Recently, likely thanks to my weekly Saturday Binge Day posts on Facebook, several of my friends have been saying “I want to know more about that diet,” and also “I’m doing the same diet you are” or “my friend is doing the same diet you are.” My response? Yes/no.
Yes, you want to know more about it. No, you and your friends are not doing the same diet I am.
Continue reading “The "Peter Diet?" No, it's the Slow Carb Diet”
2015 in review
Man, time has been flying! ?I haven’t had time to update my blog, unless you mean “applying WordPress plugin updates,” which I have been doing. But what else has been going on? Continue reading “2015 in review”
The Twelve Days of Krav Maga
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Twelve practice knives
Eleven decks of cards
Ten rounds of Bas
Nine focus mitts
Eight yellow guns
Seven tombstone pads
Six kick shields
Five decks of cards
Four boxing gloves
Three gum shields
Two shin guards
A brace for my bad right?knee.
Review: iBike Coach and iBike Phone Booth
iBike Coach and iBike Phone Booth
Publisher: Velocomp
Price: $59.95
Publisher: Velocomp
Price: $59.95
I had the opportunity to review the iBike Phone Booth, a bike mount for the iPhone, and iBike Coach, a cycling computer app for the iPhone. Continue reading “Review: iBike Coach and iBike Phone Booth”
Low Carb Diet – Round 3
In the last week of May, 2012 I started a low carb diet. This is not my first attempt at such a thing, as I successfully lost 45 pounds following a program called Medifast in 2008, and I experimented with the slow carb diet for a couple of months in 2011. While I am not necessarily looking to lose weight this time around, I do want more energy and would like to tone up some. Since moving to Boston, I have increased my regular exercise regime to where I am doing some form of exercise pretty much every day, whether it is yoga, martial arts, or cycling.
However, I was feeling quite exhausted on occasion, most likely as a result of not yet changing my diet.
I have not adopted a formal diet this time, preferring instead to “trust my gut” and see what happens. While I am not counting calories, I am consciously choosing to intake fewer carbohydrates, which is difficult for me, as I miss my popcorn and potatoes. However, I have noticed that after eating a big meal, by skipping the potatoes with dinner, I do not feel “stuffed” to the point of needing a wheelchair to leave the dinner table. Rather, I feel comfortably satisfied.
I am allowing myself to eat all of the protein that I want, whether it is beef, fish, poultry, etc., does not matter. I am also increasing my daily intake of vegetables. So far, the resulting diet has been rather similar to the slow carb diet, minus the weekly “binge day,” and allowing for some occasional, albeit small, doses of carbs, e.g., a slice or two of Ezekiel bread every few days.
For the first week, my energy levels definitely dropped, which is to be expected when you first start something like this. However, now that I am in the second week, they seem to be coming back. I don’t know if my weight has changed yet, as I will have to wait until returning to Vermont, where my scale is, but I do seem to be getting a little more muscle definition already.
I Try to Get Out, But They Keep Pulling Me Back In!
While my weight doesn’t appear to have moved outside the range that it was in while I was actively on the Slow Carb Diet. However, I seem to have less energy these last several days that I’ve been eating more freely, so I’m considering doing it again.
Wonderful. I’m feeling about as flip-floppy as a politician during election season.
Slow Carb Diet Fail
I believe I’ve given it a fair shot. After being on the slow carb diet for 7 of the last 8 weeks, I haven’t seen enough change to hold my attention. It’s a bit disappointing, for sure, but not the end of the world by any stretch.
Oh well. It’s certainly been fun. Binge days have been an interesting high and low, but I think I’m going to focus on other things for a while.
UPDATE: Just for comparison, here’s the progress I made on Medifast in 2008. I wonder if slow carb would have been more effective had I more weight to lose, or if Medifast would be effective on me again now.
Update: If you are interested in trying the Slow Carb Diet, despite my failure, I encourage you, and please let me know. If you need recipe ideas, check out http://slowcarbcook.blogspot.com.
Slow Carb Diet: Week 4
I just read that people over 40 often fail to see any significant change in the slow carb diet for the first 4-6 weeks. I’m not over 40, but I figure I’ll give it a few more weeks regardless to give it a fair shot. It’s disappointing that the changes I’m experiencing haven’t been more dynamic, but I am feeling more energy, even if my scale refuses to acknowledge the diet except the day after binge day (when I see a rather noticeable spike in my weight).
Slow Carb Diet – Round Two
After some consideration, and a week off, I’ve decided to try the Slow Carb Diet once again. Attending a couple of parties this weekend gave me inspiration on highly caloric foods that I may be able to binge on without making myself sick. My week off appears to have had next to no effect, ill or otherwise, on my weight, fat, or BMI, which is simultaneously heartening and disheartening.
Slow Carb Diet – Throwing In the Towel
After three weeks of my attempts at the Slow Carb Diet, I’m bagging it and throwing in the towel, or the napkin, as the case may be. Given that I have made no noticeable progress, I think I’m going to move on to just changing my exercise routine for a while instead.
I think there were a couple of reasons it did not work for me. First, I am already pretty close to my ideal body weight, even though I think my body fat percentage is still too high. Second, while the regular diet during the week was not hard, and was actually kind of fun, I had trouble with the weekly binge day. After years of training myself not to eat too much, that part was just too difficult to stomach (no pun intended). So other than pounding a pint of maple syrup every Saturday, I think wouldn’t be able to get my calorie intake where it was supposed to be.
If you have a lot of weight to lose, I recommend giving it a shot, and would be curious to hear if it works for you.