8:45AM
4 local farm eggs cooked with butter and Colby Jack cheese with tomato slices
Diet Coke with Splenda
2:15PM
Low-carb cheesecake (cream cheese, Xylitol, eggs), strawberries, and whipped cream
Diet Coke with Splenda
6:15PM
Pepperoni, sausage, bacon, hamburger meat, cheese, a little spaghetti sauce
Diet Coke with lemon
7:00PM
4-hour recreational volleyball
2 Diet Pepsis
NOTE: It's the end of another great month of livin' la vida low-carb and the beginning of another. So, as promised, here are my current weight, waist size, and body fat percentage numbers as compared with last month:
MAY 1: 246 pounds, 46-inch waist, body fat 31.5%
JUNE 1: 248 pounds, 46.5-inch waist, body fat 31.6%
Up slightly, but statistically no real change at all. I'm not discouraged by this although it'd be nice to see the scale, waist size and body fat numbers go down. They will as long as I continue on my healthy low-carb lifestyle. And the fantastic thing is I'm not substantially GAINING like I used to prior to my low-carb way of life. WOO HOO! Triple-digit weight loss kept off for over four years and counting. You can't beat that!
Today I did something pretty stupid. Okay, well I usually do a lot of stupid things, but today I played not one, not two, but FOUR hours of intense, competitive volleyball. I love this game because it is physically challenging with all the running and jumping while also mentally stimulating with strategy and ball placement. It's a great way to unwind from the stress of life and I enjoy my time on the court each week. But FOUR HOURS on the court absolutely wore me out. Both of my shoulders are achy and my whole body has that tingling feeling over it. It's a good feeling, but I could really use some Aleve right about now! :)
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13 comments:
I am glad you didnt gain any weight and two pounds isnt really much gain statistically or otherwise. And your honesty and keeping it real attitude is appreciated at least by many. You are keeping it your way, you are satisfied with your food selection and the most important thing is that you do not yo-yo. You are living the lifestyle that is suitable to your needs. And if loosing weight becomes your priority again you know how to do it.
Just wanted to say I think it's awesome that you are so healthy and have so much energy that you can play volleyball for four hours! I mean that is another amazing and inspiring example of what LLVLC can do!
hi..do you only weigh once a month?
I am new to this blog
THANKS Carolyn! Yes, just once a month. I've been eating this way for over 5 1/2 years, lost 180 pounds in 2004 alone on Atkins, and started chronicling my menus in December 2007. The focus is to show you how I eat as a long-term low-carber.
THANKS Tara! I wouldn't have made it four MINUTES at 400+ pounds. And I don't really sweat profusely like the other players do either. It's GREAT fun and amazing exercise.
Jimmy,
Sorry for making such an obvious comment but ...
Several points seem clear to me:
1) The type of diet you're currently consuming suits you well - in terms of your likes and dislikes and in terms of your heart health markers.
2) This style of eating is not so good for losing weight. Maintaining, perhaps. But not losing - as of late anyway.
3) A stricter diet has recently helped you to lose weight. It wasn't as pleasurable but it seemed to work.
If you want to get to a lower weight, why not just do the more restrictive diet in the short-term - until you reach your goal weight? Then, you can revert back to this more enjoyable diet which should hopefully permit you to maintain that ideal weight.
Maybe I missed something. Perhaps you're fine with the current weight you're at. I'm just throwing this out there in the unlikely event that they may be helpful. :-)
I applaud your low carb efforts, but don't you worry about all of the chemicals that you are ingesting with the sodas and synthetic sweetners? I am not trying to be snarky this is just an honest question.
On Feb. 22nd you were interviewed by a local TV station and posted the video where you said at that time you were 235 pounds and had a 42" waist. Not counting the waist measurement because it may have been measured at a different place at that time, don't you think that "statistically" gaining 13 pounds in just over 3 months is something to be concerned about? gaining two pounds in a month may not mean much but taken as a whole you have gained 13 pounds in a little over three months. So let's "keep it real" and admit that things are on an upward trend. Something is not working. jade
Jade, panicking when the scale is moving up is why so many people fail on their attempt to manage their weight. Sure, everything you said is correct, but I'm not gonna sit here biting my fingernails wondering what I should do. Worrying will do more to keep my weight up than anything. I'll just keep living my healthy low-carb lifestyle and eventually the weight will come back down. The FANTASTIC news is my health is still VERY spectacular and I'm so thankful that low-carb is doing that for me. :)
It's a FANTASTIC question, Urban, and I appreciate your comment. I'm not opposed to using Splenda-sweetened beverages because I'm not ingesting large enough quantities of it to be a hazard to my health. And if drinking those diet sodas keeps me from ever wanting another sugary one again, then it's all worth it to me. :)
THANKS JP! Your points are all 100% correct, but it also assumes that I want or desire to get to a certain weight level. To some extent I do, but I'm not trying to force the issue at this time.
The question is how much weight do I need to lose to be at "goal?" What determines this "goal" number? I've seen ranges according to BMI as low as 170 pounds on my 6'3" frame and I don't think that's realistic. Obviously my current weight is higher than I'd prefer. If you split the difference between 248 and 170, then that's 204. Is that an ideal "goal" weight to strive for?
I can tell you after I lost my initial weight in 2004 of 180 pounds, I did strive to keep going lower and lower with my weight. At one point in 2006, I got down as low as 213...but I felt absolutely AWFUL! It was a sickening feeling getting my weight down to that level and with the added bone density in my legs especially along with the loose skin, I was probably the equivalent of a 190-pound person at that point. I didn't like the feeling and pushed my weight back up into the 220s again before I felt right again.
So, maybe my goal should be to get back into the 220s and just stay there. I'm content, active, and healthy with my low-carb lifestyle and it's not out of reach at all right now. Regardless of what happens, I'm certainly never giving up. You don't know me very well if you think that's gonna happen. But I can tell you that with each new day it's a learning experience that I participate in here and I'm happy to share it with you openly and honestly in all that I do.
THANK YOU for reading!
Jimmy,
I was under the impression (at least you've stated it several times over the last few years) that you are/were doing the Atkins Diet. Atkins 2002 version, if I remember correctly.
Dr. Atkins himself recommended never to allow your weight to vary more than 3 to 5 lbs.
So I'm very confused as to why you believe concern over the pounds and inches you've gained over the past 3 months (or at least recognizing and owning that upward trend) is panicking. Especially panick of the type that will cause failure to maintain one's weight loss to date.
One of the major themes of your website and advice over the years has been to find a plan that we can stick to for life, and then do it like the book. In fact, that's what your 30 in 30 that I joined a couple of years ago was all about.
So according to Dr. Atkins himself if you weigh more than 5lbs above your 180lb initial weight loss, you are not maintaining that loss. Irregardless of how many times you keep telling us that you are.
Now I understand that as time goes by, we sometimes have to tweak things to our own individual likes, dislikes, and lifestyle. We quite often might even decide to settle for something less than we initially set out to achieve. For whatever reasons.
But I also believe there comes a time in that tweaking process where we have to stop defending ourselves, and honestly come to grips with what we truly WANT. Face ourselves head-on and see ourselves as we really are. Accept and own those new decisions. That we can, or can't do it in the way we originally intended. And be open about it.
I think a lot of us, stumble over the lack of clarity in exactly what you are, or are not doing at any given time. Because the last thing you said to us was that you were going to get your waist down to one-half of your height. Most of us, if not all, would define that goal as dieting, not maintaining/gaining.
Then, in hindsight, after gaining a couple of pounds, you said that April was actually about learning what your maintenance carb level was and that May would be dedicated to losing weight.
But you gained instead. Inches as well as pounds.
And are now you're putting another spin on that. That the gain is insignificant, even though Dr. Atkins disagrees.
I was shocked to hear you tell us here in the comment section that if we just eat low carb, even though we've exceeded the point where Dr. Atkins specifically tells us (and makes us promise) to return to Induction immediately, and stay at OWL until we've relost all of our gained weight, that it will somehow magically disappear. Somewhere down the road without actively doing anything about it.
WOW. Do you REALLY "believe" that?
THANK YOU Vickie! I never meant to give the impression that this ordeal is insignificant because obviously it is VERY significant to me. I apologize if I miscommunicated that message. No, this is dead serious to me and I was simply stating that I'm not gonna get all worked up about this to the point that I say the heck with low-carb. That's what most people do when the going gets rough.
That said, there are a multitude of reasons why weight gain can happen that may or may not be related to diet. I'm evaluating all of those things as we speak to rule out what could be causing the issues. I'm well aware of what Dr. Atkins called for and I am blessed to have people he worked directly with and inspired at my disposal to assist with these issues I'm experiencing. As I've said before, I'm NOT giving up on this.
Thanks so much for your care and concern. I really appreciate it!
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