Here we are, unlucky 13.

So far so good for the day. Nothing in particular to report.

I went to the store and got some ribs to cook up for lunches this week – Particularly the days I’m going to run, as I’m definitely going to need something more substantial than what I ate for lunch last week to get through that. I’m gonna try to do the first run on Monday (Day Fifteen) – so, look forward to the update that evening.

But, I’ll have one more checkin before then, so… see you on 14!

This was the 2nd time I’ve had to say no to those delicious bagels. Perhaps just a bit harder today, but, it wasn’t too bad.

Someone had brought in “Salty Egg” potato chips. I was intrigued, so, since I knew I wasn’t going to let myself eat them, I decided to smell them. Gross. After smelling, I definitely had no temptation to try.

All in all, it was a pretty easy day, had some good food that was all on diet, said no to all the things I knew that I should.

Before I close out for the day, I’ll say this, because it’s something that I’ve been trying to be conscious of. When you’re doing a diet, it’s easy to get in the mindset of “I can’t have this or that”, and I think that can be detrimental, and make you want it more. The reality is, I can have anything I want to have. Nothing and no one can stop me, except for my own choice. I choose to not eat the things that I feel are not in line with my desires, even if I know that those things taste good. I could choose to have them at any time I want, but then I would also be choosing not to achieve longer term goals. It is a question of what I truly want, not of what I am allowed.

Anyway, it’s not really a new concept to me, but it’s good to remind one’s self now and again.

See you on 13!

Another day, another carbohydrate left unconsumed.

This evening between leaving work and eating dinner is probably the hungriest I’ve been since starting the diet. I don’t know why I seem to have started to feel a bit hungry again, nothing has really changed diet-wise, but, it will make things harder, especially if I feel hungry tomorrow at work when they have those delicious bagels sitting out.

But, I’m sure I can resist them anyway.

One thing is for sure, next week, when I start running, I’m going to need to have some bigger lunches than I’ve been eating. I think I’m about as low on my calorie intake as I should go, and running will essentially take it a couple hundred calories lower, so I’m going to need to make up the difference. I’m not counting calories at all, just for the record, but I have a general idea of what my intake is, and it’s certainly pretty low – I think from a pure calorie-deficit perspective, I’m likely to be on track to lose 2 pounds a week.

Anyway, there’s nothing else to say – Just doing my obligatory daily check in!

So ten days down (ok, a few more hours until they’re really down). That puts me 1/9 of the way to the 90 day goal. So far, so good. If I can do what I just did 8 more times, I’m golden 😉

That said, at some point I do expect to actually feel temptation, so hopefully when it comes I’ll be able to deal with it.

I ate canned chicken for lunch today. I kind of felt like some sort of post apocalyptic survivor. That feels a lot cooler than feeling like a weird guy who is eating chicken out of a can.

I also just signed up for the Turkey Trot! I participated last year and did kind of a crappy job of it – hoping that this year will go better for me – if I come down in weight and also do a better job of training for it, that should be no problem.

Speaking of running, that’s going to come into play for me here during week 3. So somewhere around day 15 or 17, I should be going on my first run. The plan is to do 2 a week for a week or 2, and then up it to 3, and then hopefully after 2 or 3 weeks of that I’ll bump up to 4. I’m trying to do all this gradually. Too much too soon is a recipe for failure.

That’s it. See you tomorrow.

This one is coming in late in the day – hit up a movie after work so I’m just getting a chance to sit down and knock this out.

Not too much to say – I might have accidentally ingested a small amount of cheese earlier today – my free work-provided Mediterranean salad I had after our all-hands today had some cheese in it – I tried to eat around it, but small pieces may have snuck through. I’m not too concerned about it, I don’t think it will have an impact on me in any way, but, in the interest of full transparency, it’s a thing that may have happened.

Other than that, still on track – I didn’t eat dinner until after the movie at about 9:30, prior to that my most recent meal had been at about 12:30, and I was only really feeling slightly hungry, so, that’s pretty good. I’d say previously 4-5 hours and I’d be starving after most any meal. It feels right I guess.

I have been using the keto test strips, and, well, I feel like they’re really hard to read, but I think it is detecting some ketones, which I’ll certainly take as a positive thing.

That’s it for today, see you tomorrow.

Another day, another post.

So I’ve more or less completed a full week now. No screw ups or cheats, just lots of chicken and eggs and a few other meats here and there. And some veggies, let’s not forget those.

I feel like the tiredness I was experiencing from the diet is starting to subside now, so hopefully that will be gone completely in the next few days. Still not really getting hungry much at all.

Oh, I did finally get around to checking my blood pressure  the other day, I think I forgot to mention it here though. It’s down, not overly low, but solidy in the normal range. So that’s good, didn’t take long at all.

So tomorrow I will begin week 2. May it be as easy and successful as the first. Hopefully even easier, as the first few days with my brain not functioning normally weren’t too fun 😉

No big updates today. Feel the same as yesterday, etc. Skipped breakfast because I was out of eggs and didn’t feel like going to the store. Had my chicken stuff for lunch, and then I had a few ribs (with just some spices rubbed in, and a bit of hot sauce), a hot dog, and some salad. Still not too much hunger.

I don’t really have anything to say, so that’s it for now. See you day 7.

I’m going to run out of things to say in these posts real soon. Oh well. I’ll just keep typing boring things and basically no one will read them (hi there, exception to the rule you).

I am definitely through the mushy brain phase. I feel pretty normal now. Maybe a little bit more tired than before the diet. But things are going pretty well. I’m not getting hungry really, and even the bagels and donuts at work today weren’t a particularly strong temptation. I’m still 25 days away from the option of a cheat day, so things could change, but for now, I’m not feeling too much like I need it.

66% of what I eat is pretty much the same every day (eggs for breakfast, chicken for lunch). Weeknights I usually eat dinner at my parents’ following work when I come to pick up my dog, and so that is typically the “different” meal (the one night I ate at home this week I just had more chicken). So tonight it’s some fish! Which is different from chicken, so I’m on board.

Alright, that’s it from me tonight. See you on Day Six.

I’m posting this a little earlier today, during my lunch break at work rather than after getting home from work. In large part, that’s because I’m procrastinating forcing myself to eat this chicken breast.

I haven’t really felt hungry at all today, which is new. I ate my 3 hard boiled eggs for breakfast, but I felt like I could have easily skipped it. Still feeling kind of lightheaded from time to time. I need to sit down with a blood pressure monitor this evening and see what it’s saying.

My brain is also significantly less muddled today. I’m not back at 100% yet, but I feel a lot better as compared to the last couple days. That’s a good sign, let’s hope the trend continues!

I didn’t really do a weigh in when I started – the doctor did weigh me when I was there though. I believe I’m up roughly 10 pounds from a year ago – still about 20 below my highest ever – but I was a little above 200 a year ago, and I really should have forced myself to lose then – anything above 200 should really be unacceptable for me – In 2015 I had been down to 184 – I’d say that’s my target. That would be roughly 2 and a half pounds a week during this 90 day period – doable perhaps, but that’s a pretty high rate – I’ll say the 90 day goal is just.. under 200, which should be easily achieved.

But, as I said before, the REAL goal is to come off blood pressure meds – and I was still on them at 184, so my ultimate long term goal is something less than that. 175? 170? Maybe. Really, that’s what BMI says is the upper end of the recommended weight range for my height. I guess that doesn’t really mean anything in regard to me and my blood pressure, but it seems as good an arbitrary number to pick as any for the time being.