My second week on LCHF

The second week of my LCHF lifestyle is over and I am happy to say that it is going very well. In fact, it is even better than I have expected.

To start with statistics. Since last Monday, I lost 2 kilograms and I am now on 108,2 kg. I also started measuring my waist and it decreased in perimeter for 3,5 cm. Altogether, I have lost 4 kilograms in two weeks, which is totally awesome.

I keep eating things that I like and I am finding it easier and easier to avoid carbohydrates. I am also noticing that I can skip a meal without having huge cravings afterwards. Although I believe it is not wise to skip meals, it did happen to me twice last week due to my working schedule. At that time, I was very happy that I am not on a traditional 5-6 meals per day, because I day like that would have ended down with a late pizza and a beer. Not in this case. After a whole day of eating nothing but a small breakfast, I made myself a nice late night dinner with cabbage, cauliflower, butter, milk, bacon and cheese. I was particularly proud of myself because that same afternoon, I have attended a sushi making course. I arrived there on a totally empty stomach, but despite that, managed to get through the entire course without eating a single sushi, due to the rice. I did get some strange looks from the other participants, but I didn't mind.

My usual day now starts with two eggs cooked on a piece of butter and about a tablespoon worth of pork greaves ("ocvirki"). For lunch, I eat in restaurants. I look for a combination of meat and vegetables, avoiding anything with carbohydrates. Here, you should be very careful, because sauces and gravies are often thickened with starch. I always ask if there is any starch in the sauce and if there is, I just ask them to replace the sauce with a nice blob of butter or creme fraiche. For dinner, I eat things like smoked salmon, cabbage, cauliflower, salad, cheese, bacon, pork sausages etc. To quench my thirst, I drink only water and I enjoy it a lot.

On Saturday, I have also purchased a blood analyzer. It measures blood glucose, triglycerides and total cholesterol. I measured blood glucose three hours after breakfast and it was 75,4 mg/dl. According to information I found on a few websites, this is quite low, but not too low. Then, I measured cholesterol and it was 284 mg/dl. Now that is a lot! I haven't measured triglycerides yet, but I also expect them to be high, due to my long years of carbohydrate and protein nutrition. I will measure cholesterol and triglycerides again in a month and see how it goes.

So, after two weeks, I can still say that I am really happy to have stumbled upon LCHF and made the decision to pursue it. I eat really well, I am never starving and I am loosing a whole lot of weight. I am loving it!

My first week on LCHF

My first week of LCHF is over and it started out great. Not just because I am being allowed to eat all the tasty stuff such as eggs, butter, bacon, cheese, full fat milk, sour cream and vegetables with lots of oil on top. In the whole week, I was never hungry and every meal was a treat. I didn't have to change my daily nutritional routine. That's an important factor for me, since I am very busy at work and prefer to eat close to the office. I keep going in the same restaurants for lunch as I have before and it's easy for me to find something I like and which is at the same time "LCHF compatible". In fact, so far I haven't found a single LCHF dish which the part of my brain, responsible for fun, would say no to.

What did I eat? For breakfast, 2 eggs a day, with a spoon of bacon cubes and cooked in 1/2 tablespoon of butter or coconut oil (cold pressed). Sometimes, I added some cheese and/or a glass of full fat milk (non pasteurized and non homogenized, straight from a cow). For lunch, I was going for a piece of meat, fatty sauces and vegetables. If it felt dry, I simply added olive oil. For dinner, I had things like smoked salmon, mackerel, sausage, bacon, French cheeses and every now and then a bit of baked vegetables (paprika, zucchini, aubergines, onions and garlic).
The only things with more carbohydrates that I ate this week was a one piece of vegan (raw) mango cake with no flour or sugar, but sweetened with agave syrup instead, and two cups of barely sweetened cocoa. I started drinking coffee with caffeine again (have been off it for 2 years). Black, no milk, no sugar nor other sweeteners. Put this stuff all together and what you get surely is a cardiovascular doctor's nightmare.

I lost 2 kilograms. This Sunday morning, I had 109,8kg.

I am noticing some changes in the way how my body works. I am more regularly thirsty and for the first time in my life, I totally prefer water over any other beverage. Before, drinking plain water made me feel sick and even more thirsty. Also, my sense of taste changed. I am better at tolerating bitter flavors and am starting to prefer black coffee over-cafe latte. I am becoming more sensitive to sweet flavors. That piece of cake I ate felt really sweet, much more than when I had it a few months ago, when I was eating carbs and protein. Especially in the first few days, I needed plenty of sleep (8 hours a night). I slept great, having very vivid and colorful dreams. I read on some blog that some LCHF beginners experience very vivid dreams, but that it goes away after a while. Myself, I liked them a lot and I hope they will stay.

I was never hungry, apart from the normal feeling of hunger before meal.

I don't feel to be on a diet at all - more like taking a break from one. I will most definitively keep on going it.