I attribute it fully to having broken the processed carb cycle.

Do calories matter? Yes, but not as much as we’ve been raised to think. By taking in the right calories, your body simply gets more mileage out of them and leaves you wanting less.

Don’t ever hesitate to ask if you have any questions. While I’m just a student in self-improvement, chances are I’ve either already asked your question myself or would at some point anyway, so ask away!

Rediscovering Dark Chocolate

Chocolate has always been one of my highest dietary hurdles.

Fortunately, back in February, some friends of mine from church (who, incidentally, are very active in Missionaries of the Poor) suggested I try acquiring a taste for dark chocolate.  They recommended starting 60% cacao dark chocolate first and work up from there.

What a godsend! My wife and I now regularly enjoy up to 90% cacao chocolate, albeit usually in combination with something else. I especially enjoy a couple squares dabbed with regular peanut butter (not reduced fat) and some crumbled almonds on top.

On Easter, I ate a Hershey’s milk chocolate egg and actually found I didn’t care much for it.  It seemed more waxy than creamy, so I looked forward to my next square of Ghirardelli Midnight Reverie!

Consider this: a serving of Lindt 90% cacao chocolate nets 7g of carbs versus 25g in an equal sized bar of Hershey’s milk chocolate.  For someone going low-carb, I call that a win!

One of my favorite treats is Lindt’s 70% cacao dark chocolate with almond brittle. At 14 net carbs per serving, it’s not as healthful as the 90% cacao, but it makes a pretty darn good treat!