Diet Drag

What's really frustrating is that I've lost almost 25 pounds... and I'm only a third of the way to my goal!

gah!

Eat Local Omaha

I'm reading a fantastic book called "Plenty" by James Mackinnon and Alisa Smith: a couple in Vancouver who lived one year eating only food produced within 100 miles from their home. This summer I'm trying to shorten my overall food miles and so far I'm doing OK. But the one thing I've had trouble with is visualizing how far my 100-mile reach is. So, I downloaded a map and put in the 100-mile boundary. All of you living in Omaha, the image here shows your limit. Feel free to use it as reference as you hunt and gather!

If you're not in Omaha, go to James and Alisa's site and find your 100-miles.

Diet wrap-up

The first 20 days of my diet are over and I have survived.

I lost 16.8 pounds and 2.55 points off my BMI.

I stuck to the diet the full 20 days, I had trouble on the weekends and evenings when I didn't have fish cooked. Without a set schedule, it's much harder to remember, or even be able to, eat every 2 hours. I ate the most calories on June 6 at 865 and the fewest on June 3 when I had 463.

There were just a few days at the start when I felt like I wasn't eating enough calories, but that feeling went away and I've felt great ever since. I'm happy with the results. I think my metabolism is functioning better and I'm certainly eating better!

The best part is I'm eating primarily local food. All my vegetables, half my fruits and the chicken is semi-local. The fish of course is not from around here.

Now begins the second stage!

The Plateau

It seems I have hit a plateau. They say that the first week or two of a diet is the time you lose the most weight and it's that weight that you tend to gain back very easily. So, I dropped 12 pounds like it was a hot potato, but I don't think I've lost anything in the last week. The only thing different about the last 4 or 5 days is I haven't consistently had my evening protein (fish). I haven't had the desire to make it and so have replaced any evening food with a couple of cheese sticks. This means I've had much fewer calories, but more of those calories have come from fat. Regardless, how it's even possible for someone to eat 500-700 calories each day for a week and lose 0 pounds... well, that's a mystery.

But I am not giving up.