Oops! Protein aint it

 Letter to author of ketogenic-diet-resource.com:

 

After spending hours playing with the numbers, I decided it's close enough for horseshoes! 

I got into this conundrum because I lost 20 pounds the first two months and zero (well, up/down 2#) the third!! And my body loves ketosis! Anyway, since I track compulsively (loseit and myfitnesspal), I couldn't figure it out. And then I found your site and the plateau section. Which is why I was trying to determine if I was getting too much protein. Unfortunately, since I've decided it's close enough for horseshoes, that only leaves the one I feared: not eating enough. (Eating can get very boring without carbs!) 

Sure enough, when I thought about it, I remembered that I had deliberately DOUBLED my exercise time in this third month (trying to increase my fitness level), but I didn't change my calorie intake. Clearly, I have to try to manage this during the fourth month, but it's scairy. I HATE having to suddenly come up with 400-500 more calories including boring PROTEIN at the end of the day plus there's so much guess work involved in calculating calories burned. However, I think I will plan on making your shakes (I LOVE shakes!). Wish me luck, and I'll let you know how it goes.

By the way, before I found your site I had experimented with increasing carbs. Oh, disaster. Immediately got depressed and grouchy again. It's so sad that people in my generation (I'm 73) spent our LIVES avoiding fat. It was Dr. David Perlmutter'sGrain Brain that introduced me to ketosis and the benefits of fat. 

Finally, I don't remember if I read it on your site or elsewhere, but I was THRILLED to learn that I can do this forever, that there's no downside.

Refining Purlmutter: the Ketogenic Diet

Purlmutter worked great, but then it didn't. Researching, I discovered http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/ which is fantastic.

 My experience with Purlmutter--which is essentially a ketogenic diet--was that my body loved it. I was never hungry, never depressed. But what to do when it stops working? This new web site has given me ideas. I picked up two facts immediately: 1) a 'cheating' day can result in the body needing another two weeks to get back into ketogenesis, and 2) protein quantity is FIXED as a ratio of LBM (lean body mass) and should never be determined as a percentage of daily intake--which is what I have been doing.

Sooooo, over the next few months I'll be monitoring my LBM and adjusting protein requirements weekly. Today I weigh 200.2 which is 37.9% fat, 31.2% water, 26.3% muscle, with a bone density score of 3.4. This tells me my LBM is 52.6 so my daily protein intake should be 1 or 1.5 x 52.6 or max (let's call it) 80g.

End of Month One

Reviewed a bit more of the book and realized that I had erred last  time in not recording so I got carried away on the fats. Heck, one of his recipes--crunchy cereal--is like 700 calories! So this time I'll record. AND I changed the proportions to10% carb, 60% fat, 30% protein which is shocking by itself.  Well,we'll see.

I also spent  fortune on probiotics and cod liver oil.  

Starting Over A*G*A*I*N

For some reason I decided to go for the gusto again.  Weighing in at 220#.

Sugar, Sugar: Addiction and Depression

I realized this morning that I am depressed--for the first time in...a month? The connection to sugar was inescapable, but nevertheless I did an internet search on "Can sugar cause depression?" I got back 27 million responses on Google.

Then I considered addiction. I already knew, know, and have known for a long time that sugar is addictive. Why do we do this to ourselves? Oh, one won't hurt...hah!

My sugar consumption began innocuously enough a week ago (on my unavoidable road trip to Idaho) with a spoonful of raspberry jam on a piece of home made bread. The next day I had another piece of bread and jam AND that evening I ate a rich dessert with my dinner. The next day I had the bread and jam AND a large Foster Freeze soft serve cone. The next day I had TWO Foster Freeze soft serve cones, and (upon finally getting home again), I ate bread with butter and HONEY until I was full (that's called binging). I ended the next day with TWO PINTS OF ICE CREAM. Last night I had THREE PIECES OF BIRTHDAY CAKE. Addiction? Duh!

So, I guess it's like being an alcoholic (or as I am, a cigarette-aholic): you can't have just one--ever.

Okay, back to basics, forgive and forget, today is the first day of the rest of my life.

Ruination by Road Trip

the trash bag in my car

It's just not fair! I had to take the trip. I brought along a baggie of cut up  chicken and a baggie of almonds. That's all I ate on the first day. Truthfully, at my destination I gave in to the pressure of my hostess and ate, horrors, b*r*e*a*d with, oh-my-God jam on it. But I also ate my protein shake. I absolutely did NOT binge. I practiced: I went out to dinner and had dessert, one piece only. Okay, so now I've really fallen. Carbs AND sugar. Oops, on the way home I had no more chicken pieces. So okay I ate a hamburger. One lousy hamburger. But I had no dinner that night; shouldn't that have helped? And okay, the next day I had an omelet with hash browns and a muffin with jam. But that was breakfast AND lunch. And okay, by the time I got home, I was so tired (is that an excuse?), I finally totally broke down and ate three (I guess three means binging?) everything bagels with butter and honey.

Congratulations girl! This morning the results are in. You gained five pounds and 1% fat. In four days.

As I said: it's just not fair.

Lessons learned: 1) Always, always, always have healthy, appropriate food in the car--which means plan and prepare ahead. 2) Never, never, never allow bad things like bread to hide out in your freezer.

Suppressed memories: I just remembered that I  TWICE   ate a large Foster Freeze soft-serve cone

Back to Basics

I've sadly come to the conclusion that the low carb diet doesn't work for me. Last night I was craving carbs for the first time. If there had been any sweet thing in the house, I doubt I could have resisted.For days I've been having to force down the protein. For two days I've been unable to face another egg scramble so breakfast has been a hard boiled egg. And worse yet, I didn't lose even one pound this past week.

For now I'm going to continue with the gluten free diet (Dr. Perlmutter's book was quite convincing regarding gluten and sugar); however, I'm giving up on the high fat, high protein.

So now what? Is counting calories my only option? I'm going back to the diet shake meals (Visalis powder, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup fruit)  because life is then so simple. Depressing.