190.0

Yesterday I ate 158.3 grams carbs, so I am up in weight a little today (2,598 calories). October 15, 2013 (exactly one month ago today) I was at 191.4 lbs. I have basically stayed exactly the same for the last month. I may have lost maybe a pound or two. My average calories for the last month (October 19th, 2013 - Today November 15th, 2013 - 4 weeks in Fitday) is 1,890 calories. As I may have lost 1-2 pounds in that 4 weeks, it looks as if my daily metabolic rate is roughly 2000-2100 calories. Which is pretty much what Fitday thinks it would be. My averages for those four weeks were as follows:

Calories: 1890 kcal

Fat: 123.1 grams

Carbs: 122.3 grams - 28.1 grams fiber = 94.2 NET carbs

Protein: 93.8 grams

This was a lot of "good" planned days mixed in with a lot of crap throwing it to the wind days in which I overate a lot and may have even eaten some cookies or semi-sweet chocolate chips or a lot of carrots with blue cheese dressing. I really tried when I was having a "binge" eating sort of day to stick to low carb items, but even when you do that, your carbs can get quite high even eating stuff like carrots.

Overall, I consider this last month a success. I am quite happy to have stabilized at this weight fairly well and think my body probably needed this break. I am waffling between going quite low carb low calorie to get down to the 165-ish area (which I could do by the end of January if I really applied myself) or just trying to do this really slowly. The thing is, is it is quite horrible when you are in that "zone of torture" where you are not quite low enough calorically/carbs wise to consistently stay in ketosis. The ketosis means you inprove in accessing your body fat stores and I DO think my mitochondria are multiplying and improving their ability to access fat for fuel instead of glucose, when I stay low carb / low calorie. They HAVE to improve at it when I stay low carb / low calorie like that.

So, all of that to say that I have really been struggling to stick 100% on plan recently. I think that for the next seven days I will take 3 diet pills per day (11am, 3pm and 6pm) until I can get my body firmly back in ketosis. I hate to do that as that is $31.50 worth of diet pills, AND I have stopped going to the clinic, so what I have is what I will have to lose all the rest of this weight with. I think I have only taken about a total of 10-12 pills TOTAL so far though since I first got them back in July (??), but I really don't like using them unless I feel like it's necessary. Unfortunately, I guess I have gotten to the point where I feel like I keep struggling and hindering my own progress. I DO think it's good I've had a mini-break, but I am still right on the BMI over-weight / obese (30.0) cusp and I really need to get down further. I purchased some (used) down-hill skis this last week and plan to go skiing this winter. I would really like to get some more weight off before I go, as it makes it a lot safer and easier.

So, I am shooting for 720 (ideal) - 800 (maximum) through the end of January. That should result in at least a 25 pound weight loss. Way back in 2001 I lost from 190 down to 163 and I remember it made a HUGE difference in how I felt. So I think that even though 25 pounds doesn't sound like much, it will be worth it to really apply myself for another 2 1/2 months and then maybe try to stabilize at sub 165 for a while before I make a last run to take off the remaining 25 pounds.