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.

I realize I haven’t really given any parameters on what or how I’m doing anything. (Thanks Gabriella)

So here’s a couple of quick notes.

• My weigh in’s are all first thing in the morning.  I get up, empty my blatter and go weigh in.  When I say “Day <insert number>  stats ” that means I woke up, went to the scale and then probably went and wrote that blog entry. I use the same scale as well.  I do own 2 (I own 3 but use 2) and I will use the 2nd to confirm a weight if I’m a little confused (Be it high or low.) But I’m counting everything off of one scale.
• I  read somewhere that someone thought they were turning into a chicken on this diet because they ate SOOOO much chicken breast and eggs. I took that as my cue to eat a lot of chicken breast and eggs. Thats basically all I eat. Eggs in various different forms (Sometimes I eat the egg yolks, sometimes I don’t) and chicken breast, seasoned with OUT salt (theres a bunch of different ways to flavor it that has less sodum than 1/4th a teaspoon of salt) So eggs, chicken breast and flonkin’ whey protein (vanilla). I listed my supplements before so no need to do that AGAIN.’I have a friend who is a vegetarian and he’s now following this regimen as well and since that I’ve been researching a bunch of fish. Shrimp looks to be my friend with a decent amount of protein. I’m also a big fan of Tilapia (288 calories for 4 oz with 22 grams of protein.) I haven’t introduced those into my diet yet, but both are on standby.
• I weight train and do situps. I keep threatening to run but I keep remembering how much I hate running. I was doing it pretty consistently for a while. I’m told after a point you reach a zen like state where you can’t NOT imagine running. I never reached said point.  Hence my weight training and situps. I dont do anything nuts like 100 situps. I read that you only need to do 3 sets of 10 reps of situps.  If  its too easy, add weights. Thats what I do. I have a 15 pound weight on my chest and do the 3 reps. I use dumb bells  in various ways to work out my upper body. My legs have crazy muscle.  I’ll be hitting them again soon but they can relax a bit.

My g/f lovingly asked me yesterday “Are you getting enough calories?” to which I replied “My God, I hope not.” The whole idea of a PSMF is the F part. The FAST part. When you do this the concept is to deprive the body of enough calories that it has no choice but to dip into you fat stores, but at the same time, to counter act its desire to catabolize lean muscle with large intakes of protein daily. Past that you are IN FACT fasting. You’re not trying to enjoy wonderful meals and such. Its something I had to get through my own head but I think I got it.

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.

One of my biggest problems with anyone hearing that I’m low carbing and NOW PSMF‘ing is that they think I’m being ridiculous.

“But you don’t look fat! Eat a piece of cake and relax.”

Fatty McFat Elon and his understanding G/F I have to be around 260. - Oct. 2006

This phrase is probably one of the main reasons I allowed my weight to go as crazy as it did. No one would flat out say “You’re fat.” I mean, yes, I DO have eyes so I should have been able to see for myself,  but it’s very hard to look at yourself realistically. Who wants to say “Yup, I’m a big fat ass.” But guess what? I was a big fat ass. I’m not thin now! But do you know how many people tell me I am? They tell me I look great!

I mean, I am adorable, but still. I’m 25 pounds overweight.  40 POUNDS OVER WEIGHT! (According to the stupid healthy male weight that you can google and find on a few hundred websites. I’m still shooting for 190 and when I reach it I’ll tell all those sites to suck it )

I have a larger build. This is true.  But I don’t believe everyones skewed vision of my size is due to the fact that I just wear fat so fabulously. It’s because in today’s America, we don’t know what fat is anymore.

In a land where so many people are overweight, some being ridiculously gigantic, the idea of whats heavy and

whats not has changed. It hasn’t really changed when it comes to our health, but its changed when it comes to the perception of what’s healthy.  Currently I’m at 214  pounds and I can’t tell you how many people think that I’m fine now. I don’t need to lose any weight at ALL.

But some people said that about me when I was 252 pounds. A good friend of mine said he didn’t know I was fat until I wasn’t fat.  Upon comparing old me to new me he stood in amazement.

And thats whats going to happen AGAIN when I drop down to 190.

When I was fresh out of H.S. I was living on my own and had a brand new job that was paying me pretty well for an 18 year old kid. I remember when i first moved up to about 196 one of my co-workers made a joke I was getting fat. Everyone said she was nuts, I was just really thin before so I was finally filling out.  BUT SHE WAS RIGHT.  One of my friends Mom noticed i gained a few pounds around the same time.  I dropped the weight, through sheer luck cause I surely wasn’t trying and my friends mom said “You look so much healthier.”

She was also a Doctor.

I remember mentioning this to people and everyone thought she was nuts. Don’t pay any attention to her, they said. You looked and look great, they said.  Dear lord, why did I ever listen to them.

Dr. Eades (I know you were wondering when I would figure out a way to bring up my favorite low carb Dr. Well here ya go) wrote about how people often miscalculate how fat they are by FAR. I think not only do we miscalculate how fat we are but also how fat OTHERS are. Most times its just not nice to say someone is fat. I don’t know why, but its apart of our societies way of dealing. I think it may be in fact be our fatal flaw (besides hating people for ridiculous reasons, destorying the environment, not being better versed in our government, damn I could go on for a while) We need to acknowledge obesity outside of the 10 o’clock news segment where they show fat asses and say “The epidemic is rising!” We’re fat! You know fat people! Don’t try to make them feel better about their bodies. If they ask tell them the truth.

And for the love of God be honest with yourself. If you know you have a high fat percentage and that you are IN FACT overweight for your size, don’t wait for someone to tell you. YOU KNOW IT. Deal with it.

I’m overweight (I went from obese to overweight according to the BMI calculator.) I know it.   I will do everything in my power to not be. I bought a scale that tells me my fat percentage. If I’m overweight and 12 percent body fat, I’ll totally be fine with it THEN. If I’m overweight at 27 percent body fat (As I am now) SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

And thats all I have to say about that.

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)

So last night I went out with my g/f and a friend of hers to very nice french restaurant.

Her friend hadn’t seen me in a long time and exclaimed “Oh my God! You look like a different person! You look so good!” I’m always torn with my feelings on comments like this. On one hand, yes, I have dropped a significant amount of weight so my appearance is different and obviously should be noticed but on the other hand…did you just say I looked horrific before? That’s what I heard.  I’m really surprised at the amount of people who saw me before, and thought “That is a hot mess” but never actually said anything about it. They just secretly thought to themselves “That man is a sad creature.”

Or never thought about it even a little bit.  Heh, I have to remind my ego that sometimes people just aren’t thinking about me.

So during the course of the evening there was just various moments when I would twist my face just a little when it came to a food choice.  Although I stick to the lifestyle pretty well ( Do you like how I refer to Low Carbing as a “lifestyle,  as if  I’m a swinger or something? ‘Hey man, if you can handle my LIFESTYLE then you can’t handle me!) I don’t have it down packed. For instance: My g/f makes comments that I won’t go out with her.

And she’s right to an extent.

I like to know exactly what I’m eating.  Sauces and such scare me. You can only ask but so much “What is in this?” before your waiter decides to PUT something in it(If you catch my drift.) I much prefer cooking at home. Not to mention I’m a Badman in the kitchen. I don’t enjoy most dining establishments as much as  I do my own food.  But if I would like to continue dating this lovely young lady I better work something out.

You know what people LOVE to do now? Tell me that its totally okay for me to eat something that I don’t want to eat. For example:  I ordered Steak Frites.  Now you probably know that that’s steak and fries. I, with my brilliant mind, decided that steak frites was actually steak cut up in the shape of fries! Probably sold with a bit of salad. A delightfully low carb meal!

Then a crap load of fries arrived.

My g/f’s friend quickly told me “Oh its FINE! Enjoy yourself! You look great. It’s Friday! Live a little!”

I did NOT cut her, although I did consider it.

I realize that she thinks she’s helping, but Us as Low Carbers know she’s not.  A lot of people will tell you what you can and can’t do. Try to rationalize TO YOU why its okay for you to have those beers or that plate of fries.  Did I mention she was very thin? That’s the best part, when someone who isn’t heavy, and doesn’t have any food issues tells you its okay to have something.

It’s something that I struggle with constantly. Being told I can try something when I say no. It can become a terribly awkward situation. Occasionally people will put food near my mouth trying to get me to eat it! And when I move way I’m an asshole and just totally crazy with this whole “no carbs” thing. Yes. I’m crazy. You’re doing the equivelent of  mouth rape with food to me, but “I’m” crazy.

My G/f has learned to leave me be  (for the most part. She still has her Carb Rape-ey moments.) She’s even learned to step in when people really start pushing me. Can you imagine if someone who was an alcoholic had people trying to pour whiskey down their throat? It would be horrific, but putting cake in my face is fine.

As hard as it is, I think we have to explain in clear terms to people that its not okay to do this. I don’t care if  “You” think it won’t hurt.  Sometimes it won’t!  A bite of cake doesn’t have enough carbs in (most times) to destroy my ketosis. But guess what? That’s not the point. It’s about what I’ve decided to do.  It’s my choice. My body. I don’t give a shit if you think I’m crazy. I’ll just have to BE crazy with my rock solid glucose readings and lovely weight loss.  Sign me up for the insane asylum but for christs sake I don’t want any fries/cake/beer/anything I say no to.

My name is Elon James White and I approve this message.

First off, I apologize for the title.  I can already see someone freaking out about how A2C is somehow a terrorist sympathy site and should be boycotted.  Breathe you crazy sensitive folks. For those of us in the battle for weight loss we understand the idea of water weight being an evil, evil thing.

When you first lose weight on a Low Carb regimen people are quick to alert you that you haven’t actually lost any weight. It was all water.  That’s what Low Carb diets do, make you lose water.  Not fat. NEVER FAT.  You’ll gain it back soon as you eat some of those healthy life sustaining carbs.  Got it?

Low Carbing does cause you to lose water weight, its true. But personally, I don’t want to walk around with 10 pounds of excess water in my system. Fact is carbs cause you to retain a bit of water. Ketosis causes you to lose water.  So yes, you have just lost water weight when you first jump on that new lifestyle of yours. But that’s not the only cause of water retention.  Sodium, dehydration and a few other things can all play a part in you keeping a few extra pounds you’d prefer to have off of you. This is one of the biggest problems when you possibly have a cheat day or a cheat weekend. Perhaps your resolve wasn’t as…er…resovlve-ey as you would have preferred.

Next thing you know you stepped on the scale and you gained8 pounds in a day!

HOLY CRAP. You’ve gone and done it now. Ruined your diet. Might as well just eat because you already gained 8 pounds. Whats the worst that could happen at this point?

This was my theory and the theory of  a lot of folks who are trying to lose the weight. And to this I say STOP! STOP RIGHT NOW.

Quick question. Do you know how many calories 1 pound is? You probably do. Just in case – It’s 3500.  What did you eat? Really think about it. How many calories did you eat? If the scale went up 8 pounds. That would imply you ate 28,000 calories in order to make that happen.  Is it possible to eat that much? I guess, but I’m betting you didn’t. I’m betting  you probably were closer to 4000 cals.  That’s what I’ve noticed I’ve done when I decide to rage out with food.  Its NEVER 28,000 calories. So inhale! You didn’t destroy your diet. You’re retaining water. For 1 of a few different reasons your body has picked up some water.

Have you been drinking enough water in the first place? Dehydration causes water retention. In a cruel twist of science, the body lacking water causes it to keep every ounce it can get its hand on. You could actually drop the water by drinking MORE water. Same with sodium. It’ll take a few days possibly but you will drop that excess water if you don’t do anything crazy like giving up and going out for Pizza and a 17 beers. (Mmmm. Pizza and Beer. Whoops. Sorry.)

When I type posts like this, it’s really just me telling me to relax. I noticed a 5 pound swing on the scale in the past day or 2 and I know I didn’t eat 5 pounds of food. I literally counted it up and realized that freaking out would be crazy. This has happened to be me before.  Long as I just decided to watch my sodium and drink plenty of water, I drop back down in no time.  But it’s nice to say it write it out and read the clear, clear logic and then go about my day with out dropping into the fetal position rocking back and forth and saying “I’m getting fat!”

Not that I’ve ever done that.

I love food. I don’t think this could ever be argued. Especially after seeing almost 260 pound Elon it would be hard to really question. But now that I’ve been slimming down (The scale said 214 this morning. I’m not updating my weight on the sidebar there until I get a 2nd or 3rd day weigh in. I’d be too happy) I’m always asked what do I eat, how do I eat it, what do I cook?

This past weekend I gave everyone a taste

There was a bit of confusion from some. “Elon, can you eat anything you cooked here?” and the answer? Not really. Some of it I can, but things like the Vanilla Buttercream Expresso Brownie drizzled with a white chocolate ganache? Not so much. But I will cook it and serve it to others.

“BUT CARBS ARE EVIL! YOUR BLOG IS CALLED ALLERGIC TO CARBS!”

Yes. Yes it is called that, thank you for being so observant. But just because I feel I have issues with carbs doesn’t mean society does. Okay, perhaps a lot of society does, but not EVERYONE. My good friend Aaron ate 2 of those Expresso Brownies and he’s thin as a rail. He always has been. I have a tons of friends who keep a very healthy weight and lack health problems in general while enjoying a few cocktails along with some fries or other carb laden stuff. They’re fine.

I’m not.

I have various issues. Being diabetic and overweight is not a very carb friendly lifestyle. Gary Taubes, author of “Good Calories, Bad Calories” puts a lot of interesting ideas out there about obesity. One of which is that its a disorder (this is an idea that quite a few Obesity experts believe as well). I certainly believe it strictly on anecdotal evidence. I see friends who drink and eat and are perfectly fine. I have a friend who’s fat, and i mean WAAAY fatter than I was and yet he has no health issues. He’s not diabetic or ANYTHING.

There are a lot of roads traveled in this world when it comes to nutrition, diet, and health. The idea is to know your path. I didn’t have a few drinks with friends yesterday because for me, I know i’ll gain 10 pounds of water weight. It’ll drop in a day or 2, but who wants to go through all of that. But I would NOT stop someone from having a drink or giving them one of my stacks of beers i have in my house (bought a lot right before i started dropping the weight.) I’m on my own path to a better health and a happy life.   I enjoy conversing with people who are on a similar path and  iI have no problem sharing information with someone who may be suffering from the same crap I was . My mom, who IS overweight and diabetic gets an earful from me about this stuff. Aaron, the skinny dude eating 2 brownies? Not so much.

Low Carbers PICK YOUR BATTLES.