Week 5 Update

This week was interesting--Thursday I made a trip to a conference in San Antonio, which meant traveling on a bus with a group and so meals were not as disciplined (or as many choices) as usual. However, I didn't do badly at all, and much better than I would have before in such a situation!

Bus stop near fast food places for dinner on Thursday: Wendy's chili and a fish sandwich (eating only the fish), but with beans in the chili and breading on the fish, still more carbs than I've been getting. A bit of chocolate chip cookie upon arrival at the hotel (but that was all!). Friday morning breakfast: eggs, bacon and fruit (more fruit than I've been doing, too).  Friday day, shared Margarita (scratch margarita, but probably still containing a simple syrup, I'm sure) and taco salad. Some nuts for a snack later in the afternoon, then nothing until after a concert: a full margarita, then at a reception late Friday (9:30-10:30, much later than I've been eating) more fruit (quite a bit more), a fair amount of cheese, and meatballs with a somewhat sweet bbq sauce . . . then more cheese. Saturday's trip back home had a similar breakfast and the same fast food stop on the way home, but this time a deli with a nice chef's salad (with a small amount of honey mustard dressing).

Both Saturday and Sunday early when I woke up I had the sore, arthritic kind of pain, inflexibility in my hands--which I haven't had for several weeks.

In the end (or when closer to goal--whatever that is!) it will be interesting to experiment adding back food types one at a time (bread/other wheat, beans, corn, potatoes, etc.) and seeing what the result is (reactions like the arthritic ones, raised blood sugar, etc.). But that's an experiment which is some ways off!

Results:

Weight:

 

Bodyfat:

 

So, the plateau is here (or at least, the reaction to Thursday/Friday/Saturday changes and perhaps water retention)--one half pound weight loss and body fat similar (again, with BF it's much harder to know if small changes week to week are significant or not).

It's fine, nice to see I didn't gain . . . and a half pound per week is still OK, even over the longer term.

Week 4 post

Still keeping faith with the transformation of my diet. When out at a Mexican restaurant Saturday (in between scholarship auditions) I was more tempted than usual by the chips, but didn't. That evening, we ended up at an Italian restaurant with friends where my choice was a lovely filet of sole, breaded (I didn't pick it off) in a tasty sauce with crab, shrimp and crayfish -- mmm! No bread, but a little of my wife's Pinot Grigio. Today lunch with a colleague at a sub (sandwich) shop: salad made with sub fixin's (smoked turkey, provolone, bacon) and I did have a little honey mustard dressing, so some sugar there, for sure.

My wife's been making lovely dinners. Tonight: chili (beef, no beans), guacamole, carrot sticks, celery sticks, and half an apple. Last night, smoked pork chops, green beans, cole slaw (not creamy, but made with a fabulous California olive oil flavored with blood orange), and some avacado chunks a few slices of orange.

Most breakfasts have been protein drinks (as before, water, one scoop Designer Whey, one scoop Metabolic Drive, some coconut oil, a scoop of natural full-fat yogurt, and a little cream).

Walking has been slightly more often (probably four days this week) and the associated back/core exercises.

Sleep's been variable, last night not good at all. Went to bed, mind ran around in circles, and got up again. Asleep at 3 or so, up at 6:45.

I've been reading a lot about willpower, concentration, focus, meditation, etc., figuring out my next step in transformation (I'll say more about the reading later). It will probably be beginning a meditation practice, at least one of those times before bed. As I stated earlier, I need a bedtime routine, with meditation (and some space) after any TV, reading, or computer work (like this, at 11:24 PM!). A way to transition. I'll probably begin next week. Again, no hurry. I want these changes to be permanent, not (as before) a short-term effort.

Weight this week:

Bodyfat:

 

Another 3.5 pounds lost, total of 14.5 pounds over 4 weeks.

In some ways that's scary, because I want to remain focused on process and long-term change of habits. I know this can't continue, so in a way need a plateau--that sounds strange, but these losses become motivating. I want motivation to come from within and for the right reasons.

So, keep my mind focused on the changes in eating habits and how good I feel.

And have I said how good I feel? Much better, more energy, more concentration (although if I can get my sleep squared away it will be even better). Hands not stiff, sore, and arthritic feeling in the morning. The walks feel great and I walk at a faster pace. 

Miles to go, but you can only get there one step at at time . . .

Feb 1 update - end of Week 3

So . . . slow to post lately. Will have to improve!

This Week (after 3 weeks):

. . . and bodyfat

How have I done?

Down another 3.5 pounds, total 11 pounds in 3 weeks, better than I would have expected. Body fat percentage is much harder to gauge, since electric impedance measuring of body fat can vary widely, depending on how much water you're retaining. It's particularly hard to gauge versus my opening body fat, which measured 33%, then to 37% for the next two weeks, and now 36%. Assuming I stay on target with lower carbs, then I should be more consistent, so probably the 37% is fine for a beginning measuring point. But small losses won't mean much, week to week. It'll be the longer-term changes, trending in the right direction, which will be significant.

From a compliance standpoint, it's been great and I've been able to do so without any real feelings of  hardship, even when going to a Mexican restaurant and avoiding the chips and salsa (earlier I would have scarfed down the equivalent of a basket before even starting the meal--and probably had a coke to drink as well). At home, I've kept to good foods, moderate snacking on nuts, and my one indulgence every night of one dove dark chocolate.

I've also had several days with no lunch--just the schedule, not a deliberate attempt--which is the beginnings of doing some intermittent fasting. I'll do more of that, no doubt, aiming for a couple days a week with a longer fast (perhaps dinner to dinner: no breakfast or lunch).

My walking has been at least a few days a week, 3 to 4 times. Back exercises the same. I will work to make more consistent.

I went to Bikram Yoga last week. The session was as remembered . . . very intense, but good. I was sore the next couple days, particularly my back and shoulders. I would love to do this . . . but the Bikram place is quite a distance and when I went (for the 8:30 AM class) the traffic was nasty. Left an hour before, got there about 10 minutes before class was to begin. Unpleasant, to say the least! That means leaving at 7:30, class until 10 AM, ca. 35 minutes home, shower/ablute/dress, eat, and get to school ca. 11:30. I simply can't afford that. And with an 8 AM class two days a week, it doesn't combine very well.

They have a 5:30 AM class, which probably means leaving by 4:45 and getting up by 4:15 or so. Even then, I can't do this and be back for my 8 AM classes, so I'd have to do it on other days. The biggest problem, though, is that I'm a musician and have many evenings at concerts. To get up at 4:15 every morning, but have evenings when I don't get home until 10 PM (and am usually fairly wired) would likely mean not enough sleep.

A dilemma. I might try the early class to see how it feels, but it's a challenge to make it work, get to bed early enough consistently enough to make it worthwhile. We'll see.

By the way, this week the cluster headaches finally gave up and went away! I'm so happy to be headache-free and not taking tylenol in addition to naproxen!

Will try to write more often.

end of Week 2

Weight:

and BF:

About 1 1/2 pounds in week two, fairly typical.

I continue to eat well. Exercise is not as often as I would like, but better.

Cluster headaches continue, with one of the worse ones yet today.

Sleep still inconsistent, will try next week to do better.

Just keep at it!

Back problems - regular update

Just a mini-report: diet still continues fine, keeping on task, low-carb, no snacks except some nuts in the evening (no jokes, now--I know I'm the nut in the evening). I've eaten at restaurants for lunch most of this week with a colleague and have kept to salads with added meat--at Mexican restaurants have eaten no chips--which is something, and hasn't been difficult. Energy is much better and more consistent.  My past experience says that after two to three weeks of low carb I will have much more energy.

I've been walking most mornings (although not this one) and continued back exercises. Cluster headaches continue, a bit worse, but manageable (although it means taking naproxen + tylenol--not especially liver-healthy). If my past history is a guide, the series lasts for two to three weeks, then fades. My sleep is marginally better, but headaches often awaken me early in the morning. Hopefully, that will change. With the return to teaching I've been getting up much earlier, but haven't yet gotten to a consistent, every day wake time (I will).

I mentioned back problems: minor injury in gymnastics in HS (landed a dismount and back went into spasm), continuing occasional problems, gradually getting worse, leading to an L4/5 (the lower discs) laminectomy (disc surgery--they go into the spinal canal to remove disc material that has extruded into the canal and is pressing on nerve roots) in 1986 (and was repeated in 1989). In my case, I was having numbness of the toes of my left foot, extreme sciatic pain, etc. Lots of conservative treatments were tried with no success. In 1988-89 I knew things were still not right and had several episodes of spasm, went on a trip to Sweden and Germany in April (it was to be for 3 months), but cut short the trip after 2 months and flew home, had an MRI, and the second surgery.

I've been OK since, although I still have to be careful and can have persistent low-back pain or short periods in spasm.

As I've recently discovered, the exercises most closely connected with better backs are about stability. By that I mean not: flexibility (helpful, but may make the problem worse), strength (isn't the full issue), or other elements. If the correct muscles can gain considerably in endurance (not so much strength), the spine is kept much more stable and the back muscles will not go into spasm.

Much of the research is by Stuart McGill in Toronto. He has several books on the subject and I've just ordered a new book by Rick Jemmett: Back Stabilization: The New Science of Back Pain. The most common exercises are:
1 - the bird dog, which strengthens the multifidus muscles, which weave through the spinal facets and stabilize the spine
2 - the plank, which strengthens and stabilizes the abdominal core
3 - the side plank, which strengthens the transverse abdominals (this video shows both regular and side plank variations). This link also has a very good interview with Stuart McGill, plus one of McGill's other exercises, the curl-up.

Again, the first goal is endurance, so exercises are gradually extended in length of time/number of repetitions. With the side plank, I'm only strong enough to do this from the knees, so I need to wait until I get sufficient strength and endurance before I start to do from the feet (see the video to see what I mean). As you can see in the last video, one can combine side plank to regular plank to side plank (on the other side) without pause--much more advanced, of course.

My past experience is that if I DO these exercises regularly, my back feels MUCH better. The point is to do them--and that's the point of this transformation . . .

Week One. . .

First, here are the results for the week (weight from Monday, January 19, 2010):

So, down 6 pounds, not unusual at the beginning of a low-carb diet, when you ditch water pretty fast. I still feel a bit bloated, so it will take my body another week or so to make the transition to low carb.

The week was fine in terms of eating. I kept quite strict, only having a salad with chicken tenders (i.e. breaded) when at an Italian restaurant Sunday with friends. It was the least objectionable option (that I liked). I'm too picky about which vegetables I like and have too small a repertoire. I'll work on that at some point, but not now.

Exercise stayed on track, but minimal. Today I walked with my wife for about 30 minutes, followed by my back exercises. Again, I'm trying to limit the number of changes I'm making to only one or two at a time. The temptation to do too much at once (and fail) is strong! But I know from past experience that I need to introduce changes slowly.

I've had cluster headaches for some years now--and the term "suicide headaches" is an apt one! When they're really bad, they're truly unbearable. The worst episode had my blood pressure (when I went in to urgent care) over 200, really frightening. I haven't had any episodes as bad as that for a couple years, and my doctor recommended a blood pressure medication (amlodipine) and naproxen on an ongoing basis. Usually acetaminophen in addition is needed when I have attacks.

This week has been a time of mild attacks. It's hard to know if the diet has anything to do with it. I'm also under a bit of stress right now, so that could be a part of it, too.

All in all, not too bad for a first week. It's the long road that counts.

Days 2-4

I'm focusing on changing my diet this week and am so far successful--low carb, no cheats (well, it's only four days!).

Tuesday I was dead--no energy at all, occasional dizziness Tuesday and Wednesday when I changed position quickly. Those are both fairly typical for me, particularly if I cut carbs after a period of high carbs, and my carbs had indeed been high over the Christmas break! Since Tuesday, my energy has been much better and I expect it will continue. Again, I'm not shooting for ketosis: I'm still eating my lovely little clementine oranges or an apple at each meal, some nuts, green beans, salad, etc. This is more "Primal" than Atkins "Induction," and that's fine with me. I expect I'll experiment with Intermittent Fasting once I've adapted.

Sleep hasn't yet been a focus for me--good sleep some of the time, terrible on Tuesday night (just a few hours) and then last night to bed around 1:30 AM, up for a couple hours early, then back to sleep until 12:30 PM. That won't continue, if only because classes at the university where I teach begin next Tuesday and I have 8 AM classes two days a week and probably a meeting at 8 at least one other day, so it means I have to be up by 6:15 AM or so every morning. That's the time for me to work on a consistent waking time. The challenge will be getting to bed at a reasonable time (and building a night-time routine).

Exercise has also been sporadic, but OK. Walking most mornings, doing my back exercises Monday and Wednesday (I need to do a minimum of three days a week). I need to walk around campus on a regular basis as well during the day once classes start. I'm not sure when yoga will start, but probably after next week, when I've had time to adjust to my teaching schedule. It also gives me time to adapt to low carb, a little lost weight, and get my back in a bit better condition.

So, I'm happy with the way it's going so far. "Low and slow" is not only for cooking grass-fed beef!

Day 1 . . . and the ugly truth

So, day one of the transformation--although it started earlier with planning, of course.

First, the ugly truth (OK, that's overkill!) about where I am now:
Weight:



Bodyfat percentage:



Front view:



Back view:



Side:


As you can tell, I have far too much of the weight around the middle that is so damaging metabolically. The plan is to change that!

After getting up, I walked for about 20 minutes, did my back exercises, then took these pictures before a breakfast of a protein shake (water, 1 scoop designer whey, 1 scoop of metabolic drive low-carb, heaping tablespoon of all-natural yoghurt (full fat), couple tablespoons of cream, and a couple tablespoons of virgin coconut oil). I'll likely alternate this with eggs.

Lunch out with colleagues while at work--an Italian restaurant--so a salad with salmon. No bread, water to drink. Then dinner fixed by my wife: grass-fed steak (much better fat profile, no hormones or antibiotics), green beans with butter, and a mandarin orange, plus one dove dark chocolate. Before going to bed, a much smaller version of the protein shake without so much fat, partly to take my magnesium and zinc, which tend to give me a bit of heartburn.

So that's the start . . .

Getting Ready

Getting ready primarily consists of re-reading Mark Sisson's The Primal Blueprint.

OK, maybe some other thought and planning, too!

But Mark's approach is one that makes a lot of sense to me. You don't have to buy the book (but it's a great way to have it all in one place and I recommend it), Mark outlines much on his blog. Here's his post on Primal eating.

Protein:

Protein takes priority. If there is ample glycogen (stored glucose) and the body is getting the rest of its energy efficiently from fats, protein will always go first towards repair or building cells or enzymes. In that context, it hardly seems fair to assign it a “burn rate” of 4 calories per gram. It’s like saying the 2×4 studs that support the walls of your house can burn nicely if you run out of firewood. They will, but I prefer to burn other fuel first. At a minimum you need .5 grams of protein per pound of lean mass/per day on average to maintain your “structure”. If you are moderately active you need .7 or .8, and if you are an active athlete you need as much as 1 gram of protein per pound of lean mass. That’s at a minimum, but it’s on a daily average. So a 155 lb moderately active woman who has 25% body fat (and thus) has 116 lb of lean body mass needs 93 grams of protein on average per day (116 x .8). If she gets 60 or 80 some days and 110 on others, she’ll still be in a healthy average range. And even if she exceeds the 110, it’s no problem if she’s eating low carb because the excess protein will convert to glucose, which will reduce her effective carbohydrate needs (see below). At 4 calories per gram, that’s between 320 and 440 calories per day in protein. It’s not that much.

Carbs:

If you’ve forgotten everything you ever learned in biology, just remember this and “own” it: Carbohydrate drives insulin drives fat (Cahill 1965, and Taubes 2007). The idea in the PB is to limit your carbs to only those you need to provide glucose for the brain and for some reasonable amount (certainly less than an hour) of occasional anaerobic exercise. And the truth is, you don’t even need glucose to fuel the brain. Ketones from a very-low carb diet work extremely efficiently at that task. Either way, ideally, we would like most of our daily energy to come from dietary or stored fats. Typically, (if you are at an ideal body composition now) I use a rule of thumb that 100-150 grams of carbohydrate per day is plenty to keep you out of ketosis (and ketosis is NOT a bad thing) but away from storing the excess as fat if you are the least bit active. Don’t forget that your body can make up to 200 grams of glycogen from fats and protein every day, too. On the other hand, if you are looking to lose body fat, keeping carbs to under 80 grams per day will help immensely in lowering insulin and taking fat out of storage. On the other other hand, if you are insistent on training hard for long periods of time, you would add more carbs (say, 100 per day extra for every extra hour you train hard). It becomes a matter of doing the math and experimenting with the results.

Ironically, it’s tough to exceed 100 grams of carbs even if you eat tons of colorful vegetables – as long as you eat like our ancestors and consume no grains, no sugars and few starchy vegetables (potatoes, yams, beets, legumes, etc). Even if you eat a ton of vegetables AND a fair amount of fruit, you’ll be hard pressed to exceed 150 grams of carbs on average per day. Our remote ancestors couldn’t average 150 grams of carbs a day if they tried, yet they had plenty of energy and maintained their lean mass. At 4 calories per gram that’s only between 400 and 600 calories per day. Add that in to the protein above and our sample girl is barely at 1,000 calories on the high end. So where does the rest of the fuel come from?

Fats:

Learn to love them. They are the fuel of choice and should become the balance of your Primal Blueprint diet. Fats have little or no impact on insulin and, as a result, promote the burning of both dietary and stored (adipose) fat as fuel. Think about this: if protein and carbs stay fairly constant (and carbs stay under 150), you can use fat as the major energy variable in your diet. Feeling like you need more fuel (and you’ve already covered your bases with protein and carbs)? Reach for something with fat. Nuts, avocados, coconut, eggs, butter, olive oil, fish, chicken, lamb, beef, the list is a long one. 100 grams of fats per day would only add 900 calories to our girl’s daily average, putting her at between 1620 and 1940 calories a day. Even if she averages somewhere between 1400 and 2200 calories per day over a few weeks, as long as she pays attention to protein and carbs, her body composition will shift to lower body fat and more desirable lean mass. If she decides to do some walking, a few brief intense weight sessions and a sprint day here and there, that process would accelerate greatly. If she gets to a point where she’s content with her body fat, she can even add in a little more fat to provide energy that she previously got from her stored fat.

The main thing I’ve figured out from eating this way for years is that I don’t need nearly as many calories to maintain health, mass, and body fat as I once thought I did – or as the Conventional Wisdom says I do. I eat 600-1000 calories per day less than when I ate a carbohydrate-based diet, yet I maintain slightly lower body fat and slightly higher muscle mass on even less training. Remember: 80% of body composition is determined by diet. The best part is that I don’t ever feel hungry because I base my eating on exactly what my 10,000-year-old genes want me to eat.

Yesterday, we went to the Farmer's Market and got some grass/pasture fed beef, pork, and chicken. I'll tell you how it works out!

And I'll let you know what I'm eating. It'll be my way of tracking what I do.

Today (Sunday) will be the last day of eating whatever comes to mind (i.e., as a carboholic, carbs of all kinds, simple sugars--too much of that for someone who's pre-diabetic).

My challenge to myself is to stick with a Primal way of eating for at least 30 days.

Exercise-wise, I'll get started with Bikram Yoga (not one of Mark's types of Primal exercise, but necessary for incredibly stiff/inflexible me), my back exercises (more later), and some walking. I'll get into some more intense Primal exercise (weights, sprinting) later--but have to succeed with this first!

Saturday, January 2 & Yoga

Yesterday was typical in too many ways for eating: light breakfast, not too huge a lunch (but too high in carbs: half of a french dip sandwich, chips, about 10 oz. coke), dessert at my in-laws' (cake, a bunch of nuts), dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant (LOTS of chips and salsa, margarita, large combo plate with chicken enchilada, taco, lots of beans and rice).

I'm not trying to change eating habits yet (I'll worry about that after getting home on Thursday), but the above shows areas for big improvement:

1. good, high-protein breakfast (eggs, meat, or a protein drink)
2. lunch that's low in carbs
   
3. DON'T drink sugared drinks! (I'm a cola addict when I'm drinking them--lots of high fructose corn syrup--and a concentrated source of sugar)
4. learn how to eat healthily when out to eat (and be HAPPY about it!)

I also signed up for an introductory month at the nearest Bikram Yoga (unfortunately ca. a 35-40 minute drive from where I live).

I've had two back surgeries (some time ago: 1986 and 1989), laminectomies at the L4/5 level. My back has always been vulnerable and my tendency has been to get tighter and tighter over time (less motion, less flexibility leads to less motion, more restriction).

I've done Bikram twice before, once for about 3 months, and that was the best I've felt--back, shoulder, etc) for a very long time. However, my schedule in recent years (lots of travel, including extended time overseas), made it almost impossible to do this.

Even now (although I won't travel so much), it'll be a challenge to keep up my practice, but I've decided this is the best thing for me to do, outside of back exercises that I should be doing all the time!

But, paying for my first month of Bikram is the first step.

Bad eating habits

As I mentioned, I'm overweight, probably by 70-80 pounds.

I'm also a pre-diabetic, having taken metformin for some time now, which has so far kept my A1C counts in the normal/good range (although it's been about a year since I've tested).

I was doing fairly well on diet last spring and summer, but after moving and taking a new job, it's gone downhill, with weight gain (I'll find out how much when I return home and to my scale on the 7th).

I'm definitely a carboholic (NOT good for someone with diabetes on both sides of his family--uncle and cousin on my dad's side, aunt and mother on mom's side). I like it all: bread, pasta, crackers, chips, sweets, coke, etc.

In the past when I've dieted, I've functioned best on a low carb diet, from Atkins to Protein Power. When I say function best, I mean I feel better, mind is clear, no cravings, lots of energy, etc. It takes me two to three weeks of low carbs to get to that point (past the headaches, initial lack of energy and all), but once there it's pretty good.

So why the trouble staying on it?

There's quite a good post on Dr. Michael Eade's site (co-author of Protein Power and related books, all good) about falling off the wagon. Part of the problem is we live in a carb-rich environment, so our brains are constantly being bombarded with the tempting carbs we love. And for people like me, it doesn't take many carbs to set the physical cravings off again.

That, for me, will be the most difficult task: finding ways to stay in the neighborhood (50 grams of carbs a day? 100?) that keeps me metabolically without cravings.

And, of course, the challenge is changing your life so that these aren't temporary changes, but a complete change in what you eat and how you eat--how you live! While I haven't been successful in the past in such permanent changes, that's what I need to do now . . . and to figure out how to do it.

The next thing I'm pondering, is whether for me it's easiest to go "cold turkey" on carbs and do an Atkins-style "induction" (keeping carbs VERY low for a period of time, around 25-30 grams per day, to force the body into learning to burn fat and not carbs) or to move more gradually (low carb breakfast and dinner, allow more at lunch).

Something I'm thinking about . . . more later.