All Animal April Check-In #1

FIT_Goat

At this point, you've been doing this for 10 days. How are things going? Anything shocking you've noticed? What's the good, the bad, the ugly?

I had peanuts before dinner the other night. I've felt a little off since. Minor gut issues and a headache all yesterday. Of course, the headache could have been coincidence. Or it could have been that I didn't sleep well, which could have been from the peanuts.

In any case, I've got some burgers cooked for lunch today. I'll probably have burgers for dinner. I need to take out some meat for tomorrow.

I had to shave. This has nothing to do with eating meat. But, the chin hair had to go. My wife didn't like just a mustache, so I am now a baby-face. I am taking longer than I expected to get used to it. We will see how the kids at school react today.

Lillith32

So, I've stuck with AAA. Today got on the scale and gained extra 2 lb, which I am taking as a gentle reminder to quit eating so much (I've been consistently going over calories, and not running off the extras due to a knee injury). I think I am going to stick to AAA. It is easier and more convenient for me, it makes sense, and it's helping me stay full longer. I will be playing around with it (cutting out the dairy, caffeine, IF, etc) to find a combination which will help me achieve my goals faster. I actually made an Instagram page for my ZC diet (almost_zero_girl) and may start up a blog.

Sunny_Bunny_

I did a 1 week check in on the original thread, so I recalculated to get into the 10 day check in schedule.
Anyway, everything is going great for me. No major issues. Didn't have any cheats. I was tempted by some almonds. But I held strong. It wasn't easy going without peppers when I made fajitas last night either, but I just ate my chicken and shrimp with extra cheese and some sour cream and was fully satisfied.
I don't know for sure, because I mostly had it under control before AAA, but I had always said that if I ate "too much protein" that I had trouble digesting it. I'm not even talking a lot. Just hitting the range of 75g or more for consecutive days seemed to be the trend. I know cheese was an issue before too. But, I'm probably getting the upper end of a good amount of protein for me now on a daily basis. I don't know since I'm not tracking. And I'm eating cheese more than before and I haven't had any constipation issues. As a matter of fact, I had to reduce my magnesium so that I didn't have the opposite issue. So it seems, in the absence of vegetables, I don't have any issues with protein or cheese. I guess the issue wasn't with them...
I am including MCT, coconut oil and my regular supplements as I had always done in my AAA experiment.
Since I like numbers, here's the current stats as of 4/10

Scale weight: 134.0 -0.4 lbs
Trend weight: 133.1 -2.3 lbs
BF: 32.7% -1.2%
SM: 28.3% +0.8%

It's nice to see that not counting or restricting calories, just eating when I'm hungry, is not hindering my progress toward my weight loss goals. Not that I didn't have faith in it. But, I was prepared for an increase while my body learned that this is our new thing. Things have actually accelerated again, even before I started AAA. I stopped tracking a week before and that week, I had a "whoosh". So between 3/22 and 4/1, I had lost all of the 1.5 pounds I was up from the previous month on my trend weight. I never felt stressed about tracking, but I did feel relaxed upon stopping. Maybe that was enough to get things going again. Or maybe it was a coincidence. Anyway, I'm enjoying seeing that body fat trend go down!
Will be thrilled if I can get under 30 by the end of the month!

tlflag1620

I also did an end of the week check in on the original thread, but I'll do a day 11 here:

5'7" female
SW: 149 lbs
Waist (at narrowest point)- 27.5"
Hips (at widest point)- 37"
Thigh (at widest point)- 22.5"

GW: 140-145 lbs

End of week one: 146.4 lbs (-2.6 lbs)
Won't bother rechecking measurements until challenge is over.

Day 11: 146.8 (+0.4 lbs since last check in; -2.2 lbs overall)

I mentioned a cheat I had on Saturday (a handful of cashews and some green beans with my dinner). Haven't had any cheats since then (I usually have a cheat meal every one to two weeks, so this was not outside what I typically do, however "cheating" with cashews and green beans was pretty amusing). I felt somewhat bloated after (really more "full" than I had felt since starting the AAA). It didn't impact my weight, didn't notice any issues from it, so I'm not worried about it. Having had such a big loss in the first week, I'm not surprised to see my weight stabilize (of course it's only been 3 days since my last check in, so who knows what will happen in the rest of the week).

I really had expected to see some LC "flu" symptoms that first week, but didn't have any. Maybe I was good enough about the salt, or maybe I wasn't eating as many carbs as I had estimated previously (I estimated 50-80 g per day, but I haven't tracked in months, so who knows, lol). I am still missing veggies, nuts, and berries, and will be glad to get back to them, but eating carnivore really isn't hard.

Dragonwolf

I'm still about where I was when I started this month. I'm slowly getting back on track, though trying to navigate a social life that's orders of magnitude busier than this time last year and doing all-animal has been challenging and I'm still hitting speed bumps with it. I'm getting there, and I'm fully compliant on days I'm not with other people, but meals with others is still a bit tricky for me (in large part because it's not simply eating out, but a fair number of potlucks, and a best friend who makes kick-*kitten* cookies).

Oh yeah, and my husband has taken to making root beer again. So that's been around. I've found it to be a fairly positive addition, because it's fermented, but I'm trying to not make a habit of drinking it.

kirkor

I'm counting the days 'til May so I can have coffee. :-/ Not even from an "I need caffeine" standpoint, and not a "water is icky" standpoint ... I'm not dragging, I get good sleep, I drink a lot of water all the time anyway ... I just MISS my AeroPress coffee brewed over ice (I started drinking cold coffee when I got Invisalign trays, and now I prefer it) ... (also I use the AeroPress to brew yerba mate on occasion)
Boo.
Oh well, at least my adrenal glands are getting a break.

FIT_Goat

I had a bunch of cheese and sour cream tonight. We'll see how my weight reacts. I already suspect it won't be good.

ChoiceNotChance

I had a few slip-ups over the weekend. Not really with food, but in the alcohol department. Back at it with gusto now. Didn't weigh myself today because I can feel that I'm retain water. We'll see tomorrow.

FIT_Goat

Well, I am up 1.4 kg on the scale this morning. That's a little over 3 pounds. I feel bloated and nasty. It was a lot of dairy, but it wasn't like I went massively over my calories. Clearly, my body really does not like dairy.

Fine, I will go back off the dairy. It stinks. I love cheese and sour cream.

nvmomketo

I haven't noticed anything surprising.... I'm almost disappointed. My appettite was a bit down with it, but not by a lot. I lost about 3 lbs in the first week but this past weekend I was staying with relatives and had some plant food. The scale jumped 5 lbs because of it. I haven't weighed in a few days so I have no idea what it is doing now.

I liked my BG on AAA. My FBG especially has come down (it's been creeping up over 6 again for some reason). It's been high again for a few days since the weekend.

Nothing better or worse for my autoimmune issues. If anything, it has been a bit worse over the last month, and I was pretty close to all animal by then. I don't know if it is a coincidence or not.

I sort of miss veggies. I like the raw crunch and a good cheese dip on them. It appears that the only reason for me to avoid veggies is keeping FBG lower. I'll see how it goes for the rest of the month.