Refuse to Regain

If the cultural forces that overwhelm us with food are like a flood, we must respond in kind. 

Dr. Barbara Berkley rule 1, avoid moderation.

Chapter 10 in Dr. B's book is very powerful for me. I also relate to her notion that the food attack and S foods are worse than drugs because drugs are not advertised and pushed on us on daily basis. Drugs are not mainstream while S foods are considered 'normal'. 

These are things I already know but she put it in good perspective for me. Now that I have associated it with drugs it is even easier to look at all the baked goods and desserts. 

My new strategy is plugging everything into My Fitness Pal. I am in the zone and in the flow. 

I think it has become a habit. For example I was at Starbucks Yesterday and tried the new Flat White. I plugged it in MFP and made sure to adjust the macros for the rest of my day. 

I don't like it BTW. Don't feel the coffee, it is basically whole milk. I will go back to my Americano with TBS of heavy whipping cream or just plain black. Maybe an occasional cappuccino. 

Who needs all this milk?

I think that I don't. Even though my nutriens where fine yesterday and I took a nice walk with my daughter I woke up this morning with 3 extra pounds! I got very upset when I saw 149+ on the scale. 

I am suspecting all this milk didn't do good to me. This is when 'a calorie is a calorie' proves wrong. I had 25g net carbs (47 total and 22fiber), 69g fat and 96g protein. 

My hormones are probably also contributing to the mix. I finally got my period after missing a month. 

I am just going to stick with my food template minus the milk and make adjustments. I will not reduce calories if anything I will slowly increase them. Especially now that I am doing the C25K. Running is great. My sleep is better just after one day of running. I am going to run again today. 

I will end this post with a recipe for a great carb free toast that someone on Ketogenic Dieters group on  FB posted:

1/4 cup golden flax meal

1 egg

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp water

pinch of salt

Mix and cook in microwave for 2 min. (I used a short mug, you can use a silicone bagel/donut mold), slice and toast

190 calories, 14g fat, 8g fiber, 12g protein 0 carbs

Add low fat meat and veggies and you have a great portable meal. 

I had it yesterday for lunch with leftover turkey hamburger as I needed to run out of the house to drive my daughter to piano lesson.

Off to run now. 

Surprising loss and first step to healthy lifestyle

This morning I stepped on the scale and saw a nice surprise. 3lbs loss. I couldn't believe it so stepped again, this time it was 2lbs loss only. I began to think something must be wrong with my scale so I tried few more time and moved the scale around but it was the same. So I am officially 2lbs down. Right after nuts disaster yesterday. 

I got up and went for a walk/jog, well basically I am back to C25K. I did a little less walking and a bit more short runs. After 3 sets of 1 minute I was getting slow so I ran 3 more 30 sec sets and walked in between. I got home streched and did some push ups just to work my arms. Enough with laziness and excuses. I don't like the gym but I have excercise videos at home, I spent the money on them and I need it. No more excuses. No more complaints in my head about how boring it is. Most of my day consists of driving so I just have to do it. That's it! Enough!

My husband decided to compete with me :-) he said that if I run he will too. So now he is out on a walk/run. He pushes himself more than I do but I remember it is very good for both of us. I think it affects our hormone levels for the better. 

Anyhow, Time for breakfast now and keep reading Refuse to Regain  :-) 

Ketogenic diet thoughts

I was doing pretty well or at least so I thought but after lunch I started to feel deprived. I couldn't stop thinking about nuts. I ended up giving up, resentment was starting to set in. I ended up eating nuts and a small pack of beef jerky. I skipped dinner and only had a slice if Swiss cheese, cucumber and quarter tomatoe. 

I went for a short jog and walk in the evening and am drinking hot tea. I decided to stop pursuing ketosis. I will go back to just protein, fat and low carb just from veggies and berries and keep track of my food on MFP. 40g protein is a lot and 20g carbs is too low for me. I want to be able to eat my veggies. I feel really deprived limiting food such as tomatoes and cauliflower. It is not sustainable for me and triggers emotional response so it seems. 

So my first non Whole 30 food was Swiss cheese. 

A bit of TMI...I am having gas. I suspect it is from the nuts. 

I am browsing through Dr. Barbara Berkley blogs and really found this one interesting. My main learning is to become an athlete. I am going back to walking/running. I am turning 46 in less then 2 months I have to establish this habit and keep it going. Especially since I still have menopause ahead. 

http://www.refusetoregain.com/2013/01/practical-weight-guidance-for-the-menopausally-challenged.html

Whole 30 Day 30 Is it the END?

Yesterday was the last day of The Whole 30, can't believe 30 days passed already. It was a piece of cake! It is not hard at all to eat a clean diet. What is hard is to keep quantities. Here's what i ate yesterday. No 100% chocolate and no nuts. I was totally fine. No hunger just a couple of times, the old times for snacks i wanted something to eat. like in the afternoon around 4:30/5 pm and in the evening around 9pm.
Something strange is going on with me. It doesn't happen after breakfast, mainly after lunch. I finish my meal and even though I am pretty full and satiated I want something to eat. so in the past I have eaten chocolate but do i really need it? I would like to eat that 1-2 squares of chocolate a couple times a week but I am not sure i want to eat them daily on a habitual basis, which I have been doing. Yesterday I had a little under 1200 calories but I was not hungry at all. I hit all my macros and just didn't want to eat anything else, well i did WANT but my body was perfectly fine and happy.
With dinner I don't usually want to eat after i finish my meal but sometimes when i sit down around 9 pm and my husband munches i feel like i want something too. I usually deal with this by making a cup of tea. Sometimes i do eat like 1oz of nuts.
But i don't want to snack like this any more.

I was at a social event yesterday at noon and they served a very nice catered lunch with hummus, salads, falafel, bread of course, puffs, muffins, brownies, cut veggies, cut fruit, dates......etc. There was absolutely no protein (unless you count the falafel and hummus as protein although nutritionally it is not a complete protein as they are partial amino acid chain). I was a bit distracted but I was still full from my breakfast. I had the thought of having just cucumbers but then reminded myself that even cucumbers have carbs and that I was not really hungry and it was not time for my lunch. So i just kept drinking tea. I went home and had my lunch when i was hungry. I did take 2 muffins and brownies for my kids..... wouldn't want them to throw everything ;-)

Today is the first day I am not on The Whole 30 anymore but i still haven't changed much. My weight is still the same didn't suddenly drop ;-) I am suspecting my body is adjusting to the new macros switching from high fat to higher protein and lower carbs. I will give it 2 weeks. Now that I started to figure out the food template for my recommended macros I really want to be consistent for 2 weeks. I really want to get a handle on my nuts and dark chocolate habit. I have significantly lowered my fat intake. Need to see that indeed my body will start dropping weight once my fat intake in grams is lower than my protein intake. Also trying to figure out what protein sources to eat so i get enough protein (120g) and try not to have any carbs in it so i can get my carbs from veggies only.

Here's my breakfast today visually and nutritionally. I will not eat Turkey Bacon very often. It is too expensive and the same goes for the smoked salmon (which also has carbs!). Both bacon and salmon were too salty for me. I think i will make my own turkey/chicken breakfast sausages and freeze them. although I really like AppleGate Farms chicken apple sausages they do cost more than what I will make myself and I think I do not need to apple sweetening and can save these carbs by making them nyself. I will have a box or 2 in the freezer for emergency. Otherwise it just seems that my previous breakfast which included 2 or 3 eggs and vegetables had too many carbs and not enough protein.

Accomplishments:

1. I have gotten into the habit of logging my food on MFP which is really good. 
2. I stopped snacking between meals, mainly between lunch and dinner. 
3. I have more control over what i eat. I actually choose what and when to eat, more often than not. Once in a while i still give in and munch on nuts (like on Wednesday) but the frequency is decreasing. I am not tempted by available/free food at social gatherings. I am more conscious of the unclean ingredients even in the salads (like tuna salad is probably made with cheap mayo loaded with soy oil, salad dressing loaded with unthinkable ingredients). 
4. I finally started to understand what to eat to get to the macros I aim for. 
5. My skin cleared up, almost completely. Before I started the Whole 30 I had a bad breakout on my chin (my oily area). Had another breakout while that one was disappearing but it was smaller and i immediately treated it with sulfur cream. It is now almost gone and I hope not to have any new ones any time soon. I suspect that it was a result of too much fat. 

What I would like to change next 

I would like to focus on the wanting/needed to eat "something" right after I finish my lunch. This is when I got into the habit of having chocolate and/or nuts as part of my lunch. I thought I will trick myself if i incorporate it in my lunch so i don't feel like snacking in the afternoon. But it is not exactly a nutritional must since I can get my nutrients from my actual food. 

I am still not sure how to handle this one but i will give it a thought. 

Whole 30 Day 29

Yesterday went by fairly easy. The only problem was in the evening, after I had dinner, I was down from interaction with my husband and although I was full from my beef stew I snarfed some nuts that I had with me in my purse. 

It is not included here below on MFP log..... 

Today I am up a pound!!!!! Even though I ate pretty well for few days. 
I don't think these nuts were to blame here. I think it is connected to my hormones as I haven't gotten my period this month and this morning I think it is finally coming ...... i am probably retaining something. I plan on exercising today and just keep doing what I am doing. 
I finally managed to hit my macros as recommended by the FB Keto Dieters group I am on. 120g protein (40g x 3) 71g fat and 20g net carbs. 
Yesterday i finally managed to eat 18g net carbs, 120g protein and 69g fat. 
I know i have more than that because of the nuts and coconut flakes binge in the car....but at least now I know what i need to eat to hit those macros. 

I am probably better off staying away from nuts.... seems like they are trigger food for me. As Barbara Berkeley recommends in her book Refuse To Regain, it is better to have a total abstention from trigger foods and then introduce them back very carefully..... I will probably need to plan carefully the nuts in my daily nutrition.  Calculate the macros and check that they fit in my daily plan or else NOT EAT THEM! 

On a different note, I heard a very interesting interview on NPR yesterday 
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/01/28/381622350/why-teens-are-impulsive-addiction-prone-and-should-protect-their-brains 

Never realized that addiction is a form of learning. I wonder how do we "un-learn"? My daughter is still 11 but already showing teenager signs....she does a really good eye roll ;-) 

And a final note. Today is my last day of Whole 30!!!!! 
It has been completely uneventful and simple journey. I do not miss anything, especially not dairy or sugar. 
I will now go back to buyer my regular lower cost ghee (the one I got for the Whole 30) is Organic while the regular one I buy at Trader Joe's is not organic. 
Will i change anything tomorrow? I don't think so. 
I think that cheese and dairy do not fill me as protein sources. 

I am really enjoying not having any cravings. I am enjoying knowing I am making good food choices. 

I sat in a board meeting last night and on the table where pretzels, 2 types of cookies and water. Of course i didn't touch them (I came with my own BIG cup of herbal cinnamon tea and sipped it for like 2 hours) and I wasn't even tempted. People munched on everything. I remember the days when I couldn't resist those pretzels and think "how much harm could it be eating just a few" but after having one i wanted another one and another and it became harder to stop nibbling them, sometimes i would just give up and just eat and eat. 
There is never a good source of protein anywhere. It is much more expensive than the cheap wheat/grain/sugar snack..... 

Oh well. I believe I will just keep eating this way as I am enjoying it. If i do want heavy whipping cream in my coffee once in a while (once/twice a week) or whole milk at Starbucks I will have it (I will not buy it to have at home as it will become a regular thing that i don't want) but the rest? Not even sure how to incorporate cheese/greek yogurt in my nutrition now. Protein is too low and carbs too high..... Somehow the dairy never fills me especially melted cheese, I just want more.... ;-) 

I am sure i will figure it out with time. But for now I am focused on dropping my extra weight and finding my way to do it. 

Whole 30 Days 27 and 28

I didn't have time to blog yesterday, well technically I did but I tried to do a screen shot from MFP and it didn't work so I tried for half an hour to figure it out until I gave up..... 
Today I was able to figure out a way to do it although the PrtSc worked just a couple days ago it isn't working now even after restart.....go figure. 

I am trying to get my macros right and am not having much success so far. I need 1200 cal, 120g protein, 71g fat and 20g net carbs. 

I don't know what protein source to eat that will keep me at 40g per meal but at ~23g fat and very low carb. All my regular sources seem higher on fat and/or carb. I also realize that I need to limit my vegetables, especially tomatoes. 
I am at 31-35 g net carbs. 
I also want my food to still taste good though..... 

I am happy i was able to log my food on MFP. I will have to keep monitoring and figure things out. 

Tomorrow will be the last day of my Whole 30!!!! I like eating this way. The only change i might have is to eat frozen grilled chicken, somehow it always has sugar or some additive that is not Whole 30 approved. 
I still haven't decided if i will go back to dairy. I actually feel pretty good and am not sure i want to change anything. 
I was looking into Fage Greek yogurt this morning to figure out macros, the 2% one has 20g of protein but also 8g carbs and 0 fiber so I am not sure i will eat it since I will still have to consume additional 15-20g protein more fiber but no more carbs. Not sure what it is i can eat to provide fiber without carbs. Also 8g carbs seems a little high for since it will require me to have less carbs in my other 2 meals. 

The good news are that i have no problem not snacking. That was an easy habit to instil. After the initial sabotage last week, this week is no problem. I am over snacking! I eat my nuts and 100% chocolate as part of my meal. 
I don't need any cream in my afternoon decaf coffee so I will probably not go back to my old habit of having afternoon decaff coffee with 1tbs of heavy whipping cream (or coconut milk). 

Another good thing that I figured out since logging my food religiously is that I don't get enough protein in but get too much fat. 

I am feeling great, am not hungry or tired. Will measure ketones tomorrow again. Wondering if anything will change? 

Whole 30 Day 26

I finally managed to operate the Ketone meter. Had to do it several times as didn't get enough blood out and got error message (arghhh wasted like 3 strips). As i suspected I am not in ketosis. Measured 0.8

Here's my eating from yesterday. Doesn't seem like carbs are my problem since I am at 27g net carbs and under 50g total carbs. Looks like i am pretty much ok with protein and fat too. I suspect I am eating too many calories in total? So I need to reduce my fat (like Paleo mayonaise) and focus more on lean protein. 

I have been following a great Keto Dieters group on FB and they focus on The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Science-Carbohydrate-Living/dp/0983490708 as well as Lyle McDonalds The Ketogenic Diet. 
Very scientific and proof oriented approach. 

According to this group my macros for weight loss should be 40g protein for each one of 3 meals, total of 71g fat, up to 20g net carbs and 1199 calories (which is where MFP puts me 1200 cal). 

I realized that my 2 or even 3 eggs breakfast in tbs ghee with veggies and half avocado doesn't provide enough protein but does include way too much fat. so i am going to change that with using much much less fat for my eggs and adding meat or fish and probably removing the avocado. The eggs have enough fat.... 

I got carried away with all the LCHF movement and lack of specific info. The Diet doctor and Atkins say don't pay attention to how much you eat as long as it is protein, fat, veggies but it doesn't seem so. I spend some time reading Lyle McDonald's "The Ketogenic Diet" and realized that it does matter how much one eats. 
I also am getting better at not snacking and keeping just 3 meals a day. 

I need to drink more water. 
Be very careful with nuts, coconut oil, coconut butter, coconut flakes. 
Log everything at least for few weeks just so i know where I am. Especially if i want to get anywhere with my weight loss. 

I still don't understand how I am not in ketosis. I suspected it but now i know.