Well, I haven’t exactly broken through the wall like the Kool-Aid man, but I have chipped a hole in it. After pretty much no wiggling on the scale in a week, I’m at least moving in the right direction. Barely. I may hit my wiggle-room goal by the end of the month; depends on what the weekend holds. It’s this friggin’ rupture – while I’m still going to the gym every morning – even this morning, with weather not fit for, well, anyone – I just can’t get a good burn going because I’m gimpy. Still pushing, though, and the rupture is showing some signs of improvement. Not much, but some. It may take weeks or months to heal, but I guess that’s just part of the game. Nonetheless, I need this last 1.9 lbs. I want it. Tomorrow, I should get the new carb-blocker supplement I ordered – I’m anxious to try it. Even if it only blocks some of the carbs, that will give me additional wiggle-room as I gradually increase my carb intake to 50ish grams a day (not all days, but some). I generally don’t go in for such things, but most of the articles I’ve read on carb-blocking have been positive. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I’ll just go with Amy:
For the first time in months, I had a fully active weekend – despite my latest injury. Saturday, 18 miles on the bike, and my first trip up the new Riverwalk extension, which runs up to Sterchi Farms. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t allow me to do a marathon ride, which is probably just as well. Turns out that the recent dieting has left me *ahem* less padded than I was used to. A trip to the bike shop for a better saddle is on the agenda for this week. Nonetheless, it was great to get back on the bike; I haven’t had a ride in months.
It’s been 50 days since I began keto, and it has worked better than I could have dreamed. If you’re serious about losing weight, look into it. Right now.
On an unrelated note, when I fell off (jumped off, really) the fitness plan last year – mostly because of injuries – I still tried to eat healthy, and I discovered this trail mix. It’s trail mix, right, so it can’t be that bad, right? Mostly nuts, cranberries, raisins, with just a few little chocolate and peanut butter bits. Can’t be that bad. I would eat a whole bag in a day, sometimes over the course of a morning. Perfect “desk food”. Two or three times a week. Anyway, I hadn’t had any of this since getting back on track last fall, and the other morning, I was craving it. But now, I read labels. And when I read this one, I just about burst into tears. One bag: 3500 calories. Thirty-five hundred. Three-thousand five hundred. And 400 carbs. 400 grams of sugar. Four hundred carbs? That’s twice what my absolute max should be for “maintenance”, and about 25 times what I’m doing now. You know how many Oreos you have to eat to equal 400 carbs? 48 Oreos. I don’t think I could eat 48 Oreos if I wanted to. What about (blueberry frosted) Pop-Tarts? 10 1/2 Pop-Tarts. It’s no wonder the weight crept back on. But…but…it’s trail mix! That’s healthy! Right? When you scarf down a half-dozen (or more) Oreos or a package of Pop-Tarts, you know that you’re misbehaving, and you obviously made that choice. But trail mix? And I (stupidly) thought that I was making the smart choice by choosing trail mix over cookies, Pop-Tarts, whatever. Point is, don’t trust what you’ve been told. Read everything. Every label, every ingredient. The one thing I’ve learned in all of this is that there’s sh*t hiding everywhere. 
It’s been a bit of a tough week, goal-wise. Kinda got off task a little bit – nothing terrible, but the Aria and I had a bit of a standoff earlier in the week. Nonetheless, a little re-focusing, and here we are. My ultimate goal, finally met. I hit what I thought was a realistic goal about 10 days or so ago, and set a new one just to see if I could do it – and here we are. And I did it my way – hard work at the gym, cutting as many carbs as possible, logging every calorie. It works. Trust me on this.
I’m getting close. Really close. Down 28.3 pounds in 40 days and 40 nights. Only 1.7 to go to hit my ultimate goal.
When I hit that goal, I think I’ll go 5 more pounds, just so I have some “wiggle room”. See, once the goal is hit, the 10g – 20g carb days are done. Oh, sure, I’ll still be mindful. But according to Science, to “maintain” my weight, I can do about 200g carbs per day. 
I think I can say without question that the cheat meal didn’t hurt me. In fact, I’ve been reading that an occasional cheat meal can “reset” your body and jump-start additional weight loss (in moderation, kids!). It would seem to be true – I was very pleasantly surprised with I stepped on the scale this morning, especially after missing the gym thanks to Mother Nature. Only 3.1 pounds away from my ultimate goal. I won’t make that before the upcoming Weekend Cheat Meal (which, actually, isn’t a huge cheat – unless I make it to Aretha’s, which is a distinct possibility), but I will make it next week. As it is, I’m thrilled. And the numbers do not lie.
I have always been somewhat ambivalent regarding the concept of cheat meals. Is there a psychological benefit? Do you owe yourself a “reward”? Or is it more of a social necessity? I really don’t know. Nonetheless, I had my first cheat meal on Saturday since beginning keto at the end of December.