I’m on day 36 of this weight loss juggernaut and am glad to report that I have lost 20 pounds since starting Zepbound (5 weekly shots so far, ratcheting up from the initial 2.5mg dose to this month’s 5mg). That makes 40 pounds off since the beginning of June, and 60 pounds since moving to this hilltop five years ago. I attribute the first 20 to changing my life to a more active one around the property. I attribute the 20 earlier this year to getting serious about fixing my edema by changing and increasing my diuretic. But this Zepbound 20, while I’m sure Eli Lilly and other proponents of GLP-1’s would disagree, is less about appetite reduction and pharmaceutical-induced biochemical changes than it is about changing my relationship with food. I have read a lot lately that in the weight management formula, the current research suggests that weight loss is far less about managing caloric utilization (i.e. exercise) than it is about caloric consumption and the qualities of that consumption. I’m sure that some people find it humorous that at age 72, I am coming to my epiphany about food when they have known these things either instinctively or from a very early age. I’m not sure everyone understood (or even now believes) the outsized importance of consumption versus utilization, but I’m hardly the first to wake up to the importance of food.
The expression “you are what you eat” has an interesting history with multiple influences. Ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, emphasized diet’s role in health. The French gastronome, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote in 1826, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are”. Various other cultures have long had proverbs connecting food to health and character. But it was the German philosophical origins traced to Ludwig Feuerbach, a German philosopher who wrote in the 1860s, “Der Mensch ist, was er isst” (literally: “Man is what he eats”), that brought the phrase into existence. These words appeared in his 1863-64 review of a book about diet, where he was making a materialist philosophical point – that our physical composition and mental state are influenced by what we consume. The phrase as we know it in English became popular much later through Victor Lindlahr, an American nutritionist who used “You are what you eat” as the title of his 1942 book and promoted it through his radio programs in the 1920s-40s. He emphasized that food choices directly impact health. Then Adelle Davis, a popular nutritionist in the 1950s-60s also helped spread the phrase through her writings on nutrition and health. The phrase caught on because it’s catchy and captures the simple truth that our diet affects our physical health and wellbeing.
I am focused on six dimensions of food. These are not based on a specific “diet” per se, but rather on my collective knowledge gleaned from years of being lectured to, at Pritikin twice, St. Luke’s Hostipal, Duke University weight loss clinic, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and countless other books, articles and nutritionists I have known and hired to counsel me. I focus on caloric value, protein v. carbohydrate content, fiber content, electrolytes and taste. I want to get 180-200 grams of protein per day to keep my muscle mass in tact. I want to keep my carbohydrate consumption as low as possible to keep my system in ketosis, I want my calories to be in the 1600-1700 range per day so that I can track at about 3+ pounds of weight loss per week (that will shift downward as my weight drops). I want to always eat enough fiber to keep my G.I. track moving. I want to keep my hydration and electrolytes high enough to ward off muscle cramps and other imbalances. And I want it all to taste good to me so that I can enjoy it as well as be more likely to make this sustainable in the long run.
I know that sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t after you get it moving in the right direction. My two Premier Protein shakes (one at breakfast and one in the afternoon) are really good (lots of flavors), really filling (sort of like a milkshake) and have 30 grams of protein (combined one third of my daily protein goal) and only about 160 calories apiece (20% of my daily goal). Lunch is crudite (celery, carrots and peppers) with some dressing and about 170 calories of either chicken or beef for more protein. Every other day or so I add a ramen soup which is more calories (~360), but satisfies the urge to have something hot and savory without too much bad stuff. Dinner is usually some form of protein (chicken or beef with sauce like curry, masala, Mexican-style, bilgogi, etc.) over rice and vegetables for about 500+ calories. I allow myself an indulgence of a few French cookies (Palmier’s for 240 calories) and I am done at about 1700 calories. Along the way and at night I make sure I have lots of water and take my Magnesium and Sodium supplements to keep those nasty cramps away. Right now this is working for me. Is it perfect…I’m sure its not. Should I eat more leafy greens…probably so. Should I have less dressing and fats, probably, but that’s what gives me my energy in lieu of carbs. Should I reduce sodium and eliminate all the processed foods in that array? Maybe, but not yet. My muscles need the sodium and my taste buds need the savoriness of that ramen or bilgogi sauce. And as for my Palmier cookies, don’t even think of suggesting I give up that indulgence until they run thin on me.
This morning I took my blood pressure, which is the one thing I am medicated to control. I have a really good gauge now, so I take it perhaps twice a week and the machine records all those readings for me to share with my physician when I see her every six months. Today, my reading was 106/60 and my resting pulse was 54. That has three happy data points for me. First, my resting pulse is up from the high 40s to 54, and that’s exactly where I want it. My diastolic at 60 is the lowest its ever. Been in my life and I take that as a solid personal victory. But the really good news for me was in the systolic pressure was WAY down for the first time. It was running 130-145, which always seemed OK to me, but my doctor wanted it at 120. Now, granted, I still take meds to lower my BP, but my point is that if these reading persist or even decline further, I will text them to my doctor and suggest I reduce my BP meds one way or another. The goal of getting off the meds altogether is a fine weight loss collateral goal that will make me feel good.
And all of this is because I have taken a new look at food. Food is no longer my enemy and something for which I have no respect. I respect and enjoy everything I eat for perhaps the first time in my life. I look forward to preparing it and even shopping for it. Kim thinks that an alien has invaded the body of her husband, but I am very seriously into this program and enjoying testing all the challenges that come with food and life. In a few weeks we will be traveling to Europe for two weeks and ending with the start of the holidays in NYC with the family. It will be several food test rolled into one for me, but I feel totally up to the challenge. I will not have my scale, but I will have my spreadsheet and I will continue to track my calories and protein. Interestingly enough, my caloric calculator tells me that I should have lost 19.72 pounds after these 36 days where I have lost 20. That’s a good sign, just like the BP reduction that I am tracking this correctly and that my approach seems to be working so far.