Week three done, down 9.8 lbs

 

The first three weeks of the carnivore diet are officially in the books, and I'm down 9.8 lbs on the carnivore diet. I'm pretty surprised and happy, of course. On all the other diets I've gone on and been on a lot, I tend to only lose about 6.6 lbs per month. 

Several unexpected things are happening on this diet that goes beyond weight loss and may even be more beneficial. 

The first is my joints are looser. Before the diet and for at least a year, maybe more, I felt like an old man. I'd get up, and it would take me some time to straighten up, and then I had to walk small steps and slowly until I got moving. I no longer have this problem. 

In only a week or two, I started to notice that I felt like a young man. I no longer needed my "old man" warm-up mode to get going. That was a significant surprise. From YouTube videos I watched, they did say it helped joints and arthritis, and it does. Or, at least for me, it did.

The other noticeable difference is my mood. It's more stable, not the highs and lows. I'm calmer. I'm not as manic and crazy. I'm sure part of it is from not drinking, but I feel so great I feel like a different person. I'm feeling more that I'm adulting than I ever have. I don't know if that is a good thing in that I'm starting to think old or good as I enjoy the little things in life more. 

I find that I'm less irritable and letting things flow. I did also see on the YouTube videos that this was a result. Feeding your brain with ketos it's a much more stable form of energy for your brain, and your brain needs the most glucose in the body to function, and once on ketosis, this gives a constant supply. 

The next noticeable difference is I'm not hungry. My body is satiated. I'm not snacking anymore. And if I get the urge to snack, I realize it's not because I'm hungry. It's because I'm bored. In cases like that, I usually pour myself a cup of black coffee.

Talking about liquids, I've been drinking lots and lots of carbonated water of all varieties. Certain brands do not use sweeteners, a no-no on the carnivore diet. Although I have cheated, at restaurants, if they bring my sparkling water with a lemon or lime, I put it in the glass. It is a treat to have some flavor. 

I've also been to many restaurants since on this diet and can easily make it work. If it's breakfast at Denny's, it's eggs, bacon, sausage, or a steak and egg order. Or most other times, for lunch or dinner, it's steak and or seafood. 

The big benefit is I'm not drinking alcohol, so the bills are lower. Alice still has cocktails, but I don't. We still go to the bar section of a restaurant, and I'll order salt and pepper wings, which is part of the carnivore diet. It's weird, I'd never eat wings in the past because of calories, and now it's totally fine. It's been a nice change. 

The weight loss has been awesome. It's great to wake up nearly every morning and see the scale moving down and rarely up, even a little. In most diets I've been on in the past, I haven't seen this. As an example in January, I did a 3 day fast and then ate regular food but no snacking or pigging out. I lost weight from the fast and then plateaued for the rest of the month, around 226 lbs. It was weird. It was literally a flat line for 3-weeks. Hence the reason I decided to try carnivore. 

As it stands now, I don't know if I want to go off it anytime soon. So great is probably the first reason, and of course, the weight loss. But how I feel and the better joint mobility is a motivators. I'm also strong when I work out. My running, biking and weight training have been pleasurable. I haven't bonked or felt bad with no carbs.

Now to be clear, I'm not Ironman training. I'm running for 30 - 40 minutes once or twice a week, and the same with biking and weight training. With weight training, I'm not lifting heavy weights but doing 2 sets of 15 and going to 90% muscle exhaustion. Enough to feel I'm growing muscle. 

In a way, I'm turning back the hands of time, and my body is getting younger, as strange as it sounds. 

The only concern I've had is my blood pressure. It has been higher most days. Although it has recently gotten in line. I wonder if it's from all the meat or the many cups of coffee I've been drinking. I've somewhat cut down on the coffee, so my blood pressure is getting in line. This morning, for example, I woke up at 127 over 80. Perfect range. 

We've decided to do a late snowbird thing and head down to Palm Springs and then to Gilbert, Arizona, for a few weeks. We were thinking of driving the Corvette, and now not so sure. More worried about someone Keying the car and preventing the expense of staying at nicer hotels with valet parking. Not to mention it's a 3 - 4 day drive. 

After staying with my parents for a week in Palm Springs, the place we most want to visit is two weeks in Gilbert, Arizona. Alice found it on the web, the safest place in Arizona and pretty much the US. I started watching videos on it, and it's an amazing place. 270,000 people with an average age of 34.6 years old. Totally family, and the restaurants, amenities, parks, and super bike friendly near every street and road with a nice big bike lane. 

I'm looking forward to walking and running in warmer weather. It would be great if we had some bikes too. If we don't take the Vette and our truck, we could take bikes. That's starting to make me think if we drive to take the truck, take bikes, and stay at cheaper hotels. 

It will be interesting to see how this week goes on my diet and what the weight loss will total after an entire month.