Typical Breakfast

(note: if you want to start a low-carb diet yourself, I recommend reading why: Why We Get Fat (including a simple how — and it’s the “how” I’m doing) and how: New Atkins.)

Each morning, I wake up to feed my cats, my wife, and myself. During the school year it’s 4:20 AM, and during the summer it’s 5:45 AM. I prepare all the meals this early in the morning.

Breakfast is pretty normal on my low-carb diet:

  • 2 (usually) or 3 Eggs
    • I fry them in leftover bacon grease (I get salt here instead of the recommended bullion).
    • I prefer over-easy (or over-medium, if that exists?) to sunny-side up.
    • If they’re scrambled, I put in a handful of cheese. I tend to let them cook like an omelet, but don’t fill them. I sometimes put in bell pepper, tomato, and olives (green or black) for variety.
    • I sometimes make a proper omelet using the ingredients available (meat, cheese, veggies).
    • I sometimes put a spoonful or two of Pace medium salsa. It’s almost cheating, but it’s pretty darn low in carbs, and the carbs are from veggies.
  • I like to have bacon, breakfast sausage (usually turkey), or other meat as a side.
  • Tobasco is great to spice things up.
  • Water.

My whole life, water has been my beverage of choice. Though I do miss orange juice with my breakfast.

Why We Get Fat

Chart: Heyer Weight Tracking

I’m going to post what I eat — a little sub-blog on HL.o — in case anyone else needs meal ideas for low-carb dieting. Here’s why I’m a eating low-carbohydrate diet.

In January, I read the book, Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes, after watching Windows Weekly episode 190 where Paul Thurott mentioned he had read the book and knew he would lose weight. His discussion of the book lead me to purchase it and read it. Why We Get Fat is a scientific argument explaining exactly what the title says. With think knowledge, I eliminated carbohydrates from my diet by the end of February. I only eat meat, nuts, cheese, eggs, and low-carb vegetables (mostly green ones). I do not restrict my calories, and I don not use exercise to lose weight, merely for other health benefits.

I have cheated / taken a break from this new diet multiple times. I find that if I cheat during one meal in a week, I don’t end up with cravings. The times I have broken my diet more than a few days in a row have lead to half a week of tenacity, keeping myself from eating bread or sugar. You can also tell on the graph which follows when I had a bad bought with food poisoning (I let myself eat crackers and then other carbs to recover — also apparent on the graph). The last few weeks of the graph are summer (including my five-year wedding anniversary) when I spend half a week breaking my diet. Continue reading “Why We Get Fat”