weigh-2-go.org

Three weeks since I started a low-carb regimen. Sunday, my Weight Watchers weigh-in was a good one–I re-lost the weight I gained the previous week. My appetite has gone down a bit, so that my Weight Watchers points are within a reasonable range (not way beyond my WW limit, like the first week).

Although I would love to report that the low-carb life is giving me the same weight loss benefits it did in 2006, when I started at 219 pounds, I must admit that my weight has fluctuated in a 2-pound range for the last 3 weeks. The data are not yet conclusive (and of course, a statistical sample of 1 is not even scientific), but I’m certainly not seeing the dramatic effects I had seen on the scale before.

Consider, of course, that I have a different body than I had last time I did this. I do not have 80 pounds to lose; I have less than 20. It seems logical to me that people who lose more have more to lose.

There are positive effects, however,t hat are not evident on the scale:

• My mood is greatly altered. Perhaps there’s a psychological explanation, but I can’t deny that the timing of my elevation in mood coincided exactly with giving up sweets. I am grateful that I altered my diet before considering anti-depressants. (Next, just think what a potato before bed might do for me.)
• Cravings for sweets have diminished. Surpringly and fortunately, my longing for chocolate chip cookies vanished first. Next, I more slowly lost the craving for crispy crunchy carbs. Now my most carbolicious cravings are for fruit, nuts, oats, and granola (though that last is a lot like cookies). And gin.

I am keeping enough data to prepare some charts and graphs on my Weight Watchers POINTS and weight through the experiment. I plan to publish these for a 4-week period.

It’s true. I just jogged for about an hour and I smell funny.

Bear with me–I won’t get too graphic.

It isn’t the usual sweaty smell that we all get after exercise. This smell is different.

I remember this smell.
It’s the smell I smelled when I was losing the major pounds.
I think this is the smell of fat burning.

I’m no scientist, but I know that when my body is burning fat instead of glucose, the chemical reaction is different. My body breaks down fat and the result is ketone bodies in my blood stream. (Here’s the article about ketosis on About.com.) Ketosis occurs on a low-carb diet, when the blood stream doesn’t have enough glucose to burn for energy, so the body resorts to burning the fat.

My hypothesis: I am in ketosis, and the ketones come out in my sweat. And I can smell them.

Wow. I admit, it’s a little disgusting. But wow.

Once in a while, my body orders food, as if it is reading some cosmic menu. Usually, it orders chocolate chip cookies. But yesterday it ordered tofu.

Tofu?!

I did make a tofu and veggie stir-fry on Tuesday, and then ate the leftovers on Wednesday for lunch. By Thursday morning, I was craving a tofu scramble for breakfast.

This doesn’t feel like the corn cravings I blogged about recently, and it doesn’t feel like the usual chocolate chip cookie tantrum I get when I’m stressed. So I went with it. I went out to breakfast and got the scramble. Then I had dinner at Whole Foods’s’ Hot Bar and got me some more tofu.

I have this theory ab out food memory, which is the flip-side of my theory of food forgetfulness. When my body likes and needs a food, my food brain takes note. It remembers that food and craves it. Sometimes, my food brain is a little child, and it remembers chocolate chip cookies or corn tortilla chips. Other times, my food brain acts like a grown-up and it gives me a craving for tofu, salmon, or grilled asparagus. Mmmm.

So I’m on board with tofu for as long as the craving lasts. I might even have more today, making today Tofu Day 4. I won’t try to discipline the food brain when it is behaving so well.

A wise person I know recently reminded me that as much as we may hate it, important lessons are not learned linearly. We have to relearn them over and over again. So it is with weight loss and maintenance–not just the ups and downs on the scale, but the actual lessons of living healthfully.

I even articulated this concept in my seminar and in this post about my “Bowflex Myth.” I still have to be reminded about it from other people!  That is how hard this stuff is.

This is not a linear journey. In maintenance mode, we seem to have to “re-lose” the same few pounds over and over. And likewise, I (for one) have to re-learn how to do that.

My clothes are tight, and I am 15 pounds up from my lowest weight (reached about 18 months ago). I just had a birthday and I am feeling like I better take some action. The holidays are over so there are no more excuses.

Tomorrow I will blog the plan.

Not driving rain or chilly mornings or long distances could stop me – I walked the entire course of the Breast Cancer 3-Day!

Many friends emailed or called in their support – especially since the weather on Friday was so punishing.  Through nearly constant rain and wind, in chilly 45-degree temperatures, over 3,000 walkers perservered on Friday.  Thankfully, the organizers had an indoor venue for us to sleep, which was amazing and very much appreciated.

By Saturday, the weather was gorgeous and the rest of the event went off as planned: beautiful walks through Alpharetta, John’s Creek, Peachtree Corners and Duluth, fun people wearing crazy pink shirts and even costumes, everyone inspired by the cause we were walking for and the cameraderie of the walkers and crew.

Saturday night was camp, with entertainment and dancing in the dining tent, and then early to bed in our tents on a crisp October night.

Sunday, break camp and finish the walk, from Chamblee all the way down Peachtree Street to Piedmont Park for lunch, and then into downtown to the World Congress Center for an inspiring closing ceremony with lots of cheering and tears.

For me, I stayed out an extra night to enjoy the company of my teammates, Beth, Madeleine, and Pat, at Beth’s house with Beth’s husband John…a great lasagna dinner, chocolate chip cookies, and a very relaxing cool-down sort of evening.

Many thanks to:

• Everyone who donated–thank you!
• Beth for inviting me to the Walk,
• Beth, Pat and Madeleine for being my walking buddies,
• Traci, Kitty, Nancy, and Bea, who round out the rest of my team, Trotting for Ta-Tas, for being terrific and supportinve teammates,
• and to Mary, Lara, and the whole team of For the Love of Boobs, who helped me train and prepare for the event.