Ad Lib April {Final: May 1st}
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FIT_Goat
Posts: 4,224 Member
Link to original thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10124232/ad-libitum-april-challenge
Last Week's Thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142664/ad-lib-april-april-22nd
On Friday the 1st, post your final information here.
Weight (or change)
Anything else you want to include. That's it. Tell us how you fared.
{You can keep posting through the week, if you miss the 1st, obviously.}
Last Week's Thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142664/ad-lib-april-april-22nd
On Friday the 1st, post your final information here.
Weight (or change)
Anything else you want to include. That's it. Tell us how you fared.
{You can keep posting through the week, if you miss the 1st, obviously.}
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Replies
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1st April...i wasn't in yet
4th April...i wasn't in yet
13Th April...181.7 (my start) bf 33.6
15th April...180.4 (check in) bf 33.3
22nd april...180.5, bf 33.4
29th april...182.4 (today) bf 33.6
edited to add: oops i just realized i was supposed to post on 5/1. Well-it made me feel better to get this out anyway. sorry for the premature check in!
Warning: Rantish frustrated free flow of thoughts
So yeah #frustrated my stuff is going in the wrong direction (or you could say staying the same). i have been zero carb for 16 days. i realize that's not a ton of time but...i was struggling LCHF before that. Here's my thing...i am in this to lose weight. Ain't nothing moving. Not weight, Not body fat, not measurements. i do have less cravings. i have noticed a slight change in my body-but since i have no data to back that up, i am not even sure it's real anymore.
Looking back i have realized my body adapts to my ways of eating. Every time i have been in a plateau (a staying on plan plateau not an "eating what i want and not losing" plateau) i have done it by changing what i am doing. I enjoy LCHF/ZC when i am on it due to how i feel and lack of cravings. But i still have 50 pounds to lose. An argument could be made for 40 but even so....40 is 40 and i haven't made significant progress since August of 2014.
So-i am trying to decide what to do. Stay ZC / not counting cals or logging food - and give it 2 more weeks, or try something else just to see the numbers on the scale budge (or the body fat, or the measurement, or the clothing size) and hold onto my motivation.
Here's what i eat: meat of all kinds, seafood, chicken, coffee, tea, butter, HWC, cheese, water
i know someone is going to tell me to ditch dairy but i have to be honest, i am just not willing. Food is not just fuel in our culture. And it will never be "just fuel" for me, i don't think. i can't see any logical situation where 3 tblsp of cream in my coffee is keeping me from loosing 40 pounds but, perhaps i am looking at it the wrong way.
Either way-thank you for listening.
Jenny0 -
1st April...i wasn't in yet
4th April...i wasn't in yet
13Th April...181.7 (my start) bf 33.6
15th April...180.4 (check in) bf 33.3
22nd april...180.5, bf 33.4
29th april...182.4 (today) bf 33.6
edited to add: oops i just realized i was supposed to post on 5/1. Well-it made me feel better to get this out anyway. sorry for the premature check in!
Warning: Rantish frustrated free flow of thoughts
So yeah #frustrated my stuff is going in the wrong direction (or you could say staying the same). i have been zero carb for 16 days. i realize that's not a ton of time but...i was struggling LCHF before that. Here's my thing...i am in this to lose weight. Ain't nothing moving. Not weight, Not body fat, not measurements. i do have less cravings. i have noticed a slight change in my body-but since i have no data to back that up, i am not even sure it's real anymore.
Looking back i have realized my body adapts to my ways of eating. Every time i have been in a plateau (a staying on plan plateau not an "eating what i want and not losing" plateau) i have done it by changing what i am doing. I enjoy LCHF/ZC when i am on it due to how i feel and lack of cravings. But i still have 50 pounds to lose. An argument could be made for 40 but even so....40 is 40 and i haven't made significant progress since August of 2014.
So-i am trying to decide what to do. Stay ZC / not counting cals or logging food - and give it 2 more weeks, or try something else just to see the numbers on the scale budge (or the body fat, or the measurement, or the clothing size) and hold onto my motivation.
Here's what i eat: meat of all kinds, seafood, chicken, coffee, tea, butter, HWC, cheese, water
i know someone is going to tell me to ditch dairy but i have to be honest, i am just not willing. Food is not just fuel in our culture. And it will never be "just fuel" for me, i don't think. i can't see any logical situation where 3 tblsp of cream in my coffee is keeping me from loosing 40 pounds but, perhaps i am looking at it the wrong way.
Either way-thank you for listening.
Jenny
The butter and cheese are dairy, too, so it's not just 3tbsp of cream. How much cheese are you consuming? I know when I eat too much cheese, I stall or even gain temporarily. It might be worth cutting back on the cheese and see if that makes a difference.0 -
@dragonwolf, thanks girl, i don't eat much cheese at all.0
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@dragonwolf, thanks girl, i don't eat much cheese at all.
*hugs* I know how you feel. I've been the same way for years. I spent a good month at exactly 256.6. It got to where I didn't even bother weighing, because I already knew the answer. Prior to dropping my carbs to keto level, I'd sit at pretty much the same weight for months on end. My weight chart is pretty much flat.
Hang in there, change one thing at a time for a few weeks. You will find what is keeping you from losing weight (perhaps try dropping the coffee for herbal tea, or switching to decaf? Caffeine is known to raise insulin, which might be hindering you; just another thought), it just takes time and perseverance. I'd say keep going with the ZC for another couple of weeks, at least. This blog entry might help, too -- http://myzerocarblife.jamesdhogan.com/wp/2015/03/when-lowering-carbs-causes-weight-gain/
And, look at it this way - you've proven to yourself that you can maintain without tracking.
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thank you so much for understanding. And that's an awesome article!!0
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Yes, I know we're supposed to do the last weigh-in on Friday, but I'm a creature of habit.
4/1: 196.6 lbs
4/8: 198
4/15: 197
4/22: 194
4/29: 192
Down 2 for the week, and 4.6 for the month. Similar to the average for the prior 4 months.0 -
I am likely to be up for the month, but it's all because of the last four days. I have consistently weighed in as 71.9 kg (got to love cheese). Four days of that does wonders to your trend-line and average. You'll see the chart tomorrow. I expect the weight to all come off again, and pretty soon. It won't be before tomorrow though.
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Would you, *could* you, pop into the new Five Days Dairy Free thread and post a couple of sentences about your experiences with cheese please Goat? As you're the only one I've seen saying for sure that you have found cheese to be anti-weight-loss it may be encouraging for those taking part. Thank you whether you can/do or whether you can't/don't.I am likely to be up for the month, but it's all because of the last four days. I have consistently weighed in as 71.9 kg (got to love cheese). Four days of that does wonders to your trend-line and average. You'll see the chart tomorrow. I expect the weight to all come off again, and pretty soon. It won't be before tomorrow though.
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I ended up down 10.6lbs for the month, about on trend for me (from 227 to 216.4), though the weight is now coming off strangely (it all fell off between the 17th and the 26th). Of course, in March, all my weight came off between the 16th and the 29th, and in February between the 18th and the 26th... well... holy new *kitten* pattern, Batman. *boggles*
I am very excited. Two more half decent months and I will be both merely "overweight" and under 200 lbs!!! Woot!!0 -
Women have those crazy hormone cycles to deal with. Might have something to do with it.0
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GrannyMayOz wrote: »
Would you, *could* you, pop into the new Five Days Dairy Free thread and post a couple of sentences about your experiences with cheese please Goat? As you're the only one I've seen saying for sure that you have found cheese to be anti-weight-loss it may be encouraging for those taking part. Thank you whether you can/do or whether you can't/don't.I am likely to be up for the month, but it's all because of the last four days. I have consistently weighed in as 71.9 kg (got to love cheese). Four days of that does wonders to your trend-line and average. You'll see the chart tomorrow. I expect the weight to all come off again, and pretty soon. It won't be before tomorrow though.
When I get home tonight. Promise.0 -
April. Considering the holidays, the birthdays, the pizza (yes, I know, don't lecture me ) and not having enough water the past week or so because the temp dropped for Autumn, I'm happy with this.
1st April 141.5 kgs
4th April 140
19th April 141
22nd April 140
1st May 140
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April 1st - 299
April 30th - 291.6
It was a really good month overall, consistently down every week. Been lowering carbs to near 0. Looking forward to May challenge.0 -
Carbs have been *mostly* under 15 as promised, often much lower, only twice above (a 22 and a 29).
1st Apr 84.6 kgs
8th Apr 83.5 (down 1.1 kgs / 2.4 lbs)
15th Apr 83.8 (up 300 grams on last week)
22nd Apr 83.1 (down 1.5 kgs / 3.3 lbs on start weight)
1st May 82.6 (down exactly 2 kgs / 4.4 lbs on start weight)
Having revealed my calories after closing yesterday’s diary, I averaged 1337 calories per day. My hidden goal was 1450, so that was pretty close. I will be dropping my goal by 100 if I do leave my calories visible and the macro I'm going to reduce is fat (believe it or not), so I'll be set at Carbs 0-20, Fat 85-105, Protein 60-80.
My tiny Cadbury cream egg is still sitting here and I’m going to eat it at midnight tonight, then I’m going to try high meat, low dairy for a while and see what that achieves for me. I’m not joining the Meativore May Challenge because I can’t yet eat a lot of variety of meats (no steak, mince, lamb, or game meats and almost zero beef). Anyone wanting to join a short, dairy-free challenge please come to community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10151049/five-days-dairy-free-4th-to-8th-may-and-beyond-if-it-works
After accidentally under-eating for a while in the middle of this (I really wasn’t hungry), I got a feel for it and enjoyed it – a lot. I’ve also lost weight far more steadily than when I was counting calories with LC/keto. I’m glad I was still counting macros though, I really think I’m not ready yet to ‘free eat’, I would feel like a toy boat bobbing around in a big ocean during a storm if I had no guide at all.
Since I started LC…
23rd Jan 88.3
1st Feb 86.6 (down 1.7 kgs in 9 days)
1st Mar 85.3 (down 1.3 kgs – total 3 kgs)
1st Apr 84.6 (down 0.7 kgs – total 3.7 kgs)
1st May 82.6 (down 2.0 kgs – total 5.7 kgs)
So I did better at weight loss this month by *not* tracking calories than I had in the prior 2 months with tracking!
Thank you so much to Goat for suggesting this Challenge. It’s been really enlightening and freeing. I wouldn’t have done it without your encouragement and faith in all of us
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So, I had a bunch of cheese yesterday as well as some rubs with "questionable" rub. They were at Ruby Tuesdays and my best guess is around 29g of carbs. Those were the "Texas Dusted" ribs. Looks like they were the least carb coated, but still a significant amount. It was my wife's (actual) birthday, and it's where she wanted to eat. In any case, my weight is up again today. That's up from the already "up" weight.
- Date: Trend -- Average
- Apr 1: 71.2 kg -- 71.0 kg
- Apr 8: 70.9 kg -- 70.8 kg
- Apr 15: 70.8 kg -- 70.7 kg
- Apr 22: 70.6 kg -- 70.5 kg
- May 1: 71.4 kg -- 71.7 kg
Anyway, this will come off soon enough. I also suspect some of this is due to dietary slowdown. I am not constipated, but I've also gone a lot less thanks to the binding effect of the cheese. I realize that some people might think this is discouraging. But, my goal isn't really to lose a lot of weight. What weight I am losing is just extra. This month just happens to be one were I am up at the end.
And, here's the start. That gap without daily weights is when I started the dairy feast.
I am going to continue the same chart for Meativore May, and we'll see what the two month (and a week) data looks like. I'm happy with this.0 -
4/1 --142.4#
4/8 -- 143.8#
4/15 -- 145.5#
4/23 -- 141.6#
5/1 -- 140.2
Total Loss -- 2.2#
This month did end up being a very good one. It also helped me get over a several month 'stall' & I learned a few things.
~Don't over do it on the cheese. Some is okay - but the two weeks I gain three pounds I was over doing it.
~No Yogurt. (I did really know this, it's just hard) I loose my mind when I eat yogurt.
~I can eat over my calories and still loose wight, but I loose weight faster if I keep it around 1400 (my suggested is 1310)
~ I do have to track what I eat. I know the point was to be freeing, but I can't to that. I have to know. And that is okay.
I am really looking forward to next month!0 -
Ok. Well, this was interesting.
I did not loose any weight during this month. Frustrating.
BUT I did not gain weight, great news.
But I haven't lost any weight since the initial first 10 pounds the first week.
That was 2 months ago.
So for this experiment for April.
I didn't track anything. Not even carbs. I really hate tracking.
I'm supposing that carbs must have started to creep up as around week 3 I was hungry all the time despite not "cheating". This is making me wonder if my "feel good" carb level should be pretty low. Prior to this my carb goal was 15net but usually ended up around 7net. So that might explain the almost debilitating hunger.
My astham also went pretty haywire during the 4th week. With attacks that lasted hours and leaving me exhausted and CRANKY! Pair that with the constant hunger and somebody waking me up 4 hours early 3 days in a row.... it was not a happy place here!
Anyway, that aside, in all honesty, two days ago I broke and I've been on a bender since.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow I will just deal.
The carbs sucked all my energy out and it's really fascinating how much you can eat and still feel hungry! More reinforcement that the keto thing works for me at least to control hunger if not to actually loose any weight.
I'm more convinced that maybe it's just going to take more time for me to lose weight after all these years. Though I have not "proof" I'm pretty sure I'm insulin resistant big time AND all the females in my extended family are mobidly obese so I think genetics are not helping out either. Patience.
One thing is for sure, I've proved to myself with this challenge that I can confidently say I feel much better on a low carb diet. I'm very much looking forward to the next month to see if the zero carb version works better.
There's just got to be a way. I refuse to believe I am destined to exist like this the rest of my life. I want to thrive, not just spend all my energy surviving.
Experiment # 2 - Starting May 40 -
stillonamission wrote: »4/1 --142.4#
4/8 -- 143.8#
4/15 -- 145.5#
4/23 -- 141.6#
5/1 -- 140.2
Total Loss -- 2.2#
This month did end up being a very good one. It also helped me get over a several month 'stall' & I learned a few things.
~Don't over do it on the cheese. Some is okay - but the two weeks I gain three pounds I was over doing it.
~No Yogurt. (I did really know this, it's just hard) I loose my mind when I eat yogurt.
~I can eat over my calories and still loose wight, but I loose weight faster if I keep it around 1400 (my suggested is 1310)
~ I do have to track what I eat. I know the point was to be freeing, but I can't to that. I have to know. And that is okay.
I am really looking forward to next month!
The Jello Fat Bomb recipe I posted tastes a lot like yogurt due to the sour cream/heavy cream combo, but much higher fat and much lower carbs, if you want an occasional treat. 0 -
1/4 203.8
8/4 202.5
15/4 203.9
22/4 203.5
1/5 206.4
diff from 1/4 +2.6lbs
This was a disappointing result for me. I learned that my digestive system could not function properly without a higher level of fiber. This meant including more oats and I had to increase my carb target to 50 to accommodate this. Despite using a lower carb approach for about three months my weight has remained static or even increased slightly. For the purposes of this challenge I decided to register my seven day moving average weight because this gave a better reflection of what was happening. The only advantage of the LCHF for me so far has been a reduced hunger level and hopefully better blood glucose. Over the past two days I've begun a 16/8 approach and am considering trying the 5:2 system while maintaining LCHF.
I'm genuinely happy for those folk who have experienced success with this challenge but for me it did not have the desired effect. I'm persuaded that there are advantages of eating lower carbs, especially in relation to blood glucose levels which are important for me, and so I will continue to tinker until I discover what works best for me. I enjoyed the challenge and stuck it out despite the frustrations.
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Weight:
4/02/2015 247.6 pounds / 112.55 kg
4/08/2015 242.8 pounds / 110.36 kg
4/15/2015 247.6 pounds / 112.55 kg
4/22/2015 245.8 pounds / 111.72 kg
4/30/2015 245.0 pounds / 111.36 kg
5/01/2015 246.4 pounds / 112.00 kg
Yeah, seriously, only 85 ounces of water yesterday combined with a short four hour sleep, and not much else did result in the almost 1.5 pounds gain overnight. I have been all over the place this month, but honestly, I had an unexpected menstrual cycle the week of 4/15-4/22, if I remember correct, some hellacious stress with lab work and doctors appointments, did not track the entire month - kept only a loose count on carbs, but my water and sleep were so poor in April comparatively.
So for me, overall this is good - still technically down for the month, but a crazy yo-yo. I'm not ready to jump whole hog on the meat-wagon next month, though I'm going to focus on that as much as possible, but I'll have about $200 less per paycheck this month (and the rest of the year), so any excess meat purchases will be delayed for a bit...
Mostly my goal for may is going to be focused on water and sleep - and stress. Might start some yoga and such. But my endocrinologist was happy overall, said he wanted to use me as a "success story" for his diabetics to show how much progress was possible in only 3 months of LCHF eating...
My TSH stabilized with respect to T3, T4, Free T's, and all of that. According to my Endo, he said it was almost a perfect normal thyroid panel.
Magnesium was low - but I stopped my supplement several days before the test to see what I was "retaining." He said to stay on the supplement until we test again. Sodium, potassium, chloride, carbon dioxide - all maintained pre keto good levels. Selenium is in a good high/middle range place. All the rest of the CMP stayed mostly level or progressed positively.
Cortisol leveled out to in range.
Vitamin B12 levels almost doubled since the end of October, and are above the halfway range marker, but still are low as far as symptoms. Will continue to monitor and supplement.
Vitamin D3 is up 12 points since October, and up from 24 to 58 since 2011.
All blood health numbers (red, white, platelets, etc.) are level or improved slightly.
Total cholesterol is up, but that is due to LDL being up. Should have test back next week confirming that LDL particle size is the large, fluffy, not-scary-healthwise particles. All updates are from the end of October to now.
Triglycerides are down from 112 to 97. They were at 203 in early 2009.
HDL is up from 41 to 45. All time low was 29 in mid-2011.
LDL was up from 133 to 148 (calculated, again note on particle size). Actual test showed the direct rate to be 164, so calculations aren't always correct. My level this time last year was 118, and early 2009 was 135, so all around the same ranges. Looking forward to particle size report.
Fasting Glucose went up from 90 to 91, but A1c went down from 5.3% to 5.1%. Estimated Mean Plasma Glucose was down from 111 to 104, and I was told that was good numbers. Fasting Insulin level went down from 9 in May 2014 to 7.6 in end of October 2014 to 7.1 last week. Endocrinologist say that this is a great trend and approved the discontinuation of Metformin, due to treatment with positive results by diet. The drop from 9 to 7.6 was mostly medication, continued drop from 7.6 to 7.1 was 3 months of LCHF lifestyle.
So astounding positive report for my dietary changes. Looking forward to continuing trends. If anyone wants to see my actual labs, I don't mind posting. Some tests have annual results back to 2009 for comparison, and some are completely new...0
