Routine

We are now 7 weeks in to this crazy diet.  Things are going well around our home.  The kids, while not as strictly on the diet as we are, are doing great.  Andrew has shown a huge improvement in his ability to focus.  They are still kids and get a little crazy sometimes, but that is expected.  They are kids.

We have settled into a nice routine as well.  Dinners are much easier now.  Genny just throws something together with whatever we have around the house.  She just knows what ingredients to avoid and which ones are great.  I am making low-carb pumpkin bread for the kids breakfasts to make morning life easier.  My breakfast consists of a bit of protein with a modified "Fat Shake" from Dr. Peter Attia's blog.  (Mine is a cup of raw spinach, 1/2 c. heavy cream. 1 c. almond milk, 1/4 c. frozen mixed berries, and 1 tbsp of MCT oil.)  My lunch is just as routine.  I have settled in to a habit of a large mixed raw salad with something that amounts to about 10g of protein.  I like to save most of my protein intake for dinner.

I have lost about 15 lbs.  I wanted to lose a little, but I am not very focused on it.  I wanted to feel better, perform better, and get healthier in general.  Weight loss is very difficult to gauge anyway.  My weight swings as much as 5 lbs. day to day.  I know that it takes about 3500 calories to gain or lose a pound of weight, so that tells me that the day-to-day differences in weight are water.  I have dropped a pant size and I am visibly more trim than I was before.

My wife has had a more frustrating experience.  Her weight has decreased by only three or four pounds, which is very disheartening.  She does, however, often hear things like, "You are skinnier every time I see you!"  The truth is, she is trimmer.  The hardest part is that we can't explain why her body is acting the way it is.  She has been going through physical therapy for an injury, and has been getting very strong as a result.  It is entirely possible that she has been gaining muscle at the same rate as she has been losing fat.  Unfortunately, that doesn't help the discouragement of not seeing your hard work reflected in the scale.

Supplements

After the first month, I was experiencing some pretty rough side effects of the diet.  I wasn't tired, but I had a lot of trouble staying focused.  I was very sore and was struggling in the gym.  I had heard that magnesium and potassium deficiency was common on ketogenic diets and that cramping can be a sign of both.  I came across Dr. Michael Eades blog post: Tips & tricks for starting (or restarting) low-carb Pt II.  Within one week of starting supplements, I was feeling 100% better.  I think I am still a little deficient on potassium, so I am still making modifications.  I've never been a big vitamin person, but I can definitely tell a huge difference.

We have about one week left on our initial commitment.  I can't see myself ever eating the way I did before.  For one thing, I have learned that I love FAT.  Heavy cream in my coffee tastes AMAZING!  It is so nice to cook a ribeye and eat ALL of it.  I have also grown a huge love for avocados.  I believe our family eats about 5 or 6 per week right now.  I am sure that I will make some changes, but there is a lot to like about the way I am eating right now... such as wings and blue cheese wedge salads!

One last note.  Please check out Dr. Peter Attia's and Gary Taubes' startup organization, NuSI.  Their goal is to bring true scientific testing to the area of nutrition and find out what is really good and right for humans to eat.  Check them out at http://www.nusi.org/