1 cup unsweetened almond milk and Vanilla Almond Crunch QuestBar
12:45PM
1/3 pound hamburger patty with 1 ounce American cheese, pickle, mustard, and 1 ounce mayo, mashed cauliflower with 1 Tbs butter, 1 1/2 cups salad greens and spinach leaves with 2 ounces cheddar cheese, 2 boiled eggs, 2 slices crumbled bacon bits, and 2 Tbs Ranch dressing
9:15PM
2 hamburger patties with American cheese and mustard
CALORIES: ~2300
TOTAL CARBS: 40g
NET CARBS: 24g
NOTE: I've been getting quite a bit of correspondence and comments in recent days from people sharing about the challenges of weight control they have experienced in an effort to help me with my issues. I sincerely appreciate all the input and I'm getting that much closer to finding out what the root issue is happening with me. I'm by no means giving up and this really has nothing to do with my healthy low-carb lifestyle. One of my readers sent me the following e-mail with his story of struggle that I thought was worth sharing:
Jimmy,
This is long but I felt compelled to share my story with you since I read about your recent struggles with the scale.
Been reading your blog now for a while and am writing to tell you hang in there brother!
In September 2006 I started Weight Watchers (WW) at 346 lbs and by May 2007 I had gotten myself down to 250lbs. What got me there was gallons of diet soda and all the prepackaged WW food that in my opinion now is just poison. At the end of May 2007 my weight started to creep up, my ability to stay on the plan was weakening and I was a bear to live with (just ask my wife). Bottom line I think the lack of fat in my diet and all the chemicals I was consuming in all the WW food was making me sick. I got really, really depressed and unbelievably irritable (again just ask my wife). I went back up to around 270 and was convinced to try Atkins when I saw my next door neighbor's success.
So I got on Atkins and almost immediately felt a million times better. I was on induction religiously from September until January but was steady at 260-270 and couldn't seem to go down. I was having a problem with satiety and could get there but only after eating a lot of protein - in hindsight probably too much protein but not enough fat. So in January I started addressing per Atkins recommendations (the supplements he recommends) what I thought was then a yeast problem. Took the supplements and took out cheese which was really, really tough since this was my preferred source of fat. Interestingly I started to get diarrhea almost every day for a while (possible yeast die off) but the weight did inch its way down.
By around April or May at the suggestion of a friend I went off the anti yeast supplements, but added coconut oil - worked my way up to 6 tablespoons a day (2 before each meal as recommended by Dr. Mary Enig from WAPF). I kept inching my way down to 230 in May 2008 and I was really happy about it, but then by May I started to get sick with diarrhea every day. I stopped the coconut oil and the diarrhea went away, however, my appetite came back with abandon.
Out of frustration, from about June until October 2008 I tried the Fast 5 diet, http://www.fast-5.com/, basically fast for 19 hours a day, then eat anything you want during that 5 hour period. I went up to around 250 again but loved the fact that during the 5 hour period i could eat anything I wanted - and I did. Then I got sick again and the diarrhea came back (pretty sure it was the reintroduction of gluten and casein). Felt awful, completely sapped of energy, body hurting all over. I went to the Dr. and the Dr. was concerned because of my blood work that it was cancer. This also coincided with my retina bleeding, which the ophthalmologist was very concerned was an indicator of something else going on given that she doesn't see 41 year old males in her office with a bleeding retina that don't have some other serious condition. Spent way too much time with the oncologist, had a colonoscopy (found that I had diverticulosis and recommended the usual high fiber diet) and an endoscopy and everything was negative. So they sent me on my merry way since they didn't know what to do with me.
Since November 2008 I have basically stuck with the Atkins induction and my carbs would basically come from eating low carb salads and veggies. Diarrhea went away and I felt pretty good but still my weight remained more or less constant between 270-290. In 2009 I worked hard at working in exercise in - weights with high intensity interval aerobic training. I lost some fat but not the weight due to building muscle mass - but I felt great. Then I seriously aggravated an old shoulder injury and had to stop the weights after I tried to work through it for about three months but had to stop as it got progressively worse and was afraid I would end up needing rotator cuff surgery. Some of the weight came back but I still remained at between 270 - 290.
Then earlier this year I had a horrible bout of diverticulitis. Should have been hospitalized but I really think the conventional medicine cure for diverticulitis (antibiotics) is worse for you then the diverticulitis attack. Went off low carb and on a high fiber diet, and guess what, . . . I started to go up again. I got up to around 290-295 and then had another really bad diverticulitis episode despite the fiber. Went back to low carb/low residue diet - easily digestible food eggs, well cooked chicken, hamburger - no veggies at all and got better and my weight went down a little to around 285.
I've come to the conclusion (for now anyway) that my problem is not only one of how my body metabolises food but also how it digests food. I think based on trial and error that I have issues with gluten (although all the tests for celiac were negative) casein and the digestion of fibre/vegetables. So now, I'm feeling pretty good basically on the Atkins induction with some limits based on the GAPS Diet which I found out about from the WAPF folks. For me this means eating gluten free/casein free, limited protein, a good amount of fat and a very tiny amount of fermented vegetables.
Typically I eat 4 eggs cooked in ghee (no casein) with 3 slices of bacon for breakfast, a 4 ounce serving of chicken salad or 4 ounce hamburger patty or meatloaf - both with 2 tablespoons of home made mayo following WAPF recipee and on the burger a dash of mustard and ketchup or BBQ sauce. I then have a 4 ounce serving of homemade yogurt (another source of fat plus the real good bacteria to aid digestion) made with 100% cream (no casein) with two packets of stevia. I have the same thing for dinner and usually will add about a 1/2 cup of fermented veggies - think pickles, sauerkraut, etc. After doing this now for about 6 weeks i'm down to 274 and seem to be on a downward trajectory. By the way my wife eats a bit more food then I do each day and she maintains her weight at around 125 lbs.
Not sure if any of this will help but I wanted to share my story with you since I find your efforts so inspirational and feel i can relate so much to your situation.
Well, keep fighting the good fight and hang in there and on behalf of everyone out there that has the same challenges, thanks for your efforts!
Take care.
Regardless of your struggle, know that you are never alone in this battle. The key is to stay engaged and refuse to ever let the circumstances bring you down. I have to fight that hard, but it is so worth getting your head in the right place to be successful at weight management. So, boo birds or not, I'm gonna keep doing what I think I need to be doing to get this under control.
0 comments:
Post a Comment