ZC is interesting.
I am about 7-8 months on ZC, few slips in there but nothing to make any real difference on my progress.
Some evaluations:
I ''feel'' my body getting healthier. In that, I used to feel sluggy and tired and all from SAD diet, being overweight and all that usual stuff that makes us 'start' a healthy diet plan.
Now I can feel my body. Like it is 'truly alive'. It is very hard to put into words to describe this change in me. I wish I could explain it better but I know it is real
I feel wonderful!
I need to move. exercise. absolutely move more and more.
I am so full of energy it is 'not the old me' at all. I always was a mover/outdoor gal. go from sun up to sundown but I had to push that action. Now I just go without thought. My body wants and needs to move. Another great change in me.
I relied heavily on sweeteners in my hot tea. needed sweet. I have cut consumption by 1/2 in my use. 0 carb liquid sweetener. I am adjusting and MIGHT go for total elimination. not sure yet how that will play out but one thing is my taste for any sweet is diminishing a ton.
I am leaner, I am getting a LC/ZC body. I am near goal and not losing as fast (cause I am not cutting calories to force the scale loss right now)----but my body is leaner and slimmer. NO doubt about that. My collarbones keep emerging more. My tummy has no bloat and my whole frame is 'leaning out' a bit. again, hard to describe to someone, but when you lose inches on the body, not on the scale and you are getting a lean LC or ZC body, you can see it happening. I have it happening
obession with food. almost gone. sure I see, smell, think about food when a good trigger situation comes along, but on a daily basis I do not obsess like old days. I would fight to stay on plan. Now I just do, I don't fight. I eat XX and I am happy. I have no strong desire at all to go back to old eating. Different for me, the yo yo dieter, absolutely!
Simplicity. my eating plan is so simple. I don't have to count macros, watch calories (well I do if I want some down movement on the scale and will work on that cause I do want more lbs. gone
), I don't make complicated LC fake substitute recipes, I am back to basic and simple suits me to a T.
No hunger, not the old 'useless' craving hunger. that is gone.
I am in deep keto and under control. my hunger hits slower now. It uses to come fast, I would get instantly woozey, extreme exhaustion and I would have to eat immediately and feel better. NOW that is changing. I am out of the exhaustion and woozey situation stage now. My hunger starts very low, my head says, hmmm, food time? but I am not hungry! then it gets a bit more intense and still I don't eat and then bit more and I say---eat now! cause if you don't you might eat the whole world. So I eat and back to the same pattern.
I fell into a eat at 11/12 and 2/4 pattern. 2 meals per day. sometimes 3, but 2 mostly. I natural IF. I am done eating between 2-4 every day. I do not eat til 11-12 the next so I fall into a natural intermittent fasting situation. I don't do this on purpose. this is just how it falls. So while others 'schedule' an IF eating window, I do not but my natural body is following its own IF.
In total love with my food. Old regular LC....ate fake lc bread, ate lc recipes that tasted junky instead of the real deal, ate some LC frozen meals, omgosh junk. Now it is meat and fat.
I am a certified meat hound. I love meat and fat and this food is exactly what I want to eat and makes me content.
I lost a little hair going thru regular LC plan. Then I jumped on Atkins 1972 induction for about 5 months, eating some small salad that is allowed. from there I fell into the ZC meat only off the A72 list of foods. When I went from regular LC to Atkins 72 induction foods my little bit of hair loss stopped. Do not know why?
have no real theories on it. I just know lately there is way less hair in my brush LOL. it was never a problem for me, but it was noticeable in my brush I was losing more than normal. that is not happening anymore.
take 1 multi vitamin per day. I do not think this is needed, but I say, what the heck. it can't hurt me
so I take it. do I notice any differences? nope. but I choose to take one.
I count nothing. track nothing. eat what I want, as much as I want in a day on my ZC. I like this cause I despise tracking of any kind. annoying. I found a plan where I eat to my hunger level and that is all it is. nothing more. I happen to love this simple aspect of it.
brain fog is gone. mind is clearer. I am 'in tune' with what is happening and more controlled in my decisions and wants and how to achieve things. I was more muddled when I ate worse, now it seems I know my path and how to handle life and I do just that. I speak my mind more direct on situations etc.
From eating ZC and my changes? I don't know. But I am changing and that I do know
just some observations on what ZC is doing for me.
ZC is a hard road to follow. if you are a meat hound then it can suit you very well. I am a meat hound and yes it suits me very well. Then add in that I love eating this way, and the great benefits I am seeing happening in me....I got a winner eating plan for myself.
Am I strict ZC? yes and no
I reserve the right to hit up to about 5-6 total carbs per day if I am in a situation I might need to eat a small salad out in public to survive or something like that!!
I reserve the right to one day throw a few mushrooms into my steak dinner if I want. So far I have not wanted it, but honestly if I feel the day comes I want some, yes I will do it.
Will I drink alcohol every now and then. yes.
There are diehard ZC people who follow a XX policy eating plan. that is not me. this is my own ZC plan to fit MY life. but it is a ZC plan with a few build in changes to ultra low carb if wanted whenever I choose.
so far I have not chosen to eat any carbs
and have no plans on it, but like I said I reserve that right to do what works for me at any given time!
food today
1/2 roasted whole chicken
ribeye steak with butter
hot tea