Incrementally Downward

Saturday, February 29, 2020

I guess that would be decremental, actually.  

Anyway.

Last day of the month.  It's been a pretty decent month, no major meltdowns, no suffering.  Rate of loss has definitely slowed but a portion of that has been a lack of activitiy.  I'm hoping that with slightly warmer (40s even) weather I'll be more active.  Springing forward and having it be light later will also help a bit.  And if I'm not hungry I'll play around with decreasing portion sizes slightly and cutting out some carbs. 

Since I haven't had much initiative yet this morning I've been sitting and thinking, which is dangerous.  I eventually landed on pizza -- not surprising since it's pizza day -- and did some googling on how well it freezes.  I think that I'm going to make extra next weekend (no extra dough tonight) and try freezing it.  When it comes down to it, leftover pizza isn't that much different than a sandwich and since I've been doing well controlling portions maybe having it for lunch more often would be okay.  Or maybe it won't be.  But I can experiment and find out.

Breakfast:  Oatwaffles with butter, 2 strips Wright thick cut applewood bacon, coffee with just a bit of cacao butter

Luxurious, and with almost no effort.  Weekends man.  Next time I need to remember to put the frozen waffles in with the bacon right away since ten minutes is not long enough from frozen.

Lunch:  Homemade tacos with onion, cilantro, shredded cheese and fire sauce

Good as usual.  I do need to exercise patience with the tortillas, these were fine but would have benefitted from another 30 seconds a side.  I had an avocado but absentmindedly decided to save it for dinner ... for a dinner that's happening tomorrow.  Oops.

Just looked up the nutrition facts for Maseca and it makes me even more curious about the power of takeout tacos -- my four tortillas were good for nearly sixty grams of carbs ... and I've been eating leftover pizza for lunch a lot of Mondays.

Dinner:  Homemade pizza with pepperoni, bacon, ham, mushrooms, green pepper and roma tomato

I'm not sure that my photos accurately capture just how delicious these are.  Tonight's pizza was exquisite.  I didn't have a lot of sauce, so I was glad I had a good sized tomato.

Exercise:  Nope.  Kinda poky today.  I was active doing the usual chores but nothing that can clearly be identified as exercise.  Not good, considering I'll be getting lots here in ten days or so.

102.6

Sometimes Veggies Are Great

Friday, February 28, 2020

No particular reason I can think of but I was craving some vegetables last night and a little salad delivered.  Had a few more in my lunch today.  Was very pleased that the ones I ate yesterday were processed well and aided the system.  All good.

And it's Friday.

Breakfast:  Coffee with cocoa butter (x2)

Lunch:  Homemade beef stew, buttermilk rolls with butter, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar

Very satisfying, if a bit much.  Probably could have skipped the cheese, maybe even a roll.  The stew, as usual, was better for having been frozen, thawed and reheated.

Dinner:  Meatball sub

Good as usual.  Just a fine sandwich.

Exercise:  Not really.  I did spend an hour hiking around the grocery store and fifteen minutes at Home Depot but that doesn't really count.

102.8

Challenges Ahead

Thursday, February 27, 2020

With vacation looming less than two weeks out, there are definitely some challenges on the horizon.  I'll probably get a bit of a test tonight as I may go out to dinner.  I will not say that I'm super concerned, but it's definitely on the radar.

Breakfast:  Coffee w cocoa butter (x2)

Lunch:  Leftover keto sausage balls, buttermilk bread w butter, Fage vanilla TruBlend yogurt

Cleaned up the sausage balls since as mentioned I may do dinner out.  No reason to keep them another day in the fridge.

Dinner:  5 oz sizzler, garlic toast with butter, salad plate (lettuce, mushroom, tomato, cucumber, hard boiled egg, shredded cheddar, bar cheese and cottage cheese), cup of swiss sausage soup, 16 oz Labatt Blue

Quite enjoyable (especially since I just had to leave some cash for the tip thanks to a gift card).  I have thought for the last day or two that some veggies would be nice.  And you know, bar cheese works pretty well as salad dressing (lol).  I am pleasantly full without being stuffed.

Exercise:  Nope.  Downside is getting home at 8:15.  It is also frigid and windy out there.

103.0

File Under Patience, Test Of

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

This morning is proving to be a test of patience.  It's so easy to be disappointed when you don't see good news on the scale -- probably a good reason not to weigh daily -- especially when you feel leaner and that bit of bloat you noticed the day before is gone.  Like every other fat person in the history of the world, I just want it (or at least some of it) gone.  Now.

And so I have to fight the temptation to blow it all up, make radical changes that I then cannot keep up.  Instead, I need to be smart.  As mentioned yesterday it wouldn't hurt to dial back the carbs, at least somewhat.  I should be able to do so without impacting satiety too much or triggering hunger.  I can push myself to get out there and get some exercise.  My foot is improving and I really don't have any valid excuses.  If I have time to sit around I have time to move.  Daily.

Patience.  It's hard.

Breakfast:  Coffee with cocoa butter (x2)

Lunch:  Roast beef, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar, homemade buttermilk rolls with butter, Fage vanilla TruBlend yogurt

Quite sated.

Dinner:  Leftover keto sausage balls, medium avocado, cheese popcorn with butter

Good stuff.

Exercise:  Nope.

103.4

The Power Is Less Than Absolute

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Welp.  The power of tacos was inadequate.  I felt (and looked imo) a bit bloated this morning and sure enough, a small increase on the scale.  No explanation, since things were pretty stock standard Monday, but there you go.  

Sleep wasn't great, either.  Too much snoring (also for which I have no specific explanation), a few wakeups though they weren't annoying.  Sigh.  

Breakfast:  Coffee w cocoa butter

Lunch:  Oscar Meyer Naturals roast beef, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar, homemade buttermilk bread with butter, Fage vanilla TruBlend yogurt

Definitely like this beef better than the Dietz & Watson I got last week.

Dinner:  Keto sausage balls, mashed potatoes w/butter TCD style

I have to say, I like the sausage balls.  A pound roll makes three very solid servings and since I dialed back the almond flour I like them even better.

This evening I'm pondering whether I need to dial back the starch a bit.  It's pure speculation but I'm guessing that I get between 100-200g of carb a day.  If I dialed that back to 50-100g, that might be helpful.  Needs more thought.  It would probably be easy enough to cut back from 2 medium potatoes to 1 and from 2 slices of bread or rolls to 1.  On an entirely unrelated subject, I also think it's time to have a meal or two that's heavily loaded with veggies.  Just to keep the system on its toes.

Exercise:  Nope.  Taking it easy tonight.  It would be swell if that would include going to bed early in hopes of a reset.

103.4

The Worst Things In History Probably Happened On Monday

Monday, February 24, 2020

I haven't done any research on the subject but it has to be true that the worst things happen on Mondays.  Just musing.  Thankfully - knock on wood - nothing notable has happened so far today, I'm just grumbly.  Not ready for another work week.

Happily I did not pay a steep price for eating way too much dinner last night.  Of course it would be nice if weekends featured drops, but they haven't.  Should work on that.

Breakfast:  Coffee with cocoa butter (x2)

Lunch:  Leftover pizza

Monday lunch is the best lunch of the week at least.  This one was especially good, even cold.

Dinner:  4 ground beef tacos with onion and cilantro, avocado, hot sauce

Taco Monday.  This was their poorest effort in recent memory, it just was all around not up to their usual standard.

Exercise:  Nope.  We'll see if I perk up but so far it's not looking promising.

103.0

Griddlin

Sunday, February 23, 2020

If you ever need proof that I am clinicially insane all you need to do is examine my kitchen decisionmaking.  I've been trying to figure out the best way to cook tortillas.  Cast iron seemed like the obvious choice, but my cast iron is not especially well seasoned and the darned thing smokes.   I need to strip and reseason with some higher smoke point oil, but that's going to have to wait until grilling season since I can't do it indoors - no range hood.  I'd live with the smoke since it's not that bad but I set off the blasted smoke detectors last time and they're super annoying.  Strike one.  Next I tried a sacrificial ceramic nonstick pan, which worked, I guess, though not ideal.  Strike two.  Yesterday I used a stainless steel skillet.  The tortillas were fine but the skillet was not happy and I'm still working on getting it back to pristine condition.  Strike three.  I'm seriously thinking about getting a nonstick electric griddle.  Which would put my investment in tortilla making at somewhere north of fifty dollars.  Sheesh.  Yes, that's my mind at work.

Breakfast:  Bacon, coffee with cacao butter

Reheating leftover bacon certainly goes quickly.  Convenient that I cooked up the rest of the package yesterday.

Lunch:  Homemade tacos

I didn't realize until this morning that I did not have fire sauce with my tacos yesterday.  I finished off a bottle last week and hadn't pulled out the other one I have.  Otherwise, same as yesterday.  Fresh tortillas, everything else was leftover.  I'm definitely getting more efficient, this took about 20 minutes to prepare.

Dinner:  Broiled chicken breast, white and wild Rice a Roni, green beans, cheddar cheese sauce, rolls with butter, 12 oz Miller Lite

Overdid it.  Definitely.   Pretty darned good, though.

Exercise:  Yes.  I humped boxes and stuff for quite a while.  An active day.  It helped a great deal that I threw a compression sock (and two regular socks) on my callused foot and it didn't bother me all day.  Major improvement.  Hopefully that continues, because it's easy enough to do.

103.0

Expecting Worst, Delivery Rejected

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Happy weekend.  I was not expecting good things this morning, not after having my treat meatball sub *and* two beers, but the scale was kind.  Could be a carryover effect from prior days or it could be completely random, who knows.  But either way it was happy to beat my guess by a bunch.  And it wasn't like I felt bloated or anything, I just had negative expectations.

As usual a massive long list of things I want to do this weekend.  For once not much will revolve around cooking -- my freezer is quite well stocked and I've settled in with the sandwich & yogurt lunch most days, so not much to do.  I'm probably going to make tacos again for lunch and of course it's pizza saturday, so there will be cooking, just of the routine variety.

Breakfast:  4 strips thick cut applewood bacon, coffee w cacao butter

Thought about having an oatwaffle but ended up with just bacon.  I had a bunch left to cook up from the package so I'll be having some tomorrow too and maybe I'll throw a strip or two on my pizza.

Lunch:  Homemade tacos with cilantro, onion and "mexican" cheese blend

Success.  I cut down the tortilla recipe by a third and it made four nice ones.  The ground beef was solid, it may have been a hair better if I had thawed it longer and used a bigger pan.  I was surprised the cilantro was still good, it was fine.  The avocadoes I bought on Wednesday weren't ripe so I went for some cheese instead for added fat.

And yes, I found the dorky plastic taco plates.  Figured I'd give them a shot.  Truth, it did make assembly a bit easier. 

Dinner:  Homemade pizza with bacon, ham, mushroom, red bell pepper, black and green olives, roma tomato

Love love love Saturday pizza night (it was always Friday night growing up and until I started making homemade, but homemade takes time and Saturdays work better).  Cleaned up some mushrooms and the bell pepper.  And once again I'll have the rest for lunch on Monday.  Yes.

Exercise:  Nope.  Nothing specific.  Reasonably active doing stuff, but no focused effort.  The callus on my foot is being rather annoying as well.

103.4

When Everything Has Been Said

Friday, February 21, 2020

Pretty much said everything about Fridays.  TGIF.

Breakfast:  Coffee w cocoa butter (x2)

Lunch:  Dietz & Watson homestyle roast beef, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar, homemade buttermilk bread with butter, Fage cherry TruBlend yogurt

OK.  I'm not fond of the roast beef but it was edible.  I have another package of that since it was BOGO.  Not my finest effort with the bread, but it was perfectly good.

Unrelated, I think I just decided to go back to smaller photos.

Dinner:  Meatball sub

This is just a quality sandwich.  I'm sure it's not the greatest thing for me, but it sure tastes good.

Also:  12 oz Shiner Bock, 16 oz Founders All Day IPA

Went to a concert, had a couple beers.  Have to say I enjoyed the IPA ... and that I'm glad I stopped at two beers which is definitely my limit.

Exercise:  Nope.  I did fit in my grocery shopping and a quick stop at Walmart but I'm not counting it.

104.2

If Not Tens Twenties

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Lots of twenties today.   A day which may not be a ten but so far anyway has not been bad.  I did manage to limp around Meijer for a little while last night and earned a credit for exercise, but it wasn't very pleasant.  Foot is feeling better today, though much of that may just be that I've mostly been off of it. 

Breakfast:  Coffee with cocoa butter (x2)

Lunch:  Dietz & Watson roast beef, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar, mini loaf bread with butter, Fage vanilla TruBlend yogurt.

Picked up the roast beef last night, Meijer had a BOGO sale, otherwise I would have laughed at paying more than a dollar an ounce. 

Dinner:  Leftover CF ribeye steak, mashed potatoes TCD style

Fantastic.

Exercise:  Nope.  Bitterly cold, not too hard to talk myself out of going out there.

104.6

Multiple Day Penalties

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Back on track, though still feeling the effects.  I think that summarizes things pretty well.  I'm feeling better than ever about my ability to make and stick with long term changes.  It's definitely been easier than expected; not suffering is a big part of that in my estimation.  Patience is going to be the hardest part - it's normal to want results immediately (or better yet, yesterday).

I tried to get the schedule back on track last night.  Went to bed at 9:00 but could not sleep.  Tired, just not sleepy.  I don't think I got to sleep until midnight, which meant my plan of getting up and to work early this morning failed miserably.

Breakfast:  Coffee with cocoa butter

Lunch:  Armour roast beef, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar, 2 cheese buns with butter, Fage vanilla TruBlend yogurt

All good.  That was the end of the roast beef (I didn't buy much) but I'll be looking at various alternatives.  If I can find a variety that's less, um, enhanced I might give it a try.

Dinner:  CF ribeye steak, mashed potatoes with lots of butter TCD style

So delicious.  You don't usually think of steak or potatoes as diet food, but they're definitely part of a diet of some kind.  Ate a little less than half of my whole cooked steak so I'll have leftovers for tomorrow night.  Did it sous vide, finished in a pan with a little tallow.  Didn't go for the super crust, didn't need it.

Exercise:  I'm going to go walk around Meijer for a while, so yes barring correction.

106.0

Insufficient Power

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Well, it looks like homemade tacos do not have the same power as those from the tacquiera down the street.  Too bad.  I'll have to puzzle out why, but my initial guess is that mine have more carbs (thicker tortillas) and I definitely used extra meat yesterday.  I guess I'll have to keep investigating, you know, for science.  And because tacos are delicious.

Stayed up way too late doing a laundry project after retrieving a couple of boxes of clothes from storage.  Holy cow do I have too many clothes.  It's incredible.  Placing a moratorium on buying more right now.  There may be things I'll have to replace but I'm so incredibly overstocked that I should be able to hit the closet and find just about anything I need.

Breakfast:  Coffee with cocoa butter (x2)

Lunch:  Armour deli roast beef, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar, mini loaf of bread with butter, Fage cherry TruBlend yogurt

Very good.  I'm not usually a roast beef guy but this was tasty.  Makes me wonder how much corn syrup is in it.  Or other horrible things.  Bread was excellent, frozen from earlier bake, defrosted and reheated in the oven.  Nice and crusty.

Dinner:  Keto sausage balls, yellow not labeled yukon gold potatoes mashed with butter TCD style

I bought the potatoes a while ago for a soup project that I never managed to get to (in part due to low freezer space).  Decided to try them as mashed.  Not bad, certainly, but I'll stick to russets.

Exercise:  Nope.   Need to change the schedule and also a lot of work stress right now.

107.0

Just Desserts Part Infinity

Monday, February 17, 2020

You get what you get.  Actions have consequences.  Pick your favorite aphorism, it's going to apply here.  I did not expect positive news from the scale after yesterday and I got what was expected.  The good news is that it's mostly just getting a shrug, I still feel positive about the direction of things and I'm not going to let it derail me, not when I'm just starting to see and enjoy some benefits.  Dietary principle number six (I think) - don't sweat the small stuff.  Let's keep this small so it doesn't need to be sweated.

Not great sleep, same story.  On the plus side again not much snoring.  I think a topper may be in order.

Breakfast:  Coffee with cacao butter (x2)

I definitely think my body treats this like food and that the end result is that I'm hungrier than I otherwise would be come lunch time.  It's not particularly annoying but it's there.

Lunch:  Leftover homemade deluxe pizza

The other half of the one I made Saturday night.  Have I mentioned that I love Monday lunch?  Was particularly good cold and is sure does not get any easier than that.

Dinner:  Leftover homemade tacos (w/ fresh tortillas)

Day three (and fin) for the tacos and just as delicious.  I decided to single-tortilla them since I had a lot of beef left to try and maintain the right proportions (and make them, you know, edible without a fork) and it worked very well.  I think because my tortillas are thicker than those from my local restaurant they're good singled up.  I may even be able to scale down the recipe a bit to produce 4 or 5 good sized tortillas.

I very much doubt that my tacos have the same power as those from the local tacquiera, but we'll get another data point in the morning.

Exercise:  Nope.  Sloppy messy evening not condusive to being outside.   Doing home projects instead of going somewhere to walk inside.

107.0

Days Of No Sun

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Another glorious weekend day.   Now if only I had tomorrow off for Presidents Day.  Alas, I do not.  I guess that I had better make the most of it.

No expectations when I stepped on the scale this morning.  I would not have been surprised to see a gain, given how I ate yesterday.  Many carbs, not as much fat compared to what I have been consuming.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a small drop.  Could the power of tacos extend to the homemade version?  Not ready to write it off yet, that's for sure.  Today will be another dodgy eating day -- I have a birthday party to attend -- but I hope to get to the convention center for a couple of hours of walking around.  Maybe I'll even remember to bring the pedometer.

Sleep was another night of periodic wakeups and what felt like little deep sleep.  On the plus side, not that much snoring.  There must have been some deeper sleep as I did have a fantastically vivid dream from which I was glad to wake up.

Breakfast:  Walmart croissant with extra butter, 2 strips bacon, coffee w cacao butter

Last of the croissants.  I'd buy them again but I will probably stick to homemade bread for the most part.  Also:  Experimenting with photos at a larger size.  Not sure if I like it not yet.

Lunch:  Homemade tacos with beef, onion, cilantro, avocado and TB fire sauce

Fresh tortillas, did a little better job today.  Otherwise, working with leftovers.  I have quite a bit of beef left, I may have to have homemade tacos instead of taco monday tomorrow night.  Very tasty.

Dinner:  Ham, turkey, cheese sandwich, a bite of salad, homemade macaroni and cheese, chocolate sheet cake with chocolate ice cream

Oof.  There was a bit of a menu change versus what I was expecting.  Ate more than planned.  Choices could have been better, but at least the only oil probably was in the cake.  Intended to have a bite of the cake but my request was misinterpreted as a bite of ice cream with my cake.  Sigh.  After all the effort the cook put in I ate her dinner, kept my mouth shut and will live with the consequences.  My body is kinda "WTF" though after the sugar.

Not even the (limited) power of (homemade) tacos is going to save me from this one.

Exercise:  Yes.  Low intensity, sure but I went and walked around a show at the convention center for an hour and a half.  My phone says about 3,000 steps for that, I forgot to bring the pedometer.

105.6

Sat

Saturday, February 15, 2020

With great relief, we have reached another weekend.  I was pretty wiped out last night.  Regrettably it didn't lead to an early bedtime and an epic night of sleep, instead it was the usual lateish night and oversleeping until about 8:00 in order to get a decent complement.  I woke up a number of times, the first at 2:00, and never really seemed to get into a deep sleep.  Snorelab says things weren't notably bad on that front at least.

Lots to accomplish today, though most of it will just be the usual weekend chores, laundry, cleaning, that sort of thing.  Not too many cooking projects, I'm pretty well stocked.  Speaking of food, it's interesting how I seem to have settled into a routine for the most part.  I'm pretty happy eating the deconstructed sandwich and yogurt for lunch most days and a protein and buttery starch for dinner.  Tacos and pizza.  Some stuff in the freezer for when I want a change.  I won't lose weight eating this way forever but so far it's going just fine and I'm glad.  I'm even enjoying cooking more, though I rarely do anything complex outside of weekend mornings.  Pretty sure that'll become even less once the weather improves and half the weekend is again consumed with golf, but that's okay.  

One random thing I did last night was plan a reward for when I hit my next milestone.  It's one worth celebrating and I decided what I want to do when it happens.  It'll be nice and until then it may keep me on track.  Probably about two weeks away, I think, if things continue.

Breakfast:  2 strips Wright thick cut applewood bacon, Walmart croissant with extra butter, coffee with cacao butter

Brought the chunk cacao butter home, will use it up on weekends.  A pleasant and leisurely breakfast that will easily keep me sated until I decided to get moving on lunch. 

Lunch:  Homemade tacos with seasoned ground beef, cilantro and onion, avocado and TB fire sauce.

Today's cooking project.  I bought a tortilla press and my first ever bag of Maseca.  Overall I'd give them a grade of about 7/10, maybe 8.  There is room to improve my tortilla game, but for a first effort they were definitely not bad.  The texture of the beef was better than my usual, since I used a boil method I found online instead of the usual pan fry.  Keeper, I think.  Seasoning was homemade, or at least home mixed.  Next time -- tomorrow -- I'll make the tortillas a little bigger and make fewer of them.  I just watched a Rick Bayless video on youtube and picked up a few tips.

If I keep making these (i.e. if they prove to be compatible with losing weight) I think I'll invest in some taco holders.  I think I have plastic taco plates somewhere but they aren't robust at all and I doubt they'd hold the tacos up very well during prep.

Oh, and I only used half the avocado on the tacos so I guess I better eat the other half.  Done.

Dinner:  Homemade pizza with pepperoni, ham, sausage, mushroom, red pepper, black olives, green olives and roma tomato.

Lots of stuff on hand, decided to make a loaded pizza, close to a tribute to the late great antipasto pizza from a much missed local place.  Super delicious and I could actually eat the whole thing, but I'm doing well with pizza self-discipline.  I'll enjoy the rest on Monday.

Exercise:  Nope  Surprisingly inactive today, just did not have much pep.   Also have had a fun new issue pop up, pain in the upper right abdomen when I raise up after bending over.  Google suggests many possibilities, we'll see if it resolves.

106.0

The Anticipation

Friday, February 14, 2020

February is half over.  That's the only important thing about today, right?

I overslept this morning after turning off my alarm.  Woke up wondering what the scale was going to say - I had quite a few calories last night, different food (almond flour in the sausage balls), and no exercise.  I was particularly lazy.  So no idea what to anticipate.  It was very pleasing to get good news.

Breakfast:  Coffee with cocoa butter (x2)

I rather enjoy the combination.

Lunch:  Croissant, smoked ham, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar, Fage vanilla TruBlend yogurt

A dine and dash lunch.  Did not heat up the croissant so I didn't add any butter either.  Didn't have much time.  I was so pressed, in fact, that I forgot my phone, which meant I took a photo on my old phone and didn't have easy access to the tool that lets you rotate it.  FAIL.

Dinner:  Leftover keto sausage balls, cheddar cheese buttery popcorn

Repeat of last night.  I was going to get a meatball sub like last week, but since I didn't eat the sausballs for lunch I figured I'd better clean them up.  Which left a little room for popcorn.

Exercise:  Nope.  Going to be very lazy tonight.  It's frigid outside and windy too.

106.8

Getting Thru Thur

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Getting there.  Weekend in sight.  It cannot arrive quickly enough.  And only four weeks until minivacation.  I'm definitely overplanning for it already but that's okay, it gives my mind something to do during downtimes.

Unexpectedly productive yesterday evening, I accomplished everything on my list except for one thing.  I have a cooking project that I haven't been able to push myself into doing, in part because I don't really have any room in the freezer.  It's weird but right now I have more ideas and plans than I do meals at which I would consume these things.

One of the boxes I pulled out of storage yesterday was a box of pants.  Ran them through the laundry and I have pairs in each of the next four sizes down.  I might test one size down today, since the current size ones are feeling pretty loose.  Edit:  Nah.  I'm not crazy about the pants one size down - one is okay but they're black and don't really go with anything other than a sweater.  I have a pair two sizes down that's the same as my usual go-to so hopefully in a few more weeks I'll be into those.  Then I have several pairs of the same four sizes down, which I assume I wore in '13 when I was at my lowest.  On my next trip to storage I'll pull out the box of dress shirts ... I know I have a good selection of nice ones two sizes down.  At least a month away for those too.  Maybe longer.

I think I managed to fall asleep on my back last night - it was very late when I shut things down.  Looks like it doesn't make a difference what position I'm in -- the trend seems to be quite a bit of snoring for the first hour or two then not that much afterward. Weight loss is really the only major plan for dealing with it at this point.

Prospects for outdoor walking are grim the next couple of days, it's supposed to be bitterly cold and windy.  We'll see if I can motivate to do some indoor hiking somewhere.

This evening I scanned back through the archives.  Looks like I have two pounds to go to get to my lowest weight in at least three years, eight pounds to get to my lowest weight since the end of 2013.  At least if I've tracked things consistently -- and I'm mad at myself for the times I didn't weigh at all.  Of course I gained a bunch the second half of 2013, I have more than 70 to surpass where I was earlier that year. It was quite an eye opener to see the yo-yoing over the last few years.

Breakfast:  Coffee with cocoa butter (x2)

I received some different cocoa butter (how they spell it) via Amazon yesterday.  These are in uniform wafer form and much, much easier to deal with than the chunk and kibble form I got from the health food store.  They seem to be melting more uniformly, hopefully there will be less residue to clean up.

Lunch:  Walmart croissant with extra butter, smoked ham, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar, Fage cherry TruBlend yogurt

This seems to have become pretty standard, though I'll probably go back to homemade rolls.  It's easy, relatively quick and did I mention easy?  Also quite satisfying.

Dinner:  Keto sausage balls

Tweaked the recipe by cutting the almond flour and baking powder in half.  Was probably a little generous with the cheddar, I didn't bother measuring it.  Turned out tasty.  I'm sated, but I have something I want to try...

Dinner Part 2:  Cheddar cheese popcorn

You can't really tell because it's King Arthur white cheddar cheese powder, but yup.  A scant 2T of popcorn popped in about a T of coconut oil, then topped with a T of melted butter, a pinch of salt and a T of powdered cheese.  Yum.

Exercise:  Nope.  As mentioned, it's frigid out there and windy.  Decided to have a lazy evening at home, not even tackling projects.

108.6

Recompositioning

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

The week rolls on.  The rest of it should be fairly quiet with lots of time at the office, hoping to get a lot of work done.

This morning's musing is just ruminating on the idea of body recomposition.  Obviously there are things you do that change your body -- you eat less or exercise and you shrink, you eat right and engage in strength training, you build muscle, etc etc.  But one of the theories that's out there suggests that a properly constructed diet can have an outsized -- i.e. not just part of general weight loss -- impact on visceral fat.  I think that's one reason for me why that theory is attractive, I have a lot of my excess weight concentrated as visceral (abdominal) fat, and reducing it would significantly improve my appearance and quality of life.  If sharply reducing or eliminating seed oils and certain other fats will make a difference, that's something I'm very willing to do.

On that subject, I enjoyed again the fact this morning that my clothes are fitting better.  It's hard to see small changes, but the fit doesn't lie.  I really should measure so that I have something concrete to refer to -- we'll see if I get motivated enough to do that.  For now at least I'll "track" the scale and enjoy the progress in the form of looser fitting clothes.

Breakfast:  Coffee with a little cacao butter (x2)

I should probably report and track these since they do have energy content.  It has seemed so far (after a whole two days) that my body does treat it as eating and that it results in my being hungrier by lunch.  If that continues, I may change to just having regular coffee in the morning and an enhanced decaf after lunch.

Lunch:  Salami, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar, Walmart croissant with an extra knob of butter, Fage vanilla TruBlend yogurt

Better job on the quantities today, I am pleasantly full without any sense of it being too much.  A slice or two less salami -- probably switching to ham tomorrow -- and no avocado.  Feels good.

Dinner:  2 Kiolbassa beef smoked sausages with jalapeno mustard, TCD style mashed potatoes

Good stuff.   I skipped the kraut tonight and the potatoes were a bit smaller.  Still very satisfying.

Exercise:  Yes TBD.  So far I stopped at storage and grabbed four boxes, then walked around Home Depot for 15 minutes or so.  Later, I'll unload the boxes, if I can make myself walk too that would be great.  Edit:  I'm counting it.  Spent nearly a half hour lugging boxes and moving stuff.  Also unpacked the four boxes and mostly have stuff put away (plus two loads in the laundry), which is an accomplishment if not exercise.

109.2

Wait What Is This Feeling

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

I had a jarring revelation walking out to my car this morning.  I feel pretty good!  I add the qualifier out of habit, but truth be told, I feel just plain good.  Not great, but good.  No active major pains or other issues.  Enough pep that I had zero issues going up the stairs.  Clothes are fitting looser, my gait is improved, it's just all good.  Sure, there are a dozen nagging issues, but they're being managed to the point where they aren't crushing my quality of life right now.  And, oh yeah, it did not hurt one bit that tacos worked their magic again.

Sleep was OK last night.  Onset was delayed due to another unsuccessful effort to see if I could fall asleep on my back, but at least I used that time to mentally plan out meals for the next week.  And other stuff.  Stupid brain.

I was wondering as I added a chunk of cacao butter to my coffee this morning if my body will treat that as a meal, and if so whether I'd be better served waiting until later in the morning to consume it.  I guess we will find out if it makes a difference.

Just for fun, I tried to plug today's menu into myfitnesspal to see what the macros were.  It won't be exact since I didn't measure anything, but it should be relatively close given that I didn't eat anything too complex.  Results:

2,677 calories, 114g carb, 209g fat, 78g protein, 3,069 mg sodium, 19g sugar

MFP thought I was a bit over on calories, way short on carbs, WAY over on fat, good on protein, a bit high on sodium and good on sugar.  I obviously don't subscribe to their dietary model -- I sure don't need 326g of carbs daily -- but it was interesting to look at.

A rough calculation on what Polish Atkins (the Optimal Diet) would suggest for weight loss to get to my "ideal weight" (which is not that much more than half of what I weigh now and a number I haven't seen in decades) --

1,872 to 2,736 calories, 48g carb, 144g-240g fat, 96g protein

Calories and fat are within range, at the high end.  Protein is close.  Carbs are about double what it should be.

TCD suggests, loosely, fat being 50-70% of calories (type matters too).  Looks like I was at
70% today, which felt like about the top end of possible.

Fun times.  Playing with the numbers is more enjoyable when you aren't forced to do it.

Lunch:  Walmart all butter croissant with butter, salami, 2 slices extra sharp cheddar, medium avocado, Fage cherry TruBlend yogurt

A bit much, but all good.  May drop the avo in future weeks.  Picked up the croissants last night during my walk, had read about them and since I didn't have any bread baked a shortcut was in order.  Of course they don't use enough butter so I added some.  Not bad at all.  I was hungry - cacao butter effect? - but not any more.

Incidentally, I think this about as much fat as I can handle in one sitting, especially after having the cacao butter coffee.  I wasn't sick to my stomach, but there were definitely some questions being asked by my digestive system.  Not uncomfortable, just an odd feeling.

Dinner:  2 Kiobassa beef sausages, TCD style mashed potatoes with lots of butter, a little homemade sauerkraut, jalapeno mustard

Very sated after eating this.  I was hungry but not starving when I got home, so I was in no huge hurry to eat, it was easy to relax for a bit before starting dinner.  The sausages are pretty good and they're certainly easy, but I think I want to make another batch of the spicy stewed beef to pair with the potatoes.

Exercise:  Not so far, but I don't really have an excuse not to get out there.  We'll see.  Edit:  Yes.  Made myself get out there, pedometer said 1.07 miles in 23 minutes.   Slow pace.  Pretty nice night even if it's a little chilly.

109.4

Missed Opp

Monday, February 10, 2020

Woke up this morning feeling like this weekend was kind of a missed opportunity.  I had a chance to get going on the exercise program.  Tighten the screws on what I eat.  Get lots of stuff done.  Go to the office and work on that situation.  Instead, I didn't really do any of that, though I did get some projects done around the house.  And given the way I ate I should be happy that I didn't have a big gain.

Something new this morning, I picked up some cocoa butter and added a little to my second cup of coffee this morning.  I found that I liked it.  Tasted kind of cocoa-ish.  Not quite chocolatey but in that general vicinity, without being sweet.  I didn't add all that much - certainly no more than 1T - since I didn't know if it would be good.  It's a way to get a little bump in stearic acid consumption without, you know, buying stearic acid.  And more SA efficient than bulletproof coffee.  Edit:  I had a little more in a cup of decaf after lunch.  Again enjoyable.  I'm going to roll with this for a while, see how it goes.

Lunch:  Leftover pizza (pepperoni, ham, green pepper, onion, mushroom)

Saturday night's leftovers, delicious as always.  This one was particularly good cold.

Dinner:  4 tacos, mexican style with onion and cilantro, plus avocado and hot sauce

Have I mentioned that I love Mondays?  Food-wise at least.

I had a strawberry Spindrift sparkling water last evening and it tasted like a dessert (despite having 9 calories total and no sweetener), might do that again tonight.

Exercise:  Edit:  Yup.  Nope.  I'm typing this just after dinner and I have enough energy that I could go do something.  Haven't so far, however, and I do have projects to do around the house tonight.  Edit:  Went and walked around Walmart.  Only 0.75 miles and 16 minutes according to the pedometer but I'm counting it.

On that subject, it's been an unusual evening.  I felt more like a normal person walking and had a little pep in my step.  I'm not to the point of running or anything, but I had some get along and it's been a WHILE since I could say that.  It was really, really nice.

110.8