My goal this time...

LOSE 10 POUNDS IN THE NEXT 90 DAYS

Current weight: 204
Goal: 195

Week 1 was a fail overall. I did well for the first 5 days and then overate OP foods over the weekend. I was as low as 201 pounds last Friday, but back up to 204 by today. I need to work on consistence, especially over the weekends. It would be nice to start the work week at the same weight as I finished the last one.

Thanks for posting Ken. I'm ramping up my program, reading the CC book and seeing some interesting things to experiment with this 90 day cycle of of which is, like in a push up, 2 seconds on decent, one second pause to "kiss the baby" then 2 seconds on the extension with no pause at the top. It required control during the movements and points out that I'm not as strong as I think I am So that's going good - continuing to read, learn and practice.

Meditation is slowly taking off. I've been listening to a lot of Dhamma talks by Bhante Vimalaramsi and he suggests sittings of minimum of 30 minutes so that's where I'll start - It's a little longer than my normal sittings but shorter than my longer sittings. Here's a chunk I transcribed from one of his talks that I thought was useful and is the stuff I'm working on...

"The whole point of the Buddhas practice is how to change, and learning how to change so you make things better and easier for yourself, and that in turn helps everybody else to be better and easier. You have to be the example. So many people come to me and they say, “I want to teach this stuff!”. How do you teach it? You be the example. You show other people, with all kinds of situations in life, how to have this balanced mind, how to not get caught up in the emotional upsets and the identification and the pain that you cause yourself. Hinderances are your teacher because they are showing you where your attachment is, where you’re identifying with. So that way you can let it be, you can relax, smile and bring up something wholesome. The more you stay with your wholesome object the more uplifted the mind becomes." - Bhante Vimalaramsi

Seems like "change" is also required by us when we choose to practice a lowcarb way of eating

The last bit is related to the 6 “R’s” he’s suggesting as a tool in meditation and life:

Recognize the distraction
Release the distraction (i.e. let it be - don’t feed it with attention)
Relax
(Re) Smile
Return to your object of meditation
Repete

Excellent presentation by Bhante Vimalaramsi regarding the 6Rs! Thanks for the link. This is very solid stuff, and I agree with his guidance in your last post of sitting in meditation for at least 30 minutes. There are times when you can grab 10 minutes or so, but I try to clear my time for at least 30 to 60 minutes. We are merely dry sponges soaking up as much knowledge as possible, and as long as we're open, respectful, and considerate of all around us, we'll learn much.

This is a good example of the knowledge you've achieved during your journey. Being able to gauge how consistent we are in context of nutrition intake is key for me. Over the next period, I'm recommitting to achieving ketosis, or more aptly, fat burning efficiency, by keeping my carbs very low and regulating my protein much more stringently. I love the feedback mechanism available when one is in touch with the results from the personal history of N=1 experiences and knowing why things happen and how to make short-term course corrections. I call it "burning clean" due to my overall feelings of good health, awareness, and well-being when I'm in the fat burning state. Even if it's not a constant state but by maintaining consistency being able to easily move in and out of fat burning quickly makes a big difference for me. Having endogenous ketones available for fuel for body and brain is my goal. The additional challenge of navigating through the culinary vagaries of food available during business travel really forces me to be creative and still be able to join my colleagues and clients at meal time for conference room meals (usually lunch) and restaurants (usually dinner) without eating off plan always keeps me on my toes!

Thanks for the feedback rob and enjoy finding a good ketone burn rate

I've been arising in the morning with the familiar taste that indicates I'm firmly in ketosis. That's a good thing at this point, and I've cut back a bit on veggies, smaller portions of low carb veggies or salads, and increased fat consumption a bit as well while keeping protein plus or minus 80 grams per day. Overall, I feel best in this state. I'm doing IF mostly with a 20x4 or 18x6 eating window everyday and some 24-36 hour sessions as well. Past experience indicates that an IF of 48-72 hours gives me the full benefit of autophagy, so I'll begin to work those in once or twice a month.

Hope all are well and enjoying the spring weather!

good update Rob. I'm still working on my sittings to 30 mins and mostly listening to dhamma talks - There is much too practice!

CC stuff is really illuminating. Currently working backwards on the pushup sequence, paying attention to what they are saying - back to knee pushups, intermediate set using 2 seconds down, "kiss baby" for 1 second, then 2 seconds to return to top of movment. Hard for me, much easier to bounce half pushups and crown myself pushup king

Founds this guys take on what I'm working thru interesting after a year. He goes thru all the 10 power moves. This will take a good few years to get to the top levels of each move I think, Not 21 days to a buff body like other claims

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WFr80zpOjw

Still plugging away at this, more listening to talks rather than putting the work in on the cushion But happy I'm focusing on Buddhism and what the Buddha taught.

Pushup challenge is OVER. Said to my buddy, "let's just go for it" and I flugged off 50 as he counted and that got him stoked and was able to knockdown 50 - niether of ours were the prettiest but we're counting it. Now for our reward at a Korean BBQ

http://heavytable.com/hoban-korean-bbq/

I will start on a new sequence in CC - My lower back can use some work so I think the bridge sequence and progression will fit well with continuing pushups. Before the end of summer I will start the pull up progression - I think Ken mentioned once that he wanted to do a few of these. I have not done one since I was a youth.

When I started the pushup progression I could barely even do ONE real pushup with a 2 1 2 (2 seconds down, pause one sec, 2 seconds up) timing. Putting the work in I can now do the 50 fast not perfect technique pushups.

Your body can change, even at 53 years old Infact, there's no stopping the change. Choose paths of change that are kind for you and others near you

Today is a fasting day. Not sure whether I'll eat dinner for a simple 24-hour fast or whether I'll go into tomorrow evening for a 48. I'm going to be at a "retreat" next week, and I'm not in control of my food or food prep, so I'm getting as clean as possible this week in anticipation that I'll need to be more accepting to eating on plan without the rigor I typically have at home. The good thing is that starting on Saturday, I'll have no use of a cell phone, PC of any kind, or any other outside communications technology. I will have ample mountain hiking trails, group dialog, and a lot of consciousness and meditative-like exploration. I'm literally "dropping out" for a week, and I'm really looking forward to it.

I must say, Thud - since joining this forum it was quickly evident that you were not just another new kid on the block. Your meal photos were and continue to be awesome, interesting, and helpful (as I tend to eat a little too boring). You are a most positive and encouraging friend to so many people here - even when they don't stick around for long. And your steady progress and return to your beloved healthy, active lifestyle is nothing short of awe inspiring. Now I want to follow in your footsteps. You are where I want to get to.

The 90 challenge that I started in early April is a total fail. I'm ending it. I will be starting it anew on May 15 with the same goal. I need to snap out of this "maintenance" mindset and get on with the business of losing these last tough 15 or 20 pounds. I need to find my "progress" mindset again. I found the 90 day challenges I did in the past very helpful. I did a good job sticking to them and I finished several of them unblemished. For those 90 day challenges I was posing everyday and that may have been part of the successful formula for me. So on May 15 I will return to posting everyday in this thread - hopefully reporting the adherence to my goal parameters. I will state my precise goals on my Day 1 post.

When August 2016 drew near I was very close to 250 pounds lost and just a few days away from a 30 month milestone with my LCHF WOE. I fasted my way down to 190 pounds and hit 250 pounds lost on that 30 month anniversary. I was only 190 pounds for a day, but that was good enough. Since then I've sort of taken my foot off the accelerator. I've been in maintenance mode. I eat the right foods. I still workout. I live an active lifestyle and I love my life again.

But I will admit, maintenance has been a bumpy ride. With the drive to keep losing gone, the natural tendency is to let your guard down and relax some. I am not as carb sensitive as I was, but I do still have limits that I must adhere to. I am and will forever be predisposed to gain weight when I ride the edge (or even cross over) those limits on a regular basis. When I eat it takes a long time for satiety to set in. I never get that 'oh, I can't eat another bite' feeling that some get. In fact, a few minutes into eating I'm often hungrier than I was before I took my first bit. Eating some food makes me want to eat more. If whatever that "more" is contains to many carbs or to many calories then I will gain weight if I don't put on the breaks and stop eating.

Since I've been in maintenance it has been easy to let bad habits slip back into my WOE. When I was losing that last 100 pounds I had made a point to eliminate stacking between meals (including after dinner). I still don't snack during the day, but after dinner is another story. The calories I eat after 7pm do add up. They add up to a problem. Pork rinds, SF peanut butter, protein shakes, and flax muffins as after dinner snacks are a problem that I need to correct.

Maintenance has reminded me more of the on again/off again dieting I did to maintain my weight back in my college days. I'd put a few pounds on, then diet a few pounds off. Back then I ate mostly low carb at home (kept no junk food in my apartment), but I often ate burgers, fries, pizza, ice cream, etc. when I was out and about. I jogged everyday and lifted weights, too. It worked well enough. I stayed in the 180 to 190 pound range for the last few years of college. These days I don't endulge in the pure junk that I did back in the 1980's. I've learned my lesson about processed junk food and sugar. But I still have my OP indulgences. When I have them too often, when they become a habit - I GAIN WEIGHT. I can diet or fast for a short stretch and get that weight back off and then turn right around and put it back on.

Dr. Fung's "Feast or famine" approach may work for some, but it is becoming apparent that this is not the best approach for me. For me the "feast" is a little too enjoyable and the famine (fast) part may not be all that hard but it is certainly not as enjoyable. That is not balance. That is a tug of war. I'm thinking I many need to adopt "Just Jo's" approach to maintenance: Eat within limits everyday with very few exceptions. If I eat the right amount of the right foods everyday I will maintain. Steady as she goes would be better than the bumpy ride that I've been on since last August.

So - back into weight loss mode. After I reach the 180's I will enter maintenance again. Maintenance - Version 2.0

I think your approach makes a lot of sense, Ken. While in maintenance, we can afford to experiment to a degree, but can never forget why we made it to maintenance in the first place. I, too, am continually reminding myself and going back to that which made me feel best and that which eliminated a lot of Metabolic Syndrome symptoms. It is truly one's home base.

I returned from my week-long "retreat" none the worse for wear and tear. Eating on plan was the easy part, and the group that hosted the retreat was incredible in supporting my WOE. One night, while everyone else was served ravioli, I had a special dish of no carb noodles and Italian meat sauce labelled for me. The one thing I had to adjust is that with 3 meals a day, I realized after a couple days that I was eating more than my normal consumption based on 1 or 2 meals a day. So, I joined the group at each meal for social reasons having just tea during breakfast, and did a couple 24-hour fasts to get me back to my normal food volume. I was in a town called Favor, VA just outside of Charlottesville, and the mountains and scenery were beautiful with good hiking trails in a fairly remote area. Just gorgeous! It was a freeing experience to be able to be away from all electronics including clocks and watches. Amazing how one's internal clock takes over, and I was completely rested within a couple days with good daytime activities and deep sleep at night.

Now it's back to my VLCKD lifestyle with regular IF periods. I have a doctor's appointment on 31 May, and I believe it's only because my doctor wants to check on me periodically. Perhaps, it's because he still can't believe that I'm medication and Metabolic Syndrome symptom free. I'll go through with the appointment, but will NOT do any further blood lipid testing, as I'm completely comfortable with my past test results and the indication that I'm on the right path. I'm almost at my original goal weight defined when I started on this forum a while ago, and I may need to reconsider whether that's accurate or whether I need to establish a new number. Recent research indicates that BMI needs to be more relaxed for those over 60, as it's not as precise an indicator of health as some would like to believe. I think it has some use as a guideline in the general sense, but I never believed it had to be followed with precision.

My positive thoughts are sent to all of you, as I find our semi-regular reporting and checking in on this thread very valuable.

Thanks for the kind words Ken, I appreciate that.

I guess I'm half way thru my 3 month practice session and I can report that I'm not meeting my expectation that I set out to achieve (see my signature - expect nothing, or at least expect the unexpected. What has been successful this month is that I've continued to work on pushups (probably becuase I'm comfortable with them, I've reviewed other folks progress in CC with interest but I have not progressed to a new excersize - bridges.

Meditation/Dhamma - daily sittings have been far a few between but I listen to talks and see how this understanding works in my daily life.

I'm going to follow Ken's lead and post at least once a day to this thread, at least one observation or report of meeting my stated mission for this time period listed below:

1) Daily meditation practicing a technique called the 6 "R's" - It sounds practical and interesting. For explanation go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egFZO2e799w

2) Read and begin working on "Big Six" progressive bodyweight strength exercises from "Convict Conditioning". Work the exercises in suggested order.

Thanks to you guys for working on this thread with me. It's helpful to get your insights into things of all natures.

I started my new 90 day challenge today.

The objective: to find my LC 'sweet spot' again and get on with the business of losing a few more pounds. To do that I will dial back on the carbs and calories, stay active, and eat simple, fresh, whole foods as much as possible.

Goal parameters:

1) Track and log my food daily (with few exceptions)
2) Average less than 30 net carbs and keep calories within reason (< 2400)
3) Get some form of exercise in daily

I'm officially not in maintenance anymore. I had a 'last hurrah' for some of my OP foods over this past week or so. It will be easier for me to find my LC groove again if I return to an induction type diet. Foods that are going into timeout for a while are: nuts, nut butters, protein bars & powders, pork rinds, gelatin, fruit, and some of the starchier vegetables that have worked their way back to my OP food list in maintenance. I will keep dairy limited. I will cut back on the 'sweet' in my life and eat simple, whole foods. I will continue to do periodic short term fasts and work on ending those fasts without overcompensating. I need to end the habit of snacking after dinner and get back to having a 12 hour fast on most days. Only when I am utterly famished will it be OK to have a small meal late.

For an added twist, I am going to try ReneeH2O's incentive strategy. Every day that I achieve the 3 official goal parameters for my challenge I will put a golden dollar into a jar. If I fail, no dollar. I want to see that jar full with 90 dollars by the end of this challenge. Then I am going to go out and buy myself something that I want. A new pair of walking shoes, perhaps? I've got 90 days to decide.

I was able to get a morning meditation in and when I opened my eyes exactly 30 minutes had passed. how weird is that. When I get home this evening I'll be cracking the CC book again.

Goal parameters:

1) Track and log my food daily (with few exceptions)
2) Average less than 30 net carbs and keep calories within reason (< 2400)
3) Get some form of exercise in daily

Mission accomplished for day 1. $1 is in the jar. Day to is OP as well. Tomorrow the jar will have Two Bucks (which happens to be my old tribe name from my days in the Indian Princess program).