Weigh In, Small Cheats, Managing Restaurant Food

Life has been crazy!  I have ignored this blog for quite a while, and I haven't really had the time or the courage to take a look at my weight or measurements since Annie's been in the hospital.  And so here we are, 5 weeks from my last stat check.  The news is pretty good, actually.  Although I'm not in ketosis, and I haven't been for a couple of weeks, my weight is holding pretty steady.  From my last weigh in on April 17, I have lost .5 pounds, 1" from my bust, .5" from my waist, and .5" from my hips. 

It is no great loss, especially spread out over 5 weeks... but I stepped on the scale this morning, expecting to see some gain.  I haven't been drinking the water I should, I haven't been to the gym in 5 weeks, and I've been out of ketosis for a while.  Plus, I keep wanting to cave in and cheat, cheat, cheat - in a really bad way.  Everytime we go out to eat (and we're going out pretty often these days), a part of me thinks, "I can eat that now, and no one will blame me."  So, we went out for Mexican, and I found myself saying to my husband, "Maybe I'll have a margarita."  Luckily, I have a good husband, who looked me in the eye, and said "Don't sabotage your weight loss, Kate."  Ooookay.  Thanks, Pete.  Enough said!  So we compromised.  He got the margarita, and I had three small sips during dinner.  Not completely carb free, but not that bad either, and he only looked a little girly with that frosty drink :)  I have no idea how many carbs three sips of that margarita had, but this is something I've been doing.  I'm flirting with danger.  Last night, I went out with my sister, and had a small bite of her Tollhouse Pie.  OMG.  Really freaking good.  A small bite is better than a big cheat, right?

Confession: I have started eating some fruit.  It is totally not allowed on any induction phase of any low carb WOE that I've studied.   But, something had to give.  I craved sweet, and I haven't been able to make my low carb brownies.  So, I figured that natural and sweet would be better for me than a candy bar.  Hello strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.  About 1 cup per day, floating in about 2 ounces of half and half.  Look - I am pretty sure that I need the antioxidants, and when I get back to real life (out of the damned hospital), I will start being more strict.  At least it is not a horrible cheat.... 1 cup of raw strawberries has 9 net carbs; 1 cup of blackberries has 7 net carbs; and 1 cup of raspberries has 7 net carbs.  So, figure my daily bowl is about 8 grams of carbs or so, probably less than that because I don't actually think that I am getting a full cup of fruit. 

Still here!

Life is pretty crazy these days. My daughter had surgery on Thursday to remove the tumor in her abdomen....13 long hours for my poor girl. They sent about 100 slices of the tumor to the lab for pathology, but they are pretty sure that the whole thing is going to come back benign, which is, frankly, miraculous. We should know on Monday.

So, surprisingly, hospital cafeteria food is perfect for this diet. I have been having meat/eggs for breakfast and meat/salad for lunch. I am not getting as much water as I usually would, and I have been guzzling coffee, so I am starting to get a little dehydrated, I think. But, I can correct that with some diligence today.

Diabetes update: went to the MD on Wednesday and learned that my oral gtg results indicate that I am at least pre-diabetic. My hba1c is really good though, and so are my random and post -prandial glucose readings. The conclusions, I am insulin resistant, pre-diabetic, but well controlled on my low-carb diet. My fasting glucose continues to be high. So, I am taking 250 mg of metformin at bedtime. The result, this mornings fasting was 100 exactly.
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Back in ketosis!

Getting back into ketosis ONLY took six days following last Tuesday's oral glucose tolerance test (and cookie catastrophe). In the meanwhile, I've put on some of what I think is mostly water weight. By Friday, I was up to 215!! This morning, back down to 212. I hope to continue the downward trend. I still feel bloated. I read that carb consumption, besides knocking you out of ketosis, can also make you retain water. Bizarre and true story. This was a wedding weekend. Friday we had the rehearsal, Saturday was the main event and Sunday was the brunch. Very fun. My sister, daughter and I were sitting on the sunny patio enjoying brunch when we had a Saturday Night Live moment. This crazy old aunt of the groom started talking, completely unprovoked, about how she had loaded up on diet pills the day of the wedding so that she wouldn't put on weight. Then, whilst shoveling into her face a number of delicious pastries and assorted goodies, crumbs falling on ample bosom, she began to go through some of the diets she had tried recently... "The fruit and water diet", she said. "Hollywood fat flush...I didnt read the directions so I didn't dilute the shake mix". And my favorite, "the tuna fish and beef frank diet...it's supposed to keep you satisfied...". Gross. When I asked where she heard about these diets, she replied, "the computer". My sister and I were a little horrified...and that was before she started giving out diet advice. "Diet pills and hot showers", she managed to mumble despite having a mouthful of cherry cheese Danish. Omg. Really? How...healthy. Wary of being a fat person in transition who gives out unsolicited diet advice to strangers in public, I just kept my mouth shut. It was a battle. My sister, who has lost 130 pounds, just nodded. I wanted to suggest the cat food and asparagus diet, but I thought that would be wrong.