I haven’t blogged for a bit after the PSMF. Why?

Well, my lbrain was fried.

I didn’t realize how hard it is to commit to the whole process. For me it was even harder because I had been asked to be the chef for an event a friend of mine was having and that event was, in fact, NOT a PSMF event. Nor was it Low Carb. I was in full cooking mode and yet I couldn’t eat any of it. It was hard.

I had never been so happy to Low Carb in my LIFE after I finished those 6 days. Actually, I didn’t do 6. I did 5. On day 6 I was mentally broken like a prisoner of war. I would’ve answered anything anyone asked me. Fact is, I was doing a much harsher version of PSMF than most places suggest and they say THAT is hard.

Of course 4 days after it I was up 3 pounds. I started eating  just any and everything that qualified as low carb. I wanted to put the theory of  “If you’re in Ketosis you will have a very hard time gaining weight” to the test. I taught myself how to make Beef Braciole. Its just beef stuffed with cheese and more meat. Its ridiculous.

I ate it for like 3 days straight.

Then add smoked salmon (I love it) and Rib Eye steaks into the mix. Oh! I also started wrapping any and everything in bacon. Chicken, Shrimp, Scallops. I ate, and LOVED it. So then right around 216 (I was a steady 211.8 for the last 3 days of PSMF) I decided maybe I’ve gone nuts and started my weight gain, so I needed to put some brakes on this train. I decided to do a fasting day to get myself back on the horse.

Day after fasting weight? 210.8.

Woah! What? What now? How is that possible? I actually lost weight?  After that deluge of food?  And my bodyfat has been hovering between 24 and 25? I don’t know if  I should give the PSMF any credit but it made me reconsider the torture that I went through.  I dropped 2 percent bodyfat during 5 days that seems to be staying off and that is amazing.

So I decided to try it one more time.  Currently I’m on day 3 of my new PSMF cycle.  I don’t know if I’ll go past today since, as I’ve said over and over, This be torture. But this morning I was somewhere around 208. If  switching up things with my body works then I’m about it.  I’ll try to do the week on/week off thing. Staying low carb on the week off I think has a very good effect on this. It ramps up the metabolism while not allowing me to store fat since im continually in ketosis. I may pick up a bit of water from sodium intake rising but it seems that’s easily flushed.

So lets see how it goes. I’m not updating my weight on the sidebar here until I quit this round of PSMF. But I’ll say this. Being within 18 pounds of goal is an amazing feeling. I don’t think “I” believed I would get here.

PSMF DAY 6 stats

Weight: 211.8
Fat Percentage: 25.5 

Yeeeeeah, I think I’m done.

This morning I woke up and I knew, I just KNEW that there would be some sort of change on the scale.  For the last 3 days I’ve been really stringent, and I’ve exorcised and I’ve ingested virtually zero grabs of fat carbs.  My ketostix are a purple that only happens when I’m eating incredibly fatty foods. I’m doing what I’m supposed to do and on the 3rd day in a row I’m at the same weight. Not even like .8 down.  A .5 would have helped. Just show me something to let me know that what I’m doing has more benefit that giving me something to blog about every morning.

I won’t lie to you.  By last night I wasn’t feeling too hot. After a full day of being active, I was cooking for a party, had done weight training and my feet still hurt from that 8.5 mile walk I did a few days ago. I think I made the decision last night way before I ever stepped onto the scale this morning. Basically when I got on the scale it was to make it show me WHY I should stay on this.

It didn’t. 

Now someone commented and left me a link to Lyle McDonalds post about how  weight loss isn’t continuous and it has moments of nothing, then more nothing, then boom. 4 pounds. I know that my body must be freaking out and is trying to retain what it can. All of this does not counter balance my feeling crappy and nothing seeing some sort of movement on the scale. 

Maybe I just need one of those refeeds they speak of so much.  I have enough fat that I figured that I could go 2 weeks with out a break. And yes, I DO see that it says my fat percentage is down again. But I seriously just don’t understand what that means. It’s impossible. I’m the same weight. according to that Ive gained 2 or 3 pounds of muscle and lost 2 or 3 pounds of fat in an exact ratio. If I follow this  supposed fat loss rate I just need 15 more days on this thing and I’ll have a 6 pack. I’ll be the exact same weight, but magically i’ll gain something like 20 pounds of muscle. 

I’m not completely done with the concept of PSMF.  Fact is I’ve done it before but didn’t KNOW I was doing it. Just did it for a few days to clear some sodium out of my system.  I know it works great for that (see the 5 pounds I lost in a day.) I’m going back to my regular Low Carbing. I plan to keep my protein high though. Maybe in another 2 weeks I’ll attempt another week of this.  I might even play with a little intermittant fasting (i did THAT too before) but I’m fairly sure my PSMFing for now is DONE.

And I almost cut my g/f last night.  This thing was NOT helping my mood even a little bit.

PSMF Day 5 Stats: 

Weight: 211.8
Fat Percentage: 26.2

I’m not sure how I feel about this yet…

I mean its completely reasonable that your body wouldn’t drop super noticibly daily. I get that. I also messed up a bit yesterday by intaking way too much sodium (I hadn’t gotten a chance to get home for a protein shake and ate packaged turkey which had 650 mg’s of sodium per serving. I, having had 200 calories for the day ate the entire package of 4 servings. 10 grams of protein per serving AND only 60 cals per serving) so I’m aware I could have a little water weight on me. It would be completely unfare since I did nothing but flonkin DRINK WATER all day, but I did end my water day with a sodium turkey splurge.

But according the stupid body fat thingy on the scale, I went down in my fat percentage. How is that POSSIBLE? It gave me a 26.2 reading I just did the calculations with the exact numbers (more decimals and crap) and according to THAT, I lost 1.48 ponds of FAT. But The scale didn’t move. I checked multiple times. So I somehow gained 1.48 pounds of muscle? On about 500 calories yesterday?  WTF?

All sorts of things aren’t adding up. Did i mention I walked around, I dunno, 8 miles yesterday? Decided I should get a little exercise in. I also didn’t take well to the turkey (or so my stomach gurgling told me) and lets say after walking that 8 miles my body evacuated all that turkey out of a rear exit soon as I arrived home. I was sure THAT, plus the sweating while walking would have to mess wtih my water. I was trying to replace any fluids lost but I was tired and on 500 calories at the time so I might’ve not been thinking straight.

Seriously. I don’t understand this.

Do I use weights? Yes. I’m trying to keep as much muscle mass as possible, but I was not trying to gain anything because, well, theoretically its impossible. Lean muscle mass gains on severly limited calories are not supposed to happen. So agian I say, WTF?

Okay. I’m going to stop obsessing over what just MIGHT be a fluke on the scale. It doesn’t make sense to me and I assume in a day or 5  I’ll understand what’s going on. Until then I’ll just stare at hese stats googling the shit out of various terms in hopes of explaining it.

Day 5. No one has been cut. Except my pinky toes. Walking 8 miles in bad shoes? Not so good for them.

Really, really, really want a burger with cheese though. Some bacon too. Who knew I’d dream of my low carb diet after a few days on this confounded PSMF?

PSMF DAY 4 Stats

Weight: 211.8
Fat Percentage: 26.9 

I’ll say this much.  I am NOT that chipper anymore.  Admittedly I haven’t even had my EC stack which throws a little caffiene my way which makes me more tolerable in general but overall? Just not that chipper. Amazingly enough, I’m also not that hungry. I can’t explain that. I’m assuming my metabolism has slowed down to compensate for the lack of virtually anything in my system thereby easing hunger pains. 

It is only 8:35am though.

 I was really excited after a friend of mine had decided to jump on PSMF with me. I felt like I had someone to talk to and who was feeling my pain! Then yesterday he finally told me his fat percentage which was within normal range (right on the edge) but for him to reach his goal of 6 pack abs he’d have to drop down to about 144 pounds. 

He’s 5′9 and 3/4’s (He corrects me if I just say 5′9.)

I immediately told him exit the program. It’s not for him.  Yeah he COULD drop some extra fat but I couldn’t in good concience tell him he should fight his way down to 144.  He needs to get his lean muscle mass perhaps up to 144. Then we can talk again. As much as my g/f likes to think I’m crazy. My actions are based in deep logic. If I think something is just unhealthy then I won’t do it. I’m not trying to get myself or anyone else ill. 

So today wasn’t a “WHOA!” day on the scale.  Although Keeping a lovely percentage of lean mass while a nice dollop of fat dropped off me was nice. I don’t get too excited about these things because they say that this machines are all best guesses. Yes, I HAVE been going by it but I do grade it with a grain of salt. Do I wan’t it to go down? Absolutely.  But at the same time I’m sorta “Eh.” about it. I am happy that i used to be 31 percent when I was bigger and now I’m down to 26.9. I mean YES, that is virtually just 27 but I like the .9 part. Makes me feel like I’m moving forward!

So I’m here on Day 4. 21.8 pounds from goal.  I normally write I haven’t cut anybody, but I think that I could be on the edge today.

So I’ve dubbed the PSMF diet the Super Soldier Program.

“What the holy hell is that?”

Well, my non-geeky reader (Geeks are very familiar with said program), the Super Soldier program is what created the mythical Marvel Superheros “Captain America” and “Wolverine” if I remember correctly (Do you like how I pretended that I don’t know this crap like the back of my hand?) Caps super power (or what it should be when written by writers who pay attention the past) is that he is at the peak of human conditioning.  This is currently whats keeping me going on this ridiculous, ridiculous regimen.

Not that PSMF is ridiculous, but give the details to the average person and they will stare at you like you have 3 heads.  It’s possible they may stare at you harder than they would if you said you were on Atkins (and we ALL know how hard people stare at that.)

“How does it work?”

Oh, I just completely cut out carbs and fats and eat my body weight in grams of protein supplimented by whey protein,  multvitamins, fish oil and fiber tablets.

Yeah,  play that over in your head.  It SOUNDS nuts.

Hence why I like the term Super Soldier program way  more.  It sounds like I’m signing up for missions to save the country or something. I have a friend who has actually decided to do this WITH me (I think he liked the “Super Soldier” idea as well.) I assume after watching me drop 15 percent of my body weight in a few months has made him a believer.  Plus my ability to rattle off statistics, studies and facts like I was Rain Man.

I won’t lie to you folks, I think I may have unreasonable expectations of the Super Sold…er…PSMF.  In my mind, at the end of this I will be 190 pounds  and I might, just might be able to jump off of roof tops and fight crime.

“Elon that’s silly.”

I know its silly. But I believe it or better yet, I WANT to believe it. I’m doing weights (nothing crazy) plus I plan to run and bike.  I’m really trying to keep as much muscle mass as possible.  I’ve heard of people losing 30 pounds in a month.  It was  most likely a large amount of water weight, but I genuinely want to believe with diet, exercise and a severe enough calorie deficit, all while keeping ketosis and plenty of protein I can do 20 to 25 pounds in a month and a half.  Theoretically I should lose AT LEAST 12 pounds in that time. Following the whole 2 pounds a week thing. Going down to 202 would be one of the most amazing things for me I’ve experienced in my life.

But I like to think of myself as someone with logic. If I use Lyle McDonald’s information on calories released from fat, which states that you can have a caloric deficit of 31 calories multiplied by each pound of fat. I can have about 1813.5 deficit per day.

So Pounds of Fat (mine is 58.5) x 31 calories  x 7(days of the week)  x 6 (weeks I’ll be PSMF) /3500 (calories in a pound of fat) = 21.7 pounds of Fat.

But that’s only if everything went perfectly. Oh, and that I also kept 58.5 pounds of fat at me at all times.  When I drop to, lets say, 40 pounds of fat I’d only have the ability to sustain a 1240 calorie deficit.

Remind me once I get thin to never, ever, ever-ever-ever allow myself to gain this much weight. No man should be doing these calculations while just chilling out on a Wednesday afternoon.

PSMF Day 3 Stats

Weight: 212 pounds
Body Fat: 27.2

214 to 212 (or 211.4 or 212.6 if you listen to 4 different times I weighed in. I didn’t believe it so I KEPT weighing myself until it said something different. Funny enough, the last weigh in was 212 which is about the middle. It was like the scale was like “Fine, lets compromise.”)

“I’m” fully aware you can’t lose that much fat in a day so no one needs to alert me of this.  I assume (especially with the 211, which is what I’m gonna think in my HEAD) that it’s more water. Which I’m AMAZED by. How is that possible? I’ve been ketogenic for months now. How in holy hell could I be losing so much water when, theoretically I shouldn’t have gained that much?

I don’t have the science on this, yet, but I’m assuming that a crazy amount of sodium outweighs a ketogenic diet’s ability to act as a natural diuretic.  I did gain 5 pounds while in full blast ketosis, basically in a day. I knew that was water. But what I didn’t take into consideration is “What if I had been losing weight (i.e. fat) while retaining water?” The scale wouldn’t move or it would even go up, and I wouldn’t be aware of the actual fat loss.

Again, this is me theorizing. But man-o-chevitz, it sounds reasonable.

I’m NOT dehydrated because I’m drinking plenty of water (3/4ths to a gallon a day now.) My body is just letting go I guess. I never considered sodium as the cause of a plateau. If you just keep gaining a bit of water cause of various things (for me bacon, smoked fish, diet sodas and other salty stuff) you could be hiding your own progress. Then your plateau would “break” one day when you decide to get a bit more stringent and cut out all the nonsense i.e. you’d flush the extra sodium out.

I need to do reasearch on this to see if this is a solid argument. I think we’ve all read that we lose so much water weight and that sodium can make you gain weight, but the theory is your fat loss is stalled during this time. I’m starting to think maybe not.

And with today being day 3 of my PSMF. No one has been cut yet. Hooray.

PSMF – DAY 2 Stats

Weight: 214.0 pounds
Body Fat: 27.5%

Well I wasn’t quite expecting this.

On my first full day on PSMF I went from 219.4 to 214.0. Wowwee.  I knew I had packed on some water weight but in the back of my mind I was freaking out thinking it was actually some fat. I know that I’ve been watching the carbs, like HARDCORE, and as Dr. Michael R. Eades says (Yes, I quote Dr. Eades all the time. No, he’s NOT paying me – Although I need to try to make that happen) most people can enjoy a caloric surplus while low carbing and gain nothing. They won’t lose weight, but certainly won’t gain. I was enjoying my share of food when I went up 5 pounds and I’ve been taught by society that eating bacon and steak weill make me fat. Even if all the studying I’ve done in the past few months says otherwise, this concept is deep rooted in my psyche. I have moments of fear. I’m doing something stupid, I think.

But then the scale and my body tells me otherwise.

I’m not expecting any more big jumps like that.  As I said in an earlier post, I had weighed in at 214 about a week ago and didn’t believe it. Thought it was dehydration.  Lo and behold, after drinking a gallon of water yesterday I’m back to 214. I feel good about it.  Today at 11am the only thing I’ve ingested are my suppliments which include:

Fish Oil
Multi Vitamin
Fiber Pills
EC Stack
Sesamin
Tonalin CLA

I will fully admit that I’m not sure all of these things are necessary. The Sesamin and Tonalin are simply because I’ve heard a lot of good things about them So I’m trying it. THe multi-vitamin, fiber, and fish oil are very helpful when doing something so protein heavy. The EC Stack is to give me a bit of a boost.  Energy and Appetite suppression helps a big deal when doing something like this. I do fear that it might interfere somehow so I plan to do a little more research to find out but as of now, I’m not hungry and I’m alert. Awesome things in my book.  I gotta say, if for nothing else, I’m appreciative of this PSMF because it’s showed me that my 214 weight wasn’t a fluke. COUNT IT.

So as of now? I’m not going to cut anyone…still. I’m amazed.

So I’ve been eating a ridiculous amount of sodium.

Lean Protein. We will be one.

I wasn’t really paying attention to it, but I do  love Smoked Salmon and Bacon. Carb free? Yes, but JESUS that’s a lot of sodium. After a few days of that one day I literally swung 5 pounds upwards. That’s right, in  1 flonkin’ day! I realized this was water but it didn’t make me feel better. Even if was 100 percent water I would’ve preferred a swing of maybe 2 or 3 pound upwards, because hopefully I was moving a few pounds downwards.

Plus: Have I mentioned my G/f? She really, desperately wants me to stop worrying about every minutia of what I eat. She knows while I keep fighting to get my weight down that I can’t do that but she would really like it if I did. Summers coming and she wants us to go out and have a good time! Hell, “I” want to go out and have a good time.  I’d love a night where I don’t think “I’m slowing my weight loss.” The only way that’ll EVER happen is if no longer have any weight to lose.

And then through my googling I ran into PSMF.

What’s that you say? PSMF(Protein Sparing Modified Fast) is a method for quick fat loss while maintaining as much lean muscle mass as possible.  It’s used for people who have a lot of weight to lose.  I don’t have 300 pounds but dammit I do have a good 30 to 40 go to if I want to be what doctors consider healthy. I used a BMI calculator this morning and it told me that I was IN FACT obese. I can’t even try the excuse  “But I’m really muscular” because I’m not working out like I should. I do believe I have a higher amount of muscle than some but not enough to make me obese when I’m really Fits McGee.

So “Obese Elon” has decided to give the whole PSMF a go and then go back to the Low Carb lifestyle. Low Carbing has definitely  gotten me down a few pounds but I’ve done things that sometimes hinders it from really knocking out the other pounds I want gone. I’ve done it 3 times (This time being the longest I’ve stayed on, and the smallest I’ve been in my adult life.) When you start-stop-start again it makes it harder to keep that weight dropping. Your body is trained to keep that weight. I need to retrain it.

And lets be honest. I’m impatient.

Obviously its been working and I would continue to drop pounds for the next few months at a steady rate but I’m not built that way. I have moments of intense focus and then I zone out. For me, I’ve learned to use those moments to get the most done. Whether it be learning, exercising or anything – I attack it and try to get the most out of it. I’ve embraced Low Carb eating and LOVE it. At the same time, while most people LC’ing can eat alot and not gain weight, weight loss is another ball of wax.

So here I go.

Today is Day 1 of my PSMF. I doubt I can do more than 2 weeks to a month of it because the regimen is pretty rough. About 1 gram of protein per pound you weigh. Try to cut out all fats and as for carbs? Ha! Not even a slight option. For me, who believes so much in the low carb lifestyle, this seems reasonable. I read a post by Dr. Eades about his usage of PSMF and how it spawned his first book. The web has people discussing it all over and their time on it. So I’m willing to give it a try.

Don’t be surprised if in 2 days I just type a string of curses and use it as my post.  I hope I’ll glide through this but theres a distinct possibility that I may cut someone.

Day 1 Stats

Start Weight: 219.4  (Yup,  stupid water shift)
Fat Percentage: 27.6 (According to my fickle scale)