Fast update here. Supper today was a very simple affair. Took 3 chicken breasts out and threw them in an oven-safe dish. Tossed them in at 350 until they were unthawed, then added a bunch of spices to the mix. Noticed they were getting a bit dry so I added about 3 Tbsp of butter into the mix, threw the lid on, and turned the heat down to 250. A short(ish) time later - I had to drain the excess fluid out. After that, we slapped some cheese on top, let that melt and away we went - simple dinner. A salad would have been great with it, but we were a bit pressed for time.
Tomorrow, stuffed jalapeno peppers. I made up a sampler for myself before writing this, and wow...other than my mouth still zinging a bit, they're really good. Here's the plan:
- Cut the top of the pepper off
- Core the pepper and wash it out. I used a pairing knife for mine.
- Put the pepper on the end of a fork and use a kitchen torch to blacken the skin.
- After blackening the skin comes off super easy - leaves you with a rubbery pepper.
- Stuff your pepper! I'm going to use the leftover chicken breast (made 3 for a reason), and mozzarella cheese.
- Wrap it up in bacon and then cook it how you like. I fried my tester - the bacon all fell off, so I just fried the pepper and bacon separately - the pepper just until all the cheese inside melted, the bacon to crispy. Might try baking the peppers tomorrow. If you try this method - make sure to use toothpicks that have been soaked for a half hour or so to pin the bacon onto the pepper (pin the bacon to the top of the pepper to keep the cheese in!).
Enjoy your low-carb creations!
Day 104
Okay - first allow me to apologize for the regular infrequency of my posting on here. I had originally intended for this to be a regular thing for me, but alas like so many of my good intentions, it got lost by the wayside.
That being said, today is a landmark occasion for me! I finally crossed the border between overweight and normal. My current weight is 187.88lbs with a BMI of 24.95. Still have a little ways to go, but there is light at the end of this tunnel :)
The journey to get to this point has not been without it's rocky spots, but on the whole it has been pretty smooth. The hardest part for me is denying temptation to things that I used to eat all the time: chips, fries, bread of any sort. Oh, and peanut butter is my dietary nemesis! I made an absolutely delicious peanut butter cheesecake, and I swear a small piece (2-4 carbs only) was enough to halt weight loss. At least I know what to eat when it comes time to balance my diet back out.
To anyone that has followed in my footsteps for this diet - stick with it! You CAN do it, and your body WILL change faster than you ever believed possible. People have derided me for being on this diet saying that the weight loss is too fast and I'll just gain it all back. They obviously don't understand that for us carb addicts, this diet represents a major shift in dietary habits. I will never again see food the same way - this is a new lifestyle, whole and complete. I've never felt better, or looked better in my life, and I'm very proud of all the people in my life who are making the change - you know who you are.
I received an email a while back that I'm ashamed to admit I never replied to. Someone wanted to know what my daily menu looks like. To answer that question honestly, I'd say I eat whatever I want when I want to - just as long as there's no carbs in it I'm losing weight. But to take today for example:
Breakfast: Coffee - A really, really big mug of instant coffee. 1 tsp French Vanilla, 1tsp Regular, 1tsp sweetener, and a little no-carb cream. Delicious - thanks for that one Ree!
Lunch: Cracker Barrel marble cheese dipped in Greek feta and oregano dressing, with cold leftover round steak cut into small chunks.
Supper: Hamburger (The Keg frozen burgers - 0 carb), with mozzarella cheese (0 carb). Hold the bun.
Dessert: We made a low-carb version of a nonami bar (google it). Not bad, but needs work. I'll post a recipe once we learn how to make it right.
That's it. Probably about 7-8 carbs, almost all from that dessert. I'm absolutely stuffed as I'm writing this. Different days I eat different things, but almost every meal centers around a meat source. It's ESSENTIAL that you eat enough protein - not eating enough protein will sap your body of lean body mass - the part of you that you don't want to lose weight on.
I was despairing for a while that nobody was reading this blog, until I heard that people were waiting for an update. Well here's the update people, and I promise there will be more. If you read this blog, and are interested in the diet/lifestyle, or if you have questions - SPEAK UP! I want to hear from you! Leave comments, ask questions - even flame me if you like, no responses are the worst thing a blogger can hope for.
Hope to hear from some of you braver souls soon!
That being said, today is a landmark occasion for me! I finally crossed the border between overweight and normal. My current weight is 187.88lbs with a BMI of 24.95. Still have a little ways to go, but there is light at the end of this tunnel :)
The journey to get to this point has not been without it's rocky spots, but on the whole it has been pretty smooth. The hardest part for me is denying temptation to things that I used to eat all the time: chips, fries, bread of any sort. Oh, and peanut butter is my dietary nemesis! I made an absolutely delicious peanut butter cheesecake, and I swear a small piece (2-4 carbs only) was enough to halt weight loss. At least I know what to eat when it comes time to balance my diet back out.
To anyone that has followed in my footsteps for this diet - stick with it! You CAN do it, and your body WILL change faster than you ever believed possible. People have derided me for being on this diet saying that the weight loss is too fast and I'll just gain it all back. They obviously don't understand that for us carb addicts, this diet represents a major shift in dietary habits. I will never again see food the same way - this is a new lifestyle, whole and complete. I've never felt better, or looked better in my life, and I'm very proud of all the people in my life who are making the change - you know who you are.
I received an email a while back that I'm ashamed to admit I never replied to. Someone wanted to know what my daily menu looks like. To answer that question honestly, I'd say I eat whatever I want when I want to - just as long as there's no carbs in it I'm losing weight. But to take today for example:
Breakfast: Coffee - A really, really big mug of instant coffee. 1 tsp French Vanilla, 1tsp Regular, 1tsp sweetener, and a little no-carb cream. Delicious - thanks for that one Ree!
Lunch: Cracker Barrel marble cheese dipped in Greek feta and oregano dressing, with cold leftover round steak cut into small chunks.
Supper: Hamburger (The Keg frozen burgers - 0 carb), with mozzarella cheese (0 carb). Hold the bun.
Dessert: We made a low-carb version of a nonami bar (google it). Not bad, but needs work. I'll post a recipe once we learn how to make it right.
That's it. Probably about 7-8 carbs, almost all from that dessert. I'm absolutely stuffed as I'm writing this. Different days I eat different things, but almost every meal centers around a meat source. It's ESSENTIAL that you eat enough protein - not eating enough protein will sap your body of lean body mass - the part of you that you don't want to lose weight on.
I was despairing for a while that nobody was reading this blog, until I heard that people were waiting for an update. Well here's the update people, and I promise there will be more. If you read this blog, and are interested in the diet/lifestyle, or if you have questions - SPEAK UP! I want to hear from you! Leave comments, ask questions - even flame me if you like, no responses are the worst thing a blogger can hope for.
Hope to hear from some of you braver souls soon!
Day 32 Update
Wow...been a long time. So here we are at day 32 and I must say things are going very well. I've lost 26.48lbs to date, and it just keeps falling off. To help illustrate my success I shall enlist the aid of pictures!
This is a screenshot of what I see every morning. I've grayed out a large portion because it's a secret for a moment. As you can see my weight fluctuated quite a bit - believe it or not this is the period in which I was going to the gym. The large red arrow points to my peak weight, and where I started my diet journey - 250lbs. Here's what happened when the diet started:
Now, I know I don't even need to add a trend line to show that the loss has been fairly consistent. I was thrilled when I crossed that obese line! Now my Wii fit tells me "That's overweight.". Maybe another 4-6 weeks and I'll cross that "normal" boundary. Still irks me that my little mii dude still looks like a marshmallow.
This is a screenshot of what I see every morning. I've grayed out a large portion because it's a secret for a moment. As you can see my weight fluctuated quite a bit - believe it or not this is the period in which I was going to the gym. The large red arrow points to my peak weight, and where I started my diet journey - 250lbs. Here's what happened when the diet started:
Now, I know I don't even need to add a trend line to show that the loss has been fairly consistent. I was thrilled when I crossed that obese line! Now my Wii fit tells me "That's overweight.". Maybe another 4-6 weeks and I'll cross that "normal" boundary. Still irks me that my little mii dude still looks like a marshmallow.
Day 15 - Quick update, and something crazy I found
Just a hair over the 2-week mark now! Total weight loss is 16.8lbs :) That's fantastic news to me, and I'm starting to see results myself (we're always the last to see it). That also includes a 1 pound gain in lean body mass, so I must be on the right track.
Anyway, I wanted to share something with you all that came to me in the mail today. A very nice, glossy pamphlet from **. Weight Loss Clinics. It reads across the top - 50 Overweight People Needed - and goes on to tell you to arrange a no-obligation consultation. All good so far. Now, normally, I'd just throw the thing in the trash, but I felt compelled to learn their secret, to see if they would put it in their flyer. To my surprise, they actually did! Under a the nice and enticing looking heading - How and Why It Works - they lay out their plans in 5 easy steps. Let's take a look at them, but in reverse order - you'll see why in a moment.
5. Structured Meal Planning
Your **. Weight Loss IPN (Intelligent Prescriptive Nutrition) meals will be structured according to your personal tastes and lifestyle. You select your food choices from an appetizing and varied menu. The portions, calories and macronutrient value of each food you choose will achieve your fat loss goal.
- Ok, so they give you a menu of things you can eat... I'm assuming they give you training or something, so that you don't over do it on one thing or another. It's supposedly doctor monitored, but seems really easy to cheat to me.
4. Water Intake
- I'm just going to summarize - they say that you will have to drink from your 64-ounce water bottle 6 times a day. Wait - 64 OUNCES?! That's almost 2 Litres... that's a lot of water. Not that it's bad for you or anything, but it's a lot more than most people drink in a day. No wonder they can say you won't feel hungry - you're always full of water.
3. Interval Eating
The timing and quantity of the food you eat at each meal will determine whether any calories will be stored as body fat. Therefore, your daily meal plan will dictate the total number of meals you will eat each day ant the juantity of food you will consume at each meal.
- Did I read that right? Each meal can store body fat? I wonder if these guys actually attended biochemistry? Yes, each meal can and will store calories as fat under certain conditions, but I'll get to that later.
2. Macronutrient Composition
**. Weight Loss IPN program is comprised of a macronutrient composition of 50% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 20% fat. Using the caloric requirement determined to achieve 2 pounds per week of fat lass, each patient will pick their food choices for each meal.
- There it is...50/30/20. That, probably spread out over 5-6 meals a day. Each "meal" would HAVE to be very well balanced to show weight loss. And that to me says it's very restrictive - it would have to be. I have too much to say about this here - I'll sum it all up after I go over #1.
1. Determining your daily Base Metabolic Rate
- Summary: They calculate your BMR, and use that to determine how many calories you need to eat to loose 2 lbs of fat per week. The biggest flaw in this idea is that your BMR changes constantly - no air conditioning in the summer - up it goes, not eating can make it go down, activity levels make it fluctuate a LOT. So unless they're going to recalculate it every hour or two I can't see how on earth they can guarantee 2lbs per week.
So it seems to me that they still believe a calorie is a calorie, and that if you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight. It's true enough in and of itself but with all tho now apparent restrictions to the diet, I'd be very surprised to see anyone lose weight if they tried this on their own.
I really have to do some math with you here. OK, they want 50% of your calories to come from carbs. If you're eating 2000 calories per day, that's 1000cal of carbs. Since all carbs are sugar, we can calculate just how much sugar that is. According to http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5592/2 granulated sucrose has 387 calories per 100 grams. 1000/387=2.58 or 258 grams of sugar. One tablespoon of sugar (more than double what the body requires at any given point) has 12.55 grams of sugar. 258/12.55=20.56 tablespoons - that's about 1.25 CUPS of sugar per day.
But "WAIT", you say. "What about the glycemic index - If I eat complex carbs they're good for me, right?" Wrong... biochemically ALL carbs are broken down to glucose, which is sugar in its purest form, necessary for human life. Low glycemic foods just mean your body has to work harder to convert it - that's all. Sugar is sugar - your body can't distinguish.
Moving on to the protein - If I was eating 2000 cal per day, and 30% came from protein, that's 600 calories, which works out to about 150 grams. More than enough for most people, actually too much. Excess protein is converted to sugar and stored as fat if it's not used. My lean mass requires roughly 95 grams of protein a day, and sometimes that's a challenge for me to eat.
The 20% fat is very troubling...fat is pure energy, and incredibly healthy for you in the right forms. The myriad restrictions of this diet would make this tiny bit of fat really really easy to overdo. What happens to fat energy when your body has all this wonderful sugar to easily digest? You guessed it - fat stays as fat.
From what I can see, this supposed diet can only work if you are VERY careful about what you eat and when, and how much how often. Seems to me that it would be damn near impossible to fit this into a lifestyle change and make it permanent. What happens to us all when the doctor isn't looking anymore? We cheat, and start our old habits, because they're EASIER.
My advice: don't do it - save your life. My way is easy, healthy, and better. This **.Weight Loss crap seems to be designed to always have just a slightly elevated insulin level. While this is a better thing than having your insulin ping-ponging around, wouldn't it be better not to really need your insulin at all? The doctors almost never talk about insulin's opposite – glucagon. Glucagon stimulates your fat cells to empty their energy reserves, and therefore lose body fat. Glucagon also enables your body to manufacture its own sugar from protein through a process called gluconeogenesis (literally new sugar). That way, your body has only the sugar it requires, never extra.
Human beings are biological carnivores, we were never designed to exist on plant matter alone. Cows have FOUR stomachs to process grasses. Other herbavores have other adaptations, usually in the form of much longer intestinal tracts to allow their bodies to process the plant matter. Yes we can eat it, but show me a healthy vegan that's been doing the diet for 20-30 years. Gorillas are vegetarian, but they can eat meat – but will die if that's all they eat. A mountain lion can eat grass, but will die if that's all it eats. Humans are the same. Eskimos eat nothing but meat and fat, they're generally skinny and have almost no cases of obesity and heart diseases. I can site stories of overweight people that go on trips eating nothing but animal products and return healthier than ever.
I do ramble on – if you want specific references, I can and will provide.
Day 7
Weight: 241.1
BMI: 31.98
Only 0.2kg off the scale this morning. Not concerned. I'm about to do some measurements and calculate my body fat percentage and lean body mass. From there I can calculate my protein requirements for a day instead of guessing based on a national average like I was.
I won't get into the nitty-gritty of the calculations here, but I will post the results.
Body Fat%: 35% That means I'm carrying around 83lbs of fat...
Lean Weight: 158lbs Sounds about right. Thats the weight of bones, guts, muscles,etc.
Ideal Weight: 175lbs That's me with around 10% body fat.
Protein Req: 95g 95g is more than I have been eating...
Once you know your LBM(lean body mass) you can calculate your protein requirements based on that. I don't have a very active lifestyle, but I'm not a complete couch potatoe - I do go for bike rides a few times a week, and I don't spend all day parked on my rear. So I use 0.6 as a multiplier. 0.6 x LMB = Protein grams per day. That multiplier goes up based an an activity scale.
Sedentary: 0.5 No physical activity.
Moderately Active: 0.6 20-30min exercise 2-3x per week.
Active: 0.7 Organized activity 30+min 3-5x per week.
Very Active: 0.8 Rigorous activity over 1hr 5-7x per week.
Athlete: 0.9 Twice daily workouts 1+hrs
I think most adults probably fall into the moderately active category.
That's all I'm going to post for today. I'll keep eating healthy and I'll post up my results for next week. I'll post up any interesting recipes I try, and maybe some thoughts along the way.
BMI: 31.98
Only 0.2kg off the scale this morning. Not concerned. I'm about to do some measurements and calculate my body fat percentage and lean body mass. From there I can calculate my protein requirements for a day instead of guessing based on a national average like I was.
I won't get into the nitty-gritty of the calculations here, but I will post the results.
Body Fat%: 35% That means I'm carrying around 83lbs of fat...
Lean Weight: 158lbs Sounds about right. Thats the weight of bones, guts, muscles,etc.
Ideal Weight: 175lbs That's me with around 10% body fat.
Protein Req: 95g 95g is more than I have been eating...
Once you know your LBM(lean body mass) you can calculate your protein requirements based on that. I don't have a very active lifestyle, but I'm not a complete couch potatoe - I do go for bike rides a few times a week, and I don't spend all day parked on my rear. So I use 0.6 as a multiplier. 0.6 x LMB = Protein grams per day. That multiplier goes up based an an activity scale.
Sedentary: 0.5 No physical activity.
Moderately Active: 0.6 20-30min exercise 2-3x per week.
Active: 0.7 Organized activity 30+min 3-5x per week.
Very Active: 0.8 Rigorous activity over 1hr 5-7x per week.
Athlete: 0.9 Twice daily workouts 1+hrs
I think most adults probably fall into the moderately active category.
That's all I'm going to post for today. I'll keep eating healthy and I'll post up my results for next week. I'll post up any interesting recipes I try, and maybe some thoughts along the way.
Day 6
Weight: 241.5
BMI: 32.05
Another 0.8kg lost. Its Saturday, and we got to sleep in. How can a morning get any better? I'm thinking I'm due a bit of a break. This weekend I'm not going to count calories, or measure anything. I'm going to eat the best I can, and see how it goes. I'll go back to being "good" on Monday.
For breakfast we (yes WE - my wife joined me for breaky) had a very nice omelet. 4 eggs, 4TBSP cream, mozzarella cheese, ham, onion, and red peppers. Deeeelicious! Also took half of one of my leftover waffles, cut it in half, toasted and buttered it. Yum. Probably more carbs there than I'm used to for breakfast, so I'll try to cut back a bit the rest of the day. We'll see.
The rest of my day has been meats and cheeses - zero carbs. I feel stuffed, but nearly obligated to eat. Its easy to under eat too i suppose. We'll see what the scale says in the morning.
BMI: 32.05
Another 0.8kg lost. Its Saturday, and we got to sleep in. How can a morning get any better? I'm thinking I'm due a bit of a break. This weekend I'm not going to count calories, or measure anything. I'm going to eat the best I can, and see how it goes. I'll go back to being "good" on Monday.
For breakfast we (yes WE - my wife joined me for breaky) had a very nice omelet. 4 eggs, 4TBSP cream, mozzarella cheese, ham, onion, and red peppers. Deeeelicious! Also took half of one of my leftover waffles, cut it in half, toasted and buttered it. Yum. Probably more carbs there than I'm used to for breakfast, so I'll try to cut back a bit the rest of the day. We'll see.
The rest of my day has been meats and cheeses - zero carbs. I feel stuffed, but nearly obligated to eat. Its easy to under eat too i suppose. We'll see what the scale says in the morning.
Day 5
Weight: 243
BMI: 32.29
Well there goes another 2.43 lbs! Really can't complain about that. I feel pretty darn good, the hungry feelings are passing, and I have lots of energy.
Breakfast was similar to yesterday - creamy scrambled eggs with bacon and havarti. I also started my vitamin regimen today. 200mg of sodium and a good multi. I'm splitting it up to half in the morning, half at supper.
Okay, so the day is now done... and I have a confession to make. I didn't log Supper. I was a little pressed for time, and had company - so I winged it. 2 Pieces of home-made sausage, with some jalapeño salami and havarti cheese wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Tasted great, and filled me up nicely. Healthy protein, healthy fats - next to no carbs. I feel okay with cheating like that.
BMI: 32.29
Well there goes another 2.43 lbs! Really can't complain about that. I feel pretty darn good, the hungry feelings are passing, and I have lots of energy.
Breakfast was similar to yesterday - creamy scrambled eggs with bacon and havarti. I also started my vitamin regimen today. 200mg of sodium and a good multi. I'm splitting it up to half in the morning, half at supper.
Okay, so the day is now done... and I have a confession to make. I didn't log Supper. I was a little pressed for time, and had company - so I winged it. 2 Pieces of home-made sausage, with some jalapeño salami and havarti cheese wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Tasted great, and filled me up nicely. Healthy protein, healthy fats - next to no carbs. I feel okay with cheating like that.
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