MARCH 2023 Maintenance Check In


(Robin) #3

My most significant change to maintenance is turning my coffee into a fat bomb. Hoping the addition of coconut oil will help with some cognitive issues. Also added fish oil supplements since I’ve never liked fish/sea food.

Otherwise… it’s steady as she goes.
Time MARCHES on… and it’s wearing heavy boots.
It just hit me that I’ll be 69 this year.
Good news is that at 69, I will have outlived both parents and my sister. So, I’ll take it.
I got this.


#4

I rarely weigh myself and I went off in the end of the month anyway but my pants aren’t worse than before and I got stronger, yay! I really take my workouts seriously now and it shows! :smiley:

And spring arrived with various colorful spring flowers.
I only can show my crocuses :slight_smile:

We have lots of sunshine since weeks, warm enough weather too… And now various flowers, good for my spirit!

In March I try to do carnivore with a small eating window again, we will see. Even if I fail, I won’t be too far I suppose :wink: And that may be enough. But I actually want to train a bit, being stricter than usual as I have a chance when I don’t have fruit seasons. I have so much time until June. June is my major, very serious fruit season with quite a few of my top fav fruits. But it’s so far away, first I will have pretty fruit flowers :smiley: (This year I really want to buy some of those fancy strawberries with PINK flowers! I only have ones with white flower, quite a few different kinds though.)


#5

Doing well. Not gaining, not losing. Feeling 30 years younger than I did last Jan 1 (and 30 years younger than I am.) A bit of potato now and then is the only change I’ve made since hitting my goal weight, so still averaging under 30 g of carbs per day. I do a 20-4 fast three days a month. This month I’m going to follow it up with four days of carnivore. That might be my new permanent WOE (and will likely drive my average carbs back to under 20/day)

Vent:

Sometimes, I get really irritated that everyone around me seems sugar addicted. Not to mention they snack all the time. Like, people, can you not wait four flippin’ hours to eat? (answer: no. No, they can’t.) I have to remove myself from human beings sometimes because of this. I don’t want to get triggered into eating badly, and I shouldn’t/won’t say anything. Nor do most of them exercise at all. Ironically, I do best by going out to eat a regular meal with them. They can have their bread around breaded chicken and their fries and their cola, and I can eat my plain beef and maybe side salad and drink water, and we can chat. But things I used to enjoy doing socially, I just feel myself on edge the whole time because of the food, and I get tired of pushing away the box of cookies when it ends up in front of me. And I get more irritated when people take two, jam them in their gobs and say “Oh I shouldn’t. I’m done!” (push junk to in front of me.) And fifteen minutes later, they take the box of cookies and eat two more. Then sometimes have to jab themselves with insulin. It’s all I can do not to bang my head on the table at such times.

I should be more sympathetic. But I’m really, really not. lol.


#6

But if you aren’t very sympathetic, isn’t it way easier? No bad feelings about them, you can feel content that you eat better food and lead a healthier life… I suppose you aren’t quite there yet and need to evolve more. I got seriously tempted in my first (several) low-carb years too sometimes… Things changed more after I tried out carnivore.
But I am not near people eating sugar so it’s easier for me anyway. Still, I am around carbs all the time. Sugars too but it’s almost always natural. It doesn’t make it a better idea for me to eat in more than minimal amounts… But yeah, I am a veteran and trained myself moderately well. I have lapses but not often and rarely too badly.
But yes, there are hardships, life is like that and some of us have it harder than others, for various reasons. Be strong and focus on the right things, health and stuff! My health-consciousness helps me a lot. My completely inability and willingness to resist temptation less so but I can train, I like challenges… And if I fail, I bounce back.
Good luck to stick to a woe that is good for you! Eating sugary things isn’t good for anyone. I am lucky as my SO who is a high-carber with a huge sweet tooth is very, very health-conscious and vain too so he doesn’t overeat (that’s my thing but I am working on it since forever…) and avoids sugar, at least the added kind but doesn’t overdo the natural ones either.


#7

Once again, I went out to lunch with people yesterday, and that doesn’t bug me at all. They ate things I wouldn’t (bread, fries, sugary cole slaw, colas, battered cheese curds), and I had a grilled chicken sandwich sans bun (so like a grilled chicken salad, but with not much lettuce.) I had my food, they had theirs. We ate, we chatted.

It’s really just the snacking behavior that drives me to grind my teeth, and I don’t like them shoving crap in front of me. I don’t feel tempted by “food like substances,” but I also don’t want them pushed at me. And I hate the game of 'Oh I shouldn’t!" and shoving cookies into their fat gobs. Look, if you want to eat a box of cookies a day, great. Put them on the plate and eat them without saying anything about it one way or the other… But that whole “If I say I’ll be better, I AM better” nonsense gets under my skin.

I know of the science that says if you announce your intention to do something, your brain will react as if you’ve already done it. I see this a lot in fiction online discussions. Lots of announcing they’re a writer and not writing. While I’ve written 40 novels, 100 short stories, and 2 screenplays, without ever announcing my intention. This is, of course, the opposite of what “positive thinking” people say to do. Tell everyone you’re training for a marathon on your social media! Yeah… no. All that does is make you think you’ve already done it. And you’re still sitting on the couch eating Doritos.

So it’s that announcing and then caving within twenty minutes of the announcing that bothers me more than the food being shoved at me. Just eat the flipping cookies without apology and accept your fat body and love it the best you can. Don’t shame it and draw attention to it aloud! It doesn’t help you, and you remind people to judge you negatively. Or believe that junk “food” truly is bad for you, and don’t eat the cookies, and you don’t have to announce that either. “No thanks” is all you should need to say, or a smile and shake your head.

So yeah. It’s not really about the food for me. It’s about that other thing, the lying part, the announcing rather than doing part.


(Pete A) #8

I also eat what I want when I go out to eat with friends. Second nature.

I also have never volunteered or spoke of my intentions to get fit and fab.

It’s been a few years and I think knowing me alone is testament enough to my efforts! :slight_smile:


(KCKO, KCFO) #9

I feel the same way.
If I do a meet up with a friend, I like to do it over coffee these days. No one cares how I order my coffee. Black with a splash of cream does it for me. Haven’t been doing much meeting ups these past few years.


(Robin) #10

Well then, you would have hated me 3 years ago. :grin:


#11

At this point in my journey, I would, if that’s who you were. Maybe one day I’ll be able to shrug it off, or just use it as a sign that these are not the kinds of people I wish to be around, not because of the food, but because of the lack of adult functioning, no matter the age. I’ll likely forget about it after their funerals, and in some cases that’ll be in a year or less, like my friend with the 16.1 A1C. May as well order the flowers now.

In the case of wannabe writers not ever sitting their asses down and writing, often that’s kids, who’ve never worked a day in their life and have no grasp how much work that being good enough to be published is going to be. I roll my eyes but ignore. In the case of 60 year old people, I expect more adult behavior. Not sure why. Maybe I’m irked because I am reminded of abusive men, who promise not to hit again and yet do.

To paraphrase Yoda, “Do, or do not. There is no ‘oh, I shouldn’t!’”


(Robin) #12

@Keto_Lou Most of us were once products of standardized poor diet. We probably hated ourselves, more than you hated us. Self-hatred can look like arrogance, ignorance, or a refusal to accept help. It’s a pretty deep and dark well.

I can’t judge others for their inability to live up to MY expectations.
All I can offer is some empathy and kindness.

After all, it’s an inside job.


(Pete A) #13

People can do what they want.


(Doug) #14

Yeah, that A1C is definitely up there… There’s no fixing everybody, though, probably not even many people. Often, at the best it’s like pushing on a string - you can’t do it for them; they have to pull themselves.

Last time I talked to a friend and former co-worker, he said his A1C was “a little high, like 12 or 13.” Several times in the past 6 years I’ve mentioned eating lower carbohydrate as a way to stop the damage and likely get somewhat better. I never push hard, just say what it did for me. He sort of accepts it, but it always ends up with, “I’m just going to keep doing what my doctor says.” Which is a hardcore case of just upping the injected insulin dosage and the strength and number of capsule medicines.

Him sitting there with his left leg already amputated just below the knee.

And for all that, and the benefits I’ve seen from cutting carbs, it was only 6 years ago that I was ending up a streak of 4 or 5 decades of insane eating, glorying in it, reveling in the excess. My doctor told me I was a full-fledged Type 2 diabetic, and thank goodness that was enough to ‘flip my switch’ and actually change my ways substantially.

To each of us in our own time, or not.


(Robin) #15

YES! “Flip My Switch. The magic words. And we each have different switches and are often surprised at what pushes us over the edge. Could be shame, pain, the scale, age, whatever. I would bet it’s fairly rare for someone to be “ talked into it’.
Like I said, it’s an inside job.


(Kirk Wolak) #16

Checking in…
I have been following this WOE since 2018, so I am encroaching on 5yrs.
Overall, I eat carnivore adjacent. I allow nuts at times, and sucralose energy drinks.
(Doctor explained how damaging aspartame is (coke zero), so this is out).

That said, I push myself to go 2-3 months at a time without ANYTHING but meat.

But inflammation has been a problem, as well as High Blood Pressure.
It’s been a long journey. Eventually I was DIAGNOSED with CIRS:
Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome. This explains many variables.
Including the Exhaustion if I try to incorporate the gym.

The sad part, is even though I am eating “right”, I have gained almost 80lbs back,
of my 122+ lbs lost. Although I feel like giving up… I simply can’t…

My regular doctor suggested I give up this WOE… And I said I won’t. Because when
I do eat off plan (vegetables, etc). The migraines are really bad. (CIRS causes use
to be constantly inflamed, and to always have a leaky gut).

So, 6 months ago, I started on a Binder (to remove toxins my body cannot clear,
due to a genetic defect… I won the WRONG Genetic lottery, FWIW, as a poor
methylator, etc)… And RECENTLY I’ve seen some improvements.

My cognitive function is returning, and my energy/desire to move is up.
Although, I walked 5 miles yesterday, in the FL sun, and had to take a 4hr nap!
But I feel great today.

Also, I am starting to be able to fast naturally, again. And the weight has
just started to come down…

I have 6-12 more months of treatment to eliminate whatever toxins I was exposed to.
But I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

I am looking forward to being able to be more active.
I do bloodwork on Thursday, and I am hoping to see some of my numbers improve.
(As a point of reference, a few of my inflammation markers where like 5 and 7 TIMES the High End number of the range. Insane levels).

Which leads me to the point. It’s NOT ALWAYS the diet. Sometimes there is an underlying condition. (Giving a Type I diabetic more food to help them gain weight is the wrong answer).

I am in this for the long-haul. And I have started something called “Limbic Retraining”.
Look into it. It’s interesting that we may be so keenly aware of how things bother us, that we ENSURE that they bother us. (Our brains have a tough time with reality vs. beliefs!)

There is a case of a lady who has a severe reaction to all flowers, especially roses.
Straight into anaphylaxis… Her doctor had a SILK rose made. No plant stuff. And
had confirmed she was not allergic to silk way before this. And one day, when she
walks into the office he tries to hand her this rose… And she immediately started reacting
and needed epinephrine. She had a complete reaction… AS THOUGH it was a rose.
When it was a facade… This is a limbic system response.

That blows me away, AND gives me hope. I have started Limbic Retraining on Saturday.
It’s a 6-12 Month long process of “changing your mind”… Sort of reprogramming yourself.
Simple things like brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand (That’s really hard!)

Re-arranging furniture, breaking your old … easy/comfortable patterns.
Getting new neurons to wire together, to unwire some of the old ones that are holding you back.
I’ve including learning a language (something I have been loathe to do. I hated English. LOL)

I am still surprised how forcefully I told the Doc there was no way I was giving up this WOE.
I am free of MOST of my addictions, pains, suffering.
Yes, I am now overweight again, but I’ve also got the bloodwork to show that I have been very sick, and trying to heal. Which is NOT the time for my body to shed pounds. It was just trying to protect itself.

The coming 6-12 months will come and go, whether I continue on this path.
I choose this path, because of the YEARS I will have after those months are over.

Thanks for listening…


(Robin) #17

Wow, what a story. What a ride. Glad you are gaining knowledge about yourself while staying the course.
Thanks for checking back in.

Love the Limbic Retraining. I am fascinating by our brains in general. Thanks for the info.


#18

True. I don’t like the idea that keto is a miracle in itself and solves things alone. It isn’t. Not even the right keto for the one in question…

I can relate. While I don’t actually suffer on higher-carb normally, I do get some benefits on my “new” default woe and they are significant and precious to me. Sometimes people ask me why on earth do I keep doing this when I still am unable to lose fat (due to eating to much, it’s my thing)? It’s such a weird question to me. What an earth could I eat then? Carbs? :smiley: Nope, I just need tweaks, not throwing my poor body back to a worse diet. It’s not all about the weight/fat mass, our health and well-being have so many other parts…

That’s the spirit and smart attitude :wink:
Good luck for the next year!!!


(KCKO, KCFO) #19

CaptainKirk, sorry to hear of the gene lottery loss. Glad you are finding your way through it all.

Keep us updated on your progress.


(Doug) #20

Wow, Kirk, that was a heck of a post. Good luck to you - hard things but you seem very strong. The limbic system is a deep, old part of our brains. Teach that old dog some new tricks.


#21

And the month is almost over… I except WAY better from April.
I overate ALL month, of course not each and every day but usually.
My protein intake probably was 170g in average… I am so bad at minimizing it.
So I am just below 75kg as I was.

But I got stronger :slight_smile: My weights get bigger nicely. Some muscle groups improve slowly but I raised weight for all I actually train (leg is still problematic especially since I have a stationary bike, my legs are too tired to anything apart from normal things like walking since days now).

My core is still the worst. I don’t know how I can train it if I can’t do any exercises (the easiest ones, for beginners, of course) for more than a few seconds… Maybe I should train 5 times a day, that will be a few mins a day if I am lucky… So very unbalanced, I am.


(KCKO, KCFO) #22

New thread for us: