Zoning Out

It is so much harder to blog when I have to go to work every day. I also haven't been managing much sleep, and P90X is on the back burner at the moment. I got 7 hours of sleep last night, so I'm doing better.

I actually ate what I said I was going to on June 20th. I forgot until just now that I started counting calories on the 19th, so this is the fourth day of that now. It's weird to eat all day and never get full. It's what Okinawan centenarians recommend though (people on the island of Okinawa who live to 100 or older, in case there was any confusion). I'm over halfway through Dan Buettner's Blue Zone and I'm loving every minute of it. I'll try to start incorporating some of the health recommendations from the book once I reach stasis with my current lifestyle change.

So, I'm finding myself capable of subsisting on 1200 calories for now. If I recall, it's the lowest caloric intake recommended by the P90X nutrition guide to avoid the body going into "starvation mode." That's not as dire as it might sound. It just means that the body does not significantly lower metabolism.

I'm reading Barry Sears' The Zone as of yesterday, since I realized I need some more convincing if I'm going to continue to stick with 40 carb - 30 protein - 30 fat in the long-term. This is a guy who played competitive volleyball, has a PhD, created AZT (the AIDS drug), and several anti-cancer drugs. I don't know about the scientific merits of the diet yet, but the guy himself seems like a winner.

OK, I don't have a lot of time before work, so I'll break down my food for yesterday and today. By the way, I'm only incidentally following Slow Carb at this point. I'm eating pizza today, but this also happens to coincide with the same day of my "cheat" last week, so as far as I can tell I still haven't broken my Slow Carb edge.

Sorry, one more thing before the food. I've lost 10.2 pounds since I started this blog. As some of you might have seen, I started this blog with a challenge to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks. How does 10 pounds in a little over 2 months work for you? I actually hit the goal weight of 154.4 yesterday and I'm at 154.2 today. With the calorie restriction, I'm hoping to hit 150 by the beginning of July, but I'm not making any promises.


The Food:

June 21

• 1.5 cups spaghetti sauce - 175 calories, 5 grams protein, 27.5 grams carbs, 6.25 grams fat
• 8 oz. angelhair shirataki - 40 calories, 2 P, 6 C, 1 F
• 1 cup TVP - 320 cal, 48 P, 28 C, 0 F
• 2 T hummus and carrots - 60 cal, 2 P, 5 C, 4 F
• 1/4 cup mixed nuts - 220 cal, 8 P, 6 C, 19 F
• 15 oz. can of corn - 210 cal, 7 P, 31.5 C, 5.25 F
• 2 Boca patties - 140 cal, 26 P, 12 C, 1 F

Totals: 1165 calories, 98 grams of protein, 116 grams of carbs, 36.5 grams of fat

Sorry if that's hard to read with the abbreviations. I'm in a hurry. I'll post about my food for today later.