Type 2 Diabetes, a Dietary Disease #378: My Next 30-lb Challenge: Project Design

As everyone who has ever lost a lot of weight knows, the worst thing you can do is waste the effort by gaining it back. And gaining it back it so much easier than losing it. So the best defense to avoid gaining it back is a strong offense, i. e., to immediately launch another campaign to lose weight. And that’s just what I’ve done.

I made this decision exactly one week after the conclusion of my original 10-week, 30-pound challenge (originally 2-month, 20-pound challenge), in which I lost 31 pounds. During this last week, I regained 4 pounds and my FBG average climbed to 93mg/dl. Ugh! So, the new challenge is actually to lose 34 pounds. The length of the new challenge will be 16 weeks, again to coincide with my next doctor’s appointment in early August.

In this new challenge I intend only to report at 4-week intervals. At the mid-point (8-weeks or June 11^th), I should have reached 202 pounds, my lowest weight since my original 170 pound weight loss. I lost 170 pounds after starting to eat Very Low Carb, first on Atkins Induction (20g/day), then later on Bernstein (30g/d). That was also my weight at the conclusion of Basic Training in the U. S. Army in 1960, 57 years ago. By the end of this Challenge, I should have reached 187 lbs, exactly half the weight I started at in 2002 (375 lbs).

For reference, 187 lbs is still smack in the middle of the “Overweight” range in the BMI chart. I am starting this new challenge at 217lbs, which is still considered “Obese.” It was also my weight during my teenage years.

CHALLENGE DESIGN: As before, on most “FEASTING DAYS” I will strive to eat about 1,200kcal: 100g of fat, 60g of protein and 15g of carbohydrate. The carbs will actually range up to 30g to accommodate my daily 1 or 2 spritzers, never more. Breakfast on these days will consist of a 12oz coffee with 1½ oz heavy cream and stevia powder. Heavy cream is fat, so any overnight ketosis (if achieved) should continue into the day uninterrupted.

Lunch, if any, or any other food before supper, will be just protein and fat. Examples include a can of Brisling sardines in EVOO, a can (or 2) of kippered herring in brine, or a hard-boiled egg (or 2). And iced tea sweetened with liquid stevia. Occasionally I will lunch on a can of pork liver pâté. A snack break from gardening can be an iced tea and a few spears of dill pickles to restore lost salt and maintain fluids and electrolytes. Before supper, to accompany a (or 2nd) spritzer, I might indulge in some celery or sliced radishes, with added salt.

Supper on feast days will include a small to medium (not large!) serving of protein, with inherent and added saturated fat, and one low-carb vegetable, prepared with added fat (butter or olive oil), or a salad. Vegetables include green beans, asparagus, cauliflower, and broccoli. My salads include romaine, mushrooms, hazelnut pieces or slivered almonds, and aged grated Parmesan Reggiano tossed in a homemade vinaigrette. My beverage, to wash down the pills: 2 red wine spritzers – 5 to 6 oz of red wine in a glass filled with seltzer.

This regimen works because, even though this is a low-calorie meal plan for a “feast” day, at no point in the day will I be hungry. That’s because my metabolism is humming along in high gear, burning body fat for energy so long as both my blood sugar and blood insulin levels remain low and stable. I eat this food because I like it. I am not hungry before “breakfast,” but I enjoy my morning coffee. And I look forward to a break from working in the garden – to rest and refresh myself, have a beverage and sometimes a bite, and then go back to work.

“FASTING DAYS”: On these days (2 or 3 every week), I will consume about 300kcal/d. I will take my morning pills with the usual 12oz coffee, 1½ oz heavy cream and stevia powder. If I feel dehydrated during the day, I will have just iced tea and a slice (or 3) of pickle; and in the evening, just one red wine spritzer with my pills.

Macronutrients: Coffee w/cream: Fat: 16g (144kcal), Protein: 1.2g (5kcal), Carbs: 1.2g (5kcal); Total: 154kcal. Spritzer (6oz): Carbs: 4.5g (18kcal), Ethyl alcohol: 18g (126kcal); Total: 144kcal. Fasting day total: 298kcal. The secret, I think, for the success of this “feast/fast” regimen, is that since I eat VLC, I am already “keto adapted.”