Ketosis Verses Weight Change, more data.

Time has passed, so I've got a load more data on the ketotis-vs-weight correlation.

In the graph below my ketosis goes on and off. The change in weight clearly correlated with ketosis, with a little lag in ketosis since it takes a couple of days of no-carb before the ketosis becomes visible on ketostix.

There's a four day gap where I was traveling and had access to neither scales nor ketostix. Thanksgiving, illness and slacking off the diet are all in there to mess up my diet plans.

Another interesting thing is that my weight almost never changes slowly. When it's moving it's moving at about 1 pound per day. So much for healthy 'gradual' weight loss.

The ketosis vertical axis represents the 6 stages on a ketostix
0 = none
1 = trace
2 = small
3 = moderate
4 = large
5 = extra large

Gorgon-Wensley-zola-dale Sauce

I went looking for a low carb sauce that used Gorgonzola, because I had some in the fridge. I found this.

I read Ina Gartner's recipe for Gorgonzola sauce, but I didn't have enough cream handy nor did I have any Parmesan in the fridge.
So this evening I did a little experimentation and came up with "Gorgon-Wensley-zola-dale Cream Sauce" which tasted wonderful and was completely low carb.

 1 (U.S.) pint of heavy cream.
Some gorgonzola, diced
Some Wensleydale diced
Whole milk
Salt & Pepper.

Put the cream in a sauce pan and boil it for 40-50 minutes (yes, I do mean that). Stir constantly. For this I highly recommend one of those gizmos that dance around in the pan and stir it for you. I have a RoboStir I got a couple of years ago for Christmas. I finally found a use for it.

There will come a point where you see dark bits. That's the cream separating. Throw in the cheese and whisk it until it is smooth. You might need to return it to heat while whisking if the cheese won't melt all the way. Taste it. The Gorgonzola should just about win the taste battle a bit here and have a bit of an after kick. If not, add more or either cheese to make it right.

It will be thick. So add a little milk and whisk. Repeat until the sauce is just thick, rather than solid. Taste it as you go along. The taste should smooth out as you add milk and the Gogonzola kick will be gone leaving just a rich Gorgon-Wensley-zola-dale taste. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Done, without wheat or significant carbs.

If you reheat it, I found it was a good plan to reheat it in a pan, with a little dash of milk and whisk it while it heats. If you just blast it in the microwave, it will separate.

I got two 11 year olds to eat it on roast chicken without complaint, so I call that a result. There aren't many ways to get Gorgonzola into an 11 year old. A pint of cream helps.

Low Carb, Try 2, part 3

A familiar pattern is starting to emerge. Drop a few pounds, rebound 1-2 pounds. Repeat.
I've also been tracking early morning blood glucose. over the period on the graph, it's gone from a very unhealthy 120 down to a pretty good 79.

The high morning glucose was the thing that got me back onto a no-carb diet. My glucose control seemed to be failing.



12 pounds down. 10 more to get to a psychologically important big round number.

I also fixed the month. The previous graphs were 1 month in the future.

Low Carb Try 2, Part 2

The line went a bit wiggly, but the trend is down:

Weight (Lbs) and Ketostix Reading vs. Date

On the 24th I had blood drawn for an NMR Lipoprofile and HbA1c. We'll get to see if I'm dead yet in a couple more days when the results come back.

Low carb, Try 2.

On the basis of being lazy and having a poor diet, my weight crept back up from my low carb low of 205 up to 222. Time to do something about it. So back on the diet. This time with more fat and I've been peeing on sticks so I can make better graphs.

Zero carbs for 12 days. Lots of meat, eggs, bacon and I'm drinking flax oil daily for the omega-3s.

Weight & Ketones vs. Time

It took 7 days for the ketosis to get above trace levels (while my muscle tissue burnt through its glycogen stores). Note the change in the slope of weight when continuous ketosis kicks in on the 15th.