Category: Phase 9

Team shot! I need to hide somewhere. How about Campbell River?

Mutant Diet Phase 9 Day 9
The fact we’re collectively trying to figure out weight-loss with no understanding of how individuals vary in weight acquisition (or not) is frustrating. I guess I have to put that aside and continue sniping at the medical community for not knowing. The diet/fitness industry seems to be chasing the latest fad one at a time until they hit the jackpot.

I have to write to the Naturopath and ask why at Sunday’s yoga class I had more flexibility in what felt like all of my joints. And I was sick. I’m still sick, which is not helping. The quads and hamstrings retained their usual level of resistance, but I could twist much more freely. I wonder which of the Harry Potter potions she’s given me is doing that.

I want to lose weight and increase strength. I don’t want to participate in a 17 part mystery novel.

I found this looking for something else. Let’s try Burnaby, where there’s a by-election coming.

Mutant Diet Phase 9 Day 8
I put together a series of tweets for a doctor who wrote a diet book. As I read the usual diet debates on news sites, I can’t escape the feeling that we have no idea what we’re doing. I therefore reject all criticism of what I’m doing until someone does me the courtesy of reviewing my nearly three years of data before making remarks.

Here’s what I put on Twitter.

There are people (like me) who complain that losing weight is absurdly hard despite focused documented effort over years. There has also been people who want to gain weight for whom no number of protein shakes and weight training has taken them up the scale.

Has there ever been a study wherein two such groups of people have been compared by putting them all on the same diet and light fitness routine for a month or two? E.g., if they are all guys, 3500 calories a day for a couple of weeks and then 2500 calories for an additional couple of weeks.

Were that to happen — and the process doesn’t prove diet/fitness incompetence in the test subjects — but rather proves that some people lose easily and others don’t, what biological processes would account for the phenomenon? How would you figure that out during the test?

This pretty much covers it. It’s only -6 in Winnipeg.

Mutant Diet Phase 9 Day 7
Good grief – where to start? I have a cold. I sound like a 20-year smoker. This is not helping. Shoving small ducks up my ass would help more.

I’m trying to follow all the potions from the Naturopath. I have no idea if they are helping or will help. It’s a 60-day process and with the cold masking my sanity and normal sensations, I probably won’t know for a week if anything has changed.

I do know that if there was a global shortage of urine, I’d be able to meet the demand.

Yesterday, I was nearly a caveman in the amount of meat products I ate. I can’t tell if it was the recent stupid stories about how carbs can be good for you or the request from the Naturopath that I eat 6 different vegetables or fruits a day that put me into a rebellious mood.

However, I did go to the store to buy more vegetables to try to at least change up what I eat a bit. I know for a fact that I am a repetitive strain eater. I am not a foodie.

This isn’t the Captain Marvel you were looking for. Complex legal and brand issues have led him to be Shazam. I wonder if the Prime Minister made it back to Ottawa in one piece.

Mutant Diet Phase 9 Day 6
Blast. Can’t workout as I suspect I’ll hork all over everyone. Damn cold.

I received my new set of Harry Potter potions from the Naturopath. I am conflicted. My science mind wants to quack test the remedies. But the time it would take would exceed my ability and time available to sort through the online sludge. Plus, I won’t be able to find out how it works on my own chemistry. I have to try it.

But I am going to ask the Nautopath questions. I paid for it so I feel entitled, which one doesn’t at the doctor’s office as much.

The objective of this is to tweak digestion so that whatever part of my body is being slow at weight loss will stop being quite so stubborn.

This process has the advantage of being completely different. And it’s a 60-day process which lines up nicely with Phase 9.

Perhaps the hardest part is the recommendation have something like 40 different fruits and each of week. Good grief.

The Punisher and Deadpool. No way we’ll see that movie. The Prime Minister was in Regina.

Mutant Diet Phase 9 Day 5
Nothing like a cold to make things tougher. Last night I was faced with delaying dinner or grabbing something. So I grabbed a seafood Pho soup, a spicy version, which I think helped the cold. The noodles, probably not so much.

No one ever said that the first week back from holidays would be easy.

I am now faced with a weekend feeling like I have a cold, which never enhances food choices.

I saw a Punisher episode on Netflix. This is how I remember the character. Apparently the Prime Minister was in the Thompson-Okanagan.

Mutant Diet Phase 9 Day 4
Hi it’s Day 4 and despite not being 100% on the diet I can feel the weight over the holidays start to go away. I don’t think I’ll feel like I did at the end of Phase 8, which was early December, until next week.

Yoga was tough yesterday due to sore upper body muscles, making holding postures tricky.

A cold however is trying to get in. The eldest child kicked that off.

Attitude monitoring and a nap may be required. There may not be enough room under my desk.

Margo Robbie has a Birds of Prey movie in the works. It’s near Houston BC that there is new gas pipeline controversy.

Mutant Diet Phase 9 Day 3
Gosh, Day 2 was a bigger diet train wreck than Day 1. One thing I forgot about was the phenomenon known as hunger-caused-by-pain. By the time I was done my high intensity workout, my chest was really sore. I had a rushed lunch and by 2 PM I was eating Chinese food (just protein) and when I got home I over cooked a bagel for a family member and ate it. The rail bed for the diet train was crumbling and the last of the chocolate was eaten.

It’s hard to imagine today being worse. But what this does confirm to me is that the first full week after the Christmas/New Year break is brutal and should not be underestimated.

Another odd thing is that I spent the entire day trying to do a Fitbit firmware update, which led to me having no readings.

And my muscles are still sore. Thank goodness only yoga is planned.

I wonder if Brie Larson saw the original Ms Marvel drawings. I remember a steak house in Toronto. I wonder if it’s still there.

Mutant Diet Phase 9 Day 2
I tried to be a tough guy and not take ibuprofen before bed. The effects of yesterday’s weight-lifting kicked in in the middle of the night.

The diet for day 1 was great until a blow-out with red wine and chocolate. Some Christmas treats had not yet left the apartment.

No sign of wheat/rice/corn/potato, otherwise known as the four horsemen of the carb-apocalypse.

I’ll take the wins when I can get them.

I saw Aquaman. They should have referenced people like Wonder Woman. A review of a breakfast place in Victoria seems like a good start.

Mutant Diet Phase 9 Day 1
Day 1 of Phase 9. I can report with confidence that I ate a lot of fun food yesterday, but have started out today with the traditional bacon and eggs with no carbs. I have supplies for the week and have my tracking sheets ready.

Last night I did the first 75 minute yoga class in what I suspect was a month. Holy moly that was hard. I had had some gout issues, which were gone, but that particular toe joint was resistant.

This week’s objective is to work into this slowly and manage the stress of it all.

Spiderverse. I saw the animated movie over the holidays. We just got home from Victoria.

Mutant Diet Phase 9 Warm Up
Phase 9 preparation. Gasp. I went to the gym today and did my high intensity workout. Yep, it’s still high intensity.

So, what’s to be different? Not a lot. Heavy workouts. Low carb as possible. And I’m going to see if the Naturopath can come up with some Harry Potter style potions to tweak my metabolism. Despite really frustrating articles saying carbs aren’t that bad and my Fitbit isn’t measuring calories correctly, I am willing to try anything to see if my system can burn off some lard.

And, if you have to dump calories, the rice/wheat/potato/sugar contributions I don’t think lead to any known health benefits. Have you ever seen a headline that reads, “If you don’t have that baguette, you’ll die!!”?

Phase 9 is scheduled for 68 days starting Monday. It ends on the Friday before a trip to Harry Potter World. No dieting allowed in America I’m told.