A good sign.
A colleague came over before the concert tonight and we went to our usual Mexican restaurant. So no shake for me tonight.
Taco salad, no beans, no sour cream (I don't like it anyway), so lettuce, tomato, ground beef, a bit of cheese, and salsa for dressing--I ate it all! NO chips, water to drink.
I hour later, blood glucose 118, just fine.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Checking blood sugars/ 9-27-11
This morning, my fasting blood sugar was 106. One hour after breakfast 116, a negligible rise, not surprising since my breakfast shake has only 8.5 grams of carbs. But it's a good sign.
Still feeling fine. A little tired today on the walk, but it's hard to separate from normal fluctuations. Could be that, or could be that I've now gotten rid of most of my stored carbohydrate (glycogen) in my liver and muscles and am forced to burn fat.
We'll see how it goes the rest of the week. A long day today, with a trip into Dallas this AM, rehearsals in the afternoon, and a concert tonight (followed tomorrow by an 8 AM meeting, full day of teaching, and trip to Dallas for rehearsal in the evening). Life is busy!
Still feeling fine. A little tired today on the walk, but it's hard to separate from normal fluctuations. Could be that, or could be that I've now gotten rid of most of my stored carbohydrate (glycogen) in my liver and muscles and am forced to burn fat.
We'll see how it goes the rest of the week. A long day today, with a trip into Dallas this AM, rehearsals in the afternoon, and a concert tonight (followed tomorrow by an 8 AM meeting, full day of teaching, and trip to Dallas for rehearsal in the evening). Life is busy!
Monday, September 26, 2011
New Plan follow-up 9-26-11
So, a couple things:
Weight on Sunday morning (a more reasonable starting place after a big Friday--and big Friday weight):
2.5 pounds less, so one can say that most the difference is likely retained H2O. 228 is a reasonable starting point to see what effect this new diet has.
That means 19.5 pounds since I began--over 11 weeks that's one and 3/4 pounds per week . . . but most of that happened early on, with a huge slowdown and plateau in recent weeks. This new plan should change that.
Also, I've revamped my diet protocol. Given the relatively high calorie and fat count, I've modified so that I combine one scoop of Sisson's protein powder with one of Designer Protein (which is higher in protein, lower in fat and carbs). I also cut coconut oil to one tablespoon, calculated the egg yolk for only breakfast and dinner (lunch will be taken in a thermos, so I don't want a raw egg sitting around for several hours). Eliminated the BCCAs (not necessary, I think) and yoghurt. I'm also not counting the fish oil or SafSlim separately.
I've also added a cup of beef (or chicken) broth, mostly for the salt to help with the inevitable loss of salt with such low carbs. I'm not counting those calories, which are minimal.
This gives me a count of 1100 calories/day, with 90 grams of protein (plenty, I think, 33% of total calories); 25.5 grams of carbs (low, near induction levels, 9% of calories); and 72 grams of fat (almost all from the coconut oil--medium chain triglycerides, 58% of total calories).
Of course, I need to see what the result is (and how difficult it is to stick to this).
But I think it's a reasonable place to start.
I also need to start remembering to check blood sugar, to see where my fasting level is in the morning, and where the 1 hour post-prandial is most of the time.
Finally, I have been keeping up my exercise on a regular basis--keeping a complete log of exercises and how many sets and reps (I have missed almost no days, except Sunday, when the schedule is too tight to do this--also not bad to have one day off). It will be critical to see that I keep improving on this diet. Otherwise, it shows a loss of muscle, which I decidedly do not want! In the same way, I need to see that my energy stays high on this.
I should burn most of the MCT fats directly, so they should not be stored in my body (or more importantly, in my liver or pancreas). I will likely be in ketosis due to low carbs, which has a muscle-sparing effect, manufactures ketone bodies which can take the place of some of the glucose needed by my brain, and which should also repress appetite. I would say that this is lower carb than the Optifast used in the British study (despite the higher calories of my plan), and also more (and higher quality) protein. My hope is that I maintain more muscle mass (and in fact, want to increase it), while still burning lots of fat.
We'll see!
Weight on Sunday morning (a more reasonable starting place after a big Friday--and big Friday weight):
2.5 pounds less, so one can say that most the difference is likely retained H2O. 228 is a reasonable starting point to see what effect this new diet has.
That means 19.5 pounds since I began--over 11 weeks that's one and 3/4 pounds per week . . . but most of that happened early on, with a huge slowdown and plateau in recent weeks. This new plan should change that.
Also, I've revamped my diet protocol. Given the relatively high calorie and fat count, I've modified so that I combine one scoop of Sisson's protein powder with one of Designer Protein (which is higher in protein, lower in fat and carbs). I also cut coconut oil to one tablespoon, calculated the egg yolk for only breakfast and dinner (lunch will be taken in a thermos, so I don't want a raw egg sitting around for several hours). Eliminated the BCCAs (not necessary, I think) and yoghurt. I'm also not counting the fish oil or SafSlim separately.
I've also added a cup of beef (or chicken) broth, mostly for the salt to help with the inevitable loss of salt with such low carbs. I'm not counting those calories, which are minimal.
This gives me a count of 1100 calories/day, with 90 grams of protein (plenty, I think, 33% of total calories); 25.5 grams of carbs (low, near induction levels, 9% of calories); and 72 grams of fat (almost all from the coconut oil--medium chain triglycerides, 58% of total calories).
Of course, I need to see what the result is (and how difficult it is to stick to this).
But I think it's a reasonable place to start.
I also need to start remembering to check blood sugar, to see where my fasting level is in the morning, and where the 1 hour post-prandial is most of the time.
Finally, I have been keeping up my exercise on a regular basis--keeping a complete log of exercises and how many sets and reps (I have missed almost no days, except Sunday, when the schedule is too tight to do this--also not bad to have one day off). It will be critical to see that I keep improving on this diet. Otherwise, it shows a loss of muscle, which I decidedly do not want! In the same way, I need to see that my energy stays high on this.
I should burn most of the MCT fats directly, so they should not be stored in my body (or more importantly, in my liver or pancreas). I will likely be in ketosis due to low carbs, which has a muscle-sparing effect, manufactures ketone bodies which can take the place of some of the glucose needed by my brain, and which should also repress appetite. I would say that this is lower carb than the Optifast used in the British study (despite the higher calories of my plan), and also more (and higher quality) protein. My hope is that I maintain more muscle mass (and in fact, want to increase it), while still burning lots of fat.
We'll see!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
New plan - Week 11 report
Still not too disciplined this week, although not bad. I'll check again tomorrow on weight for a more accurate read, since I had a sandwich at lunch (bread!), a large Mexican meal (see a pattern here?) for dinner (didn't split the carne asada with my wife, but we each ordered one), then after a concert, had a friend over and had some "good" dessert snacks and a glass of white wine. Weight this morning after a high (and late)-eating day is:
We'll see what tomorrow's shows.
I'd been considering a very low calorie diet for 8 weeks (and still might). A very interesting study out of England used a VLC diet (600 calories/day, plus non-starchy veg). Report here . . . excerpts:
Interesting, huh?
The full study may be found here: http://www.diabetologia-journal.org/Lim.pdf
I started by thinking I'd do the diet as is, but with perhaps a little extra "good fat." Today I calculated a bit of what I'm eating and what it might look like, in terms of calories, protein, carbs, fat, etc.
My protein drinks are now Mark Sisson's protein powder, made with with 5 grams of BCCA's, one egg yolk, about 1/8 c. yoghurt (help keep healthy bacterial population in my bowel), and 2 tbl. virgin coconut oil (Tropical Traditions). I'm also talking fish oil 2 x day, plus a product called SafSlim, which is a specially processed high linoleic safflower oil, which is supposed to reduce belly fat (the bad kind!).
When I add this all together (3 shakes, plus the fish oil and SafSlim, I get the following:
87 gm. protein (ca. 20% of calories)
47 gm. carbs (ca. 10% of calories)
142 gm. fat (ca. 70% of calories)
and around 1800 calories/day.
Much more than 600 (you can probably do the math, too!).
The question is whether the coconut oil, which is a medium-chain triglyceride, fish oil, and SafSlim (there's also coconut oil in Sisson's protein powder, and a little fat in the egg yolk and yoghurt) will cause problems. MCT's are supposed to be burned directly in a different way. But will this much fat, even of a "good" kind, cause me to keep fat in the pancreas?
Presumably the positive effects of the 8 week/600 cal/day diet comes from lowering the fat in the pancreas, allowing the beta cells to return to normal function.
I'll see how I feel after a week and what the results are.
My choice, if I wish to lower fat and calories is, first, to eliminate the extra coconut oil--two tbls are 28 grams of fat, times three shakes is 84 grams, or 756 calories of fat. Hmmm . . .
I could also eliminate the yoghurt (I'm already taking some probiotics to help re-populate my gut after taking a fairly powerful antibiotic post-nasal surgery). Next would be the SafSlim, since there's perhaps not enough evidence that it works as promised.
That would lead to ca. 1000 calories/day, 84 gms. protein (33% of calories), 44 grams of carbs (17% of calories), and 54 grams of fat (ca. 50% of calories).
So, I'll see what happens this week, how my body reacts, and then decide if I should cut down fat. I could do that gradually, eliminating one element at at time.
An experiment of one. We'll see.
I'd been considering a very low calorie diet for 8 weeks (and still might). A very interesting study out of England used a VLC diet (600 calories/day, plus non-starchy veg). Report here . . . excerpts:
People who have had obesity-related type 2 diabetes for years have been cured, at least temporarily, by keeping to an extreme, low-calorie, diet for two months, scientists report today.
The discovery, reported by scientists at Newcastle University, overturns previous assumptions about type 2 diabetes, which was thought to be a lifelong illness.
Eleven people with diabetes took part in the study, which was funded by Diabetes UK. They had to slash their food intake to just 600 calories a day for two months. But three months later seven of the 11 were free of diabetes.
"To have people free of diabetes after years with the condition is remarkable – and all because of an eight-week diet," said Roy Taylor, professor at Newcastle University, who led the study. "This is a radical change in understanding type 2 diabetes. It will change how we can explain it to people newly diagnosed with the condition. While it has long been believed that someone with type 2 diabetes will always have the disease, and that it will steadily get worse, we have shown that we can reverse the condition."
The research, presented today at the American Diabetes Association conference, shows that an extremely low-calorie diet, consisting of diet drinks and non-starchy vegetables, prompts the body to remove the fat clogging the pancreas and preventing it from making insulin.
The volunteers were closely supervised by a medical team and matched with the same number of volunteers with diabetes who did not get the special diet. After just one week into the study, the pre-breakfast blood sugar levels of the study group had returned to normal. And MRI scans showed that the fat levels in the pancreas had returned to normal. The pancreas regained its ability to make insulin.
After the eight-week diet the volunteers returned to normal eating but had advice on healthy foods and portion size. Ten of the group were retested and seven had stayed free of diabetes.
Taylor thought the massive drop in calorie intake after surgery could be responsible and to test this hypothesis set up the study, which included MRI scans of the pancreas to look at any changes in the fatty deposits.
"We believe this shows that type 2 diabetes is all about energy balance in the body," said Taylor. "If you are eating more than you burn, then the excess is stored in the liver and pancreas as fat, which can lead to type 2 diabetes in some people. What we need to examine further is why some people are more susceptible to developing diabetes than others."
Interesting, huh?
The full study may be found here: http://www.diabetologia-journal.org/Lim.pdf
I started by thinking I'd do the diet as is, but with perhaps a little extra "good fat." Today I calculated a bit of what I'm eating and what it might look like, in terms of calories, protein, carbs, fat, etc.
My protein drinks are now Mark Sisson's protein powder, made with with 5 grams of BCCA's, one egg yolk, about 1/8 c. yoghurt (help keep healthy bacterial population in my bowel), and 2 tbl. virgin coconut oil (Tropical Traditions). I'm also talking fish oil 2 x day, plus a product called SafSlim, which is a specially processed high linoleic safflower oil, which is supposed to reduce belly fat (the bad kind!).
When I add this all together (3 shakes, plus the fish oil and SafSlim, I get the following:
87 gm. protein (ca. 20% of calories)
47 gm. carbs (ca. 10% of calories)
142 gm. fat (ca. 70% of calories)
and around 1800 calories/day.
Much more than 600 (you can probably do the math, too!).
The question is whether the coconut oil, which is a medium-chain triglyceride, fish oil, and SafSlim (there's also coconut oil in Sisson's protein powder, and a little fat in the egg yolk and yoghurt) will cause problems. MCT's are supposed to be burned directly in a different way. But will this much fat, even of a "good" kind, cause me to keep fat in the pancreas?
Presumably the positive effects of the 8 week/600 cal/day diet comes from lowering the fat in the pancreas, allowing the beta cells to return to normal function.
I'll see how I feel after a week and what the results are.
My choice, if I wish to lower fat and calories is, first, to eliminate the extra coconut oil--two tbls are 28 grams of fat, times three shakes is 84 grams, or 756 calories of fat. Hmmm . . .
I could also eliminate the yoghurt (I'm already taking some probiotics to help re-populate my gut after taking a fairly powerful antibiotic post-nasal surgery). Next would be the SafSlim, since there's perhaps not enough evidence that it works as promised.
That would lead to ca. 1000 calories/day, 84 gms. protein (33% of calories), 44 grams of carbs (17% of calories), and 54 grams of fat (ca. 50% of calories).
So, I'll see what happens this week, how my body reacts, and then decide if I should cut down fat. I could do that gradually, eliminating one element at at time.
An experiment of one. We'll see.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Weeks 8 & 9 report
Still incredibly busy, so haven't posted much. Moved too far from lower carbs, so reigned that in this past week starting on Monday. Exercise has continued very well: walking almost every day (finally out my front door instead of the mall with the heat broken), core exercises, and adding my bodyweight exercises (variations on push ups, pull ups, squats, and leg lifts) plus some grip work and a bit more stretching.
I've also started weekly massages (leave for one in about 10 minutes!) to help cope with a 6 days x week schedule that's really intense.
Week 8:
Week 9:
So, overall, back on better track. Total weight lost 18.5 pounds. A hair over 2 pounds/week lost.
I've also started weekly massages (leave for one in about 10 minutes!) to help cope with a 6 days x week schedule that's really intense.
Week 8:
Week 9:
So, overall, back on better track. Total weight lost 18.5 pounds. A hair over 2 pounds/week lost.
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