Hiatus Continued

It's been eleven days since I've taken in any oil.

My initial startling increase in appetite settled within a few days. Maybe it was just the shock of the sudden change? I'm not sure, but my cravings didn't last at the initial "oh my GOD I'm hungry" pace.

Today's weigh-in: 194.2 pounds.

Interesting. Eleven days without SLD and I actually LOST a couple pounds. What does this mean? I'm beginning to think that I'm one of the few for whom the diet doesn't work. I really wanted it to, and I've continued weight training and getting good exercise and watching what I eat. A minor bicep injury limited my weight training for the past few days, but I worked out all weekend and all last week.

I really need to rethink how I'm doing (or was doing) the diet. Maybe the switch to walnut oil will help. Maybe sugar water would make a difference. I just don't know right now. I think I'll continue and make it two weeks off of SLD and see where my weight is and decide what to do from there.

Any advice welcome on this. I hate to give it up, but if it isn't working, I'd only be continuing for the "soft skin/soft hair" benefits, and any possible health benefits of the oil, not for weight loss, which was my primary goal.

A Brief Hiatus

My last post concerned the fact that I seem to be struggling to lose weight with the Shangri-La diet.

I received a comment to that post from Dr. Seth Roberts, the author of the book, and I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it here:

Forgive a self-serving comment but I have to wonder whether your recent weight gain is due to the effects of whatever you did to get from 225 to 190 wearing off. For example, if you lost that weight by eating unfamiliar food (which my theory says is less fattening than familiar food), well, unfamiliar food eventually becomes familiar. And the lost weight is regained.

The test of my explanation is to stop the Shangri-La diet and see what happens. If you stop gaining weight, probably the diet was causing it. If you continue gaining weight, probably the diet was not causing it and may even have been slowing it down.

An alternative is just to add to the oil the "extra credit" stuff in the book to increase the strength with which your set point is pushed down.

In reply: I lost the weight from 225 in a rather non-healthy way (addressed in The Back Story). I skipped meals, I fasted, I basically didn't eat for days on end, all the while subsisting largely on Diet Pepsi, beer and cigarettes. I wish I could say that I lost it by eating unfamiliar food, but I didn't know of the diet at that time and I probably lost it in the most unhealthy and unsustainable way possible. But, I've kept that weight off for the most part.

Since I read that comment, I decided to stop taking the ELOO and see what happens. Well, my appetite is back in full force. I'm suddenly hungry for snacks, I feel like I need dinner when I often skipped it on the diet, and I can't wait for lunch by 10:00 am (I don't eat breakfast). Those are some pretty severe changes for 2 days without a simple dose of ELOO. So I still believe in the effectiveness, even if it's mildly psychological.

I think I'll have to go back to the ELOO, or substitute sugar water, or I'm going to be gaining some weight here real soon based on my hunger level. I have to re-read the "Extra Credit" section of the book and try to implement some of those options as well.

Thanks for taking the time to comment and offer insight Dr. Roberts. I appreciate it.

While I'm at it, today's weight: 196.4 pounds.
No real gain or loss.

Since I haven't gained, I think I'll give it one more day without the ELOO, just to see if my hunger settles any.

Doubt Creeping In

Despite my lack of posting here, I have continued the diet. I've been very busy with work and family obligations, but I always find time to take my daily dose of ELOO.

Today's weigh-in: 196.2 pounds.

I'm not sure what's going on, but it doesn't seem to be having the effect it once did. My appetite is back, and seems to overwhelm any hunger-reducing effects of the ELOO intake.

I keep using this excuse, but maybe it's the weight lifting, replacing fat with muscle? I do feel a lot better physically strength-wise. But my belt isn't getting any looser and I kind of feel like I haven't been losing much at all in the waist.

Maybe I should try switching to sugar water? I've been enjoying the added benefits of the oil in the form of softer skin and hair, but the dieting benefit just seems to have trailed off, although I do remain pretty steady at around this weight. I can say that I haven't once exceeded 197 during this time, which is an accomplishment in itself, but I'm interested in losing more.

I know I should probably post for help in the forums at SethRoberts.net, but I've just been way busy lately and haven't really found the free time to do it. I think I'll most likely finish out my current huge jug of ELOO (it's almost gone) and then try the sugar water. It seems more of a pain to do, but something's got to give and I have confidence this diet has its merits after reading of all the people having success.

Wish me luck.

Slow but sure...

While I realize I haven't posted on here much, I do continue the diet and weight training.

I'm convinced by the lack of comments that no one's reading this and I'm pretty much writing it for myself, so my lack of posting probably doesn't matter much.

Today's weigh in: 193.8 pounds.

Yeah so I've only lost 3 pounds since the last weigh in, but I've definitely added quite a bit of muscle. I feel better and stronger and my arms are shaping up nicely.

I'll continue the diet and post the results here even if only for my own eyes.

Back At It

The scale problem I mentioned in my last post didn't turn out well.

It seems the new scale is accurate. Meaning the weights that I've been posting have been wrong, and wrong by almost 10 pounds. SHIT! You have no idea how much that frustrates me. People have said "you look like you've lost weight" and I've been replying "almost 35 pounds since Christmas". Now if I'd bought a new scale and found out the old scale was wrong in the other direction, meaning I was 10 pounds lighter than I thought, I'd have been ecstatic. But that's not the case.

A word of warning to those of you who put your trust in a scale with the dial-type reading: if you don't own a very expensive doctor's-office type scale, I'd consider one of the newer digital ones. I checked my weight on a shipping scale, on my mom's scale, and a couple others, and the new digital scale is accurate. Again, though: shit. This really discourages me.

Okay, so on to the diet. I've been taking the ELOO once a day, and I've upped my dose to four tablespoons (yuck on that fourth one) and I've been weight training a bit, so my weight is hard to calibrate (muscle weighs more than fat and all that, yadda yadda).

Today's weight (on the new and Godawfully accurate digital POS scale): 196.8 pounds.
This will have to be the new starting point considering the old scale was inaccurate. Anyone wanna buy a scale? Kidding.

So I'm showing no real loss, although my pants do seem to fit better, and maybe I'm replacing fat with muscle? I had a hell of a workout two weekends in a row. Now if I can just bring myself to weight train every day (or every other day) I might see some real muscle gains. I know I already feel better about my body with the weight lifting.

On the hunger front, I have to say that my hunger seems reduced with the ELOO intake. I eat lunch at work and if I don't think about it too much, I'm full after probably half the food I would have eaten previously. Today I threw out more than half a Chinese lunch special. I didn't eat the egg roll (which I love) and ate less than half the rice and chicken. And it just dawned on me! The lady forgot the fortune cookies (which I love)! I would normally have noticed that immediately; I just thought of it now. Kinda cool.

So I'll continue weight training and taking the ELOO. If you've never really worked out, I can't recommend it enough. Sure, your muscles are sore after a good workout, but that means you've accomplished something. The old "no pain no gain" BS line they feed you, but it's true, and the pain is minor compared to getting yourself in better shape. I'm working out using only dumbells, which is highly recommended by experts. The bonus is it's cheap to get started. I spent just over $100 on a dumbell set and a basic incline bench. Hopefully the combination of this diet and the workouts will further my "get in shape" cause. You know what they say: diet and exercise.

Fate Intervenes

Sometimes life just doesn't seem fair.

I know "fair" is a word for children for the most part. Most things aren't "fair" in the same sense you grew up believing. A close relative very dear to me passed away after a lengthy struggle. The subsequent arrangements, consolation, commiseration and deep grieving and depression caused me to abandon the diet. I know it's no excuse, but when something like that happens, my own petty wishes to be in better shape pale compared to the fight for someone's life.

It's difficult to think about a diet when you cry at the mention of someone's name, and spend your days grieving for all the things that could have been and now never will.

This doesn't mean I've given up. It's cliché to say "he would have wanted it that way", but he would never have stood for me giving up on anything or anyone.

So I'll continue the diet. I hadn't really progressed far enough to see if it was working for me, and I'm still interested to find out, and eager to lose the excess pounds.

Before all this happened, I bought a new scale. My old scale was very cheap, and had the dial that turns as you step on it. I've had it for a few years, and I began to question its accuracy because day-to-day it read different odd things, sometimes off by several pounds until I'd step on, step off, step on to get some kind of consistency. But it always was pretty consistent, and I could pretty much tell by the looseness of my pants that it was accurately gauging a 1 or 2 pound loss (or gain).

So I get the new scale, a medium-priced digital model. While my old scale is reading 189 pounds, the new one reads 198.2! I stepped on and off that thing several times, not believing my eyes. I've stepped on scales at relatives homes, at a place where there's a shipping scale, and several other places. I am convinced I don't weight 198.2. But of course, I threw out the box before ever trying the scale (doh!). So I can't return it.

Anyone out there have an experience like this with scales? I'm going to my mom's today, and I'll try her scale and see how it compares. Really frustrates me though, I was hoping to post some more accurate weights here with the new scale. Now I'm not sure I can trust it.

I will continue this diet regardless, and post the results as they happen, good or bad.

Day Six

The weekend, as I predicted, didn't go so well. Maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Friday night I partied a bit. Saturday I didn't get up until almost 11:00 am, and had Stouffer's French Bread Pizza for lunch. Unfortunately I was famished from not eating dinner Friday night, so I ate all of it. I had a lot of running around to do, and after visiting my mom and getting everything else done, we went to visit my aunt, who's undergoing chemotherapy, and brought her some Chinese food. I ate a very small portion of pepper chicken (yum) and rice, and skipped the egg roll and dessert items my aunt offered. We stayed and visited for a while, and by the time I got home it was after 9:00 pm. I really had thought I'd be home earlier than that and able to take my oil dose.

I had plans to meet friends for a small party, and I just couldn't find a two hour window in which to take the oil. I knew I'd be drinking once I got to the party, and that would be in about a half hour, so I decided that I'd have to skip a day. Not the best way to go about the fourth day of a new diet, but I just couldn't make more time in the day. Feeling guilty about it, I left for the party.

The gathering lasted into the wee hours, and afterwards (of course), my friends decided we should go eat. I had told myself that under no circumstances was I eating late at night like that, but heady conversation conspired with a quantity of beer to thwart that plan. So I ate, and not too lightly. Something about a late-night after party meal is just so appealing to me. Food seems to taste better, and good conversation clouds the mind to the amount being consumed. Thank God it wasn't a buffet!

So Saturday was a complete bust diet-wise. Way to go me. My lack of recent social stimulus is probably partly to blame; I was very eager to see these people and have fun that night. Still, the guilt tempers any fun I had a bit.

Sunday I rose at around 10:30 am. Mother's Day. I spent the day doing the things one does on that day, heading out to see my mother, taking her to see my grandmother, and then over to my aunt's. We headed out to a restaurant, at which I ate a normal-sized meal, and I did eat it all considering that would be my only meal of the day.

I got home around 8:30 pm, and since it had been two hours since any food intake, took my three tablespoon dose of oil. Not as gross this time. I washed back the greasiness with almost two glasses of water, made sure to wait an hour before any Diet Pepsi, and it worked out well. I think the once-a-day routine is going to have to be how I do this. I just can't seem to find enough time to do it any other way between work and family obligations. And I don't want to be sucking down oil in front of everyone. It's not that I'm that embarassed to do it, I just don't want to be explaining the diet to everyone I come into contact with.

Today's weight: 189 pounds. No improvement. I wasn't really expecting much after the way this weekend went, so I'm not surprised.

I honestly have to say though that my appetite doesn't seem any different than before I started. Maybe it will just take time. On Friday, I was stuffed after a smaller meal, but this weekend I just seemed to be hungry all the time. Maybe it's all the drinking I did, which also doesn't help my weight any. But the way I look at it, if I'm not having fun, what use is it to be skinny? I'm not going to make myself miserable to lose this weight. Social interaction remains higher on my list of needs than weight loss. That could be a detriment to my continued weight loss, but I'll keep plugging away.

In the comments, Stephen mentions that "consistency made more of a difference to me than anything else", and I'll keep that in mind as I try to work out a doable schedule for the oil consumption.