We move into the second eleven days of Lent 2021.

Sunday 28th February

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
4 78.0 0.0 14.8 0.0

Today has been a write-off. I woke up feeling very sluggish and with a headache and a cough. Some of my joints ached. I managed to make a coffee but went back to bed to read and watch videos. I stayed in bed until 1600. In the afternoon I had a Lemsip which alleviated some of the symptoms, but I still don’t feel right.

I believe this is ‘ketosis flu’. My body is adjusting to the change in diet. Actually, I’m surprised that it has to do so much adjusting. We will see tomorrow if I’m right or not. The lack of energy is unusual and so I may have something else wrong with me. Of course, the COVID-19 virus haunts us, but I’m not sure where I would have caught that other than at the funeral last Monday.

My weight and fat percentage are the same as it was on Saturday. I’m expecting to plateau this week anyway. A dramatic weight decrease is usually seen in a keto diet in the first week or so, then the work really begins.

Yesterday we had keto pancakes and I had steak and bacon with them. It was quite a productive day all in all and I went out to do some gardening for 30 minutes to get some air. Today, the most I have managed is a short walk around the garden.

I’m writing this in the evening. I usually write my entry well before lunchtime, if not before working time. I’m about to have a shower and I’m beginning to feel a bit more normal after eating a plate of pasta with seafood and some salmon. I had some yoghurt to replace the micro bacteria which can go missing on keto diets. I’m not sure I would cope with this diet unless I could eat some carbs on Sunday.

Any project tends to head into the dreaded trough of despair, usually after the initial enthusiasm has worn off. If I can get through the week ahead, I suspect I will be able to get through the whole thing.

I did make two purchases on Amazon yesterday. We get through bags and bags of coffee beans a week. Similarly, we drink a lot of sparkling water. Both purchases are essential and will make the shopping bill cheaper.

Monday 1st March

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
1.5 78.3 0.3 14.9 0.1

Where on earth did the last two months go? The year is racing away and we will soon have hot weather before we know it. I feel a lot better today. I slept well for once and I have my energy back.

After weighing in this morning, I noticed a peculiarity with my Fitbit scales. The scales say 78.2, but 78.3 is recorded. Similarly yesterday, 100g was added. It could be a rounding error of course, but it would be good if what was displayed was what was stored. This morning my weight is up by 200g at least. This is the first time I’ve increased weight since I started but it is not surprising given yesterday’s struggle.

Having suspected that the pasta would take me out of ketosis, I was proved incorrect as I still have a small number of ketones at 1.5mmol/l. I’m surprised. Having the carbs had one benefit and I’m pleased to say that my stomach was able to evacuate its waste. Now hopefully everything in that department will settle into a regular pattern.

Today will be a normal day of work and we will have one meal later on, probably in the afternoon.

Tuesday 2nd March

I found matching the ketosis test to the scale incredibly difficult this morning. The subtle differences between the colours are quite tricky to distinguish at times. It’s only an estimate and I’ve decided that this is an 8.

As per yesterday, the scales said 78.2kg but the cloud says 78.3kg. There’s something afoot with Fitbit, but again it’s an estimate and we need to look qualitatively at the numbers - if they are descending, we are losing weight.

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
8 7 8.3 0.0 14.8 -0.1

Yesterday was a bit of a reset. My energy levels returned and I’m in full digestive health, eliminating any worry about lack of movement in the stomach department. I’m pussyfooting around - let’s be blunt. I no longer have constipation. There I said it.

I drank a lot of water yesterday. I also took a vitamin B supplement to alleviate any issues with energy. I managed a walk and a visit to the post office, but I could do with some more air, something that I will address at lunchtime once my morning meetings are out of the way.

We ate pork with a large salad in the late afternoon. My wife made a keto-quiche and that will be today’s meal, probably late afternoon again.

Strangely my right arm ached where I fractured it last year. Occasionally I get a reminder of this injury, which actually I’m rather lucky to have recovered quickly from. I may write about this at some point.

Wednesday 3rd March

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
4 78.8 0.5 14.7 -0.1

The Fitbit scales are annoying me. They are consistently adding 100g to the number. This morning I weighed in at 78.7kg on the scales and 78.8kg on the cloud application. Anyway, at least the amount of fat continues to decrease. I’m obviously holding onto something and the excess weight will subside.

I’m still measuring good enough ketone levels. The strip was even harder to read this morning. They do expire with age as the air gets to them and this one didn’t fully change colour. I’ve conservatively marked this as 4mmol/l.

I got through yesterday with high levels of energy and I did not feel hungry all day. I ate late around 1900 - homemade keto quiche with broccoli and vegetables. The crust of the quiche is made with almond flour. [R-Qui]

I went for a long walk at lunchtime with the dog and worked on various administrative things. In the evening, I did some recreational computer programming. In the course of writing this book on Leanpub, I’ve learnt a lot about text processing. I am using a code editor to write the book and formatting needs to be specified by directives in the text. I wrote a program yesterday to generate a draft copy of this book without having to go onto Leanpub. In practice, it’s better to get immediate feedback on changes without having to run a Leanpub preview operation. Also, it gives me the ability to write fully offline. There’s nothing particularly clever in what I have done - it adjusts the text to a format that the [Pandoc[(/assets/lent2021/https://pandoc.org) text processor can understand.

The idea of getting into the air and thinking about problems is working, although not in the way that I expected. Last night I spent a couple of hours looking at a problem with computer emulation. Essentially one version of an operating system would not boot on the emulated, but the version before would. I tested various different things and went to bed not having solved the problem. Eight hours later as I woke, something in my memory jogged seeing the amount of RAM the emulator was using. It struck me as small as I woke up this morning. And that is what the problem turned out to be. The emulated computer didn’t have enough RAM. The problem was effectively solved by being away from the keyboard and actually I hadn’t seen it because I was too far into the weeds of what I was doing.

Thursday 4th March

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
4 78.5 (0.3) 14.6 (0.1)

Yesterday, I managed to get all of my work done in the morning so that I could go out for a couple of hours. I went to London by train, got on a Santander bike to Holborn where I delivered an eBay sale and then got back on the bike and cycled to Bayswater where I got a coffee. It was good to get out. And it was good to get in 9km on the bike. The weather turned though and I came back home by underground and train.

We had dinner in the afternoon and it was homemade burgers with cheese, mushrooms, green beans and salad. I then picked up work again. I went to bed late and read before going to sleep. This often happens on Wednesday nights because I have a Russian lesson from 1830 - 2100 and I need to unwind afterwards.

This morning I woke with a very slight soreness and taste in my throat. After getting up, this subsided. I’m still very much in ketosis and my fat weight continues to descend.

Today will be very much focused on attending a funeral as best I can. One of my school friends died on Shrove Tuesday and it was a bit of a shock. He’d kept quiet about his condition and I don’t blame him. I met him in approximately 1983 when he joined our class. We had a mixed year class and he was a year above me. Over 20 years later, the company I was working for acquired his and we ended up working together. He was incredibly supportive and a good friend. We will line the street where he lived and will watch the ceremony online, an unfortunate consequence of the current COVID-19 pandemic. What we really need to do is go to the pub to see the gent off in style and I suspect we will get to that in April or May.

Friday 5th March

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
0.5 78.6 0.1 14.5 -0.1

Something has knocked me out of ketosis and I don’t know what it is. I haven’t slept very well but that’s my fault for going to bed late. After the funeral yesterday, I did a few bits and pieces of work offline, lit a candle to remember the deceased, and spent the rest of the evening computer programming. I extended my text processor so that I can work offline from Leanpub and it will now output my books with Russian characters.

We had chicken in bacon with cauliflower mash and salad for dinner around 5pm. We walked to the funeral and got out into the fresh air.

Regardless my fat weight continues to decrease, but I need to get some proper rest this weekend, away from keyboards and computers.

Saturday 6th March

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
4 78.3 (0.3) 14.5 -0.1

The amount of ketones has increased and my fat weight continues to descend. I managed to get a good nights sleep last night after watching a film and generally unwinding. Before the film, I managed to desolder and replace the battery in my shaver. It took me an hour of fiddling around but I got there in the end. The shaver is probably good for another five years. It’s often the rechargeable batteries that fail and they can be replaced if you have the patience.

I worked in the garden for 30 minutes to get some fresh air and we had our dinner shortly afterwards - salmon with green beans and salad. By 2100 I was feeling a bit hungry. This is unusual for me. The hunger subsided however and I’m fine this morning.

I need to spend today in deep work finishing off two things that are overdue on my list, so there won’t be much else today. Here are the statistics for the week:

Here are my sleep statistics. I’m not getting enough REM sleep and I have trouble memorising things. I suspect these two things are related.

My waist is 91.6cm (36”) and hasn’t changed since last Saturday.

Sunday 7th March

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
4 78.0 (0.3) 14.4 (0.1)

I managed to have a very productive day at the desk. I pottered on some administrative things for an hour or two, made a coffee and then put the keyboard away. I felt a bit tired. The first two coffees of the day were decaffeinated, simply because the machine had decaffeinated beans in it. One vitamin B tablet and one proper coffee later, I was set up for the day.

I tore out four sheets of A4 from a new refill pad, picked up a fountain pen and started to write. Incredibly the words just started to flow along with several ideas that I had to capture on a separate notepad. After almost two hours I had the draft of a book chapter. I took Luna for a walk, got some air, listened to some podcasts and on my return, I typed in the draft and made dummy illustrations that I will need to replace later. Halfway through the typing, I stopped to make dinner - a massive rump steak with two eggs, broccoli, asparagus and peanuts whilst I cooked.

I finished by 1800 and it was quite exhausting. It is difficult to write a book. It’s just as difficult working out what to take out as much as it is what to put in, but the only way to get to that point is just to write. What I took away from yesterday is that sometimes one just needs to get away from the keyboard to progress. Interestingly I write these entries every day in a plain text editor and that seems to work for this project.

There was other stuff that I could have done, but I forced myself to take a break. I watched the first Star Trek film. It’s very dated and slow, but actually not that bad at all compared to some modern efforts. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and waited for my wife to get home before getting to bed.

Today, apart from hopefully getting out in the garden for a bit, I will be doing much the same. I am writing an article for a magazine and I need to get the draft finished this week. Once I’ve pottered around a bit, I will settle on that for today.

This morning, I’m still very much in ketosis and my fat weight continues to descend. This afternoon I intend to eat porridge, yoghurt and toad-in-the-hole with mash and green beans. I need some porridge for fibre. I suspect this meal will take me out of ketosis but it will set me up for the week.

I managed to cook my wife an omelette for breakfast without getting cravings to eat myself, although I have to say it was difficult not being able to eat any of it.

Monday 8th March

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
1.5 78.5 0.5 14.4 0.1

I am amazed. I still have ketones in my system and more than I did last Monday. I loaded up on food yesterday. I had porridge and yoghurt to aid digestion for the week. Then I had toad-in-the-hole with mash and green beans. I have to say I was beaten and half of the toad-in-the-hole is in the freezer for next week. I was just not able to eat the amount that I could before I started fasting. I knew that the amount of food would affect me. This is the first day where my fat weight has increased, but I’m not worried - it will start to drop off again this week.

Being able to “cheat” on Sunday is quite nice. It sets you up for the week and allows you to have something that you crave. I doubt this is really the spirit of Lent, but Sundays are not counted in the fasting. I’m still sticking to one meal a day. I’ve got three more Sundays to get through in Lent. Next week I’ll be eating toad-in-the-hole…

I didn’t do much yesterday other than a bit of gardening and walking our dog. There’s a busy week ahead and as I type this at 845, it’s about to start in anger. I have several meetings today and a messy software release to get through. Time to switch all of the external notifications off and get on with it.

Tuesday 9th March

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
1.5 78.2 -0.3 14.4 -0.1

The numbers are heading in the right direction again. I had a relatively normal day with no hunger pangs. We ate around 1630 and had salmon with vegetables and salad. I had a few cashew nuts and a piece of Gouda cheese to supplement the meal. After a late work meeting, we took our dog for a walk in the evening.

Other than that it was really a day of solid work at my desk. I released some software and the release mostly worked. One component had to be backed out and I will spend time this morning understanding why that was. For some reason, production had got out of sync with the source code repository. With the diet I’m following, it is somewhat easier to concentrate and focus on such things.

My intention today is to have a couple of meetings with some potential customers, go up to London for a social distanced coffee or walk with a colleague and a friend, then switch off a bit in the evening.

Despite being in bed winding down just after 2100, I didn’t sleep well. We were joined by a small brown wolf-like animal… when she comes and joins us, she’s the one that gets the best night’s sleep.

Wednesday 10th March

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
1.5 78.0 -0.2 14.3 -0.1

Good morning from the wide-awake at 4:40 club. I went to bed early last night at around 20:45, watched some videos and then read until just after 22:00. I clocked over 23000 steps yesterday and I also had two short bike rides in London. I went up for a socially distanced coffee with a colleague and another socially distanced coffee with a friend. The exercise tired me out but it was good to get into the air. Not surprisingly my weight has dropped.

Anyway, I woke at 3:45 and I’ve just got up for a bit. I suspect that I will head back to bed in an hour or so. I’m going to produce a report for work, read for a bit but make sure I get some rest in before I need to be up properly.

I didn’t drink enough water yesterday and was 250ml short of 2l. I probably had too much coffee in the afternoon too. Dinner was a chicken casserole with cauliflower rice and salad.

Thursday 11th March

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
4 78.3 0.3 14.3 0.0

Yesterday’s early start didn’t do me again good at all. I went back to bed and slept briefly and got up again around 8. By the late afternoon, I was shattered. I managed to get through two and a half hours of Russian in the evening. At the end of the lesson, I walked a couple of metres to the bedroom and crashed into bed. I read for 30 minutes, but I was sleeping just after 2200. This morning I feel as if I could do with more sleep.

Because I was feeling tired, I took vitamin B. It didn’t help. The weather was pretty bad too and I didn’t get out of the house at all. There’s no point in getting soaking wet in the pursuit of a few minutes of fresh air. This morning the weather is drier but there are high winds. I need to go out shortly to go to the Dentists.

We had our main meal around 1630 and it was pork belly with vegetables and salad. I also had some cashew nuts. My weight is up this morning but my fat weight is the same as it was yesterday. I’ve plateaued.

At the end of today, I will have completed half of Lent. I’m not particularly enjoying it at the moment and I was trying to figure out why. I miss the full cheat day I have on Saturdays, but I don’t miss the accompanying feelings of bloat and recovery afterwards. I think it is the occasional day where I lack energy, like today. On such a day, I would relax a bit and have a second meal - perhaps an omelette with salad - and that would be enough to reset the balance. In any case, only 23 days to go. There’s no stopping me now.