178.8 - a new 20 year low

In March this year, I was bouncing between 215 and 213 lbs.  I set a goal for myself to drop to 180 lbs.  I went to work by developing two habits.

First, I developed the habit of waking up between 4 and 4:30am every weekday and going on a 4 mile walk (1 hour).  I had been developing this habit for the last two to three years.  This year, I simply didn't let myself off the hook.  I'm at a point now where I simply can't live without going on my 4 mile week day walk.  It's like sleep - I just do it.  As a side tip, I leveraged the "Alarm Clock Xtreme Free" app to ensure I get up and stay up in the morning.  In order to turn the alarm off, I have to solve 6 complex math problems, which require me to get up, sit at my computer, open the calculator and punch in the numbers.  By the time I'm done solving the problems, I'm too awake to go back to bed.

Second, I developed the habit of weighing myself before and after my 4 mile walk.  I have a "weight record template" I print out and hang on my closet wall, right above the scale.  I love recording my weight and seeing how it drops.  It's basically positive reinforcement for walking and eating well.

Along with those two habits, I developed a system that works quite well for me.  This system allows me to enjoy eating the foods I love while still losing weight.  The system goes like this: Monday through Friday are "work days."  It helps to have a very busy life and work schedule to keep your mind occupied.  Sitting around being bored at home causes boredom eating.  During the week days, the only food I eat (and the only food my mind and body really need) is as follows:

1. Isagenix Cleanse mix + Crystal Light (caffeinated) + 90oz of ice water.  I drink this on my commute to work.

2. Isagenix Refresh (like Gatorade) + Crystal Light (caffeinated) + 90oz of ice water.  I drink this during my first two hours at work.  I also take an Isagenix metabolisim boost pill.

3. 90 oz of ice water. I drink this during the latter part of the morning.

4. Depending on the day, I may eat lunch with co-workers.  But on those days when I don't eat lunch, I eat a 30 calorie Isagenix wafer.

Now, at this point, you're probably freaking out about the lack of food that I'm eating.  And you're probably wondering how this is even possible.  Believe me, I've tried lots of different systems (eating breakfast, lunch and dinner; eating six small meals, snacking on veggies ... I've tried a lot of different systems).  But, for many different reasons, those systems just didn't work for me.  The weight would stay on; I would get tripped up on trying to keep track of calories; my mind would be fuzzy, I'd be sleepy ... there are many reasons why those systems didn't work.  The bottom line is, this system works for me on many different levels.  I have energy.  I have focus.  My mind is clear.  I'm not so sleepy.  It is sustainable.

5. After commuting home, if I didn't eat lunch, I will have a small, healthy snack and then make myself an Isagenix protein shake.  One scoop of ionix and two scoops of the strawberry protein mix with iced water.

6. After the shake for dinner, I drink 90 oz of water.  And then I'm pretty much done ... I feel full and I don't think of food or eating.

That is my routine during the week.

Then on the weekends, if I feel so inclined, I will allow myself to indulge a little - go out to dinner.  I also allow myself to eat my favorite indulgence: frozen greek yogurt (usually blueberry or peach).  I also double my miles on Saturday and Sunday.  I will walk 8 miles each morning.  So, 4 miles each weekday, 8 on Saturday and Sunday equates to about 36 miles a week along with normal walking.  Per my FitBit, I average about 13,000 steps a day.

And that is pretty much it - that is my system that works so well for me.  I love it!  It's sustainable!  And I don't anticipate any changes to my system anytime soon.  I think the weight will stay off for a long time.

So what has this system accomplished for me?  I weighed in at 178.8 this morning.  According my my records and estimates, that is the lowest I've weighed in about 20 years.  That is even lower than when I did the Shangri-La diet 9 years ago (see this post).

The next habit I want to develop is getting into sit-ups and push-ups and bi-cep curls.  I'd love to be able to do 100 push-ups and 200 sit-ups in one session.

But for now, I'm basking in my achievement!

Shangri-La Diet in a Nutshell

Reading Seth's blog post (link here) led me to this forum (link here) where on this page of that forum I found the following two summaries of the SLD:

The theory seems to be that the body finds 2-300 excess calories and can't figure out where they came from, so shuts down your hunger and resets weight setpoint over time. Kind of like your body thinks you went from eating slim pickin's in winter to having plentiful food in summer...it just knows you are getting more energy from the food you are currently eating so it can up the metabolism and lower the weight setpoint since it figures you found a good supply of chow and wants you to keep eating without getting fat.

...

The idea is that flavourless calories do NOT give the message of abundance, as they would in nature. So the body reduces the weight setpoint as a survival mechanism in hard times. Once your body weight is sitting above your setpoint, you naturally are not hungry, you eat less and your body loses weight to the setpoint. If your actual bodyweight is sitting below your setpoint, you are excessively hungry and eat until you regain to where your body wants to be. A protective mechanism.

How many times have we lost 5 or so lbs below where we usually sit, through a major struggle of restraint and intake reduction, then blow it all in a fit of uncontrolled appetite and eating and regain the weight? I know that 148-152 lbs is a huge sticking point for me and the first time I started SLD, I slid right past that point, going from 150-146 in a few days and then remaining with the lowered appetite for months, as I lost to my goal of 133-135 lbs. Took only 3 months. It was rather amazing.

Seth Roberts took the theory of the impact of flavourless calories on setpoint and bent it in various ways to try and "trick the brain" into lowering the setpoint. He tried things like flavour without calories, calories without flavour, using a flavour that is sometimes taken calorie free, then combined with calories at other times of the day. "Platinum Calories" as devised by one of the forum readers is a twist on the theory. It is based on the idea that fat calories provided alone will provide calories without triggering any insulin response at all - not such a strange concept around here. They are tasty (coconut oil in coffee, "oilmilk" - oil and water blended with lethicin, as examples), but I never found them as effective as the flavourless calories. Bulletproof coffee is the same concept - lots of fat without any other dietary calorie sources, and hence satiety that lasts for hours.

I want to try this one more time using Spectrum's refined coconut oil.  I think I saw a jar of this at the local Kroger, selling for about $7 or $8.

SLD 2012

The weight is back - especially after the holidays (Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Years).  I've been doing lots of reading on Seth Roberts' blog as well as other sites.  My exercise options have been limited and I need to make minor changes that are sustainable for the long-haul, but that don't interfere with life in general.

So I'm firing this blog back up again ... to track; to post thoughts; to book-mark important things I've read and found.

The day after New Year's, I weighed in at 220 lbs.  Through exercise and not eating cookies, I've backed off that weight a bit and am now at 215 lbs.  I need to get back to about 175-180.

Today, I tested the feasibility of ingesting virgin coconut oil while plugging my nose and then rinsing with water.  It worked out quite well.

Here's the plan:
After waking up, eat 3 fried (in butter) eggs - at around 5:30am
Next would be two tablespoons of virgin coconut oil - at around 8:00am
Next I'd drink water while an hour passed.  Then I could drink my Crystal Light at 9:15am
Lunch would consist of an apple and protein - 12:00pm
Next would be another two tablespoons of virgin coconut oil - at around 3:00pm
After getting home from work, I'd exercise (long walks, spin on the bike and weights) - around 5:00pm
Dinner would be light and made mostly of protein - at around 6:30pm
The day would be capped off with a Diet Canada Dry - at around 8:30pm

Weigh-ins are crucial for me - so I will usually weigh-in every day after I wake-up.

Tactical Victory

It's been a tough week with regard to exercise and eating, but it has ended on quite a high note.

All week long I've been fighting the urge to pig out at night. I've not pigged out per se, but I have been eating more than I should have. My goal is generally follow the adage, "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper." I gather I simply don't need the calories at night. I get home from work, do homework with kids and watch TV or play chess ... no need for lots of calories to do those activities. I tend to eat out of boredom at night.

So my plan is to either stay out of the kitchen when I get home or to simply make myself a large cup of Crystal Light with crushed ice and drink that and chew on the ice. After drinking that much Crystal Light, I should feel full.

Monday through Wednesday was horrible. I was eating cookies, ice cream, Cheetos, hot dogs, toast and anything the kids were eating for dinner. On Thursday, however, I changed things up a bit. I ate a bigger lunch, drank lots of water in the afternoon and then actually followed through on the plan ... I got home, made myself a large cup of Crystal Light with crushed ice and sipped that and munched on the ice. That did the trick. I left the kitchen, watched TV, folded clothes and then played Bejewled Blitz on Facebook. As a side note, I earned one of the highest scores in the world ... over 350K! I was pretty proud of that. My wife and I then watched The Office and went to bed.

I wasn't sure I was going to get up to run this morning, but I set my alarm as usual (4:30am). When it rang, I actually got up, got my running clothes and shoes on and ran my 4 miles. Now to back up a bit, my heart has been really palpitating this week during running and I suspect it has something to do with gas and what I ate the night before. My theory is even stronger now, because this morning I had no heart palpitations during my run and I did not eat dinner last night. After my run and before hopping in the shower, I weighed in at 206 lbs. It made me feel so good!

I continue with the sugar water in the morning and afternoon. However, I've now been adding in ELOO to the drink and that has helped a bit more.

Sugar Water

My intent is to drink about 6 tablespoons (not the measuring kind, but the silverware kind) of sugar mixed with water during the day every day. Then at night when I get home after work, I'm supposed to drink 2 tablespoons of extra-light olive oil (ELOO) with water before I eat anything. I've got the sugar water part down. But when I get home, I dig into the food right away.

The thing is ... I'm not even that hungry. I just eat out of boredom. I'd like to not even go into the kitchen and instead go into the office and play on the computer, but that is not an option because I cannot leave my dear wife to tend to 4 hungry kids while I'm off playing games on the computer.

So I'm thinking out loud here ... maybe I can try drinking a large cup of Crystal Light again when I get home ... put lots of ice in it so I can chew on ice ... maybe that'll satisfy my need to masticate.

Other than that, the Shangri-la diet is going well. I'm still hovering right under 210 despite eating Church's Chicken, potato salad, ice cream, brownies and pretty much anything else laying around the house this weekend. I thought I'd be back up to 215 on Monday morning, but the scale went right up to just under 210.

I figure if I can "be good" during the week, I can then go on an 1 to 2 hour workout Saturday morning and then "relax" the rest of the weekend.

One other thing to write ... just a few days before I hopped back onto the diet, I discovered a song by The White Stripes entitled Sugar Never Tasted So Good. It's a catchy song like most White Stripes songs. I kept chuckling the first time I heard it which was the day after I started Shangri-la again.

Working

I've been diligent thus far this week ... at least with taking the SW during the day. The plan is to take 2 tbsp of ELOO when I get home from work at night, but I didn't drink it the last two nights.

Monday night was kind of bad. Although I didn't eat as much as before getting on the Shangri-la Diet, I still ate quite a bit. Last night was much better. I was still slightly hungry when I got home, but I decided to eat some tortilla chips with a cup of a bean-rice-corn stew my wife had made the other day. It was quite delicious, but I felt incredibly stuffed after eating it. After that, I drank two full glasses of water and was done for the night.

This morning I went on the usual jog. After I got home, I weighed in. Since we have an analog scale, it is really tough to tell what the exact reading is, but whatever it was, it was lower than I've ever seen it when I've stepped on that scale. To me, it looked like it was halfway between 205 and 210, so I called it 207.

Outrageous Quotes from the Book

Since I decided to go back on this diet, I pulled out the official Shangri-la Diet book authored by Seth Roberts. As I read the book, I had forgotton a lot of what he had talked about.


As I re-read parts of the book, I am shocked at his intial findings when he began experimenting with fructose.

The fructose water caused an astonishing loss of appetite. This was clear within hours. (I started with a dose that in retrospect was much larger than necessary. With a better, lower dose, it can take longer to notice the loss of appetite.) I ate much less than usual and lost weight fast. Fructose water suppressed my appetite much more than I expected. I halved my daily intake of fructose several times over the next few weeks, yet my appetite did not return. I continued to lose weight quickly, more than two pounds per week. (page 26)

Looking at his chart on page 28, it looks like he took about 10 tablespoons of fructose a day.


Here are two more outrageous quotes:

I ate about one meal every two days.

He was at 185 lbs when he started the fructose. He goes on to state,

I reached 150 pounds in three months.

Wow!

Carinos and the Weight Scale

Friday is when my wife and I got out to dinner (usually). We wanted Italian so we figured Carinos would be good since we've not been there in about 10 years. I had sugar water in the morning (the usual ~3 tbsp). For lunch, I ate a Gala apple that had been sitting in my office the past few days.

After I got home from work, we went out. We ate the bread, the Italian sodas, the lasagne and everything else they dished us. Our conversation was almost entirely on the subject of the Shangri-la Diet. I told her that when she has some time to open Picasa and look at pictures of ourselves from back in 2006 and 2007 when we were both doing the diet. She had a lot of questions, but I talked her through them. I think she's on board. She decided to start on it Monday.

After dinner, we went shopping for groceries (how romantic huh). We got some ice cream. When we got home, we turned on the TV and watched The Office and ate ice cream. In other words, we ate a lot of food last night.

This morning was absolutly beautiful ... 60 degrees, clear blue sky. We went on a jog. Before I headed out the door, I hopped on the scale ... 210. I was pretty shocked because after all we ate, I expected to be over 210. We went on our jog and did about 4 miles. After the jog, I was just under 210, but I'm sure I would have been a little lower because I chugged a very large cup of water before I weighed in.

The only SLD I did today was drink a glass of sugar water. I've just snacked most of the day and have not felt hungry at all.

Immediate Impact

After just two days back on the Shangri-la diet, I've seen serious results.

I drank about 3 tbsp of sugar water (rough measurement since I'm using the sugar dispenser at work) in the morning and another 3 tbsp in the afternoon right before I go home.

During the day, I am just not hungry. Of course I've been able to control myself during the day before Shangri-la, but I'd still be thinking about food. On Shangri-la, I'm not thinking as much about food. Yesterday, all I had to eat at work was a small Gala apple and a V8 (I figure I need to get vitamins some way).

The big challenge for me, however, is when I get home from work. I usually eat whatever my wife has cooked, or I'll scrounge for food in the fridge. The plan with Shangri-la is to drink 2 tbsp of ELOO with water as soon as I get home and then see how I feel in an hour.

So on the first day, I drank the ELOO and an hour later, I ate just half a sandwich and I was done.

Yesterday I did not drink the ELOO because my wife had made her famous chicken broccoli casserole. I ate a kid's bowl size of it (just over a cup). Afterward, I felt like I had just eaten Thanksgiving dinner. I drank a few glasses of water the rest of the evening and I was done.

This morning, I ran my normal 3.1 miles. It was perfect weather ... 68 degrees and low humidity. When I got back, I weighed in: 208 lbs!!

It has been over 4 months since I've been under 210 and I did everything I could to exercise and reduce my calories to get under 210. After four months of that, I'd still fluctuate between 215 and 210. And now after 2 days on Shangri-la, I'm below 210.

Trying to Get Back on the Bandwagon

So I've been running 3 miles most mornings for the past 3 months and I've been trying to control what I eat. But no matter what, I'll occasionally binge eat. Then I'll feel guilty and then I get in my groove again.

Now the last three weeks, I've been quite religious about exercising and eating less. However, regardless of how little I eat and how much I work out, I cannot, for the life of me, break the 210 lbs barrier.

So I decided yesterday to pull out the old Shangri-la diet book and remember how it all worked. It occured to me that the last time I tried SLD back in May, it didn't work because I probably didn't take big enough doses.

I started yesterday and ended up taking about 3 tbsp of sugar with water twice ... once in the morning and once in the afternoon. And since my biggest weakness is eating at night when I get home from work, I took 2 tbsp ELOO with water as soon as I got home. About an hour later, I ate just half a sandwich.

In total for yesterday, I ate a banana, a granola bar, a small box of raisens and half a sandwich. Before I run in the morning, I usually weigh just over 210 and then after my run, I'm right at 210. This morning I did not run and I weighed exactly 210 ... so it seems there is a small victory right off the bat.

I'm actually determined this time to keep this up.

Round 2, Day 2

For Wed. May 27

@ 6:10am - 2 tbsp of ELOO with water. 3 Acai berry and 1 fish oil capsules
@ 10am - SW
@ 11:30am - wheat crackers, 2 small apples, yogurt
@ 5:00pm - SW with 3 Acai berry and 1 fish oil capsules
@ 6:00pm - 2 bit-sized quesadillas
@ 6:20pm - ~3.7 miles jogging (very hot and humid)
@ 8:15pm - 4 bit-sized qusadillas, pita chips with hummace
@ 10:00pm - small bowl of ice cream ... it's gone ... no more temptation :-)

Round 2, Day 1

For Tue May 26:

@ 6:00am - 3 Acai berry & 1 fish oil capsules
@ 10am - ingested ~ 2 tbsp of sugar water
@ 11:30am - ate lunch (wheat crackers, yogurt, 2 small apples, water)
@ 3:00pm - ate small bag of mini cream cookies
@ 5:00pm - ingested ~ 2 tbsp of sugar water with 3 Acai berry & 1 fish oil capsules
@ 6:30pm - went on jog with wife and kids for 40 minutes
@ 8:00pm - ate dinner (two bread sticks, smoothies, can of V8)
@ 10:00pm - bowl of ice cream

I need to cut desert out of my diet for the week. I can accept eating ice cream on the weekends, but not during the week.

I also need to not eat late at night. With our family living so close to the lake park, we're getting home late and eating late. I'm really not hungry ... I just eat. So I need to be a litte proactive about filling that gap with something other than food.

Time to Get On Again and Stay On

I haven't been on the SLD for a few years now. I've attempted to get back on it a few times, but it's never stuck.

Lately, I've been trying to substitue fish oil capsules and some Acai berry capsules for ELOO, but I just don't think it is working. So I went to the dietblog.com site this morning and re-read the SLD review. It dawned on me what I was missing ... the calories. Fish oil capsules are only 10 calories, where as I need to be consuming 100-400 tasteless calories a day.

In that review, I read Stephen's comments about how he does SLD and it all seemed to come back. "Drink three tablespoons of sugar in a cup of water every morning at ten o'clock (with no other food or flavors, including mints, diet drinks or chewing tobacco) from 9:00 to 11:00 and two tablespoons of olive oil at 2:30 (with the same no food or flavors from 1:00 to 4:00) and see what has happened after a week."

His last update (on his blog) states that he's been on it for 3 years and he's gone from 245 to 168!

So as of today, I am at 214 (according to my new analog scale ... which I'll be using from now on). That is just 3 pounds shy of what I was back in April 2006 when I started the SLD. I've recently started a more "normal" job that has business day hours instead of shift-work hours. This means I can consistently work out and consistently focus on this "diet."

Which brings me to my next point ... the one thing I learned the first time I did this was that I should not stop with the SW/ELOO. It doesn't take much effort and I need to make it part of my life like breathing.

Here's the daily schedule:

@ 5:30am - workout in the morning (running, biking, etc.)
@ 6:30am - drink ELOO water along with fish oil and Acai berry capsules
@ 9:00-11:ooam - drink sugar water
@ 11:00am - eat lunch
@ 2:00-4:00pm - drink ELOO along with fish oil and Acai berry capsules
@ 6:30-7:00pm - eat dinner and do not eat anything after dinner.

Tight Belt

Up at 3:30am; to the gym by 4am. The reason so early is because I work the early shift this week.

10 minute of jogging, 15 minutes on the stair-climber, 15 minutes on the stationary bike.

Weigh-in: 204.0 lbs.

7:50am - ~2 tablespoons of walnut oil with water

8:30am - 1 serving of hot chocolate (100 calories)

11:15am - 1 cup of lowfat yougurt, 1 apple, 1 cup of walnuts, 1 can diet lime Coke

6:15pm - 4 taquitos, sugar free soda, 1/2 cup low-fat ice cream (Dreyers mint cookie)

Goal: 180 lbs.

I'll provide updates each day. Each post will note what workouts I've done, what I've eaten and when I've taken walnut oil and/or sugar water.

Week 2, Day 2

5:50am: basketball (70 mins)

7:20am: weigh-in ... 195.3 lbs.

8:30am: sugar water, 4 cups of water

12:00pm: 1 gala apple, 1 Yoplait yogurt, 1 Nature Valley granola bar, a can of Pepsi.

2:30pm: leftover carrot/cream-cheese frosting birthday cake ... more water

6:00pm: 2 cups cabbage salad, a few mini hot-dogs

11:00pm: chips and salsa, cake

My wife hosted a baby shower last night. After it was over, I ate the leftover refreshments. The salsa wasn't that great, but the cake was pretty good.

Week 2, Day 1

WEEKEND REPORT
Friday Aug 3: No workout. Sugar water in the morning. Pretzels, mini-oreo cookies, apple, yogurt. No walnut oil in afternoon. Fajitas at Taco Cabana, ice cream cone at DQ.

Saturday Aug 4: Cereal (Life), basketball (90 mins). Swimming with kids (90 mins). Mowed lawn (2 hours) ... lots of water and Gatorade. Snacking all morning and afternoon. Leftover spinich pizza, tater tots, chicken nuggets. Started fast.

Sunday Aug 5: fasted (no breakfast or lunch). BBQ chicken, sweet potato, cake.

WEEK 2 - DAY 1

5:30am: 30 minutes treadmill, 30 minutes spin

6:45am: weigh-in ... 196.7 lbs.

8:30am: sugar water

11:30am: 1 gala apple, 1 cup Yoplait yogurt

4:00pm: 2 tbsp walnut oil mixed with water

5:10pm: two beef tacos (sour cream, tomatos, cheese), honey and butter on tortilla

8:00pm: cake and milk

Day 4

No basketball this morning ... had to get into work early (job transition, end of month stuff)

7:20am: 3 capsules flax seed oil

9:00am: sugar water ... sipping for 30 minutes

11:30am: BBQ (beef, sausage), cole slaw, cheesy potatoes, corn

No walnut oil again ... had to leave work in a hurry.

5:30pm: pretzels, pizza, broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatos, banana-peanutbutter-chocolate-chip bread, lots of water

Life continues to be busy and I missed taking walnut oil for the 2nd day in a row. The big lunch and dinner didn't help. I was really disappointed that I had to miss basketball this morning. This busy schedule will get better next week and the week after. Tomorrow ... I'll be more disciplined.

Day 3

No workout in the morning. Slept in.

9:50am: 3 capsules flaxseed oil, sugar water

12:00pm: 1 gala apple, 1 cup of Yoplait yogurt

1:15pm: 1 granola bar (still drinking plenty of water)

Did not take walnut oil ... busy day and didn't have time before leaving work.

6:00pm: tuna-grape-onion salad, breadsticks (4)

8:00pm: daddy-daughter date ice cream (Dairy Queen)

Not a bad day, but I could have done better. The afternoon just slipped away from me and I didn't take the time to ingest the walnut oil. I wasn't hungry throughout the afternoon. The evening ice cream is not going to be a habit. These last two days were just one-offs.

Day 2

5:30am: 3.36 miles (30 mins), water

8:00am: 3000 mg flaxseed (capsules)

10:30am: 1 tbsp sugar mixed with warm water, I've already drunken two glasses of water.

11:45am: 1 gala apple, 1 cup of Yoplait yogurt, glass of water

1:11pm: been chewing gum for an hour, really hungry ... ate 1 granola bar (180 cals)

3:40pm: hungry again, 2 tbsp walnut oil mixed with water

3:45pm: hunger seems to have immediately dissapated

6:00pm: turkey sandwich with mustard and ranch dressing, pickle, handful of Fritos, 2 slices of toast with peanut butter and honey, lemonade

9:00pm: McDonald's ice cream sundae with straberry topping

Overall, a pretty good day. I wanted to get some carbs in me for dinner because I would be running the next day. The ice cream ... my son and I went to play some softball and then ate ice cream afterwards.

Day 1

5:25 - 5:55am : treadmill, 3 miles

6:00 - 6:30am : stationary bike (spin)

6:40am: weigh-in; 200.0 lbs

8:00am: 3000 mg flaxseed oil (3 capsules)

9:00 - 9:30am: 1 tbsp sugar with hot water

11:30am: 1 gala apple, 1 Yoplait yogurt, LifeSaver candy (3)

2:00pm: been chewing gum for an hour or so, really hungry, weekly Monday headache setting in.

2:40pm: major headache, 2 Excedrin, 1 granola bar

4:00pm: headache subsides, 2 tbsp walnut oil with water

6:00pm: large salad (cucumbers, eggs, peppers, black beans, ranch, chicken), slice of bread