Day 96 - Testing the boundaries of the diet

As I mentioned in an earlier post, two weeks ago, while moving, I made the mistake of eating nearly a half pound of jerky in a single day. While fine for a normal person, 32 grams of carbs caused my ketosis to plummet to nearly nothing. I spent three days rebuilding, going through genuine hunger pangs and the like until I finally re-emerged.

With some time on my hands, I've started experimenting with various ways to break the program's rules, and to see the results.

On Saturday I visited a few friends for dinner, at which I ate a roughly 14oz steak for my only real meal of the day. While I think that three meals a day is the best way to go, I never had any problems during or after that day, making it possible to save up for a really big meal.

Earlier last week, I deliberately ate over my protein limit, but stayed completely within my carb limit. Eating approximately 32oz of meat in a day, or twice my allowed value, resulted in no real ketosis drop and no hunger effects the next day. I know better than to play with fire too much, but it's good to know that I really can indulge now and then with no catastrophic results. Of course, it's worth pointing out that even in this "indulgence" I was still under 2000 calories for the day, which at my weight, age, and build is well below maintenance.

Coupling these results with the knowledge I picked up about eating small amounts of high fat foods like cheese or bacon shows that I have more long term options than originally presented. I also know that staying in ketosis is incredibly important, for my own sanity if not for any actual weight loss reason. On the other hand, I've learned that much like in any other diet, a calorie slip is just a calorie slip. Unlike most diets, a calorie slip doesn't mean I gain weight or even plateau, I simply lose weight slower.

My ability to weigh myself accurately is hamstrung by moving apartments, followed by going home for nearly a week, but I'm currently at 345 by my scale, for 88lbs lost. Clearly the loss has slowed in the last few weeks, but not alarmingly so.

I did buy some new clothes recently, as many of my casual shirts were simply too large. The clothes at Casual MaleXL run big, for obvious reasons, but I've gone from barely fitting into all of my 4x Big shirts to fitting nicely into 2X Big shirts. The big size means they're more generous in the gut, which is still my problem. Picking up a handful of things is helpful in a number of ways. I look better, I feel better wearing them, I have a lot of pride in a tangible result, and also I feel far more motivated to stay on the program.

When I went home, many people were visibly shocked by my weight loss, which felt great. It had been about six weeks since they had seen me, and the ~40lbs I lost in that time were far more noticeable than the first 40. I'm starting to day dream about how noticeable the next 40 is going to be. With 350 gone with no real fanfare, the next big milestone is 100lbs lost, at 333lbs. I should reach that in a week or so, and even with scale fluctuations I should be there by my visit to the doctor next Tuesday. I was 365lbs May 10th, which was 5 weeks before this vist. If I'm down to 340, that puts me at 5lbs a week, which is still a healthy clip for this diet.

The real prize that's coming over the horizon in a few months is the double joy of going under 300lbs, and the reaching 287lbs: the threshold into Morbid obesity. it's been a joke, but as arbitrary lines in the sand go, getting under that one is a big goal of mine. It's up there with "buy clothes at the mall" and "ride roller coasters again" as things that I really want to accomplish on my diet.

I've been reconsidering leaving the diet in November so I can enjoy the holidays. I'm starting to think that as long as I can handle the Protein Fast, I should stay on it for my weight loss, and simply look at the Mediterranean diet as a maintenance program. I have a long way to go, and maybe I'll break down and need to get off before then, but at this point I'm over three months in, and six or seven more months isn't unthinkable. I think the comfort I have with my diet, coupled with the fact that while weight loss has slowed since the first month the speed at which my body is changing is almost faster makes staying on both psychically satisfying and wise.