Monday, November 30, 2009

Day 233

Well, I'm back. We got home about midnight on Saturday and I spent yesterday trying to get back in the swing of things and get things back into shape at home.

The trip was fun. The first half, in particular, was great. I spent a bunch of time haunting some of my old shops and also did a bunch of clothes shopping. I felt lean and energetic and it was fun buying some new clothes, especially since I was now shopping in the "Medium" sizes. I didn't find a lot of fitted clothes but I found some things that fit now and will probably resort to on-line shopping when I get to my ZC size, now that I have an understanding of what to look for.

I helped my BIL move on Monday and it sucked as much as I thought it would.

For Thanksgiving, there usually isn't much dark meat, so I bought a pack of turkey thighs and had one for dinner (they are huge). Unfortunately, in a fit of temporary insanity, I also decided to have a bit of "this and that", just to try it. That ended up being three days of "I'll restart tomorrow". I didn't eat a ton of carbs or binge on anything but I wasn't ZC for that time. I am embarrassed and pissed at myself and definitely don't feel as well as I did before. I don't think my weight is up much and hopefully anything I did gain will drop off now that I am back on track.

At one point, before Thanksgiving, my in-laws' neighbor came over to say hi. She is overweight and has a raft of health issues, including diabetes. My MIL was fussing over me, telling the neighbor that I had definitely found the secret to weight loss and health. The lady was interested until my MIL told her what I was doing. She looked at me incredulously and kept asking if I ate this and that. She couldn't believe it and finally said that she would rather be unhealthy and eat what she eats (yes, she actually said that). I felt sad for her at the time but now that I found how easily I fell off of the wagon, I am just super aware at how difficult this is and how vigilant I will have to be for the rest of my life. Eventually it will sink in.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Week 32 Update

Tomorrow is actually the completion of week 32 of zero carb but I am leaving on vacation for a week so I decided to post today. It was supposed to be my seventh month anniversary but that was ten days ago and I didn't have time until now.

This morning, I weighed 170.6 pounds. It was a bit of a cheat as I didn't weigh or measure until almost noon because I had such a busy morning. I imagine that I would be in the 171 pound range if I had measured at a normal time. using that weight, though, puts me at a 29 pound loss since starting zero carb.

I measured last time on 10/24. Since that time, I have lost 3.6 pounds. It was really carving into my belly as it is down two inches in that time.

Since I started zero carb, I have lost 1.2" off of my neck, 3.4" off of my chest,
5.1" off of my stomach, 2.2" off of my butt, 0.7 off of my bicep and 2.2" off of my thigh. I have also dropped my blood pressure from the 145/90 range to 110/63.

Here are the scary pictures:







Thursday, November 19, 2009

Day 223

The scale is suddenly my friend again. I dropped to a new low this morning of 172.0 pounds. That makes for a total loss of 27.6 pounds. This also brought my seven day average to a new low of 172.9 pounds. I guess excessive whining about extended stalls gets things moving.

First hunger yesterday was around 10:30 am. I, of course, ate one of my ubiquitous hamburger bowls. I wasn't growling hungry yet at dinner at 6 pm but we were having ribeyes, so ate one anyway.

The ribeyes were the ones we got at WinCo for $3.98/lb. They were okay but not as good as the ribeyes we get locally. They were trimmed too much, for one thing. They were on par with a decent chuck-eye, I think.

Ribeye roasts are on sale all over right now. Unfortunately, our freezer is packed full. Since we are leaving tomorrow, we can't get one to eat fresh, either. Maybe they will go on sale around Christmas or New Years'.

I did my hamburger bowls differently this last weekend. I had always cooked them in a pan on the stove, scrambling the meat up in to bigger chunks and then dividing the meat and grease into bowls to take to work for lunch. With all the talk of baking GB lately, I decided to try it that way.

I had a four pound pack that I divided roughing into half. I put each of the two pound chunks into a 9" x 13" glass baking dish and spread it out flat. I put the two dishes into a 350° oven and cooked it for about 30 minutes. When it was done, I just cut slabs off of the loaf and divided it into my work bowls. I then divided the grease that had cooked out evenly into the bowls.

When I warm them up, I just break the mini-loafs up into chunks and nuke them until warm and the fat is melted. It has a lot better texture this way and tastes better, for some reason. Usually the top of the loaf has browned up more than the inside.

I know it sounds like meatloaf, and it is essentially. However, I don't add any binders or spices. This method of cooking is a winner and is much, much easier than standing over the stove frying up four pounds of ground beef in several batches.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Day 216

I waited for the growl yesterday and didn't hungry until 3:30 pm. Since it was only a couple of hours until dinner, I had four or five bites of my work pemmican stash to tide me over 'til dinner. I was hungry again by dinner and had five leftover flanken ribs (about a quarter inch thick) and half of one of my normal hamburger bowls.

I think it was too much. I was stuffed and it upset my stomach. When I went to bed, my stomach was rolling and I had to make a couple of quick trips to the bathroom.

Some people here can eat until stuffed, but I don't think I am one of them. Every time I have tried it, it ends in disaster. I think I need to wait for the growl and then eat enough to be satisfied (or not hungry anymore). That has worked well in the past.

With the big dinner, I was up a pound this morning. It makes it a 2.6 pound gain since my low on Sunday. I am not happy about that but my jeans aren't that much tighter, so there is probably something else going on.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Day 215

Today is my official 7th month anniversary of starting zero carb. It has been a bumpy ride at times but has smoothed out considerably over the last few months. I will try to get some updated stats and pictures this weekend. I will have company, though, so don't know if it will be possible.

I would be a little more excited about it if my weight hadn't bounced up a pound and a half after hitting the new low on Sunday. You never can tell the reason for things like this but I wonder if it is because I am not eating exactly to hunger. When I had the big loss a couple of weeks back, I was eating only when my stomach growled. Currently, I always wait to first eat until my stomach growls and I feel hunger. However, I tend to eat dinner with my family whether I am hungry or not.

I am not full then; I could eat but I don't need to eat. I think I will go back to only eating at the growl as it has always worked best with me. I let myself be convinced otherwise reading what other folks are doing and I stall out. I need to do what works for me, not what works for others.

Meals yesterday were a hamburger bowl at first hunger (about 11:30 am) and tri tip steaks for dinner at 7 pm. I overate the tri tips because I really like them. They are usually too expensive but we took advantage of a nice sale on them.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Hamburger bowls

Amy asked me in the comments what a hamburger bowl was, so I'll answer it here.

A hamburger bowl is just my shorthand way of saying ground beef cooked in crumbles and served in a bowl with the fat added back in.

I usually cook up 4 - 5 pounds of ground beef on Sunday for the week. I break it into bite sized chunks while cooking. I like the chunks versus a more crumbly texture, like taco meat. After it's cooked, I divide it into Tupperware bowls and then add back the fat to each of the bowls. I take one to work everyday for lunch.

I used to add some shredded cheese to the bowl after warming the ground beef. I called them cheeseburger bowls at the time. When I dropped the dairy, I took to calling them hamburger bowls.

I like doing it this way over burgers. Cooking burgers gets very messy, with grease splattering all over. It also takes a lot longer as I can only cook three patties per pan.

I should mention that I tend to use 80/20 ground beef. I accidentally got 85/15 last week and it was yucky and dry. I had to add butter to those to keep them from being too dry. 73/27 would work too but I can only get that in the chubs and I don't tend to like the chubs. I don't think they are as fresh as the 80/20 that the stores grind.

As for those that might be squeamish about adding the fat back to the ground beef, you get over it. I used to always religiously drain ground beef when I cooked it. When I decided to add it back in, I thought it was going to be disgusting but it was very good. It keeps the beef from being too dry and doesn't really add a flavor of its own.

Day 213

After two weeks of screwing around, my body is finally getting with the program again. I hit 172.8 pounds two weeks ago and then bounced up a pound and stayed there until yesterday. Yesterday, I hit a new low of 172.4 pounds. This morning I weighed about four hours earlier than yesterday and weighed 172.6 pounds. That puts me at a total loss of 27 pounds.

It was frustrating doing the bounce and stall thing. I was really enjoying the quick weight loss I was seeing before that. However, I just stayed the course and figured it would start up again eventually.

Meals on Saturday were ground beef both for first hunger as well as dinner. Meals yesterday were left over tri tip steaks at first hunger (about 12:30 pm) and a big chuck steak for dinner.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Day 205

I had a really busy weekend. K's folks stopped by Thursday night on their way back from Florida (coming back through the top part of the states). We had a nice but very brief visit with them as they left Friday morning. They were in a hurry to get home after being gone several weeks.

Friday, I had to do some work in the morning and then spent the afternoon working on my new shed. I staked out where the poles would go and then spent a lot of time moving stacks of wood.

After a snowy Thursday and a Friday that was cold and socked in all day, Saturday was beautiful. Sunny and 58°. The only down side was a pretty strong wind came up. I spent pretty much all day working on my shed.

When I finally came in after working all day, I was beat. I came into the house and was confronted with a bowl of Halloween candy that K had left out in case we got any trick or treaters. Maybe because I was so tired, I went through a period of intense argument with myself to stay out of it. It really caught me by surprise because I haven't been tempted at all up until that point. I really came this -||- close to falling face first into the candy. I managed to resist by convincing myself that I wanted to be as thin as possible by the time we go to the in-laws' for Thanksgiving. It wasn't the best reason but it worked. I also managed to distract myself by getting immersed in the Beavers game.

Sunday was nice too. I had to do some grocery shopping with K in the morning and then worked on the shed in the afternoon after the frost had disappeared. I also had to spend some time consoling my oldest son as he is in the process of learning the travails and drama of associating with teen-aged girls. I was still wanting the candy but it wasn't as strong.

Meals were pretty basic as I didn't want to fix much. Thursday was a hamburger bowl for first hunger and meatballs for dinner. Friday was a leftover short rib and some eggs for first hunger and a flat iron steak for dinner. The flat iron steak sucked and I won't be buying those again. Saturday was a hamburger bowl for first hunger and a ribeye for dinner. Sunday was a hamburger bowl and a couple of slices of bacon for first hunger and a hamburger bowl for dinner.

One frustration lately has been my weight. After a week of quick weight loss last week, I bottomed out at 172.8 pounds last Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, I bounced back up a pound and have stuck there since. I expected to stall a little but what makes it frustrating is that is seems like all the extra weight is centered on my lower abdomen. It makes my pants tighter than before I lost the weight last week. It also makes me feel very fat despite the lower weight.

No matter, though, because I don't intend on changing anything. I have trusted this way of eating so far, so I just have to wait it out.