Week 3 results

Thursday and Friday, some experiments:

Thursday: Protein drink (1 scoop Designer Whey, 1 scoop BCCA, 2 tbl coconut oil, 1 tbl cream); pre-breakfast blood sugar 93, 1 hour pp 129 (!), 1 hour later 108 -- this tells me that at this point, a protein drink gets converted to blood sugar too quickly for me --  :-(   (I like the variation from eggs or meat, so too bad)
- took a walk at the mall (hey, it's 100 degrees around here!)
- beef broth
- snapper, green beans, tomato/avocado salad, a few strawberries - before 91, after 94 - a good experiment, since the strawberries (at least in this quantity) didn't bother my glucose level!

Friday: 94; eggs, bacon, strawberries; 108
- beef broth
- walk
- steak, gn beans, 1/2 small avocado, cole slaw; 95

So, blood glucose doing well with the exception of the protein drink. Both days took a walk. Energy coming up. Because of when I got up, only did two meals each day, not three.

Weight:

Body fat:

So, doing fine. 5 days on a much restricted carb count. Lost 12.5 pounds in 3 weeks, essentially 7 of that this week--i.e., the intervention levels of carbs (no more than 30 g. or so/day) caused a lot of water loss. I've been ingesting plenty of sodium (salt on food, salt in beef or chicken broth) plus supplemental potassium (tablets) and magnesium (Calm brand drink most evenings) to replace minerals lost, so electrolytes should be good. A note, however: even with this amount of sodium (I salt most things I eat--mostly use Real Salt or Maldon Sea Salt) I'm probably eating less sodium than before, when I ate lots of processed (chips, for example) and restaurant foods . . . and in much larger amounts.

The challenge will be staying on this kind of restrictive diet long-term, but given my compromised metabolic system, keeping my blood sugar low will be a very good thing!

I will continue with experiments to see how different foods and amounts effect my glucose levels. It will also be interesting to see if my insulin resistance changes as I get more fit (increase exercise and amount of lean muscle) and (eventually) less and less visceral body fat (which has direct effects on hormones). Also, I suppose, to see if my battered beta cells (that produce insulin) are able to heal when not so much is being asked of them. In other words, can I become metabolically healthier--probably not normal, but at least to the point where my body can handle a higher level of carb and not kick my blood sugar above the desired levels.

I expect the weight loss to go back to normal next week. There's only so much fluid to lose!