I will be starting officially on Sunday 19 August, in oder to keep the fasting days, and dairy-free high-calorie days from Monday through Thursday. I anticipate some conflicts with weekends over the next 4 weeks that might make adhering to those parts of the plan difficult.

For the most part, I will post facts and data ONLY in this journal, and plan to maintain my Bootcamp journal with the musings and ruminations ...

Doreen

(I'll fill in the required data at the end of each day).

Just wanted to document here that I did a trial Fat Fast day yesterday, stuck to it faithfully ... if anyone's curious, I posted the menu with all nutrient counts and recipes in the Fat Fast Recipes thread in this forum, or click here to read it.

Week 1, Day 1 .. Sunday, 19 Aug.

Today’s Program: regular Lowcarb day

Foods eaten :

- 3 Tbsp flaxmeal "porridge", tsp butter, dot vanilla, stevia
- 3 oz can tuna, 1 c. shredded lettuce, 6 radishes, curried mayo, small dill pickle
- rib steak, marinated in olive oil, minced garlic & herbs, 1 c. steamed cauliflower, tsp butter, lemon pepper
- 1 Tbsp flax oil, sipped
- 3 coffees, 1/2 Tbsp heavy cream in each
- pot o' tea, 3 liters water

calories : 1668
Fat: 130g (71%)
Carbs: 28g (4%) / Fiber: 12g = 16g ECC
Protein: 103g (25%)

cal per lb = 9.5

Activity : Did mega-housework like a fiend for 2 hrs. Worked up a big sweat, now I'm wiped!

Measurements :

- ht. 5'6", wt. 180
- bust/41", ribcage/33.25", waist/32.75, hip 6" below waist/42.5", hip 9" below waist/44.75", thighs (Rt)/26", (Lt)/25.5", knees (Rt)/19", (Lt)/18.75", ankles (Rt)/9.75", (Lt)/9.75", upper arms (Rt)/14", (Lt)/14", neck/13.5"

I will report my weight and measurements again at halfway, then again at the end of the Study, which for me will be Sunday 16 September.

Thoughts : Menu for tomorrow (Fat Fast) is planned. Different from the trial of yesterday. Variety is going to be a challenge; I hate eating the same things over and over ..

Doreen

Week 1, Day 2 .. Monday, 20 Aug.

Today’s Program: Fat Fast

Menu :

- pkg orange diet jello, made as directed, then 1/4 cup heavy cream whipped and folded in when partially set ..... to snack on through the day
- 1 Tbsp flax oil, sipped off the spoon
- 1/2 avocado (black-skin variety is higher fat, lower carbs) in chunks, 1 cooked egg yolk, chopped, 1 Tbsp toasted pine nuts, with dressing of 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice, dash chili powder, 2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp mayonnaise. Fold gently, then serve on a bed of shredded raw spinach and boston lettuce (1 c. of each). I plan to have 1/2 for lunch, the other half for supper. For a bare trace of carbs (mostly fiber ) I think I'll add some chopped fresh cilantro to the avocado-egg yolk salad.
- 1 cup sugar-free chicken broth, seasoned, to go with supper salad
- 1 Tbsp cream used in my coffee this morning.
- 5 liters water ..

calories : 1022
Fat : 101g (89%)
Carbs: 17g (4%) / Fiber: 6g = 11g EC's
Protein: 17g


Activity : none

Thoughts : (late Monday p.m.) - I wasn't hungry at all early in the day, but once that sun went down .. phwoom ... bored and hungry. Bad mix. Anyway, I staved it off with two big glasses of water, some clear tea, and lo' and behold I still had some diet jello w. cream that I'd saved from this afternoon...

Doreen

Today is Day 3, calorie-boost day. Somehow or other, I have to cram 2300 calories into my face by the time I go to bed tonight. I ate a big breakfast (for me), now it's pushing noon, I'm still stuffed and I honestly don't know if I can force down as much food as I've planned for ... without being sick...

It's odd, you know, I think back to highCARB days, and 2300 calories would be nothing ... two glazed donuts rack up over 500 cals, washed down with a double-double large coffee at 140 cals .. a Harvey's reg. cheeseburger & fries rack up over 700 cals. I'd eat that, and be hungry a couple hours later.

Wish me luck

Doreen

this is what I've planned to eat today

Tuesday 21 Aug.

Today's Program : Calorie Boost, dairy-free

Menu -

- 1 Tbsp flax oil, sipped
- 4 strips low-salt bacon, 2 egg +1 egg white scrambled, 4 oz. daikon hashbrowns (cooked in bacon fat) w. green onion, 1/3 bag pork rinds crumbled
- 1/2 rotisserie chicken from deli (I promise to eat the skin), small salad, 1 Tbsp ranch drsg .... it will likely take me lunch and a snack to eat all of this ..
- 3 oz each shrimp and scallops w. cauliflower & red pepper, ginger, garlic, coconut milk, lime, chilis & cilantro
- 2 coffees w. coconut milk (I tried it, it's palatable, more so than black)
- tea, water ....

calories : 2338
Fat: 175g (67%)
Carbs: 30g (4%) / Fiber: 6g = 24g EC's
Protein: 172g (29%)
cal per lb. = 13

Activity - went for a long walk in the rain, after massage therapy. My neck and shoulders are really bad lately; too much time parked on my butt in front of this computer!!

Thoughts - I'm finding it really, really helpful to plot my menus a day or two in advance using Fitday.com

Doreen

Doreen
I agree with the menu planning in advance and since you sound like you really know what your doing… I am trying to follow your menus, hope you don’t mind, as I am really bad at figuring out the math part?? But I am having a bit of a problem, could you tell me what the following are?? And where to find daikon hash browns, pork rinds also Cilantro I asked at Safeway and they never heard of them???


Regarding mixture (which sounds yummy) what amounts should I use??? I am really stuck at figuring out my portions… ??? I guess I will have to add some more calories for the Carb Boost day, as I must make it to 2700??? Can you imagine, *lol* you are so right with your comment about how easy it could be with the doughnuts and cheeseburger… Thanks Doreen

You can post your reply in my journal, or whichever's most convenient for you ??? Sandi

daikon, also known as long white radish, lo bok or oriental radish, there have been endless discussions in the Lowcarb Kitchen forum , and many of them in the last couple of days. Here's a link to my recipe for the hashbrowns .. http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...=&threadid=4437 .. and here's a link to a picture of daikon that I posted .. http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...=7089#post97953 .. so you can recognise it at the grocery store. If you absolutely cannot find it, then just substitute ordinary red radishes, the common kind that you can buy everywhere ... they lose their bite and become very mild and sweet-tasting when cooked. You'll also see in the thread about the hashbrowns that Rachel came up with the idea to add a handful of crumbled pork rinds, which I have done to add a few more calories/protein to my menu. (for me, I weighed the daikon, 4 oz., 1 green onion and 1/3 bag pork rinds, and cooked it in 2 Tbsp bacon drippings. I scrambled the eggs in the same pan - after putting the hashbrowns on the serving plate - to get the last bit of fat and flavour)

You will have to adjust the portion sizes to get the higher calories. Uggh, and good luck (from one chronic undereater to another )

Cilantro is a fresh green herb, also called coriander or chinese parsley. It looks like parsley, often with the roots still attached ... when you rub the leaves, the scent is like grated orange peel. Some people don't like it, I've heard it described as tasting like soap .. .. It's a staple ingredient in Mexican, and East Asian cooking. I love it. Here's an article about it, with a picture .. http://www.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/09/11/cilantro.lat/

Easiest way to add calories is to bump up the fat intake. A Tbsp olive or canola oil or bacon drippings has 120 calories. If I can't eat all the protein foods today, I will make up the difference with oil. No kidding, I will sip it off a spoon if I have to. I am so SICK of being stalled, and doing everything right .. and I am determined to do this right to the letter and make it work.

For the thai-curry - 1 c. cauliflower, 1/2 medium red bell pepper, 1 clove garlic, 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger, 1 Tbsp canola oil to stir fry in, plus 1 tsp toasted sesame oil added at end for flavouring, juice and grated rind from 1/2 lime (on the seafood) I usually just throw stuff together according to whim, so sorry that it isn't a proper recipe. 1/2 cup canned coconut milk ... add at the end, and stir over med. heat till thickened a bit. Serve with a handful chopped fresh cilantro over all.

hope this is helpful, and as the weeks progress, I'm sure you'll get some ideas and recipes of your own that will fit in. Use the Fitday.com and plug in your planned menus a day or two in advance, and then you can see where you need to increase fat, or cut back carbs etc...... that's how I've been doing it. At the top of the Fitday page, where you select the foods eaten, you can click on the forward >> arrows to advance to the next day, or days and weeks ahead, and so your menus are all there and ready to go.

Doreen

Well, I did it, I ate everything I'd planned but it was a challenge. 2300 calories is a lot, but looking at the nutrient breakdown, I see that I could increase the fat, and cut back on the meat/protein. That's what was the hardest thing. For me, a single chicken breast or a leg quarter is a serving, and to force in half a chicken took me all afternoon. It wasn't a particularly big chicken either.

Fat intake was 67%. Maybe I will bump that up to 75%, that would be 191.7g of fat. I could use more olive oil, and have an avocado, maybe a handful of brazil nuts. That level would allow me to drop my protein to 125g, which would be a lot easier for me to consume. My next Calorie Boost day will be Thursday. I definitely will need to do some planning...

Doreen

Excellent! You survived!

Oh, oh! Here comes nag girl....

"25 grams of carbohydrates in the form of green vegetables only."

Karen

AAAhhh .... so daikon and cauliflower are not considered "green". I guess I was thinking in terms of green as in "lowcarbiness". As opposed to orange or red (carrots, tomatoes). Hmm, and I did have red bell pepper instead of green. I'll have to rethink my menu for the next Cal-Boost day... which just happens to be tomorrow. Oh yes, the carbs in my morning coffee are quite green

I double-checked the carb counts, and total for the day was actually 28g minus 6g fiber. So I gather the rule is for 25 TOTAL carbs, not effective carbs. This is not specified in the guidelines.

At least I didn't eat 30g protein on my Fat Fast day. Neener, neener ..

Doreen

Week One, Day 4 .... Wednesday, 22 Aug.

Today's Program: Lean Protein "Stillman"

Menu

- custardy thing, made of 3 oz silken tofu, 1/2 c. dry curd cottage cheese, 2 egg whites (recipe is in the Stillman thread)
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (total 10 oz), poached in 1/2 cup broth w. bay leaf, then added 1/2 tsp chipotle paste to the broth, and used as a dipping sauce
- 6 oz flounder fillets, spread w. a little dijon, black pepper .. broiled, not bad, the dijon kept the fish from drying out
- 1 cup diet Jello
- black coffee, 3 liters water

calories: 1029
Fat: 12g (11%)
Carbs: 4g (2%)
.. Fiber: 0
Protein: 211g (87%)

Activity - hike, about 5 km

Thoughts - after the Calorie Boost yesterday, I still felt "full" this morning, but was fine as the morning progressed. Coffee will do that .. Today, using broth and mustard to keep the meats moist made them more palatable.

I'm planning for the next Calorie Boost day tomorrow, and I learned my lesson yesterday .... EAT MORE FAT! Pork rinds dipped in mayo, here I come.

Doreen

..... for a couple days. And yes, I plan to stick to the Study. Tomorrow is Calorie Boost/Day 5 of the cycle. I've prepared sirloin burgers to cut into strips and eat cold, and a marinated GREEN veggie salad w. olive oil, and pork rinds, and yes mayo. dip. I have a small freezerpak thingy to keep stuff cold for several hours at least. I can order steaks or rotisserie chicken, and I'm taking my own olive oil in a tiny bottle to add to any salad that I order.

I am determined to do this, and hopefully the results will be worth it ..

Doreen

Have a great weekend Doreen and hopefully the results from this study will really help you!

Have a good trip, Doreen, 'see' you when you get back! My the Whoosh Fairy ride on your left shoulder....

Rachel