Nanako's Fifty under Fifty

[nanako]

Hiya rebels,

 

I figured I should start one of these to help me with my weight loss.

 

I am starting at a whopping 75kg (164lbs) and ideally would want to get down to my old 62kgs/135lbs in the long run. However my main goal is to lose fat, not muscle so If you're asking, I would be most content with a few kilos less and 2-3 dress sizes lost.  

 

Moderate paleo works well for me although I have to stay under 50-60 grams of carbs a day to actually lose numbers on the scale. 

"Moderate" for me means strict no-grains, no legumes, but allow for a little bit of dairy (my daily latte!!!). Also I'm not going wild on the oil and condiment side, so if I feel something I am cooking needs a bit of soy sauce, I'll use it. Also I get to have a glass of wine a day or two. I do eat some fruit but have to limit it due to the sugar/carbs.

 

I am allowing for one cheat day a week where cheat means bread and a bit of cake or chocolate - just enough to keep me sane and on track. We buy our fresh (artisan) bread on Thursdays, so that would be an obvious choice. I don't want to binge on cheat days because I know the consequences (brain fog, rages and depression for me - very nice!). Still, I don't want to go completely off gluten (yet?) because I have heard that your reactions to exposure worsen if you avoid it completely. So the weekly dose should have a homeopathic value. We never buy processed foods or anything anyway, so it's not too much of a change ... (well we do for the kids but I honestly, never eat them. My nemesis is bread. And pasta. And rice. And beer ... hmmm.... you get the picture )

 

This is basically the set-up - very boring, I know, I'm sorry!

This daily log should get me to Christmas - 50 days - and then I'll wrap up and see how I've done.

 

I'm a bit anxious because I have never gone through with anything like that for longer than 3 weeks!

Fifty days seems an eternity ... at the same time, all the time,  my life just seems to be rushing by - blink of an eye and another month is over. So it should be possible to cheat oneself into it, right? 

 

Like they say, it's only an effort until it's routine ....

 

I'm not putting down any workout goals here because I quite enjoy them and I don't have to force myself too much to do them, really... 

I have been in denial about this over the last half year - I've improved my fitness, telling myself how well I was doing, and have allowed myself to totally relax on the food thing. If I'd been stricter I would be at my goal weight now, hah! Instead I have gained back what I had already lost (about 3kgs) when taking a break after an injury. 

 

So the part I really need a kick in the pants is the food bit, and I need to remind myself that weight loss really is 80 percent diet and exercise, no matter how much I enjoy it, is just the cherry on top.

 

I'll put down my measurements and weight every week and report everyday. This will help me keep the mindset - you know how you think, Oh, I'll post sth tomorrow ... and then it slips and everything falls apart.

 

My makros goal is something like 100g fat, 50g carbs, and 110g protein - plus the wine, which has no makros, only calories, in my tracker -  that should get me to under 1800 kcals a day. There will be a 7 pm kitchen curfew - or, making it sound more professional: my eating window will be from 7am to 7pm with a 12 hour wine-drinking and sleeping fasting period in between.

 

Should be easy enough!

 

A couple of extra things:

 

One, I found it's easiest for me to have a giant monster salad once a day as suggested by Mark (MDA). That's one meal sorted and it's really easy to throw together. 

 

Two, I want to try and have at least one handful of green leafy veg with each meal. 

 

 

 

 

TLDR; This log covers fifty days paleo under 50g carbs for weight loss (duh!).

[nanako]

I'm crying hot tears right now reading up on my first challenge wrapup, end of May. 
I'd lost 4.5kgs in 4 weeks, carbs averaging at 83g/day, and calories at 1850. It's so easy! How, oh how could I gain it all back?

 

Well I have one excuse explanation which is a change in my BC - that one explains 2kgs. Had to be done though so no crying over spilt milk.

The other 2.5kgs is just eating carbs vs not eating carbs. Simple as that! 

At least I can still fit into my 28" jeans. As of last week. I have feeling the weight creep back on since the end of the holidays (when my injury happened) but have been in denial since ... Glad I managed to turn a corner here. But I have re-gained inches: that's a 75.5cm waist and a 78cm tummy (at belly-button) at this point. 

 

Whatever. I did well all week last week.

 

I get three extra points for

• not having rice when were having Keema
• encouraging my husband to munch his way through a whole bag of salt-and-vinegar crips alone
• not going overboard on my cheat day on Thursday (Halloween (!!!) and I only had one mini half bar of choc)

 

Last week's makros average is: 100 fat -86 carbs -138 prot with a 1916 kcal average.  

Not too bad in a getting-back-on-the-wagon kind of way but we need some fine tuning.

[nanako]

1 down, 49 to go!

 

First day went well. I had my usual eggs with kale,pumpkin, and bacon, then skipped a meal (yay! Hey, that's me skipping a meal!), then for dinner I had the rest of the Keema.

 

One minor glitch - we went to see the fireworks and we each got a mini-hotdog which I ate before I remembered I was on lo-carb paleo. Oops. 

So my makros were:

Kcal 1841 - fat 106 - carbs 83 - protein 100.

 

Today is tricky - we're having friends over for dinner and I have to be careful what I eat. Don't want to spoil the party but I don't want to go overboard.

 

Other than that it's going well - I'm in keto mode, as thirsty as a goat. So I guess that means I've started burning fat, yay!

 

Woke up tonight at 3 and couldn't go back to sleep for an hour. Was that the hot-dog bun?

I do get nightmares when I eat the "wrong" thins. Very Windsor McKaye. 

Good thing I have this log now so I can examine some correlations. 

[nanako]

Lovely evening yesterday - but no way staying under 50! But I'm not beating myself up, I'll use this as my 'cheat' day. 

 

Makros: kcal 2150 109 fat  134 carbs 116 prot.

 

Still in 'keto' mode - and I've lost a kilo of water that I had gained yesterday. Not much of a success but the right direction. 

 

Waking up at 3.30 again - that was my 6yo this time, but again I couldn't go back to sleep right away, read a novel for an hour. 

Oh the nights of uninterrupted sleep ... 

[nanako]

Yesterday was not great food-wise, I ate clean but not low-carb nor low-cal.

I started making mistakes early:

 

-didn't have breakfast but had nuts at desk

-brought carb-rich falafels into work as lunch - leftovers from yesterday!

-went to the bonfire with the kids and had an ale and a burger (with bun) as well as some leftover hot chocolate (hmmmm!) 

 

Makros: kcal 2060, fat 78, carbs 175, prot 97.

 

Not sure if this would count as a low-fat carb-refeed day - but that would be stretching it really!

I really have to get my plan back on track.

 

On the positive side, my kids said it was the best night ever and I agree.

 

Also I am being SO nice and calm and friendly. Is it really just the gluten that gives me those irrational rages? Or the blood sugar fluctuations?

I should do a proper exposure test, see if it's gluten, yeast or something more complex. 

Anyway it has to do with nutrition because I recognize that happy calm state from the last time I ate really clean. 

Really happy. Keep it that way. 

[nanako]

A good day yesterday food-wise.

Makros: 1884 kcals fat 100 carbs 80 prot 118

 

Ok, the carbs are still not under 50 - I had two apples at the office because I was too lazy to go out and get another egg.

But other than that I'm back on track. 

Prepared my breakfast and lunch for today so it won't happen again. 

 

EDIT: Weight is down to 74.5kg - mostly water I know, but going the right direction. Still thirsty, fat burning mode.

 

6%

6%

[nanako]

(I am actually posting this on Friday Nov 8th)

 

4 days down, 46 to go.

 

Good day calorie-wise, but again too many carbs! It was bread day after all ... 

 

Makros: 1771 Kcal, 81 fat, 111 carbs, 121 prot.

 

On the negative side, I feel like I caught a cold on top of the (really bad) one I had last week.

Will I ever exercise again?

 

Will make an effort today - tomorrow we are invited for dinner at a friends' house. The other guests are vegetarians which makes it dangerous ... hope there's a smart choice for me, otherwise I'll have to bite the bullet. That would be 4 cheat days in a week, a cheat-week rather! Anyway at least the calorie count is ok so that should have some effect I hope. 

[nanako]

5 days down - 45 to go! 

 

This week was a carbs desaster, I'll admit it. 

 

Yesterday I ate BISCUITS ffs at a workshop. Still managed to keep the calories below 1850. 

 

I'm not as hungry anymore! I remember hitting that milestone in my last paleo challenge. 

Yesterday evening I had eaten under 1500kcals and wasn't starving. 

But I figured I'd messed up on the carb front anyway (bad thinking!!) so I treated myself to some hummus and had another glass of wine.

 

Anyway makros: 

kcals 1669 fat 68 carbs 148 prot 66

 

Too much fat for a carb refeed day I'm afraid! But hey, at least I'm eating less. That's a good thing.

 

The cold-on-top-of-the-cold-I-had-anyway is better. Maybe one of these days I'll work out again. 

 

Stats update: weight is down to 74.25kgs I guess. My scale doesn't have digits though so it's very much interpretation at the sub-kg level.

[nanako]

6 days down - 44 to go.

 

Less than ideal day yesterday. 

Went to a friends' house for dinner. Tried to make good choices but got a really bad reaction to tortilla wraps (additives, or wheat ? I have been eating small amounts of bread over the last week but these were all artisan w/o additives). The less processed foods I eat, the worse the reactions become.

Kcal 2222, fat 105, carbs 154, prot 93.

[nanako]

I'm moving this to my challenge thread and will log daily there.

 

http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/39601-nanako-loses-some-deadweight/