The extra exercise helped me to lose a pound more than last week even though I started working in carbs. Three weeks in and I’m 15% of the way to my goal.

Last week’s 2.5 pounds was a good reminder and a good test, because once the honeymoon period is over, 2-2.5 pounds a week is probably the rhythm the diet will settle into. Despite being good, despite getting my exercise, I’ll be chipping away at the big number instead of carving big hunks out of it like I did in the first week.

It’s easy to be encouraged by 9 pounds, not so easy to be encouraged by 2. I’ve still got 85 pounds to go and 2 pounds a week stretches that horizon out over 42 weeks. And I think “I’ve got to be good and exercise for 42 more weeks?” And then I realize I’m still thinking of this as a “diet” and not a long-term change in the way I deal with food and exercise. I’ve got to be good and exercise for the rest of my life, not just 42 weeks.

As I get deeper into this, the concept of being good gets easier. I’m still on a fairly extreme carb restriction. As I can have more carbs, I won’t feel so deprived. On the other hand, stuff that I’ve cheated with… a prime rib sandwich and fries, a Smucker’s Uncrustable with Doritos and a Rice Krispies treat… these cannot be everyday foods for me. They really shouldn’t be everyday foods for anyone. One of my big challenges as I move toward my goal weight is re-learning definitions of “meal” and “snack,” both in terms of size and composition. The way our convenience food culture defines these things gives us way too much starch, way too much sugar, and way too many calories.

Probably the best benefit of our recession/depression is that McDonalds has introduced low-cost “mini meals”. Instead of a big burger with super-sized everything, they’re offering portions more in line with what a McDonalds meal was in the 50s. A single hamburger, small fries, and a small Coke is 630 calories, which is much more in line with an appropriate lunchtime calorie intake than a Big Mac Extra Value Meal (Big Mac, medium fries, medium Coke) which packs 1130 calories, 1350 if you super-size it. If you opt for a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese, add another 200 calories to the Big Mac meal totals.

I’m not trying to demonize McDonalds or go on a rant about how the food industry is trying to make everyone fat. I’m just showing what we’ve been teaching ourselves constitutes a meal. We get ourselves used to overeating, and then when we’re eating just at a more sane level, we feel like we’re denying ourselves the pleasure of a “normal” meal. At least that’s how it feels to me. And that’s one of my challenges as I keep going forward… adjusting my thinking, so that by the time I’m done, “going back to normal” is not going to mean going back to the large portions of fat and starch that got me here.

On the lighter side… Last night, I had to go to an urgent care because I pureed open the top of my thumb while trying to fix a loose blade on my new stick blender. Didn’t need stitches, but when you have this much trouble getting a cut to stop bleeding, it’s advisable to seek help. I probably only lost about a half ounce of blood, so I don’t think that contributed to the weight loss.

Plus, my hair’s been growing back in from the buzz cut that my wife hated so much (I’m not wild about it either, but you never know until you try). It’s possible I grew back enough hair in the past week to at least partially offset the blood loss.

Well, that’s it. Gonna try to be good yet another week and push the exercise up another small notch. Hopefully I can do both cand handle a visit from my dad, who is… Well, you know how recovering drug addicts are supposed to stay away from the friends they did drugs with? Yeah, I think you get it.

I had a love/hate relationship with Costco this week. Early in the week, I found FlatOut MultiGrain flatbread there next to those dodgy low carb tortillas. It’s got one gram of sugar alcohols, 8 grams of fiber from legitimate fiber sources like flax and oats, and 8 grams of “net carbs”. It’s how I’ve been adding carbs back into my diet slowly this week. It’s great for wraps, pizzas, and quesadillas, and my blood sugar readings have been proof that the carbs aren’t entering my system like the Nazis entering France.

On the other hand, when I went to pick up stuff for my son’s birthday party on Friday (more on that momentarily) I discovered the juice in the photo to the left. Welch’s Black Cherry Concord Grape has 170 calories per 8 ounce serving, and of course, that’s all coming in the form of carbs with no fiber, no fat, and no protein to moderate their absorption in any way. 8 ounces of this is equal to over 19 ounces of Kool Aid in terms of sugar content.

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A big part of a healthy low carb diet is produce. You need to eat a variety of good, crunchy, non-starchy, veggies in colors like green, red, and purple. They fill you up without bringing the calories. They bring fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants to the table. Even if you’re not dieting, eating more non-starchy vegetables is just going to be good for you.

The other part is fresh herbs. If you’re going to cut the fat, you need to bring flavor from other sources. You can use bottled sauces and marinades, but fresh herbs are going to bring flavors to the party that you just cannot get from a bottle.

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So, the official two-week tally is 11.5 pounds, 2.5 pounds for the second week. Not bad considering that I had three cheats this week (2 planned and experimental, 1 unplanned) and the fact that I have not been nearly as dedicated to the exercise part of the program as I could and should have been.

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My wife is the devil. Well, maybe not the head hadean honcho himself, but… She gave me Godiva chocolates for Valentine’s Day!

It was a little box, just four pieces, but it’s not like I’m on a regular simple calorie counting diet where I could just work them in somehow. I’m doing low carb. Candy isn’t on the diet. Or is it?

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