Matching its 70 F forecast, yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day, especially as we are approaching Christmas. It was a time I had been looking forward to all week. I went outside, cranked up the tunes (the rock yacht-laden The 13th Expedition playlist) and...wielded my sledgehammer like Thor! OK, so most of my time was spent with a crowbar, but C'MON you WANT images of Chris Hemsworth over Joe Pesci's Home Alone!

Through the sheer willpower of these two hands, my workout that day was a few hours invested in tearing down the outdoor deck. My approach so far has been to preserve what wood I can in case I want to create something, though my recent return to...well, I don't want to necessarily say minimalism, I might call it optimization...well, my recent shift to whatever puts me at a crossroads: do I take the wood and define 2021 by craftsmanship and subsequently all of the new tools and upkeep required? Or, do I set ablaze the wood and get rid of the tools I already have and maintain my workout space for 2021?

I do enjoy woodworking, but I don't enjoy its scope creep: space, time, money, etc. Among the hobbies, I would think its the most needy, a gadget here; stains and oils there; clamps-a-plenty; and not to mention the workspace cleaning and filtering requirements! I don't think its payoff is worth all the money I've sunk into it already, so why keep chasing good money after bad? Perhaps I could be persuaded to continue if my soul was not of a Ramblin' Man.

No, my time is better spent at building me.

We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster.

In these fitness thrusts of 2018, 2019, and 2020, while I've gained an armload of insight about weightloss, better than an academic setting can provide, I'm glad I cut out all of my past posts leading up to June, as to focus on this adventure alone, a spotlight on what works and this little diary along the way.

It is important to define what works. It's not about sheer weightloss numbers. I've lost greater numbers with a semi-starvation diet of 1000 calorie days. I've lost EVEN better numbers by straight up water fasting for 4+26 days in London+Czech Republic in July 2012.

The drop only matters to the context. Weightloss isn't about willpower; weightloss is about sustainability. It's about applying an approach that lasts far beyond 6 weeks, or in the case of my current diet streak, 175 days. "Dieting" isn't a thing where we plug it in for a stint and think we'll just magically stay at that weight as we shower in a deluge of carbs.

This is nothing new, of course; we all know this on paper. But, do we apply it? I know I didn't in 2018, 2019, and the start of 2020. I kept choosing these low-calorie vehicles for weeks that led me to running away on long binges. I thought, "Lemme do this thing right now to cut the weight and THEN I'll find something more sustainable." That doesn't work. Don't do that.

Find an eating approach that doesn't require an endpoint, i.e. one that doesn't have a weight goal or calendar date for an expiration date. It's pretty simple: if I go back to eating all the sugars, industrial oils, and carbs, I'll get a sugars, industrial oils, and carbs body in return. That doesn't work. Don't do that.

Now for me, I like how I've been able to go beyond my keto diet to forge myself into a carnivore. I've found that tracking macros (or calories for that matter) doesn't make sense. I don't think a tiger pulls up a spreadsheet before a kill. It is better to develop our innate ability to understand what we need by listening to our appetite. More to that: carbs tend to jam the off switch. For me personally, I found in my first week of carnivore that salts and seasonings promote overeating. In my second week, I learned that I didn't need the 6 to 9 eggs a day to go along with the 2 lbs of beef. Now in my third week, I don't feel compelled to clean my plate. When I have meat left and feel satiated, I stop. I have no nutrient quota to hit. I'm not forcing myself through the pain of eating 12 oz of microwaved frozen spinach like I did in 2019. I no longer eat breakfast because I have to. I'm just not hungry in the morning, so I just pick it up around 11 am instead...or again, when I'm hungry. I don't snack, because if I'm hungry, I EAT! But after eating all the fat, I don't want anything until the evening. It doesn't require herculean power to achieve; I can apply my willpower in other areas instead of blowing it up on food.

And lest I forget, thus begins Week 2 of The 17th Expedition: The Carnivore and we're loading up the freezer from another sale of ground beef at $1.59/lb!

While my wife has given me a treasure hoard of candles, some 21 jars at 18 oz each, the newest scent in the house is the best: bacon.

Sure, my time as a carnivore has basically been beef atop more beef; using bacon (with no sugar) as more of an accent to my meal was—well, it was bacon, I don't need to paint the picture for you! That said, once the bacon grease had solidified, it was outstanding to spread a tablespoon+ of it atop my beef patties for lunch.

Add that to a ribeye treat last night and I gotta admit: I am lovin' my diet. I took a quick peek at my weight the other day and I lost ANOTHER 4 lbs since the last weigh-in on Dec 3rd, putting me at 233. But that's the last time I'm weighing in until January 14th! Well...I'll post something about it on New Year's Eve.

I brought back and updated the weightloss table I once maintained on WordPress. My transition from keto to carnivore on November 23 was well-timed.

I've been feeling good, perhaps too good. After healing up from the right lat issue, I began hauling one deck railing on my shoulder and dragged backwards another section, up a hill AND back down again after finding a better burn spot. Taking a breather by raking leaves, I then pulled together all the wood and got a fire going. Watching the fire burn, I used a crowbar to pull 4 deck planks up and found my forearms to be fatiguing on me, so I shut things down and shelved the crowbar and sledgehammer. Returning to the fire, I thought I could just give one good yank to get the 5th plank up with my bare hands. For a moment, it felt like it gave...turns out something in my spine moved for my lower back locked up like nobody's business! So, here I am again, shuffling my feet around, cursing I didn't spend more time in my deadlift dumbbell routine.

The weird thing is that while I've got this new back thing, I really want to work out and move. If I'm this way at 233...it's lining up to be a SPECTACULAR 2021.