Day 4, Post 151

 Goal Weight: 188 pounds 

   Today's Weight:        204.2 lbs
   Yesterday's Weight:    206.6 lbs
   Net Loss/Gain:         - 2.4 lbs

My first full day of induction was a big success. I am beginning to believe that the main problem I had with the Slow-Carb Diet was a maladaptation to eating beans in that quantity. My body just couldn't handle the starch,sugar, and type of fiber in legumes - at least not in that quantity.


Induction is an interesting part of going low-carb. The idea is to make a metabolic shift from your body getting energy from sugar (the end-product of all digested carbohydrates, and any 'extra' protein the body doesn't need) to fat, in the form of ketones. 


The human body is readily able to use carbs or fat (sugar or ketones) as fuel, but typically (given that the average person eats a lot of carbohydrates), it uses carbs first and more efficiently, and stores any extra carbs as fat. Insulin is the main hormone that accomplishes this sugar-to-stored-fat process. People whose diet is high in carbs - absolutely, not relative to protein and fat - end up with extra fat, and, apparently, become less able to regulate their insulin production (aka insulin resistance and diabetes type II). 

This is the fundamental reason that low-carb diets (low not no-carbohydrate diets, your body needs some carbs) work well. But I digress.

Typically, you make this shift by ingesting very low carbs for a week or two. This 'starves' the body of readily-available sugars, and the body adapts by becoming more efficient at burning fat for energy, which is called ketosis. When the adaptation is complete, you are able to tap into and mobilize your fat stores for energy, and weight is lost - especially if you are doing a reasonable amount of exercise (that is, not a lot, but some, and at a fairly high intensity level).

One thing about induction - that metabolic shift from primarily sugar to primarily ketones being used for energy - is that sometimes the body resists the change and there are unpleasant symptoms: Low energy, digestive irregularity, various aches-and-pains. There is a simple way to overcome some of these, and a fairly well-known way to shorten the time these symptoms are present (speed up the shift).


Digestive symptoms can be alleviated by supplementing with extra fiber, drinking a lot of water (always a good idea),  and eating extra fat. This last also hastens the shift and the time you have to endure any discomfort from making the shift. Eating more fat also kills the mainstream proponents of calories-in/calories-out and eating-fat-makes-you-fat diets, but they are wrong, so it doesn't bother me. 

I am consciously eating fat and adding it to my food wherever I reasonably while I'm doing induction, which will only be about 5 more days. I am also consciously adding fiber, in the form of psyllium and inulin. Drinking a lot of water doesn't represent any kind of change for me.



Done deal.

After induction, a controlled amount of carbs are allowed/encouraged (a little more than twice the amount during induction, and some are not even counted toward that limit), until you get to your carb-load meals, when you can eat an unlimited amount of carbohydrates, and there is only a minimum (100 g).

If a person stops losing weight at this point, and it is before the weight/body composition goal is met, doing induction is an excellent way to kick-start back into losing.

One more note: My new charts don't have enough data in them to be interesting - which is to say, you cannot see trends and there is a lot of white space. I'll start posting my charts as soon as there is something to see.

   

Food Log

Breakfast

Spinach, cheese and hulled hemp seed omelet (2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites)  with chipotle tabasco sauce.

    Carb count: 5 g. Net

Early Lunch

Organic turkey and vinaigrette over romaine lettuce and cabbage.

    Carb count: 1 g. Net

 

Late Lunch

    2 oz raw almonds and an ounce of Manchego cheese.

    Carb count: 6 g. Net

Dinner 

1/2 Caribbean lime rotisserie chicken, mashed broccoli with cayenne.

    Carb Count:  10 g. Net

Midnight Snack
    1/2 C Whole milk Ricotta cheese, 1 oz. Manchego cheese.
    Carb Count:  4 g Net.


Day total carbs:  
    26 g. net carbs. 
Net carbs = grams total carbs - grams fiber carbs


Note: Except during induction, some vegetables are not counted as adding to the carb total, e.g., they are 'free' and unlimited). Today I am in induction.


Liquid Intake
    Coffee:  24 oz,   Water: 136+ oz.