zebdavison's Journal, 21 February 2014

A slight drop today. Yesterday was a rest day, exercise-wise (aside from 30 minutes of light cardio), so I went low in calories, but tried to hit my LGLCHF (low-grade LCHF) numbers, and I was way too low on the fat. I was very low on carbs, and came close to my protein target, and I had a good calorie deficit. I needed to move more, and eat more, but I lacked the time, and I was still sore from the heavy lifting session on Wednesday. Today, I will make up for it.

I feel like I really need to give the LGLCHF plan a full 2 weeks, if not 4, to see whether the initial gains are indicative. There will be diminishing returns, of course, but will the plan stop working altogether? As long as it's working, I'm fine with this plan.


EDIT (some thoughts, later in the day):

I've been reading about some techniques other FSers have been using quite successfully - this idea of stopping eating when you are full. Not ground-breaking, clearly, but it can be amazingly powerful. The idea behind this kind of approach is to make yourself more aware of what your body is telling you vis a vis your hunger and the corresponding need for nutrients. When I started on my weight loss journey, I really did need to once again experience hunger - it had been some time since I let myself get hungry. I would always anticipate the need by snacking, or eating larger meals. After a month of disciplining myself, I started enjoying being hungry, because I knew that it meant I would be losing more weight!

Now that my goals have shifted a bit - I still want to be leaner, but I would prefer to get that way by building muscle - I find that the "wait until you're hungry" approach is no longer appropriate for me. For example, I wasn't hungry today until noon, and after a reasonable meal and some nuts, I'm full. But I'm way behind on my macros! That's not good because it can lead to a late-night predicament: I must either eat a late, late dinner to reach my macros or just accept being low on my macros on a high-activity day. Neither option is great. Too big of a deficit means I'm probably losing a little muscle mass. Late-late dinners throw off my metabolism for a few days, skewing all my numbers in the process.

There are two other options, however: a) just eat and catch up before dinner, and don't wait to get hungry, or b) catch up a little today, and then eat early and often tomorrow so the 2-day averages work out to match the appropriate macro numbers. Either way, I'm going to be eating when I'm definitely not hungry. And that's not necessarily bad, as long as I have planned for it, and do it with discipline.

EDIT 2 (even later):

Today is going awry. I haven't caught up yet; just now finished my 2nd meal of the day and I'm at about 60% of my current minimum RDI - that's the RDI that guarantees me only fat loss. Tomorrow morning is going to be crazy - I doubt I will have time for a good breakfast so option b) is out. I will try to slam some more fat and protein tonight. But later... I'm full right now. Very full.

184.0 lb Lost so far: 1.0 lb.    Still to go: 14.0 lb.    Diet followed reasonably well.

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1968 kcal

Fat: 89.36g | Prot: 151.28g | Carb: 139.61g.   Breakfast: Kirkland Signature Black Forest Ham, Kroger Break-Free Real Egg Product, Colorado Proud 2% Reduced Fat Milk, Great Value Frozen Sweet Peas. Lunch: Kroger Frozen Chopped Broccoli, Perdue Bourbon Glazed Chicken. Dinner: Kroger Finely Shredded Pizza Cheese, Hormel Original Pepperoni Slices,  Private Selection Mesquite Smoked Turkey Breast. Snacks/Other: Pepsi Pepsi (Can), Kroger Salted Mixed Nuts with Peanuts. more...

2990 kcal

Activities & Exercise: Wii Fit - 1 hour and 21 minutes, Sleeping - 5 hours, Desk Work - 8 hours, Driving - 1 hour and 15 minutes, Resting - 7 hours and 39 minutes, Basketball - 45 minutes. more...