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
