Mike's Log

[namtrag]

Day 13, and going strong...not a single bad moment except for the Kombucha on an empty stomach about a week ago.

 

Breakfast:  eggs with avocado, half a large banana

 

Lunch: leftover burrito bowl and an apple

 

Snack: slight mess up, ate a Larabar that at least was compliant.  The banana nut one.

 

Dinner: chicken leg quarter baked, ate skin...sweet potato with ghee, broccoli, cauliflower and carrot birdseye mix.

[namtrag]

Day 14...I can't believe I am two weeks in already...this is honestly one of the easiest eating related things I have ever done.  Maybe it's because I have done the HCG diet twice, so this program seems like a cheat meal at every turn!  The timeline that I read sounds like a fiction book to me as I have experienced none of it so far.

 

Breakfast:  3 fried eggs, 1/4 of an avocado, 5 slices of leftover sweet potato (i'd call them medallions, I guess).  The eggs and sweet potato were cooked in ghee.

 

Lunch:  leftover leg quarter, sweet potato, and a small orange

 

Possibly too much starch today, but not worrying about it.  I feel great and have had no problems so far.

 

Snack will be 2 boiled eggs

 

Supper will be a yet to be determined  lamb chop recipe.

[namtrag]

Day 15

Weird day, didn't eat enough starch and felt sleepy in the late afternoon

Breakfast: eggs scrambled in ghee and 3 slices of compliant bacon from WF. We were lucky to find it and it's all gone now. The store keeps it for about a day when it comes in.

Lunch after doing leg workout using machines at rec center: epic turkey and cranberry bar

Snack: 2 eggs and 2 tbsp almond butter

Supper: chicken on a bed of salad that had apples in it...trader joes compliant balsamic dressing, handful of mixed nuts

Had a couple of test bites of today's supper which my wife cooked last night. Ground beef fried in coconut oil, sautéed with mushrooms and onions

Did not eat enough and had hunger on and off all day

[namtrag]

Day 16,

Breakfast: 3 eggs and a small sweet potato

Walked the dog for 20 minutes, and it was chillier than expected. I was lucky to have a coffee with coconut milk on the walk.

I tend to drink 2-3 large keurig cups a day, but we use ground coffee in the reusable k-cup. Add a spoon of coconut milk each cup, so I know I am getting some extra calories and fat.

 

Lunch: chicken salad made with chicken breast, eggs, and onions.  We were going to mix avocado in, but it was too ripe.  Cup of cherry tomatoes and a navel orange.

 

Snack:  2 boiled eggs.  Handful of mixed raw nuts.

 

Supper:  Bowl of burger with mushrooms and onions, over a bed of cilantro cauliflower rice, all items cooked in ghee.

[namtrag]

This is Day 16, and I am doing really well.  Finally got a comment that my face looked "healthier", whatever that means..lol

 

One thing I am starting to struggle with, which is totally unexpected, is that I am starting to get hungry between meals.  It's gotten worse rather than better.

 

I am thinking maybe it's because I am not eating enough in the past 2-3 days.  For example, today I had 3 fried eggs and a small sweet potato, a small portion of chicken salad made with eggs and onions (no mayo or avocado), a cup of cherry tomatoes, a navel orange, and two eggs, and my stomach feels absolutely empty.  

[GFChris]

This is Day 16, and I am doing really well.  Finally got a comment that my face looked "healthier", whatever that means..lol

 

One thing I am starting to struggle with, which is totally unexpected, is that I am starting to get hungry between meals.  It's gotten worse rather than better.

 

I am thinking maybe it's because I am not eating enough in the past 2-3 days.  For example, today I had 3 fried eggs and a small sweet potato, a small portion of chicken salad made with eggs and onions (no mayo or avocado), a cup of cherry tomatoes, a navel orange, and two eggs, and my stomach feels absolutely empty.  

 

Yes, I would be hungry if I ate that too.   

Try having each of your meals meet the recommended meal template of 1-2 palms of protein, 1-3 cups of veggies, and the appropriate amount of compliant fat. I wonder if you had enough veggies and fat at your meal 1? Meal 2 looks light in both protein and veg, and no fat, meal 3 looks light on protein and fat.

 

When eggs are your protein source, the serving size is the number of eggs you can hold in one hand. For many folks, that's at least 3-4.

[namtrag]

Thanks, Chris...my wife is doing this as well, and she is doing most all of the meal prep.   I think maybe I will start checking to make sure I have enough food before I leave for work.  BTW, the eggs were cooked in ghee, and we usually have avocado with it, but the ones we bought weren't quite ripe.  So that could explain some of it...I was going to have avocado with breakfast and again some mixed in the chicken salad at lunch, but alas...

 

Anyway, thanks again, and I will definitely ramp up the amount of food.

 

It's funny, what I listed looks like a lot of food, but it's real food, so it doesn't have as many calories as one might think!  I am guessing 700 max, and I am 210 lbs.  Much too low!!!

[namtrag]

Day 17, still going strong!! I am finally imagining that my pants COULD be a little looser.

Breakfast: 3 eggs fried in ghee, sweet potato, big spoon of almond butter.

Lunch: leftover hamburger bowl with mushrooms and onions over cauliflower rice. Banana

Snack: will be chicken breast roasted with olive oil (TJ Simply Chicken), and a spoon of almond butter.

Dinner: I believe my wife is cooking us some chicken legs tonight. I don't know the details yet!

I had 3 baked chicken legs, basted with ghee. And broccoli slaw sautéed in coconut oil. So yummy!

[namtrag]

Day 18.  No sweat at all...this is too easy.  I do have to say I am getting hungry between meals more than I was, but it's not a ravenous hunger.  I will try to drink more water lol.  My wife is doing great, but is having issues with being really tired.  She is sad because she had hoped by now to be energetic.  

 

Breakfast: 4 eggs fried in ghee, half a sweet potato, big spoon of almond butter.

 

Walked the dog for 30 minutes at a pretty brisk pace.

 

Lunch will be: 3 leftover chicken drumsticks, broccoli slaw, and an apple with a little almond butter.

 

Snack will be:  2 or 3 boiled eggs

 

Supper: 2 eggs over hash and compliant chorizo...large serving.  Has had red bell peppers, butternut squash, onions and spinach. YUMMM

[namtrag]

I am on 5mg of lisinopril twice a day for my BP.  Even on the meds, my morning bp had been running in the 130/85 range most mornings. This morning, even with accidentally forgetting my evening dose last night, my bp was only 120/76!!!

 

I texted my doc (yes, he lets me do that), and told him, and he was excited.

 

I then texted him and said I would like to wean off all my meds (lisinopril for bp, synthroid for hypothyroid, and metformin for insulin control).  While my insulin wasn't real high, it was in the 12 range, and they have had me on half a tablet for a while now.

 

He said we could talk about it next time I come in, which will be tomorrow, but that it was a slow wean off.

 

I am excited that I may be able to stop these meds.  I want to keep eating like this forever.  I have absolutely no cravings other than for my sugar free vanilla coffee creamer  , so I think there is a good possibility my bloodwork will show good results, even after I get off the meds.

[Physibeth]

Day 18.  No sweat at all...this is too easy.  I do have to say I am getting hungry between meals more than I was, but it's not a ravenous hunger.  I will try to drink more water lol.  My wife is doing great, but is having issues with being really tired.  She is sad because she had hoped by now to be energetic.  

 

 

Are you and your wife eating the same serving sizes? Do you have the same sized palms/hands? If you are still hungry (enough to eat steamed fish and broccoli or something else boring) than up your serving sizes at meals again...especially at meal 1. As to your wives low energy I would advice trying to increase starchy vegetables and/or fat and see if that helps. Also try not planning for a snack. If you are hungry between meals for sure eat fat and protein (hard boiled eggs are perfect) but don't plan on it.

 

So excited to see the improvements in your blood pressure and hopefully doctor will agree with weening off the meds.

[namtrag]

Are you and your wife eating the same serving sizes? Do you have the same sized palms/hands? If you are still hungry (enough to eat steamed fish and broccoli or something else boring) than up your serving sizes at meals again...especially at meal 1. As to your wives low energy I would advice trying to increase starchy vegetables and/or fat and see if that helps. Also try not planning for a snack. If you are hungry between meals for sure eat fat and protein (hard boiled eggs are perfect) but don't plan on it.

 

So excited to see the improvements in your blood pressure and hopefully doctor will agree with weening off the meds.

 

Thanks for the encouragement about the meds.  Although my meds are not expensive, I just hate using them as a crutch, and there has to be some price to pay internally for medicating yourself!  So this will be awesome.

 

She eats less and has very tiny hands.  I think she could stand to up her food intake a little, but it's tough at her job to eat much. Although they are surprised she is eating at all.  One good sign for her is that she does get hungry every 5 hours...she said in the past, she could go all day without eating.  Now that's she's eating, she is getting hungry.  Ironic, but I think it's proof the diet modification is working!

 

For me, I did up from 3 to 4 eggs this morning, and I ate a pretty big lunch today by adding an apple and some almond butter. Hopefully that will hold me until dinner, but we eat so early and so late for meals 1 and 3, that I have a huge gap somewhere if I don't eat a snack.  I eat at 6 am, 11 am, and 7-7:30 pm (wife has long hours).  If I don't do a snack at 3:30-4 pm, then I will go 8 hours without eating.

[Physibeth]

Glad to hear your wife is getting her appetite back! Definitely a sign of healing. Based on this information it might take longer for her to see the energy improvements. The timeline is averages based on lots of user feedback but I've found people who were undereating before the program take a little longer. As her hunger improves she should definitely increase her portions. 

 

On the timing issue that makes sense and totally workable. If you think you could manage more food at your meal 1 and 2 you could try that as well and maybe push your second meal to noon. I don't see this mentioned in your log but are you exercising beyond walking your dog? Pre/Post Workout meals could be another way to make this timing work. Again, nothing wrong with the mini meal as long as it has protein and fat and no fruit, just brainstorming some other things that might also work for you. 

[namtrag]

Thanks so much!  I will try to ramp up breakfast and lunch and spread them out more.  It's worth a try!

 

I am currently not exercising much.  I am from the old school.  Change one thing at a time.

[Physibeth]

Thanks so much!  I will try to ramp up breakfast and lunch and spread them out more.  It's worth a try!

 

I am currently not exercising much.  I am from the old school.  Change one thing at a time.

 

That's perfectly fine...just trying to get all the correct context some my recommendations are in line with reality.

[namtrag]

I find my theory in line with the Hartwigs, only a slight reverse of logic...cut out everything, then let the diet work, then add back the exercise after 30 days.  That way you can prove that it's the diet and not the exercise causing your body to change so dramatically!

[namtrag]

Missed posting yesterday, but had no slip ups...as I recall, I had 4 eggs, and some sweet potato for breakfast, leftover hash and chorizo, with two fried eggs for lunch, along with an apple and almond butter.  A couple of slices of roast chicken and an Epic bar for a snack, and chicken tenders cooked in coconut oil along with zuchini, cherry tomatoes, and red onions sauteed in ghee for dinner.  A handful of nuts too.

 

Was at doctor and my bp was 135/88, so no getting off the meds obviously.  The diet I was hoping would help my bp go down, but so far I guess not.  I guess my 120/75 reading was a fluke the other day

[namtrag]

Haha, my bp was 110/77 this morning...I must just read higher at 2pm!

 

Anyway, today is Day 21, and my wife and I are going strong.  Not a single slip up in 20 days!  Maybe if you count eating too much of the stuff we're allowed, but we've not had a single thing pass our lips which we were not supposed to have.  And we don't feel the least bit deprived.

 

This program has brought us into a different mentality.  We are buying vegetables organic when we can (especially the dirty dozen ones), and definitely buying organic meats and poultry 100% of the time.  In addition we are going to attempt growing our own veggies on a small scale (for the first time).  We are looking into grow bag gardening (container gardening, but using bags instead of pots).

[namtrag]

Onto day 23!

 

We ate great over the weekend.  My wife can cook so great!  We had eggs and sauteed sweet potato medallions for breakfast both days. Saturday night we had ribeyes cooked in coconut oil, along with fresh broccoli coated with a little olive oil and garlic and baked in the oven...so yummy.

 

Sunday dinner was some greek meatballs made with a paleo recipe, but leaving out the honey.  She made some zuchini hash, and some homemade tsatsiki sauce to go with it (compliant...coconut milk used in place of yogurt).  She also cooked up some chili and some buffalo chicken soup for meals during the week.

 

We aren't doing much exercise, and that's the part we want to improve on.  The program itself is so easy.  I still have no trouble complying with it.  I have never eaten so much when I was trying to improve my eating habits, and everything is so good and satisfying.  Maybe it's the fact that some people don't have the time to put into meal prep, so they trip up trying to eat lunches when they have nothing prepared.  

[namtrag]

Yesterday I had the following meals:

 

Meal 1:  4 eggs fried in ghee, sweet potato medallions.

 

Meal 2:  3 large greek meatballs (leftovers), with compliant zuchini hash, a half a cucumber chopped up, and compliant tsatiki sauce.  An apple for dessert.

 

Meal 3:  Paleo compliant buffalo chicken soup (wife made from a paleo blog).  It was so good.  The soup had cauliflower rice, chicken breast, celery, carrots, and lots of spice.  It was so good.  Also had a big handful of cashews and almonds, and an orange.

[namtrag]

My wife and I are still going strong heading into Day 24.  I didn't bring enough food yesterday, and got hungry midafternoon.  I had only a little almond butter and an orange, which I know isn't the perfect snack.

 

The only thing other than that to note is I think if I were to improve my eating habits, we are still not eating enough veggies.  We have them every meal, but I bet the servings aren't big enough.

 

We have both decided to keep eating this way for the foreseeable future.  I plan on reintroducing things just so I know how my body will react when I ingest them, but other than that, I am going to stick with the program.  Our only possible times to not do so will be on our long backpacking trips.  We have a couple of 5 to 7 day trips planned, and I am not sure how we could go grain or bread free on those trips without spending a ton of money.

[namtrag]

I haven't had time to post lately, but here we are on Day 28!  No slip ups yet by either me or my wife.  We love eating this way and our only negative is we tend to eat nuts way too much.  Other than that, we don't miss bread, rice, oatmeal, cheese or sugar at all.  I am not sure why we both had no struggles as others have had, especially me, because I was a cheesaholic and loved my sugar free vanilla creamer .  We will weigh in on Day 31 and see what has happened so far!

 

My biggest luck has been that my wife loves to cook.  She is constantly looking for new things to make.  

 

Just in the last few days, some of my jeans are starting to fit, so I know I have lost some from my middle!

[namtrag]

Forgot to mention that I had heartburn last night for a couple of hours.  I cannot figure out why, because what I had for supper, I have had before during the Whole30.

 

I had: 4 eggs fried in ghee, some sweet potato medallions from microwave, and 3 slices of the compliant "Paleo" bacon from Whole Foods (we lucked out and they had some in stock).

 

About an hour after eating, I had some pretty bad heartburn, and it lasted up until I went to bed.  About 2-3 hours in total.

[namtrag]

Day 30 is here! Time flew by since it was such an easy program. Can't wait to weigh tomorrow, as I know I am down some...some of my pants are fitting again.

My wife wants to keep going for another 30 days. I haven't decided yet whether to add back anything, but if I do, it will be dairy. Would like to start using heavy cream in my coffee. The downside is that cheese can be a trigger food for me.

[Physibeth]

On the heartburn...sometimes it just happens. I can usually pinpoint mine to a trigger but that trigger doesn't always happen. I've found great relief in taking a shot of raw apple cider vinegar in water when I have heartburn. Overall though I have a lot less heartburn eating this way than I ever did prior.

 

Congrats on Day 30! I would suggest you both decide on what you might end up eating again and do a careful reintroduction period and then decide whether you want to do another 30 days or whether you just want to find your new normal and start riding your own bikes.