Getting into shape

[GeddyWrox]

That's great Geddy. How do you handle eating out, or are you super strict about only eating food you prepare? I assume booze of any kind is a no-no?

Great job by Mr. Crow as well.

I still eat out almost every day for lunch. You just have to be VERY careful what you order. It helps if you do your research about the place you're going before hand. But typically you can get bunless burgers or cobb/chef salads.

I just ate at a little taqueria here and got mixed fajitas (chicken/steak/shrimp). I had them hold the tortillas, beans and rice. Added a little lettuce/tomato/cheese salad on the side for me instead. I mixed all that up and put a bunch of green salsa on top of it. It was delicious!

Booze is OK too, in moderation. I had to pretty much give up beer for now (this is by far the hardest part of the whole thing). But whiskey, vodka, etc are all fine as long as they aren't mixed with something sweet. A glass or two of dry wine is OK too, but that does have a little carbs in it so you have to be careful with that.

[Michael]

All hail GeddyWrox!

Today I ate a five guys a no bun double cheese burger with only lettuce & pickles. I also grabbed a side salad from McDonalds for veggies.

As far as eating out, I notice I'm spending a bit more on food. Generally, carb heavy foods are cheaper than protein heavy foods. I'm fine with that, but it's worth mentioning.

Also, I'm lucky to have a supermarket where I take the train to and from work. You can buy beef, chicken, pork and seafood and they'll grill it for you on the spot. They also have a salad bar for veggies. That really helps the convenience factor after work. I would have a hard time with this diet if I had to spend a lot of time cooking/preparing everything myself.

[GeddyWrox]

Yep. 5 guys is gooooood. Hardee's will lettuce wrap any burger for you. I love the frisco "no carb style".

Also, subway you can make anything a salad. I like the spicy italian in a salad with a liberal amount of oil & vinegar for dressing... hell, you can even double-meat that mofo!

At McD's, I'll just order a couple sausage&egg mcmuffins without the muffin. Some locations will automatically give you a couple pieces of lettuce for that too.

At taco bell, I get the power bowl minus rice & beans. Not bad... but if I'm getting a bowl like that, I prefer Moe's or Chipotle.

[GeddyWrox]

One more thing... If you do decide to go down this road, there will be bumps along the way. It's not a straight down-hill path. It's easy to get frustrated. I really struggled with that through my first several plateaus. You just have to keep making sure you're not eating too many calories, or too many carbs accidentally (they're sneaking little fvckers).

This is my chart since I started. Lots of ups and downs, but as long as the general trend stays downward, it's all good.

[SHOW]

Most people have a steep drop off in the early part of their chart, like I did. Some people really taper off after a month or two, and some people it just keeps melting off the whole time. I had to learn not to compare my chart to other people. It was easy to get jealous of the people that had lost 70, 80, 90 pounds or more in roughly the same amount of time. But I'm also doing much better than many people as well. So I have to just keep plugging away.

On the keto reddit page, they like to say KCKO (Keep Calm, Keto On) meaning, if you're in a stall, be patient. Don't give up. Trust the process. Bodies shed fat differently. But over time, it WILL work.

(Yes, I know I'm dividing by the wrong number of days in some of my month grids. It's a copy/paste thing and I'm too lazy to fix it for now, LOL)

[Michael]

What plateaus? That chart is magnificent!

[Freed Roger]

Edit, post - Geddy chart starts 2017 not 2016. Some kind of amazing.

[cardsfansince82]

50 pounds in five months is incredible. Keep it up!

[GeddyWrox]

What plateaus? That chart is magnificent!

There are a couple periods of 2 or 3 weeks where I lost and gained the same 3 lbs. It starts to feel a bit like groundhogs day when you're eating at a deficit every day, doing everything right, and the scale isn't budging. But during these times, it seems like the body is changing shape and getting ready to shed that next big chunk. Now that I've been through it several time, it's easier to trust that the loss will start back up and not to get too down.

[Michael]

What plateaus? That chart is magnificent!

There are a couple periods of 2 or 3 weeks where I lost and gained the same 3 lbs. It starts to feel a bit like groundhogs day when you're eating at a deficit every day, doing everything right, and the scale isn't budging. But during these times, it seems like the body is changing shape and getting ready to shed that next big chunk. Now that I've been through it several time, it's easier to trust that the loss will start back up and not to get too down.

Makes sense. It's also worth noting it's likely as you get smaller your rate of weight loss on X calories will decrease. When I've lost weight in the past the last 5-10 pounds is frustrating.

[Diddy]

That great that you’ve been able to stick with it I’d like to lose 30+ more pounds but I’ve got a variety of excuses why I haven’t stuck with anything longer then 6 weeks or so. Heart, blood work, bp, everything like that are great but I know carrying around extra weight isn’t good on my body.