Day 138

My body has been driving me crazy lately. After spending a couple of weeks flopping around 182 lbs, I dropped to 181.4 last Sunday. Then Monday morning, I was up to 183.4 for absolutely no reason that I can see. I stayed there all week. The only thing that I could come up with was that my hayfever was really bad this week (weed pollen is really high) and maybe that caused the weight gain. Nothing in my diet changed and I ate the same thing I always do - cheeseburger bowls, ribeyes or beef ribs. Not even any pork or chicken.

There were some weird things going on, though. I was hungry much earlier than normal. I didn't eat any more than usual; I just had my first meal around 9 AM instead of noon. Normally I would be hungry again when I got home around 4 PM but I wasn't this week. In fact, I was barely hungry enough for dinner even with eating earlier. My energy levels were higher than normal this week too.

So I was stuck at 183.4 pounds all week. I get up this morning and I am at 180.8, which is a new low and makes it a total loss of 19 pounds in about 4.5 months. I did weigh a little later than normal but not late enough to make up almost three pounds. I can see why people say that scales drive them crazy.

I also had leg cramps for the first time in over a month and half, which lends some credence to the theory that the cramps herald some fat loss.

Day 130

I haven't updated in a while because there really hasn't been much change. My weight has been fluctuating around 182 pounds. This is disconcerting to me because that is where I stalled 11 years ago when I lost a lot of weight through Weigh Down. I was stuck there for almost five years until I started slowly regaining from too many carbs. I have been able to briefly drop to 182 a couple times since but regained each time. Hopefully this time will be different. I suppose I could live with it but I would really like to lose some more of the roll on my gut.

Other than that, there isn't much to report. Eating has been pretty much the same things - cheeseburger bowls for work lunches and ribs, steak and/or chicken thighs for other meals. I did have pork ribs the other day and didn't feel well afterward. I don't think pork sits well with me, which is weird because I used to eat it all of the time.

My energy levels have been up and down, as they have been since I started ZC. I haven't slept well the last few days which isn't helping. I do need to do something to get into better shape, though. I went trail riding the other day with the boys and I noticed I was really huffing and puffing after some pretty minor hills. I don't think I have completely keto-adapted yet, either as I run out of steam pretty easily. I seem to recover quickly but it would be nice to be able to do more before crashing.

Day 118

Today was four weeks from my last update. I am down 3.6 pounds from that date. However, I had K do new measurements and there wasn't really much change. My stomach is down almost an inch but everything else is almost the same. In fact, the bodyfat percentage calculator gives me at a higher percentage than last time, despite being down 3.6 pounds. I think it's just a glitch because my clothes do feel looser. It is kind of a bummer to see a new low on the scale this morning (181.2 pounds) and then have the calculator say I'm actually fatter.

I was asked last week where I thought I might end up. Looking at myself critically, I think I could lose twenty pounds of fat without looking too skinny. I am currently looking forward to breaking the 180 pound barrier first and will post new pictures when I do.

I had a nice visit with my sister a couple of days ago. She was actually the first person to comment on my weight loss. She was fairly receptive to the idea of meat only and asked a lot of questions. However, there was still an air of disbelief ("you don't eat fruits or vegetables at all?"). I am going to recommend to her to just do low carb first and then keep dropping carbs if she stalls.

Meals the last few days have been fairly simple. K made pizza for everyone while my sister and her kids were here. I was going to make a pizza quiche but finally decided I didn't want that many carbs. I decided to try a meatza.

Changing the recipe to make it as low carb as possible and still stay pretty much zero carb was pretty easy. We mixed together one pound of italian sausage and one pound of hamburger along with some italian seasoning. The sausage and seasonings was just spices and herb with no fillers. We spread this out into a 9" x 13" baking pan and baked it for 20 minutes at 350°.

After the 20 minutes, we took it out, drained the grease and let it cool. When it came time to top it, I spread about three teaspoons of homemade pizza sauce over the whole thing and then topped it with a cheddar and mozzarella cheese mixture. The sauce has a only one carb in the three teaspoons but I am not sure it was necessary. I'll leave it off next time.

The meatza was very good and I ate about half of it that night. I ate the rest of it yesterday. I found it was amazing cold. It stays solid and has good flavor. It will make an excellent travel food where we have a cooler but no way to heat up meat.

The rest of the meals have been cheeseburger bowls.

Day 114

I had some leftover short ribs yesterday when I was first hungry at about 11 AM. The ribs tasted okay but were getting a bit elderly. I wanted to finish them off because they needed to be used up and ate a bit more than usual. However, either because I overate or because they were getting old, I didn't feel real well the rest of the day. My stomach was upset and I felt hot.

By dinner at 6:30, I was getting hungry again, even though my stomach was still a bit upset. K made swiss steak (steak cooked in a sauce made from onion, tomato and celery) and I ate several smaller chunks of meat, though I didn't eat any of the veggies. I finished that off with a slice of cheddar.

Interestingly, even though I didn't eat any of sauce, I smelled like onion this morning when I took my shower. I didn't get any carbs from the sauce but must have picked up something from it. It didn't affect me in any other way, though. My stomach feels okay this morning and my weight was down another .8 pounds, to 181.8 lbs.

Day 113

I have finally shaken the bloating from my exposure to gluten two weeks ago, so I have decided to get back to recording my zero carb journey. My last exposure to carbs was two weeks ago. I have been eating primarily beef and some hard cheese (cheddar mostly) along with some cream in my tea in the mornings that I work. This seems to work for my body and I have lost the carb and gluten bloat and hit a new low weight this morning - 182.6 pounds. That gives me a total loss of 17 pounds since I started.

I am still drinking Diet Pepsi. I had thought it was triggering cravings but that doesn't seem to be the case now. I think the cravings were coming from bits of carbs here and there - a few mushrooms with a steak, onions mixed into a sauce, etc. I do need to give the pop up, though, as I will get a little dizzy if I drink it on an empty stomach. This means I am releasing a little insulin from the sweet taste, which drops my blood sugar a bit at the time.

Meals yesterday were a cheeseburger bowl at 1 PM and a small bowl of taco meat, cheese and a little sour cream for dinner.