Less Fat On Keto?

     Where to start. I guess I'll start with getting bak to the meditation game. I only skipped that one day, and despite it really not having an impact like I thought it would, I still feel better doing it each morning. It is just such a relaxing way to start each day, so the last two days were meditation mornings, and I do believe that this will be something I do for the rest of my life. I'm also back to no sugar. I haven't had any since that lemon pie, and even though there are some things that have minimal amounts of sugar in them, I haven't had any. I won't be as strict as I was for the 100 days, but I'm definitely going to keep it to a bare minimum.

     I watched a video today from Thomas DeLauer, who is one of the experts on Keto that I follow closely. The video today is the second time he did a video on some thing that I came across naturally. The first was Mediterranean Keto. I was doing that for a couple of months before he made a video on it, I just didn't call it that. I just saw it as eating very clean Keto. This time it is doing a low fat version of Keto, which as you know I have been doing for a couple of weeks now. Maybe it's a few weeks. Anyway, he documented his results and they are very apparent. This could also be that his body is reacting to a new and cleaner way of eating. His way differed from mine a little. He only lowered his fats for 2 days out of each week, and he would follow each of those days with an IF day of 16-18 hours. He would lower his fat intake on those two days by 50%, and raise his protein intake by doubling it, and sometimes going a little over the double. I didn't go that far with my fats. I lowered them about 20-30%, and kept my protein moderate with the occasional protein load day, which was normally when I would have a big workout day. He dropped 1% in body fat, and gained 2.5 pounds. I'm currently at a 2.5 pound gain with my body fat staying the same, and I've been eating that way daily while mixing in IF when I feel like it. I basically do 18-6 every other day, and throw in a 24 hour when I feel like it. I probably should have had it more scheduled and planned out, so that I could document exactly what's happening, but that was never my plan. It is just a newer way of eating even cleaner than I have been. Minus that one day with the lemon pie of course. I can say without a doubt that I have gained a half an inch on my chest to back measurement and a quarter inch on my arms. The legs are lagging behind, but the men in my family have always had slender legs, which are tough to put muscle on. I'll get there though. I have also noticed quite a bit more definition in my waist area. I'm seeing more of that V taper in my lower abdominals. It's all happening, and I'm getting closer and closer to the body I want.

     With that out of the way, let's talk a little about the garden. The first Bulgarian Carrot is ripe, but since there is a third one ripening, I'm waiting until it's ready before I pick any of them.

     You can clearly see the ripe one, but the one next to it, is the third pepper getting ready. You can see the faintest amount of orange in it. It has a lot more in it now. The odd curly pepper is up towards the right hand corner, behind that other pepper. I'm wanting to transplant that one into a grow bag, but I'm waiting until it's done fruiting, but it keeps producing buds and pods. I may have to just suck it up and transplant it before it's done fruiting. I'm really hoping that this is a tasty pepper. I'll let you know.

     The Dahlia has several more blossoms on it, and they are just as pretty as ever. I got this picture just to share, because it's too good. You can see the Jemez in the background, which is still slow to ripen. One of them is ready, but that second one is still pretty dark at the top. I'm sure it will be ready in the next day or so. That's a mild one, with heat less than a Jalapeño, so it's going to be a challenge to figure out what to do with them.

     That is such a gorgeous flower. So rich with color. I'm so glad I got that plant. I have one more photo to share with you. My favorite artist offered up a free print again a few months back. I had forgotten about this one, until he sent out an email saying it was on it's way. This is an image from one of my favorite Tim Burton films. It's Edward Scissorhands.

     I really need to find some frames for these prints I have most of them still in their protective sleeves, and I want to display them. It's just going to take me getting off my butt and doing it.

     Speaking of butt. I went to the mall today so that I could see Birds of Prey. Yes, I finally gave in to my urges and went to see it. I'll give you the review after this little story. I was walking around checking things out before the movie started, and I noticed a woman walking the other way on the other side of the large aisle in the mall. What I noticed about her was her long brown hair. Seems to be a thing for me. I always notice long brown hair. Anyway as I turned my head to get a better look at her, I noticed she has on rather short and tight shorts. Not what grabbed my attention, but it wasn't a bad thing. It was just a very short moment as I turned my head and then turned it back to focus on where I was going. Across the way, I heard some guy call out to me, "I noticed that too." My first thought, was what was he talking about, then it hit me. He was talking about her shorts. I didn't even bother to acknowledge him, and could only think, "Way to be creepy dude." He thought he was having some male bonding moment, that we would both laugh about, but that's not where my head was at all. He was behind her, either because that was the way he was going, or possibly for the sole purpose of being creepy and watching her walk the entire way. Either way, I wasn't down for a creepfest bonding episode, and I complete ignored him. I'd hope that he got the point of why I didn't respond, but he probably thought he wasn't obnoxious enough for me to hear him. Lesson of the story, don't be that guy.

     Time for Favorite Song of the Week, and although February is over, we are going one more week with the Love, diversity, unity, and understanding theme. This is a song that came out just 4 days ago, and it's a great and fun song. I don't hide from the fact that I'm a Lady Gaga fan, proud as can be, and when she puts out a new song, I'm there for it, and this was no different. This song has a throw back sound to Born That Way. I guess you could argue that she is rehashing the hits, but sometimes you can take inspiration from the past, and I think that's what she did here. Her is Lady Gaga, with her brand new song "Stupid Love".

     I'm looking forward to the new album coming out. I'll be there for that as well. Before I leave there is something I keep forgetting to talk about, and that is my social media black out. I have 8 more days, before I am going back on social media, and this 30 day break has been fantastic, but that's not what I want to talk about. It's funny how desperate social media platforms are to keep you in the fold. I get daily emails telling me what I'm missing. Facebook is the biggest purveyor of the emails. Remember when Facebook said they would no longer send emails to notify you of anything. That's a lie if you take some time off. They send me at least one email a day about a specific post someone has posted, and then they send me a daily email to tell me just how many notifications I've missed, as well as how many messages I have. I find it quite hysterical. Twitter sends occasionally emails, but they do that whether you are active on the platform or not. Instagram has even gotten into the game and sent me "what I missed" emails as well. This all comes down to, these companies need us far more than we need them. If you get the feeling that there is nothing you can do to change what is going on with these platforms doing bad things, just take a week off, and see just how much they want you back there. If the majority of people took an extended break from using social media, the would crumble under they inactivity, and cave to honest pressure to change their tactics. Anything is possible, you just have to take action to make it so. I've learned that through this whole Keto journey, and can apply those lessons to pretty much anything in life. Peace in and goodnight.