BMR!!! Eating To your BMR... No Matter What!

[Zer]

Follow Jake's post to find the thread that is bursting with bacon!

Originally Posted by Jake

BLT's in a bacon bowl.

Not sure how this bacon bowl is created - inside or outside a form - to crisp a bowl that can carry all sorts of fillings. Salads and eggs and chocolate-p'butter mousse, not all at once, of course. I see this bacon bowl as a great way to eat anything!

Just visited NotMartha-dot-com to see more about creating deep and shallow bacon bowls. Found this hint:

If you run bacon under cold water before frying, it won't shrink. I bet if you refrigerate or put the bacon cups in the freezer to get really cold before baking, it'll reduce shrinkage.

Also some notes on using Canadian bacon as a base to hold runny fillings, with a weave of bacon strips woven to create a basket effect. All formed by laying bacon OVER a form to bake until crisp. Wow!

[hummingbird11]

YUM!

Hey, your BMR thread is now a "sticky"!
Hope you don't mind, I asked Cheri to do it cause this thread is so fab.

Originally Posted by Zer

Don't miss this thread about Bacon-Kraut balls! Sure looks like a tasty way to celebrate the 4th of July! Okay, I'm totally a fan of kraut - with or without hotdogs. Just remember the caraway seeds that plump up so good in kraut! Oh, I do like caraway seeds!

[Ilpirata]

Hey, your BMR thread is now a "sticky"!
Hope you don't mind, I asked Cheri to do it cause this thread is so fab.

Do you mean our thread here?
WOW.
Thats rad.

SO, I just want to report that I should have sucessfully avoided my typical way undereating on fridays - by already being at over 1500 cals! I had a huge bunless cheeseburger at lunch and a salad with cheese and bacon. Splurged at gordon biersch and now I'm ahead of the game no matter WHERE I end up later.

woo hoo.

I haven't had a succesful BMR weekend in a few weeks! This one will be though.

[theislandgirl]

Originally Posted by Zer

Follow Jake's post to find the thread that is bursting with bacon! Not sure how this bacon bowl is created - inside or outside a form - to crisp a bowl that can carry all sorts of fillings. Salads and eggs and chocolate-p'butter mousse, not all at once, of course. I see this bacon bowl as a great way to eat anything!

Just visited NotMartha-dot-com to see more about creating deep and shallow bacon bowls. Found this hint: Also some notes on using Canadian bacon as a base to hold runny fillings, with a weave of bacon strips woven to create a basket effect. All formed by laying bacon OVER a form to bake until crisp. Wow!

geez, I'm getting a band, as in a musical band (and I think they're about 17... on average), at that website. I'll go do a websearch...

ps: never did get to see the kitty pics, there's something about the security on that link, did anyone other than Zer, the poster, get to look at it? Allo?

[theislandgirl]

Originally Posted by Zer

Follow Jake's post to find the thread that is bursting with bacon! Not sure how this bacon bowl is created - inside or outside a form - to crisp a bowl that can carry all sorts of fillings. Salads and eggs and chocolate-p'butter mousse, not all at once, of course. I see this bacon bowl as a great way to eat anything!

Just visited NotMartha-dot-com to see more about creating deep and shallow bacon bowls. Found this hint: Also some notes on using Canadian bacon as a base to hold runny fillings, with a weave of bacon strips woven to create a basket effect. All formed by laying bacon OVER a form to bake until crisp. Wow!

geez, I'm getting a band, as in a musical band (and I think they're about 17... on average), at that website. I'll go do a websearch... a ha! it's a dog org...

ps: never did get to see the kitty pics, there's something about the security on that link, did anyone other than Zer, the poster, get to look at it? Allo?

[Zer]

Sorry about the wrong link for bacon bowls. Dot-org (not not-com) is correct.

Jax93 has a couple of threads at LCFriends with kitty pix. Ask mods why you cannot access them? They show a magnficent Siamese momcat and four fuzzy babies that are growing up beautifully. Maybe try tracking Jax93 threads???

[Zer]

Originally Posted by Ilpirata

I just want to report that I should have successfully avoided my typical way undereating on fridays - by already being at over 1500 cals! I had a huge bunless cheeseburger at lunch and a salad with cheese and bacon. Splurged at gordon biersch and now I'm ahead of the game no matter WHERE I end up later.

Sounds like a PLAN and I hope your brain is so well fueled up that you play better than ever and clean up at poker! Yay!!!

I'm doing all right for today - with 3 HB eggs and 2 cans of tuna (no mayo) in me and some strawberries and banana slices as a dinner treat. We'll see, on Saturday morn weigh-in, if my body is handling my intake well. We'll see.

At least I'm managing to eat more, as the heat dissipates and I get busy fixing food to have on hand. Still working on today's water quota, but I'll make it!

[Cyard]

all. Working diligently on getting back on track. Here's today's numbers.

grams cals %total
Total: 1883
Fat: 147 1320 70%
Sat: 45 402 21%
Poly: 44 398 21%
Mono: 49 442 23%
Carbs: 39 109 6%
Fiber: 11 0 0%
Protein: 114 456 24%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

[Sybilizedliving]

Thanks for the welcome back - it's good to be back.

Three days back and my 2 pounds of holiday gain are gone. Whoop whoop!

Boy, does that bacon bowl look yummy....

[hummingbird11]

yes ma'am!

go YOU!

Originally Posted by Ilpirata

Do you mean our thread here?
WOW.
Thats rad.

SO, I just want to report that I should have sucessfully avoided my typical way undereating on fridays - by already being at over 1500 cals! I had a huge bunless cheeseburger at lunch and a salad with cheese and bacon. Splurged at gordon biersch and now I'm ahead of the game no matter WHERE I end up later.

woo hoo.

I haven't had a succesful BMR weekend in a few weeks! This one will be though.

[Zer]

395.8 looks like a good loss for June, after a very bOunCy month. If it holds, I shall claim a 7# loss for June. Tomorrow morning's weight will set June's loss.

Dehydration? Probably a factor. I drink a lot, but this heat really pulls a lot out of me. And I'm not able to access food easily, so my eating is down - a lot. In heat, that's all right, as appetite diminishes for me when I'm poaching inside my skin. Today's eats? Not sure. Maybe some HB eggs, some tuna-no-mayo. Did that the other day and found it tolerable. Tuna in olive oil with Mrs.Dash to season it, not a bad way to snack through a day, all day long. I can DO this!

[Zer]

Check out a new thread, on positive approach to Atkins, to Zen, to life!

[Ilpirata]

395.8 looks like a good loss for June, after a very bOunCy month. If it holds, I shall claim a 7# loss for June. Tomorrow morning's weight will set June's loss.

WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOooo!

Freaking Awesome Girl!

[retroworx]

Originally Posted by theislandgirl

Hey, missy! If there was an emoticon for that, I'd have found it ages ago! I do want to say that sometimes it actually takes more than a month to heal a metabolism, and also that (going from the LC Project from 2001 -- see, I've been working it for longer and with even more frustration if that's possible, so I hear your pain ), dairy is waaay often a culprit...I faintly remember, back in the pre-menopausal days when I first lost 56 pounds on this approach in a year and a half, 10 years ago now, there were at least 3 2-3 month "stalls" in there, believe it or not.

I'm on track in my 2008 version of my LC Project for all of my 9th day now, and what I'm doing is using a range, with BMR at the low end (accommodating my probably lowered metabolism a little bit) and halfway to the HB point at the high end. Works out to 1726 and 2050 -- I don't go to the high end of the range simply on the theory that my older now post-menopausal system just isn't using that amount of energy. And definitely let the cals move around a little within the range so your bod doesn't get into a set pattern.

Hey, it only really needs recalculation once a month or so or if the numbers change (go down!) -- whichever comes first. It's not as complicated or intimidating as it might seem... I do know that, for me, I was avoiding this amount of "work" for a very long time, to the point I've reached my highest weight ever and am hiding in the bathroom! My choice, go on like this, or buckle down and do some work for a while. In some way, it can get no worse, and in another way, it's actually getting to be easier because I've got something I can get a handle on, can control, that being this self-imposed program.

Not a lot of anything so far for me, but I'm going to stick it out and not change anything in terms of the approach for at least 3 months; I've promised myself that so that I can really see if there's something needs changing. Scientific method-wise, you've got to change one thing at a time to truly see results, AND you need a big enough or long enough time to work it.

So, I don't know if all this is any help to you, but it sure makes me feel better to articulate it...Hugs, Retro!

Thanks so much for your thoughtful post, Jude, and for sharing your experiences (and scientific, as always ) approach with me. I am working now on mixing up the high vs low cal days (within my range), as discussed, and will take it from there. ('Course the next thing to figure out would be where my "sweet spot" is regarding fat percentages, but that's a whole new can of worms for another day -- as Scarlett O'Hara would say, "I'll think about that tomorrow.")

I mentioned the "work" of cycling calories and probably should say it's more "counterintuitive" and "inconvenient" to my lifestyle and way of working this eating plan. I'm one of those who finds themselves pretty much eating the same foods everyday -- I actually don't like cooking much (now, BAKING! is a different story ) so I tend to make a giant batch of one or two things for the week and then just reheat as I go. Also, I log everything I eat into Fitday and it's just so much easier to plan my day around meals and macros I've already established. And then, of course, there's the head thing. It's hard for me to have a repressed caloric or fat mindset one day, and then turn that off the next. (Well, the swings within the BMR range are not really that extreme, but that's what if feels like to my compulsive brain, anyway.)

Still, I plod along, ever hopeful

Keep me up-to-date on your 3 month experiment -- I'm interested in everyone's BMR results as I'm anxious to see how that will work for me as well.

Thanks again, and see ya' over in the ice cream thread

[Zer]

Fixed myself 40g protein in WPP at 10:30am and ate a few BranRye crax to get fiber into me. Then I used that energy to give me the strength to get to the kitchen, cook up a pot of eggs, open a couple of cans of tuna in olive oil. Sweated like a pig at the effort to stand up for the 15mins that it takes eggs to cook up, but I never tasted anything as fine as a HB egg with a bit of salt on it. Peeled and ate one as soon as I got back to bed. Put 3 HB eggs in the fridge for later or tomorrow. Those three HB eggs are chilling while I'm enjoying the warm eggs that came back to the room with me.

Today's food: Two scoops of WPP, four BranRye crax. More Bran crax to go as I build up fiber during the day. Four eggs. Two cans of tuna in olive oil, plain, doctored with Mrs.Dash Garlic-Herb and Lemon-Pepper (to take up the olive oil and lift the tuna to a new high plateau). Bare basics. Just to get solid food into me. Nothing fancy. But protein to keep me going and enough bran crax to help mo-o-ove things along nicely.

While I was putting my eggs into the fridge, I snagged a frozen pack to put on the back of my neck, to cool me off. Feels good. Wrapped in a towel to protect my neck from the frigid gel. So nice to cool down, after pouring sweat as if I was actually working. Just standing, waiting for eggs to cook. That's all. It had my hands and arms so wet I was slick; my face and hair totally wet, dripping. Hope I burned a couple of calories while I was doing that for, like, a half hour. Not a lot of time, actually, but sure felt like a workout to this weary old bod.

Thanks for the good wishes from all who are lending support from afar - for the energy to make my way down the hall, into the kitchen, to collect some food and find my way back to bed. Feel as if I've taken care of food today. Might do a WPP for a nightcap, to get another 40g protein into me. Might.

[AuntieWie]

Jude, that post was just what I needed. I'm so tired of being stuck, but you convinced me to keep it up for a while. I'm post-menopausal, hypo-thyroid, and I've been eating lots of "healthy whole grains" all my life. And I've been on a nearly permanent diet, while I continued to get fatter and fatter. I'm going to listen to you and give this more time. Besides, I'm convinced this is the healthiest way to eat, and at least I stopped gaining! lol

And Zer, that's fantastic! Way to go! Every single step is a victory!

[Zer]

396.8 is my official July 1 weight, after a really bOunCy June. I'll take a 6# loss for June and try harder in July to make better LC choices and to eat up to my BMR:2423cals, no matter what! Okay, some days I barely find food to eat, but I believe that eating too little DOES contribute to slow weight loss.

I just talked to Trader Joe, to ask if they will deliver me case lots of canned fish. No luck, by phone. I may go in person, to see if I can get a manager to do this for a disabled senior citizen. Worth a try. I'm also talking to a local agency about hiring a helper to work with me a few hours a week, doing things I cannot do. Having canned fish on hand enables me to manage, in a way, what I figure is a way of providing myself a LC menu. So it goes.

Having to hire help, to ask for help, is difficult, but it is clear that I need an able-bodied assistant just now. Hard to ask for help, but I am severely limited in mobility. Even with a car, I am not getting around as much as I need to. Fear really inhibits me. Pain hurts. So...it's time to bite the bullet, pay $20/hr to have assistance.

Incidentally, I do not know when last I weighed under 400# - maybe a while back, maybe decades ago. Not sure. Will prowl old journals to see what I can run down. Some years I did not weigh at all. Now I'm accountable!

I believe that owning my own scale has made me more accountable. Yay, ME!

[Ilpirata]

Zer I'm so happy for you! And I think the decision to get a little help may just work out fantastic. If nothing else having someone get out and run those errands to keep your low carb pantry stocked will be super.

I personally am off to Oklahoma City for a Young People in AA Convention. I'll be gone Thursday through Monday. I've packed nuts and low carb shaks and jerky and string cheese and will be frequenting OK City's steak houses! Everyone hang in there while I'm gone. I'll do my best to keep up the BMR eating and will miss you all.

[Sybilizedliving]

Great job Zer! And, I agree, getting some help sounds like it will really benefit you. Just think.....as you continue to lose weight, you'll need less help! Too bad you don't know a high school or college kid who is looking to make a few extra bucks....it'd be a great opportunity for someone.

[Zer]

Originally Posted by Sybilizedliving

Great job Zer! And, I agree, getting some help sounds like it will really benefit you. Just think.....as you continue to lose weight, you'll need less help! Too bad you don't know a high school or college kid who is looking to make a few extra bucks....it'd be a great opportunity for someone.

I thought so too, but I've not had any luck paying anyone to do errands for me. My neighbors are busy, so do not offer very often. I do ask a lot of anyone who asks if they can pick up stuff at TJoe's - maybe I ask too much. Possibly asking for a full load of groceries gives some folks pause. But I figure that's what I want/need, so if anyone asks, I give 'em my full list of canned fish and mayo. Not a lot of other stuff. Mostly just the fish and mayo.

Knew a woman whose job fell off appreciably and I offered to pay $50/wk for a five hours of her time a week. She got all caught up in how to count time and asked me to provide some paperwork that an employer provides. Got too hairy for me to cope with. I just wanted to supply cash to her in return for a few hours of reliable assistance weekly. I think she did not want to be at my beck and call. She occasionally offers to do a favor, but will not take cash. Others do the same. So I have not found anyone willing to accept my cash in return for delivering steady service. Odd, isn't it? I've asked, but I have not found what you suggest. Maybe calling a college job office would be a good idea. Schools probably would welcome a chance for a student to get a tidy $50 cash each week. Wonder if I can locate a connection. I'd like to help someone who can make good use of $50/wk, figuring 5hrs at $10/hr is a fair rate to pay for assistance such as what I want.

Local churches? Might also know someone, maybe a senior citizen who is more able than I am, who would be able and willing to do what I want done.

Meanwhile, I shall talk to an agency that provides people who have been checked for criminal records and are bonded. That sounds safe to me.

Safety first, right, as we look for help from strangers...safety first. Always.

[duece49424]

Zer -great job - keep fighting! You're on the right track and I know it's a very bumpy road. Life is pretty tough, but, we need to be tougher...take care..

[Zer]

Got curious to see how my food for today is stacking up, so I tossed it into FitDay. Looks as if I have room for some VCO+cacao later today to get up to my BMR:2423cals!

Calories Eaten Today
..........grams . cals .......%total
Total: 1780cals
Fat: 111 995 .............58%
Sat: 26 230 13%
Poly: 5 41 2%
Mono: 26 234 14%
Carbs: 42 131 ...............8%
Fiber: 10 0 0%
Protein: 149 597 ........35%
- - - - -
Today's Foods
Food Name (Serving Size) . Cals . Fat . Carb . Prot
Pumpkin seeds, spicy (3oz) 420 33 15 18
TJ tuna in olive oil (12oz) 570 30 0 70
Egg, whole, boiled (3) 232 16 2 19
Olive oil (2Tbs) 239 27 0 0
ALG's vanilla WPP (2x30g/scoop) 238 3 13 40
Cacao, raw (1Tbs) 60 1 9 3
Espresso (1 Tbs crystals) 21 0 4 0
Totals 1780 111 42 .........149gProtein
-----
Stats: 5'10"; 64; 508.7/396.8/199
WOE: Atkins+ALG; BMR:2423cals; 182gProtein; 128ozWater
432.4(2/8) 426.2(3/8) 413.2(4/8) 402.2(6/8)

I've been a bit short on food lately, although I am a believer in eating up to my BMR (no matter what). Health issues are slowing me down, as I spend time in bed, hoping my right knee will shape up and get strong enough to bear my weight as I favor a hinky left hip for 2yrs now. Got to get this weight off, fast. My body is not up to carrying the sort of weight that I've carried for more than half my life. Two years in bed now. That's a serious chunk of time for someone who hopes to make up for lost time once I get down to a fighting weight, a weight that will permit me to travel and to enjoy things that I never did when I was a workaholic. Would love to see a double-patty cheeseburger but don't see myself getting up and out to the car to drive to Carl's. Ah, wish Carl's delivered! I can almost taste that hot beef patty now. Not hungry, for I still have tuna seasoned with Mrs.Dash and one HB egg left to eat. That, and probably a VCO+cacao treat later on, flavored with DaVinci Creme de Menthe or Dulce de Leche. Not sure which one. Guess I'll make it to my BMR, one way or another. Hey, is this a diet or are we having FUN eating?

[sassy40]

is anyone losing pounds doing this? i am willing to try anything.

[Zer]

Many of us are astonished to see that we are eating too little to support weight loss in a body that is in famine mode from lack of calories. Yeah, surprise! So figure your BMR based on age, gender, height, weight, activity level - and see what a site like FitDay tells about your distribution of calories, carbs, fats, protein. It's a revelation for many who drift into this thread. Amazing, to eat more fats and find that a body works better when it has plenty of calories supplied.

Same is true for supplying adequate water. Not just fluids. Water. It works!

[sassy40]

but are you losing? inches or pounds?

[Cyard]

Pounds here. Inches too

[Zer]

Posting new stats, accepting that ounces WILL add up to pounds, eventually, as I eat mostly fish/eggs and use bran-rye crax to stimulate digestive tract. Not a big WHOOSH in sight. But with a low activity level, I suspect that's all I'll get.

[DesertRose]

Hi there, a frequent lurker who hasn't posted in eons, not since caught up in Meat and Eggs. I promised myself when Zer went to 399 I'd start posting again, and by golly you went to 395 before I started. How exciting for you and for us watching!! I wish I lived nearby to bring you cases of fishies from TJs, and to learn from your determination. How proud you have made us all.

I have upped my protein, because of this thread, and my body likes it, as well as having breakfast of any sort. Usually a shake as I'm busy at that time. My carbs tend to stay low, so I don't worry about them. I don't choose to count calories or track in Fitday, no time, but feel I've attained a new level close to BMR. I have lost inches, sort of a sculpting to my body, but no pounds to speak of. OK for now. Busy with work, lots of company, eating out, and still feeling good about what I'm eating.

Zer I know you are having trouble with a hinky hip and a reluctant right knee. You talk about being in bed a lot. Do you sit up so you could 'shadow box?' Work that upper portion of your body to get the juices flowing and calories burning. How long since you just lifted your arms above you head and held them there awhile? Start somewhere, and as the pounds are dropping, you can still work something to get yourself back into a strength you haven't had for awhile. It ain't easy, but it is doable, and you'll be surprised how creative you'll become in this endeavor. I wish you the best. You've inspired me to keep at it no matter what! Dorothy (age 66)

[Zer]

Dorothy, thanks for coming out of lurkdom to post. Stretching arms up and out feels SO GOOD that I sometimes just lean forward and rest hands on ankles as legs are stretched out in bed. Feels contemplative. Pulls my backbone longer. I've twice had people rush in from the hall, on passing and seeing me bent in this way - or even napping in a forward-leaning posture. Scared 'em, I think, to see me folded over. But it feels amazingly good to get OFF my backbone and to pull at that backbone, stretching it and my arms to reach my ankles. How I wish there was not so much belly to work around. It does not seem to be going anywhere. Maybe a bit depleted and saggy (or saggier), but still fat.

Nearly 11pm and I am sorting stuff out, trying to imagine having a stranger sit in my room and look at how much STUFF is stacked and handy for a bedsitting person. I've got a lot of stuff on shelves within easy reach of me. I guess I shall survive being embarrassed at living in a rented room, a storeroom. Sigh.

With all of the women living along this hallway, it's interesting to see how a person chooses to arrange living space. Some room look so spacious. Mine looks smaller, but just because I've stacked stuff up against the walls with bookcases and shelves and boxes stacked on top of that. Books too. Sigh. Just counted 82 DVDs. Eeeek!

[Zer]

Wonder what I can manage to lose by July 8, a day that marks 5mos of scale ownership. After so many years of NOT owning a scale, I really like being able to weigh and to know what I weigh. I have neutralized the dislike of weighing that dogged me all my life, since I was in grade school and was the only kid who weighed more than 50# and who had to have that 50# weight pushed over - but not until that teacher had tapped the small weight across pound by pound and I stood there in shame, taller than all the other kids and knowing that the teacher would get to 49# or 50# and then - only then - would add the 50# weight and begin all over to tap the smaller weight across to discover how much THIS child weighed. What torment.

I wonder what possessed any teacher to weigh students in elementary school, as part of the classroom activity. Maybe she was working on a project of some sort and collecting data. Sure blighted my view of weighing and scales!

Took me until my 64th b'day to decide that I *WANTED* scales of my own, to know for sure what I weigh - on fat days and sleek days. Sleek days? Yep, I used to have days when I felt sleek, even at 400#. Not lately, as it is hard to move, to stand, to walk, to do anything at all once I am out of this bed. But I do recall feeling sleek and almost light at times, even as I carried 400# or more. Funny, how a body can feel 'light' at that weight. I suspect it's a matter of muscle fitness and maybe fluid in joints that makes me feel lighter or heavier. Well, now I know my weight, on any sort of day. Scales surprise me, giving me a lift on some days. No kidding!