Opps, forgot to get this up earlier.
How is the Maintenance Crew doing? Hope the holidays are not throwing you off track.
I’m doing good. Actually under my goal weight currently, just a little but that is better than the last two years of being over it, and not just a little bit. I did an easy 3 day fast and followed up with timed eating and OMAD, I’m finding I like alternating those two protocols. Keeps my husband confused, but it works for me.
I wondered where this post was! I’m around the same weight 141.4 this morning.
Now to get through New Years!!!
I don’t do any fasting, and am still ambitious in the gym! It being so cold out doesn’t allow me to get out and walk/hike the way I want, so dealing with that…
I was 75kg in the morning, in my pyjamas. Or yesterday morning, I don’t remember. Sigh. My weight and waist went up a little bit. But I didn’t do a proper, no clothes, no drinking first weighing since some time. But I don’t care, I feel what I have on my pants. A tad tighter than at 72kg.
Now I just focus on OMAD. I have mixed results. It’s SUPER hard to do OMAD without much carbs 
Or at least some, like keto level. I try to do carnivore(-close) OMAD (maybe with some tiny bites too, tasting stuff, little cream in my coffee) and usually fail. Sometimes not. I just get satiated way too quickly but it doesn’t last long enough. But I think I can do it, I just need more practice, I barely started 
I don’t go full-blown holiday season eating yet (whatever it means. probably not much, I need my 130+ g protein and similar amount of fat, first of all. not much room for carbs). I don’t even feel much desire but it MUST happen due to mental things like it’s the time to eat citruses and stuff… And sometimes I must taste whatever I bake but a tiny is enough (it doesn’t mean I don’t eat more but it’s not joy and not needed so hopefully I won’t do it. again). I bake very much in December, at least until I realize it’s too stressful and paint rocks instead… But I need to paint rocks anymore. I wanted some bluish metallic acrylic paint but forgot… Good that I have so many glittery nailpolish I can’t really do much with 
I just buy whatever cheap gel look nailpolish supermarkets have - as long as I can imagine it using on some rocks 
It’s colorful, glittery (okay, it may or may not be good. but not like most of my other acrylic paints except the antique gold and bronze) and shiny, no need for an extra shiny coating…
I stopped painting rocks months ago, oh my I should restart!
I expect my weight stays the same. It’s December. And it’s me. It’s super hard for me to either lose or gain. Well, losing is a tad easier but I need my OMAD first.
I should exercise more, sometimes the weather is too bad for me to go out. And I am weak as a kitten and have a longer term muscle ache that I did some chest presses again… I want lots of exercise! It’s great weather for running, finally, why don’t I do it? Except that I dislike running but still wish to and as I never do any cardio, it would be pretty useful? I barely can lift my weight as I get winded immediately…
I have various goals for December but fat-loss isn’t really one of them. Not realistic enough. But possible and I definitely take steps to ensure January will be different!
I never gained a noticeable amount in December ever, no matter how carby they were (and usually they were VERY carby. and of course, even more fatty. I never had a keto December and I don’t think I ever will though it’s not impossible) so I don’t worry about that. I just find the chances of losing fat quite slim. December is about the worst month for that. Despite only having 2 local fruit seasons, neither are serious… And not being a summer month so the heat doesn’t stop me from going out but the sunshine actually tempts me. We have way too little sunshine lately.
I got thoughts but I try to behave for the rest of the month.
My maintenance deal in brief: three meals a day, under 20 grams carbs, real food, grow my own veg. Exercise 1 hour almost every day, weights being the priority and what I do first (in case i get interrupted). Sometimes I do arm-focused aerobics, sometimes I dance, sometimes I walk, sometimes I run, sometimes I get on the stationary bike in my community’s fitness center. And I do balance work, also because I see the people around me get pulled over by their 15 pound dog and have to lie there until someone notices them. And a couple times I week, I get on the floor and get up five different ways, also because I don’t want to be lying there awaiting rescue like that. I’ll do almost anything to avoid that future.
Not in brief: same old. Letting my body decide its own perfect size, without my (brainwashed) ego getting in the way. Staying with under 20 grams/day of carb, which is under 10 the days I eat at home. I’m eating out more this month, which takes some planning. A friend asked me out to Panda Express, and they add sugar to every single entree. Good gods! Americans are such sugar addicts! I figured teriyaki chicken, no sauce, was my best bet and actually had a few calories and protein grams in it, so I won’t starve. Nothing more irritating than spending $15 USD on food out, only to still be hungry when I get home. Not when for $15, I got four pounds of t-bones at the grocery store this week.
I have been running some experiments with glucose and ketone meters. I’m interesting in seeing if I can drive my GKI down to 2. If I ever have cancer or a stroke or signs of dementia, I want to know how to get down there to the “shrink tumor” and “reverse Alzheimer’s” level. It’s nearly impossible! Zero carb days with my normal hour of exercise are not doing it–I am stuck at 3.0-3.2. The fewer meals I eat, the more my blood glucose goes up, so fasting is definitely not the solution (nor do I want to do it for myriad other reasons). I am not a great fan of cooking four meals a day, but that’s probably the next thing I’ll try, just in the spirit of the experiment. I don’t want the GKi there all the time, mind you. I just want the “how” in my health toolkit, in case I need it. At my age, when all your friends are having cancer and can’t remember simple words and are on their way to their third joint replacement surgery, I think about these things.
I bought some nearly-clean beef kielbasa, and I made myself cloud bread last week, so I’m switching up familiar menus a little. The cloud bread would be super-convenient at times, for close to zero carbs, but it’s a bit more hassle to make than I’m likely to commit to weekly. Again, I think of it as another 'toolkit" issue. I know how to make it, it turned out well, so if I want sandwiches, I know what to do now.
Pax.
it is, but I wonder if it’s more common with women. A lot of the science on fasting being good for “people” has been done on men. It 100% FEELS wrong to me to deny my hunger and only eat 800 calories in a day. That I have an adverse reaction with a number I can also point to isn’t shocking to me–only that it was so easy to find was a mild surprise.
I also get a BP rise with fasting, and a 30/20 drop within 15 minutes of a meal.
It feels wrong for everyone with proper workings I would think…
If I go below 1600 kcal, it should be zero (or almost).
And I have read zillion times that fasting, even IF with a small eating window is usually not good for women.
It is an absolute must for me, I am too big of a hedonist to suffer through a bigger eating window but of course there are many exceptions. We all should listen to our body and hopefully it’s good enough to be able to communicate its wants.
Each to their own, I always say.
But 800 kcal for a day (or 500 in the 5:2 fasting regimen - why it is called fasting I have no idea -), that is just plain wrong for basically everyone.
I like my OMAD meals at 1600 kcal with 130g protein. But it’s very individual.
But I came to talk about my changes. I still didn’t weigh myself, my morning zombie state isn’t very good for it but my pants never were this very comfortable since years! Better than when I was 72kg. Just a bit but I appreciate every little bit of change in the right direction. If things go well, I will need another test pants as it will be comfortable and changes won’t be noticeable. I still can use it after a bigger meal but as meals are different, it may be not so accurate. Not like my before meal state is the same, I may or may not drunk a lot of water at that point… But maybe it’s not that very important… I don’t drink a lot at once and it doesn’t stay in for long either.
@Keto_Lou If you really want your ketones up and your glucose down, you could try a paleo ketogenic diet (PKD), which is basically a lot of animal fat and a little meat. You could try what Amber O’Hearn recommends, and eat the fat first until you’re basically full, then eat the meat.
By the way, for me, exercise causes my blood sugar to go up.
Love Amber O’Hearn. And a half hour of exercise makes my blood sugar drop 10 points. We’re all so different in the details, it’s rather odd!
I am laughing about giving up on the GKI experiment for now. My numbers make little sense to me compared to what might be a “normal” person’s.
But i feel terrific! Sleep hard, wake up rested, energy to/urge to exercise. I may try again at some later point to get to that magical 2.0 number, but so far, 3.0 is as low as I can get it, and that comes from “doing what my body urges me to.”
A huge stress source just lifted today. I did note in the middle of it “there is no urge to dive into a vat of carbs.” I raged aloud, I got teary with rage and frustration. I growled a few times, and I chipped a molar from grinding my teeth, but I did not reach for carbs at all. Nice to feel I’ve divorced that emotion from the need to soothe it with food. Food is fuel. Emotions are emotions. They’re in appropriately different boxes for now (and may it continue like that for many more years.)
Hmm. So this long-term stress event disappeared, and I tested my GKI again this morning, and it’s 2.5
Thinking maybe stress is a bigger deal than I’ve always thought!
Now the big maintenance goal will be “don’t stress out.” I mean, external events are going to happen, right? But I want to find ways to accept, not obsess, not rage… be Stoic about it.
The last almost 3 yrs. taught me that lesson.
I now use some mindfulness apps regularly because, yea, stress is going to happen. Now that my stress levels are lowered, I have gotten back to my goal weight range and even when i indulge in a few extra carbs, no problem,
I use Fitbit Premium’s section on Mindfulness, they use multiple sources including Deepak Chopra, I get that through my health insurance. My husband subscribes to CALM, free through his insurance, he also has subs to AURA (5$/pm)and Nerva ($75/per yr.$$$ but he loves it).
I have found lots of freebies but I do not respond well to some voices, so I am happy I have something that works for me. Give a few a listen to see how you react to their presenters.
December maintenance in my world means my yearly check-up and being weighed. I’ve somehow managed to slip down into the 140’s. Didn’t notice except smaller waist size in jeans.
The magic continues.
