ED NOTE:This blog is updated daily, from the bottom. The reason I don’t put daily entries on top is so new readers will get to see the process. Scroll down for the latest one.
My actual Starting weight at Doc’s office: 240
Saturday 9/24/11 Day one: Good start- Was supposed to have Purple Power Juice-forgot grapes and blackberries
Improvised – four apples, 16 strawberries and two kiwi’s. Tasted great.
I can sort of feel the lack of caffeine although I did start the day with a visit to the gym (on a Saturday yet!) and had my hot water with lemon.
Messing with the juicer is pain in the ass. I still am not sure about using it, taking it apart, cleaning it and reassembling it. Geez, there are only five parts. Think I could handle that?
As this continues I will fill you in on what where why and how this all came about.
Starting weight: 238
Sunday 9/25/11 – Day two: Caffeine withdrawal the worst part so far. Manageable but bitchy headache. Joe Cross said he spent the first three days in bed, not wanting to be bothered. I don’t have that luxury but I did pick a pretty light weekend to get going. NASCAR is at NH and it’s only TRUCKS and CUP so my work load is not as heavy as it will be next weekend when all three series race.
Went to the gym this am!
Backing up a bit. This is all my younger son, Robb’s fault. He doesn’t know it and unless he stumbles in here probably won’t. At breakfast the other day (He and his sister were returning from a Renaissance fair and met me at Perkins.) Note to self: Perkins sucks. We talked about lots of stuff but he is a pretty healthy guy and I could kind of tell he was not really impressed with how I have ballooned up. Blew up like the Hindenburg.
We compared movies we had seen and he mentioned Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, which I have had in my Netflix cue forever. Mentioned sketchy details. Some guy traveling around, juicing and his doctor saw amazing results and told him to keep on doing what your doing. Doesn’t sound like enough to set the hook, does it?
But I came home and did watch it. And it set the hook, obviously. So here I am.
Day two weight: 236. But I don’t get too excited by a quick drop like that. Probably mostly water weight.
Monday 9/26/11 Day Three. Yesterday was bad. Felt like hammered shit with a pounding headache. Trying not to take aspirin. Today, so far seems better. Good news is I am not hungry.
Day three weight: 234.5 Hmmm….This does work but then again why wouldn’t it? I have stopped almost all carbs, sugar, caffeine and alcohol. It would be more surprising if I didn’t lose weight.
Tuesday Day Four 9/27/11: Headache pretty much gone. Getting used to the routine.
Day Four weight: 232.5 You know, I looked on the tremendous weight loss in the film as somewhat optimistic. Maybe not.
Wednesday Day Five 9/28/11: Miserable day yesterday and a lesson learned. Several lessons maybe. Had to deal with part two of getting the car inspected. Needed muffler work to pass. So I went to Monroe Muffler and brake-they could do it, pretty cheaply but it would take 2 hours. OK. So I killed time. Went down the street and slept, read, stalked around the Hoyt library. Two hours up I went back to the shop only to wait two and half more hours.
Problems? My day off shot. I had only a few sips of my “Green Lemonade” before leaving so I was hungry, angry and I had a headache. No fun!
I am experimenting with what I juice. I have a suspicion that it doesn’t much matter. I start with one of the recipes from the web site. Then I add stuff. The only caveat so far is to stick fruit with fruit and veggies with veggies.
Here’s a pretty good faq.
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/about-the-film/learn-more/faq/
Day Five weight: 232 or so. The scale was a bit wacky this am- first step was 231. Step 2 was 232.5. We split the difference. Weighing in every day is not a good idea. Who said I was smart?
Thursday Day Six 9/29/11: Wow! Six days and I haven’t eaten anything. Just me and my juicer.
Day six weight: A firm 233. Up a pound. This is why you are not supposed to weigh every day. The pound could be anything. Lack of bowel movement. Not enough h20. It doesn’t concern me much, unless I get the same or another gain tomorrow. Five pounds in six days is pretty fast. I imagine that it will slow down. What is my goal? Short-term (15 days) to get as close to 220 as I can.
Long term? Under 200 by Thanksgiving. I think this is realistic.
Friday Day Seven 9/30/11: Seven days. This has not been as hard as I thought. I do miss eating. When I am preparing my fruits and veggies for the juicer the temptation to stick some in my mouth and chew is overwhelming. But so far I have resisted. The first couple days were rough, I will admit. The detox from caffeine probably being the worst of it, although I did the advice from the web site and try to taper off.
I’d like to say I have more energy but I am not sure that is the case. I have slowly been increasing my time on the treadmill and I am at one hour now. Next week (well maybe Saturday and Sunday if I continue last weeks pattern and go to the gym on an “off” day) I will work on increasing the incline and and the speed. I am at 3.0 mph now. Goal is 4.0 with a steep incline.
I am purposely going very slow on the gym deal. I think sometimes I jump back into it and then get to an unrealistic, unsustainable point and then fall off the wagon. For a time when I was on another weight loss deal I worked up to to hours a day, one on the treadmill and one on the stepper. Then I would go into the sauna and sweat for at least 1/2 hour. It worked. I lost a bunch of weight but you know what happened.
Overall I am going to try and be realistic about this. When (note: not “if”) I get down under 200 I will seek balance.
I can see a lifestyle that combines eating smarter with loads of fruits and veggies along with some juicing as a supplement. The question is what the rest of the meals look like. I have some time to figure that out.
I think my plan will be to go back on some solid food at the end of the fifteen days for a few days, then back on it until just before Thanksgiving. So next week, 10/8 I will ease back into a fruit and veggie lunch and dinner with juicing for breakfast and snacks. 10/11 is my birthday so I will have some sort of treat. If I went back to 100% juicing on 10/12 until 11/20 or so it will be about 40 days. I have to think that I can lose 30 pounds in that amount of time.
We are on vacation for a while around Thanksgiving, traveling visiting relatives so I will take a week, see what happens and regroup when we get back.
Day seven weight: 230.5. Told you that pound gain was nada. My actual weight loss is greater than it looks like here. Before I started this regime the doctor weighed me at 245. Do the math. Probably the pre-jiucing ritual and the fact that I weigh in sans clothing here at the ranch accounts for the difference.
Saturday Day Eight 10/1/11 – Mangos are our friends. God I love the morning juice. Today I mixed up an overripe mango (Side Note-Thomas’s Market which is the closest one to us, has a great rack filled with expired fruits and veggies. As long as you use them right up the small amount of spoilage does not bother me) a big Cortland apple, 12 strawberries, a kiwi, an Asian pear (did you know there is a sex practice called “Asian”?) and a chunk of ginger. Hot damn. How could you NOT like it?
Long-suffering wife is watching all this with arms akimbo. She has been on many, many, many diet voyages. She views it all with a healthy dose of skepticism. At this point, so do I.
Skipped the gym today and probably will Sunday. A couple of very long work days.
Day eight weight: Lets call it 229.5- scale was funky today. High was 233.5 , low was 228. Got 229.5 at least twice so we will take that.
8.5 pounds in a week. More than a pound a day. If it keeps up for another week I will be 15 pounds down and closing in on 220. Pretty neat.
Sunday Day nine 10/2/11: Blood sugars in free fall. Just got a 95 fasting morning sugar which is astounding. My AM numbers are always my highest around 130 and up to 147 or so, this is real progress. Of course the goal is to be off all meds by the end of the year. It’s imminently doable at this rate.
Very late night capping off a 15 hour day! Pulled the plug, as Eric Clapton would say: “After Midnight.” I would normally be extremely groggy and guzzling coffee and energy drinks. I feel…really good. Just clearheaded and ready for another fairly long and no doubt busy day. The benefits of this program are unlimited.
Day nine weight: 230. Knew the funky scale dance was off yesterday. I also do not recall any sort of BM yesterday (once when I was a diet the check-in person asked me if I had one lately, I replied “Yeah, coming over in the car.” She just looked at me.) Truly weighing daily is just stupid, but I will continue to do it. Measurement improves performance as my old boss used to say!
Monday Day Ten 10/3/11: This is settling into a routine. Made too much of my fruit batch so I will save that for later. I usually make both the fruit batch and the first veggie one at the same time to save on one clean up. Clean up is an onerous task but I guess if you compare it to cleaning up after cooking it’s about the same.
The screen filter is the toughest. I have found if you take the sprayer, using hot water from the reverse side, that it forces some of the leftovers out. Then you can just use the supplied brush.
Had a blood sugar “moment” last night: my sugars have been in free fall but yesterday they were pretty low for me. Got a 84 in the afternoon before eating. Checked it before bed time (around 2 hours after last veggie drink) and it was 80. Kinda low although 70 is the danger level. I ate (first solid food in nine days) four (4) strawberries and tested again in 15 minutes. 111. So just that small amount of fruit spike me big time. Kinda afraid to check right after a fruit drink. But my docs all say that it’s the average that counts, not the spikes. I only worry about low blood sugar because I know that can cause me big problems.
Day Ten Weight: 230 Would like to see some scale movement. Maybe tomorrow.
Tuesday 10/4/11 Day Eleven: I’m sure that I am a healthier person for having done this. I seem to have more energy, my blood sugars are actually bordering on too low and I don’t have unmanageable hunger like with some diets. All in all a positive experience.
The down sides. I haven’t had a good BM in days. Oh I “Squirt” pretty good and I guess it’s to be expected with no fiber to speak on in my system. Maybe I should try a little Metamucil?
I am not sleeping as well as I would have hoped. This is most likely a function of age. I do have to get up and urinate at least once a night and that could be a factor as well.
My vision seems to be deteriorating. I need my glasses to read now, which was not the case before. Not sure what is up with that.
Day Eleven Weight: 230 Boy my body likes to hold on the pounds. Realistically, I HAVE to be losing weight. Here’s a pretty good article. Why the scale lies
Wednesday 10/5/11 Day twelve I will not lie. I am pretty discouraged. The scale just refuses to move and I thought for sure I was due for the damn thing to move to the left. My body is in starvation mode I think, although I have not really had any hunger to speak of. The poor thing is looking around for carbs and protein. It doesn’t know what to think. Patience here is the key. But I am running out.
I have gradually increased my time on the treadmill to a flat hour. Now I am upping the speed. Brought it to 3.3 mph today so do the math. About 3.3 miles and 417 calories. I would really think I am burning more calroies on daily basis than I am asking in. Who knows?
On the plus side I took my BP yesterday on one of those machines at the drug store while refilling my cholesterol meds. BTW the Doctor says those are pretty accurate. Good to know. Took it two times and got 127/72 and 125/74. I call that normal, although under 120 would be ideal.
Day Twelve weight: 230.5
Thursday 10/6/11 Day Thirteen: mmm… I think it will be easy to transition back to eating. I do have a plan. It will look something like this:
Juice for breakfast, fruit. Salad with a hard boiled egg or two for lunch. Juice middays, mainly veggies. Salad for dinner with steamed veggies.
I plan on treating myself on Tuesday 10/11/11. But I will go back to a total juice fast on the next day.
Day Thirteen weight: 229. Woot! Moved the needle, albeit only a pound.
Friday 10/7/11 Day Fourteen: Went shopping for my break-fast today. Loaded the cart with stuff that will steam well, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts. Also a good sized sweet potato and an acorn squash that I will bake.
I am looking forward to the break, can’t say I am not. It isn’t this so hard, it’s truly not I think with a little added calories and some more work for my digestive system with what my Mom called “roughage” I will probably lose some more weight.
Two fairly significant milestones yesterday:
I worked like a stevedore all day cleaning out my Father-In-Laws basement collection of 62 years of pack rat stuff. An almost unimaginable array of junk, which filled a 20 yard dumpster, not to mention 3/4 tons of scrap iron (engines, radiators, old sump pumps etc) that we loaded and hauled to the scrap yard.
It was dirty, exhausting work. Noon time break was hoagies and chips for everyone but me. I LOVE hoagies and chips. Drank my mean green and went back to work.
And milestone 2:
Day Fourteen weight: 228 – an even 10 pounds in 13 days. Not bad!
Saturday 10/8/11 Day Fifteen: It’s been less hard than I thought, and harder than you can imagine. The easy part is getting into a routine which looks like this:
A fruit juice in the am with strawberries, kiwi, lemon, apples and ginger. It’s really good. If I have it I mix in any other fruit on hand, pears, mangoes. That and a cup of hot water with lemon.
Then I make green lemonade with spinach, kale, cucumber, apples, lemon – enough for the rest of the day.
Supper is a few tomatoes, cucumber, carrots and maybe a cucumber.
All day I drink lots of water.
The original plan was to take a three day break here and start on a 40 day juice fast. I think instead I will do a series of shorter ones, 10 – 15 days on, two or three days “off” but by off I mean mainly eating salads and steamed veggies, maybe a baked sweet potato. Yum! Also add a bit of protein in, a dab or two of peanut butter, some hard-boiled eggs in the salad. Sounds good.
Saturday 10/8/11 Day Fifteen weight: 225.5 Amazing! 12.5 pounds in 15 days (bet it’s more tomorrow). The actual loss is closer to 15 pounds as I started at 240 at the doctors office. As Joe would say, “good on me!!”
Sunday 10/9/11 Day Sixteen : First day with solid food. Had celery with dabs of peanut butter, handful of strawberries and a kiwi. Just ate a pear. No real hunger but I am ready to eat! I will probably do a juice later on the afternoon. Lunch will be a salad with two boiled eggs, supper steamed veggies, possibly a baked sweet potato.
No complex carbs. Minimal animal protein. Should have been doing this all along.
Sunday 10/9/11 Day Sixteen weight: 225 I feel great!
Monday 10/10/11 Day Seventeen weight: 225.5 Up just 1/2 pound and considering the transition back to solid, albeit healthy food, it’s remarkable. Probably lose that with a good trip to the bathroom.
I ate a lot yesterday. For lunch I had a large salad with all sorts of fresh veggies and two hard boiled eggs. Drizzled a little olive oil and cider vinegar on top. For Dinner I had a baked sweet potato (Yum) and made too many steamed veggies so I have saved some for today.
This AM I starting with celery with peanut butter and just made a fruit juice with several pears, and apple, a couple of kiwis and handful of strawberries. Also peeled and tried an “ugli” fruit which I didn’t like. Very hard seeds. Flavor only OK. The juicer would have made short work of them I sure but in the dumper it went.
Morning blood sugar a little higher than it has been, 107. Still well within normal and certainly lower than it was. I can’t imagine it was the sweet potato but tonight we will try baking an acorn squash instead.
Found this incredible site: http://nutritiondata.self.com/ It is really the most complete nutrition guide I have seen and includes the glycemic index which is why I am sure the potato wasn’t the culprit for raising my blood sugar. It’s (the sweet potato) load is 10, out of a daily target of 100.
Tuesday 10/11/11 Day Eighteen weight: 224.5 Lost that 1/2 pound and a bit more. Knew I would.
I am beginning to waffle a bit on going back to the total juice fast. If I can lose weight on the modified one, do I need the extreme measure? Possibly not, except for a major re-boot now and then. I will think on that a bit.
Last night I again made too many steamed veggies.I tried to moderate the portion I cooked but literally could not eat another forkful. Started the meal with a baked acorn squash and resisted the temptation to prepare it with brown sugar, maple syrup and butter. It was just fine with salt, pepper and fake, I can’t believe it’s not butter spray. I also had a glass of Cabernet.
Today is my 58th birthday. I want to celebrate but I will do it sensibly, for me. This AM I had a fruit juice, two apples, a pear and two kiwis mixed with 10 strawberries. Yum! Also a celery with peanut butter. I am shopping today and will look into organic peanut butter. I am also going to add some nuts to my daily diet when eating solid food.
Lunch out with a friend. Salad bar but I think I will have at least one bowl of soup. The tonight I will splurge. I am going to the Olive Garden and will take-out spaghetti and sausage with all the trimmings. It will my first meat and complex carbs (breadsticks) in seventeen days. I will probably also finish the bottle of Cab I opened last night.
As Dad always said, “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
Wednesday 10/12/11 Day nineteen weight: 228.5 Come on! a four pound gain overnight? This is how silly the daily weigh-in can be. I have one more “off” day then a few days of straight juice fast. I am pretty sure those pounds will be gone. Fasting blood sugar 130 this morning. OK but higher than it’s been by far. But…it WAS my birthday!
Thursday 10/13/11 Day 20 weight: 230.5 So…a LOT of damage done by two days off of the juice deal. Lessons learned.
Here is what I am going to try today is a fruit juice for breakfast, big plate of steamed veggies for lunch and a veggie juice for dinner. The main reason I am not gong back to a full bore juiced only fast? I have way too many veggies that will be better steamed than juiced in my opinion. Broccoli, cauliflower, summer squash zucchini. These will go bad in few days so I am loathe to waste them.
I truly believe that the source of all my weight gain is complex carbs. I ate spaghetti two days in a row. Bread-sticks. Plus I added sunflower seeds and humus to my diet and probably ate too much of both.
Let’s try the steamed veggies and juice am and pm for a couple of days.
Then in the future I will add ONE element at a time.
Just for future reference I felt like hammered shit the day after my indulgence. And I was ravenous.
Friday 10/14/11 Day 21 weight: 227.5 So yesterdays experiment seems to be the way of the future.
What I did yesterday:
A pretty hefty fruit juice, pears, kiwi, lemon, apple strawberries.
I got ravenous with shaky low blood sugar symptoms about 9:30 and made a big salad with two hard boiled eggs. 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil. I also made a big pot of steamed veggies.
I had some of the veggies for lunch and finished them for dinner with a big sweet potato baked. Some mild hunger but went to bed with no problem.
So today the plan will be much the same. I might add a celery stick with a little peanut butter at 10 am.
I am still hitting the treadmill for an hour daily. Now up to 3.5 mph.
Saturday 10/15/11 – Day 22- weight 226 The most important thing about a diet is that it be sustainable. Losing weight is key but quick weight loss is almost always offset by equally fast weight regain.
That said I think this is sustainable at the level I am at. My blood sugars upon awakening are in 110 range. I am losing weight. And I am not feeling particularly deprived.
Yesterday:
Morning Fruit Juice. Pears, apple, kiwis, strawberries, lemon a little ginger (she’s always good.)
Morning snack-10am-peanut butter on celery stick. I found this outrageously good peanut butter. Crazy Richards 100% natural. http://www.kremaproducts.com/Crazy-Richards-Peanut-Butter/products/1/
It’s not that much more and you use lots less. Plus, it just tastes So much better.
Lunch: BIG salad-greens, onion, radish, celery, tomato, cukes, carrot. Two hard boiled eggs. 1 tablespoon Olive Oil, some cider vinegar. Lots of steamed veggies, carrots, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower.
Dinner: Acorn squash baked. Leftover from lunch steamed veggies.
Night time snack – Herbal tea.
So far, so good.
Sunday 10/16/11 – Day 23- weight 225.5 The only real deviation from Plan as outlined above was lunch out with Long-suffering wife. Salad bar soup (avoided all but the broth on the Chicken noodle at Ollies, which is chicken in name only.) and added some chickpeas to the mix. so an overall loss of 1/2 pound is OK in my book.
Monday 10/17/11 – Day 24- weight 225.5 With my weight steady for a couple of days I am going to try a juice only fast for at least today to see if that moves the needle. It’s not a real hardship and the max I will go is three days.
On energy: Saturday was a long-ass workday, ending at 1am , then up again and on the clock at 8am. Pretty short-turnaround that would have left me completely spun out before. I did it with ease and even had energy to molest the Long-suffering wife. I will discuss sex at another time but in several ways, at least one, I can vouch for the treatment!
Tuesday 10/18/11 – Day 25- weight 225.5 I am starting to learn (finally after 58 years) my bodies many tricks. One of it’s favorite is hanging onto weight. Another is gaining it back as fast as I lose it.
It’s a game and this time I have the understanding and gumption to wait it out. The goal line is still under 200 lbs. The time line is still before Thanksgiving. But if I don’t make it I refuse to crash and burn. I will survive and get there when I get there. BUT…I WILL get there.
Staying at the same weight after a day of total juice fast is discouraging, to be sure. But It motivates me to stay on another day. Today will be a significant expenditure of energy, doing more salvage work at the In-laws. I bet the ranch I still don’t get any scale movement.
Oh and my fasting blood sugar? 127. Higher than it’s been, still OK. I have my eyes on you, body. I am watching.
Wednesday 10/19/11 – Day 26- weight 222.5 In spite of the pretty good loss I think I will do one more day on a juice fast. I am hungry but not overwhelmingly so. I am thinking I could break the 220 barrier sooner than later and that would be a big deal.
Had my eye exam yesterday-full dilation and prescription check. A fairly big change in my vision. I like my eye doctors caution. He queried me about my blood sugar levels (118 fasting today) and thought it best to wait on changing my lenses until I had a good solid baseline. Patient (and patient’s wallet) over profit. Gotta love that.
No diabetic problems uncovered by eye exam.
On another front I am down to a size 40 pants, from 44. Another huge step for me. I have clothes in all my sizes and there is pair of 36 waist jeans that have my lust right now.
Patience? I have some…some but not enough sometimes.
Thursday 10/20/11 – Day 26- weight 223.5 Went off the juice fast yesterday after the AM fruit one. had a salad for lunch, squash and steamed veggies for dinner along with 3/4 bottle of Pinot Noir and some sunflower seeds. Oh, and quite a few strawberries.
A pound gain after breaking a juice fast is not out of bounds. Today I am going to go juice free and see what that does. I will just have some fruit for breakfast and then follow yesterdays routine. Maybe a little less Pinot!
Friday 10/21/11 – Day 27- weight 224 1/2 pound gain is meaningless but…juice for breakfast today.
I am going to go off the deep end tomorrow. It’s the first Saturday I have had off in quite a while so I am going to commit the exact same sin I did for my birthday – way too much Olive Garden food. It will probably be leftover till Sunday and then On Monday I will get back on the horse and do at least a three day total juice fast.
Exercise pace is increasing. Gradually taking my 3.5, towards 4.0 MPH. Have not missed a weekday and a full hour for quite a while.
Saturday10/22/11 – Day 28- weight 224.5 My body just LOVES to get stuck. I know if I did a three day juice fast that I would dump down to 220 or so. But I feel strongly that this does not need to be a race…it’s not a sprint but a marathon. Let’s reassess. In 28 days of off and on juice fasting, with some solid food but no complex carbs and no meat except for two days I have lost 15.5 pounds. That’s slightly more than 1/2 pound a day. That is amazing!
Couple that with increased energy and with the overall better health picture, lower blood pressures, lower fasting sugars and would I say juicing is worth it? Hell ya!
If I could keep up this average of 1/2 pound day? another 15 by Thanksgiving. Close to the goal of under 200. By my next Doctors appointment I will be down another 8, (November 8th) so I will be under 220 for sure.
And all this is without killing myself with hunger. That’s my justification for going off the deal today.
One program ( I think it was Body by Jake or some such nonsense) suggested a day a week off program. A learned doctor told me more like one meal. I will split the diff.
Sunday 10/23/11 – Day 29- weight 227 A major gain but expected with a deep falling off the band-wagon Olive Garden dinner yesterday. But it’s consistent with the last one and will be gone in three days or so. I actually think that the process is all the better for the occasional sin. At least that is what I am telling myself.
Monday 10/24/11 – Day 30- weight 227.5 So a weekend of pretty much unrestrained eating. At least not too much damage done and back on the horse today.
Torn about launching a full juice only fast. I did buy loads of kale and spinach so I know I should. I guess I will make up my mind when I make up my mind. I’ll let you know.
Tuesday 10/25/11 – Day 31- weight 226.5 Juiced in the AM and for lunch. Steamed veggies and acorn squash for dinner along with about 3 glasses of Boxed Cabernet and too many Pistachio nuts. I am a work in progress. Still lost a pound.
Wednesday 10/26/11 – Day 32- weight 225.5 Another pound down. Trying this: Big veggies and squash meal at noon. Salad with eggs at dinner.
Still had a moderate amount of wine and some pistachio nuts with dinner last night. And a LOAD of strawberries. Regardless of what I do it has to be better than Snickers and pretzels.
Thursday 10/27/11 – Day 33- weight 226.0
I am hungry for "regular" food. I am not even sure what the hell that is anymore. But I will stick to the deal at least for the next 20 days or so.
Friday 10/28/11 – Day 34- weight 225.5 Down half a pound? I am about where I was last week before I sinned with my Olive Garden excess. Ok-so today’s plan. I will do a juice fast at least until supper…and maybe go 100%-we shall see.
Saturday 10/29/11 – Day 35- weight 226.0 My body seems to like to hang on to a number for five days. I predict my scale will do something Sunday. I will probably be disappointed. Went juice until dinner last night. May have done too many pistachios. 100% juice today? We will see.
A look in pictures at my morning juice.
Sunday 10/30/11 – Day 36- weight 224.0 Movement! Huzaa! Trying a blood sugar experiment today. Took a home A1c test last night (a story for another time, that is) and got a 5.9 !!! This AM fasting was 115. In about 15 minutes I will take a reading after I finish my morning juice. All things considered it should be spiked with all the carbs in fruit. Standby. OK so 15 minutes after juice drink my blood sugar is 200! Yikes. But I bet in two hours it will back well within normal range. We shall see. Stay tuned. And it was-110.
Monday 10/31/11 – Day 37- weight 223.5 Happy Halloween. My body must know that I am supposed to be eating candy. It really loves to keep me waiting. Here is the goal, for now. I go for my next to last meet for the diabetes trial I am on. I would really dearly love to be under 220 for that. So there you have it, body. A challenge.
Tuesday 11/1/11 – Day 38- weight 223.5 No movement. Challenge is to not let this derail me. I really think I can lose 4 pounds by next Tuesday if I don’t weaken. But…I would really like to have a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.
Wednesday 11/2/11 – Day 39- weight 223.5 First step on scale this AM was 221.5. But the scale lies. We know this. Three days at the same weight. So if my body behaves as it normally does tomorrow should be a down day, if I don’t blow it.
Yesterday I had two giant portabello mushrooms. Grilled with balsamic vinegar. Yum. Did not seem to effect my weight so that can be a staple I think.
Thursday 11/3/11 – Day 40- weight 223.5 First blush on the scale was 226. But it eventually settled down to 223.5. Screw it-today total juice fast. That will move the needle. (hope)
Friday 11/4/11 – Day 41- weight 223.0 Half a pound. Now I know my body is holding on like I am a thirsty man in the desert. Yesterday I did a total juice fast and really not very much of it as my schedule got disrupted by an internet failure. Forced me to work most of the day at McDonald’s where there is 0 for me to eat. So I only got three glasses of juice in.
Two things are going on here. I am not getting enough to eat to lose. I know this and yet I persist in the hope that eventually things will turn around. They probably will (see?).
And I am plateauing like a mofo.
Probably fruit juice in the am then veggies/salad today.
Saturday 11/5/11 – Day 42- weight 219.5 Really danced on the scale to see that. Tried to make it higher but one time it read 218 so I will take it at 219.5. A legitimate 20 pounds in 42 days. I feel good (cue James Brown song, please).
Ate very little yesterday. I am finding the less I eat, the less I eat. Juice in the am, some veggies for lunch, a sweet potato and a pear for dinner.
Looks like the goal of being under 220 for Tuesday’s doctor visit will be attainable.
Sunday 11/6/11 – Day 43- weight 221 I love my body. Up and down with no apparent reasons. But we all know it could just be a lack of BM yesterday. Or the three glasses of Cabernet. Could be. I don’t sweat it at this point. I WILL make 220 or under by Tuesday. That’s for sure.
Monday 11/7/11 – Day 44- weight 221 Back in a holding pattern. Maybe juice for lunch today. I have lots of kale and spinach that will go bad, might’s well, right?
Tuesday 11/8/11 – Day 45- weight 219 How about that juice? Planned break today. Olive Garden here I come. Then the home stretch. Will I make original goal of under 200 by Thanksgiving? Doubtful. But anymore lost between now and then is a gift.
Wednesday 11/9/11 – Day 46- weight 221.5 An interesting day to say the least. An expected weight gain after an Olive Garden frenzy. So-three times in 46 days I have gone off the reservation. My fasting blood sugar was still very good- 114 this AM!
My encounter with the medical profession yesterday was somewhat bizarre. This was the next to last meet while I was on the trial med that I have used for a year, a form of Byetta (Exenatide Injection),but at a once a week rate rather than the twice a day regimen. I was also put on Actos and the max dosage of Metformin.
I did this for several reasons. I was in a bad way with my health, having spent the past couple of years not medicated and way off any sort of sensible program. The other factors; they paid me for each visit and paid for all my drugs, plus did a battery of tests over the year including EKG’s (three) that would have cost me thousands of dollars.
The drug worked big time. I had very little in the way of side effects and I still was far from being smart about what I ate. In spite of this I was getting healthier at least according to the numbers.
But I knew that this was all ending. So 46 days ago I did what you have read here and the results have been dramatic.
I took it upon myself to tell the Nurse in charge of my plans. For whatever reason, mostly because I am rarely serious, she did not take my plans too seriously. So yesterday when I presented myself and stepped on the scale she was a little bent out of shape.
I have been weighing in at Doctors offices for a long time and their scales are always heavy by five lbs of more. Of course when I stand on the scale in the AM at home I am buck naked and fresh from sleep so I am bound to be lighter. Not so this time! I got 216. Hey ho! The last weight that they found for me 245 so I lost 29 pounds in 45 days or so.
She was not pleased. She read me the riot act. I acted without permission. The loss was too quick. I screwed up the study. Blah, Blah, Blah.
She tattled on me to the study Doctor. He looked at my numbers, did an exam and said: ” Excellent! Fantastic! Keep doing what you are doing.”
As I was leaving the head nurse spoke up to me and said “Well I guess the ends justifies the means.” I allowed as how this would make a fine epitaph for me.
So, with the Docs permission I have shed the study drug and the Actos. I am particularly glad to be off Actos as I believe it has made my weight loss harder. actos-and-weight-gain. I am now on just Metformin albeit a higher dose than I would like.
I am tasked with monitoring my blood sugar very carefully over the next week. You can bet the farm that I will be toeing the mark as far as diet and exercise goes. I do NOT want to have to add another drug.
I have 14 days until Thanksgiving. I would be thankful to be anywhere near 200. At that point I will also be on vacation where I do plan on enjoying myself, in moderation. Then the goal? Under 200 by Christmas and by the New Year a visit to my General Care Doctor to possibly lose other meds.
I will have numbers from the blood test that they are doing by weeks end. I am pretty confident that they will be, in the words of the study Doc, EXCELLENT!
Thursday 11/10/11 – Day 47- weight 220 Blood lab made a mistake so I have to hike my ass back to them for redraw. This will push back my results by a few days. Fasting Sugar this am 102!
Friday 11/11/11 – Day 48- weight 222 Up two pounds. No biggie and in fact expected. Finished off the Olive Feast with too much wine, and ate far too many almonds/pistachios. Back on the horse today.
Saturday 11/12/11 – Day 49- weight 221 I need to stop playing around at 220, a pound up and then a pound down. Next week a possible three day total juice fast lurks. It would have to be Monday-Wednesday as I think an Olive Garden Thursday is in the cards. It’s my anniversary and I feel strongly that life is to be lived.
Now….
Blood work results: (Normal values in ( ) – my values in BOLD
Total Cholesterol (<200) 143
LDL (<100) 75
HDL (40-63) 43
Triglycerides (<150) 126
HbA1c (<6.5) 5.4
The head nurse (the one who gave me the ration of shit the other day) said “You have the best lipid profile I have ever seen!”
Take that, heart disease.
Sunday 11/13/11 – Day 50- weight 222 Weight gain could be attributed to: an experiment-had supper last night which consisted of a vegan frozen food dinner. Brown rice, tofu and veggies (All organic), which wasn’t bad but the tofu was sort of gross. I ate it all anyway. Then I had three glasses of cab and my body weight (well, a lot more than I should have) in pistachio nuts. One step forward, one step back.
Today could be problematical. Long-Suffering Wife (from this point referred to as the LSW) wants to go to a buffet this AM, maybe. If we do go I think I might be OK if stick with protein. It will be the first “real” injection of animal protein in 50 days, minus the Olive Garden sausages and meat sauce in the spaghetti.
We shall see.
Monday 11/14/11 – Day 51- weight 222 Avoided the buffet. Now I want to move the needle big time. Juice from now till Thursday.
Tuesday 11/15/11 – Day 52- weight 221 I had some steamed veggies left over from Sunday so I didn’t do total day of juice but still lost that pound. Injured myself removing a dead tree (hurt my side in a fall-pretty sure just muscle strain but it HURTS) so no gym today for the first weekday in a while. We will see what this does to the whole deal.
Wednesday 11/16/11 – Day 53- weight 225 So here is what two days of no gym plus a day of unrestrained eating can do. The 4 pounds is the least of it. Fasting blood sugar was 161! I haven’t seen a number that high in months.
Yesterday was a monumental screw job in terms of eating. Juice for breakfast, an apple for lunch (busy day) then Olive Garden dinner. FOUR freaking bread-sticks (seriously?) and the entire dinner portion of Spaghetti and three sausages, plus half a slice of cheesecake. Oh, and about a bottle of wine.
Occasion? 27 years of wedded bliss. If I do THAT too often there won’t be 28!
It’s a perfect storm. I still hurt too much to go to the gym and the overindulgence. NOW lets get serious as a heart attack. I mean it. Down 6 pounds by next Thursday. And monitor blood sugars a bunch next few days.
I am hopeful the sugar will snap back pretty fast. The weight? We shall see….
Thursday 11/17/11 – Day 54- weight 223-sugar 144 this am-high but better
Friday 11/18/11 – Day 55- weight 222 Sugar 131 this AM- interesting that this drop, slow as it is, comes without any significant exercise since Monday. What ever I did to myself on Sunday playing Paul Bunyan is still aggravating the piss out of me but I suspect it will be good by Monday.
Saturday 11/19/11 – Day 56- weight 221.5 Ate lunch with a buddy yesterday. Actually ate, a salad with grilled chicken, almost the first animal protein since the start here.
It was delicious.
And I lost 1/2 pound. Go figger.
So here is where I am at. Since vacation is next week, coupled with Thanksgiving at my daughters I am going to ease my way back into “regular” food over the next few days and probably over indulge for that week. I will try to limit complex carbs, but…I am NOT going to be a pain in the ass about it, nor make my life (and by extension the lives of those around me) miserable.
The deal will be here when I get back.
Sunday 11/20/11 – Day 57- weight 220.5 Another lunch out-another chicken salad-this time with a cup of minestrone soup. Heavenly and still lost! Has a bit of vino last PM-blood sugars love that…126 this AM.
Monday 11/21/11 – Day 58- weight 222 Stupid scale. Darn body. No reason for it (gain) but it’s just my body being my body. Sugar 122 this AM
Tuesday 11/22/11 – Day 59- weight 223 Sugar 144 this am-tried a little brown rice last night. Results as shown. Grrr.
Wednesday 11/23/11 – Day 60- weight 222.5 Sugar 157 this am-related no doubt to spaghetti and sausage feast yesterday. I will ride out these high sugars for the next week and if after getting back on the juice saddle they don’t respond I fear I will have to get an additional drug. Such is life.
THANKSGIVING 11/24/11 – Day 61- weight 223 Sugar 144 this am-Last entry for week-lets see how a vacation treats my weight/disease.
Friday 12/2/11 – Day 1- weight 000 OK- back from a week;s worth of bad eating and drinking. The clock resets to “0″ -new rules- weight taken only once per week-I will peg that at Friday from this point forward. Today will be 100% juice. Possibly the weekend if I can take it and go from there. I will start posting morning sugars on Monday. Welcome back!
Saturday 12/3/11 – Day 2- weight 000 I will admit getting back on the horse was pretty tough. Especially as I chose a VERY long work day to do it, over 13 hours! Things were a little tense in the “I wanna eat SOMETHING” department around midnight. But I persevered.
Doctors appointment on Thursday- the LAST of the diabetes trial. With my AM blood sugars as high as they are I will ask for another drug. Darn it.
