Mar 2, 2020

Happy Low-Carb-aversary to me!

I started following a very low-carb diet March 3rd, 2019. I just woke up that morning; fed up of feeling sick and tired and decided to do something different  So I did.  Something just flipped in my brain and I started that morning and have not looked back.

I have not been 100% low carb every single day.  I aim for 30g of carbs or less each day and I hit that 95% of the time. There's a day here or there that I hit 45-50g of carbs usually because of portion size, not ingredients.

Then if I think something is worth it - like homemade cake or pasta or pizza on a special occasion - I will splurge for that one item for one meal, which will send that day's carbs up to about 100-120g.  Those days are few and far between and I find the longer I eat this way, the less things that are "worth it".

The only thing I truly miss is pizza. I have tried quite a few low carb substitutions but nothing beats the crunch of a wheat crust so I pretty much have given up on that and don't bother with the substitutions as they just make me want the real thing even more!

Every 3 months or so, I'll go to a pizza place where they make the dough on site and order one slice and cut in half. I'll eat half and put the other half in the freezer to eat 6-8 weeks later.  That small slice has not yet affected my body in the way other carbs do, especially sugar. The few times I do indulge in sugar or pasta or rice or bread,  the next day I wake up achey, brain-foggy and generally feeling "off".  I guess the pizza slice is small enough that it doesn't do that.

Weight wise, I am holding steady at 183-186. I have been at a stall for about 6 months so I obviously need to change something to get better results.

On a regular basis (except for those exceptions above), I eat lean meat, healthy fats and vegetables and have a processed low carb/sugar free bar/treat 1-2 x a week.  I don't eat wheat, rice or processed sugar or the starchy vegetables.

Looking at my daily macros, I could probably go to a full keto diet of  20g of carbs a day as most days I'm between 22-26g.    I haven't officially decided on my next plan of action though.

Good news, my A1C without medication has been 6.0-6.3 which is considered pre-diabetic so there is still some improvement I can make there.  I don't exercise as much in the Winter as I do the other seasons so that definitely has affect on my blood sugar these months, and I see it mostly in my fasting numbers which are higher than they were when I was hiking 3-4 x a week.

A few weeks ago I bought a used treadmill and have been doing 30 min every other day.  I should bump that up to every day as it's just light walking and the days I do it, I do notice a reduction in my fasting blood sugar the next day - so it works!