Post-45 Day Challenge update

It's been a week since the conclusion of the 45 day challenge.  In that 45 days I lost about 7 pounds, and trimmed up quite a bit.  I was very surprised to see a drop in my blood pressure.  It was fine before, but I noticed about 20 days in that it started dropping more.  Yes, I weigh myself and take my blood pressure every day.  I find it interesting.

This morning, it was 103/53.  My pulse was 52.  I weighed 185.6.  My weight has bounced around in the 184-185 range since the challenge. 

And while some might say don't weigh yourself, I enjoy the daily measurement.  When I'm eating strictly I feel that it provides a nice window into what my body is doing. 

For instance, I've noticed that a little goat cheese in my diet and I'll definitely weigh more the next day.  I think it just makes me bloat or causes a little inflammation.  Ditto for nut consumption.  I don't think it's just the salt because I already consume a decent amount of salt with my normal foods.

So I find that interesting and will continue to keep a daily weight and blood pressure log.

What I'm going to experiment with now is simply eating when I want, and the amounts I want, with little to no thought to any particular amount of protein.  I tried to get 180-200 grams protein/day during the 45 days, and was trying before the challenge as well.  But now I think my eating patterns are pretty ingrained, and I'm just not going to worry about it.

On days that I do hard exercise , my post workout meal will be a pound of beef and pound of sweet potatos, so I'll get a big source of protein on those days regardless.  The rest of the time, I'll just eat and see what happens.

I'll also allow myself a free meal after workouts one day per week.  By "free" I mean that if I'm wanting something higher in carbs I'll eat it. No grains, no legumes, etc.  That's just off-limits and I don't want any of it anyway.  I feel like crap if I accidentally get some wheat, so it's just not on my list of foods that I enjoy.

Sushi, chips with hot sauce, ice cream...now that is still on my list of foods I occasionally want, so I'll occasionally get them.  If a one day per week free meal causes my weight to head back up, then I'll change it to every other week and keep tweaking to make sure I can maintain a slow loss of weight until I get as lean as I want to be.

This feels pretty effortless with the exception of the occasional craving, which is mainly triggered by stress.  Stress is a double-whammy.  First, it drives up cortisol.  Second, it hits emotional triggers for me that result in my wanting to medicate myself with ice cream and chocolate.  So I'll continue to work on handling stress in effective ways and reducing it where possible.