The beginning of a new year and daily menus

My intent is to eat and move in a manner that produces 53 pounds of fat loss. So far this year, I've lost 1.4 pounds. I'm sticking to my general plan.

Gluten free and now mostly dairy free. I do have 2/3 of a pint of Stoneyfield After Dark ice cream left, that is to expensive to just through away. 1/4 of a cup per week should be ok post workout.

Low carb/clean eats: 30-60 g. of carb/day. I do allow myself a gluten free treat on the high days post cardio workout and on regular days I do have a very low carb cereal called puffed Millet from Arrowhead. I do have 1/2 c. of plain yogurt left and some fresh blueberries. Also, I tried the Trader Joe's nitrite/nitrate free bacon but I'm retaining water so I'm probably not going to buy that again even though it was very tasty.

Caffeine free, completely or very close to that. I discovered a while ago, that I get headaches from caffiene, even a little bit. I quit drinking all sodas several years ago, but I gave up caffeine last year. I stopped drinking teas with caffeine. As it turns out, I read online that caffeine retards your liver's ability to dispose of the estrogen in your system. Well, I'm estrogen dominant, that is what caused my PCO symptoms. As the estrogen is built up in the body, if it doesn't find an estrogen receptor it is converted via enzymes into testosterone. The testosterone is what then causes the symptoms including hirsuitism, cysts on the ovaries, weight gain, brittle bones that break, hardening of the arteries and ultimately death via heart attack between the age of 40 and 45. Caffeine also induces insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is also known as pre-diabetes. Insulin resistance is what is thought to cause the PCOS symptoms. Insulin, that is not properly absorbed due to overly abused receptors and a high carbohydrate, low fat diet, is converted into testosterone. As noted before, it then causes tremendous problems in the female body. As a result, I am now considering giving up chocolate as soon as I blast through the chocolate stores I have in the pantry (there isn't much.) I usually only have a small square on my high calorie day. But if the caffeine is as bad a culprit as it appears to be at this point, it may need to go.

Calorie cycle 2 low calorie days followed by one high calorie day
Low cycle: 1200-1500 calories
High cycle: 1800-2000 calories
Daily food/activity journaling: Its easy with Fitday.com to track everything. Also, I intend to post my low carb meals here.
Weigh/measure my eats. I got a brand new digital food scale for this, no reason to leave it in the drawer! Also, I bought an extra set of measuring cups/spoons at the dollar store, I love a bargain.

Diet break down

Low day: Pre workout: 2 eggs poached in microwave with a tablespoon of coconut fat 20 min before workout.
AM Post workout: 1 c. puffed millet, 1/3 c. Enviro kids, 1/4 c. coconut cream, 1/2 c. So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk
Noon: 2 cups salad greens, protein, and olive oil drizzled on top.

High Day: it just adds a fourth meal.
Dinner: 1 cup. vegetables, protein, and olive oil drizzled on top.

I drink 8 cups of water and two cups of decaf tea, usually herbal.

The other components: cardio, yoga, journaling, and podcasts. Currently, my cardio rotation is dependent on the weather. I can't run/jog in the rain. I won't do either with a mountain lion in tow. We had one for six weeks in the neighborhood. I live in a rural area. I use my yoga practice as my over all body conditioning. My job requires significant upper body work that produces doms in that area anyway. I get lower body doms from running hills, step aerobics, and MMA videos. I don't do real fighting, I'm not interested in

My current rotation, break down:

AM
Sunday: Jog, yoga
Monday: off
Tuesday: Jog, yoga advanced
Wednesday: Step Steady state
Thursday: HIIT/dance toning workout
Friday: Step Intervals, Easy yoga
Saturday: MMA

A year of stagnation

Its time to refocus on the weight loss. I will weigh in one week. I'm working up to it by cleaning up my eats this week. I'm ready to go low carb again. I tried it last year and ended up with a high protein diet which back fired and resulted in a kidney/bladder infection. This year I will be going high fat. I am embracing the high healthy fat lifestyle, aka Atkins. I won't be going as low in carb as the induction. I will be keeping it between 30-60 g. of carbs and I will continue to calorie cycle. I need to be mindful of my PCOS and eating a low carb diet is well known to assist with the root cause of our disorder, insulin resistance. I am happy to report my fasting blood glucose was a cool 81 the last time I was tested. I do need to lose about 50 more pounds and I need to start being more vigilant. I am experiencing a carb craving first thing in the morning. I need to stay mindful of my eating at all times of the day, even when its most challenging. I have reduced the number of my meals to 2-3 a day because it really seems to help my IBS.

My eating plan is relatively loose, but here it is broken down. I'm using broad categories because I really like these kinds of meals. This is not true atkins. Do not be confused. I have arrived at my diet through much experimentation. I need some berries for my exercise performance. The protein is from either whey or rice powder. I do not add sweetener to my frozen blueberries. I just blend it with a little lemon juice. I add protein as I need it in the form of chicken, pork or beef.

TTSat Low calorie
Breakfast: Coconut milk/cream, 2 eggs, 1 pat of butter, and gluten free millet cereal,
Lunch: Vegetable soup with healthy dose of coconut fat

MWF: High calorie
Breakfast: Coconut milk/cream, 2 eggs, 1 pat of butter, and gluten free millet cereal,
Lunch: Vegetable soup with healthy dose of coconut fat
Dinner: Stir Fry with olive oil, blueberrie smoothie with protein powder

Sunday: (Not a low Carb) Refuel:
Breakfast: Gluten free waffles, plain yogurt, berries
Lunch: Gluten free Mac/cheese
Dinner: Roast chicken, wild rice or 1/2 baked potato (see not low carb there.) vegetables with lots of butter,
Dessert: 1 low carb cookie. (relax its just 1/2 or 1/3 a serving)

The idea being I refuel my ability to exercise at top performance throughout the week but I don't beat my insulin receptors into insulin resistance throughout the week, make sense? I think so.

This week is 4DS or 4 day split for those who don't know Cathe Friedrich. Next week? Next month? I don't really know right now. Lets look at my calendar. There are two challenge days, one tomorrow and one in two weeks. I can manage that. Both are just day trips. I've been really happy to discover that Fresh Choice has gluten free options on their menu. How awesome is that? So, I can stop and eat there and be ok. yippee! My workout days off will need to be on Mondays. Thats easy to accommodate too. I'm guessing that its safe to go back on the road soon. No one has seen the mountain lion in a couple of weeks. I will take my cel phone and baton for safety. I will not run in the dark at all.

This next month exercise rotation is designed to learn all of my new STS Cardio discs and to get my cardio back up:

Wk Dec. 27- Jan 2: 4DS
Wk Jan 3-9
Sunday: Yoga,
Monday: off
Tuesday: 4DS HIS
Wednesday: 4DS BC
Thursday: 4DS LIS
Friday: 4DS KB
Saturday: off

Wk Jan 10-16
Sunday: HIIT 1, Yoga
Monday: off (travel to Palo Alto to Stanford)
Tuesday: Cardio Core Circuit
Wednesday: Jog Steady State 30 min. Yoga
Thursday: MMA Kick Box
Friday: Jog Steady State 30 min. Yoga
Saturday: Step Athletic

Wk Jan 17-22
Sunday: HIIT 2, Yoga
Monday: off
Tuesday: Circuit Blast
Wednesday: Jog Steady State 45 min. Yoga
Thursday: MMA Boxing
Friday: Jog Steady State 45 min. Yoga
Saturday: Step Rhythmic

Wk Jan 24-30:
Sunday: HIIT 3, Yoga
Monday: off
Tuesday: Cardio Core Circuit
Wednesday: jog Steady State 60 min. Yoga
Thursday: MMA Fusion
Friday: Jog Steady State 60 min. Yoga
Saturday: Step Athletic

ennui

The desire for something you don't have. Its wistful. Its ridiculous. Focus on what you can alter. Forget the rest.

My PCOS treatment plan, home style

Its been about 2 years since I began this journey. First, it was discovering that I was insulin resistant, had PCOS, then learning I had IBS, and now going gluten free. I have lost 80 pounds. I have improved my triglycerides, my blood pressure, menstrual health, and most of my symptoms are now tolerable. I have used western medicine to discover what the issues were and a combination of diet, exercise, and supplements to manage my health.

I have posted my diet/supplements before. I will do so again because over time I have added and modified my program to accommodate new data.

Whole foods Low Carbohydrate diet- as low as possible. I aim for 30-60 g. / day

Dietary considerations

Focus on:
Healthy fats coconut oil, olive oil, and real butter
Abundant in freshly prepared vegetables and low GI fruits
Protein including chicken, fish, grass fed beef and pork.

Avoid:
Almost all grains,
High GI fruits,
Soy and any other excessively estrogenic food.
Root vegetables (they are excessive in starch)
Nuts
Anything processed including meats, nitrites, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, cotton seed oil and MSG.
Protein powders and shakes.
I follow a gluten free diet.
Dairy is optional, if you have dairy only select organic because the lipid profile is different.
Antibiotics if you can avoid them, do so.
Sauces often hide a lot of starch, sugars, and unnecessary

Avoid anything that is a trigger food. I think of cheesy poufs as a gateway drug.

Avoid toxic people. Toxic thoughts. Toxic clutter. Toxic food. Stress releases a lot of hormones including insulin and cortisol.

Weigh/measure your food most of the time, this is the only true way to get an idea of how much carbohydrate and calories you are getting. I err on the side of more calories rather than less most of the time. A few days per week I will lower my calories, this is called calorie cycling and I do it to help my body stay in weight loss mode. It seems to work for me.

Keep a food journal. Its nice to see the trends of when you felt good versus when you felt bad. You can cross correlate (associate) when you felt good with what you ate most of the time. Also, if you are prone to SAD get a solar spectrum light for your bed room.

Exercise:
Cardio for insulin receptor health
Yoga for thyroid and cortisol control

Supplements:

Saw Palmetto- mildly improves my hirsuitism
Bilberry- improves pancreatic function, and treats interstitial cystitis
Evening Primrose Oil- Helps with my ability to tolerate weight loss without feeling like I was getting snapped with a rubber band.
Fish Oil- Helps with hunger pangs, blood pressure, heart disease, depression and reproductive system function
Horsetail- helps with the hair loss on the top of my head
Gymnema- Only used when needed in the event of over exposure to sugars (usually only when I'm out with friends.)
Probiotics- Helps with IBS symptoms
Triphala- Used for the IBS symptoms

Poison oak

My cat keeps getting into the poison oak. I go to pick her up and get poison oak on me. I get these nasty bumps and it hurts. I take benadryl. Un-fun.

Half way through October

I have been tested for Celiacs and I was not found to have sprue's disease. However, I have read online that women with PCOS often have gluten intolerance, not true Celiac's disease. Apparently, 85% of us are gluten intolerant. So, I have decided to stick to a gluten free diet. Its not terribly hard for me because I already focus my caloric load on healthy fats, protein, and vegetables. I also eat some fruits. As a low-carber, I also try to avoid sweets anyway. This diet helps support my insulin receptors. I do allow myself one day per week to eat anything I want as a strategy to avoid multiple diet infractions during the week. I have purchased some of the low carb foods but I am not focusing on those products because I believe I can make my own eats that do not focus on grains anyway. Those by default are gluten free. I have given up my oat meal. I won't be eating any of the cookies I make for the holidays and for other people's birthdays. I used to test them. But, I won't be doing that anymore. The pain I had with this IBS was so severe that I am not willing to chance that kind of pain again. Some of the gluten free products I have purchased are tings (too tasty induced sugar cravings), brown rice tortillas from Trader Joe's, Pamela's chocolate chocolate chip cookies (perfect on my Cheat day), some baking mixes (again only on cheat day), and wheat free soy sauce. I also bought some puffed millet. I can still have a little dark chocolate but I noticed that I don't care for the semi-sweet chips anymore, they seem too sweet. I wonder if I will ever get to the point of unsweetened chocolate.

The newly re-tooled EDH Diet

Low carb(30-60g/day)

Calorie cycled

Gluten free diet

Diet break down:

Low Calorie Days:

Pre-WO Attune bar (90 calories, 8 g. carb)

Post WO: 1/2 c. millet, 1/4 c. coconut milk, 2 tbsp. cream,

Second breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled in 1 tbsp. coconut oil

1 cup sauteed mushrooms/spinach (7.4 g carb)

Lunch: 2 cups greens (4 g. carb)

4 oz. protein (0 g. carb),

2 tbsp. olive oil

Dinner: Chicken broth

2 tbsp. butter

High Calorie Days:

Pre-WO Attune bar

Post WO: carb, fats, 1 cup steamed/sauteed vegetable

Lunch: 2 cups greens, protein, fats

Snack: Chicken broth with some fats

Dinner: 1 cup steamed/sauteed vegetable, protein, fats

time to get in gear, lets go!

Vacation!!!!! I put on maybe like 5 pounds, I"m too scared to get on the scale. I'm getting uber serious about getting this off. I was ready to hike this morning but my ankle is still very tender from taking that fall last week. But, the good news is that diet is 80 percent so I will be good with my diet and be ok. Its worked before, I expect it to work now.

My planned eats for the next week are (not necessarily in any order)

vegetables: broccoli, asparagus, cucumber, celery, mushrooms, bok choy, cabbage, and snap peas, watercress, green beans,

protein: eggs, roast chicken, pork shoulder,

carbohydrates: buckwheat gluten free cereal, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries (frozen and fresh), kefir

fats: coconut oil, olive oil, walnuts,

drinks/smoothies: green tea, chamomile tea (at bed time.) coconut milk, and lemon/lime water.

Some of my favorite meals are stir fried vegetables, mushroom omelets, and green beans with almonds.

Planned activities have been modified because the ankle is not ready yet.

Sunday: off

Monday: yoga Gary Bromley

Tuesday: 3 miles with Leslie Sansone with weights

Wednesday: yoga Kathy Smith Yoga Basics

Thursday: 3 miles with Leslie Sansone with a stretchy band

Friday: off

Saturday: Hike 3 miles outside

I will be eating with the intent of losing weight. I am moving with the intent of losing weight. I am staying in the now with the intent of losing weight, improving my skills and creating a new portfolio. Life is especially good when you embrace each activity as fun and entertainment. Doing the best that I can is an end unto itself. I am still working on clearing out magazines, painting the pony for saddle pals, and getting the house squared away. Even though I've put on some weight, I feel like I have the opportunity and ability to get down to a healthy weight. I feel like there is hope and I'm ready to give being slender a try. I don't really know that being slender will make me happy, but I do know that not being fit makes me unhappy. Lets embrace the possibility of something different.