After some consideration, and a week off, I’ve decided to try the Slow Carb Diet once again. Attending a couple of parties this weekend gave me inspiration on highly caloric foods that I may be able to binge on without making myself sick. My week off appears to have had next to no effect, ill or otherwise, on my weight, fat, or BMI, which is simultaneously heartening and disheartening.
Slow Carb Diet – Throwing In the Towel
After three weeks of my attempts at the Slow Carb Diet, I’m bagging it and throwing in the towel, or the napkin, as the case may be. Given that I have made no noticeable progress, I think I’m going to move on to just changing my exercise routine for a while instead.
I think there were a couple of reasons it did not work for me. First, I am already pretty close to my ideal body weight, even though I think my body fat percentage is still too high. Second, while the regular diet during the week was not hard, and was actually kind of fun, I had trouble with the weekly binge day. After years of training myself not to eat too much, that part was just too difficult to stomach (no pun intended). So other than pounding a pint of maple syrup every Saturday, I think wouldn’t be able to get my calorie intake where it was supposed to be.
If you have a lot of weight to lose, I recommend giving it a shot, and would be curious to hear if it works for you.
They Might Be Gypsies
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing They Might Be Gypsies perform at the Bethel Town Hall. They Might Be Gypsies is a gypsy jazz band, the cornerstones being father and son Greg and Aidan Ryan.
The Ryans are each very accomplished guitarists, but Greg went out of his way to display the talent of his teenage son on several occasions throughout the evening as they performed. The band included a standup bass and drummer, and I’ve been told they will arrange themselves in various configurations, performing as a duo or up to a quintet, depending on the venue.
The concert, which was sponsored by the Bethel Historical Society, featured covers of songs by Django Reinhardt and others, as well as original tunes. I especially enjoyed the guitar work, which reminded me of Mexican Mariachi style music.
The band will be recording their second studio album later this year, and I’m looking forward to it’s release.
Park Here. No, There. No Wait, Here!
Several years ago (I forget how many, maybe five), I received a letter from Bethel’s Town Manager. It stated that people who parked overnight in the public parking lot (myself included) were to park their cars on one side of the lot on specified nights, and on the other side of the lot on other nights, e.g., Monday, Wednesday, Friday, the east side, other days the west side. This made perfect sense to me and, being a good law-abiding citizen, I did just that.
Two winters ago, I found a note on my windshield from the Town Manager, asking for my help. It requested that I always park my car on the west side of the parking lot during the winter to make snow removal easier. While this did not make sense to me, being a good law-abiding citizen, I did just that.
This week, the head of our town’s road crew requested, through a verbal conversation with a third party, that I move my car and not leave it in the same spot overnight after a snow storm. Being a good law-abiding citizen, I am confused.
Slow Carb Diet – Week 3 (For Real This Time)
I totally got my weeks mixed up. Here’s a quick snapshot of my “progress” on the Slow Carb diet. Unfortunately, the results are not nearly as impressive as I’d hoped. In fact, given the numbers, there’s really no progress to speak of! My upper body definitely feels tighter, so that’s good, but I was hoping to see my body fat % and BMI drop at least a little by now. Adding the kettlebell swing every other day (I’m up to 40 reps now, after starting at 20) is also causing some development. I’ll have to sit down with a tape and measure myself again to see if there’s any noticeable changes there. If, after a couple more weeks of slow carbing and kettlebelling, I don’t see a change, I will probably move on to something else.
Slow Carb Diet – Week 3. Backsliding.
Today, my vital statistics (weight, fat % and BMI) are awfully darn close to where they were after the first few days of the diet. Not a very heartening way to wind up an overall lousy-to-mediocre week. I suspect that a few stumbles along the way are contributing to this.
- I drank bubble apple cider last Wednesday night. It was a special occasion and it didn’t even occur to me that I was doing wrong ’til after the first glass was gone.
- I’ve been drinking coffee with half and half. As of today, I’m limiting myself to two tablespoons of cream for an entire day’s supply of coffee, regardless of how many cups that may be.
- I’ve caught myself snacking a few times. This means I’m not eating enough at my regular meals.
I’ve also started working out with a kettlebell three times a week. It will be interesting to see how this affects progress along the way.