The Diet Daredevil Has Retruned! Or He Will Be Returning Shortly. We Hope

Last Post was 9/23/17.

What happened weightwise?
What happened dietwise/
What happened healthwise?

Let's start with the health because I believe it affected the other two more than vice versa squared. Or something like that.

I interrupted my weight loss efforts because atrial fibrillation eclipsed all else. For a couple of years I tried to figure out the root cause as well as any possible triggers for a-fib. Double failure.

As I have stated before, I do not believe gradual weight loss is effective for most people most of the time. This viewpoint challenges conventional wisdom but conventional wisdom is often more the former than the latter. Yes, I know of people who dropped 20 lb. by "just giving up soda" or some other glaringly bad habit. But if one no longer has a bad dietary habit to shed and their weight either flatlines or increases, what then?

Weight loss only works for me if I jump in face first. Record weight every day. Record every calorie consumed. Record all supplement consumption. Record steps and exercise routine. Record subtle and significant changes in health. Without this attention to detail, I seem to lose my way.

A-fib was (I hope I can speak of it in the past tense) more than a distraction. It consumed my attention more than I thought possible. Other people might have found a diet that eliminated the a-fib. I did not. Other people might have been able to continue to lose weight while enduring the unpredictability of atrial fibrillation. Not me. Bad health was a diet disruptor.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I know how to gain weight and I have learned how to lose weight but I have a problem maintaining any given weight. If I eat like the people around me, and it does not seem to matter who those people might be, I will put on at least a pound per month, possibly more.

There is a positive development in this department, I am happy to report that I seem to have found a weight maintenance stratagem that is working for me. OMAD, aka One Meal A Day. Since July 2018 I only eat once a day.

Yes, I wanted to lose weight on the OMAD plan and my friend who sold me on the deal lost twenty to thirty pounds. Then again, he was not on heart meds with the dreaded weight gain side effect. Despite the stingy scale, OMAD has been worthwhile for a multitude of reason.

OMAD has taught me how to function on fewer calories and more importantly, with fewer meals.

OMAD has made me reconsider the merits of fasting.

OMAD might be helpful when combined with tactics that have worked for me in the past.

OMAD has become a habit. It is my norm and I usually comply 5-7 days a week.

One way I initially rationalized OMAD is by allowing myself anything at that one meal. One Meal A Day became One Feast A Day. Going on and off high calorie diets for over fifteen years left me with an avenging sweet tooth.

Understand, I did not miss sweets at all in my hipro days. Then in 2017 I lost 24 Pound In 30 Days and the agreement (with myself) was that I could eat anything I wanted at the conclusion of the diet. With the confidence that I could now lose weight whenever I needed to, I was reintroduced to dessert.

My old friend, Mr. Potato (not to be confused with Mr. Potato Head who had never been all that friendly to me)  returned and so did Mr. Barley. Rice and beans were off every diet that worked as were pizza and pasta and bread. They all returned like swallows to Capistrano.

With no restrictions beyond OMAD, My weight has stayed around 230 lb., give or take 5 lb., since last July. In preparation for THE NEXT DIET I have cut back on potatoes (a deadly nightshade, a subject I only recently approached) bread and desserts. Not one to throw food away, I intend to clean out my fridge by eating its contents prior to starting my next diet.Got a corned beef  and a lamb roast awaiting me. The only remaining sweet things are small amounts of chocolate. Pretzels, potato chips, corn chips, Fritos--the food group that I love ever so dearly--has been reduced to a half bag of potato chips. Chomp chomp chomp and then it is Diet On!

Two more ideas as to why I maintained instead of losing on OMAD. One, I drank my coffee with a small amount of Half-N-Half, possibly nullifying the benefits of intermittent fasting. I doubt if this was significant. Half-N-Half is low in sugar and I used it sparingly. Still, I will eliminate it on THE NEXT DIET.

Secondly, I sometimes drank caffeinated beverages that contained artificial sweeteners. I have always been put off by the technophobic/ pseudoscientific/Luddite/neopuritan/vast corporate conspiracy/ knee jerk reaction to all things Nutra-Sweet and her not so sweet cousins. If you really want to get on my bad side, please inform me that aspartame is a chemical. To which I reply "As opposed to what?"

Yes, most of the allegations were ridiculous but there are a couple of angles I did not consider. One, they tell me that artificial sweeteners can fool the body into thinking it is consuming something sweet and cause the body to react in much the same way as if it had consumed a Twinkie.

The reason why I rejected that is because aspartame does not taste sweet to me. It tastes like aspartame. More of a flavor mask than a flavor agent. It could make the unpallatable easy to swallow. Over time, I preferred Coke Zero to Coke but I never thought of Coke Zero as sweet.

Dr. Steven Gundry claims that artificial sweeteners destroy beneficial gut bacteria. I cannot dispute this and I have not heard anyone else dispute this so for now, I will take it as fact. Starting the new diet, I will find an alternative caffeine delivery system.

On March 18 I underwent a heart ablation. The staff told me that my heart might act worse before it starts acting better. They also said they needed six to eight weeks to gauge success. The new diet will commence at about the six week stage.

Stay tuned.