Aches, pains, and gains...

September was my last month of measurable weight loss. Of course, I rode my bike 200 miles that month!!! I was eating 100% on-plan, so it's not shocking that everything "worked".

...but then October happened. Nothing "bad", per se, but I had the fresh mental outlook of having rode 200 miles, and inadvertently did ZERO miles in October! I didn't realize it at the time, but I was also beginning to experience "carb creep". In fact, I think that may go all the way back to March, when the Disney trip happened. That was when I started to add "just a bit" of white potato here & there. Small order of hash-browns at breakfast, or a few stolen fries at lunch. In the beginning, it was no big deal, but by October it'd become a daily expectation, rather than a weekly exception.

I love potatoes. White potatoes, sweet potatoes, even red-skin & fingerling potatoes. Damn those starchy carbs! ...and let's not even talk about the refined vegetable oils they are cooked in...

Anyway, I plateaued in October, and then the Holidays happened. I really didn't think I was "that" bad during the holidays, but the bottom line doesn't lie.

I bounced from 316 up to 330. 14 damn pounds of back tracking! This puts me back where I was in June!!! Dammit!!!

Even at my old loss-rate of 2lbs per week, it'd take me through the first week of March to get back to where I was in October.

October to March is half a year lost, and THAT is a real bite in the ass.

After a day or two of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to not lie down and die just yet...

So, I came up with a plan. I found some new apps, and I've learned some stuff I'd like to try. I want to continue losing weight & looking better, feeling great, exercising more, sleeping fantastic, and keep buying smaller, nicer clothes.

So - here is my new plan. I'm largely going back to basics, with a low-carb, nearly ketogenic outlook.

I'm staying with the whole "super clean paleo" way of eating, with a few tweaks. First, I'm going to stay totally clean with my good meat choices. I'll still eat a ton of veggies, just keeping them to the non-starchy types. LOTS of "good" fats. No grains. No dairy. No artificial sweeteners. No added sugars. No added preservatives. 10,000 steps per day. 3 hours of other exercise each week. 8 hours of quality sleep each night. Track EVERYTHING. 2,000 calories per day, with offsets for exercise. 10, 20, 70 split on Carbs, Protien, and Fat. Daily ketone measurement, with tweaks as needed.

...and, of course, I'll report progress here!

(For anyone interested in low carb ketosis, Google Jimmy Moore - he is quite inspirational)