Day 8 behind me. It is getting somewhat routine now...eggs with something else (bacon, omelet, hard boiled and cheese stick) for breakfast, a variation of salad and meat for lunch, a vegetable and meat for dinner, a few light snacks of cheese, celery, pork rinds, almonds scattered throughout the day. I don't count carbs, but as I had stated before, as long as what is going in my mouth is either fish/meat or green, I am still on the path.

Been addressing sweet cravings with diet coke, just a can a day. It is interesting how my sensitivity to sweetness is enhanced when I stop eating sugar. Red peppers, onions, almonds, my sugar cured bacon (yes it is my small low carb sin...1 g I can live with) all pop with their sweetness when I eat them. Trust me I would love a square of chocolate, but that will have to wait until I hit my goal and start adding in a few carbs until I hit a steady state.

I am wondering if my goal of 180 is realistic. I do have a little more muscle than last time I did this, and at 185 I was quite lean then....not 10% body fat lean, but below 20. I guess I will reassess when I get below 190. 190 is the ceiling I really want to establish, with a much more managed 'post under 30 carb' diet after I reach my goal. Gaining and losing 25 lbs every 2 years is less than ideal.

Day 9 behind me. All went well. Had a 4 egg omelet for breakfast with ham, cheddar cheese, and a few sauted peppers and onions. Lunch was leftover chicken breast, left over cabbage salad, cheese stick, brie, 2 celery sticks. Snacked on some pork rinds. Dinner was a nice bone in NY Strip and salad.

My exercise consisted of planting a small garden with tomatoes, peppers and herbs. Unfortunately there was an unexpected frost last night, so my work may have been for naught

Today was a 2 egg/3 strip bacon breakfast and work. Will lift this afternoon.

Looking forward to being below 200 again in the near future.

Day 10 went well. My body has adjusted well, and cravings are less frequent and less powerful. I am also at the point were the feeling of hunger is muchly subdued. I ate 2 eggs/3 bacon for breakfast, wedge of iceberg lettuce and sandwich meat/cheese for lunch, and cod fish and salad for dinner. I did cheat a bit on the cod, as I used some white cooking wine and onions in the preparation, but I had a few carbs to give:-)

Lifted with the son. I had an OK lift, but he really had a strong lift, getting a PB in the bench and crushing everything else. The day is rapidly approaching were my son will kick my ass in the weight room....it is fun to watch it happen.

Today will be more of the same, on plan with a few almonds or cheese sticks to bridge between meals. And then a good workout at around 4:45.

I am starting look forward to the weigh in on Saturday...hopefully I will say goodbye to the 200's for good this time.

Day 11 and 12 were uneventful. Eating low carb, not cheating, drinking lots of water, working out. I am pretty much in a routine.

I did weigh my self again on Wednesday to join in on the May monthly thread....only .2 lbs less than my Saturday weigh -in. I had hoped for more, but it is still a full 5 lbs from when I began in 4/20. Hoping to be close to 200 on Saturday...but I know I will reach my goal if I keep on the straight and narrow.

Day 14 is in the books. To be quite honest, I am a bit disappointed as I had hoped to be below 200 at this point. Unfortunately I seem to have hit a plateau at -5 lbs, and that is where I am today.

But there also positives, the biggest one being that the 5 lbs lost makes a huge difference in how my 36 waist pants fit....at 203 they fit easily and comfortably, at 210 they start to get tight. And that alone makes the 1st 2 weeks worth it.

Other observation from my 1st 2 weeks:
- Urination is way up and defecation is way down.
- Appetite is really under control and cravings are few and far between. 6 or 7 almonds can get me over any 'rough' patch.
- Energy level seems to be returning to normal
- I am sleeping better, but still less heavily than when on carbs

So the path forward seems clear. Stick to plan, keep doing what I am doing, and look forward to breaking the plateau soon and dropping through 200 lbs this next 2 weeks. I am making subtle changes....such as reducing my morning bacon ration from 3 slices to 2 slices and trying to limit snacking to 1 cheese stick, 3 small handfuls of almonds (20 or so total over the day), and a celery stick each day.

I did reward myself with a bottle of Gentleman's Jack Whisky yesterday

18 days into low carb. Still on plan, with not a single morsel of anything that does not fit into the meat/fish/eggs/vegetable/cheese/seasoning/water basket crossing my lips. I guess you could quibble with the fact that I have diet coke for lunch, a 1/4 lemon in my water once daily, and a 1/2 shot whiskey on the rocks occasionally, but those do not add any real carbs.

Yesterday I finally saw 1xx on the scale, although just barely at 199.8. I do not think I have settled below 200 yet, but it was nice to move below the 202-203 range I had been stuck in for more than a week. The hard workout I did yesterday and the biological function from the last night were what probably pushed me down below 200. Kinda funny how part of the weight loss game is viewing a bowel movement or a bout of illness as an opportunity to see a lower number on the scale:-)

I have continued to work out 4 days a week, and I also have been doing yard work. I do need to do more cardio, and although my right hip is not behaving I plan to try and work up a sweat doing sprints (probably more like fast short runs) this afternoon.

If I can keep the momentum I should be below 195 by memorial day!

At 20 days back in low carb. Things are still going well and I am closing in on only seeing 1XX on the scale again....I should get there next week.

I was looking back on my weight loss from last time I did this, and the loss was between 8-10 lbs a month on average. For some reason I thought it was more like 10-12 lbs per month, but no matter. If I can finish off my first 30 days safely under 200, I should hit my target weight at around 90 days. Then it will be time to try and figure out maintenance.

Still working out, although the schedule gets shifted every once in a while due to sons schedule. I did start running again...just doing some progressive interval sprints up and down the driveway (slight hill) and up a hill on the street for now. Enough to work up a sweat but not kill/injure myself. I am convinced that I need to break a sweat every day to maximize the weight loss, and I have been seeing that on the scale.

Off to cook my bacon and eggs breakfast and start my day!

So glad things are going well!

24 days in now. Still on plan and creeping towards being below 200 again.

Today I did fight some cravings...had a lite breakfast and was on the road for work. I had 10 almonds for the drive home, but was pretty hungry for some reason. As I saw the fast food joints pass by, I admit I was tempted to stop, but I drove on home and had some pork and salad at around 1 PM and am good now.

I have decided that I will stay strict low carb for 90 days, and then I will set my ceiling weight at 5 lbs above that weight, and slowly adjust from there.

Tomorrow I will regret being low carb, as I will be away on business for the night and my modis operandi is to get a sushi dinner on the corporate card, but it is too early to even consider such a substantial deviation. Oh well.

My local sushi joint does an Avocado bowl with spiced tuna inside. No rice!

Day 28 - Still eating right but stuck above 200. Weight loss so far, based on today's weigh-in, is 8 lbs. Now 8 lbs. is good, but I was hoping to be below 200 at day 30. 8 lbs does, however, makes 36 waist pants fit easy and sucks in the belly and love handles...I just like how I look in work clothes much more at 200 than I do above 205.

I do not count calories or carbs, as I have mentioned before, instead I just stick with approved food groups and eat until satisfied. I would estimate, however, that I am easily eating 1000+ calories less now than I was a month ago....heck just the elimination of the chips/fries/sweets is probably 1000 calories a day. Considering that my body is only slowly dropping weight at my current intake, it is no wonder I can pack on a dozen pounds a year if I just eat without thinking. Kinda sobering, and it leaves little doubt that if I want to avoid the man belly, I am going to have to manage what goes into my mouth.

Werebear - I did go to the sushi restaurant, and they had a roll with no rice in it (cucumber wrap, salmon, tuna, avocado). I also had them make me up a tuna roll and salmon roll without rice, but with avocado and cucumber. Not as good as sushi with rice, but was very satisfying none the less. Thanks for encouraging me to explore.

30 days down...stuck at 200. Lost weight for 1st 30 days, based on today - 7.8 lbs. I would be lying if I said I was happy with this. I have stayed on plan, and the only cheat was 4 ounces of Coors light beer a few days ago on a business trip (really....nothing else that is not a green vegetable, meat, fish, nut or egg). Losses this month have been slow, with only about 3 lbs dropped since the 1st, and literally no movement the past 10 days.

OK, enough whining. Still committed, because I know that if I slide I will find myself at 210 again in no time. I am planning to step up the cardio exercise on top of the lifting I am doing, and hope that gets things moving. I do not plan to tinker with what I eat, because it is all within the approved foods. I do not snack excessively, and maybe eat 1/4 - 1/3 cup of nuts daily as snacks. I eat enough to feel comfortable..probably between 2000-2500 calories daily, give or take.

Going to do a hard workout today, and will soldier on.

My weight loss has slowed down after 3 weeks. Lost 2 lbs in the 1st week, 4 lbs in the 2nd week, 4 lbs in the 3rd week, 2 lb in the 4th week, no loss in the 5th week, 2 pound in the 6th week, and so far 1 pound in the 7th week. But, I guess if I can keep losing 2 lbs per week, I should be uber happy. My 5th week was up one pound, down one pound, and so on. And I think that was due to the fact that I was eating some peanuts every day. I weigh myself every morning (it's hard, though, to see the scale move up and down, up and down), but then I calculate my weekly average weight every 7 days. Just keep doing what you're doing, you don't have too much to lose, so that's why it's slow and hard for you at this point. You are almost there.

Thanks for the encouragement, CR! Sometimes it does get hard when you are doing everything right, and the reward is ....nothing. Glad to hear that you are still on your journey to 180. How is the lifting going? My son and I changed up our bench routine recently, doing a modified reverse pyramid. It's fun, because it lets him test his 1RM. The kid managed to push 200...not bad for a tall lanky 16 year old

Yesterday, I was around chocolate and other good food all day at an extended client meeting. The darn reecees peanut butter cups were calling me, but I resisted. Then after the meeting my colleagues went out to a brew pub, and I begged off because...just too early to deviate like that. Days like that are hard. On one hand I, at 200, do not look overweight, so why should I not indulge, but on the other hand I have seen myself above 220, and recently close to 210, and know that I do not want that to be me going forward and how easily I, at 55, can put on weight (to be 25 again).

Well, scale said 200.2 this morning, and I am a bit backed up so maybe when the system clears I will start to live in the 1XX land again. Plan to go for a short run today, to test my hip and get a sweat going

Oh, I am not quitting, my friend, not this time. Funny, I told you how it slowed down for me and then, just this morning, I've stepped on the damn scale and I've lost 2 lbs since yesterday. Woohooo! So, total of 17 now since April 8th.

My lifts are good. I get tired relatively fast, but I still finish every workout. Chest and triceps day today. As of next week I am changing my workout schedule so I will do one muscle group every day plus the cardio (later or earlier in the day), and I will have Sundays off. So, perhaps that will help with my energy level.

I hate meetings and work functions. There's always junk food there and people keep asking you to have some. It puts a lot of pressure. I try to bring my water bottle or coffee and I tell them my doctor told me I can't have any sugar or alcohol. It's hard for them to argue with that. I don't tell them why, I just say I've been told not to drink or eat any sugar. I can't let myself have even one piece of chocolate, because I am terrified that I would not be able to stop for days. It's like an addiction, I treat it as if I were an alcoholic - I wouldn't have one beer ever if I had a drinking problem, so I will not have a piece of chocolate either.

Good for your boy, lifting 200 lbs when you're 16 is pretty darn good. He is still developing, so his numbers will look awesome in 2-3 years. Stay strong, keep eating clean and lifting hard and you'll get to 180 soon.