Weight chart, end of October 2017

I started my diet change on Jan 10, which was Day 10 of 2017. Oct 31 is day 304 of 2017, which makes the total days on the new diet 294.

Over the course of 294 days, I lost 50.4 pounds. (Jan 10 = 207.4; Oct 31 = 157.0)

That comes to an average of 0.17 pounds per day, or 1.19 pounds per week (0.17 * 7).

That is a good, slow, sustainable rate of loss. It's slow enough that my metabolism was able to adapt and not go into "starvation mode" and slow enough that my skin was mostly able to retract along with my weight loss -- "mostly" because I am almost 50 years old, so some loss of skin elasticity is normal at my age.

According to this height/weight chart over at Medical News Today (which does not account for age or sex), the "Normal" weight for someone my height (5' 9") should be 128 - 162 lbs. I am near the upper end of that range, which is good.

BTW, the chart gives the range for "Overweight" at 169-196, "Obese" at 203-263, and "Extreme Obesity" at 270-365. (I don't know how they'd categorize someone who falls between 162-169, etc.) So according to this chart, I wasn't merely "overweight" back in January, I was "obese".

I suspect my body will find its equilibrium soon and stop losing weight. Of course, I have no idea what that weight will actually be, but I will keep monitoring it.

Morning weight, Tues Oct 31

Mon Oct 30

Breakfast: smoothie 

Lunch: grilled beef

I had one Hershey's mini milk chocolate today. (I'll try to be better about writing this kind of thing down.)

Snack: pork rinds and my homemade fermented salsa

Morning weight, Mon Oct 30

After breakfast, and dressed. 

Sun Oct 29

Breakfast: smoothie 

Lunch: finished the leftover pork and split peas 

Progress picture, Oct 29

Far left is Xmas Eve (Dec 24, 2016). Middle is Pentecost (June 4, 2017). Right is today, Reformation Sunday (Oct 29, 2017). 

Morning weight, Sun Oct 29

Sat Oct 28

Breakfast: smoothie 

Lunch: leftover pork and split peas. 

Dinner: grilled beef (no side dish)

Morning weight, Sat Oct 28

Forgot to take the pic until I was fully dressed. Sigh. 

Friday Oct 27

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: slow cooker pork in chicken broth, with green & yellow split peas & red lentils, onions, & garlic, with salt & pepper, bouquet garni, & kombudashi. 

Other things: 

"flipped" my water kefir

Processed 2 flats of strawberries we got from church. Most of them were moldy and yucky so the bunnies and quail got those, but I managed to save enough to freeze an entire cookie sheet worth for use in future smoothies, etc. 👍🍓🐰🐦

It's not about deprivation...

Several weeks ago, I posted a pic of dinner to Facebook and a friend commented that the carrots are not low-carb, so why am I eating them?

Because it's not about deprivation.

When I go to restaurants or just need a quick and easy way to describe the way I eat now, I often say, "I'm doing the low-carb thing." But that's not really 100% accurate. I'm not doing Atkins, or Keto, or Paleo, or any other "name brand" diet. I don't actually "count" carbs or calories and I certainly don't keep track of "macros" or anything else like that.

Yes, I'm avoiding high carb foods, but the keyword there is AVOID. I'm not eliminating all carbs, I'm just avoiding foods I know to be high carb. And if something has more carbs than other things (carrots, for example), then I still might eat it, if it has other benefits. In this specific example, carrots have beta carotene and other good vitamins, so I eat them.

Beans are another good example. Beans have lots of protein and fiber, but they also have carbs. One thing I do to mitigate their carb content is sprout them. That reduces their carbs and adds/activates other enzymes in them to make them good for me, and a valuable addition to my diet.

There have been several times since I changed my diet that I've been in situations where it was "eat carbs or don't eat". When I was in NYC to sing at Carnegie Hall, the after-concert harbor cruise had food for us. But the only non-carb dishes had bell peppers - which I'm allergic to - so I couldn't eat them. I opted for a salad and chicken-with-rice because I had to eat (I was drinking alcohol!), so I ate it. When I was in Germany, the festival had pizza for lunch, so I ate pizza. These are only 2 examples of many.

And of course, I still drink beer, wine, and bourbon. Not nearly as much as I used to, to be sure, but still a non-zero amount. And I don't plan to stop drinking it any time soon.

(and this blog is testament to how often I eat McNuggets! which I shouldn't but do because they're easy to eat while driving and salads are not.)

It's not about deprivation.

We have a mailbox at our local UPS store (because the USPS doesn't deliver mail to our house) and they have a bowl of chocolate sitting out for their customers. We go there everyday to get our mail and I usually (more often than not) will take a piece of dark chocolate and eat it, or maybe a Kit Kat Mini. Just one piece.

When Brianne has a cookie or other dessert, I will often have a bite of it. Or I'll have one potato chip or corn chip.

In Germany, I had a piece of amazingly delicious pretzel bread because it's amazingly delicious.

On my birthday, I had a brownie sundae -- brownie, ice cream, chocolate sauce! YUM!

It's not about deprivation.

I also don't want to eat a bunch of fake stuff. The only thing I regularly eat that isn't made of "real food" is my morning smoothie - and even that includes a lot of "real food" in it (yogurt, etc), and the "fake food" powders that I use are specifically chosen to provide nutritional support.

I don't eat special "low carb" foods like breads (other than the tortillas) or special sweeteners in candy or chocolate or anything else. I prefer to eat real food.

So yeah, I think about carbs, but that's not the only thing I consider in deciding what to eat. I've tried deprivation-based diets before and they work for a time, but not long-term. The way I eat now doesn't feel like a burden and I rarely crave things I'm "not supposed to have". And if I do crave something, I just have a small piece of it to get the taste, and then I'm done.

It's not about deprivation.

It's about balance. And nutrition. And making sure my blood sugar doesn't get too low - which can happen easily if one avoids carbs.

It really is a lifestyle change, not a "diet". And I'm happy with it so far.

Birthday Brownie Sundaes ROCK!

.

What is my "Goal"?

People keep asking me what my goal weight is. Truth is, I don't have one.

I know it sounds like a cliché, but it's true: I made a lifestyle change. When my body reaches its equilibrium with the way I eat now, then it will stop losing weight. Once my body stops losing weight and settles into its "new normal", then I will have a choice to make.

If I'm happy with the way I look and feel at that weight, then I just need to keep on keeping on.

If I'm NOT happy with the way I look and feel at that weight, then I will need to make another lifestyle change -- perhaps add more exercise, or change my diet in some other way, etc.

Right now, I'm still just finding that equilibrium, and that's ok.

.

Morning weight, Fri Oct 27

Taken after breakfast

Thurs, Oct 26

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: 20 McNuggets with ketchup 

Morning weight, Thurs Oct 26

Today my total loss (so far) is *drumroll*: 

50.1 POUNDS!!

👍🍾🎉

Wed Oct 25

Breakfast: smoothie

Lunch: low carb tortilla roll ups with cream cheese, Wasa crispbread with cream cheese, a hunk of kojak cheese, some Whisps Parmesan cheese crisps, & mixed nuts

Morning weight, Wed Oct 25

Tues Oct 24

Forgot to post my morning weight!

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: leftover pork chops with mixed beans 

Mon Oct 23

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: grilled pork chops with a side of sprouted mixed beans (mostly peas, soybeans, & black eyed peas, but I also threw in the mixed beans and garbanzos), sautéed in a bit of pork fat, with salt & pepper, onion & garlic.  

Morning weight, Mon Oct 23

Sun, Oct 22

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: beans and weanies 

Morning weight, Sun Oct 22

No morning weight, Sat Oct 21

Forgot to take a weight pic. :-(

Breakfast: smoothie

Lunch: leftover tuna salad, Kojak cheese, hard boiled eggs, mixed nuts 

Fri, Oct 20

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: stir fried chicken & vegetables

Morning weight, Fri Oct 20

Thurs Oct 19

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: beans and wienies 

Morning weight, Thurs Oct 19

What's in my Smoothie?

It's been a while since I posted about what's in my smoothie & some of it has changed over the course of time. A couple of my Facebook friends also asked me about it, so here's an update.

First, the reason I have been religious about having a smoothie every morning is because I tend to forget to eat. I get involved in other things and just plum forget. Crazy, I know, but it's true. And when one is on a restrictive diet (low-carb in my case), low blood sugar can be a problem if a meal is skipped, plus hunger makes junk food look more appealing, even if only because it's "easy". So, knowing that I needed something simple to make and simple to eat, I chose to always start my day with a smoothie. 

Another note: I'll be talking about the effective carb count in this post, but I want to say that I really don't think about it much in real life. I also don't care about calories or fat grams or anything else. I do read the labels when choosing ingredients and try to balance nutritional content with lower effective carbs. There are other protein powders with lower effective carb counts I could use, but their nutritional profiles aren't as good as the ones I have chosen to actually use. Nutrition is more important than carb count. Full stop. (I'll talk more about that in a future post.)

Now, onto the smoothies!

I have a Ninja Kitchen System blender thingy from CostCo. It comes with 3 smoothie cups, which is what I use to make my morning smoothies. They come with travel lids, but the lids don't close, so I ordered some others that do close, so on those mornings when I don't have time to drink my smoothie at home, I can take it with me. 👍

Anyway, I start by putting 5 or so ice cubes into the cup. It's enough to make a nice shake-like texture, but still leave enough room in the cup for the rest of the stuff I put in. 

Then I add 1/4 cup of hydrated chia & flax seeds. I make up a whole jar of these when the previous jar is empty. I just put 1 Tbsp of chia seeds and 1 Tbsp of flax seeds into a jar, fill it with water, then stick it in the fridge. It's ready to use by the next morning. Here's a great article about the benefits of chia seeds. I use them mainly because it's good fiber and helps to add "structure" to the smoothie.

This jar is almost empty!

Next up is a 1/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt. I use CostCo's Kirkland brand because it's inexpensive and a large tub, which reduces waste. I know it'd reduce waste even more if I made my own yogurt, but I'm not sure it would be less expensive, and that's really the Calculus of Life I need to use right now. The yogurt is fairly high in carbs - 12 g of effective carb (Total Carb minus Dietary Fiber) per 1 cup serving - but since I only use 1/4 cup, it's really only 3 g added to the smoothie. And since it's full of live and active lactobacillus cultures (which is good for the gut), plus high in protein, it's worth it.

I often add a 1/4 cup of fermented strawberries. Fermenting them increases their probiotic content (which is good for the gut) and reduces their sugar content (which reduces their carb count). I started out by using this recipe for fermenting berries but I've stopped adding salt or honey to it. The berries have enough natural sugar in them to feed the fermenting bacteria, so I don't need to add any more. I also just use a Tablespoon of finished water kefir (see below) to get the culture started, rather than a specialty culture starter. I prefer to use fresh strawberries, but have also made it with frozen berries and it was fine.

One time I made fermented figs and apple instead of strawberries and that was also good in the smoothie. I also made some fermented watermelon, but I thought the finished flavor didn't mesh well with the yogurt, so I haven't used them for that. 

NOTE: When I travel, I can't bring all those wet items with me, so I just use my powders in a shaker cup with water. I also take probiotic supplement pills when I travel, because I don't get the probiotics from the yogurt, fermented berries, or water kefir (see below).

So what are "my powders"? There are several because they each have different nutritional benefits. In no particular order:

LivFit Superfood Blend, made of lots of good plant protein. It's 4g of effective carb per 2 Tbsp. I use a 9 cc scoop for it, which is about 2 teaspoons, which is less than 2 Tbsp (3 teaspoons = 1 Tbsp, so 2 Tbsp = 6 teaspoons, so 2 teaspoons is 1/3 of an official serving), so the actual carb count for me is 4/3 or 1.33 g.

look at all those awesome veggies!

lots of vitamins!

I'm almost out of it, though, so when it's all done, I will switch to another plant-based protein powder  -- Vega essentials -- that I bought when I was out of my primary protein powder (see below) a couple of months ago. It's actually got 0 g effective carbs and a good nutritional profile. I'll continue to use just the 9 cc (2 teaspoon) scoop, rather than the scoop that comes with it because this is not my primary protein powder.

lots of good vitamins

Optifiber, which is CostCo's Kirkland brand of Benefiber. It's only 1 g of effective carbs per scoop and adds good fiber to the smoothie. On those days when I mess up my chia schedule and don't have any finished chia & flax seeds, I use 2 scoops of this instead of one.

Next is Hershey's unsweetened Cocoa powder! This is purely for flavor. :-) I've tried using chocolate-flavored protein powders, but the flavor leaves something to be desired, so I just use regular cocoa. An official serving is 1 Tablespoon, which has 1 g of effective carbs, but I only use 1/2 a teaspoon, so the actual carb count for me is 1/6 g. Almost nothing! 

I added a Hemp protein powder a few months ago. Sometimes when one eats high protein in a short period of time, nausea can result. That was happening to me, but I haven't had any nausea since adding the Hemp powder. A serving size is 4 Tablespoons, with only 1 g of effective carb but I use just 1 teaspoon. 

MCT Oil Powder. MCT stands for Medium-Chain Triglycerides, and they are used for weight loss for a variety of reasons. Here's an article about them, scroll down to the bit about "MCT Oil May Help With Weight Loss in Several Ways". This brand comes with a 50 cc scoop, which is the official "serving size", but I just use a 9 cc scoop. Either way, it's got 0 g of effective carbs.

And finally is my primary protein powder: AdvantEDGE pure milk protein powder. As I said above, there are other protein powders that are lower carb and higher protein, but this one has a good nutritional profile -- those others are seriously lacking in vitamins! I use the full-size scoop that comes with the product, and prefer the Creamy Vanilla flavor. (Note: They've recently changed the packaging on this brand to a tall cylinder, but it's still the same stuff.)

That's it for the powders. At this point, I have to add more liquid to the "Fill Line" on the cup so that the smoothie is actually smooth! ;-) I prefer to use water kefir that I make myself.

What is water kefir? It's made with "kefir grains" which are really a kind of SCOBY - which stands for Symbiotic Community Of Bacteria and Yeast. Here's an article with more information about what water kefir is and why it's beneficial. I use regular white cane sugar and brown sugar to feed the grains. I also let it ferment for longer than 48 hours because I want to make sure it's had time to eat all the sugar! I also DON'T try to keep all the carbonation in to make a fizzy drink, or add flavor to it. I simply don't care about that. I only use the finished water kefir for my smoothies and as a fermentation starter for other ferments (like sauerkraut and other veggies).

When I don't have any water kefir ready, I just use regular water. 

So that's it for my morning smoothie. It keeps me full for several hours and it's yummy! I think it's a major factor in my success so far and would recommend a well-balanced smoothie to anyone thinking of doing a low carb, high fiber, high protein diet. 👍

Wed Oct 18

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: Tuna (albacore packed in water) with mayo, garlic powder, dill, salt, pepper, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sprouted almonds, mixed with green leafy sprouts. With 2 hard-boiled eggs and a hunk of Kojak cheese.

In other news: we took in our recycling. We got $6.39 for it, which we used to fill up the small propane tank for our outdoor grill. 

Our local waste collection service recently started accepting recycling too, though they don't pay for it. They accept a wider variety of stuff than the pay place does, so I'll be collecting those items now instead of landfilling them. Yay!

Morning weight, Wed Oct 18

Tues, Oct 17

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: 20 McNuggets with ketchup 

Morning weight, Tues, Oct 17

Mon, Oct 16

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner at Panera: I had a salad with grilled chicken, egg, bacon, avocado, Parmesan cheese, sesame seeds, and tomato with a champagne Dijon dressing. So good!! 

Morning weight, Mon Oct 16

I feel better today. Not pain free, but definitely better than yesterday. 

Sun, Oct 15

Breakfast: smoothie

Dinner: steak on the grill 

I hurt all over today. Every joint in my body aches. I don't know why. :-( 

Morning weight, Sun Oct 15

45.6 pounds lost!

Sat, Oct 14

Breakfast: smoothie

Snack: hard boiled eggs and cheese

Dinner: smoothie

I didn't plan my meals very well at all, so as a result I let my blood sugar get too low yesterday and was dizzy and shaky, so I had a smoothie just before bed. 

Morning weight, Sat Oct 14