Diet Update: 11/09/13 Following the Bouncing Ball

In the early 1960's Mitch Miller had a signature show on NBC, directing a men's group of singers and encouraging viewers to sing along, as lyrics appeared on screen and a bouncing ball kept pace with the singers. (I saw a canned holiday show one Christmas season while I attended high school in south Texas.) I find watching the results of my early morning weigh-in to be similar.

Today marks the one-month anniversary of my big 5-pound gap down and I have only come within a pound of that diet low twice since.then; the only positive thing is that the tops of the bounces are declining. I may have prolonged it when I bought a few small tins of heart-healthy nuts when I went to pick up my latest prescriptions; the paleo diet gurus recommend a handful of nuts with meals. I  hadn't eaten nuts in a while and wasn't as disciplined. They weren't salted, and some diet gurus advocate "cheat days" to counteract the body slowing metabolism to accommodate dietary reductions. My weight didn't really surge during my nut days but the change to my diet probably didn't help. The last few weekends  I've been between bubbles, and this week I'm at a peak.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a doctor's appointment this week. What is it about weigh-ins at doctor offices? Granted, I'm not weighing in nude, I had a burger for breakfast after my own weigh-in on a digital scale, but 8 pounds? Still, I think even with a consistent scale bias, my weight was down another 16 pounds since my last visit earlier in the summer, and he was pleased with the progress.

Nevertheless, I am unhappy with no net loss over the past month although there were other signs of progress, like having to take in my belt another couple of notches. I'm continuing to phase out grains, although I still have a couple of loaves and packages of flatbreads in the freezer. I'm also trying to phase in more veggies. My latest Internet order focused on low-carb salad dressings and yam (shirataki low-carb, high soluble fiber) noodles. But obviously I need to up the nature and extent of my daily exercise. I wanted to phase it in; I can still remember when I resumed my jogging routine as a graduate student at Texas, I was nauseated and felt a bit dizzy my first day back on schedule, and I weigh more now. I finally feel ready to take it up a notch. I'm setting a new target of dropping 10 pounds by New Year's.