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

 

245 Lb.

Day 3 of HCG. I am taking the drops without dieting. I will go low cal soon but right now I have too much fatty food in my fridge that I am not throwing out.

HCG does seem to reduce appetite. No urge to snack all day and that is unusual for me.

252 Lb.

In 38 days I put on 18 lb.

I submit that I was not gluttonous, at least by my standards. There was my birthday, a trip to New York and good Italian cuisine and there was Easter and post-Easter and so on. The plan was to go high protein for a while but I kept getting thrown off course by well-meaning people who happen to be good cooks and who happen to patronize good bakers and who purchase precious potent potables.

I purchased HCG drops at Rite-Aid. In previous posts I referred to HCG as substance X because it is still controversial. The Feds sent Kevin Trudeau to jail for advocating its usage, so I was surprised to see it on the shelves of a retail grocery store. The FDA does not usually harass individuals but if they know people are claiming benefit from a supplement, they are more likely to try to ban it. Ironic perhaps. If people like it and report beneficial properties, the Feds are more likely to pull it from the shelves. It's the world we live in.

I still have a lot of fatty foods in the fridge but I started the HCG drops today. Plan to use HCG b.i.d @ noon and midnight. Hope to get on a 500-1000 calorie/day diet this weekend.