Week 8: Lost 0, Total 15

I've updated my goal to what my ultimate goal is. 150 will put me out of the overweight classification on the BMI charts.

Didn't lose weight this week. Had a little clam chowder and even a few french fries when my Mom and I went to lunch! That was my first cheat meal in two months and I hope it's my last. It just was not worth it. It is not fun to gain back what I worked so hard to lose.

For Month 2, I lost an additional inch off my hips and a half an inch off my waist.


I made something a little different for dinner.

Lamb and chantrelle skillet

Sautee crimini and chantrelle mushrooms. Remove from pan.
Sautee sliced leeks then add 4 cloves garlic.
Add ground lamb
Add 2Tbsp fresh thyme. Salt and pepper to taste.
When lamb is almost done, add back mushrooms. Stir for a few minutes.

I then had some homemade gelatin with sf raspberry syrup, plus some cream.

Good stuff.

True confession - sugar free treats.

I'm going to confess now that my fbs went up to 98. I got a maltitol-sweetened nut thingy and ate the whole thing. A few days ago I had some sf carmel pudding. This is the ready-to-eat pudding in 4 little containers. I hope I can learn some day to eat just one at a time. But I ate all 4 that night. So I'll just stick with the sf jello as my only treat.

I have not gained weight yet, but I haven't lost either this week.

I have a hike planned today and the weather looks good for another bike ride on Sunday. I'll keep my carbs under 30 as usual and eat about 6oz protein for dinner along with my usual 3 omega-3 eggs for breakfast. I've been having some cheese in an omelet for breakfast and I will skip the cheese if I don't start losing.

I skipped lunch Friday and I may continue to eat about 2 meals a day with no snacks. I won't eat before exercise in order to get extra fat burning. I have 4 days until Tuesday!

Week 7: Lost 3, Total 15

I’m happy with 3 pounds down this week. I’ve been through the intermittent fasting for 6 days now. So that is 3 full days of fasting. I’ve proven that I could do it and I’ve achieved my goal of NORMAL BLOOD SUGAR at 85. So I will discontinue 24 hours on/off IF scenario for now. I will continue to eat very low carb and even skip meals if I’m not hungry. No big deal now. I guess fasting can be used to get hunger back in control or if I go out for dinner and eat a few things I shouldn’t. There is still more to learn about it.

I had a good workout at the gym Monday. I kept rests between the weight exercises to less than one minute. I did some squat/presses in between to get my heart rate up. I went through chest press, flys, one-arm rows, abs on the ball and lunges in 30 minutes. I did kinda-slow (not quite the 10 count superslow) and used heavy enough weights so that I couldn’t do more than 8-12 reps. I did 2 sets of most of them. I may do a similar workout on Wednesday night, but work different muscle groups. I’m not very fond of just doing cardio for an hour!

Next week for the Week 8 checkin, I'll take my waist and hip measurements. :)

Fasting Blood Sugar at 85

I saw my first fasting blood sugar at 85 this morning! It was 98 on Friday. I also lost 3 pounds. I had a late ‘lunch’ if you can call it that at 8pm last night so I will wait until 8pm tonight to eat dinner. That’s about my usual time anyway. I'm still eating my usual low carb meals. Yesterday, I had asparagus and steak for dinner and an omelet for late breakfast.

My clothing is getting much loser. I may look like a bum with baggy pants for a while. :) Fortunately, I make my pants with drawstrings and can tighten them up. I will take the side seams in a little. I’ll put some vertical darts in the back of my shirts. The weather has gotten colder now, so I’m doing the layered look with a loose shirt over a t-shirt.

Since my hiking buddy was out of town for our usual Friday hike, I did a bike ride on Saturday along the Lake Sammamish old railroad trail. My timing was perfect, because I met a new biking/hiking buddy! She is new in town and was looking for the trail and saw me taking my bike off my bike rack. We rode together and chatted the whole time. At the end, I gave her my phone and email so that we can do a hike or bike ride. She teaches biology at the high school. I was hoping to find someone to do something with on Sundays so that works perfect for her. She rode on further north and I headed back. The smell of blackberries along the trail was heavenly so I had a few. Oh my they were good.


This is a picture of butterfly weed that I planted in my garden. I hope it comes back next year, but I think the slugs enjoy it too much. I had lots of butterflies this summer. One day there was about 5 of them parading back and forth through my yard.

Diet Tweak 2 - Intermittent Fasting

I read Dr. Mike's blog Thursday morning about intermittent fasting and decided on the spot to give it a try. I had eaten breakfast, so I didn’t eat the rest of the day and just ate this morning after an hour of weight training. I can’t believe I didn’t pass out or fall over dead! I felt just fine, actually, and drank my usual water along with two cups of green tea. It sounds radical and crazy, but Dr. Mike makes a pretty good case for all the health benefits. Eating only meat and fat sounds crazy too, but I learned we don’t need carbs either. There is less hunger that way. I love veggies and I don’t feel they are bad for me, but I don’t worry about having them at every meal. I made a red bell pepper and cabbage slaw with a wasabi mayonnaise that was so good.

In studies, health benefits of IF include improved weight control, insulin resistance, blood sugar, hypertension, bacterial and viral infectious diseases, chronic sinusitis and autoimmune disorders. There were many responses to Dr. Mike’s article. Fred Hahn asked whether we would waste muscle. But Dr. Mike answered that since you don’t fast for more than about 24 hours at a time, this shouldn’t happen.

My blood sugar was about the same as usual - 98. I'll give this a try and see if I can get that lower. I had gained 2 pounds earlier this week, but they are gone this morning. I had been eating a little more last week and enjoying my last bottle of Carb Options Barbeque Sauce with smoked chicken and some country pork ribs.

This is the suggested rotation which means you always eat at least once each day and don't go much beyond 24 hours of fasting. When I eat, I plan on just eating what I usually eat.

day 1 : eat bf & lunch = eat before 6 pm
day 2: eat dinner = start eating after 6 pm
day 3: eat bf & lunch = eat before 6 pm
day 4: like day 2... rinse & repeat.
basically dinner-bf-lunch/ - - - /

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/archives/2006/09/fast_way_to_bet.html

Week 6: Lost 2, Total 12

Yay, still consistently losing each week. I tried the Omega-3 tweaks. But I ate larger portions of meat and a lot of green beans a few times as well as some fruit and cheese. I also had some pork ribs with the last of my Carb Options barbeque sauce. I don't think they make it anymore. I have to be careful to not let my eating get out of control.

I got some grass-fed round roast and it came out tender for a change. I baked it at 275 almost covered with water for about 3 hours. Next time, I will get some burgundy wine to add. I reduced the broth and boy was that good. I froze the sliced meat and broth in individual serving sizes.

This is my second week back to work and I'm enjoying it. I've been good about packing my lunch and my gym bag and working out at the gym a couple nights a week. Monday night I do weights and Wednesday I do just cardio and a few abs. I went to get on what I thought was an elliptical and I guess it was some machine that simulates skating. My outer thighs are sore today. It was fun, though. On Wednesday, I'll probably do about 10 minutes each of the skating thing, elliptical and maybe back to skating or even the bike. I really don't like these things, but the days are getting too short to walk outside. I may try the new rowing class at the gym.

I'm at my lowest weight since I can't remember when. My watch is getting loser. My blood sugar has still been under 100, but not down to 83 yet. I'm still working on that.

Diet and supplement tweaks - Omega 3

I love seeing this ticker now and couldn't wait for Tuesday. I'm almost half way to my mini-goal of 215. My longer term goal is to get to about 150 pounds.

I've tweaked my diet and supplements this week, based on the success of Regina and Jimmy. I have already used these supplements in the past, but I guess I stopped them for a while. I'm taking fish oil and natural E, chromium, L-carnitine, acetyl-L-carnitine, L-glutamine, r-ALA, borage oil, glucosamine/chondroitin, CoQ10, magnesium, D and a multi. I guess I stopped these for a few weeks, because they may not be necessary and I don't want to rely soley on them. I think leaving bad stuff out of my diet is more important as well as eating the most nutritient dense foods. But I'm ready for a boost. My blood sugar finally has dipped below 100 and I want to get it to 83 consistently.

I love salmon, and I have been eating grass-fed beef grown here in Washington State. So I've just bought more of that as well as the omega-3 eggs. The basis of these tweaks is to improve the ratio of Omega-3 fatty acids compared to 6 and 9's. I've read Dr. Mary Enig's Know your Fats. I love her research because I love butter and she says butter is health food! When butter comes from grass-fed cows, it is golden yellow and has lots of vitamins A and D as well as some CLA. I've been getting KerryGold butter from Ireland. Sometimes I take a teaspoon and just let it melt in my mouth. Who needs the popcorn, when the butter is the part that tastes good?

I did some research on dietary fats and how they are metabolized. So many of the low carb books focus on excess carbohydrate getting stored as fat and I understand that. But excess fat gets stored as fat too, even though it doesn't seem to need insulin. I limit myself to about 4 Tablespoons of fat per day besides what comes naturally in meats. That's still pretty generous! My main fats are butter, olive oil and coconut oil.

Well, my hiking buddy is out of town so I need to get my butt in gear this weekend. I have a big pile of compost that needs to be spread in the garden, so that should burn off a few calories.

Week 5: Lost 3, Total 10

I lost 3 pounds early this week! Woo hoo! I would love to keep losing 1-2 pounds each week with no plateaus.

My energy was a little zapped so I had some protein powder after working out. Eating right has become so easy for me. I cannot take it for granted though. My friend was talking about a homemade huckleberry pie with cinnamon and sugar on top. It sounded good but I had no desire at all to eat it.

I made some marinated chicken breast and then marinated some flank steak in the same type of soy sauce, sherry, garlic and red pepper flakes marinade. For some salad dressing I made a wasabi mayonnaise with soy sauce and toasted sesame oil. That was really good!

I made several servings of the chicken and flank steak and froze them in small packages to take to work. I’ve been packing my lunch for work which includes salad, dressing and one of the meat packages. I also pack my gym bag to stop on the way home a couple of nights a week. Monday is weight training on my own and Wednesday is mostly cardio and abs. On Friday morning, I workout with my friends and a trainer.

I’ve still been at around 30g carbs daily.

Exercise:
2 – 1 hour weight training sessions
1 hour step aerobics
3 hour hike

Blood sugar has been around 103 in the mornings.

Weight: 235. Lost 3 pounds this week for a total of 10 in 5 weeks.

Rattlesnake Hike - with Pictures

We had to do this beautiful hike again since it was a clear day with almost no clouds. I'm sure we'll come back in September and October because the mountain is full of big leaf maples and vine maples which turn glorious colors in the fall.

This is a view from about a half mile up. The lake is part of the water supply for Seattle.

This is a view from the top of Rattlesnake Mountain, about 2 miles up, and my good hiking buddy, Sharon. I got a blister on my heel and bless her heart she had a big bandage just the right size! Then later my water bottle leaked in my backpack and drowned my cell phone. I was planning to buy a new one anyway. Luckily, I had my camera out so it didn't get wet.

Old tree with roots by the lake.

Week 4: Lost 1, Total 7

I gained one pound early in the week and lost it after the hike. I had gained because I made some coconut macaroons with 1 cup coconut, 2 egg whites and some splenda. It was just something to do since I had the day off. It made 6 servings and I wrapped and froze 4 of them and ate 2. But the next day, I ate all 4. So I haven’t learned any control yet! Otherwise, I haven’t been that hungry and no cravings. I did think some potato chips would taste awfully good. All I can think of is this is the most important thing I have to do right now.

IF YOU DON’T NEED IT, DON’T EAT IT.

Otherwise, I ate the usual things. I have eaten more than 6 oz of protein a few times so I probably need to watch that. I have been having some sugar free Jello.

Here’s my formula:

3 eggs for breakfast cooked in butter
2 cups salad/raw veggies for lunch plus 2 TBSP olive oil or mayo dressing
1 cup cooked veggies for dinner, such as roasted asparagus and cauliflower or cooked green beans with some olive oil or butter
6 oz of protein such as chicken, beef, fish for lunch and dinner

Exercise:
2 – 1 hour weight training sessions
1 hour step aerobics
3 hour hike

Blood sugar has been 95-108 in the mornings.

Waist to Hip Ratio: 96% down from 97%. Lost 1 inch off my waist and ½ inch off my hips!

Weight: 238. Lost 1 pound this week for a total of 7 in 4 weeks.

Rattlesnake Ledge Hike

We hiked Rattlesnake Ledge Hike in North Bend on Friday. It was a beautiful clear day -- now why didn't I bring my camera? From now on, it stays in my backpack ready to go. We'll definitely do this one again. The leaves on the vine maples are beginning to turn color a little.

We saw a little garter snake coiled up enjoying the warm sunshine at the top of the mountain. I'm sure glad it wasn't a rattlesnake. We don't really have rattlers in western Washington, so I don't know how this lake got it's name.

There were quite a few other people on the trail with happy kids and happy dogs. All breeds of dogs!

The payoff: What a view from the top of the mountain of the lake below. The water was turquoise.
http://www.wta.org/~wta/cgi-bin/wtaweb.pl?0+trailsfest/tf-main

I sure hope to improve my hiking time as I lose weight. This 4-mile trail should have taken about 2 hours round trip. But it took us about 3 hours.

Week 3: Lost 2, Total 6

I’ve gotten into the groove, Jimmy!

I had a pretty good week. I settled into an eating routine so I no longer use FitDay. My net carbs are probably close to 20. I wrote in Jimmy’s column on Thursday that I was very hungry at dinner a couple of times so I added a snack of a hardboiled egg in the afternoon. But since Friday, I have not been that hungry at dinner so I’m not having the snack anymore. Although I did take a teaspoon of butter one evening and just let it melt on my tongue. mmmm, butter!

I’m feeling great and can notice my face, neck and chest have lost some weight. I would like to see baggy pants next! I’m dreaming of new clothes already.

I ate lunch out on Saturday and had melt-in-your-mouth brisket and salad.
I ate breakfast out on Sunday and asked for a cheese omelet without the sides. The waitress insisted on bringing me a fresh fruit bowl. It looked pretty good and I tasted one banana slice. Of course, the other choices I turned down were hashbrowns, pancakes, toast and big fluffy biscuits! Oh well. That stuff isn’t for me.

Foods:
3 eggs for breakfast cooked in butter
Or 2 eggs and homemade breakfast sausage with ground pork

6-8oz protein and 2-3 cups vegetables for lunch and dinner
Hamburger patty and roasted asparagus
Salmon or tuna and salad
Chicken thighs and green beans with butter
Green chile chili with a little sour cream
Curry chicken breast and roasted cauliflower
Herb and garlic ground turkey with sauteed mushrooms


Exercise:
I should have done a few more walks, but made excuses that the weather was hot.
My hiking buddy was out of town so I skipped the hike this week.
Bike ride
1 hour step aerobics
2 – 1 hour weight training

Blood sugar has been 93 – 108 in the mornings. Lower after a day of exercising.

Weight: 239 – lost 2 this week for a total of 6 down!

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!' Begin it now.”


This is my favorite inspirational quote. I always thought it was Goethe, but someone else may have said some it before him. Oh well, it’s good just the same.

I’ve always been timid and lacked self confidence. I hated that! So I started to just pretend I could do something even though I was afraid. “Fake it till you make it” I guess. It works!

I’ve had so many diet failures over the years that I hesitated to sign up for Jimmy’s 30-in-30 challenge and make that commitment. I didn’t think it through – I just acted. Now I’ve met others doing the challenge who struggle just like me. I’ve told some of my friends and family that I’m doing this challenge and they help me by bringing low carb treats to parties (tomato slices with goat cheese, mmm), choosing restaurants with healthy food and doing activities like hiking and bike riding.

Here is the full quote:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

Week 2: Lost 4, Total 4

Yahoo!

No cheats this week! I had some thoughts about buttered popcorn and French fries, but I didn’t feel compelled to act on those thoughts. I’m getting excited to see some progress. It will happen.

I am planning to cut out cheese for a while. I have thought for a while that it might be preventing me from losing weight. Jonny’s boot camp doesn’t allow cheese. So I will try it.

Foods:
I eat 3 meals a day and rarely snack.
Breakfast is usually 3 eggs fried in butter and some black coffee.

At lunches and dinners, I usually have around 6 oz protein and either 2 cups salad or 1 cup cooked vegetable. I use a little butter on cooked vegetables and olive oil and/or mayo on salads.

Sample lunch and dinners:

Asian chicken soup with chicken, bok choy, cilantro and green beans.
Ground pork stir fry with bean sprouts and green beans.
Hamburger patty with cheese and roasted asparagus
Salmon and roasted cauliflower
Tuna salad with cucumber, romaine lettuce, left over green beans, olive oil and garlic
Green chile Chili with ground turkey, celery, zucchini and green peppers.
Pizza salad with pepperoni, provolone cheese, romaine lettuce, olive oil and fresh oregano.


Exercise:
3 hour hike
2 mile walk
1 hour of aerobics – step and elliptical combo
2-1 hour sessions of weight training

Avg Net Carbs: 22
Avg Calories: 1650

This next one is embarrasing to post, but what the hey!
Waist to Hip Ratio: 97% Should be closer to 80%

Blood Sugar: 95! Was 142 last week.

Weight: 241 - lost 4 this week!

Mt Si Hike

On Friday afternoon, I went on a 3-hour hike with my friend and her daughter on Mt Si in Northbend, Washington. It was a gorgeous day and just under 70 degrees. It was quite a gain in elevation and very rocky there. Beautiful dense forest, fungi growing on the trees and sword fern everywhere.

We heard and finally caught a glimpse of a hawk who was chasing a smaller bird. We are not sure what type of hawk. It was smaller than a red-tailed hawk, but still made that 'tseear' sound.

The wild blackberries are so ripe right now. I lost count, but I probably had about 30 of them! So I did go over my carbs but I'm sure the hike compensated. My blood sugar was down to 95 on Saturday morning! I've had those hypoglycemic feelings in the past between meals and sometimes after exercising hard. So I did have some cheese and an Atkins canned shake with me. But I didn't need them. I think my body is more adapted to eating low carbs now and adjusting to more normal blood sugars.

I think I've lost a few pounds so I'm excited to check in on Tuesday on Jimmy Moore's Low carb weightloss challenge site.

First day out to lunch - made it!

I went with some girlfriends out to lunch and then through the Nordic museum near Seattle today. At the little cafe, I didn't really see a low carb type of salad. So I asked if I could get a side salad with some chicken. They said no problem.

Lesson: if you don't see what you want on the menu, just ask. Most places are very helpful.

We then went to Starbucks and I would have loved a Frappuccino (iced coffee with lots-o sugar). Once again, I didn't notice anything on the menu that was sugarfree so I asked if they made any iced coffee with the sugar free syrups. They did! So I got an iced coffee with sf hazelnut syrup and then I added some half-and-half.

I stayed under 30grams of carbs today and had about 1700 calories.

I have had no snacks for the last several days outside of breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am just not hungry between meals. We saw lots of Nordic pastries at the museum and I sure would have loved something. But I'm aware now there is a difference between having the wonderful memories of how it used to taste and what I may and may not put in my mouth now. My friends were talking about the garlic french fries they had had the previous night. Then we drove past a McDonalds and all I could think of was having some fries. But I did not actually want them. I did not act on the feeling as I would have in the past.

I listened to Dr. Jonny Bowden's CDs again this week. I heard some things I didn't remember hearing before. Maybe he's helping me to be strong and believe I can do this or maybe it is something else. But I want it to continue.

Calculating Protien Amounts

I strictly followed low carb at 20-30grams daily for a few months earlier this year. I lost 10 pounds and then stayed the same for 5 weeks. When I plugged in some menus into FitDay, I realized I was eating too much protein and over 2200 calories. I sometimes ate almost a pound of steak! So this time, I am going to more carefully measure my serving of protein.

According to Protein Power Lifeplan based on my weight, height, my minimum protein should be 40 grams of protein at each meal. Their chart translates this to about 6 oz of meat, fish or poultry or 6 eggs. I usually eat 3 eggs for breakfast. I'm going to try to eat no more than 6 oz for lunch and dinner.

Last night, I had bought a little over 3 pounds of ground beef. Using a calculator, I divided 6 oz into the exact weight and came up with 9 servings. So I seasoned the ground beef with garlic powder, seasoning salt and some dill. I made 9 balls evenly sized and flattened them out. I baked them at 375 for about 30 minutes total, flipping once. I froze the rest.

After I ate the one burger patty with salad, I really wanted to have a half of another one. But I washed dishes and got busy with other things. After an hour or so, I realized I no longer wanted more!

My carbs have been a little under 30 and my calories have been 1600 to 1800.
My morning fasting blood sugar was down to 119 this morning.

My before picture

I'm uploading my before picture here so I can add it to my profile. Can't wait to have my after picture taken in February 2007 after 30 weeks!

This was taken on a fun Christmas 2005 cruise to the Bahamas with my brother and his family in Florida.

My Eating Plan

Wanted to mention what kind of eating plan I follow. I try to stay around 30g of carbs daily in the form of about 3 cups of low-starch vegetables. I have some cheese and other dairy, but I try to have small amounts and have days where I have none. I avoid grains and starches. Once in a while I may get some Wasa light rye, but I end up eating too many slathered with butter. I have an over-eating problem as well as a carb addiction. I don't drink diet pop any more - just lots of water. I try to limit eating anything sweetened or artifically sweetened because again, that is an addiction.

I started Atkins back in July 2002 when it regained popularity. I read the whole book and cleaned out my cupboards and fridge. No more microwave popcorn every night! I lost 16 pounds in about 6 weeks. My blood sugar came way down and I stopped taking metformin. I started researching more about whether low carb diets were healthy or not. I have never found anything research to say it is unhealthy. In fact, I found just the opposite. But I didn't stick with it long enough to lose more weight. I gained about 10 pounds back.

I rediscovered Dr. Richard K. Bernstein who wrote "Diabetes Solution". He recommends eating 6/12/12 carbs for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a total of 30g of carbs daily. I actually read his book back in 1996 after I was first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but I guess I thought it was too radical. His feisty attitude comes through in his book. The recipes in the book are really good too!

My other main favorite is Protein Power and Protein Power LifePlan by Dr. Mike and Dr. Mary Dan Eades. They explain how excess insulin is the culprit in many of our modern diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and certain cholesterol numbers as high triglycerides and low HDL.

Another expert I like to read is Dr. Mary Enig who says butter is health food (I love butter!). I bought the Nourishing Traditions cookbook co-written by Sally Fallon. The book is full of great recipes and many nuggets of good information about health.

There are many more blogs and articles on the internet that I read almost daily.

Week 1

Yay - a no cheat week! Ate no sugar, grains or starch. No weightloss yet, but I sure feel great.

I received Jonny Bowden's CDs, "Change Your Body, Change Your Life" on July 29th and have listened to them all twice. I like the idea of training myself to make the right choices. I keep my word and commitment to other people, I need to keep my word to myself.

During our weekly hike, we were talking about ice cream the whole way. After the hike, I was tempted to go through McDonalds drive through window for an ice cream cone. I even drove about 2 miles there. But I successfully talked myself out of it and just drove on by!

Foods:
These are some of the foods and meals I had this week.
Usually eggs for breakfast, sometimes a little ham or sausage.
Made a fish soup with cod, bok choy and cilantro.
Caesar salad with lemon chicken breast
Steak, Heirloom tomatoes, grilled asparagus.
low carb egg custard made with coconut milk and sugar free splenda syrup.
a few almonds and walnuts

Exercise:
2 mile walk
4 mile hike
No weight training - my trainer was on vacation. I should have gone to the gym on my own!

Blood sugar: dropped from 162 to 142.
Weight: 245 (no change)