7 Reasons to Stay Off the Scale

 

My previous post walked you through 14 non-weight-loss ways to gauge how a ketogenic or low-carb diet is working for you. But what if you do want to lose weight? Sure, lower blood sugar, lower blood pressure, remission of migraines, disappearance of hypoglycemia and brain fog, and total resolution of acid reflux are all pretty great, but what if one of your goals is to see the number on that dastardly scale go down?

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to change the size and shape of your body. But a scale is a terrible way to assess whether you’re accomplishing that. Here are seven reasons not to depend solely on the scale when you’re using keto to change your physique. (Some of these are excerpts from my book, The Stall Slayer. Lots more info in there about using keto/low-carb for fat loss. I also recommend checking out this video I did on reasons to stay off the scale.)

  

New Perspectives on Low Carb Diets for Weight Loss

As I wrote about in a recent post, I’ve finally gotten active in a few Facebook groups dedicated to low carb and ketogenic diets. There’s a world of good being done there, and heaps upon heaps of great information being shared—life-changing and life-saving information people aren’t hearing from their doctors. But there’s also a lot—and I mean a lot—of stuff that makes me want to: a) grab people tightly by the upper arms and shake some sense into them (because that’s more humane than ramming them head-first into a brick wall, which is what I’d really like to do in some cases), or b) wrap them in a long, warm hug, and help them feel better about things. I got all my keto-related anger out in the epic end-of-year rant I posted in December, so today, let’s focus on the kinder, gentler side of things.

I am paraphrasing, but here are a few examples of what I routinely read in various FB groups and blog comments:

1. “I’ve been following a strict ketogenic diet for two months and have only lost 10 pounds. What am I doing wrong?”   
2. “I’ve been doing strict keto for three months. I’m off my blood pressure medication and have reduced my insulin dose by half. I feel fantastic and have tons of energy, but I haven’t lost any weight. Why isn’t this working for me?” 
3. “I’m doing a keto diet and I lost four pounds the first week, three the second week, then only two the third week, and now I’m up a pound. What did I do wrong?” 

Constitutional Obesity Resistance Vs. Constitutional Obesity Propensity

Although activity on my Facebook and Twitter accounts might suggest otherwise, I’m not a big fan of social media. I participate in it because I feel like I “have to,” not because I particularly enjoy it. Then again, as I am extremely introverted, it’s a great way to interact with people without having to really interact with them. I can unplug and disengage the second I start feeling uninterested, overwhelmed, or exhausted. That being said, one of the great things about Twitter is that I get to interact with some quite brilliant people whom I would never otherwise have “met,” and I am regularly presented with ideas that blow my mind. (That’s how I came across the stuff about Dr. Kraft’s insulin assays, which inspired the insulin series.) Often, these are ideas and concepts that should be pretty obvious to me, and the only reason they aren’t is that I’ve just never stopped to think about them. And not only are they pretty obvious, but they’re often put out there or tweeted about casually, as if the writer is saying something relatively simple. A one-off post or a couple of lines about something that seems like no big deal and is a total no-brainer to them, but which, upon reflection, turns out to be a huge deal to me.

For example: the registered nurse who goes by the online nickname “Woo” frequently drops knowledge bombs that send me into a hurricane of thoughts. She holds no punches and does not suffer fools. Her writing style takes some getting used to, but she is truly one of the most intelligent and insightful people currently writing about metabolism, endocrinology, calories, ketosis, fat adaptation, body weight regulation, PCOS, and lots of other things many of us are interested in. Time and time again, something she posts makes me see things in a new light. So much light, in fact, that she should buy stock in General Electric, Phillips, or some other company that manufactures lightbulbs, because that is how many of those things go on over my head when I read her work.

Case in point: a few days ago, Woo made the correct observation that, in many cases, children who are put on a ketogenic diet (KD) for epilepsy can actually stop the diet after a couple of years and remain seizure free for life. Something about staying on a KD for some period of time during one’s formative years seems to actually permanently correct the underlying problem, such that the diet can be abandoned later on and the seizures do not return.

Coupling this fact with some observations about people on low-carb and Paleo diets, she came to some rather fascinating conclusions, and proposed an observational study. First, I’ll tell you about the study, and then we’ll work through the rationale for it, via exploring some intriguing things about body weight, and why some of us are so incredibly prone to accumulating excess adipose tissue, while others are not.

The observational study would be intended to test the following hypothesis:

Being Fat Adapted Versus "In Ketosis" (Pt.3/3)

Now that the issues of fat adaptation and fat loss versus ketosis—or the lack thereof—have been clarified, let’s move on to a related issue that drives me crazy: newbie low-carbers freaking out if they eat something that not only takes away that beloved purple, but—gasp!—causes the scale to go up a few pounds.

When a low-carber who doesn’t understand some basics about human physiology gains weight after indulging in a pile of something sweet or starchy, they go absolutely apoplectic. Not knowing any better, they step on the scale the next day, see that their weight has gone up a few pounds, and they Just. Freak. Out. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen people post to forums and message boards either in tears or in a raging anger, because they ate a donut, or a bagel, or two slices of pizza, and gained, say, four pounds the next day. They then fall into thinking that their body is so fundamentally carbohydrate intolerant that after indulging in one carbohydrate-laden meal, they gained, overnight, four pounds of fat. (Never mind that the total weight of the amount of food they consumed for the entire day probably didn't even weigh four pounds, let alone that one bit of carb splurge, so I don't see any logic to how they think this works, but I digress.)

I’m not really sure how to talk about this without expressing grave concern over these well-intentioned folks’ ignorance as to the inner workings of their own bodies. (And by “expressing grave concern,” I mean, “shaking my head at the utter lunacy out there.”)

Time for a quick lesson in glycogen storage. 

Being Fat Adapted Versus "In Ketosis" (Pt.2/3)

In the previous post, we established the difference between fat adaptation and ketosis. Now, let’s revisit the “got kicked out of ketosis” thing. 

People new to low-carbing—and also people not-so-new, but who just don’t understand how this all works—will utter that dreaded phrase when they pee on a ketostick and don’t see their beloved dark purple, or—gasp!—not even a little pink. No color change at all. They will then assume that whatever they ate sometime prior to testing “kicked them out of ketosis,” and they will summarily cross that food item off their menu forever, banishing it to their ever-growing list of forbidden foods. (They will also spread tales of woe on forums far and wide, thereby terrifying other newbie low-carbers into avoiding these foods as well.)

But here’s the thing: ketostix are fickle things. Elevated ketones in the blood, urine, and breath, are fickle things. What else was going on before testing? Was this person very acutely stressed? Did they do an intense workout? Both of these can cause a temporary rise in blood glucose (albeit a smallish one), which might trigger a temporary rise in insulin, which could put a temporary stop to ketosis. Temporary. Note: it will not put a stop to being fat-adapted; only to having excess acetoacetate in the urine or elevated beta-hydroxybutyrate in the blood at that particular moment in time.

Being Fat Adapted Versus "In Ketosis" (Pt.1/3)

UPDATE!! (9/20/2017)
I have a new post that explains how and why the body produces ketones, It will help you understand much better the difference between burning fat and having a fat-based metabolism, versus being "in ketosis." It's very long, but I think it's worth reading if you'd really like to understand this -- and if you want to stop freaking out about your ketone levels. (If you click over to that post and want to read only the section that explains the difference between ketosis and running on fat, scroll way down to where it says Ketogenesis: How and Why Do We Make Ketones? Also: Fat Adaptation versus Ketosis.) Happy reading!

“I got kicked out of ketosis.”

If I never hear or read those six words, in that order, ever again, I’ll be one happy individual.

Based on what I come across on low-carb forums, blogs, and videos, there is a lot of confusion about the correct use of urine ketone test strips (which I’ll sometimes refer to as ketostix, since “ketone test strips” is a mouthful, even when you’re only reading). So allow me to ‘splain a little bit about how to interpret these things, and what role they should play—if any—in your low-carb life.

First and foremost is the most important thing you will read in today’s post. (And it is so important that I will likely repeat it in all the posts to follow in this little series. Plus, you can tell it’s important because it’s red, bold, in italics, and all caps, hehheh.)

You can be in ketosis and not lose body fat, 

and you can lose body fat without being in ketosis.

  

Food for Thought Friday: Rickety, or Robust?

I have bad news, everyone: we’re going to get old.

All of us. Every single one of us.

If we’re lucky, that is.

If God, or nature, or the universe, or whatever, sees fit to let us ripen to an old, old age, it will no doubt be a bumpy ride. Predictable and unpredictable ups & downs and trials & tribulations await us. As a dear friend’s grandmother used to say, “It’s hell to get old, but the alternative isn’t any better.” (Getting old really is a privilege. Not everyone is so fortunate.) (Aside, to MW: I don’t know if you still read my blog or not, but if you do, it was your grandmother, HC, who said that.)

If we’re also lucky, we will retain most of our physical and mental/cognitive capacities well into old age. Some of these will inevitably decline—the physical more so than the mental/cognitive. And if we do start to experience cognitive decline, guess what? Alzheimer’s is the result of "REVERSIBLE metabolic syndromes." And for once, that’s not me saying so, but rather, the MD who knows it’s reversible, because he’s done it. But I digress…

It’s just not reasonable that an eighty-year-old will have the same strength and speed they had in their younger years, even for individuals who devote a significant amount of time and effort toward preserving strength and mobility as they age. We can slow the loss of muscle mass and muscle strength, but we cannot stop them completely.

Why Am I Not Losing Weight on LCHF? (Pt.5 - The Little Things)

We’ve covered several big concepts so far in the past few posts on stubborn fat loss. You might not think they’re big, but assessing the kinds of food you eat and how much, addressing nutrient insufficiencies and digestive efficiency, optimizing thyroid function, and getting out of your comfort zone and into your discomfort zone can go a long way toward getting your body to finally start releasing some of the excess adipose tissue it’s so desperately clinging to.

But what happens when you’ve already done all that, and the weight still won’t budge? You’re at the point where you honestly don’t know what else to do. Your diet’s better than ever. You’re pushing yourself hard, physically. You’re getting many hours of deep, restorative sleep every night. Your bloodwork looks great. You’re off most of—or maybe even all of—your meds, and your doctor is thrilled. Everything’s peachy! Except, that is, for your belly, your chin, your upper arms, your hips, your thighs, or your backside, all of which are exactly the same size as when you started putting things into high gear.

WHAT GIVES?!

Well, when it seems like there’s really nothing left to do, there are, in fact, a few more things to try. We’ve gotten all of the big things out of the way, so now, let’s look at the little things. To be honest, I don’t think these are huge roadblocks for weight loss, but who can really say? If you’re really, truly, doing everything else and the weight still isn’t moving, then it’s worth looking into these issues to see if they’re standing in your way. Again, I don’t think these are anyone’s primary obstacles to fat loss, but when you have well and truly exhausted all other possibilities, and you’re still struggling, then quizás, quizás, quizás…

Why Am I Not Losing Weight on LCHF? (Pt.4 - Effect a Change, a.k.a. The DIScomfort Zone)

Since I might not have been clear about things in the previous posts in this series on stubborn fat loss, allow me to clarify something before we add another post to the pile:

When I talk about carb and caloric intake, nutrient deficiencies, and thyroid function as factors that may be interfering with body fat loss, please know that I’m writing for the folks with significant amounts of body fat to lose: 30, 50, 100 pounds, or more. This series isn’t really intended for people who are looking to get rid of “the last ten pounds” (or five!). Of course, some of the concepts I write about might well be applicable to people who are in the home stretch, and if so, great. But to be honest, getting those last few pounds off—and keeping them off—may require slightly different methods than those that led to an initial, much larger loss. (Most of us recognize it’s very hard to lose those last few pounds, so if that’s all you’re trying to lose in the first place, you might face an even tougher battle than someone who wants to lose 100 pounds, but for whom the first 75 melted off relatively quickly.)

That being said, some of the general principles I’m going to address today could apply to anyone who’s struggling to lose body fat. Those among us who are working very hard to lose weight, but who aren’t making any headway, sometimes claim we’ve “tried everything.” We’ve “done everything” to lose weight, and “nothing works.”

Really?

Really?

You’ve tried everything?

Every single thing under the sun?

Why Am I Not Losing Weight on LCHF? (Pt.2 - Nutrients)

This is the second installment in a short-ish series looking at roadblocks to fat loss, even when it seems like you’re doing “all the right things.” If you missed part 1, you can check it out here, and here’s a link to a post about the complexity of weight loss in general.

Since we covered some of the “duh” stuff last time—the stuff that most of you are already aware of and were probably angry with me for even writing—this time, let’s get into some issues that might resonate with more of you, and, perhaps most importantly, provide you with information you can apply immediately if they do resonate.

In the series I wrote about insulin (which general consensus says totally kicked butt, by the way), I frequently used the word lipolysis. I explained that that’s just a fancy way to say “breaking down fat.” (“Lipo” for fat, and “lysis,” for splitting apart.) I further explained that lipolysis is the splitting of a triglyceride into its component pieces: a glycerol molecule and three fatty acids. The reason lipolysis is such an important process is that it is the method by which body fat is released from adipose tissue (fat cells), in order to travel through the blood to arrive at a destination where it can be burned for energy, such as in muscle cells. (10-second refresher: triglycerides are too large to pass through the cell membrane. In order for them to get out of the fat cell—which is what we want and need to happen in order to burn that fat—they have to be broken down into smaller pieces.)

As we also covered in the insulin posts, insulin gets in the way of lipolysis. (Scientifically speaking, insulin inhibits the enzyme hormone-sensitive lipase, which is what starts the lipolysis ball rolling.) This is one of the mechanisms by which low-carb diets work: keep insulin levels low, and lipolysis is free to proceed. Keep insulin levels high, and that fat ain’t goin’ nowhere, no-how.

But here’s the thing. And pay attention, because this is a very big thing:

The Truth About Weight Loss

Much to the detriment of my sanity—and several of my brain cells—I’ve been lurking on weight loss forums, keto forums, LCHF sites, various Facebook groups, and other places where many participants are aiming for weight loss. I’ve been reading the comments, and…well, it’s a jungle out there, folks. A jungle of wishful thinking, unrealistic expectations, and a somewhat alarming degree of ignorance about how the human body works.

This is not entirely surprising, though, and I can’t be too hard on people for their pie-in-the-sky notions about how weight loss happens. After all, when you read a “Friday Success Story” on Mark’s Daily Apple, featuring a 25-year old guy who woke up one day, realized the steady diet of pizza, beer, and Chinese takeout he’d been following since freshman year of college had landed him 40 pounds heavier, with heartburn, acne, and no libido, and he stumbles upon The Primal Blueprint and summarily loses those 40 pounds in about three months—even while still enjoying wine and a weekly “treat meal,” it’s very easy to be hypnotized into thinking it’s this quick & easy for everyone. And if it’s not this quick & easy for you, then you’re “doing it wrong.” If every pound—every ounce—is a struggle, even when you’re really, truly “doing everything right,” then it’s perfectly natural to feel like a failure. To feel demoralized. And if your nutritionist cares about you and wants to see you reach your goals, it’s perfectly natural for me him or her to be demoralized, too.

I have been through this with several clients—to the point that I almost decided to quit altogether. However, after giving it a lot of thought, and racking my brain to think of what I could be doing differently to help these people, and why good diet recommendations and supplements proven to be effective weren’t working, here’s what I’ve realized:

ITIS -- It's the Insulin, Stupid (pt 7/8)

Seven down, one to go!

 

As of this writing, the first post in this series has 5316 views, and part 6 has just 739. Quite a decline in readership there, so my sincerest thanks and appreciation to anyone out there who’s still with me. (If I am extremely verbose in written media, you’d be amazed how quiet I am in person.)

Last time, in part 6, I introduced my interpretation of the chain of causality regarding metabolic/endocrine dysregulation and the accumulation of body fat. Conventional medicine and nutrition hold that people get fat accumulate excess adipose tissue because they are lazy, greedy, gluttonous, and too sedentary. They eat too much and move too little. These shortcomings in willpower, discipline, and good morals lead to overweight & obesity, and overweight & obesity subsequently lead to diabetes, hypertension, infertility, heart disease, and more.

But you’ll recall that I believe differently. I believe it works like this:

Blood glucose & insulin dysregulation (hormonal/endocrine issues) ---> preferential use of glucose for energy + storage of excess energy (from carbohydrates and fat) in adipose tissue + inhibition of 
lipolysis ---> accumulation of adipose tissue.

In my theory, metabolic and hormonal abnormalities come first, and the accumulation of body fat is the result. I like that much, much better than the chain of causality that looks like this:

Laziness, greed, gluttony, sloth, character flaws ---> accumulation of body fat ---> "diabeetus"

ITIS -- It's the Insulin, Stupid (pt 5/8)

In part 3 of this series, we covered the role of insulin as a counter-regulatory force that keeps catabolic glucagon in check. (Reminder: in the absence of insulin, glucagon run amok will cause the body to waste away by catabolizing its own muscle and fat tissue for fuel). And in part 4, I mentioned that lowering blood glucose (BG) is probably not insulin’s primary function, but rather, one of the ways by which insulin helps keep BG in check gives us a clue as to one of its more important functions: it is anti-catabolic. While several other hormones break tissue down in order to provide glucose and fatty acids to fuel the body, insulin builds tissue up.

That’s right. Insulin is an anabolic hormone. It stimulates tissue growth, be it of muscle or adipose. (If the phrase “stimulates tissue growth” reminds you of cancer, hang onto that thought. I’ll be addressing insulin eventually in the cancer series.) If a lack or insufficiency of insulin causes type 1 diabetics to waste away due to catabolizing muscle and fat, then that tells us that insulin helps build up muscle and fat. (Or, at the very least, insulin hinders its breakdown.) Veteran bodybuilders can tell you that insulin spikes (properly timed) can help build muscle mass, and veteran low-carbers can tell you that insulin spikes can help build fat mass. Remember: insulin isn’t “toxic.” It’s all about context. Since we’re focusing on obesity here, we’ll leave muscle out of the discussion and focus on fat.

Book Review: The Big Fat Surprise

“It would be hard to imagine a greater set of unintended consequences than those resulting from the vast, uncontrolled experiment that the United States and the entire Western world have undergone by adopting a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet over the past half-century.” (p.333)

“Measured just by death and disease, and not including the millions of lives derailed by excess weight and obesity, it’s very possible that the course of nutrition advice over the past sixty years has taken an unparalleled toll on human history.” (p.330)

“It now appears that since 1961, the entire American population has…been subjected to a mass experiment, and the results have clearly been a failure.” (p.330)

  

Since the earliest days of this blog (back when I had just three readers, as opposed to the five I have now), I have been talking about dietary fat. Specifically, I have been trying to shed some light on the chemistry of fats and oils, so that we, as buyers, home cooks, and maybe most important—eaters—of these things, can make informed choices.

More than just fats and oils overall, I have been trying to provide a little non-scary education regarding saturated fats, in particular, because while we have been generally advised to follow a diet that’s low in total fat from all sources, saturated fats, specifically, have been targeted as being especially detrimental to good health.

Better than 80/20 - Exercise

(Warning: Remember to disregard what I said about writing shorter blog posts until after this one's done!)

Here it is, the last installment in my update on things going better than they were back when I posted about 80/20 being an improvement. We’ve already covered supplements and diet. Today’s focus: exercise. But the thing is, I hesitate to call it exercise, as I’m beginning to think of it more as movement. (To loyal reader P, pat yourself on the back.) I am “working out” less, but moving more. (But still working out. Keep reading and this will make sense.)

I saved this one for last because while I fully recognize the importance of regular physical movement for good health, I believe that for me, diet and supplementation are currently getting me the biggest bang for my buck. However, movement is not negotiable. At all. (And it is certainly getting me some bang for my buck.) If we think of health as a three-legged stool, diet and supplementation are only two legs, and without this critical third one, that stool is gonna fall down.

(I’m not going to get into specifics, like I do this many planks for this many minutes, or do this many sets of this many reps with this much weight. I’m not qualified to give advice about that, and also, I don’t want anyone laughing at me if I’m “doing it wrong.” I’ll give you the general stuff I do and why I do it. But you best believe nothing I do involves pink dumbbells.)

Better than 80/20 - Diet, Pt.2

In part 1 of this update on my diet, I talked about when and why I eat what I do. This time, I’ll cover the what. As I have mentioned many times on this blog, I am more low-carb than I am Paleo. I eat some foods that are not considered “Paleo,” and I sleep without fear that the food police are going to come take me away in the night. That said, I stick mostly to whole, real, non-processed foods, with a little wiggle room for occasional exceptions. (I say this to distinguish the way I eat now from how I ate years ago, when I first started learning about all this, and would eat any ol’ low carb shake/bar/food-like thing, as long as it was low carb. So I’m still low-carb, but now it’s real food, for the most part.)

Like I explained last time, I am putting only the smallest amount of thought and effort into what I’m doing and I’m getting satisfactory results. This is not to say I put no thought or effort into my diet, only that planning and preparing my food doesn’t rule my life, I can generally throw together a meal in about twenty minutes, and I’ve never found myself at a restaurant where there was “nothing” I could order and consume without worry.

So the way I eat these days isn’t entirely effortless, but it’s certainly not difficult. And yes, I could probably be “cut,” “ripped,” or “shredded” if I wanted to micromanage my diet and exercise to the exclusion of all other aspects of life on planet Earth, but call me crazy, I just think there are more worthwhile things to experience than bouncing a quarter off my abs.

Better than 80/20 - Diet, Pt.1

(Warning: That pledge I made to write shorter posts? Yeah, not happening today. Not happening for the next 2-3 posts, in fact. But once we get past me talking about my food & exercise, I really am going to try to keep things more succinct and reader-friendly. Just don’t hold it against me if that doesn’t occur.)

Well, here we are. The post you may or may not have been waiting for, but here it is nonetheless. Today I’ll give you the rundown on what I’m doing with my diet that I think is helping me feel (and maybe look) better than I did a few months ago, when I posted about feeling like a fraud. To bring you up to speed, last time, I covered my supplements. And assuming at least some of the page hits on that one are legitimate and not all of them are coming from automated search engines in Russia and China (although there is a freakish amount of those), there are a couple of people out there who are curious about what I’m doing these days. Oddly enough, my posts about beef shanks and beef hearts have way more hits, but on the off chance that someone out there finds something new or interesting here, I’ll yammer on for a bit about what I’m eating.

It’s hard for me to imagine that anyone really wants to know what I put down my piehole, but I said I would share, and I don’t want to renege on that. I’m no rock star, but people seem to be fairly curious about what nutrition and health-minded professionals eat. Since I am technically in that latter category, even though my influence is small at the moment, it couldn’t hurt to give you a glimpse into what’s on my plate and in my fridge.

So I’ll talk about my chow for a post or two, then my exercise habits, and then we’ll get back to the blog’s regularly scheduled programming. (For a look at what’s coming up, see this post.)

Can We Just Stop it Already? (a.k.a. Obesity is "Associated With...")

If you follow health-related news in the mainstream media or regularly read peer-reviewed scientific literature on obesity, weight loss, or health and nutrition and in general, you can confirm my observation that the phrase, “Obesity is associated with…” is bounced around so frequently, it gets more action than a metal pinball in a 1980s arcade. And in place of that ellipsis (the three little dots), feel free to put just about anything you like, because I can pretty much guarantee someone’s established an association between obesity and whatever that other thing is: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, a flat tire on your way to work, and rain on your wedding day. (With apologies to Alanis Morisette.)

Note that word: association. Unless and until a firm chain of causation between two things has been established, researchers have to be very careful with their language. (Believe me, I know. In my other professional capacity, writing for a supplement company that is committed to sticking to the science, I have to get pretty creative with ways to stay safely within the confines of FDA regulations regarding the mechanisms of action of certain products. For example, I can never say something like, “This vitamin formula is specifically designed to help manage diabetes.” Instead of making that kind of “disease claim,” I have to stick to what is known as “structure/function claims,” which are super boring and tepid -- as in, “May help support healthy blood sugar levels,” or “Contains taurine, a compound required for healthy liver function.”) My point is, because no one wants to get sued, everyone has to skirt the legal edges of nutritional rhetoric.

But here’s the thing. Between you and me—just us friends here—we all know that when obesity researchers say “association,” they’re implying causation. They want to say causes. Obesity causes [insert-awful-and-expensive-health-condition]. But they can’t. Because it doesn’t.

That is, not usually.

Better than 80/20 -- Update!

Me, circa 10/2014.

I am not actually this slender.

My housemate took the photo at an 
odd angle, and I look “longer” than I am. 

That being said, not too shabby!

Remember a few months ago, when I announced to the world (or, rather, the teeny tiny portion of it that reads this blog) that I felt like a fraud because my dietary off-roading was becoming the rule, rather than the exception? Well, I’m happy to report that I’m doing much better these days—and more than that—I feel fantastic.

Perhaps it’s in poor taste for me to talk about how good I feel and how well things are going, considering the recent passing of my mother. But if anything, I am now more determined than ever to start enjoying my life, and that wasn’t really a promising proposition until I made some of the changes I’ll talk about in the next few posts. Having more experience than I care to admit with feeling bad about myself, I know that having a positive outlook and feeling like the glass is half full is not as easy as just “faking it ‘til you make it.” When you’re stuck in a gloomy, gray box—self-imposed though it may be—it can be darn near impossible to find the lid and climb out. You can’t fake it. I know. I tried. For years. While you are capable of acknowledging that you have things to be grateful for, and that, in many ways, you have a pretty easy, charmed life, your spirit’s response is, “So what?” It doesn’t matter if the glass is half-full when you’re not even thirsty. Recognizing that you are blessed doesn’t always translate into actually feeling good about anything.

Sometimes we need a little help there. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I only regret that it took me so long to find the combination of things that is working so well right now. Will it continue to work in the long-term? I don’t know. But I’m thrilled with things at the moment, and if a time comes when I’m feeling not-so-thrilled, I’ll reassess and retool.

So what’s going on?

Fuel Partitioning 101: Willpower (Addendum)

We have a little unfinished business to tackle from last time. Before Captain Obvious kicks me out of the force, I’d like to clarify a few things about discipline and willpower. I didn’t mean to imply that D&W are figments of our collective imaginations, or that they’re not required to at least some degree in order to get healthy and lose excess body fat. For sure, they are part of the puzzle, but the whole thing only comes together nicely when all the other puzzle pieces are in the right place, too.

Where I work at my festering open wound of a soul-suck non-nutrition day job, there’s a never-ending stream of treats coming in. Someone’s always coming or going, retiring, having a baby or a birthday, or maybe just decided to bake a bunch of cookies or whip up a batch of fudge over the weekend. The result is, hardly a day goes by that there isn’t some kind of yummy, sugary, vegetable oily, floury thing on the front desk, mere inches from my dungeon cubicle. And as I have made clear on this blog, I’m not 100% refined sugar free. I’m not 100% gluten free. I may even, on occasion, ingest a molecule of canola oil via restaurant salad dressing or somesuch. (And now I’ve probably lost the four loyal readers I had.) My point is, once in a while, I’ll help myself to a little bit of whatever these treats are. However, more often than not, I take a look, and then walk right past.

I’ve been known to refuse ice cream cake, cupcakes, cookies, and the like. My coworkers often say I must have a lot of willpower. I usually reply with something along the lines of needing to set a good example, or needing to “look the part” of someone capable of helping others with nutrition.

But the truth is, I don’t have a lot of willpower.