Back to Keto

Sadly, back to keto as of this morning. For a variety of reasons, I just couldn't hack a diet including carbs. And Voom (?) wanted me to include 'treats' in my diet, hah, which is how a 1/2 cup container of Haagan Dazs ice cream turned into five and all five got eaten the first night they were in the fridge, and a loaf of bread turned into cinnamon and sugar toast until the last piece of bread was gone. Maybe stress would have done me in regardless, but we are where we are, and I'm just a black & white person, so goodbye lovely oatmeal and fruit, fruit, fruit, and sandwiches. Happy birthday.

Sloggin' Along

Yup, sloggin' along. Getting used to logging on Noom and learned something really worth it for long term: if you're planning to eat something high in fat today for dinner, move other fats (like cream or avacado) to tomorrow. I think this is the way to have dessert once in awhile--the trick is once in awhile. For long term, I have GOT to figure this out.

However, I really don't think Noom--OR the Mediterranean diet--will work for me to lose weight in the first place. I should do this AFTER I've lost what I want to lose. It's just not working, so I'm pretty sure next week I'll give up and go back to keto. I started at 200#, went down to 198.2, but then started back up! Why??? Now sitting at 199.2 or something. This is verrrry dismotivating.

First Week on Noom

As we all know, you can lose weight on any diet. I, however, want only to lose weight but to STAY down. Noom swears it will teach me how to do that. So, what did I take away this week?

Deprivation is a no-no. I have to practice eating appropriate amounts of my 'forbidden' foods. This week I ate, as a snack, a piece of bread spread with peanut butter. I hope/plan to buy some ice cream. This is definitely good for long term.

Noom also wants me to continually expose myself, i.e., walk by the bakery isle, get some candy and leave it on my bedside table, etc. (However, temptation has never really been a problem for me while dieting.)

Noom wants me to be sure to continue any fun activities associated with food, i.e., eating out, so I committed to ordering from a restaurant once a week and preparing a real recipe once a week (because I really enjoy cooking complex meals). I'm supposed to also cook a meal FOR someone, but don't feel that my roommate is interested. Maybe Eddie?

A biggie: unless you want to carry the scale around for the rest of your life, give it up. Ooooh, difficult. To me, dieting is rigid control and measuring. So I'm proud that I'm doing it because it requires a real trust in the process. Especially difficult when that restaurant food was teriaki so I GAINED a pound last night instead of losing .2#!

Biggest problem? Fatigue. No energy. I guess that two months off really caused me to get out of shape. Now a workout or even a bicycle ride to and from the grocery store is exhausting. I'm monitoring my sleep carefully. Basically I bought the Fitbit to do that. Now I've bought a noise machine, and I'm trying to be careful to follow the rules about regular bedtime and no screens for two hours before. I just need to be vigilent. I'm also taking a nap in the afternoon, which I won't be able to do if I work...Have to be patient and continue with the exercise program...slowly!!

Because my beloved trainer moved back to Kenya, he set me up with a romote app, Trainerize Fitness App. I PLAN to follow his routines three times a week...we'll see...but I'll be paying $150/month so I have some motivation.

I'm tired just thinking about my new life! No more spending the day in bed. Gotta walk to/from the grocery store practically every day. Gotta get in my steps, gotta, gotta, gotta. Oops, that's another thing I got from Noom: find the FUN in exercise!! I chose tennis (hahahaha), bicycling (doable), and dancing (hahahaha). So I told my trainer that I need to reach the point where after the workouts I feel GOOD. Right now I just always feel exhausted. SLOW DOWN!

New app - Noom

After two weeks of living with my daughter (recovering from c-section birth of twins)--and the accompanying stress, lack of exercise, squewed schedule, strange food, temptations (cookies, candies, chips, crackers--you name it)--I was a mess and had gained five pounds. Not bad at all considering that during that time I also had to vacate my apartment and move in to a new situation (roommate).

Feeling totally out of control I was happy to re-up a diet and exercise plan. Contacted my trainer and arranged for a week (three) of sessions and a remote plan moving forward. The new apartment house offers yoga starting next week!! And on Facebook I was tempted to try NOOM, which perports to be a guided plan, that is it has coaches. It also may be a way to do a controlled Mediterranean diet. It costs $ but they offer a 2-week inexpensive trial, so here we go--and I'll go back to the store and buy rice, pasta, and bread!!

Storm on the Mediterranean

I'm sure it's not the Mediterranean's fault, but I gained five pounds in a week. The reason was, no doubt, that I

• went to the grocery store and stocked up on food (bad, bad, bad: now there's food in the house. A box of raisins is an invitation to binge)
• for financial reasons, fired my beloved trainer (bad, bad, bad: now there's no weight training)
• was only called to work on one day (bad, bad, bad: now I'm bored, bored, bored)
• spent several days away from home helping out my daughter (bad, bad, bad: now control of my schedule, diet, and routine is out the window)
• the uncertainty of my apartment and financial situation caused considerable stress (bad, bad, bad: the number one binge trigger)

So the question is: should I try another week? I think I will. The apartment/financial/moving thing has been beautifully resolved for the next six months after which I will have to make another decision. So I can probably hire back my trainer. The work pace will be back to normal within a week we expect. And the box of raisins is empty.

Off Keto, On Mediterranean Diet

Someone on Quora asked for a before/after picture of Keto, and I provided these showing -20#:

 

But, I think it's time to move on.

I've been playing around with keto metrics for three days, and even bought a membership in a new logger--Cronometer--but I just got overwhelmed by the amount of protein they want me to eat. Just can't do it. So this morning I set up MyFitnessPal to do a Mediterranean diet. Until I finish up the cream and bacon, my breakfast will include these items, but otherwise I'll be starting out with the metrics proposed by JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. of 35% Fat 45% Carbohydrate 20% Protein.

One good thing is that I'll once again be able to eat Garito food and not spend my money on extra stuff. So let's see how a month on THIS diet will compare to keto.

Binge Attack

Humm, I think I had a binge attack last week also, so what's up? Stress? Sadness? Psychic pain?

Only one thing is clear: do not keep almonds in the house. Probably the second thing is that I will always choose carbs or fats over protein. I say that because I chose not to eat the chicken I picked up (well, to be honest I would have had to prepare a stir fry, 10 minutes?) and instead ate more almonds. Then, when I discovered that the bag contained some (calorie-free) whipped cream, I ate some of the blackberries I had bought; then I had all the rest of the  blackberries with probably a quarter cut of cream. O.U.T.-.O.F.-.C.O.N.T.R.O.L. I really have to talk to my doctor about the possibility of drugs because I recently learned that there are drugs to treat binge eating disorder!!

New Set of Macros

Re-examining those macros today raised the possibility of insufficient protein. This is what I've been doing:


But checking out various calculators made it clear that I'm not getting enough protein.

But then I ran into a very interesting site--Kiss My Keto--that tells me I'm not on a plateau just because my weight loss is slowing down. A plateau is when you don't lose anything for months!! It also tells me not to exceed 20% protein and it likes intermittant fasts for recentering.

Then I bought Jason Fung's "The Complete Guide to Fasting" cause I think I really need to throw that in the mix.

OK, I postponed the fast til Monday and have upped my protein. So we'll see what happens.