DAY 4
Weight: 166.6
Mood & Energy: hungry, tired
Exercise: housework
Food: 3 eggs
roast beef, greek yogurt, string cheese
braised tofu, tahini & lemon sauce, ½ ounce unsweetened chocolate
4 strips bacon, sugar free jello
cocoa meringue drops
DAY 5 : first day of cruise, PV
Weight: 167.7
Mood & Energy: tired
Exercise: garage sale day, walked around mall for 2 ½ hours in evening
Food:
Breakfast: 4 bacon strips and a boiled egg
Lunch: Gyro Salad (gyro meat on bed of lettuce with greek dressing), 2 olives, little bit of feta, extra yogurt Sauce
Snack: Pancake made with oat bran, flax, greek yogurt, egg white, and ½ ounce unsweetened chocolate (incredibly delicious)
Supper: 6 ounce steak, broccoli, 3 tablespoons spinach/artichoke dip
TOO MUCH FAT OR JUST ENOUGH FAT?
I'm eating more fat than the Dukan diet recommends, and I can't seem to give up my 1/2 ounce of unsweetened chocolate. I don't know if this is so much "non-compliance" as it is that I finished that Taubes book, which advocates eating fats and against eating too much protein on a low-carb diet. I keep thinking I will find the perfect formula if I mix a little bit of this (Dukan's alternating day diet) with a little bit of nutritional improvement(making sure to get enough dietary fat for brain function). I'd have a lot more confidence in this tinkering if the weight were pouring off, or if I felt great, but neither is happening. I'm tired and the scale doesn't move.
I swear the bacon-eating situation was just that I had so little energy and so much hunger I wanted to see if it could give me a boost -- and it did, along with probably making me gain some water weight! But if I am going to modify the plan, it is is definitely going to be in the direction of added fats rather than added carbs, and given the temptations of the last day of school (donuts and cookies for my students) and the garage sale (stress & time rush), to eat bacon was not that big of deal. Fat can't throw you out of ketosis, but any cheating with carbs sure could.
Yesterday was exhausting because of the garage sale, and after we closed up I went to a restaurant with a friend. The greek salad was my first vegetable serving in five days, and I ate it so enthusiastically. I then felt very ill, which made my friend tease me (to be sick from overeating lettuce!). It reminded me of how much I adore vegetables. I always have. I will be eating them with enthusiasm whenever I can.
When I put my calories in Calorie Count, it appears that I am eating few enough calories that I should be losing weight, anywhere between 1300-1600. I'm also keeping my carbs somewhere between 20-40 grams, which is great. Moderate ketosis is showing on urine strips, but nowhere near the deep purple I had on the Atkins diet. (I am convinced that once in ketosis the color of the strips is determined by amount of fat I am eating -- I would just have to add some butter to get into deep ketosis, I think). My hunger is lower than it usually is on that number of calories, and my impulse control is pretty strong. For example, the mall (with its pizza, pretzels, and cookies), was a bit of a challenge, but I didn't ever seriously consider eating something forbidden when there.
I have had too much to do around the house that is physically exhausting to worry about exercise, and I also was trying to follow the advice in the book not to really engage in strenuous exercise while in the Attack phase. Now that I'm in the cruise phase, I am going to have to think about integrating more intentional exercise into my day.
Some thoughts as I transition into the Cruise phase:
1. There is nothing wrong with adjusting any diet program to make it sustainable for the long term and flexible enough to fit your life. It's not a religion and there should be no guilt over sin, but at the same time adjustments should be accurately recorded and their results fairly evaluated. It helps to see things as science (testing, observing and evaluating) rather than belief (dogma, sin or saintliness, sacrifice, etc.)
2. Fat is probably important on low-carb diets, but this is no license to make meals out of cheese and bacon. Fat is also calorie dense, so it appears important to find the right balance of fat, protein, and carbs. Overall, it is probably better to have slower weight loss with sufficient dietary fat than quicker weight loss without it, but I don't know yet. I'm going to work to keep my fat lower this week and see what happens.
3. I have to keep the long-term picture in my head. Very literally! I have been visualizing a graph with a declining line indicating my weight through summer. It also helps to visualize a number on the scale. I also have a dress I keep around that is pretty tiny, and I think about wearing it on the first day of the Fall semester. Whenever I have an impulse to eat, say, a slice of pizza, I replace it with one of these images. It also helps to not get stuck on the picture of the weight going up like it did today, but to shrug it off and replace it with a "bigger picture."
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