Tuesday 24 May 2016

First Blog Entry In A Series Of Six

So I'm supposed to write six blog entries, three this week and three the next. It doesn't matter why. The important thing is I've made the commitment and have to follow through. But I've really gotten out of practice writing these things, and words aren't coming easily. It's probably more honest to say that the words have never come easily. That's because I don't like self expression. Writing is fun, but writing about anything personal is hard. Looking for attention, exposing myself to the scrutiny of others, is hard.

The thing is that it's easy to write about other things. Conversing on the Internet about some other subject that has nothing to do with me is fun and simple enough, and so is contributing to a group effort where my contribution is just part of a greater whole. But if I accidentally express too much of myself the words dry up and it hurts. The idea here is to directly tackle that resistance by writing regularly for two weeks. Six blog entries sets an achievable benchmark.

So what is there to talk about? I lost weight recently. I've been going to  a gym regularly for about eight or nine months and working pretty hard in there. My goal was to lose the extra twenty pounds I gained after Dad died, but I wasn't having much success. I think all the weight lifting helped me gain some muscle, but I didn't lose any fat. Then I went on a ketogenic diet for a month (while still going to the gym) - and BOOM, the weight melted off. I lost twenty-three pounds. I've been off the diet for about three or four weeks now, and kept most of the weight loss. I gained back about six pounds (but I'm pretty sure that's mostly muscle), so I'm still eighteen or nineteen pounds lighter than before, and that weight seems to be pretty steady. The diet really worked.

A ketogenic diet is where you eat no more than  twenty grams of carbs a day. That's it. There's  no point system or complicated diet plans. I had no bread or sugar for a month, but ate plenty of meat. Sometimes I'd get a roast chicken from the grocery store and eat the whole thing for supper. With the weight lifting and running I was burning plenty of calories, but they were all coming from protein and fat.

Maybe that's enough for Blog Entry Number One. But Ill be back soon.

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