Day 24 on Atkins 20

My legs were a little sore from my first bike ride yesterday, but I was still feeling good about it. In the beginning I plan on biking every other day until I feel like I can add more days in. My legs are really heavy right now and burn a bit but it is a good burn. It reminds me of days after a good workout in the gym where everything is delightfully sore. I didn't notice any increase in appetite so that's a good thing. I am adjusting to my increase in carbs under phase 2 and it is difficult, but not why you would think. I'm having a hard time eating enough. I get full so quickly now so I feel like I am just forcing food in there to hit a number instead of really wanting it. Yet, I think it is the right path for me so I'm going to stay with it. I think I will be down some this week with the exercise and increased carbs. I just feel smaller.

Day 23 meals:

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 10 oz hamburger with 1/2 cup mushrooms, 3 tbs low carb ketchup, 1 cup cucumber salad w/sour cream

Dinner - 3 chicken legs grilled, 8 stalks of asparagus, 1 grilled zucchini wedge, 8 baby dill pickles

Snacks - AM - Atkins Dark Chocolate shake, PM - Atkins Dark Chocolate shake

Total counts for day 24, 24g Carbs, 2,043 Calories, 133g fat, 173g protein

Very good day again on the numbers. I finished my supper and noticed I was way down on carbs but fine on calories so I added in 8 baby dill pickles to get my carbs up to where they should be. This was a good thing for two reasons, first, I needed the total carbs but second, I also needed veggie carbs so I killed 2 birds there. I am trying to make a concerted effort to get at least 12 grams of veggie carbs in a day. I really like veggies so that isn't the problem, it's just the quantities it takes to get that many grams in is too much for my shrunken stomach.

Here is my yummy meal on the grill yesterday.

Day 23 on Atkins 20

Today is my first day in Phase 2 and it feels the same as Phase 1 except I allowed myself a few more carbs. I didn't do well at all in getting enough veggie carbs in. The protein makes me so full that I have a hard time forcing enough veggies down to make my carb count. I really need to change that or I know it will stall my weight loss. I got on my new mountain bike today and biked for about 30 minutes, stopping in the middle to stretch and take a drink. My legs were very heavy and weak, my lungs were definitely needing every ounce of oxygen I could give them but I made it through and at the end I felt really good about it. I plan on going 2 days on, 1 day off in the beginning until I can handle 6 days on, 1 day off. I'll also be bumping up my time on the bike to at least an hour once I can handle it. I don't know how long that will take me, but I feel good about getting started and working up a good sweat for the first time in a long time.

Day 23 meals:

Breakfast - 3 eggs scrambled, 1 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 10 oz hamburger with 1/2 cup mushrooms, 3 tbs low carb ketchup, 1 cup green beans with a pat of butter

Dinner - 3 beef franks, 1/2 cup peperoncini peppers, 8 stalks of asparagus with a pat of butter, 1/2 cup vanilla Carbsmart ice cream

Snacks - AM - Atkins Dark Chocolate shake, PM - Atkins Dark Chocolate shake

Total counts for day 23, 24.4g Carbs, 1752 Calories, 112g fat, 124g protein

My calorie counter says I burned off 375 calories by biking today. Not sure if that is right but still a very good start. Can't wait to get out there tomorrow. I did indulge in a small amount of low carb ice cream but still stayed under my new phase 2 number of carbs and kept the calories at a good level. I think my next addition to my new healthy lifestyle will be some crunchies to get some strength back in my core. Picture of my new bike will be up tomorrow as well.

Day 22 on Atkins 20

Today being weigh in this my second post of the day so I'll keep it brief. The good news is that despite my no loss week I am as motivated as ever. I put my before picture next to my week 3 picture and although the changes are subtle, I see them and I am encouraged. I have decided to move to phase 2 of Atkins for my ongoing weight loss. Basically this means a few more carbs allowed, from 20 up to 25 on average while keeping the calories in the same range. We'll see how that works.

Day 22 meals:

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 2 bratwurst, 1 cup cucumber salad w/sour cream and apple cider vinegar

Dinner - 10 oz ground beef with 1 cup mushrooms, 2 TBS low carb ketchup, 12 stalks of asparagus with a pat of butter

Snacks - AM - Atkins cookies and cream shake, PM - Atkins Dark chocolate shake

Total counts for day 22, 18.3g Carbs, 1878 Calories, 138g fat, 129g protein

I won't be starting my new phase until tomorrow. I bought a mountain bike today so I'll be starting my biking tomorrow as well. I plan on biking for 30 minutes at first and then slowly building up both my minutes and speed gradually.

Week 3 weigh In on Atkins 20

I have upped my numbers a bit for this week, waiting to see if that would kick start my weight loss somewhat but it had the opposite effect. I didn't lose any weight or lbs this week. I know there are ups and downs in this game but I can't deny my initial impressions is one of dismay. I have so much more weight to lose, I am eating much less than I used to and eating better, yet my body won't give any weight back in a week? Very very frustrating, depressing, disheartening, you name it. There are a few things I did this week as I look back that may have been a problem. First I did have low carb ice cream twice, which I probably shouldn't be having on Induction level Atkins. Second, I probably didn't get enough vegetables in as carbs. Other than that I have been meticulous about getting my numbers correct and not cheating. As I have mentioned before, I went through a 6 week period without losing anything last time while also lifting and working out with cardio. It was very frustrating and derailed me. This time around I'm not going to let that happen. I'm going to keep at it and make small adjustments as I go. This week my adjustment will be making sure a minimum of 12-15 grams of my carbs come from foundation vegetables. I don't think I was as diligent with that as I should have been this week. I am also buying a bike and will be out biking for at least a half an hour each day this week. Hopefully I will sweat off some pounds and get this kick started again.

My new numbers are the same across the board. It's hard not to get upset by this but it is what it is

Weight - 352 lbs

Chest - 56 Inches

Stomach - 58 inches

Waist - 50 Inches

Mid Thigh - 24.5 Inches

I have done some research and found it is very common to hit a stall your 2nd and 3rd week of induction so that gives me a little hope that this slow down isn't permanent. I will overcome this. I know this is the right way for me to eat. I know this will work for me. As I think about this I am still an advocate for weighing weekly. At least I didn't get the depression I am going through right now 7 days a week. I can get through this and move on after today. If I weighed in every day this week the frustration would hit me every day. My average carbs for the week were 18.7 grams, my average calories were 1,787. Basically I came in right the number for both carbs and calories. Even though I didn't lose I know that is where I wanted to be. I have had a consultant at the Atkins site telling me I shouldn't stay on induction any longer, but should switch to level 2 of the diet. This is confusing, because I have read right on the Atkins site that I can stay in induction for up to 6 months if need be if I have a lot of weight to lose. Consider I am still more than 155 lbs from my goal, I don't know what to believe. I feel good at induction level carbs and with the menu. Even though this weigh in wasn't what I wanted, I know I will lose if i keep this up so why should I change right now? I'll have to give it some thought before deciding.

Day 21 on Atkins 20

I had a good day today staying on plan. We hit 110 degrees today so drinking enough water wasn't a problem. I probably drank 1 1/2 times what I normally do. I have been looking for a good weight loss group to join and haven't found any to my liking. I have begun frequenting the Atkins board right on their site and while they do have a fair amount of traffic, they're not exactly what I am looking for. What I want is a small group of buddies who I report to and who report to me. We'll encourage each other, help answer questions and generally just be a support system through this. I'm sure I'll find this eventually but there isn't anything like it that I've found yet.

Tomorrow is weigh in and measurement day and I know I shouldn't get my hopes up but I can't help it. I want to know where I am at and yet I am dreading it as well. What if I am the same weight? Or worse, what if I gained a pound or two. I also feel so bloated and large when I actually step on that scale, like I am my fattest self at that moment. There is no hiding from that number. Yet I do know better. This is the first time I have ever waited to weigh. Usually I would do it daily exulting on my good days and hitting the lowest of lows on my bad days. I know I shouldn't do this but that's what I do. Now I am experiencing the same things except I just do it once a week now. I have to admit I will be more depressed if I've waited a whole week just to find out nothing good happened. How do I get out of this mindset? That's what I need a support group for. To talk me off the ledge when my numbers suck. Writing this blog does help, even if nobody sees it.

Day 21 meals:

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 6 oz chicken breast, 1/2 cup sauteed zucchini, 1 cup salad w/romaine lettuce, shopped cucumbers, tomatoes and cheddar cheese topped with buttermilk ranch

Dinner - 2 bratwurst, 2 TBS low carb ketchup

Snacks - AM - Atkins cookies and cream shake, PM - Atkins cookies and cream shake

Total counts for day 21, 16g Carbs, 1527 Calories, 103g fat, 112g protein

Came in a little low on carbs and calories but I didn't feel like shoving anything more into me so I just left it there. This is my 3 week mark, I am down at least 15 lbs and feeling good, no matter what the scale says tomorrow, I am happy. Yes, I'll keep repeating that over and over until I believe it.

Day 20 on Atkins 20

20 days in and all is quiet on the western front. I am comfortably in the routine now. My body likes the way I am eating, and I feel better and this morning even a little smaller. We'll see if that holds on weigh in day tomorrow. I have agreed to purchase a mountain bike on Monday and will be meeting with the fella to pick it up. Just as a plug, I've been looking on Craigslist forever without any luck but just tried the new Let It Go app and found some really good deals there right in my area as well. Very cool. My plan once I have a bike, is to get out in the mornings before it heats up too much and bike as far as I can each day. I really need a low impact way to workout and get my heart pumping. This is going to be good for me. Got to keep this brief today but obviously weigh in is tomorrow so look for an extra post with my stats. I've done a good job this week of hitting my minimum numbers so I'm excited to see just what the results are. If they are not good I at least have a data point to work from. Once I start adding exercise that will change my plan entirely so I'm not going to jump to conclusions based on 1 week either. I feel like Sherlock Holmes, I need data! I again reiterate the absolute importance of tracking everything you eat. If you miss anything on the day it's not the end of the world, but the more data you have, the better you will be able to adjust the plan accordingly when things aren't going well, or you'll know what numbers give you the greatest success. Once I have the bike I'll also be tracking how long I've been biking and how many mornings. My goal is to go 6 days a week. We'll see if I can handle that right away or if I have to build up to it.

Day 20 meals:

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 6 oz Polish Kielbasa, 1 cup steamed cauliflower, dipping sauce

Dinner - 3 beef franks, 1/4 cup peperoncini peppers, 3.7 oz sharp cheddar

Snacks - AM - Atkins cookies and cream shake, PM - 2 mozzarella sticks

Total counts for day 20, 18.2g Carbs, 1605 Calories, 85g fat, 86g protein

My calories, fats and proteins were quite low this day. Not sure what that will do to my weight loss. I am again struggling to get all my numbers in. Seems like the hardest is calories. I had to eat some cheddar cheese to add in the calories I needed after supper. I just have Sunday to keep my numbers up before my weigh in. Then we'll see what these higher numbers have done. Even if I don't get the numbers I want I'm going to keep them at these levels for another week while I add exercise to my regime. Wish me luck!

Day 19 on Atkins 20

Day 20 came and went reflecting a growing trend. I'm just not getting my numbers through my normal eating schedule. Without even trying I bet I could come in around 12 carbs and 1,300 calories a day. If I lost more weight at those numbers I would have no problem with it, but I tried that last around with Atkins and it didn't work for me. My appetite is so low right now eating is almost a burden. The only time I am tempted to do anything illegal is when my wife makes something yummy smelling I can't have and even then it has to be right before a meal. Tonight she made a yummy curry stew over rice that I love and that curry smell permeated the entire house, driving me nuts. So I picked out the curry flavored stew meat and had a small plate and it was delicious. There was a little gravy on the meat that probably wasn't legal but I'm not going to stress it. This is my new way of eating, not a diet, so at times I am going to act at least a little "normal."

I did get out in the heat and golf 9 holes yesterday. Not really much physical activity but I did sweat a good deal. I think I would like to walk that course when it isn't hotter than Hades outside. I played horrible, spraying the ball all over and chipping back and forth across greens like a beginner. At least my drive felt better. The rest will come with some practice. I will be playing 36 holes in Illinois in a little over a month so I better get in gear or I will lose quite pathetically.

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 3 pieces of bacon

Lunch - Ham, celery and cheese salad with sour cream, mayo and horseradish sauce

Dinner - 8 oz chicken breast in olive oil, 1 1/3rd cups sauteed zucchini, 4 oz curry beef pieces, 1 cup Carbsmart vanilla ice cream

Snacks - AM - Atkins strawberry shake, PM - Atkins Cookies and Cream Shake

Total counts for day 19, 21.4g Carbs, 1651 Calories, 90g fat, 130g protein

I got to the end of the day at only 11.4 grams of carbs so I had some low carb ice cream. This isn't the optimum way to do this. On day 20 I'll be adding more veggie carbs to my diet to make up for those deficiencies. I am anxious to get to my Monday weigh in. I have to admit I don't really feel smaller at all. When I look down at my belly it looks smaller I guess but we'll see what the measurements come in at. Last week I felt smaller and lost very little pounds and no inches. Hopefully it's the other way around this week. Of course it is hard to get a perfectly accurate measurement too so who knows? As long as pounds or inches are down I'm happy.

Day 18 on Atkins 20

An interesting trend is developing of late. I am getting to the end of my last meal, looking at my carb count and finding I am way low. This has happened the last 4 days. As I mentioned at the start of this week I am trying to keep my numbers around 19 grams of carbs and 1,900 calories or so. Last week I was at 14 carb grams and around 1,400 calories while only losing 3 pounds and no inches. So this week I am experimenting with a little bit higher levels. Last night I got to the end of my supper and discovered I was only at 11 grams of carbs for the day so I ate some baby dill pickles, which are almost no calories and are about 1 carb per. Hopefully it becomes a little bit easier to integrate carbs into my diet throughout the day as I go along although I am finding that my appetite is down so much that I am literally forcing myself to eat. This may not be the best way to do things. I won't know until my weigh in on Monday. That's the beauty of not weighing daily. I can conduct these 1 week experiments with my numbers to see what affect they have on me without the ups and downs of daily weight swings to discourage me. Who knows, this week I may have had a day where I gained 2 pounds simply because of greater water retention but it came off the next day with a pound lost to boot. I'll never know because I'm not riding the roller coaster of staring at those pounds everyday. Now there will come weeks where I am up or lose no weight. I admit that will be hard but I can handle it. This is a new eating lifestyle, not just a diet.

I mentioned several days ago that I will be on a 10 week cycle with my weight loss in order to try to avoid my metabolism slowing down significantly when I get to my goal. I am also trying to keep my thyroid from being damaged by a straight induction level diet for months on end. Research indicates that your thyroid can't handle induction level carbs for too long. So I have decided I will be changing my diet to the carb addicts diet for 2 weeks at the end of my 8 week induction cycle. Then I will go another 8 weeks on induction level carbs. If you are not familiar with the carb addicts diet I will be mapping it out when I get closer.

I got some good exercise in yesterday with some walking and swimming at the reservoir. I made sure to actually do some more swimming instead of just wading in the wonderful water. It was 110 degrees yesterday in St. George so a 3 hour dip in the reservoir was pretty wonderful. My poor shoulders are starting to peel though so I am a pretty gruesome sight right now. Maybe all that dead skin will amount to another pound lost! Okay, just kidding. Anyway, it was a good day to get some good activity in. I might head out golfing in the morning just to get a little more athletic activity in.

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 9 oz hamburger patty, 3 mushrooms, 1/8th cup peperoncini peppers, 1 cup cucumber salad

Dinner - 8 oz ground beef patty, 3 stalks of celery w/organic peanut butter (no sugar added), 7 baby dill pickles

Snacks - AM - Atkins strawberry shake, PM - No PM snack

Total counts for day 18, 18.2g Carbs, 1993 Calories, 146g fat, 128g protein

I had hamburger patty's twice because I had to get it used up before it went bad and I hate freezing beef, it takes all the flavor out. I had a good number of both fat and protein grams and kept my numbers where I wanted them to be for the week. As always I am anxious to weigh in on Monday to see if what I did worked.

Day 17 on Atkins 20

I had my first treat today not including the amazing pancakes my wife made on Father's Day. I've been very careful about having anything sweet even if it fits with my plan and numbers. I was way low on carbs though at the end of the day yesterday so I went ahead and had a low-carb frozen lemonade. I had a few hunger pangs later that evening which is quite rare for me so i won't say I wasn't affected. But I'm certainly not going to make a habit of it though, and I still came in at the right numbers so I'm not worried about it. One of the things I did last time I low carbed was indulging almost every night in some kind of Carbsmart treat. Although my net carbs would come in okay, I just wasn't losing. This time around I'll be saving it for special occasions. I figure if my worst cheat is a cup of low carb ice cream at 10g net carbs, I'll be okay.

More than 2 1/2 weeks in I am feeling good but not as good as I will when I can start working out daily. I'm really feeling the itch to get going now. Today we are heading out swimming again at the reservoir so I'll get some good activity in, but once or twice a week just isn't enough. Plus I want to start building muscle as well. If I can't find a good exercise bike I might just start a membership somewhere to get this going. I'll make sure to note it here when I get started.

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 5 oz ham diced, 1/2 cup celery, 2 slices sharp cheddar, white sauce

Dinner - 8 oz chicken breast in olive oil, Cucumber salad, 1 cup vanilla Carbsmart ice Cream, Sugar Free lemonade

Snacks - AM - Atkins strawberry shake, PM - Cookies and Cream shake, 1 beef stick

Total counts for day 17, 21.2g Carbs, 1980 Calories, 125g fat, 129g protein

I am very happy with these numbers this week. I am going a little higher on both calories and carbs. Not sure what this will do to my numbers next Monday, but I just think it is smart not to go too low. Many studies suggest slower weight loss is healthier and more successful. That's what I am after. As I mentioned I was low on my count so I made myself a Frozen lemonade which is really simple. I cup of Carbsmart ice cream, 10 net grams of Carbs and a little dash of sugar free lemonade then blend together. Very yummy but not something I would recommend too often. Just as a once in a long while treat.

Here is supper:

Day 16 on Atkins 20

Another good day low-carbing! My body feels good, my energy levels are good. Four of my kids have started to eat low carbs with me morning and lunch and then will eat a "reward" meal for dinner but will keep it to 60 minutes and make sure to include healthy green vegetables as part of that meal. This is not dieting for them, but a healthier way to eat. They did well their first day. It helps to have wonderful food choices to pick from. Going to keep this short today.

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 4 romaine lettuce tacos loaded with meat, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes and avacado

Dinner - 3 beef franks, 1/4 cup pepperoncini peppers, 3 slices of deli turkey, 2 slices of cheddar

Snacks - AM - Atkins vanilla shake, PM - no snack

Total counts for day 16, 18.4g Carbs, 1822 Calories, 132g fat, 126g protein

When I got done with supper I checked my numbers and realized I was low again. My solution? I ate some turkey slices and cheddar cheese. These brought me in line with my goal numbers. I wasn't hungry but ate them anyway. I don't want to come in low again.

Day 15 on Atkins 20

I have been doing quite a great deal of research on healthy eating and how our body's chemistry affects our health. In my studies I have found a rather alarming fact. When those who have a lot to lose finally do so, their body fights them tooth and nail to get back to their bigger size. Their metabolic rate slows down considerably, even for a person their smaller size. What this means is that for many if not most, it is very hard to keep the weight off once lost. Another alarming fact is that although low-carbing is effective in losing and helping people stay on plan, it can have lasting effects on your thyroid if you stay on induction level carbs for too long.

So is there no hope? Of course there is! The answer is in not only losing but doing so effectively and the right way. It may sound sexy to lose 100 pounds in 6 months like you see on Extreme Weight Loss or the Biggest Loser, but do some research and find out how many of those contestants are back up to their previous sizes or are even bigger. Very few of them still weigh anything close to their final weigh in now. Armed with this information I have decided to take the advice of many who are succeeding in keeping off the weight and lose it more slowly. That will include diet breaks where I go to level 4 maintenance foods for 2 weeks after 8 weeks of induction level carbs. This is what many doctors are suggesting and to me makes sense to keep me from getting bogged down with plateaus. This will also mean possibly watching some of my progress disappear while I let my body reset during these 2 week stretches. This will also mean losing ketosis for those 2 weeks but that may also be a good thing. What it doesn't mean is going hog wild, living on donuts and cake and french fries again. I will be charting my meals, food choices and numbers during this time period as well so anyone reading this can take note if it works or not. I still want to lose 100 pounds this year and think even with this strategy it is attainable, but if I lose 50 this year and keep it off without sending my body into chaos, I'm still a winner.

As I mentioned yesterday I am going to make sure I don't come in low on my numbers this week, even if that means adding food after I am hungry. Here are my meals and numbers for day 16:

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 2 pork chops, mashed cauliflower with cream cheese and mushroom gravy

Dinner - Chopped sirloin w/cheddar cheese and applewood bacon, 1/2 cup green beans, 1/4 broccoli

Snacks - AM - Atkins cookies and cream shake, PM - 4 baby dill pickles

Total counts for day 15, 17.5 Carbs, 1934 Calories, 144g fat, 148g protein

I was very pleased with these numbers. They are much more in line with where I should be compared to last week. I definitely felt more full yesterday at the end which was also nice.

Week 2 weigh in is in the books and the numbers are not as good as I would like. I will be diving in to the specifics to see where I went wrong. I did lose 3 lbs this week but that is less than it should be at this stage. I also didn't lose any inches at all so that is a little disheartening. I'm not discouraged, I just know that I need to make some adjustments to get my weight loss kick started more. I should be losing at least a pound a day right now in this early stage. Here are my numbers from last week:

Weight - 355 lbs

Chest - 56 Inches

Stomach - 58 inches

Waist - 50 Inches

Mid Thigh - 24.5 Inches

My new numbers are basically the same across the board except for 3 pounds lost. Not a total failure but definitely a cause for some detective work.

Weight - 352 lbs

Chest - 56 Inches

Stomach - 58 inches

Waist - 50 Inches

Mid Thigh - 24.5 Inches

Because I don't have my Sunday numbers figured out I will be taking these numbers on a 6 day average so they will still be instructive. Last week my averages were 19 grams carbs, average caloric intake was 1610 per day. This week I averaged 17.03 carbs per day. My caloric intake was 1421. i think my calorie count dropping that low is what stalled my weight loss. My body thinks it is starving. I am going to make a concerted effort to get to 1,800 calories per day this week and also bump up my carb count to at least 18 grams. Hopefully the news next Monday will show that worked. This week is why it is important to track everything you take in. If your weight loss slows in an unusual way you can look back over your week to see what happened and what you need to change. So I am disappointed, but not discouraged. I'll figure this thing out and get back to losing both pounds and inches.

Here is my picture this week. I got burned pretty good at the beach so I look quite a bit redder than normal.

Day 14 on Atkins 20

Father's Day was a blast with my family. My wife decided to really spoil me with some yummy low carb alternatives for all three meals. I am still trying to figure out the carb and calorie counts for each so I don't have my numbers below. I do have pictures and recipes for each though. I am pretty sure I might have went over a bit but not too far. Monday morning is weigh in day so this won't be long as I will be doing 2 posts today. I do have wonderful pics for each of these dishes though and if I can get the numbers on each I will amend this post later.

Here is breakfast

These are pancakes made from eggs and cream cheese. They were terrific! The syrup is a no sugar syrup with a few blueberries added in. The whipped cream is from heavy cream. This was quite a treat and very filling. Just 2 pancakes and I was full. This comes in at just 3.5 net grams of carbs. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients 2 Eggs 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 1 tsp Granulated sugar substitute 2 oz softened Cream cheese

Lunch was excellent as well

This is a pretty simple meal. Mix together canned chicken with mayonnaise, then cut up some tomatoes and romaine lettuce. topped with a little bit of ranch dressing as well. Very easy, very low carb and very yummy.

Dinner consisted of pork chops cooked in the the slow cooker with a cream cheese and mushroom sauce along with garlic mashed cauliflower. These pork chops were so tender they wouldn't even stay together long enough to get out of the slow cooker. The garlic mashed cauliflower was a favorite as well. Ingredients: 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 clove garlic, smashed, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon reduced-fat cream cheese, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Cook the florets in a bowl of water in the microwave or on a pot on the stove until tender. Strain and pat dry on a paper towel. Put florets and all other ingredients in the blender and blend until pureed. These taste a lot like potatoes but with more flavor. Definitely one of my new favorites!

Day 13 on Atkins 20

13 has always been my lucky number, (I'm weird like that.) Unfortunately it wasn't lucky for me this day. I spent most of my time recovering from sunburn. Thank goodness for Aloe. I didn't have an appetite at all most of the day. I was also so miserable that I didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking meals for myself. In fact I just went ahead and had breakfast for my dinner adding an egg and piece of bacon. Not a lot to report here. My wife has something planned for Father's Day tomorrow so I am looking forward to that. If it includes some new meal for me I will take a picture for the blog. Still looking for an exercise bike so no movement there. Soon though.

Day 13 meals and stats

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 3 beef franks, 1/4 cup pepperoncini peppers

Dinner - 3 eggs scrambled, 3 pieces of bacon, 2 cups shredded zucchini

Snacks - AM - Atkins chocolate shake, PM - Atkins Cookie & Cream shake

Total counts for day 13, 15.8g Carbs, 1065 Calories, 65g fat, 91g protein

Went very low on calories today, the lowest yet. I just didn't have the appetite to eat. Again hoping I am not sending my body into starvation mode. We'll find out Monday morning. Being that tomorrow is Father's Day, I don't think I'll be having a problem getting my counts in. In fact, I'll have to watch to make sure I don't go way over. If I do exceed my limit a little bit tomorrow, I'm not going to stress about it. Happy Father's Day to all of you out there.

Day 12 on Atkins 20

12 days in and everything is good. After getting overheated golfing yesterday I decided to go out to the reservoir with my family again. I am feeling better physically so a couple of hours swimming sounded good. What a change that is from just 2 weeks ago. I was so lethargic and tired all the time. Just the thought of leaving the house was too much effort for a lot of things, especially to do something that would require physical activity. I am still very much overweight, but the thought of getting out is exciting now, not just because I have lost weight, but because the carbs are no longer drugging me into lethargy. Eating carbs is like taking a downer, you just feel weighed down and tired all the time, especially after meals. Now that I am in ketosis my body feels energized, alert and positive. I'm not trying to sound like a commercial, I'm not selling anything, I just love the way I am feeling even though I am just beginning.

We did tinfoil dinners tonight at the request of my children which was tough. The best part of tinfoil dinners for me are the potatoes and carrots and ketchup. Oh how I love ketchup! But instead I had my meat and put in a generous amount of mushrooms and cauliflower. It was good but a little bland. Next time I will make sure to season it better. I would love to find a low carb ketchup recipe that is tasty. I'll put that on my to do list. I am definitely still losing although I don't know how much. My 2nd weigh in is Monday so I'll just have to wait to see.

Day 12 meals and stats:

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - Atkins Strawberry Shake, 4 pickles

Dinner - 8 oz hamburger, 1 1/2 cups cauliflower, 1 cup mushrooms

Snacks - AM - Atkins chocolate shake, PM - 1 beef stick, 1 mozzarella stick, 1 cheddar stick

Total counts for day 12, 16.5g Carbs, 1364 Calories, 91g fat, 106g protein

As you can see from my numbers, I am struggling to get all my calories in and some days my carbs as well. I was a little low this day as well. I'm hoping it doesn't affect my weight loss because I'm just not hungry enough to eat more. I try but get so full I just can't stuff anything more down. If I notice a slow down in my numbers Monday I think I am going to start beefing up my snacks a little to get the extra numbers in.

Day 11 on Atkins 20

So today I got active and went golfing. It was a lot of fun although the St. George heat really got to me at the end. I didn't want to eat lunch when I got home. After a nap I felt a lot better and remarkably even energetic. I was way low on both carbs and calories so I planned a higher carb meal with larger portion sizes but was only able to eat 2/3rds of it before being too full to continue. So I ended up just fine on carbs but way low on calories again. I will see what this does to my weigh in. It's been tough to keep my calories up.

Last night I had heartburn for the first time since starting. I'm not sure what caused it. One thing I have noticed on Atkins is I rarely get heartburn any more. I used to get it almost daily. So I took a Tums before going to bed last night and suddenly it occurred to me that there might be carbs in the Tums tablet. Sure enough, I looked it up online because it wasn't listed on the bottle and the tablet had 2 grams of carbs. Nothing that is going to bust my count but certainly something to be aware of. If this plan is going to work for you then you have to know the count of everything you put in your mouth and I mean everything. You can't assume that because something is no sugar or if it is a meat product that it has no carbs. An egg has a small amount of carbs, sour cream has a small amount of carbs, cheese has the same. I mentioned this earlier but I had a polish sausage meal a few days ago as well as yesterday, it had quite a high carb count per oz.

Another warning I would give is to check servings sizes. You can look at a label and see an acceptable carb count but then find that there are 2.5 serving sizes in the container. If that happens watch out, you have dramatically increased your carbs for the day and won't even know it. I have known too many people that have tried Atkins and then complained that they haven't lost weight. But what they didn't know was that they were consuming way too many carbs for the plan and somehow expecting it to work. This diet works on almost anyone if they stick to the plan. If you aren't succeeding then use an app to track every item you put in your mouth. If you are definitely within the parameters of the carb count then next check your calories. 1,500-1,800 for women, 1,800-2,200 for men. If you are too far over either count or if you are significantly under then you will not lose and may even put on weight. If you are hungry when you start this diet take heart, after feeding the right amounts into your system enough days in a row your body will adjust to these levels and will stop asking for more. Have faith! Your body is the most amazing machine on Earth, consider it an ally in this process.

Day 11 meals and numbers:

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 2 beef franks, 1/8 cup pepperoncini peppers

Dinner - 8 oz polish sausage, 1 1/2 cups cauliflower, 4 TBS dipping sauce

Snacks - AM - Atkins chocolate shake, PM - Atkins strawberry shake

Total counts for day 11, 19.8g Carbs, 1447 Calories, 105g fat, 91g protein

Although I had a low day for calories my fat grams and carbs were in a good range so I'm not going to freak out about it. We'll see what my results were on Monday. I definitely feel like I am losing. My stomach has shrunk for sure. Still a long long way to go but it is nice to see my body responding so well to my new approach. I have to admit that I was worried about trying to lose weight at the age of 46. The pounds don't melt off like they did when I was 30. The good news is, this works for all ages.

Here is my loaded up plate for dinner. I was too full to eat the zucchini so I gave it to my kids.

Day 10 on Atkins 20

No food pics today because I kept it pretty vanilla on the meals. Not to say they weren't yummy, they were. I feel like I have lost more this week although I have no idea how much. My stomach feels smaller, my pants are fitting looser and that icewater feeling in my veins is greater, all good signs. I spent the most part of this day driving family in different directions so still no physical activity. That is definitely the next step for me. I can't wait to start adding cardio and some weight lifting to my regime. I have been watching the Food network and although the food, especially the cupcakes, looks good, it isn't tempting. I want this more than a little temporary pleasure. My mother has started the plan this week so I am trying to encourage her. She doesn't have near as much as me to lose so if she stays on it she should get there well before I do. I finished up the last of my 3 steaks last night. Although they were good, I don't think they were worth it. Because I bought three I needed to eat them before they went bad. Steaks certainly aren't off plan, but I think I want to keep that much red meat to a minimum. I had a nice chicken breast for lunch and must say I felt better after that than I did dinner with the steak. Day 8 I had no green vegetables so I made sure to include some zucchini and a cucumber salad to my latter 2 meals. All in all day 9 was a success.

I have 7 more weigh ins until I leave for my trip. I have to admit that after such a good first weigh in that I would like to up my goal a bit. For the next 3 I would like to average 7 pounds lost and for the last 4 I would like to lose 5 lbs each week. That would put me at 50 lbs lost before I leave. That would be a dramatic improvement over where I started and a great motivator not to cheat while I am on the road. After I get back I will be setting a new short term goal commensurate with what my weight loss is at that time.

I was reading an article recently about calories and Atkins. What I read is exactly what I am finding. Calories are not the main player in whether you lose weight on Atkins, but they are an important secondary concern. Harvard conducted a study of 3 control groups. In group 1 they were fed a low calorie, low fat diet of 1,500 calories. Group 2 was fed a low-carb diet but with 1,800 calories. The low carb diet won easily even despite the higher calorie intake. People on the low carb diet lost far more weight and a year later almost all were still on the plan. At the end of the year the low-fat individuals were all off plan. The 3rd group was most interesting. They gave the third group a low carb diet but with 1,500 calories and they lost the most of all. So although you will lose with Atkins at higher calorie counts, you still need to watch those calories. For a woman those numbers should be between 1,500-1,800 and men from 1,800-2,200. Last week I was closer to 1,600 calories so I will have to watch that. If I go too low my body will switch to starvation mode. That happened last time I was on Atkins. Then when I was frustrated with not losing weight and began to eat "normal" again my body devoured up everything and stored it as fat, pressing me higher than I've ever been before. I can't let that happen again or who knows how high I will go? I have to admit I watch the 600lb life on TV. It's scary to see where these people have gone with their weight. I don't ever want to approach anything close to that. If I didn't change though that is where I was headed.

Day 9 meal plan

Breakfast - 3 Eggs scrambled

Lunch - 5 oz chicken breast, 1 cup sauteed zucchini with butter

Dinner - 9 oz ribeye steak, 1 cup cucumber salad w/sour cream and a dash of cider vinegar

Snacks - AM - 2 Beef Sticks, PM - 1 Atkins Cookies & Cream Shake

Total counts for day 9, 15.3g Carbs, 1492 Calories, 105g fat, 109g protein

Again coming in low on all counts, I'm just not hungry enough to want more. One easy solution for carbs is baby dill pickles. They are about 1 carb each and I love them. I think in the future if I am low on carbs I will just have as many pickles as I need to get me up to the right carb count. Calories is a different conundrum though. The pickles are only 5 calories so they are basically no help at all. I'll have to make sure I get my calories up a bit tomorrow.

Day 9 on Atkins 20

Good day for me. I made sure to eat a little more for breakfast after a tough day the day before. My hunger pangs were gone and I resumed my normal routine. In the past I have loved a polish sausage and cauliflower recipe like the one in the picture below. I never realized how many carbs were in polish sausage. I'll have to be careful about that in the future. As I mentioned yesterday though, I planned on going on the high side on my numbers to keep from starvation mode. I think I did it right. I still haven't gotten the exercise bike I am planning on so hopefully when I do I can add at least a few hours of biking a day to this. I know that will make a huge difference in what I am doing. I am planning on going golfing this week for the first time in a year so that is exciting. I have decided that this Sunday I am going to have my first treat on Father's Day. It will be low carb friendly and I will post the recipe on that day. I admit it's kind of risky the day before my weigh in but this is a diet for life so I am going to live a little just for a day while still keeping within my parameters. The danger though is if it has no effect on me I might start thinking I can add it more often. That would be a mistake so I won't.

So here are the stats for Day 9

Breakfast - 3 Eggs scrambled, 3 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 8 oz polish kielbasa, 1 1/2 cups cauliflower, dipping sauce

Dinner - 9 oz Ribeye Steak with garlic rub, 2 baby dill pickles

Snacks - AM - Atkins Vanilla Shake, PM - Atkins Strawberry Shake

Total counts for day 9, 22g Carbs, 1814 Calories, 138g fat, 110g protein

One final note, I noticed I didn't have any green vegetables yesterday. I'll make sure that changes today. I have zucchini I need to use so I'll probably go that direction.

Day 8 on Atkins 20

Had a rough day yesterday, even with the great weigh in. My schedule was a little crazy because of kids going in 50 different directions so I was off on my plan all day. Now that's not to say I cheated, I didn't. But I had a shake for breakfast, breakfast for my snack, a shake for lunch and dinner for my afternoon snack. I ended the night with a shake but I was very hungry when I hit the hay. Essentially I had 2 meals and 3 snacks which is the opposite of what I normally do. I won't be doing that again anytime soon. Especially until I've shrunk my stomach down quite a bit. I haven't suffered from hunger pangs barely at all this first week, but boy they returned with a vengeance yesterday.

On day 9 I will be giving myself an extra egg and piece of bacon to get the day started right. I think that is a good principal for those in induction. Eat a good breakfast or the rest of the day will be a trial. Even if your body can handle no breakfast you aren't kick-starting your metabolism until you eat, so starving yourself until mid day doesn't really benefit your weight loss anyway. The way I have seen it described best is this. If you have a giant log to burn, which type of fire would you rather have? Glowing coals or a furnace-like flaming fire? Which will consume your log the fastest? If you don't stoke up your fire first thing in the morning and keep it stoked, when you throw that log on at lunch your glowing embers will take a long time to consume it and will end up storing what it can't consume as fat. That's why a good breakfast and regular mid meal snacks are so important. Now, after dinner is over I won't be throwing any more logs on the fire so I don't mind if it dies down a bit before I go to bed. I am trying to eat no food after 7 pm. I have succeeded all but 1 night so far, so I think that is another factor helping me.

So here is my screwed up meal plan for day 8 (not recommended):

AM Meal - 2 Eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

PM Meal - 11 oz Ribeye with asparagus

Snacks - AM - Atkins chocolate Shake, Midday Atkins Strawberry shake, 2 pickles PM - Atkins vanilla Shake

Total counts for day 8, 13g Carbs, 1408 Calories, 98g fat, 107g protein

I'm okay with a little lower calorie count, but I when I am that low on the carbs I am worried my body will think I am starving. I'll probably go on the high end for carbs for a couple of days to avoid that.

Week 1 Weigh In on Atkins 20

Week 1 is finally in the books and I get to weigh in for the first time. I know I have been losing but it is exciting to see how much. I am also looking forward to seeing where my measurements are. I feel smaller so hopefully they are shrinking too. So without further ado, here are my stats. First of all these are the measurements I started with:

Weight - 367 lbs

Chest - 60 Inches

Stomach - 64 inches

Waist - 54 Inches

Mid Thigh - 25 Inches

And here are my end of week 1 stats!

Weight - 355 lbs

Chest - 56 Inches

Stomach - 58 inches

Waist - 50 Inches

Mid Thigh - 24.5 Inches

I lost 12 pounds this week! Not only that I took 4 inches off my waist and 6 inches off my belly!! I didn't have anywhere near those numbers in mind before weighing. I would have been happy with losing 5 pounds. As I mentioned at the beginning of the week I set a goal to lose 30 pounds before the 3rd of August. I am more than a 3rd of the way there after only 1 week! I can't say how excited I am right now. If only I could keep this pace up I would be all the way there in 3 months. Now I know that isn't possible and probably wouldn't be healthy either so I certainly don't expect to keep losing at this pace. I think weighing once a week is also a smart move for me. I didn't ride the rollercoaster and got to see a big result at the end. My average carb intake this week was 19 grams. My average caloric intake was 1610 per day. Pretty much right where I want both to be. I am going to keep both numbers the same week 2 and see what happens.

Day 7 on Atkins 20

Last day of my first week. I am feeling more energetic and just better. I don't feel as bloated, like my insides are trying to explode. It helps to feel like I am shrinking. I can't wait for weigh in tomorrow morning to see what my measurements have done. My wife said she can see in my face a difference already. Not bad for 1 week. Today was a real test for me. I was exposed to not 1 but 2 celebrations that included deserts and cake. I wasn't really tempted at all. All in all it was a wonderful day with not much to report. My wife did try a recipe she found on Pinterest. She made Ranch Popcorn chicken which was coated with almond flour, ranch dressing mix and parmesan cheese. It was very good and will definitely be on the menu in the future, although I have to admit I was a little leery eating anything called flour. But it was fine. I have included a picture below.

Day 7 meals

Breakfast - 2 Eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 3 beef franks, 1/4 cup pepperoncini peppers, 4 baby dill pickles

Dinner - 6 oz Ranch Popcorn chicken, 1 cup green beans

Snacks - AM - Atkins Strawberry Shake, PM - Atkins Cookies & Cream Shake

Total counts for day 7, 20g Carbs, 1290 Calories, 88g fat, 72g protein

Here is a link to my dinner recipe

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/13933080075000746/

Day 6 on Atkins 20

It was a good day as I head into the end of my first week. I am still way too sedentary right now. Essentially if I am not out at the reservoir with my kids I am not doing anything. That will change when I get an exercise machine in my home. My plan is to watch Cubs games while I exercise. I will workout during the game and rest in between innings. I would love to somehow get a rowing machine but they can be quite pricey so I may just settle on a bike for now. I need something low impact because my knee can't handle a treadmill or the like. I am feeling very thirsty through all of this so I am always carrying my water bottle around. I have no idea how much I am drinking but it is a lot and only water. I also began implementing Atkins shakes into my meals. I made the mistake of having one for breakfast and I was hungry all day for the first time. I think I will shift them over to snacks for now until my stomach shrinks a bit more.

Okay, on to my meals for Day 6:

Breakfast - Atkins Chocolate Shake

Lunch - 6 Romaine lettuce tacos w/beef, tomatoes, sour cream and cheese (6 is more than normal but I was extra hungry)

Dinner - 6 oz chicken breast cooked in 1 TBS Olive Oil, 1 cup shredded zucchini sauteed in butter

Snacks - AM - 1 mozzarella stick, PM - Cookies and Cream Atkins shake YUM!

Total counts for day 6, 20g Carbs, 1330 Calories, 87g fat, 104g protein

Day 5 on Atkins 20

Another great day staying on the plan. My body is getting used to not only the food, but the amounts I am eating, which are less than other times I have tried this. Of course less is not always more. I have to maintain a pretty steady carb and calorie count so I know what my starting point is for this week. I know I am losing both inches and pounds but won't know how much until Monday weigh in and measuring. I have to admit my mind likes to think I will have this miraculous number on Monday, but in reality if I have lost only a few pounds that really is fine as well. As long as I can lose 2 pounds a week this year I will reach my goal of losing 100 by June 1st.

One thing I have to guard against is not eating. Believe it or not I am already struggling to want to eat some times. I am simply not that hungry even when it is meal time. I don't need my snacks either, although I make myself eat them to keep my metabolism up. One thing I will probably start implementing next week are Atkins shakes. I found all of the flavors yummy, especially the dark chocolate, and they will be a nice snack and even a good meal when I am in a rush. That will be the only Atkins product for me though in the near future. As I mentioned a few days ago, I am staying away from sugar alcohol. This is the first time I have tried that. I am also giving up ketchup this time around for the first time. Ketchup has always been my favorite condiment and even when low-carbing I continued to have it with hamburgers. This time around I am using dijon mustard instead. I know these are small changes but the last time out I grew very frustrated with my lack of losing. I tracked everything and worked out at least 3 times a week and yet didn't lose for long periods of time. The worst being a six week run. I tried to stay motivated after that but fell into despair and gave up.

Day 5 was a good day on my meal plan, my numbers came in right about where I want them

Breakfast - 2 Eggs scrambled, 3 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 6 oz hamburger patty, 1 TBS dijon mustard, Cucumber Salad with sour cream & a dash of apple cider vinegar

Dinner - 8 oz chicken breast cooked in 1 TBS Olive Oil, 2 cups steamed cauliflower, dipping sauce

Snacks - PM - 2 Beef Sticks, AM - No morning snack, late breakfast

Total counts for day 5, 18g Carbs, 1634 Calories, 120g fat, 106g protein

Only 2 more days to my first weigh in!

Day 4 on Atkins 20

Day 4 has come and gone and I am already so much more active than I was just a week ago. I live in St. George, Utah which is known for a very active lifestyle. There are over 110 miles of bike and running paths in this area, dozens of reservoirs and many state and national parks within just an hours drive of here yet since we moved here a little less than a year ago we have spent most of our time at home. Some of the reason is my job. I am a health insurance broker dealing with individual health plans for people who don't have insurance through work. All my client work and sales are over the phone so that means a lot of sitting. From November to February i am sitting in front of a computer 12 hours a day staring at a screen and talking on the phone. This does not lead to a healthy lifestyle. I will have to find a way this fall to stay active even despite that.

Today I took my family out swimming to a reservoir for the second day in a row. It was a lot of fun had by all. There is a pretty long walk to the beach we use so between that and the swimming it was a good day of physical exercise for me again. I am quite burned so there will be no outdoors stuff going on the next few days for me. I kept to my eating regime despite the craziness of the day. I made an eating plan at the beginning of the week and have been following it pretty closely, but also have paid attention to cravings and what my body is telling me it wants. As an example on the way home from the park I really had a craving for tacos. So we picked up the necessaries and had tacos last night. I love low carb tacos! Basically all of the ingredients inside a taco are low carb so I simply use a nice big romaine lettuce leaf as my shell and load it up. I was so famished I had four so my counts are a little high for the day, but with such an active day, I'm not worried about it. I still kept my carb count where it needed to be. I forgot to take a picture of my tacos but will next time I have them, (which might be for lunch today.)

So here are my meals and numbers for the day:

Breakfast - 2 Eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 2 Beef Franks, 1/4 cup Pepperoncini Peppers, Cucumber Salad with sour cream & a dash of apple cider vinegar

Dinner - 4 romaine lettuce tacos w/beef, cheese, sour cream and tomatoes.

Snacks - AM - 2 Beef Sticks, PM - 1 mozzarella cheese stick, 1 cheddar cheese stick

Total counts for day 4, 22.6g Carbs, 2043 Calories, 156g fat, 118g protein

Day 2 & 3 on Atkins 20

I am a little late in writing this so I will combine day 2 and 3. First I am feeling really good already. By the end of day 3 I know I have hit ketosis. WEbMd defines ketosis thusly: Ketosis is a normal metabolic process, something your body does to keep working. When it doesn't have enough carbohydrates from food for your cells to burn for energy, it burns fat instead. For me I know I am in ketosis when I feel cool all over, and I am not talking about what a hipster I am. The best way I can describe it is ice water running through my veins. So I began feeling a little of that toward the end of my first day. I would probably be feeling it even more if not for living in the desert. Yesterday we had a high of 108 degrees. My energy levels are definitely improved. I don't need my carb induced nap in the mid afternoon like before. Yesterday I even went on a hike and then swimming in a reservoir with my kids for 3 hours. It was awesome. I am a little burned but had a great time. Swimming and hiking will definitely be a part of my regime.

Staying on the eating program has been no problem. I've always found the Atkins foods tasty and filling. So you might ask what derails me then? The answer is usually I get tired of making every meal from scratch. If I had a personal chef making me low carb meals I would never eat another way. I think I need to find a way to make meals ahead of time so I have an easy answer if I just don't feel like playing chef three times that day. Another thought on this point. In addition to getting tired of making every meal from scratch I used to have a problem with deciding what to eat. Having a meal plan a week ahead is absolutely crucial for me. If I wait too long to eat and I'm getting hungry, it's nice to know exactly what is on the menu for that night. Trying to figure it out at the last moment is dangerous.

Another thing I'm doing new this time around is not weighing daily. I think the ups and downs of the daily weigh in toyed with my mind too much. Watching that scale for my daily total was so demotivating, especially when I hit a plateau. Another side benefit is how much I am really looking forward to that weigh in next Monday. I know I have lost. My stomach feels a little smaller. My clothes are fitting a little better, and that's just after three days.

I have a real bad sweet tooth so that is another way I derail my low carb diets. I would battle that by eating CarbSmart Ice Cream and other Atkins treats. Problem was, I often would have them too much or too often. Instead, during this first phase I have just cut them out completely. I want to go a month or two and see what that looks like. I think the sugar alcohol sugars, which aren't supposed to count toward net carbs, were not interacting with my body well. When I was weighing daily I would notice my weight loss grinding to a halt a day or so after having a large portion of sugar alcohol. So those are my changes, subtle though they may be. I feel the difference already. I have been using the Atkin Daily Tracker to keep up with my carb and calorie count. I am trying to keep my carbs around 18-20g and my calories at 1700-1900. I am drinking a ton of water and nothing else. I have never liked diet soda and don't recommend it. For some reason diet soda makes me feel hungry right after, like I have dropped out of ketosis. So without further ado here are my meals for the last two days and the stats on each.

I will not be taking pictures of every meal but I will post a few of new meals or particularly yummy ideas.

Day 2 Meals:

Breakfast - 2 Eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 6 oz Skinless chicken breast cooked in olive oil, cup of steamed cauliflower, dipping sauce(2 TBS sour cream, 2 TBS mayonnaise, half tsp horseradish, mix together)

Dinner - 8 oz beef patty, 1/4 cup sauteed mushrooms, 3 cups salad with BeniHana salad dressing (found the recipe online)

Snacks - AM - 2 Beef Sticks, PM - 1 mozzarella cheese stick

Total counts for day 2, 22g Carbs, 1946 Calories, 162g fat, 88g protein. This is the high side of what I want on the carb and calorie count. Day 2 is often the toughest for me so I often have a little more to offset the hunger pains. By day 3 I didn't really feel anything but thirsty all day.

Day 3 Meals:

Breakfast - 2 Eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 6 oz Atlantic Cod cooked in olive oil, 5 sticks of asparagus

Dinner - 6 oz chicken breast, 1/2 cup steamed cauliflower, 5 sticks asparagus with butter melted over, dipping sauce (recipe above)

Snacks - AM - 1 mozzarella cheese stick, PM - 2 large beef sticks

Total counts for day 3, 17.6g Net Carbs, 1327 Calories (this was a little low, not what I want), 76g Fat, 124g Protein.

Lunch Yesterday was particularly yummy

Quick Update

Day 1 is in the books. I have been drinking a ton of water today, partially because i took my kids to the splash pad in 110 degree weather. I still feel really parched. I do however feel really good with my food choices. I weighed today and confirmed on my new scale that 367 is my starting point. Here are a few pics of my meals today.

It was a great first day, the food was delicious. I feel better already. Hopefully those pounds start melting off. Lunch & Dinner are posted below.

It Begins

I finally kicked it off today. Yesterday was a nice primer for my new eating habits. I fasted two meals and then had beef stroganoff with rice along with several ice cream bars. It was my last hurrah before getting serious. I have set a short-term, mid-term and long-term goal for myself since last writing, somewhat amending my current goals. So here they are. I will be heading to Illinois in two months for a wedding. I want to lose 30 pounds before I leave for that trip. As mentioned in my first post I want to lose 100 pounds this year. That means I should be somewhere around 265 on June 1st of next year. Long term I want to lose a total of 172 pounds leaving me at 195 pounds when I am done. Here is my meal plan for today.

Breakfast - 2 Eggs 2 bacon strips

AM Snack - half a cucumber, peeled

Lunch - 6 oz Chicken Breast Ranch salad

PM Snack - Mozzarella stick

Dinner - Hamburger Steak 8 oz, 2 Tbs Dijon Mustard and an Avocado & Romaine salad with 2 Tbs of Ranch dressing

Total Stats today 15 Net Carbs, 1700 Calories

One thing I am liking already is I feel a difference in my body. Like my blood is cooler. This is a good sign that ketosis is already starting to kick in. My body responds so well to this diet. I don't know why I ever eat any differently. I am almost a little worried that I don't have enough carbs in my plan today. I was a little shocked I came in at only 14 grams. I will probably adjust it upward as the week continues. I don't want to be too far under. I do like my calorie level. I am going to try 1500 calories this week to see how that feels. If I lose slowly or not at all I will probably be more likely to bump up my calories as opposed to dropping them. Last time I low carbed I was around 1300 calories a day and that wasn't working. I plateaued for 6 weeks while also working out. It was very disheartening. I do have a few pictures I will post of my meals. The first is breakfast, which will pretty regularly be bacon and 2 eggs. I will occasionally change it up by adding in zucchini to an omelet now and then. Probably a good way to bump up my carb count a little. I will be buying a new scale for me and a food scale as well today so I'll post my first day stats shortly.

It's time for the Brutal Reality

So I was standing in a clinic a few days ago where of course they weigh me in. I was expecting something close to 350 pounds but instead got the ghastly news that my weight was in fact 367 pounds. I know when you get this high another 17 pounds shouldn't be the end of the world, but for some reason it was. I have never been this big before, nor this sedentary. I am in dangerous territory. As I get ready for my Monday kick off I have to admit I am saying goodbye to the foods I will be leaving behind. Yesterday it was donuts. Last night was spaghetti. I will miss these foods quite a bit but I have to remind myself they are killing me. I have been researching vegetables safe for this phase of my diet and logging their carb count. I haven't done this before when low carbing and I think too many carbs from vegetables is one of the things that has slowed me. I also think my love for cheese has been a problem as well.

I have continued to make other preparations as well. I have downloaded the Atkins Carb tracker on my phone so I can keep track of my eating each day. One of the things that really sabotaged me last go round was eating too little. I was hovering around 1300 calories per day most days and I think my body went into starvation mode and I stopped losing. This time around I am going to test different caloric intake levels each week to see which my body likes. I am in this for the long haul so giving up a week or two of losing will be preferable to sitting at the same weight for months on end while "dieting."

On another note I am posting my measurements today as well. So here are the gruesome stats:

1. Weight 367 LBS 2. Waist 54 inches 3. Belly 61 inches 4. Middle Thigh 25 inches 5. Chest 57 inches

I don't really know what I want these measurements to be in the long run. I think a size 36 or even 34 waist sounds pretty cool but might not be realistic. I think 38 inches is a good goal and anything smaller is gravy. On the rest I just want a belly that doesn't protrude, whatever measurement that is will be fine. I will be posting several "before" pictures here over the next dew days so I can compare them to my "after" pics. hopefully these will act as motivation if I ever feel like going back to my unhealthy eating habits. I am actually getting excited to start now. Perhaps I should have set my start date sooner? There are several reasons why I needed to wait so it really isn't possible. Monday it will be.

This is the beginning of my journey to health. My name is Robert Fluegel, I live in St. George Utah, and I am obese. In fact the doctors and the BMI scale would say morbidly obese. The purpose of this blog is to act as a journal for my journey through the process of getting healthy. Only a part of that journey is losing weight. I truly want to look back on this day as the day it all started. The day I began the process of adding years to my life. Right now, at the rate I am going, I doubt I have more than ten years left.

First, a little background. I grew up in Freeport and Rockford IL loving all things sports. On a humid summer day it would not be ridiculous to see me playing basketball in the morning, baseball in the afternoon and tennis in the early evening with my uncle. My parents got me a swim pass several summers which I would use almost everyday. I played baseball in little league, football and basketball for church teams from 12 on. Yet I began developing a belly when I was in high school. Even with all the sports I was playing and with working out I always had a belly and was overweight from my sophomore year forward.

After school I left for two years on a church mission and although I rode bikes and worked out when I could I put on about 30 pounds. I came home weighing about 225 which was the largest I'd ever been. I remember feeling so fat and out of shape. I immediately began playing sports when I got him, I took up downhill snow skiing, I played racquetball and really immersed myself in lifting and basketball, sometimes playing as many as 6 days a week. Up to that point though I had never dieted or tried curtailing what I ate. At the age of 23 I married my sweetheart and embarked on a new phase of my life. I remained active but not as much before when our first set of twins came along a year later. I began that year working behind a desk 8 hours a day for the first time. The weight began inching up a little here and there during those years until I passed 250 and then 275 only a few years later. I was now playing basketball only once a week or two and again not worrying about what I ate. We moved back to Illinois in 1996 and I was as large as I'd ever been topping the scales at 290 pounds. It was then that I tried the diet drug phen-fen. Suddenly my appetite was gone. My metabolism kicked into high gear and I was losing weight, easily, without trying or dieting. I finally leveled off at 215 and felt terrific. I was back in pants sizes I hadn't worn since high school. The cost of the drugs began to be onerous so I weaned off the drugs and set out on my own figuring I could always go back on if I put any significant weight back on. Unfortunately when that did happen phen-fen was removed from the market so that option was gone. I tried just phentermine but it didn't work for me. A few years later I began to travel as part of my job, leaving on Sunday night and returning home Thursday 3 weeks a month. This did not help my situation. I was now eating out every meal most of the week and not making healthy choices, most often supper was a delivered pizza to my room. I was more sedentary than ever and the weight returned with a vengeance. It was then that I first decided to try changing my eating habits. The first diet I tried was the Carboholics Anonymous diet which essentially consisted of low carbing two meals a day and then a reward meal of any food I wanted but kept with a 60 minute period. I know that is a very bad description of it but that is what I did and crazy enough it worked. I lost 40 pounds back down to 250 and felt really good. I wanted to lose another 50 though and when I plateaued my weight loss ended for good. I eventually became tired of trying and not losing so I began eating "normal" again. This time my weight passed the 300 pound mark for the first time. All the way up to 320. In 2008 I heard about a new weight loss drug being tested and got accepted into the trial. It was a drug combining phentermine and topiramate, an anti-seizure drug. Well again the drugs worked on me. I went from 320 down to 265 and not only that I felt more focused and able to get on and stay on task better than any period of my life. The only problem was the trial ended and I was back on my own. Again the weight came back even despite my efforts at low carbing and other diets. Nothing seemed to work for long.

So skip forward to today and I am bigger than I have ever been. My starting weight is 367 pounds. I can't believe I've let it get this high and yet I'm not shocked. I no longer play sports, my back kills me if I stand too long. I eat large portions of carb-loaded foods and drink sugar filled vitamin waters 3 or 4 times per day. I am 46 and know that if I don't change things I will never see 66. In fact I may not see 56. It is time to make some big changes to my life so that the age I am now is the middle, not the end.

Here is my plan:

1) A strict low carb, low calorie diet of mostly white meats like chicken, turkey and fish along with safe vegetables until I get within 20 pounds of my desired weight which is 200 pounds. 2) Some form of low impact exercise every day until I lose enough that my knees and joints can handle more high impact exercise. 3) Weight lifting to boost my metabolism and replace lose muscle mass as I lose weight. 4) I would like to start or join a support group for others struggling with their weight. I think I need to explore the emotional aspects of this problem as well and learn how others are coping. 5) I will map out my meal plans a week ahead so I am not wondering what I will eat for the day. I think this will be a key component to my success or failure. 6) I will find the right supplements to boost my metabolism and vitamins to keep me healthy throughout and after this process. 7.) Write on this blog daily about my experiences, my highs and lows, my meal plans, my losses and gains, my successes and failures.

This blog is for me. If any others happen to wonder over and see it that is fine. If not, that is also fine. My diet starts on Monday. In between now and then I will be posting what I hope is a before picture and my first meal plan for the week. My goal this year is to lose 100 pounds. I know it is possible to lose more but I think that is a significant enough goal for now.