Sunday Fall 2017- still plugging along- mostly photos, and a few geeky graphs- September 2017

What's working for me September 2017

1.I go through a Quarterly Weight graph review. Here's a peek at what I review quarterly. Failure for me to look at different trend lines = weight gain for me. So I'll look back 1-2 years. Here's a Q3 2017 look back into 2016. 

My answer to is Intermittent Fasting correlated to a lean weight maintenance body and favorable outcomes. Answer: YES!!!  Also, did my total intake calorie wise contribute to my 2015 to 2016 weight gain? Probably not. More to come on this. 

Thanks to Heads Up Health, I can look at my data over time. Not an ad, just a tool that I use.

Body weight VS Calorie Intake Jan 2016 to Dec 2016

Another tool- My Fitness Pal.  I noticed that the "challenges" like OATMEAL would have me weight gaining and not in weight maintenance. Careful what ads and challegenges you get exposed to on that free version of the app. Try 30 days grain free and see what that does. How do you look, feel and perform? How's your two hour post glucose after you reintroduce OATMEAL?  Key learnings.

2011 to 2017 long term weight maintenance

2. Portable LCHF/Keto/Paleo meals on my beach walks. Yep!!! Roasted chicken, sauteed cabbage, guacamole, pink salt, balsalmic vinegar, and olive oil. For the WIN!!!  My work insurance discount is in early October 2017. Bringing my own lunch helps financially for planning for my life goals. WIN-WIN!

3. Eating to keep my health goals in mind is one part, but the other part is getting out to the beach to releax, take photos and be in nature It helps my weight maintenance game for sure. And #walkingforweight maintenance is another helpful tool in my maintenance plans.

Beach Glass

Carlsbad Cliffs, Sept 2017

Carlsbad Tide Pools Sept 2017

What didn't work in the past

1. Not reviewing key data like body weight, food tracking, and taking action within 1- 2 months of weight gain.

2. Eating WW enchiladas (low fat/ high carb) or Lean Cuisine Pizzas and thinking I was going to get lean and it was cuisine. Neither was true and I had my head in the sand about thinking weight loss/weight maintenance was totally calories in, calories out. Those matter, but so do food quality and processed carbs. Sigh. OATMEAL was not a lean, normal weight food. In fact, OATMEAL was a key driver to almost being diagnosed a type 2 diabetic.

3. Walking a lot while morbidly obese was possible, but I got plantar fascitis and almost had to cancel a family walking trip out of it. Of course, adding in high inflammatory food to fuel and the extra weight did NO FAVORS to my health and well being. But they told me I could have a Skinny Cow Ice cream and walk off the points!?!??  Somehow I knew it wouldn't work but I didn't want to stop getting food high. Food Addiction stinks.

Hope you are all well this Fall season. Plan for the holidays now. We are a little less than 100 days away from the end of the year. Plan now how you'll deal with the junk food. Escape Common VS Normal right now.  Probably a blog post on that, soon!

Long Term Weight Maintenance 5 years, 7 months check-in, finally trending lower

May 2011 to Sept 2017

May 2011 to Sept 2017

Starting weight 187.4 lbs

Goal Range 113-125  lbs 

2017 best Goal Weight Range 113 to 116

Current Weight  113.6 lbs

Keeping off    73.8  lbs

Time in maintenance 5 years, 7 months

Age 51

Menopause 4+years

Height 5'1"

BMI 21.5

BMI ave this month 21.5

BMI ave last month 21.9

Glucose (fasting & 2hr post this month range 80-99 mg/dL)

Ketone blood= 1.1 mmol/L

Food Template:  Paleo, LCHF,  Keto-( due to fasting ), 

Total Carb ave =41 grams per day
Net Carb ave = 26 grams per day

Abstain from all grains, most sugars*, dairy. Nut free, artificial sweetener free **
* 85% chocolate 1X per day, weekends 1-2 squares of 70% chocolate instead
** Tiny bit of stevia in my Natural Calm, magnesium supplement

Food Timing or Time Restricted Eating Window or Intermittent Fasting 17:7 or 18:6

OR  12:12.  I'm alternating short TRE with the 12:12

17: 7 example:

17 hours fasting (water only)
7 hours eating, 3 meals
Eat 6am Stop eating at 1 pm

Or 18:6, I change it up a bit

12:12 Example

12 hrs fasting (water only)

12 hours eating, 3 meals, one small meal (no protein)

Eat 6am, Stop eating at 6pm

Auto-Immune Hashimoto's Disease 1997, 100 ug Synthroid daily

Food Addict in Recovery: 6+ years

High Risk, but never diagnosed Type 2 diabetes

Walking 13,219 ave steps per day,  August

Weight lifting : 1-2X per week, 

Sprints  4 days per week stair sprints 

Stair Ave/day for the month 15 stairs (Apple Health Kit)

Flexibility and stretching: 2-3X per week at home or gym- sit to stand to sit. 

_____________________________________________________-

August and early Sept 2017 key take aways, What's working for me

1. Incorporating 12:12 fasting in with 17:7 fasting. Time will tell on this. Not sure if my lowest adult weight is a fluke or a usable tool. I had a flu vaccine and that may have impacted my weight to be lower than usual. Time will tell.

2. Having higher calorie intake days interspersed with lower calorie intake days. Higher on the 12:12 days. Lower intake on the 17:7 days. Not by much, I'm telling you 100-150 of variation can make or break weight maintenance. Again, time will tell on this tool. 

3. Daily weighing, stopping the upward trend lead to a downward trend. Data is king. I recorded, I moved on to my goals and not away 

4. Fat grams closer to protein grams when I need to reverse a trend. Fat grams a little higher during long stretches of maintenance. Too much protein makes me bloated and my joints hurt. Too much fat (more than adequate) will give me a muffin top.  My body speaks, I've learned to listen. Because I like my skinny jeans, YO! 

Because Aug 2017 was so hot in So.Cal

5. Drank more water

6. Consumed more salt. I have to maintain my blood pressure, too low otherwise. (no it does not impact my positional vertigo- that's positional, not salt related. )

Truth! 

What didn't work for me in the past

1. Eating 2-3 hours (excluding my packaged very low calorie weight loss plan). Really, my body was telling me STOP this, too much, too often. Goodness, I wish I had listened. My body had no choice but to protect itself my eyes, my kidneys, my liver- so lay down visceral fat it did. No other choice. I gave my body no options. 

2. Eating high calorie, low fat all the time. I never gave my body the chance to run on ketones and it's own fat stores. I had lots of energy in stored fat, I just never set up the biochemistry to access it. I was too busy eating those points friendly chicken enchiladas and low fat ice creams.

3. Low fat, no fat, by GOD fat was going to make me fat, Doesn't everyone have bloat, joint pain, obesity as they age?  I thought that common was normal. I didn't give myself a chance to do low carb because I was afraid fat would give me a heart attack. I wanted to follow the guidelines so bad, I couldn't see that I was closer to a heart attack eating low fat (hs-CRP =6.8) than higher fat hs-CRP <2.0 most of the blood draws.

Here's to giving ourselves the chance to see what works and the wisdom to get support from those who can help y fine tune your food template when your body sends the message, loud and clear.

4. I did not look at macros at all. So total calorie intake matters for me, but so does eating lower carb (not too low) and then messing with my protein and fat grams. The body builders knew all along. LOL.  I do need to mind the types of foods I eat for stable weight management. 

5. I drank water, too much and felt horrible. Water logged for sure. 

6. I ate salt, but with fast food and poor oil sources and super high carb. It was a problem weight and blood pressure wise. I felt terrible and binge urges. Not good.

Onward.  More Low Carb USA stories, got my Keto Mojo meter, but wisely, I'm not chasing ketones. Just taking data and moving on with my day. 

Graphs, I have them, no apologies. My best tool is hopping on that scale everyday.

Telling my story via Carole Freeman, Keto Carole at Low Carb USA 2017, Part 2- youtube inteview

Telling my story

A huge thank you to Carole Freeman of Keto Carole for the interview at Low Carb USA 2017. Carol interviewed me and Jaydeep Bhuta ( a 100+ pound vegan keto weight maintainer).

Keto Chat, Episode 59 Low Carb USA San Diego 2017






Be sure to connect with Carole Freeman, who also holds masters in Phycology AND Nutrition at her site https://ketocarole.com/

Follow her on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ketocarole/

Kudos to Carole and good luck speaking at KetoCon this weekend in Austin, Texaas. Carol is eating some Austin BBQ in my honor

Kudos to Low Carb USA San Diego 2017 for hosting us in the best view conference room that I've ever seen!!! Being able to look out onto the Broadway Pier and the harbor life kept me calm, cool and collected. :)

I was looking at an iPad screen and the flashing lights on the MeVo during the interview so my looking down was my curiosity getting to me. LOL.

Have a listen and thank you for allowing me to tell my story Carole!!!