136.6

Exactly one year ago I weighed in at just over 180 lbs. You have to believe me when I tell you that a goodly portion of this was muscle. Here’s a pic from that era. Notice the manly bits which are now, sadly, all gone. My arms are now twigs.

I delved into the deep, murky world of vegetarianism about 6 months ago, and quickly lost about 40 lbs. I fear it was mostly muscle loss. By the time I got to Guyana last month, the high carb diet had layered a few rolls of fat onto my midsection, and I weighed in at the Georgetown airport (yes, they weighed us for the bush plane) at just over 160 lbs.

When I got back just over 2 weeks ago, I ventured onto a severe low carb diet. The meat was back on the menu, but all sources of sugar were removed, which also means all processed carbohydrates: rice, pasta, breads, etc. All I’ve been eating is meat, cheese, soy milk and green vegetables. And I’ve been eating a LOT.

Well, this morning I stepped onto my chiropractor’s well calibrated scale, fully clothed except for shoes. I am now 136.6 lbs, the lightest I’ve been since junior high school, I think.

Wow: 136.6 pounds. That means that I can once again bench press my body weight 🙂

Now, I know there are those among you who believe that rapid weight loss is unhealthy, and that diets don’t work because the pounds come back on. But you must realize that there is good weight loss and bad weight loss. When most people throw themselves into diets, they lose fat, yes, but they also lose protein and healthy tissues, which their body needs. Eventually, their bodies will seek to reconstitute that healthy tissue through whatever caloric means they can, thus eliciting the rapid weight gain.

But if you’re careful to only lose fat, the weight gain need not happen. The idea behind a temporary and intense low carb diet is to brush up against ketosis without actually getting there. My blood sugar drops dramatically, but is replenished by the metabolism of my fat. Thus, I’m confident that I’m losing mostly –if not entirely– fatty tissue, and not healthy tissue.

I feel great, alert and energetic. And I eat all the bloody time.

I suspect I will approach a state of semi-ketosis in another week, and I don’t want to get there. So the more complex processed carbs will come back in then, probably in the form of pasta once a week. But the sugars need to stay off.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on in my body. If anyone cares.