The Fat Thing and The Low-Carb Diet Again

As with many other American adults, I find myself--if not at square one--back to the beginning of a diet cycle. My diet of choice is Atkins, or at least a variation. I've gotten pretty good at it, and can stay on track for many months at a time. Then, fate intervenes: minor surgery, long stays by visitors from out of state, trips back home to Ohio (where my trifecta of Donato's Pizza, White Castle and Skyline Chili lurk) or some such interruption of the easy adaptation of a low-carb diet.

This time it was a combination of visitors and minor surgery. I succumbed. I needed soft food, comfort food. And when the visitors came, I acquiesced to extending my "eat what you want" diet. Which very rapidly puts me back to chubbitude. Much more quickly than I lose it, of course. So, to finish off my 2 weeks of diet abandon, I've ordered a Pizza Hut "Meat Lover's" Pizza. So there! Tomorrow, I start with the low-carby thing again. I'm sure it will work, to a degree. I have a stubborn 8 pounds that refuses to leave. But to be honest, I am not even going to go near the bathroom scale for at least the first week. Meanwhile, here is my post from my last trip on the Atkins train. There are tips here, so take note!

ORIGINAL POST (03/03/09):

Photo from IMDB.com

From the time before I started this blog until late September of 2008, I was around 180 pounds, a personal worst. I'm 5'8-1/2", and went about 25 years eating absolutely anything I wanted while remaining rail thin. Some time in my late 20s, the weight crept up, and I found it settling about 10 pounds higher per new decade. When I turned 40, I was just off of my (second? third?) Atkins diet, and was at a reasonable weight. But as I slid into 41, there it was, 180 pounds, or there abouts.

In late September last year, I'd had enough, and decided to give the Atkins Diet one more go around. By this time, I'd learned all of the tricks (some of which you can find here), so it wasn't too difficult. Except for the fact that the Atkins craze died about four years ago, and pre-packaged low carb foods are much harder to come by these days.

I got my weight down to a much more reasonable 160 pounds, where it has remained (give or take two or three pounds both ways) since about November. My waist dropped from a 34" to somewhere between 31" and 32." And while it would be nice to see 30" pants again, it will take a heavy exercise program to see that happen, and I haven't gotten the gumption for that quite yet.

Since I've grown to accept that 160 pounds (ish) is my new stable weight if I'm careful, I've loosened up on the diet. Now, once or twice a week (usually on weekends) I'll have a cheat day. Raising Cane's chicken, or Chinese food. Maybe pizza. And then it is right back on the low-carb diet. This has produced no measurable weight gain, and it certainly makes me happier.

I've also gotten creative on the non-cheat days. I thought I'd share a couple of my recipes, in case you're in the same position.

Jamie's Low-Carb Pizza

Pre-heat oven to 410, with pizza pan on the rack, so it gets hot. Get a Mission low-carb flour tortilla. Get the white ones, because they taste a lot closer to the real thing, and don't have the icky Atkins soy-flour aftertaste. Spread a couple of spoonfuls of Ragu (or equivalent) pizza sauce on it, and spread liberal amounts of sliced pepperonis and mozzarella cheese on top. Chop up some pepper rings to put on top, and any other meats you might like. After the oven is hot, take out the pizza pan, and immediately transfer your pizza onto it, and put into the oven. If you have a convection feature, turn it on. Cook until the cheese is bubbly and browning, and you're done. Very tasty, and not far from the real thing.

Jamie's Low-carb Tuna Melt

Follow instructions for the oven and tortilla in the above pizza recipe. Mix tuna, chopped onions, chopped dill pickles and chopped pepper rings with a couple of spoons of mayonnaise. Spread tuna mixture and sharp cheddar cheese onto tortilla, and bake just like the pizza.

Both of these are interesting, and relatively low-carb dinners to jazz up your routine. And while I haven't really done the carb math here, the tortillas are 7 net carbs, and the rest of the ingredients are either carb-free, or pretty low. Enjoy!

One more thing: There are still low-carb Splenda-sweetened ice creams on the market, so check your various grocery stores to see what's available. Blue Bunny makes some fantastic ice cream bars (Sweet Freedom raspberry is like candy), and there is also "Watch N Carbs" and a few others. You can also find sugar-free chocolate syrup, and add dry roasted peanuts if you like a little salty and sweet. There used to be (much) more, but there are still enough varieties to save my sanity.