05/30: Diet Day 962: Report from the Long Haul

[darkemeralds]

I've taken a deliberate and conscious break from weight loss in the last month. A couple of ill-advised choices based on desperation to lose more weight (to wit: intermittent fasting and cutting calories too far) kind of screwed up the works. Weight loss ground to a complete halt and I was getting shaky really easily. I felt a bit fragile--and I'm not a fragile person.

So I upped the calorie count to maintenance, increased my carbs by a lot, and generally loosened the controls. It was good for me. It helped me relax and stop feeling shaky, and it seems to have nudged my metabolism back online.

But I've regained a couple of pounds in the correction.

That's because my doctor said that my diet was "damn near perfect" (meaning that he approved my macronutrient balance, my avoidance of gluten and nightshades and sugar, and my devotion to whole fresh foods cooked at home), right about the time I decided to give myself a break. My hindbrain somehow interpreted this combination as "Yay! Go balls! Eat the world!"

I learned three important things during this interim phase:

1. I really do need some artificial boundaries constructed with my forebrain and based on research and stuff
2. my good habits are now solid enough that even when I go balls, I no longer descend all the way to Cheetos and Diet Sprite
3. Taking a break every few months is probably a really good idea

I'm not as keen as I used to be to lose more weight, but I recognize that it will take continued course-checking to maintain the 65 pound loss I've accomplished.

erastes's recent posts about low-carb eating have re-energized my course checking. For my constitution and makeup, a lower-carb, higher-fat diet works best. Under that regimen I feel energetic, even-keeled and satisfied; I sleep well and I don't get cravings. My huge data set informs me that a 20:20:60 ratio of carb/protein/fat is a good target for me.

So that's what I'm doing, and it feels good to be back.

Comments

[panisdead]

If you ever want to do a post on what exactly you eat, like a food log, I'd be interested.

Do you avoid nightshades for a particular reason? I wasn't aware until recently that there was a possible link to myoclonus, but I'm now wondering if I should keep a log to see if they trigger my myoclonic leg jerks when I'm trying to fall asleep.

[darkemeralds]

I find, on considering your idea, that I have way too much insecurity around to food to publish exactly what I eat. I think I could trust this particular community not to weigh in with opinion or judgment, but it's an area where I'm keenly aware of my imperfection. "What if someone notices that I ate potatoes today?"

Hm. I'll have to give that more thought.

Speaking of spuds, the nightshades are implicated in osteo-arthritis, which I have a tendency towards. In addition to taking high doses of a naturopathic formulation of MSM/glucosamine/chondroitin, I'm also advised to keep away from potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes and bell peppers. I kind of miss potatoes, but the rest I'm indifferent to to begin with, so no hardship. (I actually allow myself one side of hashbrowns a week, in order to continue enjoying a very longstanding Wednesday breakfast with a coworker-friend.)

I had never heard or seen the word myclonus until this moment. How interesting! Avoiding nightshades seems like a fairly easy experiment to try. I'll be interested in your findings!

[panisdead]

Totally understand. In retrospect this seems like a weird thing to ask; it's mostly curiosity over how one structures a diet with specific ratios.

I need to look into glucosamine. I have some long-standing knee pain that I would be happy to throw treatments at if there was a chance they would help.

Nightshades: I could avoid eggplant and potatoes without breaking a sweat, and in fact typically do, but tomatoes and bell peppers would be harder. Not hard enough to try avoiding, though. Hmmm.

I had never heard or seen the word myclonus until this moment.

Hah! Boy do I now hope that's an actual word!

[darkemeralds]

For me, the structuring been a process of triangulation. I use the diet tracker at Livestrong, but Daily Burn and My Fitness Pal do the same thing: you enter what you've eaten, and it generates a pie chart with the macronutrient ratios. You get a feeling for it very quickly.

By this time, I have a very clear idea of what my daily meals can consist of and still be in the range I'm aiming for. The calculus also includes experience: what sticks with me, what doesn't trigger cravings, where I'd rather spend my caloric allotment, etc.

For instance, I eat yogurt with dried blueberries for breakfast four days a week, and in order to balance the carb load of the blueberries, I actually make a blend of whole-milk yogurt and sour cream, essentially doubling the calories and making my breakfast a near 500-calorie affair. It's worth it to me for the satisfaction and convenience, even though it means I still have to avoid most carbs for the rest of the day.

And yes, myclonus is a word and of course I googled it and learned some stuff. I can't help feeling that medical science and genetics will very quickly be finding solutions to these mysteries. I was thinking there might be a link between myclonus and restless leg syndrome, but apparently they're quite different.

I just came across this interesting article about nightshades and arthritis. It appears to draw a connection between a form of vitamin D3 that is present in the nightshade plant family, and speculates that "the presence of the active form of vitamin D may result in abnormal calcium absorption and deposits in connective tissue with resultant pathology." Interesting!