What's on your Monday Menu?

I want to come over! Kielbasa and Deviled Eggs are two of my favorite food groups.

Morning everyone. We may go to Julia's happy place today -- Target. She finds the need to see everything, which I don't quite understand. But it's nice seeing her like a kid in a candy shop. I usually sit in the car and read.

QOTD: I think I'd like to drive the clown car. I always wanted to be the wheel man. Now I should go watch Baby Driver again.

Good morning, everybody!

So as not to bury the lede, I should start with the numbers. As you might recall, I was on a 5 hour stopover delay as part of the Southwest pre-Christmas travel debacle. Between an M&M and wine lunch, the late travel day, plane dehydration, and a snack for dinner, I woke up the next day knowing I would be light. So, of course, perfect conditions for a weigh-in. I hit the scale at 222, admitted that it was to a certain extent BS, and posted December 23rd, that I was comfortable that I hit my year's goal of 227. I was about 232-233 at the OH conference in September.

But that blasted Marilyn Monroe dress. In early January, my endocrinologist called and said that she wants to switch my Ozempic to 2.0. Except that there was a nationwide shortage of 2.0, so I had to go on Glipizide for awhile until manufacturing catches up to the Tik Tok phenomena. And Glipizide can cause weight gain. Sorry. Fast forward to February 27, and I weighed in at 239.6, heading towards my post surgery high of 243. Thus Whole 30.

Yesterday was Day 30, so today was scale day and the verdict is 223.8. I am happy with the 15.8 pound loss. I didn't track calories but probably ate between 2000-2500 per day and did my normal activity level. (which is high)

QJB told me that this would be less a diet and more about pantry management, and boy was she right. So much planning, cooking, shopping, and dishwashing.

As far as the eating Changes:

Dairy. Once I got used to coconut milk in my coffee, I was shocked at how easy it was to give up dairy. I did miss butter, and didn't love Ghee.

Grains. This is hard because it is the basis of convenience food. Not that white bread tastes so good or anything. But its how things are constructed. So while I didn't really crave bready things, I did miss the convenience of grabbing a sandwich.

Legumes. These made no difference to me.

Sugar and artificial sweeteners. This was the hardest part for me. I will do a separate post about the Sugar Dragon.

Alcohol. I definitely missed being able to enjoy a few glasses of wine on our Wednesday night Happy Hours. I am sure Chrissy appreciated less texts pestering her, though.

Non scale positive effects: better (not perfect by any means) sleep, lower blood sugar, no Miralax, and I did my first nose to wall effort on my wall walk yesterday. I have gotten back in the bad habit of drinking and eating at the same time, and I find that I was doing that less during Whole 30. I should try and work back towards not doing it.

Challenges: Some dizziness if I stand up quickly, a big sugar hangover for the first week or so, nodding off in front of the TV.

Where do I go from here? Almost everyone bounces off of their post-surgery low. And for everyone that is a painful process. I hit 206 for a day in Spring 2019. While I was Christmas shopping that December I saw (really saw) myself in the mirror and said "why are you trying to lose weight?" I was 218 at the time. I gained 5 pounds over that holiday season/Australia Cruise and have been talking about getting back to 218 ever since January of 2020.

So, my plan is to keep at Paleo eating with a few exceptions (Wednesday wine, using up my bariatric chewable vitamins, Kerrygold butter instead of Ghee, trace sugars in things like Canadian Bacon, etc.) I am going to try and lose another 5.8 pounds. At that point, I think that I will take my own advice and get a Dexa Scan before deciding any further plan of action.

DD was at Taylor Swift last night and was ecstatic. I will try and find a picture.

QOTD: I guess the strong man. Although in my case it would be the somewhat strongish for his age man.

Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs

Lunch: Turkey burger

Dinner: Egg roll in a bowl

Have a great day, all!

Excellent work, Jim! And your Wednesday night texting only becomes erratic if Marilyn is out of town. And we can all tell instantly. Lol.

Wow! Those a fantastic results. Make sure to take the time to celebrate the successes.

Congratulations on all the success. That is fantastic. BTW I actually look forward to your txt. If I didn't I wouldn't txt back.

Congrats on those results. It's a lot of work, no matter what we do because we are no longer in the honey moon phase. I keep battling the same 5-7 lbs up and down ALL THE TIME! My scale has never been stable.

Hey, that's a great result for a month. Congratulations! A lot of diet modifications, so glad you've picked the ones you're keeping. Good plan on the scan.

Great job!!! di you expect that type of weight loss? very impressive.

I'm on a keto-paleo type diet (except I tolerate butter, ghee- best homemade, and hard cheese including feta)

Unfortunately I don't exercise much (if any) plus I'm on steroids so my weight loss is very slow. But I'm losing, not gaining so that is a plus. I could do better diet wise, but I'm happy with slow progress if I don't need to do drastic changes. i.e. giving up apples and some of the fat I'm eating. I tried limiting fat but hen I started getting really hungry, craving carbs. Nope.

happy Plus IF that really works well for me and my gut. Unfortunately I need to avoid nightshade veggies, and any high FODMAP foods (i.e. cabbage family including cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, broccoli). Too many limitations. I'm glad I can tolerate had aged cheese, apples, and organic romaine lettuce (I get face rash when I eat non organic berries, lettuce, or any other "greens".)

phenomenal job on the whole30, weight loss, and NSVs! It seems it was worth the effort you put in. I would have had difficulty giving up artificial sugar since I drink copious amount of water enhancers (crystal light) that are zero or 5 calories. I really don't do bread for the most part. So proud of you and can't wait to see how you do with the small modifications to make the diet more you.