Low Carb is working better than Dukan

Even though I am moving very little because of my ankle, I am still shrinking!  I'm down 3.25lb from when I had my operation on May 28th.  I have two days a week when I eat higher carb.  Wednesday & Saturdays I have a beer and 3-4 carrots.  So far I've lost over 18lb since Christmas, 12% of my body weight. I've also been under my red line of 140lb for 6 weeks now.  I've actually been under 140lb on 51 days this year, but only 42 days consecutively.  I've also been 5 weeks under 139lb, 3 weeks under 137lb and 2 weeks under 136lb! I love statistics and numbers!  I think low carb is working better than Dukan because with Dukan, it's about what you can't eat for me, and with low carb it's reaching a number.  So it's true I can't have carrots either way, but I don't feel I'm failing if I have carrots, I'm just having a higher carb day.

Goal weight re-evaluation

So now I'm wondering what my goal weight should be.  I started looking around on the internet for different calculators that would give me some sort of idea.  I got suggestions ranging from the following suggestions: 129-137.  The formulas from 1964 & 1974 are in the lower range.  I'm a little suspicious of the higher number.  Hmm.  This morning I am back down to this year's low of 136.5lb after three weeks.  I definitely feel comfortable losing another few lbs, so I guess I'll keep going to 130lb.

Three and a half weeks under my 140lb red line

I've also been under 139lb for three weeks, maintaining this even though I had a minor foot operation a week ago Friday.  The referees at DietBet kindly accepted pictures from the morning of my operation for my weigh-in that was due the following Monday-Tuesday, so I qualified for my 6th round as well as won Round 5.  I am currently exactly at my DietBet goal weight of 137.2lb, which is great but stressful as well, as I don't have any kind of cushion.  I can safely say that I've been maintaining at 137lb (also known as a plateau), but I'm continuing to try to lose some more weight.  I'm leaving for vacation in 4 weeks, I hope to lose another 3+ lbs before then. Then when I put on 5-6lbs on my vacation, I will still be below 140 when I get back.  I'm only 2lb away from my goal  of 135lb, but with a cushion that goal needs to be 133lb. 

I'm considering doing another 6-month DietBet when I get back from vacation, but I'm not sure I could lose 14-15lbs.  I'd have to have a 6lb gain, plus drink several glasses of water, eat breakfast, and wear heavy clothes:

Weigh-in:     Weigh out:
   144lb               129.5lb
   143lb               128.6lb
   142lb               127.7lb
   141lb                126.8lb

A weigh-in of 141lb would be hard, I don't know that I can get down to 126.8lb.  If I come back from vacation at 139lb, I can add 5lb in clothes, salt, etc. to get 144lb for the first weigh in.

Since I can't go on any walks, I've been eating low-carb (under 50g/day).  Yesterday was my 35th high school reunion, which was lots of fun. There was some steak with a demi glaze and some salmon. I had several helpings of the steak in addition to the fish, and 1.5 glasses of red wine, and this morning I was only .25 higher than yesterday.  I'm sure there was a lot of salt in the sauce, so I'm hoping that I'll show a loss tomorrow.  I've been slowly shrinking all week, so eating low-carb has been working.  I'm giving up my carrots for the next few weeks, except for days I have my beer, like today.

Steady under my red line (140lb) for two weeks

I've actually been under 143lb for two months now, and under 142lb for a month, but had a few bloated days that popped me over 140lb and 141lb two weeks ago.  I'm now at 136.5-138lb.  I'm shooting for 130lb now, to give me a little breathing room below 135lb.  I still have a little fat pad over my abs, so I know I can still go down a little more. 

I've been experimenting with what I suppose is Intermittent Fasting, either not eating until 1 or so on weekends, or then making sure I don't eat too late during the week.  I think that helped jump start my loss from the last plateau.

I feel really good being under 140, it's such a relief!  I can fit into most of my smaller clothes.  I can re-evaluate if I even want to keep them, since now I can check the fit.  I tried on a skirt from my college days, it's a size 8, with a waist measurement of 26.5".  That's a size 2 now I think.  I can close it, but I can't breathe!  This time I'm going to work on maintenance.  I know I can't suddenly eat whatever I want.

As for exercise, I've been doing a leg lift challenge this month but I haven't been as diligent as I was with the squats.  I wanted to do some triceps exercises, but I've really not done very much.  I'm going to go back to pushups next month, and then supplement with extra triceps and shoulder and back work once or twice a week.  Still have to start my pull up attempts.

Still moving downward, lost 13.5lb since Christmas

I've now gotten below my red line of 140 for the fourth day in a row.  My vacation in February derailed me significantly, and I've had several plateaus.  Participating in the two DietBet Transformers has helped me a lot this time.  I haven't reached my goals in rounds 2, 3 or 4, but I was always off by only one pound, more or less.  In fact, today I made yesterday's goal!  Unfortunately, if you don't make the monthly goal, you don't get the payout.  I hate losing money, which has kept me going. My goal weight for both Transformers is 137.2lb, so this round I have 14 days to make that for the first DietBet, and 30 days for the second DietBet.  That's only 1.3lbs I still have to lose!  That seems doable.

I did increase my exercise this spring.  I did a squat and pushup challenge in March, then did a curtsey lunge and another pushup challenge in April.  This month the challenge is leg lifts, and tricep exercises.  I feel like the extra pound or two of muscle probably caused me to lose my DietBets, but I'm getting smaller, so that's my consolation prize.  I'm also back to long walks after work, now that the weather is so nice.

I've been eating Primal most of the time, except for the trip to Scotland (haggis is delicious!), and when I went to visit my daughter at her college last weekend.  I didn't eat wheat, but I did eat a lot of gluten-free cookies, ice cream and candy, and ended up with a hangover last Sunday from all the carbs!  Since I only had one beer, I know it wasn't from too much alcohol.  I still have my Dukan galette most days, so I'm wheat-free, not gluten-free.  It seems to work for me.  Not having the beer (barley only, no wheat) really messes my digestion up, so I'm sticking with having one beer 2x a week.

I've been more mindful of not eating too late into the evening, which I think helped me break out of my latest plateau.  Yesterday I didn't eat until 1:30pm, so I guess that was intermittent fasting (15hrs of no food).  I was trying to make my goal weight, but it wasn't going to happen.  Today I'm going to a friend's for dinner.  She is serving steak & baked potatoes.  I'm having no carbs the rest of the day to minimize the damage.  I have some goat butter that I can put on the potatoes, so I don't have to eat margarine (ew) or have regular butter and suffer with the allergic reaction for the next three days.

Back on the wagon again in 2015, lost 7lb since Christmas

I somehow got stuck in a rut and gave up for the fall and winter of 2014, and hit my major red line of 150lb on Christmas Eve.  I got motivated again, and I'm now down to 143.5lb as of today.  I've done three 4-week DietBets which I won, and I'm doing two 6-month DietBet Transformers.  So far I've reached my goals for the first month for both, and am almost at my second month goal several weeks ahead of schedule. 

There were times last fall when I started to get an urge to move more or eat better, and something within me forced me to stop myself.  I'm not sure why.  I had problems walking because of my toe, which turned out not to be gout.  It's either scar tissue or a hidden Morton's neuroma that's not visible on an ultrasound.  I've been getting ultrasound, TENS, and laser therapy 2x a week, and the pain is gone most of the time.  Of course, the weather is not cooperating now, but power walking to my appointments during my lunch hour helps. 

I've updated my weight chart above, and will update my lists on the right soon.  I'm trying to catch up on reading my blogs, which I also avoided for three months.

Another quick update, and a mild gout attack

I need to get back to a daily posting schedule, it improves my progress.  I have two weeks to lose 3lbs for my DietBet.  I am still hovering in the 140lb area.  I guess maintaining is good, but I'm still 5+lb higher than I want to be.  I've been eating on plan, but I haven't had any protein-only days, and haven't really made a concerted effort to much.  I did get under 140 another time, on a day after I ate low-sodium and no carbonated beverages.  I should cut down on calories a few times a week, and stop eating those two yummy sausages in the morning five days a week!

I am also having an attack of gout, I believe.  I've never been diagnosed, but a few years ago I had a similar attack that affected my big toe. I used a classic home remedy, baking soda, and the problem went away for over a year.  I've recently had problems with my middle toe, which has hindered my walking long distances.  I don't know why it didn't click that it was gout again, but finally the light bulb went off.  I had 1/4tsp baking soda and water yesterday, and it did get better, but it didn't go away.  Today I had 1/4tsp right after waking up, and then another 1/4tsp two hours later.  I saw a recommendation that 1/2tsp is fine, and I think that's what worked for me in the past. And I'm happy to report that the pain is almost completely gone right now!  I hope it stays that way.  I'll have some baking soda later just to make sure this "cure" takes.