Monthly Weigh-in: Droppin' a dime o̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶ off my ass

212.8--->218.2-->208.8
Well, that's nice, four pounds down from before the unexpected gain last month. Here are my blunt thoughts, positive and negative. On the positive side,

• Sugar finally controlled. No sweets 5 days a week. It was hard the first week or so, but cravings are now only popping up once or twice a week.
• Much more raw veg. Taking to eating both momma and poppa salads daily during the week, on top of eating one or two cooked veg. Feels right.
• More accurate counting, no rationalization of cheating like I did in December. Yes, my 3 readers, I am accountable to you.

However,

• Having the flu and then going straight into prepping for a colonscopy is not a diet plan. Flu also kinda low-lighted two weekends where usually I would have taken in 4000 extra calories each or so. I do not expect to replicate these results.
• Last month's weigh-in was at the beginning of the week, while this one was at the end. I might still have had my weekend gorging in my system.
• My free eating still needs to be reigned in a little on the weekends, as I don't feel good after them. I actually found some inspiration in a wackadoo weight loss guru, details below....

Regardless, I'm now more than half way to my first goal -- getting to 195, where according to the Body Mass Index calculation, I will magically go from "obese" to merely "overweight". Looking at the graph above, this is the time of year I'm either gaining weight or at my max, so if I can just get through another month or two with reasonable weight loss, it should get easier once cycling season is upon us, and I start taking calorie credits from those journeys.

Not gonna think too hard about how to improve, I guess just stay the course and try not to hurt myself on the weekends, keep trying to do a damn pull-up, and hopefully find my wife eating healthier. If I lose 1 lb in February, that'll be fine, though if I lose 5, I'll be happy. 

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He's also about achieving 15-minute orgasms, ladies!

I heard an in depth interview with author Tim Ferriss on Mark Maron's WTF podcast, which usually features comedians and a few musicians. Sounds like a pretty interesting fellow with a certain over-the-top methodology that perhaps leads to hucksterism more than science, but  upon reading the basic details of his lose-20-lbs-in-30-days diet, I was a bit taken back by how much of it is what I've been doing to lose weight a tad more slowly. Italics are my commentary.

• Rule 1: Avoid "white" carbohydrates (or anything that can be white). I already do this, but Ferriss takes it farther by cutting out most grains, whole or not. Judging by what I figured out when I was focused on glycemic load, this may not be totally koo-koo-bell.
• Rule 2: Eat the same few meals over and over again. Again, I kinda do this, though he goes farther by eating pretty much the same thing every day, I'm more like eating a lot of the same things week to week.
• Rule 3: Don't drink calories. This is pretty universal, sugared drinks are for fatties and diabetics, or those heading that way. Ferriss promotes two glasses of red wine a day, which from everything I know, sounds pretty counter-productive. I get the feeling that Ferriss is promoting what works for him personally, and is making a leap that it will work for most others.
• Rule 4: Don't eat fruit. Yep, I don't eat much fruit either. Other than my once a week fruit smoothie, small amount of fruit in my vegetable juice, and the rare banana, I naturally stay away from fruit. Sugar is sugar is sugar, even if the packaging is full of water, fiber and nutrients. Vegetables are also full of water, fiber and nutrients, just not the insulin-revving sugar.
• Rule 5: Take one day off per week and go nuts. Damn it, I kinda do that too! I take two days off per week. He described the arc of my free-eating weekends in the interview -- early on, one eats so badly on the free day that they get sick, and after one or two more times of eating and feeling horrible soon after, the free-eating days get reigned in simply because it sucks to feel so bad. I think it's not a bad idea to divide my free-eating weekends into one free-eating conservative day, like I'm still calorie restricting but not recording and thinking about it so much, and one free-eating damn-it-all-to-hell day....

Those are only the five reduced rules of a 900 book page obsessively dedicated to transforming the body. He goes into taking blood regularly to monitor his blood chemistry and wearing a glucose monitor, which is an IV to steadily tell you your blood sugar, and a device with a tube through the nose into the stomach, to constantly know calories. In short, nutso. The "4 Hour Body" refers to only having to work out 4 hours a week to get serious results, but c'mon, this method of dieting is 24 hours/6 days a week. Still, I only work out for about 2 hours a week with barbells (Ferriss is all about kettle bells, which does look intriguing) so again, I kinda do that already. Still, I don't need a charismatic guru who likes to go way beyond common sense.  Me, I think I'll continue to hoe my own road for now.
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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2284

First full week back to health, really missed eating a lot of veg, weirdly enough. It kinda tastes good and definitely makes me feel good. Feel good that the weekly average is in budget, despite a day I went over, thanks to a big ol' slice of Costco pizza. Had a general physical this past week, blood pressure, lipids, pee, everything is better than it's been in years. I've always had mildly high blood pressure, mildly high cholesterol, etc etc, and they're all now verging on 100% perfect. Weird seeing my chest X-rays, my heart is totally normal sized, lungs clear and healthy. Oh, and the results of the colonoscopy were 100% clear, thanks for asking! 

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MONDAY COUNT: 2185
Went to bed hungry, felt the sugar cravings as well as real hunger, but cheesy poofs would have broke the budget. Resisting non-simple carbs and fat is hella easier than ignoring the siren call of sugar.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, steel cut oatmeal with butter, Brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt, 375 cal

PM SNACK: 1pm, baby carrots, 80 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, broiled sole, whole grain rice mix, sautéed spinach, 7oz diet coke, 890 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, apple carrot kale ginger juice, 90 cal

DINNER: 8pm, double quarter pounder, 12 oz diet coke, 750 cal
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TUESDAY COUNT: 2605
Nice to wake up with honest, real hunger. Lets me know yesterday's count was close to accurate. Doctor visit for my annual reports good health, and an early preview of my weight indicates I might be on track to have lost the pounds I gained last month.

Pizza snack at Costco, nice because they post calorie counts, not so nice because one stinkin' slice of mediocre pie is 620 cal, about double what I would have guessed. I suspect it set me up for an over-budget night snack, despite having a healthy late dinner.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, whole Fage yogurt with almonds, agave and vanilla, 410 cal

LUNCH: 12:30pm, large green salad with homemade dressing and boiled shrimp, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, beef jerkey, 7oz diet coke, 120 cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, Costco pizza, 620 cal

DINNER: 8pm, chicken sausage, teff, spinach, pickle, 7oz diet sprite, 845 cal
Teff is one weird grain. Originally from Ethiopia and used in their injira bread, it looks like tiny dark brown seeds that cook up weirdly pasty, in a good way. Slightly nutty flavor, nice change up from the more granular grains.

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, cheesy poofs, 300 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 1980
Hungry a few times during the day, but never was too far from a snack or a meal. Did have some sugar-pangs in the later evening, and my mind started to rationalize why it would be ok to eat more, but fortunately I was able to recognize the rationalization pattern and squash it....and it helped knowing I was making up for going over budget on Tuesday!

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 10am, fruit smoothie, 375 cal

PM SNACK: 12:45pm, momma salad, 100 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, chicken meatballs, shirataki spaghetti-style noodles, homemade tomato sauce, steamed string beans, 7oz diet coke, 530 cal
Huh, shirataki noodles are weird. I drained, rinsed, boiled for 90 seconds then drained and tossed in a dry hot pan for a few minutes -- according to Internet lore, this makes the noodles more pasta-like. And...it was! Weird chewy texture, but not unpleasant. Looks like spaghetti, kinda tastes neutral, pleasant chew. If it were wheat pasta, this meal would have been over 1200 cal easy.

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, apple/carrot/kale/beet/ginger/cilantro juice, 85 cal

DINNER: 8pm, 1 stouffer's french bread pizza, poppa salad with homemade dressing, pickle, 7oz diet sprite, 590 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, cheesy poofs, 300 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2335
Good work out this morning, still tugging away at pull-ups. I feel stronger and my muscles seem bigger but I can still pull up only inches. Woke up hungry, but the work out really does quiet the drive for food.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 10:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 375 cal

PM SNACK: 12:45pm, momma salad, 100 cal

LUNCH: 1:15pm, sardine and avocado on whole wheat, chana masala, pickle, 7oz diet coke, 660 cal
Packaged chickpeas, tasted slightly sweet but no sugar on the ingredients.

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, poppa salad with home made dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 8pm, double quarter pounder, 16oz diet coke, 750 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, cheesy poofs, 300 cal
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FRIDAY COUNT: 2315
Woke up hungry, got good news from the scale. Was able to stick to budget, while really looking forward to eating whatever this weekend. Before this past month, Friday evenings became indulgences, good that I was able to keep it relatively tight.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, kolon bloe with whole milk, 300 cal


PM SNACK: 12:30pm, momma salad, 100 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, chicken sausage, chana masala, steamed string beans, pickle, 7oz diet coke, 465 cal
Surprisingly low cal lunch, as the plate looked quite full of food.

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, apple/carrot/beet/kale/cilantro/ginger juice, 140 cal

Went a little too heavy on the cilantro. Eeee. I see why people call this stuff, "lawnmower juice."

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, poppa salad with new homemade dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, grilled chicken, roasted asparagus, 7oz diet sprite, 580 cal

Also made rice and acorn squash, but just wasn't hungry enough to eat it at the time we were all sitting down.

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, Stouffer's French bread pizza, 430 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, popcorn, +/-300 cal