The Struggle Continues; Food Dreams

It's been quite a while since my last post, and I wish I had an improvement to report, but immediately after reaching a new multi-year low, I went on the beginning of a monster bounce, which eventually peaked about 15 lbs.; as of this morning, it's back down to about 7 over my low, and that's after a whoosh over the past week or so. Part of the story may have involved going off an old med because the prescription changed but under COVID-19 office staffing issues, it had been delayed, and I transitioned to a new health plan which vastly increased my prescription co-pay to about my car payment. I'm now on a new med which costs less, and it may be helping my weight as a nice side-effect. Of course, it may just be a coincidence.

I don't know about whether other dieters dream about food, but I often do. I really haven't eaten college food since graduate school at UT/Austin. (I briefly lived in off-campus graduate school housing at UH but didn't subscribe to a meal plan on campus.) I did eat lunch on campus at two university clients in 2008. Anyway, I often have nightmares about old days as a college student pursuing 4 degrees. Quite often it's something like I'm sitting for a final where I haven't attended a lecture or opened the textbook all semester. Usually these aren't food related, so this was novel. I was back in a cafeteria line, and all the entrees  were crap. I noticed at the end of the buffet there were a couple of trays of succulent roast chicken sections, and I asked the worker for a portion; she refused saying that I had missed the afternoon deadline to place an order.

In a different dream, somehow involving WWE wrestler/executive HHH, I came into a room where obviously 3 or 4 colleagues had stuffed themselves with pizza. (Pizza is a staple for IT worker shared meals; I've had many at company/HR lunches and/or after-hours maintenance work.) But apparently the only pie left wasn't my desired pepperoni or supreme, but something that looked like gravy smeared over flatbread. Pass!

A Weight Threshold is Crossed

Well, for 2 months now I had a weight resistance level that seemed to defy being broken. This one was 3 pounds over an even 50-lb. increment on a physician balance scale. So the next time I go to the doctor, they'll finally have to go down a notch on the big slide. A pound loss is just like any other pound, but it's demoralizing to see nurses have to reset a balance scale from the last patient up a notch or two. So, yes, I finally took out a 2-month low--and overnight that 50-lb. barrier. I don't know if the new 3/3.5 net new low exhausts the whoosh. You might hope for maybe a 1.5-lb loss per week, maybe 6 pounds a month. The last time I went through a long-term resistance level, it seemed to lead to a more normal weight loss schedule for the next few weeks.

Ironically I was on yet another bounceback earlier this past weekend when I caught a nasty cold/flu. In a weird sense I've rarely had these for most of my adult life and until the last couple of years haven't taken the usual flu shot. I basically lost my appetite in the process; true, I welcomed seeing the latest bounce water gain drop off, but it's a shitty way of losing weight.

My New Year Diet Resolution Continues

I had to re-read my last post; in fact, shortly thereafter, I took out my 2004 low, only by a couple of pounds, but still... And then I had one of my rare demoralizing super bouncebacks, nearly twice or so the usual 6 pounds or so. And in the middle of all this I went to Texas for a week over the holidays with my Mom and also 3 siblings. I had two family holiday meals and went out to 3 restaurants (although I didn't get my usual BBQ plate, say at Bill Miller's, or fast food breakfast tacos (no, not McDonald's version)).

One of those was an all-you-care-to-eat Chinese restaurant, which is far different than the ones I've been to in the past, which were typically a line of buffet pans with eggrolls and Chinese-American dishes like chow mein and the like. This was analogous to the buffet I experienced at Biola University when I worked for SGHE 12 years back. That was unlike anything I experienced while boarding for my first 2 college degrees, typically single buffet lines where you might choose among 2-3 entrees. Biola had a bread island, a couple of entree lines, including a more natural foods line, a fast food island (where you could order burgers and fries), etc. The variety of offerings dwarfed what I remembered in campus cuisine or your typical pizza or Chinese food buffets. I'm sure I would have gained more than the freshman 15 pounds.

So this Chinese chain has an amazing variety, including racks of sushi (which I've never seen in a buffet before; personally I'm not into sushi--I remember my friend Ray in Sao Paulo, promising to find a restaurant that cooked fish). But they had a grill section where you could have a small steak cooked to order, crabcakes, crawfish, fried shrimp, pizza, sausages, the typical things you might see at a Panda's like Gen. Tso's chicken, side dishes (e.g., baked potato), soups, salads and more, not to mention a vast variety of desserts, fruit/melons and ice cream. I think it costs maybe $16 plus drink. I did not eat everything I mentioned; I did have steak, a crabcake and egg drop soup and a few other items.

But I find, especially as I've gotten used to small portion Nutrisystem foods and perhaps my aging metabolism, that I really can't eat that much food anymore. My Mom and I went to this seafood place (she particularly loves the gumbo); I also ordered the "catfish special" which came with so many fillets, I had to take a doggie bag home and made a full meal with the leftovers.

Long story short, I quickly dropped 4 pounds of water gain returning from my trip, maybe a typical bounce away from my new low a few weeks back. I can't predict when I'll revisit my low; I remember the last time I was in this situation, I dropped 6 pounds, just to see another 6-lb. bounce.

The nice thing is I now get fit into slacks 4 inches smaller than last year and I can use some of my late Dad's longer belts; also I can fit into shirts one or 2 sizes smaller. I still have a long way to go to get to my goal, but I'm probably in the weight range I had in the 1990's. I'm maybe 40 pounds from breaking the bottom of that range. Ironically, my cellphone holster slipped off one of Dad's old belts, and water-related damage required replacing the phone. (I recently wrote a related post in my core political blog.)

Nutrisystem wasn't happy when I postponed my next shipment by a month, but in part I knew I would be gone for a week, plus I had a backlog of certain products  Sometimes I just want a change of pace, like eggs or grass-fed beef.

Although I still follow a lower-carb regimen, in part for health reasons, I'm more price-sensitive relevant to nutritional elements. For example, I'm less willing pay a huge premium for food just because it has 'organic', 'paleo', 'keto', 'free-range', 'wild-caught', 'low-carb' or 'grass-fed' in front of it. For example, it may very well be that Eggland eggs or cage-free eggs have modest nutritional benefits over a dozen Walmart commodity eggs, but first of all, I don't eat that many eggs and if and when Walmart prices eggs at less than $1/dozen it's hard to justify paying double or triple that for premium eggs. Eggs are still nutrition powerhouses. Don't get me wrong: I still review nutrition labels and have preferences in ingredients. I am also more tolerant of potatoes which have gotten a bad rap; I simply eat them on occasion with protein and limit the serving size. But gone are the days I'll shell out $5 or more for a loaf of bread. For instance, I can buy Walmart Great Value 100% Whole Wheat bread for about $1.50 a loaf, with about 10 net carbs and 70 calories per slice. Some ingredients make me cringe a bit; I wouldn't classify it as a health food, but I've used it, e.g., to make a sandwich with Nutrisystem's BBQ chicken spread, and I don't eat bread most days.

This probably isn't a big item on most people's grocery lists, but as a native Texan, I love Tex-Mex and tortillas. Of course you can use tortillas for fajitas and various wraps, but I'll often use them for omelettes, topped with salsa or hot sauce. At any rate, I spotted some lower-carb tortillas in the Walmart bread aisle, including some sprouted wheat (like, although not, Food for Life) offerings at about $3+ a pack. I sometimes buy the Tumaros "ancient grains" packs on sale at Shoprite.

A Watched Kettle Never Boils

I've sometimes run across monster bouncebacks of up to 15 pounds to some extent I've exacerbated issues with my diet about 3 weeks back I had a job offer that fell through (paperwork contingencies) itlooked as though I would be moving to Pennsylvania I had a lot of canned goods that I didn't want to move or throw out good food. So maybe salt intake led to higher water retention , etc. But finally this morning I'm about 2 off my recent low. maybe 3 lbs away my 2004 low. I'm still well above my healthy weight target--enough to be classified as morbidly obese at a recent hospital stay. But  there is notable progress in the sense that I have run out of notches on my recent belt, and older pants are too baggy.

It used to be I could buy Australian grass-fed beef at ShopRite for about $3.99/lb vs. $5.50/lb at Walmart; I guess I hadn't shopped there in a while because on my last trip it was up a whopping $3 a lb; they were selling conventionally-finished T-bone steaks cheaper! (Yes, I bought the steak.)

Progress is Slow But Sure; my Favorite Part of Nutrisystem Food

Well, I see interesting patterns in my weight loss journey; in putting in a new multi-year low last month, I almost immediately started a two-cycle bounce, including on one day, a discouraging 5-lb spike. Those are the days that can sap your enthusiasm. You just know that you didn't binge over the previous day, maybe somehow your body is trying to reset an equilibrium. (I also have a bad habit of weighing myself multiple times a day, beyond my usual weigh-in in the morning after a bathroom break) So early this week I woke up after a late afternoon nap to find out I had suddenly dropped 3 lbs. taking out my prior low by nearly a pound. And usually that's a good sign because my morning weigh-ins improve over prior afternoon weigh-ins.

So now I'm about 4 pounds below my prior September low. There are a couple of interesting things about my current weight; I'm about 7 pounds away from my 2004 low-carb diet low, just before my folks' anniversary, and so when I reach beyond that, it would be my lowest weight in at least 20 years. Second, I'm so used to say I'm over 100 lbs. overweight. But technically I'm now less than 100 pounds over my weight when I passed my Navy physical many years ago. Make no mistake--I still have a long way to go, at least 1-2 years away, even at an aggressive clip of 1-1.5 lbs. a week.

The current pattern is interesting--I've plateaued at nearly the same low weight for 4 days in a row. I'm used to seeing rebounds/bounces after putting in a new low. I've seen hints of an additional loss, but I'm intrigued by the changed pattern.

What do I like about Nutrisystem assortments? Well, first of all, I may not be on the same plan as others because I'm concerned about maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. So you don't see a lot of egg or meat entrees. I do recall in the past an eggs frittata entree, but maybe they've discontinued it or it's not on this plan. Much more emphasis (breakfast) on cereal, oatmeal and/or presumably higher protein pastries, like blueberry muffins. I never much cared for cereals; if and when I bought them in the past, I tended to gravitate towards original Shredded Wheat or Grapenuts (no, not Nutrisystem options--they are more like bran flakes). I'll tolerate occasional oatmeal. So I tend to prefer the pastry options; granted, no one is going to confuse Nutrisystem blueberry muffins for the oversized variety you'll buy at a bakery, but given I never buy muffins on my own, it's still a "treat"; among other things, what I'm getting from Nutrisystem is consistent quality healthy food and portion control.

I usually choose a fair proportion of protein bars, etc., which are convenient to carry and ready-to-eat. But in part, I particularly like the comfort food/pasta options, like lasagna and ravioli., and the wide variety of options (Nutrisystem allows you to adjust your options from some baseline bundle). Make no mistake--no one is going to compare Nutrisystem lasagna with Olive Garden's. And I'm not going to order 28 days of lasagna. But when you pick it out after 3 weeks of no lasagna, it's almost a treat.

Demoralizing Weight Gain Spikes

My Taylor scale is very sensitive to placement; I used to place it near my apartment entryway (no carpet) but even the slightest bump could affect the readings--like a sudden 20-lh. drop. After dieting for years, I knew that was wildly improbable, and I'm not going to lie to myself. It was fairly reliable; you could weight yourself 20 seconds later and yield the same result to a fifth of a pound. So when, all of a sudden I was getting 5 different readings over 5 minutes, I was convinced the floor wasn't quite level and changed to the kitchen, which seemed more level.

So all this is a preface when I weighed in, as my custom, early in the morning after my bathroom break. All of a sudden I registered a 5-lb spike; don't tell me I'm running into the hallway problem again. But no matter how I positioned the scale, the same result stared up in my face.

To say it was demoralizing is an understatement; I've routinely had up to 6 lb bouncebacks after hitting new lows, but usually it was more of steps up to 6 pounds; I don't ever remember a 5-lb spike before.  Now this is not like I went on some carb binge the prior day. It's just that my body skipped the usual incremental bounceback to a more consolidated one. when all was said and done, the full bounceback was an above-average 8 pounds, demoralizing in part because it took me back out of that 50-lb. range I had cycled for most of my adult life, including the BMI target for my height used to deny individual healthcare coverage early in the Great Recession.

So, as I write, I'm back within 2 pounds of my low and about 3 pounds under that BMI target. My second Nutrisystem shipment arrived late yesterday. I'm somewhat confused about the monthly timing because I ran out a week ago and that was a 30-day shipment. It wasn't like I didn't have food in the apartment. (Among other things, I had a small stock of Hormel Complete shelf-stable entrees I have purchased during my recovery from eye surgery back in May). It's just I didn't even open up my first shipment my first few days, and it's not like I eat more my daily allotment.

I do allow myself an occasional indulgence. Walmart had a budget generic line Great Value. I've never really bought any chips, even before my low-carb days. I've been to Subway on occasion over the past few years (most often when moving or in temporary housing). I seem to recall they offered Frito-Lay Miss Vicky's Jalapeno Kettle Chips, which I developed a fondness for. I discovered that Walmart had 8 oz. bags in their budget line (almost hidden in their snack aisle near the popcorn section) which sells for about $1.32. During my occasional trips to Sam's Club, I'll often buy I think it's Wild Roots quinoa/chia tortilla chips. Occasionally I'll do microwave popcorn or a handful of unsalted mixed nuts (under Sam's Club Member Mark's brand).

It's hard to describe my approach to grocery shopping. I don't necessarily stick to a list. I'll sometimes walk down aisles looking for Walmart's rollbacks or clearance items.To give an example, I have a fondness for minestrone soup. So one day I noticed they had their Great Value canned minestrone soup marked down to $1/can (from maybe. $1.42/can). So I stocked up. I'm not happy they seem to be discontinuing carrying the item, but I'll take advantage of the opportunity.

I did notice in my last trip, Walmart seems to be now carrying Quest pizzas. I had heard Target is carrying them (I haven't shopped Target for years, but I was planning to just for that reason). A co-worker battling her own weight issues mentioned trying them. Now they are a bit pricey at nearly $7 for a medium-sized pie; to contrast, you can buy a large Tony's Supreme for about $2.50. (but that comes loaded with carbs).

My verdict: not bad. The toppings (I chose Supreme) are superior. Not much (if any) cheese on top. The crust came across as a little dry, crumbly and a bit bland. Nobody is going to confuse it with a slice of takeout. I've had more than my share of pizza over the years but I've almost never gone to a pizza joint, beyond an occasional work lunch with colleagues to Pizza Hut or Pizza Hut at an airport kiosk, mostly because it's an IT department staple for the very occasional work meeting or working (unpaid) overtime or upgrade activities. I've experimented a bit with cauliflower crusts, which do require a bit of an acquired taste.

But specialty food items, like low-carb, often come with a premium price. To give an example, I've sometimes ordered lower-carb bread from around $5/loaf from Netrition. I more recently discovered a lower-carb brand that Walmart stocks (I think it's Schmidt Old Tyme 647 at about 6 net carbs a slice) at just over $3/loaf. Not to mention, as I've mentioned in the past, Walmart now carries Food for Life's Ezekiel bread, in their frozen food specialty bread area, for about $5/loaf. But several weeks back, I discovered Walmart carries a Great Value 100% whole wheat bread (about 11 net carbs a slice), for about $1,50 a standard-sized loaf. The only problem? It seems half the time I go to Walmart I can't find it in stock. Now I almost never eat bread to speak of on a daily basis; I think Nutrisystem has some food items that require supplemental items, like a BBQ chicken spread, and I'll occasionally indulge in a favorite boiled-egg sandwich, a grass-fed burger, or maybe occasional turkey/chicken franks or chicken/seafood salad sandwich.

I also noticed Walmart was carrying a new selection of  "RealGood" frozen entrees, priced at about $4/above. I used to buy their chicken enchiladas regularly in that price range, when Walmart added about a buck a package. They're good, but not as big or filling as "real" Mexican food. So I decided to sample their spicy Italian sausage entree at about 9 net carbs.

How Much Credit Should I Give to Nutrisystem?

It's been almost one month since I resumed Nutrisystem. I've set a new low, almost 5 pounds inside my 50-lb. weight range since the 1980's and about 10 pounds away from my 2004 low-carb diet low. Make no mistake; I'm unambiguously obese, and even losing the rest of the 45 pounds in the range would probably leave another 45 pounds to get within a healthy range. If a healthy loss rate is 1.5 lbs/week, it would require more than a year to achieve that objective, and plateaus are a fact of life for every dieter. It took me literally months over the past year to break my last plateau. It still demoralizes me to remember how almost effortlessly I lost weight on my initial low-carb diet--almost 3.5 lbs/week until a horrible plateau. It does seem I've regained a more persistent loss track since finally cracking through the prior plateau.

I will say that I haven't lost the heavily promoted 11-13 pound first month loss, and to be honest I've occasionally strayed from the diet because the food is limited, for example, an occasional serving of pork rinds, popcorn, or canned soup. But we are talking maybe an occasional 200-300 calories, not like I'm binging on carbs or open buffet.

So do I credit Nutrisystem for my weight loss over the past month? Yes and no. Yes, I've been mostly eating their food, but I had been losing before resuming Nutrisystem, and it's not like I was eating that much more on my prior DIY diet. What's particularly good about Nutrisystem is its simplicity and variety. In particular, they offer nice comfort food twists like pizza and various pastas. Granted, no one will confuse them with takeout pizza or Olive Garden. And (at least in my specialty diet) I have a surprisingly high number of non-meat meals. (E.g., the pizza toppings are mostly packets of pizza sauce and cheese.) Not one egg-based breakfast. I'll admit my DIY diet was more generous with meat and eggs.

I'll probably stick with Nutrisystem for a few more months because I think a change of diet can benefit weight loss, and I do recall dropping up to 40 lbs. in the first few months my last go-round. (I eventually gained in all back, but that was post-Nutrisystem.