I got my glucose/ketone meter in the mail last week (free from Abbott Labs) but I was sad to see that there were NO ketone strips included with the meter. I will have to scour the net for a cheap way to source these ketone strips. However, my lack of progress on the diet front probably means I won’t be able to take full advantage of them until I can stabilize my carb intake.

I gorged on Saturday, ingesting over 2000+ calories, including 3 cobs of corn that didn’t sit well with me. My body is still trying to right itself after that feast–I generally don’t get rid of grain carbs very easily, and my progress on the scale showed this. My morning glucose yesterday was also higher than usual…and my lack of real exercise or sleep probably did not help any. 

I joined a “Shape Up” team at work to keep me extra accountable. Turns out the company I work for is sponsoring a Global Wellness challenge and is sending all of its members a wellness package which includes a free pedometer to get people started. My coworkers and I will be participating to see if we can walk a total of 2500+ miles in 8 weeks.

An expense I am looking to make involves my new weightlifting hobby. It’s been a terrible time trying to lift anything more than a 44lb bar over my head just do a squat–although it makes for a great all-body challenge. However, my space prohibits me from investing in a full power rack–which most of the net consensus seems to agree is the best investment. It appears I will have to go the upgrade route and purchase a stand with the most upgradeability until such a time as my man and I get a new house.

However at $365 + SH, this is still not easy money to come by. But I am doing my research, looking at reviews and price shopping; checking eBay and Craigslist regularly for any great deals. I am also in the market for fractional plates since I am unable to make those 20lb jumps with my current set of bumpers.

Serious foot cramp yesterday trying to squat a bar…I could have sworn I warmed up sufficiently but it didn’t stop cramping up at the 10th set.  So maybe it’s time to wear shoes!

Until next week! 

Glancing at my first week progress, MFP’s reporting tool showed that I was above my carb ceiling 2 out of 7 days–not a great number starting out. As much as I would have preferred to stay under that 50g mark, it was a challenging task just to stay under 100g. Further investigation reveals that my liquid carbs are skewing my total carb consumption–the decision is clear, I’m going to have to “slim” down my coffee in the mornings. Luckily, I’m about to finish my bottle of Monin coconut syrup!

My occasional fruit indulgence also breaks my carb bank–who knew bananas had such a high carb/sugar content? 

Another problem that I seem consistent with is the net calorie overage. I’m about 675 net calories over goal. My weekend didn’t help this number, since the rain and cold kept me indoors–plus a cheat day at the movie theater on Saturday. However, since most of my weekly exercise consists of weight training, the resulting calorie burn isn’t really captured in my MFP logs. I’m fairly certain I haven’t burned 600+ calories lifting weights all week though.

My weigh-in this morning was not representative of what I was expecting; a shortened sleep schedule (about 6 hours) caused by all-day gaming on Sunday affected the number I hoped to see. I have a  feeling my glucose reading later in the day might also not be as good a number as I would like. I’m also dreading taking a picture–I imagine I will still look as swollen as I did on day 1.

I did sign up on www.choosefreestyle.com to get a Precision Xtra ketone meter, thanks to LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com who steered me toward the site. However, the challenge now is trying to get ketone strips to work with the meter. I may actually have to pay my doctor a visit to see if I can get her to prescribe the strips and get insurance to cover some of it. Ebay sells the strips anywhere from $3-7 a strip–expensive as heck! 

Another plus this week: I finally bought Sworkit Pro–and I love this app! 

I discovered a liking for low-cal white cheddar cheese wedges (from Laughing Cow and Lucerne) this week–making for a yummy and filling snack. I know most paleo diets eschew dairy, but I find that the fattening flavor of cheese keeps my hunger in check. Between the cheese or the bananas, I’m keeping the cheese.

Stay tuned next week–I hope to stick to my calorie and carb goals. 

60 days from today will be June 1st. I’ve issued a personal challenge to myself and friend/family to get off the slacker merry-go-round and start the journey to fat/weight loss.

Today, I threw down the gauntlet and said “20lbs or bust”! The plan: eating 50g carbs or less daily for the next 60 days.  According to the Primal Blueprint at MarksDailyApple.com, this is the magic number to ensure “effortless weight loss”.

I certainly achieved results late last year when I subscribed to this plan–which kept me on track even through the holiday season.

Since I’ve converted my diet to mostly an 80/20 Paleo plan, I’ve been experiencing a renewed physical vigor and mental clarity. I can definitely feel the negatives when I diverge from this eating plan–experiencing everything from fatigue and depression to high blood pressure and stress. Sadly, I had to endure much of the drawbacks of falling off the wagon in the first 3 months of this year–but no more! I’m fed up with feeling crappy!

A friend of mine started earlier this year on a Whole30-style eating plan and has achieved great success. He experienced many of the signs of metabolic syndrome and after several visits with doctors and specialists, he finally turned his diet around. He dropped 3 pants sizes and recently had to shop for new clothes.

My man also had to make a shopping trip earlier this month when he dropped 2 pants sizes and 1x shirt size! I was sooo happy for him–but he still has a way to go! He doesn’t want to give up the carbs–especially being on diabetic meds…but I don’t see him dropping the extra weight going the route he’s going (he loves his cereal, oatmeal and sandwiches). Still he is up for the challenge.

Another experiment I am looking forward to conducting is entering a ketogenic state. According to DietDoctor.com:

• Around 1.5 – 3 mmol/L is what’s called optimal ketosis and is recommended for maximum weight loss

Since my cabinets are full of glucose meters, I think I’ll be taking those measurements along with progress pictures to keep me motivated.

I’ve already set a calendar reminder to keep me on track for the next 60 days; plus, making arrangements with my fiance to hold us both accountable. 135lbs was the lowest I could go before the end of 2013…I’m hoping to push the envelope to 130 by the time June rolls around. Plus build up some muscle by including more weight training in my regimen.

See you in 60 days! 

Half an hour in to January 1st, 2014, a fire broke out in the house next door.

Rewind to 2013.

My blog posts have been noticeably scarce the last two months. Between a business trip and turbulence/drama at my job, and a disappointing attempt to fit into a size 6 cocktail dress in time for a Christmas party, life gave me little time to pen a few notes about my progress–or lack thereof. The holidays made backsliding into old habits so much easier, thus bringing me to the explosive date of 1/1/2014.

So there I was standing out at the curb with my fiance, watching the fire trucks crowd my front lawn, clutching my two pups and shivering my feet off.  I was panicked enough to remember to wear my jacket in my rush to leash the dogs and flee the house before the smoke became too thick to see–but addled enough to forget to wear warm shoes.

I occurred to me–as firemen drowned the burning house down to muddy embers–had New Year’s Eve festivities kept us out all night we might not have had a house to come back to. (On our block, the homes are laid out like garden homes, and neighbors live barely 20 feet away from each other.)

As it was, I was somewhat bloated from the evening’s heavy repast (all you can eat Brazilian steakhouse) and had hit the sack early. Habit kept my man awake, gaming into the wee hours of the morning–and as luck would have it, he was soberly observant of the unnatural glow emanating from the side yard. I was still in a meat coma when he burst into the bedroom and announced that there was a fire. Disbelief dragged my lethargic butt out of bed to see what he was babbling about–then the following “holy $h!t, fire!” moment propelled me into edge-of-the-seat awareness.

Two hours had elapsed before we were assured that our house was fire-free and we were allowed back indoors. At that time, my man was fiercely determined to make a Walmart run to replace our–ahem, cough–disconnected smoke alarms. 

Dawn had finally begun to break before fire officials had finally exited the scene, leaving behind a debris-strewn yard and the ruin of a house. Things could have turned out so much worse–bad smoke detectors, no insurance, nearly $300 spent unwisely on a pile of comic books (lol).

I regard the day as something of a lucky omen–a memorable start to a new year. It’s never too late to get back to the things that need to get done–we replaced those faulty detectors, renewed our renters insurance, and bagged and boxed our precious comics. The opportunities afforded to us by an unlucky event helped us reprogram our course and renewed our enthusiasm to make the coming year better. I resolved to get back on the wagon starting Monday, my fiance resolved to take his meds and made an appointment to see his doctor.

And, it was also a great motivator to get our budget in order so that we can save up for a new house. 

We certainly could have walked away from this incident fearing the worst, harboring a negative outlook about the rest of our year. But we stuck to our schedule, and Monday January 6 brought us to where we planned to start the year: back on the right track. (It didn’t hurt to watch a marathon run of The Big Bang Theory to keep us belly-aching throughout the rest of the week.)

One friend put it this way: now that the year is pre-disastered, nothing else could possibly go wrong.

Welcome to 2014. Make it a good one!

I realize that I didn’t finish up blogging my hard-hat challenge that closed end of September. I failed to post my progress in the 3rd week going into the 4th…and those last few days I got derailed on the food side of things.

However, I’m glad to say that I’ve also kickstarted my own morning jogs into the daily gear, now that I’ve ended my PBT kickboxing and strength training classes. I do miss the strength training in particular; and I’ve been diligently researching olympic bars and bumper plates for my own home gym. But I gotta love the cooler outdoor temperatures now that we’ve come to the end of summer.

Speaking of home gym, I’ve also been feverishly house-hunting in the last six weeks. It almost came to a close last weekend when I thought I found my house; only to have the government shutdown and a foreclosure auction spoil my plans.

The whole situation forced me to take a long hard look at my credit and plan some changes. Being fit and healthy both physically and financially makes so much more sense now more than it has ever been. 

• Obviously it makes better sense to build my own home gym rather than throw money away on gym memberships.  At one time, the trips to the gym were a crutch to get me into the mindset to work out everyday. I’ve done nearly 2 years of cardio/strength classes to help me get in this mindset. I think I’ve graduated to self-programmed fitness.
• Obviously I need a bigger house to fit my home gym; at my current 1200sf rental, I have yet to find space to have a private room for workouts and fitness equipment. The condition of my hand-me-down set of DP bench and bar is dangerous enough to make me not want to leave them out for any length of time.
• Obviously to afford a new/pre-owned house on my own, I have to bolster my credit, pay down my debts, incur less debt, and just manage my money better overall. Better eating has led to less dining adventures out, less fast food spending, and cheaper, home-cooked/prepared food. It was amazing to see, using a free money-management app, how much money I blew away on dining out. I’m now on a budget and watching what I spend and how I spend it.
• This obviously results in me spending more time on myself, rather than spending more money on myself. Experience trumps material goods, paying dividends in personal equity.