MY SYMPTOMS
- Acne -Yes - One new zit
- Chronic mucus/stuffy nose - Yes, but improving
- Constipation and/or diarrhea - Yes, but only right after my breakfast shake
- Fatigue - No
- Food cravings - No
- Gas and bloating - No
- Headaches - No
- High blood glucose - No - In the low to mid 80s all day, even after eating
- Inability to lose weight - No - Starting weight 147.8 - Current weight 145.2 - Goal weight 136 - To get back to goal, need to lose 9.2 more pounds. Can still button "measurement shorts" with a slight "muffin top". Lost 0.6 pounds yesterday for a total of 2.6 pounds in 10 days.
- Insomnia - Yes - Woke up in the night one time and had trouble going back to sleep
- Joint pain - Yes, but somewhat improved
- Limp, lackluster hair - Yes
- Muscle pain - No
- Nausea - No
- Swollen fingers - Yes - Having trouble getting my rings off in the morning
WHAT I AM EATING
Yesterday, I ate like this, which was right on target:
133g fat (78%)
57g protein
28g carbs
For breakfast at 5:00 am, I had a shake that was comprised of coconut milk, water, non-dairy protein powder, raw greens, frozen berries, a few drops of Stevia and 2 tsp. of cod liver oil. I cut out the flax seed.
For lunch at 11:30 am, I had my Sunrise Cocktail, which was comprised of MCT oil, olive oil, lemon juice and a few drops of Stevia.
For afternoon snack at 4:00 pm, I had a couple of thick slices of cooked bacon and a bit of Bubbie's sauerkraut.
For dinner at 7:00 pm, I had pan-crumbled-fried lean ground beef, mushrooms and onions with coconut oil, bacon grease and sea salt. For dessert, I had a little bit of canned pumpkin with cinnamon and Stevia.
I drank 72 oz. of water, but never within an hour before eating or an hour after eating, in order to not dilute my stomach acid.
IS IT STILL THE VIRGIN DIET IF I DON'T FOLLOW THE RULES?
I started out wanting to do the diet exactly as written, but a couple of things made me change my mind.
The first thing is that the shakes were giving me diarrhea. Within a few minutes of drinking a shake in the morning and at midday, I would be running to the bathroom. And even though I ate a "real food" dinner, I would still be in trouble after that, multiple times per day. Cutting down to only one shake per day helped, but I was still having an attack every morning.
One of the things that The Virgin Diet is supposed to do is to get you back to normal so that you can tell if you start having symptoms again after trying the foods that you had eliminated for three weeks. Well, it's been ten days, and I am still running to the bathroom. How will I know if eggs, for instance, are giving me the trots if I already have them from the shakes?
This morning, I tried a shake without the greens to see if it made a difference. It did not. Within 30 minutes of eating, I made my usual dash to the can.
The second thing that made me change my mind about doing the plan to the letter was the fact that the amount of protein and carbs I was eating was elevating my blood glucose. My normal BG, fasting or postprandial, is in the low to mid 80s. Not too long after starting The Virgin Diet as written, with higher protein and carbs than I am used to, it started creeping up until it was in the high 90s. There was one time it was in the low 100s, if memory serves.
So I decided to continue the elimination part of the diet, but changed my fat, protein and carbs back to the way I was eating when I was in Nutritional Ketosis.
One of the reasons I wanted to try it as written was that the book says that the real reason people can't lose weight is food intolerences. I thought it might be possible that, if I got rid of any intolerences I had, I might be able to eat a little more protein and carbs without gaining weight again. Eating more is always good, in my book! But I stopped eating the high FI foods, and still did not really lose weight until I cut back on the protein and carbs. In all fairness, I did lose the first couple if days, but it came right back a few days later.
MY MODIFICATIONS TO THE VIRGIN DIET
1. I am going to ditch the shakes altogether. I am going to JERF (Just Eat Real Food) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yes, it will be more labor intensive than throwing together a shake, but I will make up for it by not spending a good portion of my time each day in the bathroom. The downside of this decision is that I spent around $30 for the protein powder and only used half of it. Sigh.
2. I am going to eat for Nutritional Ketosis, just like I used to the last time I was doing well and maintaining my goal weight. I will eat high fat, moderate protein and very low carb.
I think that by making these two modifications, I will still be following the "spirit" of the diet and find out if I have any food intolerances. So, off I go. Tomorrow morning, I will not be having a shake.
If you are interested in getting a short synopsis of how this plan works, you can click on the link at the beginning of this post or you can listen to Jimmy Moore interviewing JJ Virgin by clicking here.
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