Weigh In - Week 4 - 1 Month in 2/20/11

Well, it has been a crazy week.  Look at the stats page, and you'll see that I lost only 1 pound from last Sunday.  What the heck happened, you ask?  What about being in ketosis from Tuesday to present day, you demand!!??  Here's the break down.  This has been a MANIC week for weight loss:

• On 2/13/11, I weighed in at 223.5 pounds, reflecting a weight gain of 2 pounds.
• Then, 2/14/11 was Valentine's Day and I carelessly imbibed a ton of champagne.
• The next day, on 2/15/11, I weighed myself in the morning and found out that I had gained 5 pounds since Sunday, arriving at a weight of 228.5 pounds.  Needless to say, I nearly fainted with shock.
• On 2/16/10, I noticed, for the first time, a persistent and slight metallic taste in my mouth, which I believed to be a sign of ketosis (fat metabolism). 
• On 2/17/11, I began testing the level of ketones in my urine with ketostix to determine whether I was actually in ketosis.  I was.
• From 2/17/11 through the present day, 2/20/11, I have checked my ketone level twice daily, and have been in ketosis the entire period.

So, I was up 2 pounds up on weigh in day, up 5 more pounds on day 2 of the week (gain of 7 pounds), and then, down 8 pounds by day 7 of the week.  Totally bizarre.  +7 -8 = -1.  Nuts!!

Lesson learned: ketosis appears to work, being careless with carbs is dangerous; you can't succeed on this diet if you do not perform due diligence on the food that you are putting into your mouth because even little things add up. 

Can I also say that I am so so so SO glad that I measured myself on the past two weigh in days.  I couldn't believe the loss in size in one week, even though my net weight loss from the prior week was only 1 pound. 
I lost:

• 1/4" around my neck;
• 2" around my bust;
• 2" around my waist; and
• 1.5" around my hips.

Freaking fantastic!

My energy is way way WAY up.  Yesterday, we had my daughter's birthday at an activity center, and I ran around having fun with the kids for more than an hour without any discomfort at all.  I worked up a light sweat and increased my heartrate as well.  Plus, my daughter had a ball playing with mommy.  It was awesome, and I learned something very important about getting involved in your children's exercise time.  I felt like a healthy mom, and feel that I am achieving my goals and improving my child's life in addition to my own.  Yay!  Success!

I would also like to mention that the low carb cheese cake recipe that is contained in the recipe section of this blog is very, very good, and totally hit the spot.  I enjoyed it yesterday while everyone else was munching down on high carb chocolate cake.  The recipe makes 12 x 3.5 oz. servings, and I've only eaten 3 this week.  But, I think that the addition of chocolate and either orange zest or 1/4 tsp. cinnamon (in place of lemon zest) will be my next attempt to tweak this recipe, once I've eaten my way through the cheesecake chilling out in my freezer. 

In related news, I would also like to say that I am very proud of myself for not eating the pizza or cupcakes at Anna's kids party, and for not eating any bread, cake, or cupcakes at Anna's family party yesterday.  I did eat the cheese off of three pieces of pizza yesterday (leaving the crust behind).  It was good.  I only missed the crust a little.

Not quite super, but pretty good, poop this morning.  Despite the fact that I had a large salad with dinner last night, I think that I need to get more veggies in when I'm on the go.  Veggie intake is not a problem during a regular week, but when I'm in a rush, it is really a challenge to eat as much as I should.  I am going to have to pre-prep some veggie items so that I have them at hand when I'm in a rush.  Wonder what I can prepare then freeze for later usage?  Sounds like an experiment to me :)

On that note, signing off.  Time to do some work.