Looking back on the past 2 weeks I think the sole purpose of this post is to demonstrate just how *awful* you can be at low carb dieting and still lose weight. Part of me looks at my performance detailed below, then at my goal of 185 by May and laughs: “Yeah, right…”
Another part looks at the chart above and thinks…maybe.
Regardless, I just trudge on. This is what I do: low carb is sort of like breathing for me. It doesn’t matter how good or how bad I do at it on a given day /week / month, it’s just something I practice at day in and day out.
What follows is my personal eating journal. Let me ask this: does anyone find this helpful or am I just cluttering up the Internet? Let me know. I don’t know if this provides insight or wastes your time.
Sunday, January 13, 2013 – 204.0
The highlight of the day was a non-event. I had to deal with an emergency that required me to drive 3 hours and lose my Sunday afternoon. Nothing life-threatening, but I would have rather relaxed in anticipation for what will be another stressful work week.
I have 2 temptations when I go to this area: a sandwich shop with about the best cold sub sandwich I have ever had, and White Castle, with their oddly alluring little square burgers. I thought about both a lot – and decided against it.
The day turned out to be OK calorically, but eating a leftover Dunkin Donuts sandwich in the evening with their hash browns blew any notion of ketogenic low carb, though the total carb count is still lower than the vast majority of folks.
Calories: 1,515
Fat: 87g
Net Carbs: 80g
Protein: 95g
Monday, January 14, 2013 – 202.o
A light and austere day of roast beef, butter and yogurt. The night was NOT in any way the foods I would have chosen: a decent-sized piece of sausage Stromboli my wife brought home, chicken nuggets, a few tablespoons of leftover Trader Joe’s roasted potatoes and a small amount of chips leftover in a bag on the counter.
Luckily, the strategy of keeping the calories low during the day is helping out here – my totals are not within range, certainly, but not ridiculous, either.
Calories: 1,637
Fat: 211g
Net Carbs: 67g
Protein: 74g
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 – 200.6
On December 16, I left for my vacation and 15 days of eating what I wanted at a weight of 200.6. When I started this diet on January 1, I was 209.5. 15 days later I am 200.6 again. I think the universe has been very fair to me on this one, since the past 15 days have not been a model of dieting behavior by any means.
I had my 2 yogurts, a Dunkin Donuts coffee and my roast beef with 4 ounces of butter at work. At home I made no pretense of a low carb diet and had 2 bowls of spinach pasta with sauce and grated cheese, as well as some Argentine chocolate-covered confection a colleague had brought back from vacation – which I entered as a cupcake.
Calories: 1,965
Fat: 90g
Net Carbs: 178g
Protein: 84g
Wednesday, January 16, 2013 – 201.4
A little upset with myself from last night – I gave in way too easy. I enjoyed it, though. I blame society. Yes – stress at work cause by society made me eat that pasta. OK – time to move on and try harder today.
I went in late because of bad weather, and my mood was pretty OK. It wasn’t an unpleasant day – I got a small project out of the way and there were no fires to put out. I had 4.75 ounces of roast beef with 3 tablespoons of butter. I’ve found I like the butter warmed slightly, but just a few extra seconds in the microwave makes a god-awful mess. Got to get the timing right on that one. I also had a yogurt and my new comfort crutch - Dunkin Donuts coffee with cream.
On the way home I found myself tempted to stop at the store. I wanted some low carb bread. Still jonesin’ for bread, apparently. I caught myself and stopped myself, however, and drove by. I have not been cooking at all – lazy or uninspired, I suppose, so there was nothing low carb waiting for me. I had American cheese and mayo with lettuce as well as 14 cherry tomatoes. My focus was to keep low carb above anything else. I didn’t measure so I estimated the best I could.
Calories: 2,063
Fat: 173g
Net Carbs: 15g
Protein: 87g
Thursday, January 17, 2013 – 201.4
Yesterday was not a bad day – so why to I feel so lousy about it? Because of the 199.4 weight I saw on the scale the other day. A number under 200 is a big psychological hurdle to cross – and I am the wrong side. I tell the other part of me to be patient, that these things take time, and I suppose it helps somewhat. I can’t conceive of giving up – but I sure wish I was a little further along. ‘Patience.’ I tell myself.
I was strangely out of sorts. Sad and demotivated. I propelled myself through the day, however, on my roast beef, butter, Dunkin Donuts coffee and yogurt , and made it home where I was again left with ‘what to eat’.
I weighed myself when I got home and there seemed no appreciable difference. I thought of skipping dinner to try to goose things, but then thought better of it – that doesn’t work. The rational me knows that. Adequate calories and time are necessary for health and weight loss. Despite all I’ve learned, my mind still craps out stupid ideas from time to time and I need the awareness to cut them off at the pass.
I was in the mood for canned tuna and mayo so I approximated 4 tablespoons in a bowl and put in the can to mix. I had it on lettuce leaves, and tried it with sauerkraut – which seems so wrong on the face of it but was a really, really good combination – though eat it over the plate. Without a bun to absorb the liquid, this drips.
For dessert I went back to my old routine and had 4 squares of the Lindt dark chocolate. I don’t know why I hadn’t had any in a while – oh, yeah – I know – I was eating utter crap instead! I keep it at room temperature, refrigerating it ruins the flavor, and I savored each piece. This is about it in terms of sweetness for me when low carbing and it is a fine reward. When your palate isn’t blasted by sugar on an hourly basis, ‘sweet’ becomes a subtle and layered experience with a piece of dark chocolate. I very much enjoy this stuff – it is NOT a consolation prize – a poor replacement for what I really want, but rather an experience one comes to by eliminating all the lesser ones to better experience this.
And that was it. I was spent – exhausted by the day, one of the ones where every little thing is a big thing and it all seems so dark and hopeless. I went to bed early, falling asleep reading about football player’s imaginary girlfriends. I suppose some people’s problems are stranger than mine.
Calories: 1,681
Fat: 130g
Net Carbs: 18g
Protein: 84g
Friday, January 18, 2013 – 200.4
Ketosis. That explains it. Why didn’t I recognize the signs? Perhaps part of me had given up while the other part soldiered on. I felt the way I felt yesterday partly because of that switch into ketosis. I almost didn’t t test for it this morning – I haven’t tried yet this year as I haven’t been strict enough, but on this morning, the ketosis was moderate – and that explains the mood and tiredness. If I had made the connection, I could have managed my emotions better and not projected the feelings on the wrong things.
Old pro that I am, I still get tripped up.
I am also about the weight I was when I left, proving that it is harder to get back in the groove than out of it. Captain Obvious at your service.
So, as the World’s Worst Successful Low Carb Dieter, I made it into ketosis – and it only took me 18 days. Let’s see if I can stay there.
Saturday, January 19, 2013 – 199.8
Finally. A big psychological hurdle has been crossed.
If only weight loss was about a number on a scale. No matter how much we like to think of ourselves as rational and reasonable people, we are only a hair’s breadth away from a splendid insanity. One where the unimportant becomes important and matters of import are summarily dismissed.
One where 199.8 on a $50 bathroom scale is a world of difference from seeing 200.0.
Weekends are always a bear though, because there is less structure and more opportunities for random, unplanned eating. My approach to this is very middle-of-the-road: I don’t come down on myself, nor do I fling myself into reckless abandon (that was my vacation). I balance pleasure and discipline which, believe me, is a bit of a trick – one where I still get cut despite years of practice.
I woke hungry and had a yogurt. Later in the morning my daughter was cooking and had sliced tomatoes. I stole some and had it with American cheese – an old favorite combo of mine.
I decided to make ‘whateves’ again – a concoction of whatever leftovers I found in the fridge cooked with a pound of ground beef. My way of cleaning the fridge and making homemade Hamburger Helper. Each is unique and never to be repeated. And amazingly, each time I’ve made it, it all got eaten.
This day’s Whatevs consisted of the pound of ground beef, a half-stick of butter, a few aging zucchinis, some orphaned fancy mushrooms bought for a soup that never got made, some forgotten stewed tomatoes, and a cup of frozen pesto my wife had made during the summer.
It came out quite good though greasy as hell – and I mean that in the most positive possible way. I guesstimated that each cup was about 440 calories and maybe 6 grams of carbs – nothing wrong there. Both my wife and my daughter had some. My daughter spread it on French bread, my wife on Indian bread.
I had it by itself and it was quite good, but my appetite seemed out of whack – perhaps the unstructured nature of the day or maybe something else. I continued eating and ended up consuming another cup of the stuff with port rinds, ending up eating almost an entire bag of fried pork skin. I also had some pork rinds with salsa, which I really enjoy. In a bit of a feeding frenzy, a butter croissant was consumed with maybe 3 tablespoons of butter. It wasn’t on my proscribed list of foods, but I enjoyed it. I finished up with 4 squares of the Lindt chocolate.
I do not know the reason for this, but I suffered greatly from indigestion and woke a number of times during the night. It probably wasn’t anything in particular as much as the combo of things I ate, the quantity, and the fact that I guzzled down 2 liters of seltzer right before bed.
Calories: 3,221
Fat: 233g
Net Carbs: 80g
Protein: 162g
Sunday, January 20, 2013 – 203.0
Seeing 203.0 on the scale did NOT make me happy, but I thought it best to reframe this to ensure I put it into the proper perspective. I reframed it, which made me feel better, but this did not stop me from gobbling down green tea and red bean ice cream, as well as leftover Dunkin Donuts sandwiches, cool ranch chip and other stuff that on any diet would constitute junk.
I did my best to count this train-wreck. It somewhat approximates reality.
Calories: 2,182
Fat: 120g
Net Carbs: 187g
Protein: 77g
Monday, January 20, 2013 – 202.8
The two major themes of this day were:
- I sure peed a lot
- I ate way under my number of calories unconsciously
My body was dumping water at an amazing rate. I was in the bathroom a half-dozen times before 9am.
I brought ample food to work but only had a yogurt and a DD coffee. When I came home I had a cup of sauerkraut, then some of the roast my wife, who had off for MLK day, made. I also had some potatoes and then went to bed. It was only when I tallied the numbers that I realized how low I went – not intentionally, mind you – it just happened.
Calories: 668
Fat: 33g
Net Carbs: 23g
Protein: 53g
Tuesday, January 20, 2013 – 200.0
Not unhappy with the number, though I’m not exactly thrilled how I got there. I don’t believe in starvation diets – and 668 calories is a starvation diet for a guy 5’10”.
I had whatevs and yogurt in work, then came home and had sauerkraut, then a bowl of avocado, yogurt and salsa – very filling. Sadly, cool ranch tortilla chips at my feet as I sat got eaten – a small amount – as well as a clementine waiting for my daughter to make her lunch. A slab of spam also got eaten.
Calories: 1,692
Fat: 118g
Net Carbs: 51g
Protein: 72g
Wednesday, January 21, 2013 – 198.6
Lowest weight since December 15th – the day before my vacation. Last year I played with 10 pounds – between 200 and 210. Hopefully this year I will do a little better and play in the 190s – then get the hell out into the 180s.
The day was whatevs, yogurt and DD coffee again, which I am fine with. After the whatevs in the afternoon I thought I could ‘go for a little more something’ but I calmly let it pass.
Evening was the leftover prime roast with Lea & Perrins Steak sauce, 2 tiny golf-ball sized fruits that looked like peaches which were good, though not particularly sweet – a good thing. I did tear into the kid’s leftover pasta some, and had a pickle with cheese and 4 squares of the Lindt chocolate.
While a bit high in carbs, the calorie count was spot on. It was fun. All good.
Calories: 1,624
Fat: 93g
Net Carbs: 89g
Protein: 94g
Thursday, January 22, 2013 – 199.0
Still under 200 and eating pasta? I’m happy…but part of me still cries: ‘am I skinny yet?’ I have keep telling this loser ‘patience’.
My routine stayed the same – whateves, a yogurt, a DD coffee. Home was some leftover pork with jalapenos on pork rinds and some leftover stuffed eggplant my wife had made the night before. I guesstimated the quantities, but I think I’m in the ballpark.
Calories: 1,872
Fat: 139g
Net Carbs: 25g
Protein: 117g
Friday, January 23, 2013 – 197.6
I was busy and stressed at work today and wasn’t all that hungry. They had a rare ‘pizza Friday’ but I was too preoccupied at the time to give it much thought until a colleague said: “You didn’t stop in and show your face?”. Appearances. Never good at this sort of thing. The plate in his had with the crust of pizza did make the pizza less abstract. I thought about a slice and eventually got up to look for leftovers – not that I would *eat* any, mind you – I just wanted to see it – but it was all gone and any evidence of it’s past presence had already been cleaned up.
I ended up having my DD coffee for lunch and it was back to work. A bit later I had a yogurt at my desk, and right before I left for home, my stomach a little unsettled from lack of food, I remembered I had 1 Atkins bar left in my man-bag. This had traveled with me to the Caribbean and back, and after the trip I tossed it in my bag. I ate it before the ride home.
My ride home was consumed by two thoughts: work, and how I was going to figure my way out of a tight spot with a big project I was working on – and not driving off the road due to the covering of snow on roads frozen to 10 degrees for a week.
On the way home my kids called and asked for pizza. It had been a while for them, so I agreed and called in the order: Sicilian, with mushrooms and onions on one side for my older daughter.
It took me an extra half hour to get home, and a third thought began to crowd out the machinating about work and the fear of sliding into a ditch: Sicilian pizza. I wouldn’t eat any, I thought, feeling good about myself. Then I amended that to I would only have a small piece, then stop. That sounded so much more the superior approach: I am master of my universe. Then I thought that would be dangerous, and I went back to the total abstinence approach. Then I began to think about what I *would* eat. I had whatevs, but whatevs tasted good in work – I associated it with work – it wasn’t what I wanted in the evening. I thought about *that* notion, how our setting can drive our food expectations, and made a mental note to think more on this.
I had been listening to a lecture on my iPhone and about this time turned it off – I wasn’t hearing a word the man said – I was thinking about pizza.
When I got home and walked in the door, I had concluded that I would have none.
Then I had 4 pieces. With my coat on. Standing in front of the box.
Ego depletion, I told myself. Here’s the definition of ego depletion from Wikipedia:
Ego depletion refers to the idea that self-control or willpower draw upon a limited pool of mental resources that can be used up. When the energy for mental activity is low, self-control is typically impaired, which would be considered a state of ego depletion. In particular, experiencing a state of ego depletion impairs the ability to control oneself later on. A depleting task requiring self-control can have a hindering effect on a subsequent self-control task, even if the tasks are seemingly unrelated.
Phew! Now that I have a fancy-sounding name for the act of eating 4 slices of Sicilian pizza standing in front of the box, I felt a whole lot better.
Believe it or not…I was kinda full at that point, and only had 2 small cookies, a leftover chicken nugget and a glass of water before I went to bed. I substituted 4 slices of Pizza Hut Sicilian pizza for the local version in my calorie-counting app.
Calories: 2,145
Fat: 120g
Net Carbs: 151g
Protein: 99g
Saturday, January 24, 2013 – 198.4
I dreaded getting up. When I get up I weigh myself. I didn’t want to weigh myself. What might the damage be from 4 slices of Sicilian pizza? The greasy slices felt like a pound each. I finally got my ass up and into the bathroom and speculated what the damage might be: 202? 205?!? I’ve seen spikes like this. When you are living low carb, you live retaining way less water than most people and carbs just soak up the liquid like a sponge, resulting in some awe-inspiring weight gains at time. One must keep calm, however, as these are temporary and getting back on the straight and narrow right after usually resolves it in a few days.
The scale said 198.4. I got a ‘get out of jail free’ card! Four slices of Sicilian pizza and I put on less than a pound!?! That was so totally worth it!
Of course, if I continue this decadence over the weekend I’ll be in deep doo-doo, but if I resume my usual low carb routine – not starving myself as penance, but just getting back on track – I’ll be fine.
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This is really helpful to read, at least for me. It’s interesting to hear your thought process and see the results, and especially be reminded that eating perfectly isn’t a prerequisite to weight loss, just eating sliiiiightly better than you did before.
I am using the number of times you used the letter ‘i’ in ‘slightly’ as an indicator of just how awful I have been at low carb in the past 2 weeks. I might have added more.
Ha, sorry if it sounded like I was trashing you there. I was thinking of my own dietary pitfalls as I wrote it.
No offense taken. I thought your comment to be funny.
You can lose weight at over 165 gr of carb in a day while my average these days to maintain is 30-45. Wow. AND I work out, too. What gives? No Stromboli over here. Mystified.
Lee
I am as mystified as you, Lee. Perhaps I am the low carb version of Inspector Closeau: clueless and bumbling, I stumble on the correct answer by accident – and don’t even know it. Maybe the screw-ups are a key to whatever success I have? If I was as disciplined as I would like to be, would i have been able to get where I am?
I don’t know. I slip up and eat too much sugar free Oreos- a true gem of a treat- and lo and behold- 3 overnight pounds appear. I eat birthday cake and don’t gain. What gives? Is there a perfect carb to calorie ratio? Doesn’t activity play into it all? Mysteries.
I like that you said you “practice” low carb dieting. You don’t have to be perfect to practice your just trying to get better at it. It was a very insightful comment. I also enjoy your food logs. Keep at it!
BINGO!
You win the prize. You GET it.
If I had to sum up all I know about dieting in 5 words, they would be: ‘approach it as a practice’.
Nice! I’m jealous, of course- that’s what “Nice” means.
I stay so strong almost all the time. The birthday thing was a nice diversion. Otherwise , low carb- I don’t even ALLOW myself to consider pizza crust, or White Castle- no way. But I gained three pounds this week. Why? Overeating- calories. Now that I’ve clarified that, and come clean on the jealousy Si have of you( Scorpio, easy to conclude), I can get my calories in check. Thought calories didn’t count but WRONG.
Lee
There’s so much here…where to begin?
1. While we don’t acknowledge it, negative emotions when properly channeled can be turned into positives. The only useless negative emotion is despair – it just lays there. When we don’t channel them, they eat away at us, so I’ve always felt it best to find a positive activity to channel them into – then their negative energy disappears.
2. My hatred of calories runs deep. Everything about calories sucks – it is the most inaccurate measurement imaginable, and yet I might tally up that I ate 2,128 calories…it is a misleading illusion of precision that cannot exist. And don’t get me started on that ‘a calorie is a calorie is a calorie’ bullshit now either. That being said, calorie-counting, as much as it sucks, DOES help if you don’t obsess over it too much. I think approximations are adequate. Too many people drive themselves crazy trying to count precisely and it is unnecessary. Think of it more as an ‘awareness exercise’ and it might keep a descent into madness at bay while you do it.
3. Though the science surrounding all this is far from settled (despite many experts claiming it is), there is some research that shows long periods of low carb can slow the thyroid. Some people use ‘carb cycling’ to goose their metabolism. Maybe this is what I do by accident. I think carb cycling fails most people because the introduction of carbs, while helping with the thyroid, also causes that crazy hunger that sets off never-ending eating binges. But maybe, just maybe, that sack of White Castle ‘murder burgers’ or the pizza crust, on occasion, is just what we need?
I don’t know. There seems to be a lot of intelligence in your reasoning. I do know that I have gained five pounds this month, seemingly at the speed of light. I am not sure what the culprit is. I definitely relaxed my vigilance, but other things changed as well. More exercise, new thyroid med, which I have never taken before, and increased hunger. I am not sure if the exercise increased my hunger and I just ran with it, increasing calories, or it my new love affair with full fatty greek yogurt and dark chocolate could be a problem.
You know what I’m saying. So, time for me to cycle back to those salads and meat, and give the Greek yogurt a bit of a break. Not eliminate, just reduce. My butt has bloomed to new dimensions and increased its lumps/bumps/dimples seemingly overnight. YUCK! TMI, sorry! So, I think I took the whole “occasional treat’ thing a bit too far. I can’t imagine that boosting my thyroid has caused a problem. I also stopped weighing every morning this month, but perhaps that was helping me make minor tweaks that I needed to to keep my weight in check. All I know is that this week, every time I weight, I am up another full pound. It’s crazy. Something has to go.
If my comments seem ‘intelligent’, you’re not reading critically enough
Self-deprecating comment aside, it’s tougher to maintain than to lose. Having said that, my own experience shows that dropping back to the old habits that helped you lose weight in the first place for a while (steak and salad in your case) usually is the best approach.
Having said *that* – how large is the weight range where you are comfortable? People do retain water for various reasons and these fluctuations can’t be helped. Maybe this is just a transient issue?
Or – to put it another way – are you freaking out over nothing?
As to the thyroid meds, anything that is supposed to boost your thyroid can also boost appetite. I’m assuming that you are taking synthroid, and looking at the very wide range of reactions some people have to the stuff leads me to believe that it could play some part in it. That doesn’t mean this is BAD – it might be a temporary thing as your body adjusts. Heck – some people *lose* weight taking the stuff. You should talk to your doc if dropping back to your old way of eating doesn’t bring things back in order.
I’ve even heard some research claims that, like bears and squirrels, our bodies like to fatten up in the winter months. Perhaps you’ll have a tendency toward this for the rest of your life and simply have to anticipate this and leave your dark chocolate, yogurt and lc wraps for the springtime?
I also look forward to reading your weekly menus. It makes what I eat seem less “weird” and you must admit–we do eat weird stuff. I mentioned your roast beef and butter to someone and I may as well have said I had visited Mars last weekend.
I have been trying Dr K’s Optimal Diet for the past two weeks. Lower protein than Atkins (and I never liked eating that much protein), higher carbs (60), and WAY higher fat. I’m down to two fatty meals a day–breakfast being the larger of the two. Fat really kills the appetite. And I am happy eating a potato fried in 3 T of butter with one egg and two extra yolks fried in bacon fat and lots of bacon. I was never this happy eating the Atkins ratios. I think it’s the potato. I also think eating acidic stuff like sauerkraut is a very good thing to do. I may ask for DD coffee with double the cream next time. Extra fat.
My scale is still not working but the pants are buttoning just fine. And I am not interested in eating any of my husband’s food. It’s good.
This guy?
http://www.doctorkweightloss.com/
Your description of the meals is making me hungry. I also don’t see anything wrong with the approach on the surface. If you get enough glucose to run the parts of your brain that are really fussy about their fuel from the extra carbs, then you don’t need the extra protein which your body would have used to make the missing glucose. The only other concern would be that inadequate protein might waste muscle mass, but really – what is ‘adequate’? If you are getting ‘some’ protein and it seems like you are losing fat rather than muscle, then more power to you. [Disclaimer: assume I don't know what the Hell I'm talking about.]
As to ‘eating weird’. Oh yeah – people look at me like I’m from Mars when I eat roast beef and butter – I am very familiar with the reaction – I just don’t care.
Dr K is from Poland and he has a mathematical ratio of protein grams, carb grams and fat grams. Mine is 68g protein/170g fat/54g carbs. This diet began in post war Poland and is mostly used for sick people.
BUT, Dr Atkins commented that too many people think Atkins is all about protein (so much meat and eggs) and it was always really a FAT based diet. Dr K’s ratios are very fluid. And he likes organ meats (I don’t) and potatoes (I do). It has been very difficult to find any information and any “recipes” for this diet. The Atkins threads on this subject don’t stay on topic.
I do the best I can but don’t get anywhere close to 170 g of fat each day. You need to eat proteins with a low protein count and high fat count. Bacon. Egg Yolks. Most of the commenters I have found drink 4 ounces of heavy cream with breakfast. And don’t eat again until 7 pm. I haven’t done that as yet. I may try it eventually.
Dr K likes potatoes as your major carb. And he suggests eating all your carbs at one time. Like you do. He has a recipe for a “bread” but I haven’t been able to find it, he suggests eating it with lots of lard (I remember my grandmother rubbing slices of rye bread in the greasy pan in which she had fried pork chops–heaven). I did find the recipe for potato dumplings made with potato and potato starch. My DNA is Eastern European and my childhood diet was Bohemian peasant food.
I’ve gone on long enough. I will follow your link and see what you found.
I love reading your low-carb journey.
It is one of the very few health blogs that I follow – your writing is very insightful and I like how you approach to thing like a lifestyle instead of another fad diet. I am also doing Atkins now and has found that my mood swings has improved greatly. I am still tentative about this diet because it allows you to eat satiety – I get to be full on this plan!! Imagine that!! As a young woman still struggling with her body image I have to say that it’s very liberating to be able to eat fat/protein *mostly* ad lib and not worry about my weight. Except I find that for me, I can NOT touch carbs at all. If I eat even one piece of bread I will get hungrier and hungrier until I clean out the pantry. The next morning I will experience nonstop cravings and go into an acute depression slump. *shudders* But I digress 
Please keep updating!!