6 weeks

I’ve been on a low carb diet now for about six weeks. I’ve lost 20 pounds.

Six weeks since I’ve last had any caffeine. Six weeks with no rice, bread, potatoes, sugar, not even a regular diet coke.

To be honest, its been pretty easy. The first few days were difficult but after that, I really have felt much better than I have in a long time. I’d say I feel calmer, but I don’t know if that is the most accurate way of putting it. Its not an emotional calmness, but the lack of blood sugar going up and down all day. Its something that I didn’t realize was there till it left.

One question I’ve gotten a lot is “what do you eat?”. Obviously, there is more meat on the menu, but its not all meat. I’ve been eating about one salad a day, with tomatoes and cucumbers. I’ve been eating stuff like pickles, sardines, and have recently added some nuts like walnuts and macademia nuts (not peanuts which are not really a nut). Asparagus, brussel sprouts and broccholi are also something I’ll have every so often. Most of the meat I have been eating is venison and fish.

In the process of doing this, I realized that I’m eating a lot of foods that people might have eaten a long time ago. Obesity in the US has been increasing for the last 100 years, yet fat consumption has been going down. Most of the processed foods we eat (chips, cookies, fries, soda) are loaded with sugars (carbs). Think what you would eat if you lived pre-20th Century. Meat, veggies, eggs, pickles, etc. Non processed stuff. Even bread would have been whole wheat, not processed white flour. Cane sugar was very uncommon. The trend in the 20th century hasn’t been eating more fat, its eating more processed foods loaded with sugar and carbs. I think you could get the majority of the benefits of this diet by just avoiding processed foods. Even when I reach the point I want to be at, I don’t see myself going be to eating junk food. I like how I feel now. I sleep better and I’ve had very little temptation to stray from it.

I can tell the weight loss more than others can at this point. Your body doesn’t lose weight evenly. You loses it in spots. i’ve been making an effort to do more cardio at the gym. I’ve set mini goals that I am slowly approaching. I can go 15 minutes on the bike at over 120rpm. One thing I’d like to do as a long term goal is to complete the Twin Cities marathon next year. I have no idea if its something that I could even do, but if I can do it, I will have had to achieve all my other goals.