Saturday, August 21, 2021

paying the piper

Woke up late today, and I could definitely feel the aftereffects of yesterday's binge. Without a doubt, everything inside me is a shambles now, and it's hard to maintain a devil-may care, no-regrets attitude in the aftermath of that orgy of destruction. The next cheat day, sometime in late October, won't be quite so ruinous, I think. One dude, whose video I embedded a while back, talked about not having a cheat day so much as a cheat meal, thereby reducing the scope of any possible destructiveness. That might be a good idea to follow, although I do still like the idea of having 24 hours to do what I please. 

Yesterday, I had massive pasta for lunch, including Italian bread, then half a small pizza for dinner, along with two bags of candy in the morning, some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (melted) later in the day, some chocolate cake, and a bowl of sugar-free chocolate pudding to top off the night—not to mention God-knows-how-much soda all day long. It was a glorious cheat day, but judging by how today is going, it comes at a heavy price. Today, I've gotten through my resistance exercises and stair work, and I've been fasting since my late-morning keto shake (which wasn't that good; I didn't finish it, and I've now adjusted the recipe). I've got an 18K walk to do this evening, but I've been sluggish all day long, despite having a lot to do. I might put off much of today's agenda until tomorrow—stuff like grinding meat for my own burgers, making a variety of keto sauces, and maybe baking some keto bagels (I have smoked salmon, and I think I have cream cheese, but I need to buy some capers).

So, if I'm to be honest, part of my brain is moaning "Never again" about yesterday, but a colder, more intellectual part of my brain is telling me that, as John Mac implied in a comment, the cheat days are necessary to keep me sane. I think the key is to just be more moderate from now on. Cheat, but don't cheat too hard.

And with that, I'm off to Costco.



2 comments:

motorrad said...

Kevin,

I've been holding my comments regarding your new diet because I know you have done your research and the diet changes are definitely working for you. That being said, I do want to give you my personal experience with losing 50 pounds on Atkins. I'm 5'9" and was up to 230 pounds. I dropped down to 175 in about 6 months by faithfully eating no more than 20 grams of carbs a day. I didn't have to plan intermittent fasts because once my insulin cycle was flattened I just didn't get hungry. I would honestly skip lunch most days just because I wasn't hungry. But I never cheated during my weight loss period. Once I got to my final weight, I started cheating on the weekends. Nothing insane, but I would eat an entire pizza Friday night or some pasta then have Saturday to recover on the toilet. I didn't try to make substitute for bread or pasta while I was actively losing as I figured it would just make me crave the real thing even more. I never counted calories either as I tended to self limit my intake because I just wasn't hungry.

I kept the weight off for 3 or 4 years until I got remarried and relapsed to my old eating habits because hey, a little won't hurt. But of course a little turned into a lot and I eventually weighed 220 again. I am now back on Atkins because of your blog and intend to get back to 175 by spring. It's a bit harder now 20 years later but doable.

I guess I just wanted to offer unsolicited advice to stop the cheat days until you reach your goal weight. It was much easier physically and mentally for me to stay low carb if I was able to forget how good carbs taste. Good luck and I'm cheering for you from St. Louis.

Scott

Kevin Kim said...

Thanks, Scott. If cheat days prove too hairy, I'll take your advice. I'm going to try a little self-control first, and we'll see what happens. Next cheat day isn't until I'm back from my walk, anyway, in late October. I expect to lose some weight during the walk, but perhaps not as much as I normally would (normally = about 10-12 kg) given how much weight I've already lost.

Atkins and keto share the same basic philosophy when it comes to carbs, so good luck on your own Atkins adventure.