The other side of the scale

Weight fat loss tends to get its share of heated conversations on the net. People stand firm with their n=1s because their own experience is what worked for them, and well, sometimes everyone is right.

I’ve typed before about how (believe it or not) there is a such thing as too much fat on a LCHF lifestyle, but I don’t recall if we’ve discussed the other end of the LCHF spectrum too little fat.

If you are old enough to even contemplate changing your way of eating from the SAD (standard American diet), going against the grain {giggles}, thinking about cutting the sweet poison (to a large portion of us creatures known as humans), and opting for a more un-processed approach, you made it through the low fat craze that’s been going on since most of us were in diapers.

If you never fell for the whole “low fat, heart healthy approved” marketing ploys, good for you! You will breeze through LCHF 101 with flare! You’ve been eating butter and bacon your entire life, you, my friend have no need of BPC or fat bombs. Matter of fact if you’re one of those not losing, it’s not for lack of fat, but I digress, we’re discussing the other side today and I will get back to them presently.

What? You eat butter?

The vast majority of us have been taught time and again that it is very very important to keep the fat off our plate. Fat was always at the top of the pyramid, use it sparingly, and when you do use it, only use these here vegetable oils and shortening. Even better is to have your toast dry, with a bit of jelly. (when did they start putting HFCS in jelly?) We cut our fat that was once on our plate, but we’ve increased the fat on our bodies. It would seem that if cutting the fat helped us to get fatter, then maybe, just maybe eating more fat would help us to not produce so much of our own.

Sometimes, the answer is “up the fat”. I know, it’s crazy. What works for Fred or Wilma doesn’t always work for Ben and Jerry, so one must remember that yes, sometimes everyone is right, but just not always at the same time.

Examples are easier, so I’ll just go with it.

We’ll use Miss Piggy as the example. (no she’s not still dressed up, it’s an old pic)

Miss Piggy started her LCHF way of eating some time ago. At first, she dropped a lot of weight. For the past month or so, she’s not really losing, she’s not really gaining either, she’s hit one of those dreaded things called a weight loss plateau.

Lucky for Miss Piggy, she has the most common problem in her weight loss journey that is easy to fix. See, for years Miss Piggy lived off of heart healthy whole grains for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She traded her mayo for mustard years ago and always cooks in a non stick pan to avoid fats at all cost. She’s meat free on Mondays because she’s going to save the planet and to her, red meat equals heart attacks.

The LCHF change has been a change most difficult, she’s tired of skinless salmon and salad, but what else can she eat*? She’s doing everything right, chia seed pudding or Faux oatmeal for breakfast, salad with boneless, skinless chicken or skinless salmon for lunch and dinner, sugar free jello as snacks. She’s hardly eating 800 calories a day, so it’s not like she can eat less, or can she?

“Give that girl a BPC STAT!” is giggle evoking, but not the answer, well, it could be the answer, but remember, Miss Piggy is having a hard time with fat as it is. A coconut/butter oil slick in her cup-o-joe might just have her running from LCHF like the freaking plague!

While we can all (most likely, maybe?) agree, Miss Piggy is definitely not eating enough fat or calories (can you even eat a calorie?) food for that matter. She has become one of those low-carbers that are not only skerd to death of carbs, but she is skerd of fat too.

Chocolate fat bombs might do the trick for upping her fat, but she was a big fan of candies way back when, so they might also be that slippery slope that derails her entire journey. (Do you see now how everyone’s situation is different, that we can all be right, we can all be wrong, and well, arguing about it is silly, agreeing to disagree works better, truce, maybe?)

*What else can I eat? she asked. How about just eating food? What if Miss Piggy stopped counting her calories and cut her stress by proxy? Instead of looking at any vegetable other than salad as carbs and just ate broccoli, sauteed in real butter (or any other of the many non-starchy vegetables) because it’s food. If nothing can convince Miss Piggy that bacon is ok as long as you stay away from the biscuits, maybe she can work her way up to chicken thighs at least, to up her fat.

It all boils down to this: There is a such thing as not enough fat, just like there is a such thing as too much fat when eating LCHF. One person’s not enough is another person’s too much. We can all be right and wrong at the same time, but it’s up to the person asking the questions to evaluate the answers and figure out what works best for themselves.

If you, or someone you love is suffering from not losing weight while trying to keep the carbs and the fat low at the same time, here are a few examples that may or may not help you figure out that 1. Fat is not bad, except rancid vegetable oils  and 2. You don’t have to add obscene amounts of coconut oil to your coffee or your cocoa powder.

• cook whole chickens, eat some of that skin. (hell no, it’s not the chicken skin that makes KFC un-healthy, it’s the crap attached to the skin and having macaroni and cheese as a vegetable option…)
• Toss out your teflon. Invest in an iron skillet or stainless steel. Why? Because stuff sticks without a little butter or bacon lube. You will be forced to saute your veggies in some yummy butter or bacon grease.
• Bypass the skinless salmon, opt for wild caught, skin on. Melt some butter in that new iron skillet and sear that skin like a boss. There is seriously nothing better than a nice fat piece of salmon that has been cooked til the skin is crispy.
• Eat a ribeye. Seriously. Sirloin is ok for Stroganoff over shirataki noodles, but if you’re going to have a steak, you might as well enjoy it, and how could you not enjoy the marbled juicy goodness that is ribeye?
• Plant your chia seeds. (I’m still puzzled as to why folks started eating them in the first place) Ok, that one is up to you. If you like them, keep them, just not for breakfast. Eggs were made for breakfast, end of story.

 

 

Is it spring yet?

Even with snow piles sporadically placed along the roadside and icy chunks covered in what looks like it could still be fresh snow in the shade, it sure feels like spring today. The lion must be busy elsewhere, because much to my enjoyment, it’s nothing but lamb out there.

I could almost feel guilty for sitting here at my desk, almost. I’ll consider this my lost hour, the one I should have slept through, in the form of sleeping late, as we sprang forward some hours ago. But I awoke to the chirpy sounds and cheepy calls of the starlings as they were no doubt raiding Biscuit’s food bowl.

I thought about going back to sleep when I saw that the teen was still sleeping but the aroma of the hot coffee brewing snapped me into reality. The teen is still sleeping… After a hot cup of Folgers (I’m out of Kona), I felt myself dragging.

So many things to do, laundry, cleaning, cooking breakfast, and that beautiful sunshine pouring in through the kitchen windows. Rather than go outside and be disappointed that it is yet another deceptive day, pretty two ways, regular pretty and pretty cold, I checked the news.

50° before ten am? (would have been before nine without the whole forward thing) That right there put a little pep in my step. Add another cup of hot coffee and I was almost good to go.

Because I wouldn’t want you to think I was shirking my duties, I will tell you that after hitting the shower I got a load of towels washed and folded my yesterday’s procrastination. I seriously considered making breakfast, but the teen was still sleeping and if I’m not hungry, I have no problem fasting until hunger ensues naturally.

I passed the vacuum a second time on my way to the coffee pot. I thought about going ahead and getting that out of the way when I saw a cardinal sitting on the fence. The longing for the outdoors was overriding the importance of my to-do list.

I dug my Vibrams out of the shoe shelf (covered in jackets, coats, scarves, gloves, heck, it’s on the to-do list) and decided there was no time like now to run my errands.

When I walked outside I saw a very dirty sweet baby Cam. Since the area around the porch, where he usually gets cleaned is still partially encrusted in ice/snow, I grabbed some quarters and set to task.

Lucky for me, the train was coming through town. Cam and I got to take the scenic route, the route I used to take all the time, just so I could see the perdy blue Camaro, parked along the way. For old times sake I said “whooo hooo hooo Camaro” and laughed. It’s funny how a little promise of spring can make you giddy to the point of silly, but y’all know I’m totally down with silly.

Taking the scenic route makes my third stop my first stop and the car wash is right dab in the middle of what would have been the first stop had there been no train this morning. The car wash was also packed. Lots of folk needing to get that salty grime off their vehicles too. Instead of waiting for a stall and burning up my busy time, I passed it by and hit the grocery.

My list said sweet potatoes, so a couple sweet taters and a can of green beans (just in case) later, I went back to the car wash. As a reward for my not wasting time waiting, there was an empty stall. Eight quarters later I pulled out and headed home.

Being a pretty day and all, I only went inside long enough to put my gathers up and grab my chamois. In the full sun, he was still a dirty boy. I got to work and cleaned him again, then took my sweet time drying him off.

I’m pretty tall for a girl, but not tall enough to dry his top. I opened the door and saw to my horror that even if a car is covered and left wanting for weeks, it still can get dusty in there. (in Cam’s defense, I did drive him a couple times between the ice and snow storms, but on yucky cloudy cold days, he looked pretty clean)

An hour later and he is all shiny inside and out and though I’ve opened and slammed the front door several times throughout the morning, the teen is still asleep. There is still more me time to be had. An hour of sitting in the sun reading might seem like such a waste when there are now towels to fold and carpet to vacuum, but really, seriously, I can fold to my heart’s desire (or lack of) during TWD tonight.

As I typed that last paragraph, a shadow appeared in the living room, reminding me that the sun is still waiting and my lost hour is about over. There is noise coming from the kitchen, no doubt it’s the teen foraging for her very very late breakfast (which is too late to even be called lunch).

Too late for good morning, she calls out instead “Did you wash the car?” then proceeds to tell me that it’s supposed to snow again tonight, she saw it on Facebook funny, ha ha. What’s even funnier is that I saw the news and it may rain tonight, but the lows aren’t dipping below 40° and the highs are going to be reaching into the 60°s all week. Yep, no snow days this week, yeehaw!

 

 

Spring forward, into turkey season

Spring, spring, spring. With all this snow melting on the ground, it’s easy to see spring coming. Before the previous couple of winter storms came roaring through, the foilage from the daylilies and iris had already broken ground.

While technically we are springing forward late tonight, early tomorrow, I’m looking forward to spring turkey season. Opening day is only 28 days away, so I figured it was time to transition our gear from deer to turkey. The first thing I did was dump everything out of our back packs.

deer supplies

A few things will go back into the packs, but in order to keep order some things had to go. The deer calls, scent cover, scent spray, hand warmers, rattlers, and big gloves were put up for next deer season.

Turkey season most definitely takes up less backpack space, which is good because we can’t always use the big blind. Sometimes we have to tote chairs and popup blinds, so the less weight in the packs, the better.

My idea of essentials for turkey season.

With the exception of the big flashlight, there is not a lot to pack. The most important things are your hunting license and photo id. I keep my hunting and drivers license in a waterproof pouch, in my pocket. Last year we ended up getting a boatload of licenses, so this year we are opting for the Sportsman’s License. It includes all we need for archery or big gun, big game or small, and fishing.

The second most important thing, when you are not hunting on land that you own, is a letter of permission from the land owner. They are kinda bulky for a pocket, so we keep ours in zipper bags, in our packs.

The rest of the stuff is perdy much what I took for last year’s spring and fall turkey seasons.

• binoculars
• trash bags and vinyl gloves
• toilet paper
• range finder
• his and hers turkey calls (mine is the green one)
• rail and bow string wax
• call chalk
• ink pen

The ink pen is something I’ve added this season because we needed one, one day during deer season.

This is all the pack gear that can be packed this early. We take bottles of water, but do not pack them until we walk out the door. Decoys and pop up blinds are usually put in the truck a few days in advance of opening day.

Since I got zero turkeys last year, none within the range of my crossbow (because guns are too loud), I may try out the new turkey gun Big Sexy got me. It can’t be any louder than Thor (my muzzleloader that I got my two bucks with). Speaking of bucks, Mr. Dallas called back early February, turned out spring came early…

This is John. John Deer. My 12 point buck.

 

 

 

 

Walking in a winter wonderland…

Lately local weather folk have been perfecting the art of losing friends and making enemies, what with all this wintery stuff, running late for the season, it’s March for goodness sake!!!

I awoke at three am to see if their latest predictions had come to fruition, when I see with mine eyes that there was just a measly little bit of snow that had fallen over the bit of ice left from the sleet we witnessed just prior to bedtime.

I smiled to myself, thinking “they got it wrong this time” and went back to bed. I was not prepared for the sight when I awoke again.

No dragon hunting today, the dragon is stuck in a good four inches of snow.

I have a garden out front, lined with large stones, that was enveloped in the white stuff, sometime after I went back to bed.

The stone lined walkway and garden have been rendered invisible.

I asked Big Sexy if there was a fire going and he said yes, be careful if you go out there. I told him I was going to put another log on, which is code for “I gotta go step in it!”. Donning yoga pants, a t-shirt, socks, and a pair of shoes, I stepped outside.

I tried to stay in his tracks. This is right off the side stoop.

My third step into the deep powdery snow, I realized not only was I a tad bit under-dressed, but I longed for my hiking/hunty boots as “shoes” just don’t stand up to this depth.

Rounding the corner of the house, I spied the deck.

By the time I got to the basement steps, I was a wee bit apprehensive of going down to the basement to check the fire.

The steps to the basement

I mentally thought of my gray yoga pants as big girl pants and went down to the basement. Biscuit and stripy cat were in the basement, warm and dry. I added another log and decided to test my luck against the treacherous journey back to the warmth of our home.

a view from the bottom of the basement steps

You can probably guess that I made it back safe, or I wouldn’t be typing. I also made it back with my shoes filled with snow, confirming my realization that yes indeed I was under-dressed.

I’m thinking now about putting on my coveralls and boots and going on a recovery mission to find the sled. The only thing holding me back is the smell of hot coffee brewing and these daggum wet socks!

 

 

Cat crazy days of winter…

Meet Bella, our cat.

I’m not a cat person. Bella came into our lives as a kitten, rescued by our son and his friend one cold winter day about seven years ago.

She was born of a stray, under the house of one of their friends, destined to freeze to a horrible chunk of cat ice if we did not take her in. “I’m not taking care of her, she’s your responsibility”

Famous last words.

Bella seemed normal, until she didn’t. She had a seizure, then another. Shortly after I partook of a LCHF way of eating, I started cooking offal and meat, often in bone broth for her. Switching her sometimes to sardines, tuna, mackerel, occasional oysters, and the strangest thing happened. She hasn’t had a seizure in we don’t remember how long.

I cook for Bella because going back to {insert any wet or dry cat food here, we tried them all before putting her on real food} would most likely result in her having seizures again. Anyways, she has kinda grown on us, so I don’t mind spending a small portion of my time cooking cat food.

I’m still not a cat person.

Lately though, I’ve been pondering which came first, the crazy or the cat in crazy cat lady.

About a month ago a stripy cat was sitting on our porch, then sleeping in our basement, with our dog (who is most def not a cat person). Since it’s cold this time a year, I tried finding her family (to no avail) on facebook.

Stripy cat. She’s nice, polite, I can’t believe her family would leave her or just drop her off.

Anyways, I don’t feed stripy cat. With the exception of left-overs, Biscuit is more than happy to share his dog food bowl, provided he is not around it when she gets hungry. She has managed full roam of the underneath of the house, beyond the basement. I’ve not missed any of the camel crickets or field mice that normally find a way indoors during these cold months.

I’m still not a cat person.

Shortly after stripy cat showed up on the porch, there was a big black cat sitting on the hot tub. For a while I thought that maybe the crazy came first and I was seeing things, no one ever saw the black cat, well until Biscuit saw him one day and told him to get the heck out of Dodge.

Over the past few years, occasionally, we would glimpse a white cat, like Bella, only larger, walking along the creek way back. More recently, this winter, he’s been coming to our house, never on the porch, and spooks easy. I really think he is one of Bella’s siblings, except he has battle scars.

I’m crossing my fingers that all these cats don’t turn me into a cat person, especially a crazy one, when Bob shows up.

This is Bob. Because he looks like a bobcat, even has a stubby tail.

It is hard for me to believe that Bob is an outdoor cat, much less a stray cat. He is bold, he may be a she, I’ve not been close enough, but he is not scared to come on the porch.

Bob hiding behind Ms. Piggy’s apron.

He is scared to go in the back yard, Biscuit does not like him either. I don’t think we need to worry about Bob getting in the basement, but seriously if he doesn’t miss his family, I bet he misses the indoors and food.

Yesterday afternoon, as I sat on the porch reading, another cat ventured into the yard. This one is really fat, really furry, white with big brown splotches. Too elusive for the camera, think dairy cow morphed into a cat with shaggy hair.

The cats are driving me crazy. I am not a cat person, so you can maybe see my dilemma. If crazy came first, I may very well be on my way to being a cat person…

On a serious note, it’s cold outside. If you have pets, keep them warm, keep them fed, and keep up with them. Of all the strays hanging around lately, only the white battle scarred cat looks like he is really truly stray.

 

When less really is more, steak tacos

We were some of the lucky ones during ice-aggedon. Our driveway isn’t a 90° drop off, like many of our neighbors drives. (well, it’s pretty flat out front, past the house it’s like an asphalt slide)

While I didn’t drive the first 13 days, my hot husband was able to get me to the store for emergencies, you know like chocolate. (kidding, maybe) Anyways, maybe it was day 12 when I went with His Hotness to Nashville to see how the roads were coming along, to know if he’d be able to take out the big work truck.

The roads were much better than the roads up these parts, but the work site was a no-go. Anyways, I’ll just claim my 5th amendment rights and not tell you about the amazing authentic Mexican tacos we got just off Charlotte Pike in West Nashville.

Most of my adult life, tacos have been more like the supreme version of Taco Bell, the crunchy, soft is fajitas daggumit (giggle). In those tacos that I will not talk about, I found that really truly, less is more.

Something odd happened that day, he told me he could eat those tacos seven days a week. I was going to hold him to it, they were so freaking easy, but by day three, he was all taco-ed out.

Less is more, gosh I love them, steak tacos, LCHF style

Filling:

• 1 pound thinly sliced beef steak, round, flank, square (haha), what ever kind, just not the green kind.
• 1 tablespoon bacon grease
• 1/4 teaspoon each: pink salt, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, oregano.
• coarse black pepper

Cut steak into strips, against the grain. Heat a skillet (I like stainless, use what you like) over medium high heat, add bacon grease. Add steak. When it is no longer pink, add seasonings. For some odd reason, steak in this day and age loses a lot of water, if it gets watery, heat up the griddle and griddle it dry, crispy on the outside, tender on the inside.

Sorry, this is chicken. With ceviche and steak tacos, do you blame me for not having a chance to get the steak griddle pic? Use your imagination, thanks 🙂

Topping: 

• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
• coarse pink salt and coarse black pepper as you like it
• 1/2 lime

Put the onion and cilantro in a glass bowl. Toss it around with the salt and pepper, squeeze the lime over the top and mix once more for good measure. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge until your tacos are ready. (I don’t always use a glass bowl for cooking, but when I use lime or lemon juice, I always use a glass bowl. You’re welcome)

Because you’ve already made a large batch of the broccoli cheese waffles, tortilla style, pull a few of those bad boys out and heat them up on the griddle.

Did I mention they freeze well? In freezer bags, make sure to put parchment paper squares between each. (and OMG if the bacon chicken were really #37, does that make these #38? Gonna have to work hard to fill in the blanks, but at least it has me out of my “writer’s block” good deal, really.

Once your waffle tortillas are heated up, top with filling, top with topping. That’s it. You don’t need no cheese (it’s in the tortilla anyways), no sour cream, just a wedge of lime to squeeze on top before that first bite…

Yummy, yummy

Ok, so this is like the third bite out of my second taco… So freaking good.

They were really nice with the ceviche and chips last night. So good, that I heated up a couple for a breakfast sammich…

This pic is from the first batch. Bacon, egg, cheese, and mayo. Do I miss my fork lately? Oh hell no!!!

 

101 things to do with broccoli waffles, ceviche and chips

I’m seriously in love with these things. In case you missed them, broccoli and cheese waffles, from The Primitive Palate are what I’m talking about. Anyways, my friend Brenda and I got to brainstorming and ended up with some tortillas. I ended up typing myself into a tasty corner by calling the chicken bacon tacos #37 of 101 things to do with broccoli cheese waffles.

Anyways, I figure the #1 thing to do is the recipe as written with a waffle iron. I plan on doing just that, once I make my way to Goodwill or find a waffle iron on the cheap.

The roads are nice and clear now, still cold, but we hit the store. Since the only thing I changed with the waffles was basically the shape last time, well, and my sub for Mrs. Dash, I thought I’d branch out and count using a 50/50 mix of cheddar to mozzarella could at least count as one of the 101, I went ahead and added a bit of oregano to my last batch’s changes.

 

With the cheddar and some eggs from the back yard, they are more colorful.

Tossing the cheddar in the mix ended up making them more bendy, they almost looked like round doritos, so I thought “what the heck?”, I made some ceviche anyways, what’s the worst that could happen.

Ceviche

• 2 fillets tilapia (about 3 oz each)
• 6 oz calamari
• 4 oz bay scallops
• lime juice, about 1/2 cup
• coarse pink salt and coarse black pepper
• pico de gallo (chop up some onions, cilantro, and tomatoes, mix well, and add a little lemon juice, heck, add jalepeño if you would like)

Chop fish, calamari, and scallops into somewhat uniform sizes. Mix together in a glass bowl with pink salt and black pepper. Pour lime juice over to cover. Use a little more if needed. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours to overnight. Seafood is done when it is opaque.

Serve onto dishes with a slotted spoon, topped with pico de gallo.

Love ceviche, normally just eat it with a fork. Not again 🙂

I love ceviche, we make it often. Normally May and I eat it with a fork, not tonight though!

Cut tortillas into triangles, and griddle over medium high heat a couple minutes, flipping as needed.

Remove the chips from the griddle on to a paper towel.

At that point, these were great. May thought they were bland. I told her “more for me” (Big sexy doesn’t like ceviche, so he didn’t get any broccoli cheese waffle chips)

Once we got that ceviche plated, she changed her mind about the chips. Half were on her plate. I couldn’t get mad because I was like OMG… best thing I ever ate a-freakinggain!!!

These things stand up to ceviche, imagine the possibilities.

Anyways, because I missed lunch, had too much time on my hands, and really really wanted tacos again… I made some tacos for dinner tonight with the ceviche. It’s getting late, so I’ll just have to give you the recipe and pictures for that one tomorrow.

School is closed again tomorrow, but tacos make life worth living…

I’ve lost count of the days, maybe this is day 10, day 8 they plowed our road, I stopped counting after that. The driveway is still a mess and really I don’t blame them for closing school.

In the past seems like forever that we’ve been encrusted in ice, crossing our fingers that the worst of winter is over, saddened that it’s actually too dangerous to even sled the ice cap that is our back yard (heck, it’s a perilous journey to just get to the tahoe), things have gotten pretty cabin fevery.

Seriously, there is only so much uno and monopoly to play. I ended up overdosing on the net, but in doing so, I managed to snag one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Thanks to a friend who shared, I am never ever eating another taco salad instead of tacos again.

Oh, the thing that is the best thing? You’re not going to believe it, it’s a waffle recipe. (I’m not kidding. Check it out : http://theprimitivepalate.com/2015/02/23/broccoli-cheese-waffles/

Alterations to the recipe in the link:

I did not have Mrs. Dash. I used cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, pink salt, black pepper, and oregano. About 1/4 teaspoon of each. Instead of using a waffle iron, I flattened them out and baked them  A friend was testing out the recipe today and she baked them like tortillas, so I did too. (here’s her blog: https://atkinsjourney.wordpress.com/ )

Flatten on parchment, bake at 375° for 9 minutes, flip, 9 more minutes.

After baking and flipping.

Once I had them all baked, they were kinda soft, kinda bread-like. I put some bacon juice on the griddle and browned them a bit like tortillas.

Filling:

• 4 slices bacon, chopped, fried in skillet. Remove to paper towel, leave juice.
• 1 pound chopped boneless, skinless chicken.
• 1/4 teaspoon each of cumin, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, pink salt, and freshly ground coarse black pepper. (easy to remember, same mix/amount I used in the waffle/tortillas)
• home-made salsa or pico.

Cook the chicken in the bacon juice. Add seasonings and cooked bacon. Cook a little longer till it’s done.

Put the filling on your waffles, I mean tortillas and squeeze on some fresh lime juice, YUMMIES!

The best thing about this is this:

Pick those bad boys up and eat you some tacos.

Anyways, I seriously love love love the waffle recipe and am now following its creator. I don’t wanna sound like a stalker or nuthin’ but if the waffles are any indication of the yummie recipes, I’ll perdy much be kinda stalkin’.

 

Trouble in Paradise…

Maybe you’ve noticed I’ve been MIA for a while. Maybe I could tell you that I’ve been busy (which I have), or maybe I could tell you that I’ve just been less than impressed with the whole LCHF bullshit going on lately. (which I have)

Low carb high fat, in and of itself is not the problem. You can surf the webz and see lots and lots of folks (myself included) who have changed not only their waistlines, but also their overall health. Truth be told, low carb high fat is a godsend for some of us currently (and formerly) morbidly obese individuals when “low fat/no fat hearthealthywholegrains” did not work, backfired even.

The problem my dear readers is not the WOE (way of eating), the problem is all the mixed information, all the keyboard warriors typing louder than others so that their information looks as if it is the only true information out there, and if they type long enough and loud enough, maybe, just maybe, it spreads, like wild fire.

Seriously though, what works for one does not work for all.

It’s so easy to become discouraged after taking the leap of faith that is LCHF and only losing a certain amount of poundage. Without diving in too deep (the sled awaits, we’re snowed in, and I’m running late for general goofiness) how about instead of lamenting over “how little” one has lost, why not think about “Gosh darned it, I lost some freaking weight”.

Seriously, it’s better than gaining.

The problem with wanting to lose more than we are actually losing is that we get sidetracked by all the n=1’s that are out there. What worked for Shirley and Tom might not work for Mary and Fred. “You’re not eating enough fat” says so and so, and while they may be well intention-ed, maybe so and so didn’t have much body fat to begin with and well, upping the fat helped them, so it should help us all, right? Wrong.

(Sorry, I’ve got to type the following out loud) THERE IS A SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH FAT ON A LCHF WAY OF EATING. I don’t give a rat’s ass if you don’t believe me, but seriously, use a little common sense prior to dismissing that sentence. If you are morbidly obese as I was, and you are upping the fat and still not losing, maybe, just maybe, you are over-eating to the point where your body does not have to tap into your fat stores.

I urge you to think before reacting to everything you read on the internet. There are so many people out these days who “KNOWITALL”, and well, really they know how they did it and it worked for them, but they forget that Shirley and Tom and Mary and Fred are unique individuals with different paths to take.

I guess what I am trying to type (as the snow calls my name) is to read every bit of information you can find. If you want the weight gone yesterday, you should have started earlier. It does not happen over night, hell, it took me 3 years to lose 82 pounds, but then again, I’m a type 2 diabetic over 40.

Be real people. Do your homework. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t. Low carb works, it’s not magic, it takes time. Instead of focusing on a finish line that isn’t there (a never-ending journey) enjoy the ride. Lord knows I’m going to be enjoying the ride down the hill in the snow instead of the backbiting in the “LCHF groups”.

Instant gratification

Here it is, January 9, 2015 (yeah, I backspaced the 4, the 5 is so new and all), five days into getting my head on straight and I’ll be damned if my size eights still do not fit! {pouty sniffles}

Granted I have lost three whole pounds and lord knows I’ll surely find them, but it hasn’t really been all bad. I actually misplaced a couple of pounds Monday morning, which reminds me of finding them Tuesday morning. I don’t even want to talk about Wednesday and Thursday because I didn’t even check in with that old hag the scale.

It’s got to be that I’m not doing it right, I picked the wrong diet, which isn’t really a diet anyways, I call it meleo (combo of primal, paleo, without carb loading and crossfit (giggles) what works for my diabetes and me). It didn’t even make the cut, but it’s great uncle “Paleo” did and came in dead last. {Don’t wag that finger at me, I know, I know, I shoulda done #13, Slimfast (howling laughter at this point, seriously, bottle of chems or whole foods, yep, chems it shoulda been)}

Maybe I should have re-started Atkins, you know, hit the new and exciting Atkins 40, for when you just want to lose a little, but if you checked out the linky-do, Atkins is on the last page too, #32 to Paleo’s #34.

To be completely honest, I’m not even doing anything aside from what I was doing prior to hunting season and really, really, losing three pounds in five days of doing absolutely nothing is pretty spectacular, maybe downright scandalous. What exactly is that absolutely nothing? No sugar, no starches, simple. Leafy greens, meat, cheese, eggs, fish, even slightly higher carb veggies like Brussels sprouts.

Since I proved to myself what I already knew (you just can’t out exercise a bad diet), I’m not even counting my general goofiness like toting firewood as exercise, so without my general goofiness, I’m pretty much sloth-like. (general goofiness takes up most of my time, so I’m not sloth-like often)

I’m not doing anything silly like putting an entire stick of butter into my 32oz coffee, or just eating sticks of butter talking about my deep ketosis. Ketosis-smosis and all that, you won’t see any snap chats or instagrams of my pissedonketostix for a few reasons, #1 I don’t pee on sticks, that’s what potties are made for. #2 I don’t have snapchat which leads to #3 nor do I have instagram.

I am doing what I found to be most helpful when I lost the weight in the first place, right prior to thinking I was ten foot tall and bullet proof…

Dr. Jack Kruse’s Leptin Rx combined with Mark Sisson’s When Hunger Ensues Naturally. Anyways, both of these were big helps back in 2011 and 2012 when I was discovering my path to controlling my diabetes and losing weight. As far as combining them goes, on the days I wake up hungry, I eat within 30 minutes of rising, high protein breakfast, (I never stopped following the sleep well part), wait 4-5 hours (or longer) between meals. The couple days I’ve awoken without a thought of food, I’m IFing and eating when hunger ensues naturally.

Anyways, I was just thinking that with all the technology, things should be going quicker. My eights pert near falling off me by day five, but no, I’m human just like everyone else. Sometimes we just have to think “yeah, I want it now, but it’s going to take time.” Maybe I’m trying to tell any of you sweet folks out there in Readerville that no matter which diet you chose, what eating plan you adapt, that no big change after 5 days is no big deal. Weight loss is not a transporter from fat to flat in an instant, it’s a series of fits and starts, ups and downs that ultimately lead to getting into shape. The key though is not a “diet”, a “pill”, or a “superfood”, the key is to find what works for each of us as individuals and sticking to it.