8 Days in Ketosis and 10 Lbs. Down

I’ve been lax in journaling – I promised I would do so some time back.

Apparently I lied.

Anywho, I have been quite adherent to an Atkins induction-style diet, and have been in ketosis for about 8 days straight. When I started this, about 10 days ago, I had puffed up to 218.6 due to a ‘what-the-hell’ attitude, which I find I sometimes have to indulge to an extreme to exorcise it.

I believe: if you give in to ‘what-the-hell’, don’t do it half-hearted – go for it!

You will probably feel like crap the next day – a great way to steel one’s resolve and get back to your diet.

Last night I got on the scale and was 207.8 – nearly 11 lbs. down. Yesterday I was able to actually fit into a pair of pants that 2 weeks ago were cutting off circulation to my lower extremities – a nice indicator of progress.

So what have I been doing?

First things first, as I’ve mentioned before, I can’t lose weight and drink alcohol, so I’ve ditched the wine. When I reach my goal, I can have wine, because I can maintain, but I cannot lose if I drink wine regularly. It’s a simple equation: if I have wine, my diet will stall, so deferring this pleasure will provide me the larger gratification of fitting in a pile of clothes that I’ve had to abandon ’cause I can’t jam my fat ass in them anymore.

If I look back on what I have been eating, there’s been a lot of organic beef and eggplant – both my pseudo chili and my Italian stew included it. I’ve also made some cod in a mayo/parm/butter sauce, which was great. See this recipe for the details (I just used cod instead of tilapia).

I’ve still had some low carb bread, and maybe a tad bit more cheese than Atkins recommends, but again, I’m 10 lbs. down in 10 days – maybe not as rapid a weight loss as I’ve had in the past, but I’m getting older and my body is pretty used to low carb, so I can’t expect the same kind of rapid weight loss I had when I started as was going from a diet with over 200 grams of carbs per day.

I’ve also had bologna, what I consider to be a ‘crap’ food, but it is acceptable on a low carb diet. I’ve found foods like this help me transition to healthier eating – call them crutches, but since when are crutches a bad thing? If your legs are weak, they help you get where you want to go. When your legs strengthen, you don’t need them anymore.

So why are crutches a bad thing?

I’ve also been having an Atkins shake and my vitamins every day about 9am. I had experimented with life without vitamins – big mistake – I felt worse.

I have also been drinking a pot or more of coffee with heavy cream – maybe up to 8 tablespoons a day.

And – I am still using the nicotine lozenges to reduce hunger, with focus on the evening, when I have the most potential to become truly gluttonous.

I have not:

• Eaten regular bread or other refined starches
• Exercised at all
• Drank water other than for thirst

I have also been watching my blood glucose – not that I am diabetic, but my doctor’s prediction is, with my family history, I will be.

I’d like to prove him wrong.

Well, each morning, it is just a few digits above 100 – at least 20 points lower than when I eat a lot of carbs. This is considered normal by both American Diabetes Association, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American College of Endocrinology – at least according to this article.

Now here’s an interesting thing: there were 2 days where it was below 100 – once it was 93 and once 87.

On both days, I had carbs the previous evening. Grapes one time and store-bought whipped cream in a can the other. Neither time pulled me out of ketosis – the amount of carbs was small, but it was not the slow-absorption carbs – it was the high impact carbs of sugar.

Now – two events don’t make for much of a pattern, but it does seem odd that a small amount of carbs before bed appears to make my blood sugar go down the next morning. Actually, I have noticed this in the past.

Geez – Matt Stone mentioned in a comment on this post something about carbs helping insulin response – is there something there? I’ll have to continue to keep tabs on this one.

I’ve also been checking my blood pressure and it’s fine for a guy who has hypertension and drinks a pot of coffee every day. Even after a lot of coffee and 2 hours sucking on a nicotine lozenge, my BP the other day was 116/72 with a pulse rate of 80. As your body supposedly acclimates itself to caffeine, and low carb brings on a tendency toward hypotension (or so I’ve heard – I have no sources for this), the resultant blood pressure numbers might not be all that odd.

I have noticed some unexpected bursts of energy, which usually come during ketosis periods – as well as mild headaches, which I don’t treat (I don’t take aspirin, Tylenol, or NSAIDS). I’ve also noticed my Tums usage drop to near zero. In the past, both a low carb diet and being under 200 make heartburn completely disappear.

I’d like to think if I can keep this up through November, I can pass through that dreaded 30.0 BMI – I HATE the word ‘obese’ – and just be ‘overweight’ – and actually see a number under 200.

With the Halloween candy Orgyfest on Saturday and the holiday season approaching, it ain’t gonna be easy, but what am I going to do – give up?