Dietary thoughts

I promised to talk about the diet a little bit more, a week or so ago, and haven't done that.  To catch up, I lost about twenty pounds from riding, then went on the diet (not specifically to lose weight) and lost another five or so.

The last couple weeks (minus the last few days, I think), I've gained back ten pounds.  I guess that follows the typical pattern with diets, although at least my baseline was pretty low.

What I did was just a matter of not counting my carbs for a while.  I was making sure that I got enough "foundation vegetable" carbs, but otherwise not paying a whole lot of attention.  I also was very bad for dinner before Mother's Day (specifically, I had cheesecake and desert wine) and for brunch the next morning (plus, I finished the desert wine not long afterward).  For sure, those two meals added five pounds (which I joked about when I did it, but I actually thought I was being a bit over the top.  It appears not).

I was also eating Quest Bars for several days before that.  Those are supposed to be good for Atkins (20g carbs, of which 17g are fiber), although I'm wondering if they really are.  Maybe it was just coincidence, but I was doing better before eating them, and after.  I will say, though, that they are delicious (most flavors, anyway; one or two were merely ok).

Still, I definitely see that I need to keep the carbs under control, and I also need to keep the protein from getting out of control.  My doctor was a little concerned about one of my blood test readings, last time I was there, and I need to cut back a bit on the protein to help with that (and the Quest Bars, with their 20g of protein, do not help with that, either).

I've also cut back a little bit on the cheese I was eating, although I'm still eating quite a bit.  I've found a couple new ones that I also like a lot.  Piava Lattebusched is a very nice (very) hard, cow's milk cheese with a remarkably creamy taste.  The only thing bad about it is the outside is completely inedible (unchewable, really) and difficult to separate from the rest (use a sharp knife, and do it before the piece gets small).

I've also discovered Manchego, which is a delicious semihard cow's milk cheese that's a tiny bit granular (and gets more so, the older it gets).  I've tried six month-aged and twelve month-aged; the twelve is a slight bit better, but not worth the cost difference (to me, anyway).  Another one where the outside is a slight pain, but definitely worth it (and not nearly as much so as the Piave, since it isn't as hard.  It's also edible, though not something you'd actually want to eat).

Anyway, I'm working my way back down, but I'm still 5-7lbs heavier than I'd like to be.  Hopefully, the next couple of weeks, I'll continue to do well, and get back down where I want to be.