Putting Down a 40-Pound Bag of Rocks
January 2019 — about nineteen months in, back on the live like I said I'd be
I'd told the group I was coming back on January 6. On January 6 I went live and said so: I'm KetoDick, this is Keto Basic, and if you missed me, you're going to have plenty of time to get sick of me this year (live IEGQ4170). It was a long one, almost two hours, because I had a lot to catch up on.
The bag of rocks
The first thing I said about 2018 was that it was a tough year for me personally and a much better year physically. I felt better than I had in years. Fewer aches and pains. I'd lost more than 40 pounds, depending on which day you count from. If somebody made you carry a 40-pound bag of rocks everywhere and then let you put it down, it would feel like relief. It did (live IEGQ4170).
That's why people share this stuff. If there's one thing you'd pass to a friend, it's a way to feel better every day no matter what else is going on.
Carbs, on purpose
Then I told them the part that isn't on the before-and-after posts. In 2018 I brought carbs back in, a lot, on purpose. One of my most-quoted lines is "make decisions, not mistakes," so I made decisions. I went to places that do pasta and pizza well and ate what they made. It was the off-season for fighting, so I was allowed to be a bit heavier, and I kept the gain inside a range I was comfortable with (live IEGQ4170).
What surprised me was what happened between those meals. On days with no social reason to eat weird, I ate mostly keto without thinking about it, because by then it was a behaviour, not a meal plan. So I'd lose the weight again. Up, down, up, down. A roller coaster (live IEGQ4170).
And I learned that I didn't miss most of it as much as I thought I would. Some of it was excellent and worth it. I like good, artisan bread. Bread has thousands of years of history and I respect that. I was helping out at a cheesesteak place where fresh rolls came in all the time, and I'd smelled thousands of them. One morning the bakery sent the best rolls they'd ever delivered, and I had one, and it was totally worth it. But it's cake. That's what I need people to understand (live IEGQ4170).
The pasta in the cupboard
The other lesson was about my own kitchen. For a long time I kept carb food around "for when people come over." That food became a source of my failures. Food that's in the house gets eaten. Food that isn't, very rarely does. So one day I just decided: if I'm having people over, I'll go out and buy pasta that day. After that it got really easy, because everything I had in the house was something I could eat (live IEGQ4170).
I know that won't work for everyone. If your husband's on a different diet, or you've got kids, or you share a fridge with eight people, you've got a different problem. But one trick works anywhere: when you put a package in the cart, don't look at calories per serving. Look at the whole package. Ten servings of 100 calories means you're planning to put 1,000 calories in your face at some point, or throw it out (live IEGQ4170).
Messy is not failed
Two days later, in a Q&A, a member said her 2018 had failed and it was a new year. I pushed back. If you had some keto meals and learned something, you didn't fail a whole year. That's a sweeping label for a long year full of different things. And I said the same about mine: 2018 was a mess, maybe one of the messiest years of my life, and I was trying not to call it a failure (live LMPM3790).
I meant that. I'd lost the bag of rocks, gained some back on purpose, learned what was worth it, and came back on the day I said I would.
What I'd tell you now
I'd keep almost all of it, especially "buy the pasta the day the guests come." I'd add one thing about which carbs are worth spending. That night I said carbs aren't evil, there's just not much in carb-dense foods you need nutritionally (live IEGQ4170). The fiber research draws a line for plant foods: a large review in The Lancet found people eating the most fiber had 15–30% lower all-cause and cardiovascular deaths, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer than people eating the least, with the biggest drop at 25–29 g a day (doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31809-9). So if you spend carbs, spend them on vegetables and fiber, not on the roll. More on the fiber evidence page. If you're on diabetes medication, carbs coming back in or going back out can change what you need, so tell your doctor before you do either. The full live is here; see also Will I Gain the Weight Back After Keto? and Habits That Keep the Weight Off.
Earlier: Hit in the Eyeball, No Longer Cuddly · Later: Still a Big Guy in My Head