Beware the Super Spike

After hitting a diet low on Jan. 28 with hopes of a monster whoosh ahead, I instead ran into the dreaded super spike, probably the most demoralizing phenomenon but not unprecedented. I seem to recall I gained 10 pounds on a spike over the last year-plus and to lose it all took literally weeks. This was different than my 2 10-day plane trips where I put on 10-15 pounds during periods of mostly eating out--but took it off within 4 days or so. The super spike pounds are like losing the same weight all over again. In this case, I put on 9.6 pounds over 6 days, about half in the first 2-day burst, with literally no change in diet. At first I thought this was a routine bounce back of 3-4 lbs.--and thought it would come off over the rest of the week--only this time, the surge continued daily over the next 4 weigh-ins for the balance of the spike. I weighed-in one day after hitting the peak and then avoided weighing in the next 4 days. So this morning I'm down 4 pounds from the peak (over 9 days), but still 5 pounds over my yearly low.

I rarely go to Sam's Club two weekends in a row, but I was curious about Kerrygold, Irish butter made from the milk of pastured/grass-fed cows. I had specifically looked for it in the frozen foods/butter section last time and couldn't find it, but when I checked the producer's website, it had included Sam's Club in Arizona. I found the one-pound tubs--in the specialty cheese aisle where I had found some grass-fed dairy products. I also saw a couple of Kerrygold cheese products for sale; these didn't make claims of grass-fed dairy (although the butter did); it didn't make sense to me they would be using conventional milk products to make cheese vs. butter. (In fact, their websites make explicit reference to grass-fed butter and cheese products, although their blurbs on individual cheese products do not necessarily discuss that fact.) It has been quite a while since I've bought butter (if you don't count the occasional meal out where I break my low-carb rules to enjoy a warm roll with the single-serve packets of butter), so I can't really tell you how different it tastes from conventional butter, but it tastes wonderful. I fried a couple of eggs in it the other day,

Of course, you don't get the selection in a Sam's Club that you will find in a Walmart supermarket, although there are some Sam's Club offerings I haven't seen to date in a Walmart, e.g., ground lamb, milk products, etc. As I've mentioned in past posts, it does seem like Sam's Club is making a conscious effort to appeal to healthy-oriented consumers: organic produce and canned products, oils, breads, etc. The list apparently includes the fad of free-range chicken; I haven't seen them offer whole chickens of that type, but, for example, they offer a multi-unit box of free range chicken broth, and they offer free-range chicken sausages (including cheese). It's difficult to simplify, but it seems when it comes to free-range or grass-fed products, you're looking at a price-point of about $6/lb. If you're on a strict budget, it's hard to justify the cost differential, but it's very competitive if you compare the cost of eating out. The issue I have with more conventional meat (besides the taste difference) is the unhealthy disproportionate balance of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fats; grass-fed beef products have a more optimal roughly 2:1 ratio.

I recently got my third monthly shipment from ButcherBox (please note that I do not have any sort of an incentive or investment with the vendors I discuss, including Walmart: I've spent my own money, just like everyone else does.) ButcherBox is a monthly premium meats service, including beef, chicken, pork or mixed shipments. I'm in the grass-fed beef program. For a flat fee of about $130/month (including shipping), you get 7-10 lbs. of assorted cuts; in the case of my program, there's a regular shipment of 2 one-lb. ground beef bricks, and then a varying mix of premium cuts, including various steaks, roasts, ribs, etc. This week I put a 2-lb. chuck roast in my crockpot before going to work. In a sense, it's funny; I own lots of cookbooks, but in practice I often prepare my meals and eat very simply. Maybe I'll sprinkle some sea salt, and that's about it. When I got home, the roast smelled and tasted wonderful, very tender.

I had ordered as an add-on to my last order a whole chicken, thinking it would be an Emmer & Co. heritage chicken, which had been included as a promotion with my first ButcherBox shipment. Now, of course, roasted chicken is always wonderful, but the heritage chicken was like eating "real" chicken for the very first time--no hype. It was like the chicken I always wanted but never knew existed. It can be very pricey; you can order directly from Emmer at roughly $30 per 3.25 lb. bird (not including shipping, which they'll waive for certain price minimums). That's tough to justify when you can buy a rotisserie chicken at Walmart or Sam's Club for $5/chicken. In any event, I found out that I could order a whole bird as an add-on for my monthly ButcherBox shipment, with no extra charge for shipping. I was somewhat disappointed it wasn't a heritage chicken (I should have asked, but I did specifically mention the Emmer bird when asking about an add-on option); it was organic and bigger than an Emmer bird (and the taste was very good--but not quite as good as my Emmer bird had been). I had made an assumption they were using the same supplier, which wasn't the case.

One Day At A Time

Here's my latest inspiration:

 

Well, it almost seems like publishing this blog is like a personal jinx. I seem to go on bounce backs. A typical bounce is anywhere from 3-6 pounds of water gain and then I lose it over the next 3 or 4 days. So if I said I lost a net of 0.2 pounds over the prior week to Friday that doesn't sound impressive. The whoosh did continue another 1.2 pounds yesterday to a new diet low by about 1.4 pounds, which isn't bad. But I bounced back a pound this morning, and based on interim weighting I wouldn't be surprised if I got another pound or two tomorrow. So the diet trend is like a ball bouncing down a staircase.

I have also joined a weight-loss Internet forum. I do my weigh-ins but what really annoys me are the little popups. If I type in, say, today's water gain of 1 pound, I'll get this nasty popup of the kind "At this rate, you're going to gain over 300 pounds over the coming year." Of course, many diet experts warn one against frequent weigh-ins precisely because daily fluctuations can be misleading.

I noted one of my exercise regimens in my flagship blog over the weekend: climbing the stairs of virtues. I'm still bringing a protein bar or cookie or two to work. My day shift colleagues often do the pizza thing once a week. I have to laugh when my colleagues, hearing my protest about pizza carbs, said, "Mmmm. Carbs... they're the BEST PART."

I finally got the certification I needed for my job, which had been my principal excuse for not joining a gym (which I stopped doing in late 2007).  I was never a gym rat, but there was a time in the mid-90's  I was working out at my fitness club in Lombard, IL (SW Chicago suburb) literally daily. I would usually rotate among Universal machines every 2 days (I could regularly bench press over 300 lbs.) and focus on cardio (step machines or stationary bikes) on other days. I was so fanatical about getting my workout in that I drove one early evening after work with light snow drifting down and unplowed streets. It wasn't that deep (I'm not insane), but I drove over a piece of black ice around a curb and into the meridian around the curb. (As I recall, around $2000 and 2-3 weeks in repairs.) Probably the most improbable detail: I still managed to drive to the fitness center that night with my limping car and got my workout in. I began to stop the daily deal when I developed heel spurs; my doctor was useless--luckily the heel spurs went away when I changed my routine every other day.

But workouts became harder when I did the road warrior bit in 1997-2002 and again in 2008, not to mention that I typically had hour or longer commutes (each way) when I lived in the greater Chicago and DC areas. A number of hotels now routinely have a fitness room available for guests, but it was hard to do it then (not to mention work/travel schedules that led to 4 or 5 hours of sleep nightly). I ironically moved to within a mile or so of the Bally Club I was working out of, but due to work, health, budget and other reasons, I never went to the club after I moved. Also I think when I did want to resume workout, Bally's had sold their location to LA Fitness--and the transaction did not grandfather in existing Bally's members. I didn't have the budget to join LA Fitness.

So I am looking to start up again here, but I need to buy new workout clothes first, and I need to get some additional information about the local club. But it's in process.

Some buys during my recent Sam's Club visit over the weekend:

• boneless leg of lamb (New Zealand--likely grassfed)
• grass-fed ground beef bricks
• New Zealand ground lamb bricks
• uncured nitrate-free bacon
• rotisserie chicken
• almond flour
• quinoa
• bagged shelled walnuts
• free-range chicken broth pack
• 12-lb sack of black beans
• kiwis, pears, and bananas
• bagged cole slaw
• grass-fed cheese (Gouda and sharp cheddar)
• protein bars
• chickpea pasta
• multiple packs of lower-carb tortillas
• marinated wild-caught salmon fillets

It seems that grass-fed dairy products are a bigger thing: I noticed a big display of New Zealand milk based diet shakes in the supplement/pharmacy section. The cheeses I cited are somewhat pricey but at better prices than many of grass-fed meat portals I've seen (where the price is often $12/more lb.)--but I almost caught them by accident in the cheese aisle.The grass-fed meats are usually marked by organic or natural type descriptions.

Is grass-fed meat worth $6 or more a lb.? It can be tough, especially when you see ribeye on sale for $8/lb, but I prepare most of my meals and seldom eat out when I'm not traveling: so I do have the budget to buy healthier meats. For me, the answer is a guarded yes; quality and price tend to correlate, and I do  prefer the taste of grass-fed meat.  The rotisserie chicken was not a premium (e.g., Heritage) variety, but rotisserie chicken is a lot healthier than breaded or fried chicken. I will still buy conventional meats (e.g., a recent ham I bought at a bargain price from Walmart), but I'm picky what I'll buy, like lean steaks.

My niece's Facebook health posts, Sam's Club buys & More

I started this post on New Year's Eve. It's difficult to give an exact figure to the weight I lost this year because I visited my Mom for the holidays last year and whereas I didn't overly indulge, we went out a few times to some places she likes, including a pizza/Italian restaurant and Tex-Mex places, and I ate far more carbs than usual. When I first hit the scale after the visit, my weight had skyrocketed some 10 pounds over 2 weeks or so, which was absurd. I then managed to lose back those 10 over the next 4 days. If we count the post-trip weigh-in, I lost 27 pounds over the year, roughly 17 pounds since mid-January; not bad, definitely going in the right direction, but very disappointing. I weighed in just 0.4 pounds above my yearly low but only about 1 net pound since mid-November. I've been going through sometimes bounceback spikes up to about 7 pounds over that figure. I ran into a similar long-term baseline about 7 pounds higher for several weeks, when I suddenly dropped about 5 lbs. all at once. The frustrating thing is that I have over 100 more pounds to lose and this year, despite a rigorous diet, has barely dented what I need to lose.

One of my nieces is a prolific user of Facebook; she posted a couple of links recently, one of which pushed Dr. Oz suggesting a weight-loss drink consisting of fruit juice, apple cider vinegar, and a small dose of honey. I made a few comments, noting that for people, especially with a family history of diabetes or other relevant risks, fruit juice, particularly pulp-free varieties, you are getting a lot of the sugar of fruit without the mitigating fiber. I also pointed out that not all apple cider vinegar is created equal, that certain unfiltered (without "the mother") varieties may be healthier. My niece questioned that, and I explained, analogous to extra virgin olive oil or raw milk, certain processes (like heat treatment in pasteurization) may disable beneficial nutrients.

Another thing she posted involved drinking a number of glasses of water. This brought me back to an old debate I had with Atkins fundamentalists in a forum maybe 13 years back. Atkins was one of those who promoted the 8 glasses of water myth, and there were related "laws" like you couldn't substitute coffee or tea for water, that drinking coffee was dehydrating, etc. I simply pointed out that we get a lot of water from our food (especially fruits and vegetables), the body has a way of signaling it wants more water, and clearly we need to replenish after vigorous, sweat-inducing activity and/or our urine has a darker color.

I also pointed out that I'll often add a pinch of ceylon cinnamon and a teaspoon of coconut oil with my morning coffee. Cinnamon (not the conventional store type which can be toxic in high doses) can help regulate blood sugar, and coconut oil is a great source of MCTs, a beneficial type of saturated fat which is less vulnerable to fat storage in the body. (I read a story that farmers fed their pigs coconut and were alarmed to discover their swine were losing weight.)

One of these days I may post some of the websites I consult in terms of nutritional guidance, but a short list would include, but not be restricted to: Weston Price, Eat This, and Livestrong. I will say that I do have some points of disagreement with some of these sites; I'm definitely not a locavore or an anti-GMO guy; I tend to be a skeptic about the cost-effective benefits of organic foods. I have a tongue-in-cheek style of humor, and when a recent Twitter game tag asked to publish an unpopular opinion, I wrote, "Eating locally grown produce makes you fat." Let's just say that some locavores were not amused.

In terms of my recent grocery shopping at Sam's Club, actual items purchased included:

• imported (NZ) ground lamb: oddly enough, the producer and/or Walmart will tend to market the meat as organic or natural vs. grass/pasture-raised/finished. To me, the bigger selling point is the latter (I'm focused on a healthier omega-3 ratio, CLA, and/or other characteristics. "A 2010 research review led by Daley found that grass-fed beef outclassed grain-fed nutritionally, with triple the immune-boosting vitamin E, up to five times the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and seven times the antioxidant carotenoids.") I saw a Huffpost claim that almost all NZ or Australian exported meat is grass-fed.
• American grass-fed ground beef.
• quinoa. In fact, I tried cooking the high protein whole grain for the first time today. To my taste buds, it tastes a little like a nutty flavored rice.
• 100% maple syrup. Actually I tried to purchase from Amazon a paleo-friendly pancake mix and they shipped me a paleo bread mix, a relatively rare screw-up. This is an item I won't use regularly.
• walnut oil
• avocado oil
• bananas
• grapefruit
• kiwi
• uncured sodium nitrate-free hickory smoked bacon
• oatmeal
• fresh produce (spinach, onions, mushrooms)
• multi-lb. nuts (pistachios, almonds, pecans)
• cage-free eggs
• protein bars (Larabars, Fiber One Oatmeal & Chocolate)

I will say that the gimmick foods like  protein shakes, chips, cookies, and bars are beginning to wear a little thin on me.

Most of my grocery shopping is done at a local Walmart. I have found some 2-lb. grass-fed roasts on sale but not recently. They do sell some grass-fed beef bricks which I'll buy between shopping  trips to Sam's Club. I will buy some conventional beef at Walmart, but it tends to be leaner cuts like the loins, e.g., sirloin.

I did enjoy my first loaf of ThinSlim Love the Taste bread (low carb/almond flour). But I liked the taste and the chewier texture, excellent toasted.

Finally, I've started a monthly subscription for grass-fed beef. So far, I'm pleased, but what really blew me away was a promotional Heritage chicken from Emmer & Co. included with my first shipment. You know that trite saying that "it tastes like chicken"? Well, this chicken was so good, it was like I never really ate a real chicken before. You can order them straight for the vendor, although at roughly $10/lb., not including shipping, it's pricey.  And I will say that shipping costs for most premium meats are costly.

Breaking Through a Symbolic Weight Target

I finally went just a fraction of a pound below a long-sought weight target I last broke by late 2013 and in 2011 when I lost over 40 pounds while on Nutrisystem. Whether the whoosh will continue or I see a week or two of fluctuating around the weight target, I don't know, but I'm encouraged that I managed to lose weight over a holiday weekend where many, if anything, add a pound or two.

Just a few notes over the weekend:

• I noted a couple of interesting things in Walmart's bread aisle yesterday: non-gluten wraps and sprouted wheat bread. Actually, the Orowheat product has sprouted wheat flour as the second ingredient, i.e., it's not like it's 100% sprouted grain. You have to be very careful, e.g., there's a difference between "whole wheat" bread and "100% whole wheat". 
• I am a very avid Amazon.com customer, but there are some things where you can buy cheaper directly from the vendor or another outlet: for example, bread or wraps. In some cases, shipping costs can be almost as expensive as the  product itself. You might want to consider a vendor like Netrition or Vitacost. In some cases, I've even seen the direct vendor waive shipping costs with a purchase total of $100 or so dollars.
• What is the deal with paleo wraps? I've seen the cost being up to $2 or more for a single (often coconut flour) wrap. You can get a package of flatbreads like Flatout  for less than $3 a package that will last a week.
• This is probably a limited-time offer, but Quest Nutrition was offering 12-pack boxes of "crunchless" vanilla almond bars for $10, plus shipping, over the holiday weekend. Many of Quest's boxes run in the mid-$20's range. I'm a repeat purchaser.

Slow Bouncing To New Lows

Another annual low, although just a half pound less than my last low a week or so back, another frustrating bounce back up 3-4 lbs. and working it back down. (I've been obsessively checking my weight hoping to crash through the resistance level; it looks like the whoosh won't continue tomorrow.)

It's very frustrating on Thanksgiving to stick to the diet. My thoughts go back to family Thanksgivings through my UH graduate studies: the usual roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, Dad's turkey stuffing, rutabagas, various side dishes, and pies (particularly pumpkin). I tend to prefer the dark meat, a lot of drumsticks over the years. My Mom is a very good, self-taught cook, but Dad took an active interest in grilling and cooking (he owned a lot of cookbooks). He particularly was involved with the stuffing and rutabagas (which I absolutely loved). And turkey is probably my favorite thing to eat; despite being a bachelor, I've probably roasted a good dozen turkeys on my own (and would be eating turkey every meal for a good week or two each bird--which will temper even the turkey lover in me). I have never really been a dessert eater; when I went home for Christmas, I may have had a thin slice of pumpkin pie and a few cookies but if you examined my grocery receipts over the last few years, you would find no cookies, pies, doughnuts, cakes or other sweets. It's been years since I've bought a carton of ice cream. I haven't totally abstained; I might buy an occasional ice cream if I'm waiting between flights or a vending machine candy bar if I'm driving or waiting during auto service waits, but it's not a habit. To give an example, when I went on a business trip to Orlando several weeks back, there was a Ruby Tuesday's within a half mile of my hotel and I went there a few times. They had a promotion where they bundled the salad bar and a selection from 2 or 3 desserts with certain entrees. I did eat dessert with these deals (but the salad bar was the motivating factor). But my meals were all within per diem limits and I could have easily ordered more food or desserts and didn't.

I remember stopping to gas up and eat at an exit maybe an hour east of El Paso during my relocation from SC, and I ordered a 6-inch sub at Subway. I overheard the line worker mumbling I was an idiot for not getting the foot-long sub for just a buck or two more. But my appetite was satiated with the six-inch, and I don't care what other people think of my choices. Granted, I could have saved the other half to eat later. I take some pride in self-discipline, like when my co-workers recently shared a couple of large pizzas, and I stuck to my protein bars. Believe me, I love pizza (well, I have some exceptions, like I like my pizza spicy and/or with a good tomato sauce and don't particularly care for chicken or pineapple).

Still, I brewed some pumpkin spice coffee ordered through Amazon and thoroughly enjoyed my indulgence.  I put 3 small turkey drumsticks into my crockpot yesterday and ate one of them for lunch. I put some chicken breasts into the crockpot today and tried a Sriracha BBQ sauce on one today (just 10 carbs and 40 calories a serving)

The Last Month Has Been a Difficult Slog

After a long consolidation which saw me fill the gap of last month's 6-pound whoosh, I finally reached yesterday (just barely) a new annual low, just to see me zag up about 0.4 lbs this morning (which might be the difference of a bathroom break). My favorite Taylor scale seemed to hint at an additional drop of 3-4 lbs. (below a highly symbolic threshold goal), but I always confirm my morning reading. I've sometimes had digital scales that vary pounds between readings or shift with a minor change in scale location. The Taylor scale (up to 0.2 lb precision) I have is probably the best I've owned over the past several years; it tends to be highly consistent and reliable; I don't simply log the lowest reading, unless it's confirmed.  But I have had what I call teaser readings below my short-term target; usually this is suggestive of an imminent whoosh, but I had one earlier this year that took weeks to realize. I'll sometimes do a late night reading; if it is lower than my morning weigh-in, it's usually a good sign; last night it was the same, so I wasn't surprised by a small zag this morning. It wouldn't surprise me if the consolidation period holds for a few more days. I always get concerned about holiday pounds, with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. But I don't really have the time or budget to fly home for the holidays; I may buy turkey legs and stick them in a crockpot.

One of my idiosyncracies is purchasing inexpensive digital copies of diet and recipe books on Amazon.com. The reality is that I often cook very simply; for example, I recently cooked one of those chuck roasts (listed below) in a crockpot, maybe a dash or so of sea salt, and thoroughly enjoyed it. (Maybe because I haven't had a roast in a while, but I really appreciate the taste of grass-fed versus conventionally finished meat; I still buy and consume some conventional meats, but like grains, I'm slowly phasing them out. I'm also looking to phase more organ meats into my diet.)

Shopping list lately (including Internet purchased):

• chicken breasts
• thick-sliced bacon
• varied salads (spinach, romaine, cabbage)
• Roma tomatoes
• various nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachio) 
• coffee (blueberry flavored, pumpkin spice)
• grass-fed chuck roast (I found at WalMart in 2-lb packs for roughly $8/lb)
• Perky Jerky (Facebook promotion)
• tins of sardines, herring, and oysters
• ThinSlim Foods sampler pack

I see Mark Sisson (as in Mark's Daily Apple) has a new edition of Primal Blueprint out, available at Amazon; Quest Nutrition has also introduced "beyond cereal" bars.

The Tedious Nature of Consolidation Periods

I hit a yearly low this morning but by less than a pound; I remain maybe 1.5 pounds over a symbolic weight target. I could take it out if the new whoosh sustains another couple of days; the good news is my recent bounce highs are a couple of pounds off a long-time low. This year has been a struggle; I keep my daily weigh-ins on a spreadsheet, and I'm only down about 16 pounds since late February. While that's good, it's still a drop in the bucket when I need to drop another 100 pounds. Since Oct. 18, I've had a couple of bounces up maybe 2-3 pounds off the new low; the current drop is after 3 days of peaking off the latest bounce; I'll probably know in my informal late evening weigh-in if the whoosh will continue. If I'm down off my morning weigh-in, chances are it'll stick overnight. It's not a guarantee; I've been eating a late snack off my swing shift (lately, it's been sardines and a handful of nuts; other times I've sometimes make a soup using leftover chicken breasts with some shirataki noodles); I carry one or 2 protein bars during my work shift.

I think one of the most discouraging things is that I haven't lost enough for others to note specifically. There are slight changes in clothing I've noticed--I've had to tight my belt one or 2 notches and shirts I bought earlier this year seem to be a little looser around the shoulders.

I know I need to upgrade my exercise regimen. To be fair, I do climb the stairs up and down to the second-floor facility where I work. I've occasionally walked to and from another work facility a few hundred yards down the road. The temperature has cooled down from 3-digit daily summer highs (like 114-120). I'm getting ready to join a gym again, but I need to buy new workout gear, plus I need to study for a major certification exam soon.

I'm very skeptical, short of a food allergy or similar health condition, of banning foods from one's diet, e.g., the paleo diet's prohibition of wheat/gluten and legumes. What I do do is limit my consumption of said foods and usually combine them with other foods, like protein. I have developed some recent dietary habits like a teaspoon of coconut oil in my morning coffee and a dash of apple cider vinegar in my low-calorie beverages.