Food, Weight Log March 31, 2016

Weight upon rising: 220 lb.  Ketosis: Trace.


AM: Black coffee, two handfuls (handsful?) mixed nuts (8-10 gram carbohydrate estimate.)

1 PM: 9 oz. roast pork, serving of kale cooked with pecans, parmesan cheese and olive oil, half cup of vinegar that previously seasoned tomatoes and spinach.

2 PM: Approximately 2 oz. whole sunflower seeds.

5:15 PM: A small serving of casserole (4 oz. estimate. This was cooked for me so I could not refuse it entirely. Egg noodles, kitchen ready tomatoes and American cheese cooked into a masterpiece.) Approximately 5 oz. coffeelata smoothie.

7 PM: 5 oz. Goya jalpeno tuna with mayonnaise (Hellman's olive oil variety)

9:15 PM: 5 oz. smoked ham with Hellman's olive oil mayonnaise, one cup green tea.

2 AM: 4 oz. roast pork, an Atkins bar (not really on diet but man was I craving something sweet, especially before bedtime.)

Food, Weight Log: March 30, 2016

AM Weight: 222 lb. Trace of ketosis.

Black coffee (1 cup,) handful of mixed nuts in AM.

12:45 PM: 14 oz. roast pork, serving of tomato and spinach in vinegar.

2 PM: Approximately 2 oz. whole sunflower seeds.

4 PM: Small coffee coolata smoothie (7 oz. estimate. Off-diet but it was made for me and handed to me.)

9 PM: 20 oz. tuna with mayonnaise.

Note: this caused awful acid reflux and I tried to counter it with ground ginger.

1 AM: 2 pieces of ginger candy: 10 carbohydrate estimate.

Restarting Diet Post-Easter

Black coffee in AM, handful of mixed nuts.

1 PM: 12 oz. 73% lean ground beef with three slices of American cheese, serving of tomatoes and spinach in vinegar.

2 PM: Approximately 2 oz. whole sunflower seeds.

4 PM: Black coffee.

9 PM:  4 oz. Bumble Bee Thai Spice tuna (11 grams carbohydrate? I hear bumble Bee is discontinuing this product.)

10:30 PM: 5 oz. Bumble Bee Jalapeno tuna

1:30 AM: 9 oz. roasted pork, two small Atkins faux chocolate bars.

Weight is 223 lb.

Sickness

On March 15 I visited the local hospital emergency room for what would be diagnosed as atrial fibrillation. My heart was racing and I was experiencing lightheadedness and shortage of breath.

The hospital did their job. They normalized my heart beat. They performed a battery of tests to rule out electrolyte deficiency, thyroid imbalance and so on. They performed an echocardiogram to determine that my heart was structurally sound. They started me on a beta blocker and recommended follow-ups from my outpatient providers.

From The Mayo Clinic Website:

Atrial fibrillation is an irregular and often rapid heart rate that can increase your risk of stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.

During atrial fibrillation, the heart's two upper chambers (the atria) beat chaotically and irregularly — out of coordination with the two lower chambers (the ventricles) of the heart. Atrial fibrillation symptoms often include heart palpitations, shortness of breath and weakness.

Episodes of atrial fibrillation can come and go, or you may develop atrial fibrillation that doesn't go away and may require treatment. Although atrial fibrillation itself usually isn't life-threatening, it is a serious medical condition that sometimes requires emergency treatment.

It may lead to complications. Atrial fibrillation can lead to blood clots forming in the heart that may circulate to other organs and lead to blocked blood flow (ischemia).

Treatments for atrial fibrillation may include medications and other interventions to try to alter the heart's electrical system.
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Being that there were neither excesses nor deficiencies of things that might cause atrial fibrillation detected in my blood, I was quizzed about my lifestyle. The usual suspects were rounded up: caffeine and alcohol.

I admitted that I drink caffeine in excess and it was recommended that I cut back to one cup of coffee per day. I was surprised that they thought that alcohol might also be a contributing factor.

 My body and my mouth and my stomach have never handled ETOH very well. I drank sparingly for many a year primarily to avoid calories. On the Atkins diet, beer and wine are strictly prohibited. I thought hard liquor was too but I later learned that a certain amount is allowed after the induction phase is completed. So I started drinking gin.

I never drank a lot of gin but I came to enjoy a nightcap. As mentioned I never handled alcohol of any kind very well and I always stuck to beer and wine, usually beer. I would learn that gin hit a lot harder and a lot faster. It could sneak up on you.

So I bought a shot glass and started measuring my intake, trying to not exceed three ounces per night and limiting myself to nightcaps only. I would say that I would consume 3 Oz. on average about four times per week.

One reason I did not want to exceed 3 Oz. is because more than that would disrupt my sleep. In other words, I would awaken about four hours later with a racing heart. But if I limited myself to three ounces, things were always OK.

It seems that 3 oz. now did what used to require at least 4 or 5 or even more. An older body for certain. And I had lost about 15 % of my body weight since last May. So maybe 3 is the new 4. Or something like that.


It seems that I can get a hangover without even catching a buzz. I don't like to tell people I have been advised to stop drinking and all the stigma that goes with that recommendation. But that is clearly what is written on my discharge plan. Hey it might be the caffeine, OK?

So I have cut out alcohol completely for the time being and I am limiting myself to two cups of coffee, one in AM, one in PM. I have already exceeded that twice. On Monday (or was it Tuesday?) with two cups in the AM and today I had an AM coffee, a large Diet Coke at lunch as well as the PM coffee.

As this relates to weight loss.

I returned home March 16 weighing 218 lb. My appetite has decreased and I almost had to force myself to eat. As such, I have eaten a lot of sugary things (Easter candies, pastries, even a couple of doughnuts) and ate a corned  beef dinner three days after St. Patrick's Day. There were a lot of leftovers and I ate the corned beef, cabbage, potatoes at least once/day for the next couple of days.

You have to listen to your body when you are sick and let it make dietary choices. My body craved potatoes and potato chips. I had a Double Whopper Dinner (big size!!!) on Wednesday and plenty of sweets. Today, March 24, 2016, I feel better than I have felt in a long time.My weight is 222 but I am not concerned with the four lb. weight gain. Sometime after the Easter treats are consumed, I will restart my diet.

Until then, Happy Easter! 

Monday Diet And Weight Log

AM: Black coffee

AM weight: 220 lb.

Ketone: Small

Around noon: .55 lb. deli turkey with spiracha mayonnaise, approximately 2 oz. pecans, serving of tomatoes and spinach in vinegar (Pushing carb limit with non-meat items.)

2 PM: Approximately 1 oz. sunflower seeds.

8 PM: An unmeasured serving of baked chicken breast, garden salad with ranch dressing.

1 AM: Approximately 12 oz. roast pork with spiracha mayonnaise, 3 oz. gin.

Weight And Diet Log

As I shift from a low calorie/low fat diet to a low carbohydrate diet, my indigestion shifts from lower GI to upper GI. Lesser of two evils to be sure, but still no fun.

It bothers me when I have upper GI problems (belching, etc.) prior to eating anything. One should have to consume something before one's stomach overreacts.

Morning weight: 220 lb.

Ketone reading: Trace

Black coffee and mixed nuts (3 oz. estimated) in AM. I should have read the package that would have informed me that unsweetened mixed nuts are higher in carbs than I remember.

Note; I consumed two heaping tablespoons of squeeze ginger to help my upper GI. I had not read the label until after I swallowed the potion. Turns out the second ingredient after ginger is high fructose corn syrup. I probably consumed about 40 grams of carbohydrates.That is how you short cicuit a high protein diet.

Around 2 PM: Approximately 2 oz, pecans, 10 oz. turkey with spiracha mayonnaise.

Ketone Reading around 6 PM: Light.

8:30 PM: 6 oz. salami, 1 slice of American cheese, approximately 1 oz. pecans.

!2:30 AM: 12 oz, roast pork, a serving of kale with Parmesan cheese and olive oil. Dessert: Approximately 1 oz. pecans, a tablespoo on of cinnamon and a tablespoon of cocoa.

New Weight Log

February 12 to March 8...Weight fluctuates from 222 to 228, mostly hovering around 225.

I tried to restart calorie-restricted diet several times but I was ultimately sidetracked by two things:

1. Good people preparing good food for me. Some acts of kindness just cannot be refused.

2. Digestive problems--mostly diarrhea but also upper GI problems--brought on by fruits, vegetables, yogurt and worst of all, sauerkraut.

In 2012 my gall bladder was removed. I was warned that I might not be able to eat like I had before, that I might have to cut down on fatty foods. Fatty foods are tolerated fairly well but I can't help but wonder if my cholecystectomy has caused other GI problems.

We ate a lot of sauerkraut when we were kids and it never caused diarrhea. Of course this time around I am eating the unpasteurized version. Last time I had sauerkraut from a can, there were problems though not nearly as severe as the recently.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to customize my diet. A designer diet. A fusion diet. A boutique diet. I decided to combine HCG low fat/ low calorie along with Atkins low carbs. I was going to eat lunch meat and tins of tuna and meat.

I had to add minute quantities of spiracha mayonnaise to the lunch meat to make it go down. Low dose fat but off-diet nonetheless. I did this for a few days and then I concocted a dish of soybean noodles with just a little bit of unpasteurized sauerkraut. the results were disastrous.

My system was restored by eating Fritos, pretzels, potato chips, cream-filled sugar wafers, cookies and other foods that are gentle on my body. I felt like I had recovered from a minor illness, which I had.

On a whim, I decided to try a full bore Atkins diet once more. I started dipping shrimp in melted butter and a day later I had lost five pounds. For real!

Let me briefly review my diet history. For 15 years I was on and off the Atkins diet. I would lose 20 to 30 lb. and then hit that so called plateau, which for me was 240-245, usually closer to 245. I would go off-diet and my weight would return almost as fast as it had been lost. Then I would start another cycle.  Yo-Yo time.

In 2013 I started playing around with a low fat/low calorie HCG diet. There were some ups and downs but I got as low as 218 lb. Then I seem to have once again hit a plateau (actually a plateau is an elevated flatland and this is a descend into flatland. Then again, if you are starting on a mountain top...) As mentioned, my weight hovered around 225.

So on Day 1 to Day 2 Atkins redux, I lose 5 lb. Is the plateau for low fat different than a low carb plateau? I have no idea. But I am off to a good start and I hope to continue this streak.

March 9...225 lb.
March 10...225 lb.
March 11...220 lb.
March 12...219+ lb...My scale is not real precise but I am a shade under 220.

March 12 Food Log:

Black Coffee in AM...A couple  of handfuls of mixed nuts around noon.

About 2 PM: 1 lb. shrimp with a lot of butter, a bowl of tomatoes and spinach in vinegar.

About 9 PM: 1.15 lb. London broil, with approximately 4 oz. mixed nuts, a bowl of tomatoes and spinach in vinegar.

Black coffee throughout the evening.

Took ketone readings 3x, wary that tomatoes, nuts spinach all have carbohydrates. Reading at around 10:45 PM was "moderate." Up from "small" in early afternoon.

Ketone strips cost about 22 cents per reading so I won't be doing that too often.

NOTE: 3/23/2016: From memory, I believe I drank 2-3 oz. of gin around 1 AM