A2C: Allergic to Carbs

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.

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)