Almost Done . . .

I still have a couple of more hours of work on details and the wheel head but she's functional and spins forever off three kicks.

Week Three

I must apologize for my lack of updates but work blew up on me and that, along with some extracurricular projects, kept me running for the past week. I've stuck to the program though with relative ease and I'm still happy with the results.

It's not hard to live this way either but I've noticed that choices have to made consciously and sometimes it takes more planning than I'm sure some would care for.

But I have to say that I am learning to not hate cooking. It's still not something I look forward to but I have enough meals on my menu that I can cook with confidence and improvise when I need to.

Shopping is an interesting experience as well. The hunt for good ingredients can be fun if you let it. It appears to be communal in nature, a time honored tradition of those in the know.

Interesting incident: I was digging through the jalapenos at the local big box and when I three little ladies suddenly surrounded me and began digging through the jalapenos almost as if I wasn't there. But one of them grabbed the peppers in my hand and before I could protest she replaced them with three more she had selected. She held my original peppers up to my face and squeezed it between her thumb and forefinger, explaining something in rapid-fire Spanish.

Unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish and that's unfortunate since she was obviously explaining how to select good peppers. And the peppers she selected were sweet, flavorful and hot. So I need to know what she said or I need someone to tell me how to select good peppers.

Food and food preparation has become somewhat of an adventure. I would point out that humans once spent the majority of their time concerned about where their next meal would come from. Today, if we spend more than an hour on prep and cooking we think we're wasting time. I have endeavored to slow down while I eat and have succeeded somewhat but I think I may slow down even more and enjoy the gathering, the prepping and the cooking as well as the consumption.

I haven't checked the blood pressure this week but I can tell that my mindset continues to improve. My priorities are shifting a bit and I think I'll let them shift and see how things go.

Day Fourteen

Messed up today.

Had a gathering and the marshmallow covered brownies were the temptation and I succumbed. It was the sugar rush from hell though and every time I slip and then have to sit and suffer I tend to slip less and less.

The quantity of food seems to be dropping more and more.

This is the end of week two and the weigh-in results are another five pounds. Blood pressure is 138/108 on average which is still better but not good enough.

The workout plan should kick in tomorrow but no promises. I'm still on the fence as far what to do. Leaning toward push-ups but there is still the matter of when.

I'm leaning toward push-ups since they are the best overall workout for the time invested. But there still is the issue of finding time.

Here is an interesting site that talks about push-ups and their benefits.

Day Thirteen

I've had a acrid taste in my mouth for a couple of days and wondered what it could be since the diet has been pretty consistent with the occasional deviation (The occasional diet soda is still a challenge to be overcome). It has been suggested that the acrid taste may be heavy metals purging from my system which triggered a memory of a week long fast from several years ago. Self-induced, of course. Along around day four, I remember that acrid taste. So the system is purging.

Cool.

Day Twelve

I need to do the research on vitamins and their pro's and con's. The most common con seems to be that they go right through you. But then why do I feel better when I take them?

Could be psychosomatic. Or some of the minerals in the common multivitamin may have beneficial effects.

The consensus on the internet appears to be that you should get your vitamins from good food and not a pill. But no diet is perfect. So why not supplement?

This needs a more in depth research but I'm buried in projects right now.

First Pics of the Kickwheel

Here is proof of progress on the new kickwheel:

Definitely a lot of work left to do by most of the cutting and pegging are done. Time to get the flywheel built which is a bit of a project all by itself.

Day Eleven

I had forgotten about omelets. The low carb crowd use them as the go-to meal in a pinch and with my schedule getting crazy as of late, I turned to them quite a bit myself. Fast, easy and a good solid protein.

I discovered a fruit cup at a restaurant downtown and it was a nice change. Cheap too.

Day Ten

I'm building another kickwheel and took today off to work on it. For lunch I got a salad from one of the sandwich shop chains. The dressing was too sweet though. I ate around it but it's amazing how cutting the sugar affects you sense of taste.

The wheel looks good. I'll post pictures when it gets a bit closer to done.

Had a diet soft drink today, mid afternoon. It was mostly a caffine craving, I think but I was still kicking myself over it.

But it was just one. Ok, maybe two.

It was a long, hard day and I was dragging a bit.

Day Nine

I told myself I'd have two weeks of stairs and then I would worry about working out but I can already see that time will be issue. As in my schedule is very full and finding 30 minutes to an hour to squeeze into a meaningful workout may be a challenge.

Monday night is one of my pottery nights at the studio so I'm stuck out. I brought trail mix from work though and will snack through it although I may have to consider packing a lunch and a dinner on nights such as this.

Day Eight

Well there goes my last guilty pleasure food-wise.

I've cut back on diet soft drinks as much as I've cut back on coffee but after several recent articles like the one linked above, I can't justify any soft drinks whatsoever. I even found an article that stated that the carbonation can lead to calcium depletion.

So soft drinks are out.

But anyway, Sunday is soup day. Four cans of low-sodium chicken broth, a bit of water, 2 cans of chicken and an assortment of onions, carrots and celery, spice according to your mood. Let it simmer for around thirty minutes and then cook up a 1/2 cup of rice and add it to the soup.

It makes enough to feed us on Sunday with enough left over that I can take it for lunch for a couple of days.

Still enthusiastic about this venture. But it's only a week in.

Day Seven: Weigh In

I didn't post any numbers at the start of all this since I decided to go with pounds lost as opposed to a target weight. I do have target numbers for my blood pressure which started out high. I check it using the automated machines in the pharmacy at the local big boxes. I usually just take the average since I'm in there more than a few times a week.

My blood pressure was averaging in the low end of the high range according to the little chart on the machine. On Day Seven, I'm in the upper end of normal. I'll check it again throughout the week but I think the stairs are to blame for that improvement.

I've lost 9 pounds this first week. I think I mentioned that I'm not losing as fast as I have before which could be due to age or the fact that I have not gone hardcore paleo. But I happy with this progress and I still say I'll stay the course.

The jeans are a bit loose and I've noticed a increase in energy throughout the day. My mental state seems a bit clearer as well almost as if a fog is lifting off my brain. All good signs as far as I'm concerned.

The challenges for the coming week are to incorporate a more intensive workout routine into the day. I may have to play that one by ear since I have a lot of extra projects going on right now.

So what about holidays?

Halloween is probably my favorite holiday for a lots of reasons but it is loaded with temptations.

And what should I do about the loads of candy and other goodness that the Kid will bring in not to mention the candy that I'll buy to hand out to trick-or-treaters? Or for that matter what about all the other random holidays throughout the year?

I think I'll just enjoy the holidays and then return to the schedule the next day. That should be the strength of this program, the routine and the simplicity.

Having lived through through the holiday, I can say that I did not partake as much as I thought I would. I had a few pieces of candy and found them too sweet. I made a pumpkin pie with a popular sugar substitute and found it lacking. The next day I had a bit of a sugar hangover and the carb cravings returned but I stuck my normal eating patterns, even upped the protein to compensate for the cravings and lived through it easily.

The next holiday is Thanksgiving and I should be fine. Most of the food is not far off the diet anyway and I'll work on a pumpkin pie recipe that doesn't use the sugar substitutes. Maybe honey or I just may use sugar and deal with the hangover. The recipe only called for 3/4 cup for the entire recipe.

I think the key is returning to your established eating patterns as soon as you can but otherwise enjoy the holiday but be aware of how the foods you're eating will make you feel.