Monday, August 21, 2006

New weight

As of Friday, I'm 207.75.

I'm happy.

But Disney's loomin' large. Can he hold on? Can he turn down free food?

Tune in soon to find out!
Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Blog Not Dead Yet

I've just been on vacation.

I weighed myself on August 4 after an 8 day vacation and a 3 day visit with relatives.

I had gained a half pound. Yet I had not taken my oil during that time, and I felt like I was eating way too much snack food.

Then I weighed myself again on August 7. 209.5. So I maintained during a nearly 2 week span of not taking my oil.

It's been 4 months now, and I've maintained my weight loss effortlessly. My waist is smaller (even pants I bought just a month ago are starting to look loose), and in the morning, after a good night's sleep and when I am well hydrated but not bloated, my love handles are just about nonexistent now.

Goal now is to continue losing so that those love handles are gone even at bedtime. Don't think I'll make my original goal of 185 by September 30, though. That's fine as long as I keep losing.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at 2 comments:

Monday, July 17, 2006

New weight

Despite, or maybe because of, being sick Thursday and Friday last week, my weight has dropped to 211.

I took a whole week off at the gym due to travel and illness also, so that may be a factor. But also because I was sick, I was very spotty with the oil from Thursday until Today. I didn't notice an increase in hunger until Saturday, and then it wasn't too bad. Did have some cravings for sweets, which I haven't had much on Shangri-La.

Next week is vacation; it will be interesting to see if the change in food and schedule makes it easier or harder to lose weight and keep taking the oil that week.Technorati tags:
Posted by at 2 comments:

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

3 months in

July 6 marked 3 months on Shangri-La for me. I weighed myself July 7. I was 213.5. That's up a pound from the week prior, however, I still think I am eating less than maintenance calories, and I don't seem to be losing strength in the gym.

I went off the diet a bit over the weekend, since I was traveling to visit my dad.
My sister commented right away how much thinner I look. She last saw me Memorial Day, so in 6 weeks I apparently look a lot smaller, even though the scale tells me I've been on a 3 week plateau.

My appetite remained suppressed over Friday, Saturday and Sunday even without the oil. Monday evening it returned a little. Re-started the coconut oil yesterday, little appetite all day.

I have less than 2 weeks until I leave for vacation, and unless I've had dramatic loss over the weekend, there's no way I'll make my goal of 200 pounds by July 23, but that's okay. I know I'll lose it eventually, based on Stephen M's experience as he got closer to his goal weight. It might just take a little longer than I thought originally.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, July 03, 2006

Dang! Lost half an inch off my biceps

That's probably the only place I don't want to lose inches.

Went from 17 inches pre-SLD to 16.5 inches measured today. I was an animal in the gym today - 175 pounds on the squat, 10 sets in 10 minutes, total of 40 reps. 35 pounds overhead dumbbell press, 10 sets in 10 minutes, 40 reps supersetted with the squats.

But my curl bar curls didn't impress me. I'm not sure if I'm overtraining on biceps (the only lift I do twice a week) or if I'm not doing enough volume.

Today's weigh-in is 211.75 pounds. I'm expecting a whoosh any day now due to the slight uptick at the end of a plateau.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, June 30, 2006

Biology is responsible for the rise of McDonalds

If Dr. Roberts is correct about familiar flavors making us hungrier - and I think he is - then yes, we're victims of quality control. But our biology made King Fast Food possible.

Let me explain.

For years, there were no chain restaurants, no franchises, only local restaurants and small diners. At most, there might be a few locations geographically close to each other. One reason is because a chef, manager, or cook would make food. If they did it well, they attracted customers. If they didn't, the restaurant would languish in obscurity, if it stayed in business at all. What business person would put their name, and hard-earned reputation, on a restaurant that they couldn't control how well the food would be prepared? So restaurant locations stayed independent, or at least close, so that they could be managed closely.

Then came the franchise revolution, and with it, McDonald's. It wasn't the first burger franchise, but the owners did something others hadn't to this point. Dick and Mac McDonald ingeniously applied modern industrial line techniques to food preparation. Ray Kroc, who bought out the McDonalds, knew the only way to make a nationwide chain work was strict quality control. A few bad locations could ruin the brand. So Mr. Kroc developed ways to control the quality and presentation of the food. When you walked into a McDonald's, you knew exactly what you were getting.

So here we have hundreds of locations, soon to be thousands of locations, selling food that always tastes the same! Genetically, we love that. Our bodies desire eating the same tastes over and over. Our bodies crave these tastes. And giving into the cravings makes us want even more of it!

And just as increased car travel made sure that people would have opportunity to try new foods, franchising was invented. So we never had to eat someplace unfamiliar again.

Of course it was successful, and with imitation being the sincerest form of flattery (not to mention imitation of success breeding success), soon our choices for cloned taste were unlimited.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Horses to water

Until yesterday, I had only told three people about Shangri-La. One was my wife, who tried the oil one day, had stomach problems, gave up.

The other was my sister. She has asked me for advice on weight loss a couple times in the past. I told her about Shangri-La and gave her my copy of the book. I haven't heard from her about it since. It's been 3 weeks.

The other was a coworker who wondered why I had given up lunch. I explained to him how I had no appetite for lunch any more. He suggested he might try it. Nothing. Then last week, he asked me if I was still doing Shangri-La. When I told him I was, and that I have lost 20 pounds, he asked me for details and said he needed to "do something". I filled him in. No word back.

Based on those experiences, I've been reluctant to tell anyone else. They look at you as if you are telling them that you've, in fact, been an alien from Zeta Reticuli all along, and your study is done so you're returning to the Mother Ship.

Yesterday, another coworker asked me how I've been losing weight. In fact, he has been asking me for the last 3 weeks. I told him I'd let him know when I lost enough to make him believe it works.

Well, I finally gave in. He was sitting with another coworker who has been trying to lose weight, and a third coworker joined us while we were talking.

And guess what?

They looked at me like I'd told them the secret was sacrificing virgins on the full moon and drinking their blood.

Sigh.

I wonder if they will be more willing to try it after I've lost another 20 and kept it off for several months?


Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Plateau at 211.5, looking forward to the next whoosh

I think I'm ready drop a good bit, my waist looks smaller, and I know I haven't been eating maintenance calories at least 9 out of the last 12 days.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Flood!

Due to water leakage in my basement from recent downpours, it will be a few days before I update.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

My waist is 4 inches smaller!

Last time I bought clothes, I took a 40 inch waist.

Bought new pants yesterday, waist was 36 inches.

I know at some point my waist will stop getting smaller, but I may actually be able to get down to a 30 inch waist if every time I lose 20 pounds I also lose 4 inches around my waist.

That's something to celebrate!

Technorati tags:
Posted by at 1 comment:

Friday, June 16, 2006

Results are in.....

Today's weigh-in: 212 pounds. I am now down a full 20 pounds in 10 weeks.

This means several things.

1) I now have less than 30 pounds to go to reach my goal weight? Should I reduce the amount of oil I'm taking now that my subsistence calories have fallen to about 2800 a day? 10% of 2800 would be 280 calories, 2 TBSP of oil is 240 calories. Should I go to 2.5 TBSP, or drop all the way to 2?

2) Water weight will likely cause more weight fluctuations. I expect more plateaus and "whooshes".

3) I need to make sure my calories drop to maintain 2 pounds a week weight loss, if that's what I decide I want. My strength was down a bit today in the gym, so I may be losing some muscle mass. I have had plenty of protein this week and I got plenty of sleep last night. I also ate before I went to the gym today (half a small chicken breast, so nearly all protein though), so lack of energy shouldn't be an excuse. I may be overtraining though. I have to decide if I'm going to cut back on the lifting (become more diversified, actually. I find if I don't go twice a week nearly every week, it is harder to get myself to go at all.), or if I'm going to drop back on the amount of weight I'm lifting. Decisions, decisions.

4) If I stay on track I will definitely be at my intermediate goal of 200 pounds by the time I head off to the beach at the end of July. Woot!

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Appetite has returned some

It's been a hectic week, and I'm averaging less than 5.5 hours of sleep a night. I've been a bit more hungry during the day also, at least for the last 2 days.. This seems related to me.

Plus, it's been so hectic that Monday and Tuesday I only managed 2 TBSP of oil instead of 3, and didn't do the crazy spicing.

Even so, my additional hunger amounted to........ taking in about 200-300 extra calories a day, as estimated on Fitday. That's around 2000 instead of 1700-1800. Maintenance should be at least 2800, possibly as much as 3000.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at 1 comment:

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

New weight

is 214.5 pounds. This is not official weigh-in day, so we'll see what it does on Friday. Still, it's encouraging to be down so much because I'm usually up just a little after a weekend.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, June 12, 2006

My Penzey's Order

Here it is:

1 10432 Bavarian Seasoning .7oz Pot 1.99
1 10832 Cake Spice 1.0oz Pot 2.69
1 10632 Bouquet Garni .3oz Pot 1.69
1 44134 Fenugreek Ground 1.4oz Pot 1.99
1 21937 Greek Seasoning 1.2oz Pot 2.19
1 54937 Juniper Berries .6oz Pot 1.09
1 22334 Old World 1.2oz Pot 1.99
1 97185 Raspberry Enlightenment 9.8oz Jar 5.19

I tried to get blends I thought were unlike each other and would also be unfamiliar to me. Being unfamiliar to me is a bonus, since if they're to be added to other blends it would really make no difference. However, you have to have some criteria when you go to order, or the sheer number of choices will overwhelm you or break your budget.

I also bought small sizes in case the blend is just unpleasant to me, or doesn't mix well, as Dr. Roberts has reported happened with Herbs de Provence (he said that blend was not fine enough to add easily with other blends).

These are ones I considered, but opted not to get for various reasons (description by Penzey's in parens):

Anise Seed (popular for baking, especially biscotti)
Apple Pie Spice (1-2 tsp per 9" pie)
Baking Spice (all purpose baking blend)
Bangkok Blend (salt-free Thai style blend with many uses)
Bicentennial Rub (our best blend for turkey and duck)
Bouquet Garni (salt free herb blend used in soups, stews and on poultry)
Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle (garlic-cheese blend for pasta and garlic bread)
Very Hot Cajun Seasoning (same flavor as regular Cajun with the addition of fiery, hot green jalapeno pepper)
California Seasoned Pepper (salt free combination of bell peppers and black pepper)
Cardamom (used mostly as a dessert spice in the west and and as a curry spice in the east)
Chicago Steak Seasoning (smoky blend that's great on burgers and steak)
Chinese 5 Spice Powder (salt free Oriental style blend used in stir fry)
Chip & Dip Seasoning (delicious, creamy flavor, perfect for crunchy chips and crisp veggies)
Curry Powders
Epazote (add to chili or bean soup to relieve intestinal discomfort)
Fines Herbes (salt free blend perfect for omelets, quiche and white meats)
Florida Seasoned Pepper (salt free citrus pepper blend good on white meat, fish and vegetables)
Fox Point Seasoning (yummy blend that's great for dips, eggs, chicken salad and most other dishes)
Galena Street Rub (wonderful blend with traditional Southern-style flavor that's great for ribs and chicken)
Gumbo File (also known as powdered sassafras, a staple for Cajun and Creole cooking)
Herbes de Provence (salt free blend with lavender that's great for Cornish hens and pork tenderloin)
Lemon Grass (herb used most often in Southeast Asian cooking)
Marjoram (used in Polish, Italian, French and Mexican cooking and is the next big herb rediscovery)
Mulled Wine Spices (makes great cider or potpourri too)
Northwoods Seasoning (rosemary-paprika based blend wonderful on all types of chicken and fish)
Northwoods Fire Seasoning (a hotter, spicer version of the popular Northwoods Seasoning)
Old World Seasoning (our answer to Lawry's Seasoning Salt-use as a great all purpose blend)
Ozark Seasoning (new blend that's wonderful on chicken and fried fish)
Paprika-Spanish- (Naturally smoked over oak fires-A spice that's good on everything)
Parisien Bonnes Herbes (salt free all purpose fragrant blend from the cooking capital of the world)
Pasta Sprinkle (salt free blend perfect for pasta, grilled chicken and vegetables)
Pizza Seasoning (livens up frozen pizzas and is perfect for homemade pizzas and pizza sausage)
Pumpkin Pie Spice (good in zucchini bread and carrot cake too-use 2-3 tsp per 9" pumpkin pie)
Saffron (the stigma of the fall flowering crocus, it is the most expensive spice in the world)
Sandwich Sprinkle (our old Crouton Seasoning and a staple on every Penzeys lunchroom table)
Savory (flavor is a cross between mint and thyme with a touch of pepper used in bean soup and stuffing)
Shallots (garlic-onion flavor (but sweeter) used heavily in French cooking for meats, eggs and soups)
Singapore Seasoning (salt free curry-lemon blend best on Cornish hens, steaks, fish, and in stir fry)
Southwest Seasoning (spicy, smoky chipotle pepper blend great for Mexican dirty rice and grilled chicken)
Star Anise (very strong licorice flavor-Whole is used in crafts and teas, Broken for picking and Ground for baking)
Sunny Paris (salt free version of Fox Point Seasoning)
Sunny Spain (salt free lemon pepper blend-the most popular of all our salt free blends and great on all meats)
Trinidad Lemon & Garlic Marinade (authentic Southern Caribbean seasoning for grilled or broiled poultry and fish)
Turkish Seasoning (delicious blend for seasoning meats from kabobs to roast, lamb to beef to chicken)
Turmeric (the main ingredient in most Southern Indian yellow curry powders)
Wasabi (three different versions of the blend/root popular in Japanese restaurants)

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

I've been overestimating my wine consumption

I ran the numbers last night. According to Fitday, the standard wine glass is 3.5 oz. We have 2 sizes of wine glasses that we use. We bought both after attending tastings at local wineries. One size looks huge, but apparently is only about 1 and a quarter times the size of the Fitday standard size.

I determined this by converting oz to ml. 3.5 oz is around 100 ml. There are 750 ml in a standard size wine bottle, so there are about 7 standard Fitday size glasses of wine in a standard bottle. So 2 people drinking half a bottle (together, not each) will get 1.75 glasses of wine. I've been thinking it was more like 3 Fitday size glasses. At 140 calories per Fitday size glass, I have been overestimating by nearly 200 calories.

Wine is much more of a calorie bargain than I've realized.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, June 08, 2006

New weight is..........

215.25 pounds. I sweated like a .... something that sweats a lot? in the gym today, so a fair amount of the loss from Monday may be water. We'll see what the weekend brings. Muscle mass problem is solved, if it ever existed. All lifts were up from last time and time before. I changed things up a bit, had some yogurt and protein powder about an hour before hitting the gym. I think that helped, though I think I would have done better if I could have eaten it a half hour before. I felt like I lost a little bit of energy toward the end.

Have been taking the oil 3 times per day, and adding crazy spicing to portions of each serving (rather than the whole thing, I want to enjoy some of what I eat). Though the spicing doesn't make it taste bad, it just makes it less good. For the first time, I can tell the spicing is working. Today I had Szechuan Pepper spice blend and cinnamon on pasta salad, and a few hundred calories worth - about 2.5 cups (size estimated, I think quite generously) Can't wait for my Penzey's order to come in because right now I have limited different spices to choose from, which makes it more difficult than it should be to crazy spice.

If I get time tomorrow, I'll post my spice order and a list of some that I rejected because I hit my budgetary limit.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

My wife doesn't understand me

Well, not really, but she doesn't understand that I'm eating less now. We still have way too many leftovers. She, of course, won't touch them, so in the past I took them for lunch.

Now I don't really eat lunch, so we have been throwing out a bunch of leftovers. I guess realization is a slow process. I'm hoping if I keep telling her not to cook so much eventually she'll get it.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Unintended consequences

I work in a restricted access building. We have to submit our briefcases, bags, etc. to an x-ray machine before we can enter, in case of carrying weapons (or alcohol, we are a dry building).

This morning, the x-ray machine showed a nice, clear picture of the hot sauce bottle I carry my oil in. I got stopped because the guard thought I had a bottle of Corona in my lunch.

In the future, I can see having to explain myself when I travel on airplanes, or sitting at my desk taking shots of oil, so forth.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at 1 comment:

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

People are starting to talk.....

Couple of people have started to comment on my weight loss. It's no wonder, I've now lost the equivalent of a bowling ball.

I can really tell it in my clothes now. I can wear Medium size shorts now. I think I haven't been able to do that for 3 years or so, and then it was only for about a month. The last time that was my "size" was probably 1995.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, June 05, 2006

Drumroll please......

Weigh-in day, and the answer is..........

217 pounds.

I suspected that last week's weight was high. I figured I was retaining a bit of water due to the heat.

I also suspect that todays weight is lower than it should be. I was a bit dehydrated yesterday due to doing yard work, and I didn't have as much water before my weigh-in as I usually do. But I may have lost some muscle mass also, my bench was down at the gym today. Hard to tell, because I stayed up late to finish out the Sopranos half-season last night (somewhat disappointing), plus if I'm dehydrated that would affect my strength. And I missed a workout last week. Too much to do, I had hoped to work out at home but it never happened. And and I changed up my routine a bit today. Usually I sip sugar-water while working out, today I didn't because I hope to move to just oil now, and get some health benefits out of the flavorless calories rather than just empty calories.

Anyway, I won't get too excited, since I both expected this and don't think it's reflecting complete reality. Let's see what next Monday and Friday bring.

In the meantime, I have ordered 8 spice blends from Penzey's to see if creating unusual flavors also works for me, and speeds/strengthens the appetite suppression.

I will post which spices I bought later this week. Then I'll post a review on their usage when they come in.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at 1 comment:

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Familiar phenomenon..........

I was disappointed with myself last night. I ate and ate, even past the point of being full, mostly because I've been operating on too little sleep the last couple of days. I knew I should stop, and didn't. This morning I woke up very bloated.

I was so tired yesterday I didn't enter my Fitday data. Today, when I entered the foods I ate yesterday, best guess on number of calories......... 2200, about 500 or more below my maintenance level.

This is the type of phenomenon that a lot of SLDers have been reporting on the forums.

Of course, I could be way underestimating, but I try to account for that and be on the high end of realistic. Even if I way underestimated, yesterday would have been, at worst, maintenance level.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at 2 comments:

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

After a holiday......

Weighed myself at the gym yesterday.

Current: 222 pounds.

That's no change from last Thursday, but it's generally the last part of the week where I see the change. Plus, I had company this weekend and it was pretty hectic fitting everything in. I don't think I had time for more than 2 shots of oil from Friday to Monday, because of being out and about. That, plus all the great cookout food. With all the cookouts and eating out we did this weekend, just maintaining is a big victory.

No weigh-in Friday because I'll be working out at home that day, and I don't have the same type of scale. Let's see if I drop any more weight by next Monday though.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Weigh-in day.....

Today's weight: 222 pounds. Down a quarter pound from last weigh-in, but up a quarter pound from May 21.

Not surprising considering how much I lost last week. I look to have another big drop next week if history can be a guide.

My lifts are all up in the gym. I did a total of 43 reps at 162.5 pounds, and 70 reps at 10.5 on the machine for cable rows. Monday, I did 41 reps at 155 pounds, and 58 reps at 10.5 on the cable row machine.

I think I may be gaining muscle and that's why my weight loss gains are down a bit. Clothes don't feel much looser, but I read somewhere that you have to lose 10 pounds before you drop an inch on your waist, so that's expected.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at 3 comments:

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

My typical workout

This is the plan:

Workouts - 2 per week, either Monday - Thursday or Tuesday - Friday.
5 minutes recumbent bike as warmup, try to get heart-rate to 120 BPM or so, then a 5 minute exercise/body part specific warmup.

Move on to 15 minutes supersetting bench press and seated cable rows (SCR). The goal is to do as many repetitions (reps) as I can in 15 minutes. It's a workout program called Escalating Density Training.

I start with bench press and move immediately to the SCR with no rest. If I need rest after the SCR, I rest before my next set of bench presses. I use the same weight, an estimate of my 10 rep maximum, but I limit myself to a maximum of 5 reps per set.

So my last workout went something like this:
Bench press - 5 reps
SCR - 5 reps
rest 20 secs
Bench press - 5 reps
SCR - 5 reps
rest 30 secs
Bench press - 5 reps
SCR - 5 reps
rest 40 secs
Bench press - 5 reps
SCR - 5 reps
rest 50 secs
Bench press - 4 reps
SCR - 5 reps
rest 50 secs
Bench press - 3 reps
SCR - 5 reps
rest 50 secs
Bench press - 2 reps
SCR - 4 reps
rest 50 secs
Bench press - 2 reps
SCR - 4 reps
rest 50 secs
Bench press - 3 reps
SCR - 3 reps
rest 60 secs
Bench press - 2 reps
SCR - 3 reps
rest 60 secs
Bench press - 2 reps
SCR - 3 reps
rest 60 secs
Bench press - 2 reps
SCR - 3 reps
rest 60 secs
Bench press - 2 reps
SCR - 3 reps
rest 60 secs

Total time: 14 minutes 50 seconds.

When I'm done, on early week days (Monday or Tuesday), I do a slow set (2 secs squeeze/raise, 4 seconds relax/down) of seated overhead dumbbell presses.

On late week days (Thursday or Friday), I do 2 sets of dips, and 2 sets of assisted pullups (oh, for the day when I can do them without assistance, like when I was in High School!).

After each workout, I get back on the recumbent bike (if one is available, stationary bike if not) for 10 minutes at a slightly more than moderate pace (try to get my heart-rate up to about 140).

Then when I'm finished, I stretch for 5 minutes. My goal is to be able to do a split, but I don't think that's going to happen at 40.

Total time in the gym: about 1 hour, not including time to change.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, May 22, 2006

Bad weekend

Mid-week weigh-in shows me at 222.25 pounds, up a half pound.

Don't believe that's accurate (water weight, probably), I did have a lot to eat this weekend (2 parties!), but by my estimate, I only went over my maintenance on Saturday, Friday should have been about maintenance level, and I was way under last night.

Still, I'm consistently losing, and Thursday's weigh-in will let me know if I've plateaued.

Still also making progress at the gym, so that's encouraging that I'm probably not losing muscle while I'm losing weight. I'll post my typical workout some time later this week or next.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at 1 comment:

Friday, May 19, 2006

I almost forgot my PIN

Just went to the ATM in my building to get money for cab fare. I had to pause for a second to remember my PIN. I can't believe how little time (and money) I spend at the snack machines and snack bar now. Can't remember the last time I bought something there.

Just another benefit from eating less (and not suddenly ravening anything you can get your hands on because you're suddenly starved due to trying like mad to keep your calorie count down).

Maybe I'll use the money I save to buy some new clothes now that my current wardrobe is getting a bit loose.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at 2 comments:

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Whoops!

Previous weight: 222.25 pounds as of May 15 (224.5 pounds on May 12)

Current weight: 221.75 pounds (May 18)
Body fat (Lifewise 63-1525 body fat meter): 31.8%

The handheld type meters are notoriously inaccurate, but I keep track anyway because at some point, even if they are inaccurate by 5% or so, it will show me results.

So I had this post written complaining about how I had only lost a half pound.

Erp.

That was since Monday!

I actually lost almost 3 pounds this week. I have been carefully tracking my foods, which can and does make a difference. I see when I'm getting close to my maintenance level on calories and I can stop eating then.

The difference is: when I stop eating, I'm not hungry now.

I apparently still have to learn how to tell my actual hunger from my wanting food because hey! Food is tasty!

Even though it does seem easier now to do that, it's still not perfect. For example, I ate way too much spaghetti last night because my wife can cook some great spaghetti.

But I stopped before I gorged myself. I could tell when I finished though, that I had eaten too much. Today, I can still tell I ate too much last night. It's almost 2 pm, and the only calories I've had today are the 2 TBSP of sugar in some water for my workout. With no hunger. At all.

Maybe I'm just fooling myself, but anecdotes like mine tend to discourage the idea that the effects from this diet are due solely to psychosomatics, placebo, expectation effect, or whatever you want to call it. It seems like I have just been expecting a plateau, and was ready to pounce when I thought I experienced it. I apparently am still waiting for this diet to fail, just like the others have eventually. Six weeks ties with Atkins for the longest I've been able to sustain a diet and associated weight loss.

This seems different though, even if I apparently don't truly believe it.


Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Giant Placebo?

A lot of people seem to wonder if the oil and/or sugar water taken on this diet are simply placebos. Sugar and oil, from what I can remember, have both been used as placebos in the past, so I guess it makes sense to wonder.

Another possibility I haven't seen brought up is the Hawthorne Effect. Basically, if you know some change is supposed to give results, you give the results. Very similar to the placebo effect.

I think these arguments miss the point.

This seems to be working for a lot of people. Provided, of course, that it continues to work, does anyone really care if it's a placebo or Hawthorne effect?

I don't.

Technorati tags:
Posted by at 3 comments:

Monday, May 15, 2006

My (so-far) diet success

I'm a hungry sonofagun. Or at least I used to be.

On April 6, 2006, while on one of my many and varied sojourns across the Wild internet, I ran across something called "The Shangri-La Diet" (commonly abbreviated SLD by "insiders"). I can't remember now what I was searching for when I found it. I do remember that it had something to do with Freakonomics, because an article by one of the Freakonomics authors was what led me to Seth Roberts's website.

The science sounded flaky, the idea gimmicky, but it was just so easy and cheap to test that I decided it was worth a shot (that's an SLD pun, for you outsiders).

So test it I did. And so far, I am shocked and amazed by the results.

I began on April 6, 2006. My weight that day was 232.5 pounds in a towel (and carrying soap, shampoo, and locker key).

Today, May 15, I weighed myself under the same conditions and can report I now weigh 222.25 pounds. I am noticably thinner, and my clothes fit better.

For the math lazy, that's 5.5 weeks (we'll call it 6, my next weigh in day is May 17 though I usually only weigh-in once a week) and I've lost 10.25 pounds, about 1.7 pounds a week.

This has been accomplished with negligible inconvenience and minimal hunger.

So what's the secret? Well, I could tell you, but Dr. Roberts (he's a psychologist, not a medical doctor) has been so honest and forthcoming, even potentially at the expense of his book sales, that it would pay you to go to his site and check it out for info straight from the doc himself.

Here's a hint, though. You control your hunger by drinking sugar water (! .... yes, I know) or a shot (1-2 tablespoons) of tasteless oil.

Soon I plan on discussing a general view of Dr. Roberts's theory (I took a lot of Psych classes in college, absolutely love the stuff) and some of the implications, so check back if you're interested.


Technorati tags:
Posted by at No comments:

Welcome and Hello


Purpose of this blog: to report progress, reactions and thoughts on the Shangri-La Diet. I plan on updating infrequently, as the mood strikes me, but will at least attempt to keep updating the weight change info regularly.

New clip art added from Hassle Free Clip Art.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)