Tellin' on Myself...

One of the things I have done since I started is occasionally find and save off to my computer the BEFORE, IN PROGRESS, and AFTER pictures of folks on the low carb way of life. I really enjoy reading their stories and seeing the remarkable tranformations people have made in their lives. It keeps me pumped up and motivated. It stokes the fires within and I often marvel at what people have done for themselves.

Sometimes it just simply looks like another person altogether, the change is so great - and you wouldn't even believe it unless or until you see the various pix of in-progress steps the person went through.

I hope one day to have a set of those kind of pix myself. In a couple of years or more maybe. Right now I am making daily progress and trying to stay on track. But seeing so many average Janes and Joes doing so remarkably well at this way of life inspires me. I know it will inspire you too! If you are feeling a little low, take an hour or so and go online to one of the low carb forums. Check out the success stories. Meet some of these awesome people that have conquered huge health issues and who have lost tremendous amounts of weight (and kept it off)!!

Although I am on the fence about the whole Kimkins diet thing, they have lots of low carb success stories on their site. Jimmy Moore features lots of low carbers off his low carb links site. Check those out! In the end, you might just stoke your own fires, and charge your own motivational batteries.

Good luck on your own low carb Journey!! Here's to our LC success!!!

What - Me Worry? HA! Down into the 320's!!!!!

Negative Self Talk and Worry - Internal Battles

Well it appears I have hand-wrung and worried myself into a mini-whoosh-like breakthrough into the 320's (see prior blog post). I wonder how many calories are burned in hand wringing, worrying, and the like? Does that count as excercise? Should I log that in my "Fit-Day" journal entry? Hand wringing - 2 days (>14,000 calories)??!!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am big on positive self-talk and staying positive in outlook and all. Yet the truth is, when I start worrying all the negative thoughts get in there and do battle internally - these kinds of things **do** pop into my brain. I try not to dwell on them or give them any place to hang out, but the truth is you do start to worry and have negative thoughts if positive things aren't happening like they used to. So it is a battle! One we got to hang in there and stay the course on!!!

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SMALL VICTORIES! This morning on the scale I read 326.2 lbs - so I am finally making it into 320-land. "EEEEEE-Doggie!" Happy Happy Joy Joy!!!!

That is a new all time low for me (last low I saw was at 331 lbs), and makes it over 80 lbs down now. Actually 83.8 lbs. So, I'll take it!

Given that I stay true to form, I will now roller coaster ride back up again and then back down again in a few days time. That is so frustrating, but I guess it's how this whole deal works for me. I would like my weight numbers to be much more linear and consistent, instead of oscillating all over the place like they do (riding up and down on water retention). Another week or two and I will be out of the 330's, I would hope (based on past experience).

Anyhow. I feel good. I feel REAL GOOD!! It's been a long long while in coming and I was seemingly never going to break thru out of the 330's.

The Road to Success

The road to success is paved with lots of little successes. Maybe a few failures (or more than a few failures) I suppose too.

I have been interested lately in reading sites about people who have been thinking about improving their lives, building better tools and techniques to manage their lives, and building better ideas and habits in the way that they live them.

I guess I have alot of room for improvement. Sigh.

Actually, we all probably do. I don't even know what my goals are necessarily, and I suppose that is a problem. I know some of them, sure. I know that I am shooting for someplace called "better". Someplace called "enough". Someplace more organized. Someplace more complete.

The phrase "So many people don't know where they are going, I don't know how they are ever going to get there" popped into my mind the other day.

The picture or idea of all these little boats sailing aimlessly on the high seas, never really going anywhere. Some of them tooling around in little circles. Some spending so much time looking at other boats and complaining about them, that they never get anywhere. Some looking down into the water at their own boats in rapt narcissistic attention to themselves. Some of them accidently ending up somewhere they didn't want to go. Some accidently getting somewhere they'd like to be. Most drifting aimlessly never getting anywhere. Anyhow - I know I need a compass, a map, a sextant, some GPS, some planning, a route, a course, some course corrections.... for my own self. Little ones. Maybe lots of little ones. Nothing radical. Just a series of small but important improvements over time. No big rush. Just slow and steady improvement. The Japanese call it Kaizen. Continuous Improvement.

I would like to share some blogs/web sites with you - these sites are sites I have stumbled into for one reason or another, meandering myself about my web surfing and finding something compelling and interesting. Happy accidents. And I have felt compelled to read and learn the positive ways the folks at these sites are changing their lives. I am interested in getting more organized and bringing things into focus. I enjoy thinking about new ways that I can build new positive habits. Thinking about ways that I can set some goals. Make a list. Improve things in small and yet meaningful ways. Making some big changes.

Anyhow, here are a couple of "Happy Accidents". Hope you find them interesting too. They fall into the positive-thinking, self-help catagory. But they are chock-full of interesting ideas. Real world, real life people coming up with ways to help themselves and others...

A Software Engineer's Journey to Entreprenuership

http://www.davecheong.com/

I especially enjoyed reading this post about the "Broken Window Theory", about how little bad things left undone can add up to create bigger bad things... I can really relate to this in my own life. Don't ask me about my little kitchen home improvement project gone awry. I have mad carpentry skilz. [Smile].

http://www.davecheong.com/2006/06/30/broken-windows-theory-in-software-and-your-personal-life/

David Seah's Website/Blog David Seah's Website/Blog & Printable CEO

David Seah's Website/Blog - David is the creator of the Printable CEO (the Concrete Goals Tracker that asks the question - "When is something worth doing?") and other personal productivity, organizational, and motivational tools (The Task Progress Tracker, The Emergent Task Timer, The Task Order Up!, etc) that are available for download for free from his site online. He professionally creates interesting and useful web sites, and has some interesting thoughts too on his blog. Got me thinking about interesting ways to manage my tasks, information, life, etc.

http://davidseah.com/

http://davidseah.com/archives/2004/09/02/about-the-site/

http://davidseah.com/archives/2005/11/12/the-printable-ceo-series/

Anyhow - I hope that you find these as interesting as I have.

I am interested myself on finding new ways to build good habits. Break some bad ones. Organize in little ways. Set a few minor and major goals. Etc.

They say that if you do some new behavior every day for a few weeks (I can't remember how many days) it will become a habit for you. The past weekend - maybe the last week or more even I have been so busy that some of my habits (posting, weighing daily) have been interrupted, and it has really bothered me more than I thought it would. I realize these are good habits that help me, keep me on-track, and re-enforce my personal progress.

On the other hand, I was working late unexpectedly some last week (pizza was provided - but no, I didn't indulge, ...I stuck to Diet Coke and a bag of peanuts), had to travel out of town, was running around a bunch and eating out - but kept most all the big things in my life I've been working on, on-track. Ate on-plan. Avoided the bad foods. Kept on keeping on.

So I am happy for the little successes. Continued successes. Positive direction. Positive Thinking. New Good Ideas. Hope you find something good and useful and practical to help you as well...

This is your BRAIN on Atkins!

The Ribeye...

Man, I have never had such cravings for steak - especially Ribeye Steaks until recently. They are SOOOO AWESOME! I have always been a Sirloin man, or a Filet Mignon man until now. Well, minor league steaks.... MOVE OVER. I am a 100% Ribeye Man now!

It must be the fat. The marbling that makes them so juicy and melt in your mouth perfect! I am not talking about these little skinny things the grociers calls Ribeyes in the meat section either. I have had some awesome Ribeye steaks recently that are about the best things I have ever put in my mouth!

It is pretty sad. I must confess. I go down the road in the car on the way to work and I pass all these cows in the pasture on the way to/from. Now everytime I look at them all I see is juicy, tasty Ribeyes on the hoof!!! Isn't that pathetic?

Anyhow, you can post your fav steaks and low carb foods, but I am bonkers over Ribeyes lately.

I can't believe I am on a diet now. Eatin great. Never hungry. Losin Weight!

Yeah, ...Baby! EEEEEEEEE DOGGIE!

I am down to 344.2 and I can't help but do a little dancin'.......... (Pardon Me, Please)!

That would be something like 65.8 lbs down so far (literally within spittin distance of 66 lbs)!!!

I know that this is only a testament to how grossly morbidly obese I allowed myself to get (and how much I have to lose), but HEY..., HERE I AM - AND LOVIN IT!!!

I gotta long way to go, and on some days it seems like I see little to no forward progress - or at least my weight is bouncing up and down and up and down and progress at least "FEELS" elusive! All those days of hanging in there and not seeing the numbers I really want on the digital readout of my scale are so frustrating, but make mornings like this morning really special.

Wooooshin on down to new lows is the best!!

One day I will hit a serious wall and the reward will not be in seeing new lower numbers anymore, but in maintaining the loss over the rest of my life - and maybe looking for qualitative gains in fitness and health. SO... here's to enjoyin it while I can, cause there's no sense in gaining it all back just to lose it all again!!!

That to me is the big picture goal. I want to be like others I have met that have kept it off long term, that are still active in the forums and posting and helping and encouraging others who need their help - and sharing all they have learned. They look great but are not about to fall into the trap of thinking they have arrived, and don't fade off into the sunset.

Celebrating the little successes on the way makes it fun. I was happy all day today with just the thought that I had hit a new low like this. In my head I know that if all stays true to form I will bounce around a bit again before I hit another new low later a number of days down the line. Sure, I wish I was at goal NOW. I wish I didn't have to go through all this. I wish it didn't take so long. But maybe I will learn a lifelong lesson. I hope so!

I think I MUST be a TIGGER!

I feel like Tigger on Whinney The Pooh!

350.2 lbs this morning!

"Bouncey bouncey, bouncey bouncey, fun fun fun fun fun! The most wonderful thing about Tigger's - is I'm the only one!"

I am certainly bouncey!!!

"Bouncing is what Tiggers do best!"

I really must be a Tigger!

From WikiPedia:

Pooh states once that "He always seems bigger because of his bounces", implying that the other animals think of Tigger as being larger than he truly is.

"Tiggers don't like honey."

(yep - that's the low carb Tigger talkin!)

Sounds about right...

Beware the Heffalump's ! And Woozle's!

(honey eating monsters!)

"T-I-double-guh-err (T,i,gg,r) , which spells Tigger."

PLEASE STAND BY for this Important Announcement!

This morning I weighed and was 350.2 lbs! My wife told me I should have stood over the sink and spit till I had lost a few ounces (I couldn't tell if she was serious or joking). I just figure another week or two and I will easily be down in "340's-Land". That will be nice!

My wife has been joking with me lately telling me that I'll be in my 70's and 80's still trying to break 350 lbs. It does seem like it is a long time coming, compared to losses I experienced before. But it is coming, and the trending is right, so I am sticking with the plan.

If all holds "true-to-form" I will spend a day or two tops at the new low, then BLOOOOOOP! on up to 4-5 lbs over, then the next day a couple pounds more. After that I start losing a couple pounds a day until I hit new lows again. It is a cycle that is happening over and over again. I am waiting to see some really remarkable drops again.

I have read Victoria Shephard's blog (http://stumblingtobethlehem.blogspot.com/) where she talks about the "Whoosh Fairy". I don't know about fairies and leprechaun's and unicorns and other mythical creatures (OK, I do..., and I Do Not believe in them!) - but I would love to see some more "whooshing" going on here. There is nothing quite as rewarding as watching the scale and pounds whoosh away!! I may pray a little and jiggle things around a little in my diet to see if I can get this bouncing around to stop and more whooshing to happen.

One kind friend and reader suggested pasta dinner might trigger another whoosh, but I am a big giant chicken. I have been mostly cheat free since I started. I say "mostly" since I allow myself to indulge in cheese on occasion, but I doubt I am exceeding my carb limits much, if at all. I may occasionally go over induction levels (~20 grams of carbs), but I am pretty sure I am not going over OWL (on-going weight loss) levels (~40 grams of carbs).

Anyhow, I am mostly happy with the forward (downward) progress with my weight, and am hanging in there. Though if I REALLY KNEW a plate of pasta would put me back into a whoosh-land loss again, I would be CHEATING like a really bad-actor, and eating that pasta!

One nice thing happened today. I had to preach at my local church tonight, and my wife brought out some old suits from the closet I haven't worn in about eight years or so. Maybe not that long, but I think so. Anyhow, the interesting thing was that they actually FIT!!! Yeah, the pants were a little bit tight, but they fit just the same. So I got to wear a nice suit tonight instead of my ussual Dockers and business casual attire. That felt nice! A little more down and they will fit well! It will be nice to be able to wear some of my old suits!!

Anyhow, I am going to bag it. Busy weekend and I am all tuckered out!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my little blogfest and mini news update!!

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LATE BREAKING NEWS!
We Interrupt this program....

This morning I broke 350.0 lbs and weighed in at 347.4 lbs!

WHOOOOOOOOSH!

Forward Progress! Steady As She Goes!

Well, I finally got past 352.0 this morning. Seems like the past few weeks I have been bouncing against barriers to my progress. I will be 352.0 for two mornings in a row, then BLOOOOP on up to 356 or 354.8 for no apparent reason. It is frustrating as I am staying low carb, avoiding all the evil-nastybad-awful things but my body is still doing odd things.

This morning I was down to 351.2 lbs. Lowest weight ever for me in "Who Knows How Long?". I gotta tell ya, it felt GREAT to see those numbers. I am waiting to break through below 350.0 lbs, but it isn't coming as fast and as easy as it did a couple of months ago.

One friendly reader surmised that perhaps I need to up my carbs, just a little. She may have something there. I have been keeping pretty tight control over them, trying to not let them get outa control and into "dropping out of ketosis-land". Still I am seeing forward progress overall, and that is the main thing!!

I checked my blood pressure last weekend for the first time since I started this way of eating and living. I was at 128 over something in the 90's on my best reading. While that may not be great for many folks, for me it is wonderful! I knew it had to be lower, but it was nice to see it for myself. I have run from the high 130's through as high as 160 on the top number in the past (the higher numbers if I took cold meds, or was under mega-stress, which happens occasionally). The bottom number has been in the mid-to-high 90's and maybe 80's at it's best.

I have had so many benefits since I started eating this way. I don't get all jittery if my blood sugar drops too low anymore, or sleepy and drowsy headed if I eat alot. Blood sugar is really steady and I feel great since gluconeogenesis provides the blood sugar it's supply. It is so regulated to the amount I need to feel good!

Also I have not had to take Prilosec or Alka Seltzer (sorry antacid manufacturers) as I no longer am having reflux, acid shoot up my esophagus, or any of the stomach acid problems I had before! I was one of the Alka Seltzer companies biggest customers I am sure - probably have to lay off a few thousand workers on their assembly lines now. Sure feel sorry about all that!

I also had to go out and purchase a tool to drill some new holes in my belts, as I had gone down well past the end of them and they were getting loose on me. THAT IS A WONDERFUL FEELING!!!! I want to keep one of my belts as I drill hole after hole to be able to see myself how far I have come as I lose down to lower inches and pounds.

And one other new and exciting thing happened... my wife had to make a "ring snuggy" for me out of some tape, as my wedding band was about flying off my hand every time I moved it to do something. THAT IS ALSO A WONDERFUL FEELING!!! Even my fingers are getting a little smaller, tho the cold weather is also a factor I am sure. Still, I haven't had THAT particular problem before!

Thanks to all how stop by here to check on me and see how I am doing! I AM DOING GREAT! I am loving life and living well on my low carb life. I am about to the point when people are starting to notice at work a little bit. I had my first question asking if I was losing weight from a coworker the other day. It was nice since I had lost around 50 lbs by that point, and you would think surely ***someone*** would notice my shirts getting baggier, my belt pulled tighter, my neck shrinking inside my collar, etc.

But being so heavy at the start (and still being really heavy) it will probably take even a while longer still for most folks to notice. I am OK with that. It gives me something to look forward to!

Livin-Lavida-Broke-Carb... Yadda Yadda Yadda

Well..., it can be a cold and lonely low carb world out there! I have taken it on the chin a few times lately mostly from those who love you best (supposedly). They are getting great mileage out of the name of the "LivinLavidaLowCarb" blog (Jimmy Moore's excellent & encouraging blogspace on the low carb life) that they have heard me talking about. It is a catchy name - I guess if it was some ol' boring name they might not get so much mileage out of it.

One of my brothers in-law recently sung his own rendition of the popular Ricky Martin song "Livin' La Vida Loca" in front of the rest of the family that was basically a giant put-down at my expense. He was pretty proud of himself. He had spent a while writing it and couldn't wait to see if I had seen the lyrics he had written. I hadn't. Anyhow all I remember of it was it was some kind of visions of blubber in spandex. Really snazzy high-class fellow. Made a big impression on me.

Recently my wife has taken to calling the low carb diet I am on "LivinLavidaBROKEcarb" due to the high cost of meat - compared to our rice, pasta, bread, and otherwise carb-rich diet I ate before.

Which brings me to my topic of the moment. I have been looking at ideas on how to save money on our meat purchases. I have explored various ideas with fellas at work. One was telling how at the wholesale Mega-grocer he could purchase really large portions of meat and have it cut to order at great savings. He reminded me of a wonderful man at our old church that would take his trailer and would buy a hog or cow and take them to a local rendering facility, where they would cut the meat up into whatever you wanted. Steaks, tenderloins, ribs, beef tips, hamburger, sausage, etc. He said that it netted out to .50/lb plus the actual rendering costs. That sounds like a great idea to me, and is something I suppose we will try.

When I was a kid my family used to buy Blue Ribbon meats, and my folks would get a half-cow at a time. Our family of nine would eat on that for months and months. Now they have a guy coming to their house every couple of months named "Mike the Meat Man". Mike sells restaurant quality meats (beef, pork, fish, shrimp, etc) in bulk by the box. Same basic principle. Save money - really high quality meat, loads of meat in the freezer to last a long time.

So anyhow..., it may take me a while to work out the details, but short of going full blown country or Amish and living off the land myself, it seems like the next best thing. Fresh meat, as cheap as you can get it. Pick the healthy cow yourself (or better - let someone who understands how to do it, do it), and cut out all the middle men.

Looking at the meats in the Allmart giganto-store the other day. So many meats are chock full of SODIUM (my kryptonite). Only the more expense fresh cuts of meat are not processed in some form, and have no sodium, it seems like. Even shrink wrapped steaks are in a bath of 15% solution and high sodium. ARGH!

So as they say... Necessity is the mother of invention.

I would appreciate any comments on this post with great ideas on how you have invented your way into savings on a low carb, meat-heavy diet.

Random Thoughts & Reflections

It is funny. I have been talking about going on a diet ever since I met my wife (over 8 years ago). I have no idea how much I weighed when I married her, but it is a safe bet that I weighed much less than I do now. I was never really ready to pull the trigger, because having gone through this kinda thing once before (lost >100 lbs and kept it off over 2 years) I am aware of how much effort and commitment this really takes. I told her that I knew I could do this, and that I would do this, but I never really got around to it. I guess I was afraid that starting without the level of laser-like focus, drive, concentration, and motivation would mean failure.

After all these years of bloating on up to higher and higher weights, I finally felt I had to do something and make a change. It wasn't some major crisis in my life that made me do it. It wasn't any ultimatum from my wife or others. I just knew I had to do something. I was getting large (OK, Gargantuan) and was having more and more health problems related to my weight and health. And the thought of wanting to be here for my kids in the long run (like over the next 10-20 years or more) was an impetus, and if not, to at least be able to secure some life insurance for the wife and kids at some point.

While I believe that God sets our span on earth, and that this is regardless of what we want or do to a large degree (I never believed in all these anti-aging and preservation programs people are after, wanting to extend their lives or in some cases live forever on this earth), I do believe though that God does also do things in conjunction with immutable laws he has set up - things like you will "Reap what you sow".

So, I finally figured it was time to stop sowing donuts and Cokes and sweets and all my beloved pastas and breads and all, reaping piles of fat and weight gain and health problems, and change my life. My lifestyle. My eating style. Whatever. And I have embraced the low carb lifestyle. Atkins style eating is pretty much what I am doing. I am probably moderating my life somewhere between the induction phase and the OWL (Ongoing Weight Loss) phase, trying to mostly keep my carb count to 20 or less, and I figure if I am overdoing it ever, I am pretty sure of being at 40 or less carbs each day.

The Atkins Low Carbohydrate Way of Eating

It is pretty simple. Meat (hamburger, beef hot dogs, bacon, ham, turkey, fish, sausage, chicken, etc). Some Cheese (within limits and with moderation). Some nuts (low salt, not peanuts and cashews so much, but almonds, macadamias, etc). Low glycemic veggies (green beans, broccoli, pickles, olives, salads with oil and vinegar, etc) in regular and deliberate inclusion in the daily diet, with moderation. Plus some vitamins and nutrititional supplements.

I have eaten 4500 calories in a day and lost weight. Probably because I am so large this is working for me, but I am full and hardly ever hungry on this diet (Way of Eating) and am steadily losing weight (over 40 lbs down at this point, and working on being 50 lbs down) and I am feeling better each day.

Friends & the Support You Get and Don't Get

It's funny who in your life will support you when you do these things, who believes you are bound to fail (or will reserve comment or support or interest until you get so far into this), and who it is who will mock you and poke fun at you and be basically a big giant negative force in your life.

I have been reading personal stories of interaction with these types of folks online in the TDC (Triple Digits Club) support forum at the forums.lowcarber.ca site lately and have had a couple of personal experiences with real jerky people lately myself. I guess that isn't a unique phenomemon. I guess the premise for these folks is, "make yourself feel good by making someone else feel bad". Wow. What a concept. I suppose we have all done that to others at some time ourselves (or many times, if we were 100% honest with ourselves). Still it pretty much stinks to feel tarred and feathered and mocked and laughed at by others. Some people are fairly cruel and low-life. I still remember the kids who did this kind of thing to me at times when I was young in school. It really sticks with you, for the rest of your life - even if you couldn't care less about the people doing it. It's funny why their opinion should matter to you or why it should affect you, but it does just the same.

It takes all kinds in this world, and my life is pretty much surrounded by all of them. Sure, most people are pretty indifferent, and I wouldn't expect it to be necessarily a big deal for them - if they didn't much care about you. It just depends on how much someone likes you, is rooting for you, and hoping for the best for you. But it is also pretty interesting to have folks reveal their hearts to you in how they act and speak towards you, and to take note of that.

Here's to the Nice People!

I am extremely glad for a few Christian friends, a couple good folks at work, my wife, my parents, my father in-law and mother in-law, and my kids and all the love and support they give me.

Thanks too for those who drop in here to support me in my own personal quest.

It matters so much to me! Thank You!!!

Getting all Evangelistic about Low Carb: Drinking the Kool-Aid

I am also a bit perplexed as to how I should behave on this personal program of weight loss, healthy eating, and self improvement. I have watched so many people lose weight over and over again. Yo-yo dieters. My wife would say, "Look at so and so, they've lost so much weight on LA Weight Loss" or some other program. I would always say, "Give it some time, and watch and wait. They'll gain it all back and THEN SOME". And I was always always right about this. Yeah, I probably haven't been the most supportive person myself in the past either. These folks would be dancing around celebrating their weight loss for a little bit, then back to the donuts and BLOOOP! They would explode back up past where they started. I kept seeing this and didn't want this for myself.

It is hard to fight your body, as God made it just so - to preserve your life in difficult times, and to adapt to changing circumstances. All the little regulators in your brain, glands, DNA or whatever are always trying to help you live. If you starve it, the body (brain or whatever) slows the metabolism and adjusts - so that when you go back to eating like always you shoot right back to where you started (and then some).

This is one of the reasons I think I waited to get on the stick so long myself (fear of bloating back on up above where I started, and what that would mean to me). I never wanted to be one of those people that has to have the fire department come and get them out of their house to the hospital or something (as they are so heavy). And fear of starting when I wasn't 100% committed to this, as I know from my own past efforts that it can be really really hard to lose weight and maintain it long term.

Well, once I met folks that had lost the weight and kept it off with this way of eating for ten years or more, and once I heard my own brother lost weight (~80 lbs) in a few months time, I was ready. And guess what?

It isn't really all that hard this time!! I am not starving. I am not having irresistable cravings. I don't feel washed out, light headed, deprived, etc. In fact, I feel great, am eating, am comfortable and feel full all day, and my health has improved dramatically (especially my blood sugar issues, frequent stomach acid problems, acid reflux, etc).

One thing I have always hated about many DIETERS is the way they seem to turn into CULT-LIKE fanatical people about their diet. It always made me uncomfortable, and I always watched so many of them yo-yo back on up later.

I sorta feel like I am becoming one of those people, all excited about this way of eating and I can't help but feel great about it and to express myself about it. I am trying to not make others feel bad about themselves or overdo it. But I can't help but tell my wife and a couple others how great they might feel if they did this - not even to lose weight, but even just to get control of their blood sugar issues and health issues they are going through.

I hope that if you are reading this you won't count me into the camp of annoying cult-like fanatical people about my way of eating. No doubt about it, I am excited about this and I do want to share this with others! Still there is something about selling flowers on the streetcorners and at airports... (smile) that I am not so comfortable with.

I started this blog just as an excercise of focus and an outlet for me while I am doing this for myself. I am glad if you read this and benefit from this in any way. I sure feel great about how I feel, and how this way of eating is working out for me. I appreciate your support and interest in reading this. If you are kicking around the idea about doing this, I hope you would read about it, learn all you can about it and jump in and try it. The water is fine! And what have you got to lose anyhow by trying it?

And if this way of eating isn't for you - That's OK too. I know that not everybody has my body type, my problems with health issues and with weight gain, and most are probably doing "just fine" on their own. I can live with that.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Can't you just hear Julie Andrews singing that song from the Sound of Music? Well, listen harder, then!

Actually, I thought it might be good to mention some of the beverages that keep me going. I think it is important to continue to have flavor in your life and to both eat and drink good stuff!

I've always been "big on beverages". I would often get a coffee, milk, and orange juice with breakfast (in my pre-low carb days), for example. And I think I have been drinking lots for a long time, perhaps since I went on the low calorie diet in my thirties and just got used to drinking so much water, tea, etc.

When I got off that diet (years ago) I went right back to sugary Cokes and major amounts of High Fructose Corn Syrup in all it's many flavors and packagings, along with lots of milk and other stuff to drink. And I was always about drinking the XXL sized drinks - probably how I ended up an XXXXL in the end, huh? Yeah, no kiddin!

Now that I am LCing it, I am trying to cut back on the coffee some, drink more tea and water, and find good things to drink. The thing is, I think most of the diet drinks that are sweetened with aspertame taste like they have formaldahyde in them. I mean they are flat-nasty drinks. Sure I will drink one now and then, but I am trying to go for healthy drinks that I can drink that are permitted under the rules, and then also drinks that are satisfying my need for flavor and all.

So here's what I have been drinking lately:

Lipton Diet Green Tea


It tastes great, and might even be good for you. They say that green and black teas are a great source of antioxidants and so they may even help prevent cancer or other problems (with free radicals and all that stuff I won't even pretend to understand). It is definitely low carb and satisfies pretty well - both from a thirst quenching and a flavor point of view.





Sobe Green Tea

Sobe make some great tasting beverages and I also like their version of diet green tea. No aspertame, zero sugar, Carbs=1g, not too shabby. And it's earned the South Beach seal of approval evidently.

All kinds of free radical fighting antioxidents must be cram-packed into these bottles in some way that my mind could not even understand. They fill these babies with "Goodness Machines", and cap em' off when they are just cram-packed with all kinds of excellence & goodness!

Well, I kinda like em' pretty good anyhow. :)






Pepsi One Diet Cola

Pepsi Cola has come out with a type of diet soda that omits for some reason all the High Fructose Corn Syrup, and even the aspertame. Instead they use sucralose, better known as Splenda (the trademarked name of a productized version of sucralose I suppose).

The main thing about Pepsi One. It just tastes great!

And it is refreshing! For a Cola and soda fiend like myself it is nice to have something to drink that doesn't taste like I am being punished ("NO SWEETNESS & GOODNESS FOR YOU! BANISH HIM TO THE LAND OF FORMALDAHYDE TASTING NASTY DRINKS!"). I try not to overdo it and to just try to find more good and healthy options to drink. But it is nice to have a frosty cold cola over ice once innawhile.

There are more things that I am drinking, but this single post is probably going on long enough. But Why did I want to comment on what I am drinking? Well so many starting out on the LC life are worried about never having anything GOOD to taste anymore, and envision I suppose sucking cold greasy lard and fatty bits from meat, smiling and saying "Hmmmm, this tastes GOOOOD!"

Well - there actually ARE GREAT TASTING food and beverages out there, and you don't have to be locked into that kind of thinking - that you have forever given up on all good tasting food and beverages. You need to realize that there are many food and beverages that are actually good for you and satisfy!!!

Hang in there and look for low carb products that are both good for you and satisfy! Don't give up! Search for the wonderful LC recipes out there, and look for the permitted products that are full of taste and flavor. YOU CAN DO THIS!!! You can fill your world with good tasting, satisfying food and drink, and never miss a thing. Lose weight or maintain weight loss, be healthy, and feel great. And don't miss out on a thing!!!

The Atkins Low Carb Diet Must Be Good For Your Eyes!

I am thinking that the Atkins low carbohydrate diet (Way of Eating) is really wonderful on the eyes! In fact, to prove it I have created this eye chart, just to test. It is wonderful, as I have found that I am actually able to read lines lower and lower each day, thus PROVING beyond any disputable fact or reasonable doubt, that the Atkins low carb diet is great for the eyes!!!

Of course, my eye chart starts at 400 lbs, and although I am not a trained medical professional, and as such my opinions on this matter are purely my own and of no real significance to anyone else, I would believe that some folks might actually require another model of the eye chart. In fact, I hope that one day I myself may have my own vision improve to the point that I will need a new chart as well!!!

This morning I weighed myself and I found that I was back down to 361.4 lbs! It seems like whatever hump I hit I am over. At least I hope so. I have found that lately I am feeling like I have more energy or am a little lighter on my feet. I was told this would happen at some point, but I really haven't felt that till now. Hopefully this good feeling will continue and I will continue reading my eye chart at lower and lower lines. I have been hovering over 360 now for a little bit, and I am so anxious to get below that. It's like an invisible barrier I keep bouncing off like it has some kind of Star Trek force shield or something. Well, hopefully we will puch through even this in the next few days (maybe tomorrow), and be on to new places.

Like they might have said in Trek (no I'm not really a trekky) if perhaps Capt. Kirk, "Bones" the doctor, and Scotty got together and wanted to live healthier on a low carb lifestyle:

"Low Carb... The final frontier... These are the voyages of the Low Carber. Our continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds... To seek out a new life; Perhaps even new civilisations... To boldly go where we have never gone before!"

It is an adventure! And you certainly take yourself to wonderful new places! And you might even find yourself boldly going where you have never gone before (even lower on the new Atkins diet eye chart).

Happy Happy Joy Joy.... (The Tanita HD 351)

I am feelin all stylin' about my new digital scale.

The Tanita HD 351.

Kinda funny cause the way I feel about this scale is sorta like how I felt about some super hot rod, sports car or something when I was young in High School. I feel like when I was a kid looking a Chevy Nova SS (Super Sport) with 50's and 60's (wide tires) on the front & back - jacked up just so. Maybe with supercharged blower or something. He he he. Or like a Charger Superbee with a Hemi. Jacked up with wide tires and a low throaty, thunder-like rumble as it sits at idle at the stop light.

OK. It's just a scale. So.. "get real", right? But I am lovin' this scale! I love this scale probably more than my kids are loving their I-Pods (did I even spell that right)?

It is a nice little product jam-packed with digital precision down to the tenths of a pound, and with a capacity of 440 lbs. It measures with great consistancy and only varies by just a little bit (ounces, not pounds) on subsequent reads - if at all. It has memory positions for five people in the family, and it shows you your last weight reading concurrent with the new reading it is taking, so you can easily see the difference.

We shopped all over the net and read opinion after opinion on online reviews of scales (epinons.com, amazon.com, etc). Many scales evidently vary considerably from reading to reading, and you have to average the various readings to approximate your weight.

Or you have to spend a small fortune for one of those nice beam-type doctors scales (that will go over the standard 350lbs capacity, in my case). Overall I am pretty happy with this little wonder. It is the revealer of my Joy and Happiness every morning! My reward for all my efforts and concerted attention. Ahhhhhhh....... (another pound or more down! Joy Joy, Happy Happy, Joy!).

Low Carb Lollygagging

Lollygagging... I love that word. It's one of those fun words that maybe very old people throw around when speaking in serious tones in reference to the activities of younger people.

There are a lot of words that I think are fun just to say them or work them into a sentence. I really need to make a list of some of the words and phrases like that that I like to use just for fun sometime. You gotta love the English language. So many fun words and fun things to say and how to say them, yet so little time.

Lollygagging means just fooling around. Hijinks is a word like lollygagging, except that it implies you are maybe up to a little "no good" in what you are doing, while you are doing whatever it is you are doing. I am serious about my low carb living, but I want to have fun and live a little and laugh a little while doing it. Life can't be all serious anyhow, can it??!!

So what is low carb lollygagging? Well, just plain fartin' around and having a good time, enjoying life... and losing weight and feeling great on a low carb lifestyle. I have started this blogspace to record my personal journey of weight loss and weight maintenance down to a new me, which is really just the old me (of course a wee bit older and wiser) without all this blubber. Ideally I would like to lose on down to my old High School weight. Somewhere around there where I feel good, am healthy, and living life well.

Why low carb? Well I'll get to how I got to low carbing it in a little bit. So far I have lost over 37 lbs on the Atkins low carb lifestyle and I am just loving it!!! I am down from around 400 lbs (maybe more than that) to 363 lbs as of early this morning. I am losing weight while sometimes eating 4000 and 4500 calories, though truth be told many days I am eating more like 2000 - 3500. I am always full, not hungry. And especially not the burning intense hunger I felt on a low calorie diet I did before for almost two years straight.

When I was in my thirties I lost 100 lbs and kept it off for over two years. I lost the first 50 lbs on a NutriSystem prepackaged food program, and lost the second 50 lbs doing pretty much the same thing but eating MAJOR RABBIT FOOD (salads from McDonalds and Burger King, etc) and low calorie TV dinners like those from Healthy Choice and similar. But I was major league hungry most all the time, and I was having to work out like crazy - first walking and then running 3 - 8 miles each day and weight training as well for an hour to two hours each day.

Sometimes while on that low calorie diet I was soooo hungry, almost painfully so. I would get light headed sometimes. Sometimes I would not feel well. But I toughed it out to lose the weight and meet my goals. But then life intervened, I got busy with work and with my family and I stopped watching my weight and slowly over the years I added pound after pound till one day I found myself at 400 lbs.

Now, on this low carbohydrate Atkins diet I am losing weight, almost never hungry, and never having the tremendous hunger, cravings, nor most of the effects of hardly eating anything - on a low calorie diet. My blood sugar which before at 400 lbs was fluctuating up and down (getting shaky and jittery when I needed a sugar fix and tired and kinda sleepy headed when I ate). Now it is rock steady. I took it with my wife's blood sugar meter twice and once it was 90 and once it was 130 (after I had eaten).

My blood sugar is produced through a process called gluconeogenisis in the liver where my body uses stored fat to change it into glucose (sugar) for my blood stream. It does so in the amount I need it, at a constant level, and I feel great - ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL - most all the time.

This is probably the most important benefit I am deriving from this diet (strike the work diet and insert "way of life" or "way of eating"). Probably more important than the weight loss itself.

It is wonderful having really regular blood sugar and feeling good - way better than before.

Besides the even blood sugar, I am not popping Alka Seltzer's like candy anymore. The plop plop fizz fizz was practically a way of life for me, and I justified it as more than just an antacid since I figured it might just be the healthiest way to take aspirin and thin the blood a little on a regular basis. No aspirin pill sitting on my stomach dissolving a hole in my stomach. I don't know if aspirin can even do that, but that was the mental picture I had in my mind. With Alka Seltzer the aspirin was all dissolved in water, and posed no threat to my innards. I used to have bad acid problems after eating on a regular basis. I would eat and later sometimes, depending on what it was (onions, late night pizza, whatever) I would practically get sick with stomach acid.

While in my thirties I developed a hiatal hernia (falling apart, huh) and acid would roll up my esophigas and burn it. On rare occasion I would wake up with thick nasty burning acid even up in my sinuses and mouth. Then I developed GERT (gastro esophegial reflux disease). I would eat something that triggered a response (usually steak or beef cubes, or roast beef, or those little mini shredded wheat would do it) and things that should be going down the esophigas started moving up. It felt awful and often led to puking and choking and gagging. Anyhow - gross stuff aside, my stomach has been very acid for years and years, and often I would have to take Prilosec of Prevacid or something like that for a day or several just to knock my stomach's acid production back and let my guts heal.

Well, you would think with all this meat, and eggs, and cheese and peppers and onions and all, I would be having MAJOR problems. Not one bit. I have stopped taking Alka Seltzers on account of stomach acid problems, and have not taken one Prilosec or similar pill since I started. People at work used to muse as I drank my water bottles with Alka Seltzer in them (looking like dirty dish water or something).

Another plus.

So low carb is working out for me so far. I have lost 37 lbs when I have written this, in a matter of a couple months time. I cannot remember when I started this, but it was around the 15th of October, 2006 (but my wife says it was closer to sometime in the weeks before Thanksgiving in November). I can never get dates and times straight. My wife can barely navigate out of our driveway to the mailbox and back - she is so directionally challenged. OK that is an exaggeration and probably unfair to her, but she IS SPACIALY CHALLENGED. I am TIME CHALLENGED. We all have our gifts and our uniquenesses in life. :)

So low carb is really impressing me as a wonderful way of life. I am losing weight, my blood sugar problems have all disapeared, and I am not having acid problems at all, I am never hungry (I get to eat, be full and comfortable) and I am feeling great!!! I hope that more than a diet, I can maintain this as an ongoing way of eating and way of life.

How did I get into low carb? Well a series of chance meetings with a number of people I know. One fellow at work lost alot of weight on it. He gained some back since, but still he lost ALOT. Then I met a doctor at an urgent care clinic, a nice irish fellow here in Tennessee who told me he lost weight and kept it off for ten years and counting. I asked him how and he said meat and veggies, no potatoes, no bread, no pasta, no rice, no sweets, and no cokes. Wow. 10 years!!! Then a good friend had the stomach surgery and lost radical amounts of weight (he was big like me at the time) and sufferred with low energy, intolerance of some foods, and real misery and hunger.

Then the straw that broke the camels back. The last straw. The thing that upset my applecart.

My brother called. The one who was fat like me. He called and told me that HE had lost 80 lbs on the Atkins program. WOW. My brother. So I went on the "IF HE CAN DO IT, I CAN TOO" program (Atkins) the next day.

I am writing this blog as a way to keep track of my progress, serve as a wasteland and dumping grounds for my innermost and deepest thoughts (sometimes not so deep) and deep dark secrets (please don't tell anyone - it's just between you and me), and as a cathartic outlet to release the little inner Mark Twain, Studs Terkel, or John Steinbeck in me. Yeah, I should flatter myself by disparaging their good names in this way - by comparison to little ol me. Hardly fair to them.

Why blog it?

So I can log some interesting things I am learning about the low carb lifestyle, news, about myself, my progress, about fun and stupid and impractical stuff and maybe not-so-interesting and who-knows-what that I am thinking about stuff.

Lollygagging. Serious Lollygagging. With a purpose.

You are welcome to visit here anytime, my good friend (after all... we are like brothers or sisters, you and me). And there is always room for one more good friend in our life, right?

Best Regards,

ndurance1@gmail.com