More about what I'm eating

I started out with the following as a goal:

2 meals/day (lunch/dinner)
- meals mostly paleo
- veggies/salad/cole slaw
- meat/fish/eggs
- small amounts of rice or potato (when past initial couple weeks)
- good fats
- small amounts of fruit
- small amounts of nuts (best roasted by me from raw state)
- one piece dark chocolate (when past initial couple weeks)
- when past initial couple weeks, occasionally:
- one glass wine
- small amounts of tortilla or potato chips (max 5)
Avoid entirely:
- any high sugar especially soft drinks
- grains, especially wheat in any form
- bad fats
Think about eating veggies first.
Cognizant of amounts -- eat less! Don't end up stuffed. Take home or share.
Track all food on my fitness pal app.
Grocery list:
meat, fish, chicken, fish, eggs
green beans, cole slaw, carrots, celery, tomatoes, peppers, avocados
apples, berries, other fruits
potatoes, white rice (basmati?)
dark chocolate
raw almonds, dry roasted macadamias
Also, sweetie's homemade (bone) broth! Possibly drink in the morning with a little coconut oil, also cook rice in it.

I've been pretty close:

• 2 meals a day, definitely -- doing this kind of intermittent fasting is a huge help in keeping total calories at a reasonable rate, plus the other benefits, which I'll write about later
• meals mostly paleo: I went through a period where I ate potatoes or rice at most meals, but found that 1) I didn't portion control and 2) slowed weight loss to a crawl, so went back to mostly paleo
• quickly switched to 2 pieces of chocolate as a treat at night (sometimes with a couple oz. of a nice port!)
• Once I got past the period of too many carbs each day, I've had periodic "breaks" or "cheats" (depending on the way you look at it):  for example, Friday we had lunch at a favorite Mexican restaurant: lots of chips, 2/3ds of a Mexican coke (half liter bottle), 3 enmoladas with mole and rice & beans, probably over 100 grams of carbs in that meal alone -- yesterday I followed with a low carb day, under 50 for the whole day -- however, my weight hit a new low Sunday morning of 222 pounds, down 3 pounds for the week, so clearly not a problem
• small amounts of wine--correct
• avoiding high sugar--mostly, but see above about the Mexican coke
• mostly avoiding grains, especially wheat, but some slips: a sub sandwich last Tuesday and a couple of those the week before -- some corn tortillas and chips (not yet limiting to 5!) -- need to plan ahead better--I did that more often this week, bringing food to school
• haven't eaten veggies first regularly, but am not sure that matters if I have good choices and good portion control
• much better at being cognizant of amounts/portion control 
• got back off the rice, so no bone broth recently -- will find a way, perhaps bring to school for lunch in thermos
• And . . . I've tracked almost every meal, which keeps me honest and focused!

If I look at calories the past week (Sunday through Saturday), I averaged 1591/day. Carbs were: 73, 51, 255, 59, 67, 110, 47 -- a mix of low carb days and one a bit high and one way high. However, if I look at weight loss this week, down 3 pounds this week. While I don't think I can keep that kind of weight loss on a regular basis over the long term, 1 pound/week, perhaps for awhile at 1.5 pounds/week should be totally doable.

We spent a great afternoon yesterday at a "Steak 101" class at the Local Yokel Market in McKinney, which teaches about the different cuts and grades of beef, plus info on "grass fed-grass finished" and Wagyu beef, both of which they grow and sell (plus other products from local farmers/ranchers). Very informative and then they feed you, from their grills, amazing beef of all kinds, tender and tasty! We bought a couple small roasts and some pasture raised pork brats . . . mmm! If we can find a way to do it, we'll try to get most of our meat from there--just better and better for you--incredibly better fat profile (higher in omega 3 fats and CLA, which has several benefits).

All in all, I'm moving in the right direction. I'll take labs at the end of next week, for a physical the following one, so it'll be interesting to see where my numbers are.