I've neglected my blog and my journal because of the long weekend. I work four 10's, so had half of Thursday and all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. I stayed off of the computer almost the whole time, even though I didn't really do much. We had been gone the previous two weekends so just hung around the house.
It was also blazing hot, so I didn't much done, except a little yard work early in the day. K is in a cleaning out the excess mode, so I helped her go through the kitchen, sorting out stuff we don't need anymore. We are going to end up having to have a huge yard sale, with no relatives invited that weekend. :lol:
Food wise, the weekend was a bit of a struggle. I didn't do too bad, but just fought cravings all weekend. I think part of it was just from hanging around the house. I don't have nearly the problem on days I work. Weekends have been a problem for me because of that.
I experimented a little over the weekend, too, to see if I could kill the cravings. I thought maybe that I wasn't eating enough so tried eating more ZC food when I got hungry. That didn't work at all and I just ballooned up and felt crummy. I have decided the only way that works for me is to eat smaller amounts when I get hungry. I am not leaving myself hungry or anything like that; I just can't stuff myself.
I still haven't lost all of the bloat from the previous weekend at my parents'. I think the biggest part of that is because I was glutened. It almost always takes a week or so to lose the gluten bloat. My weight hovered in the 185's all weekend, though it was down to 184.2 this morning. Hopefully I'll get back to my losing ways soon.
The 4th was my 12th week since I started this challenge. I had intended to do an update of my stats and pictures but decided there was no point with the gluten bloat. Friday the 10th is my 90th day, which is how long I originally intended to do this challenge. I will do an update then. It will also be a new start as I have some changes to make for the next 90 days.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Day 81
I haven't updated since last weekend, where I was concerned with being at my folks' for the weekend. It turned out to be a mixed bag.
K and I drove down Thursday night and had dinner at the Golden Corral on the way. Dinner was okay but not great. I have decided that I don't like whatever it is that they sprinkle on their steaks. It has a weird aftertaste and ruins the taste of the meat. I could probably ask to leave it off but it is all over the grill so it would still be on there.
I also had a little mixed meat from the salad bar (chicken and ham) plus a little cheese. This turned out to be a mistake because it glutened me. The rest of the night and most of the next day, I had that familiar "glass in the intestines" feeling. Dumb, dumb, dumb. One of these days, I'll learn to not ass-u-me about restaurant food.
The next day was good, food-wise. Breakfast at my grandpa's was typical - massive amounts of eggs and sausage. The sausage links were supposedly 0 grams of carbs but they tasted a little sweet to me. Not too bad, though. Dinner was tacos, so I had a little meat and cheese and then ate two of the hamburger patties that we had brought. I think my mom was a little put out by that but I wouldn't have done well with more taco meat.
Saturday was a repeat for breakfast. Even though the breakfast was huge, I still ended up getting hungry around lunch and had a couple of burgers. For dinner, K and I had bought a bunch of marked down chuck-eyes from a local store and I grilled those up for dinner. They turned out well and everyone raved about them. Amazing how a little fat on a steak will improve its taste.
That dinner was where the problem started. I was feeling ten foot tall and bulletproof and decided I could handle a little baked potato with my steak. Well, as can be imagined, that potato led to a salad, which led to a few chips, which led to *mumble* chocolate chip cookies.
If that wasn't bad enough, I ended up eating chili and ice cream the next day at home.
I had only regained a pound and a half from the episode at my parents' but the other stuff led to a total of four pounds regained. I have been doing well since but have only dropped a pound of the bloat. I am also fighting some severe allergy problems at the moment, which I think is causing me to hold on to the water.
I have decided that I am going to avoid the Golden Corral in Spokane. Not only does their meat taste weird but it has set off cravings both times I eaten there. Taking the burgers worked really well and I'll just do that next time. On longer trips, I'll probably take something in a cooler. Restaurant food is just too big of a risk for me and isn't satisfying from a ZC point of view. It is also too expensive for what you get. It cost K and I $28 to eat at GC. In comparison, on Saturday we shopped for the BBQ and bought eight 1/2 pound chuck-eyes, a bag of chips, a can of Bush beans and a can of olives for $24 (and most of that we wouldn't normally buy). The high cost of the restaurants just isn't worth it to me.
Not too much happened in respect to our way of eating. I was expecting comments from my dad but he never said anything to me directly. My mom said something about me not eating lettuce with the taco "salad" and said I was cold because I had lost weight (I had to put a jacket on because I was sitting by the A/C when we were playing pinochle). I know it is only vanity but I was a little disappointed that no one said anything about my weight loss from a positive point of view. I was down 16.6 pounds at that point and feel that I look a lot better but not one word. I guess they are waiting for my arteries to explode.
I did have to deprogram some nutritional "wisdom" that my dad told my boys. I had to explain to them that the brain can get all the glucose it needs without one having to actually eat carbs and that one can get all the vitamins and minerals from just meat, as long as it isn't cooked beyond recognition. Apparently, the nutritional lectures are going to the kids instead of me.
Because of my epic fail two weekends in a row, I thought about resetting my time back to "Day 1". However, Charles recently told someone that going off plan was actually on plan because it shows you how carbs affect the body. I am definitely learning that lesson. I realize that my results so far are different from someone doing ZC flawlessly over the same time frame but I think these bumps will happen when trying to make a lifestyle change.
K and I drove down Thursday night and had dinner at the Golden Corral on the way. Dinner was okay but not great. I have decided that I don't like whatever it is that they sprinkle on their steaks. It has a weird aftertaste and ruins the taste of the meat. I could probably ask to leave it off but it is all over the grill so it would still be on there.
I also had a little mixed meat from the salad bar (chicken and ham) plus a little cheese. This turned out to be a mistake because it glutened me. The rest of the night and most of the next day, I had that familiar "glass in the intestines" feeling. Dumb, dumb, dumb. One of these days, I'll learn to not ass-u-me about restaurant food.
The next day was good, food-wise. Breakfast at my grandpa's was typical - massive amounts of eggs and sausage. The sausage links were supposedly 0 grams of carbs but they tasted a little sweet to me. Not too bad, though. Dinner was tacos, so I had a little meat and cheese and then ate two of the hamburger patties that we had brought. I think my mom was a little put out by that but I wouldn't have done well with more taco meat.
Saturday was a repeat for breakfast. Even though the breakfast was huge, I still ended up getting hungry around lunch and had a couple of burgers. For dinner, K and I had bought a bunch of marked down chuck-eyes from a local store and I grilled those up for dinner. They turned out well and everyone raved about them. Amazing how a little fat on a steak will improve its taste.
That dinner was where the problem started. I was feeling ten foot tall and bulletproof and decided I could handle a little baked potato with my steak. Well, as can be imagined, that potato led to a salad, which led to a few chips, which led to *mumble* chocolate chip cookies.
If that wasn't bad enough, I ended up eating chili and ice cream the next day at home.
I had only regained a pound and a half from the episode at my parents' but the other stuff led to a total of four pounds regained. I have been doing well since but have only dropped a pound of the bloat. I am also fighting some severe allergy problems at the moment, which I think is causing me to hold on to the water.I have decided that I am going to avoid the Golden Corral in Spokane. Not only does their meat taste weird but it has set off cravings both times I eaten there. Taking the burgers worked really well and I'll just do that next time. On longer trips, I'll probably take something in a cooler. Restaurant food is just too big of a risk for me and isn't satisfying from a ZC point of view. It is also too expensive for what you get. It cost K and I $28 to eat at GC. In comparison, on Saturday we shopped for the BBQ and bought eight 1/2 pound chuck-eyes, a bag of chips, a can of Bush beans and a can of olives for $24 (and most of that we wouldn't normally buy). The high cost of the restaurants just isn't worth it to me.
Not too much happened in respect to our way of eating. I was expecting comments from my dad but he never said anything to me directly. My mom said something about me not eating lettuce with the taco "salad" and said I was cold because I had lost weight (I had to put a jacket on because I was sitting by the A/C when we were playing pinochle). I know it is only vanity but I was a little disappointed that no one said anything about my weight loss from a positive point of view. I was down 16.6 pounds at that point and feel that I look a lot better but not one word. I guess they are waiting for my arteries to explode.
I did have to deprogram some nutritional "wisdom" that my dad told my boys. I had to explain to them that the brain can get all the glucose it needs without one having to actually eat carbs and that one can get all the vitamins and minerals from just meat, as long as it isn't cooked beyond recognition. Apparently, the nutritional lectures are going to the kids instead of me.
Because of my epic fail two weekends in a row, I thought about resetting my time back to "Day 1". However, Charles recently told someone that going off plan was actually on plan because it shows you how carbs affect the body. I am definitely learning that lesson. I realize that my results so far are different from someone doing ZC flawlessly over the same time frame but I think these bumps will happen when trying to make a lifestyle change.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Day 75
I finally have lost all of the bloat from my diet fail last weekend. In fact, I hit a new low this morning. I dropped 1.2 pounds, down to 183.0. The stupid scale teased me by flickering 182.6 a couple of times before settling on 183. That's a total loss of 16.6 pounds.
I wasn't very hungry yesterday. I got hungry the first time about 9 AM. I ate two flanken ribs that were pretty meaty with lots of fat. I expected to get hungry again in the early afternoon but it didn't come. I kept expecting it but - nothing. I finally got hungry about 6 PM and ate three cheeseburger patties. I also ate an extra slice of cheese while waiting for them to cook. I was pretty hungry by then.
I was originally going to try to cut out the dairy but I have found I just do better with it. I think the cravings that led to my eating ice cream and yogurt last Sunday came from trying to cut out the dairy the week before. I have also found I don't get the leg cramps as bad if I have dairy, probably because of the calcium. Finally, it's just easier to stick with eating this way if I can include some dairy. Whether that is because of something dietary or because it allows for a little variety, I don't know.
The next couple of days will be a challenge. We are going to be spending the weekend at my parents' place. We are driving down tonight and will probably eat dinner at Golden Corral so that we can stuff ourselves on steaks. Breakfasts aren't bad since we eat at my Grandpa's and he cooks us eggs and sausage. The meals with my parents will be challenging as they are usually carb based. I cooked up a bunch of burgers to take with us, just in case.
I was worried about getting flak from my folks for the way I am eating but I have decided to just go with it. I am not going to be shy about it and the nice benefits I've had. I am going to take the Good Calories, Bad Calories book and if it gets too annoying, I'll just hand the book to my dad and tell him we'll talk about once he's read it. Otherwise, conversation over.
I wasn't very hungry yesterday. I got hungry the first time about 9 AM. I ate two flanken ribs that were pretty meaty with lots of fat. I expected to get hungry again in the early afternoon but it didn't come. I kept expecting it but - nothing. I finally got hungry about 6 PM and ate three cheeseburger patties. I also ate an extra slice of cheese while waiting for them to cook. I was pretty hungry by then.
I was originally going to try to cut out the dairy but I have found I just do better with it. I think the cravings that led to my eating ice cream and yogurt last Sunday came from trying to cut out the dairy the week before. I have also found I don't get the leg cramps as bad if I have dairy, probably because of the calcium. Finally, it's just easier to stick with eating this way if I can include some dairy. Whether that is because of something dietary or because it allows for a little variety, I don't know.
The next couple of days will be a challenge. We are going to be spending the weekend at my parents' place. We are driving down tonight and will probably eat dinner at Golden Corral so that we can stuff ourselves on steaks. Breakfasts aren't bad since we eat at my Grandpa's and he cooks us eggs and sausage. The meals with my parents will be challenging as they are usually carb based. I cooked up a bunch of burgers to take with us, just in case.
I was worried about getting flak from my folks for the way I am eating but I have decided to just go with it. I am not going to be shy about it and the nice benefits I've had. I am going to take the Good Calories, Bad Calories book and if it gets too annoying, I'll just hand the book to my dad and tell him we'll talk about once he's read it. Otherwise, conversation over.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Day 74
I have been hiding from my blog the last few days because I didn't have a good weekend. It started with having some serious cravings a week ago. I don't know where the cravings were coming from as I was eating pretty well but they were annoying. I would eat a bunch of meat and just didn't feel full afterwards. I wasn't still hungry but had a "hollow" feeling in my stomach. It's hard to explain.
We went to Spokane on Friday to meet my parents so they could take the boys with them (the boys are camping with my dad this week). After dropping the boys off, K and I did some shopping and then stopped at the Golden Corral to eat. We were both very hungry by then and had a really nice meal. I had one of the best steaks that I have ever had there off of their grill. When I back for seconds, though, the next steak wasn't that great. I also had some rotisserie chicken (way too salty) and a little ham.
At the end of dinner, I decided to have "a treat" and had three strawberries. They were incredibly sweet, almost too much so.
I was okay the next day, except for being up slightly in weight, probably from the few carbs and all of the salt from dinner. However, by dinner, the "can't get full" feeling was back and I ended up just picking at more stuff after dinner. It was all in the ZC vein but I just ate too much.
The same feeling was there on Sunday and I did the same thing all day. By dinner time, I was very frustrated and ended up talking myself into a big bowl of real ice cream. Dumb excuses like "It's Father's Day and I deserve a treat" and "I've gone 10 weeks without a serious cheat, one time won't hurt". I can't say I didn't enjoy it, but I definitely didn't enjoy the stomachache afterwards or the 2.4 pound gain on Monday morning!
Feeling disgusted with myself Monday morning, I went back to mainly beef. I also have made it a point to eat smaller amounts only when physically hungry. As of this morning, I am back down to 184.2. That isn't my lowest but it is where I was before the cheats. Also, the weird cravings are gone. I don't know if it is because of going back to smaller amounts of beef or if my discretion satisfied whatever was causing the cravings. I hope it's the former.
I didn't do a 10 week update because of the salt/carb bloat and won't do an update next week because I'll be out of town next weekend. I'll do a 12 week update with new measurements and pictures. I hope to be lower in weight by then but all I can do is stay on plan.
We went to Spokane on Friday to meet my parents so they could take the boys with them (the boys are camping with my dad this week). After dropping the boys off, K and I did some shopping and then stopped at the Golden Corral to eat. We were both very hungry by then and had a really nice meal. I had one of the best steaks that I have ever had there off of their grill. When I back for seconds, though, the next steak wasn't that great. I also had some rotisserie chicken (way too salty) and a little ham.
At the end of dinner, I decided to have "a treat" and had three strawberries. They were incredibly sweet, almost too much so.
I was okay the next day, except for being up slightly in weight, probably from the few carbs and all of the salt from dinner. However, by dinner, the "can't get full" feeling was back and I ended up just picking at more stuff after dinner. It was all in the ZC vein but I just ate too much.
The same feeling was there on Sunday and I did the same thing all day. By dinner time, I was very frustrated and ended up talking myself into a big bowl of real ice cream. Dumb excuses like "It's Father's Day and I deserve a treat" and "I've gone 10 weeks without a serious cheat, one time won't hurt". I can't say I didn't enjoy it, but I definitely didn't enjoy the stomachache afterwards or the 2.4 pound gain on Monday morning!
Feeling disgusted with myself Monday morning, I went back to mainly beef. I also have made it a point to eat smaller amounts only when physically hungry. As of this morning, I am back down to 184.2. That isn't my lowest but it is where I was before the cheats. Also, the weird cravings are gone. I don't know if it is because of going back to smaller amounts of beef or if my discretion satisfied whatever was causing the cravings. I hope it's the former.
I didn't do a 10 week update because of the salt/carb bloat and won't do an update next week because I'll be out of town next weekend. I'll do a 12 week update with new measurements and pictures. I hope to be lower in weight by then but all I can do is stay on plan.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Day 68
After having several days of not being very hungry, yesterday was totally different. I got hungry early, about 7 AM, and had two chicken thighs. I was hungry again by noon and had a big cheeseburger bowl. There was only a little shredded cheese in it but a lot of hamburger that hadn't been thoroughly drained so it still had a lot of fat. That kept me full pretty much the rest of the day.
Dinner was ribs, both back ribs and flanken-style beef ribs. I grilled the ribs and ended up eating one back rib and two meaty flanken ribs even though I wasn't that hungry. They looked really good (and they were).
My weight this morning dropped back to 183.2 pounds, my low so far. I expected it to bounce around after hitting the low on Monday but it would be nice if it would drop some more now.
Besides the weight, another thing that has happened lately is that I am getting my energy back. I had several weeks there that I just didn't have as much energy as earlier and my legs felt really heavy and leaden, like my muscles weren't getting energy or something. Hopefully this means I am finally getting fully fat adapted.
Dinner was ribs, both back ribs and flanken-style beef ribs. I grilled the ribs and ended up eating one back rib and two meaty flanken ribs even though I wasn't that hungry. They looked really good (and they were).
My weight this morning dropped back to 183.2 pounds, my low so far. I expected it to bounce around after hitting the low on Monday but it would be nice if it would drop some more now.
Besides the weight, another thing that has happened lately is that I am getting my energy back. I had several weeks there that I just didn't have as much energy as earlier and my legs felt really heavy and leaden, like my muscles weren't getting energy or something. Hopefully this means I am finally getting fully fat adapted.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Day 67
Yesterday was another "not very hungry" day. Part of the problem was that my stomach was bothering me. It was having a regular spasm on the left side, just under the rib. It did that pretty much all day and was extremely annoying. I wasn't sick or anything; my stomach was just unsettled and spazzing out.
I ate the first time about 10 AM, thinking it might settle my stomach. It didn't. That meal was a cheeseburger bowl. I wasn't hungry at all the rest of the afternoon and evening until I finally got really hungry about 7:30. I had two chicken thighs, half of a chicken breast - all with the skin on - and a cheeseburger patty. My stomach was fine after that and is fine today.
I was back down to 184.0 this morning, so still up a little but heading in the right direction again. I had mentioned that my khaki shorts were getting loose. Last night, I found I can slip them off without unbuttoning them. These are the 32" waist shorts that I started wearing about a month ago. I am not sure what is going on with the weight but there is definitely body recomposition going on. I did change the battery in my scale last night in case that why I was seeing all of the bouncing around.
I ate the first time about 10 AM, thinking it might settle my stomach. It didn't. That meal was a cheeseburger bowl. I wasn't hungry at all the rest of the afternoon and evening until I finally got really hungry about 7:30. I had two chicken thighs, half of a chicken breast - all with the skin on - and a cheeseburger patty. My stomach was fine after that and is fine today.
I was back down to 184.0 this morning, so still up a little but heading in the right direction again. I had mentioned that my khaki shorts were getting loose. Last night, I found I can slip them off without unbuttoning them. These are the 32" waist shorts that I started wearing about a month ago. I am not sure what is going on with the weight but there is definitely body recomposition going on. I did change the battery in my scale last night in case that why I was seeing all of the bouncing around.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Day 66
I expected a bounce up this morning but was surprised when it was 1.4 pounds up! I wasn't very hungry yesterday and didn't eat much though I had a very late dinner.
I got hungry the first time about 11 AM. I had picked all of the steak strips out of the leftover Beef and Pineapple since it didn't look like anyone was going to finish it and it was getting elderly so I had that when I first got hungry. Dinner was three chicken thighs and half of a chunk of chicken breast, all with skin. Dinner was about 7:30 PM.
It's possible that there were a few residual carbs in the steak strips but it didn't really taste that sweet. The weird thing about the bounce up is that my 32" waist khaki shorts are hanging off of me today. I am starting to wonder if it's just time to change the battery in the scale. I'll be bummed if the lows I was seeing was all because of a bad battery.
I got hungry the first time about 11 AM. I had picked all of the steak strips out of the leftover Beef and Pineapple since it didn't look like anyone was going to finish it and it was getting elderly so I had that when I first got hungry. Dinner was three chicken thighs and half of a chunk of chicken breast, all with skin. Dinner was about 7:30 PM.
It's possible that there were a few residual carbs in the steak strips but it didn't really taste that sweet. The weird thing about the bounce up is that my 32" waist khaki shorts are hanging off of me today. I am starting to wonder if it's just time to change the battery in the scale. I'll be bummed if the lows I was seeing was all because of a bad battery.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)