A Follow-up Spike?

I really didn't intend to post so soon again but I had forgotten to mention in my last post that for the first time in months I had finally decided to buy some new dress jeans and belts; it's been frustrating because the dangerous weight around the middle seems to stubbornly defy visible loss. I end up wearing bigger waist slacks which otherwise run baggy on me. Nevertheless, I have noticed that I've lost a few inches around the waist and have had to tighten up my belt a few spokes. I still can't find anything bigger than say 46 inches at a WalMart so I still have to go mail order/Internet. (I know, some people's heads can't imagine 46 inches, never mind anything bigger. I was in the best shape of my adult life around 24, and I wore around 34 inch waist slacks. I ran across some of them during a recent move and it was like they were mocking me.) So I took a little gamble and tried ordering slacks and belts about 6 inches smaller in the waist (without a tape measure); maybe I'm a victim of wishful thinking. It may depend on the cut of the clothes, but even if they run a bit small, it gives me more incentive to lose a little more.

I was actually surprised to break my blog jinx (i.e., a weight bounce the day after a post) and temporary break through a ten-multiple threshold; was I in the middle of a monster whoosh? After all, my last bounce only peaked a couple of pounds before whooshing back down a couple of new pounds. Alas, no. I weighed it this morning with a 3.5 lb spike--and initial indications that it could double or more tomorrow. The only thing I can do is keep in mind, no, I did not go on an eating binge; it's likely just water retention. Probably it will coming off a pound or two a day over the coming week; there have been days where I seem to be going to  the restroom constantly. I have had 6-10 pound bounces on multiple occasions over the past year. But sometimes these bounces can recur for weeks without hitting a new low and/or come off very slowly like losing the same weight all over again.

Why water retention? Could it be a serving or two of lightly salted quinoa tortilla chips I purchased recently from Sam's Club? I don't think so. That probably didn't help, but it's not like I'm eating bags of chips. It reminds me of my old Yahoo low carb recipe days when a woman complained she wasn't losing weight and had posted her diet, and the Atkins fundamentalists quickly decided the corn kernels in her mixed veggies were the problem. I suspect it's part of a bigger picture of my body stabilizing to a lower weight.

I hope the weight spikes peak with tomorrow's weigh-in; but if it continues for a third day, I'll probably stay off the scale for a while. I register my weight at a web portal, but I refuse to record my weight during bounces; if I report a 3-lb bounce on the portal, I'll get a patently absurd warning that I'm on track to put on another 1000 pounds this year.

As I mentioned above I made a recent trip to Sam's Club--and found another shopping staple has disappeared: a natural, no-nitrates-added thickly sliced bacon multi-pack (in addition to sandwich thin mega-packs). (There are multiple 4-lb. bacon alternatives, including frozen meats.) Some of the new staples: as mentioned above, quinoa tortilla chips (they carry a couple of brand), and New Zealand grass-fed cheddar cheese. I'll usually grab some grass-fed ground beef and typically one of their imported lamb options (including ground lamb and boneless leg of lamb, which I'm pretty sure is pasture-raised). I had a look in their processed meats/sausages section and found some already-cooked grass-fed beef sirloin slices (seasoned) for roughly $11+/lb., which is not a bad price. For the occasional dessert or treat, there are various things like dark chocolate bark (with seeds and/or nuts) and various clusters with ingredients like coconut, chia or other seeds, There are also boxes of Nature's Bakery flavored (e.g., raspberry) fig bars made with 100% whole wheat. They are also hyping anything "organic" or "free range". For example, they have various free range chicken sausage varieties. I'm generally a skeptic when it comes to processed meats (I literally do not remember the last time I ate a hot dog), but I noticed they had linguiça which I decided to try (there is a heavy Portuguese population in my folks' hometown of Fall River, MA; in fact, my mom's cousin worked in a Portuguese bakery, not to mention one of my sisters in law is of Portuguese descent.).

Next, I flirted with the idea of posting a Butcherbox link, which might provide a slight incentive to me if anyone clicked on the link. I've mentioned Butcherbox in recent posts. Basically, for about $130/month (including shipping) they will ship 7-10 pounds of mostly premium cuts of grass-fed beef, organic chicken or heritage pork (or mixed meats). I subscribe to the beef program. In any event, I didn't want to make it look like I was a shill for any vendor (I've mentioned WalMart, Vitacost, Netrition, and certain food brands, in the blog, and I've not gotten so much as a discount coupon from any of them, never mind free products. I spend my own money and do take advantage of occasional sales, open to the general public.)

So if you are interested in what Butcherbox has to offer, go to butcherbox.com. They often run a new  customer promotion like, e.g., a free add-on package of heritage bacon with your first shipment and $10 off your first box.

Some of the worst temptations come from your fellow workers. For some reason, my co-workers celebrate Pizza Thursdays. Even the late shift guys; I've temporarily rejoined the late shift and saw my two principal co-workers walk in with small pizza boxes; I don't mean one or 2 slices, but whole pizza pies. (Neither guy is thin, but they aren't my size.) If and when I eat pizza, I like the works, but like many, if not most people I savor pepperoni (and sausage) pizza, I don't think I've bought a slice of pizza since last August when I lived in temp housing. It's pure envy; a protein bar or cookie is no alternative to freshly baked pizza: pure pizza envy. But it does show I have willpower.

Finally, I've had a nagging cough/cold over the last few weeks. My supervisor thinks it could be local allergies and suggests consuming locally produced honey. I'm not sure it's allergies, but in fact, if you check into mainstream health portals, you'll find honey listed with many beneficial effects including a natural cough suppressant. So I'll take the extra 21 calories in a teaspoon of honey; yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.