After extended thought, I've decided to allow coffee to be. If I want a cup, sure. It's not something I've gotta have, but if I'm in the mood so be it. More importantly, its application is a function of how it makes me feel.

I am resolved to evade all of that sugar-free nonsense! Gone are my days of 4-8 boxes of Jello a day or the old familiar lineup of diet drinks! I gotta admit, Mountain Dew Zero was a top shelf drink for me!

The past couple of days, I've run across Kelly Hogan, someone who has been having remarkable success on a carnivore diet. Yesterday, I watched this YouTube clip that she hosts: The 10+ year Carnivores take on: Fasting, Salt, Organs, Electrolytes, Cheating, & their Lab-Work.

I've removed all of my old content of how I approached dieting. I had this tight 995-1140 calorie per day approach, with all the RDAs locked in, a truckload of fiber, vegan approach...it was all the kind of stuff that folks think is healthy. Green tea extract, creatine, extra choline—The Vitamin Shoppe loved me! I did that along with 2+ hour daily workouts for...well, long enough to have lost 113 lbs and gain most of it back, something like 84 lbs. in what felt like a FLASH.

Looking back, it's a really DUMB way to lose weight in the long term. Since going keto in the summer and now starting my second day of carnivore now sans artificial sweeteners, I've lost 51 lbs, and feel its something I can take the distance.

What did yesterday look like? One pound of ground beef and 6 eggs for breakfast, another lb and 3 eggs for lunch, and repeat for dinner. I ate because I was hungry. Wolf am I. I heard of one strategy of 2 lbs of ground beef for breakfast so as to not fool with lunch and skip it entirely; I like that idea.

The thing I gotta keep in my mind is to EAT. In the years of 2018, 2019, and most of 2020, I had this thing where I had to eat just enough of calories to hit my RDAs, with a bagful of tricks to slip the dogs of appetite...or just rely on my willpower to make it through another night. Night after night after night down in dry county...

Should anyone be surprised that such an approach leads to a months-long derailment?

My core remains jacked up and I SO want to work the bag over again! The bruise on my middle right knuckle has just about faded away! While a few days ago, I couldn't walk a few feet without seizing up in back pain, I think I can now return to the treadmill.

I gotta train!

2021: like the Sam & Dave song goes...