Cutting out the carbs is great SG! Well done! I also find it hard to believe that 4 years around the corner. Sometimes it seems unreal but I do make a point of remembering where we come from and how desperate things were becoming four short years ago. The experience has changed me in many ways. My wife still occasionally complains that I went from party animal to social recluse. It's true that it's not fair on her in many ways. I hardly ever feel like going anywhere and am quite content to stay home playing music, painting or just chilling out. When we finally do get out I generally have an ok time but I definitely do it for her and not for me. Does that happen to you guys?

it would be nice to hear from OMD and Cauliflower. I wonder how they are getting on.

Good luck with the hiring situation at work guys! Sounds a bit tricky!

Hope.you have a.great day!

I'm sorry for your loss IC.

I think you should quit - I mean, what would you say to a buddy with the same family history who asked you that question? :dunno:

D

Yep, I agree with Dee, Inc .Also you know you have the will power to pull it off. I was also sorry to hear about your loss.

SG...congrats on the low carbs :) As for low fat you are right. In keto the fat is used for fuel. It's actually easy to dial in on the amount needed too. And this was my experience early on so my experience has nothing to do with it.

Eat too much fat and the body stores it. But I find it's NO big deal since all I need to do is increase protein and lower fat to burn it. Either way my body is going to make damn sure the heart is pumping and my monkey mind has all the fuel it needs. Don't even need to hit the gym given our careers.

Of course CALORIES rules all.

I am honestly hoping you'll drop below 50 to experience ketosis for a week at least. All those years of retail beating up your body will evaporate and you'll feel 20 something again without inflamation. That alone is worth it.

Admitedly, I am going to start balancing my diet a bit more with a focus on preventing cognative decline. Because yeah..my gut says I need to. A clue for me is that symptom pretty bad any time it's on a list of possible side effects. Especially dopamine related: Wellbutrin, Adderall for example. And the wacky weed will literally make me dumb as rocks and completely unable to recall things like passwords.

Edit to clarify: Not that it matters I guess? I absolutely plan on being in ketosis as much as humanly possible. Just need to figure out how to balance. Do I change up my weeks or my months? I'll be testing the waters hear shortly to see how I respond emotionally to eating carbs at the level you are currently. Which is still rally good. and again...hats off to you for being at that level and for so long. Stick with it brother and I'm sure you'll make it a lifestyle due to how great you feel with low carbs and how crappy you'll immediately feel after even 1 slice of bread.

Dee. You are a consistent source or love and support. The 'ol answering deep questions as though it's for your brother.

I love you man.

Funny thing though...
I really wish I would accept the answer and run with it as much as I would pray for my brother to react.

Well - I'm glad I quit when I did IC.
Don't miss coughing up black stuff, y'know?

D

I might try to go full Keto down the road. I am worried for exactly some of the reasons that you mentioned. I have these occasional brain blanks, where, for a few seconds, I can't recall the name of an employee that I have worked with for years, for instance. It scares me when it happens, but I am pretty adept at covering these up. They seem to come up more frequently now. I am not sure if it's a true mental decline or just the effects of a lifetime of substance abuse.

I have been having very vivid dreams and remembering a lot them since the carb cutback. I am not sure how the body reacts as far as dopamine and serotonin production with fewer carbs. That's why I am more of a gradualist at this point.

Also, like you, I get a lot of exercise at work. I bought a cheapo step counter and I average walking 8-12 miles a day when I open or close the store. For me, that's around a 100 calories burned a mile, which helps with losing weight.

Do you still get a craving for carbs? I find that I really don't know, but if I start eating a few chips or a cookie, my brain kicks into gear like it's booze. Anyway, thanks for the dieting advice.

On a week of opening the store after a week of closes. Sometimes, I can't figure out why my boss schedules us the way he does, but that' why he gets paid the big bucks.

Have a good day guys!

Up for another early shift today. A line of heavy thunderstorms went through last night, keeping me awake, and dropping the temperature 30 degrees F in six hours. It's not spring yet.

Have a good day guys!

SG: No cravings for carbs. The negative mental association with carbs is very strong. I want to say after 2months, my cravings were down to periodic and a tad susceptible to triggers like seeing my greatest weakness (Dunkin Donuts). I also wanted B-Day cake pretty bad even though my normal take on cake was "meh"...especially chocolate. So my cravings would pop up 1 to 4 times MAX a month.

They continued to decline to zero for the the first 6 months I'd day. The last 6 months has been about developing the negative association to carbs. To the point where I really don't want to add them to my diet. Even healthy ones. But I am exploring a Paleo / keto routine. I may just stick with Paleo if it's just as helpful for depression.

Paleo diet cuts out dairy also, doesn't it Inc? What do you do to get fat? Would it strictly be from eating meats? You need a pretty high level of fat to sustain a keto diet I would imagine.

Inc, did you say that keto has helped stabilize your depression? I seem to feel a little more emotionally stable not eating as many carbs. I don't feel the constant rush and crash of refined sugars and don't miss it at all.

One more super early day of work. My body is in the groove working the same shift four days in a row. That never happens in my line of work.

Have a good day all!

Just wanted to swing by and wish you guys a good weekend.

Amp, I hope the creative juices continue to flow at the art studio.

I am trying to learn Travis picking on the guitar. It seems so simple but can be so complex once you try to speed it up a bit. Finally understand the concept of playing in a certain music key. It eliminates a lot of potentially off sounding notes when you are limited to seven chords basically.

How is work going Inc? We finally started posting openings on line and had over a hundred applications in a week. I would say that we are actually over hired at this point, if everyone actually stays. I wish we would have done this in September!

I have been working somewhat normal people hours this week, so I haven't been online as much. It's strange falling into a normal schedule for a week.

Take care guys!

Good luck with Travis, SG. They've got some great tunes!

I'm sitting on a train going through Seville as I write. My wife and I are on our way to an old friend's 50th birthday do in Ciudad Real. We decided to leave the car behind and let the train take the strain!

As a recovering alcoholic, I am gearing up for this weekend with a certain amount of trepidation. The friend in question is a colleague of my wife's from nearly 20 years back. They have stayed in touch and we have seen each other 3 or 4 times in the interim. I have met some of her friends a few times (many years ago) and we got on very well but it was a relationship forged on serious drinking.

Ciudad Real is in a wine producing region and I'm expecting the lunchtime party to go on into the evening with copious alcohol consumption all round and the traditional round of awkward questions about my abstinence for myself. I try not to be selfish so I will do my best to have a good time. My wife often reminds me how she had to stay on at many parties and events when she would have preferred to leave when I was drinking, and she's right. The least I can do is make an effort, but I'm not relishing it :/ Left to my own devices I would probably be a complete recluse by now!

Anyway, wishing you all a good weekend.

I hope as time goes on you'll find those situations less and less awkward amp. Be proudly sober :)

D

Thanks Dee!

I hope things went well yesterday Amp. Like Dee mentioned, I find these things easier to deal with the longer we go down this journey. People drinking don't bother me, but when folks get really drunk, it upsets me more than triggers me.

A ride on the train sounds like it could be fun. You see so much more on a train than you can while driving.

Amp.. Hope you had a good time!

SG.. More calories comes from fat in keto, but fat has 9 calories per gram whereas protein has 4 calories per gram, so I don't eat a lot of fat honestly. I just avoid lean meat and will add a fat source if I do have lean meat.

​​​​​​Plus, there mct oil which I add to coffee. Bullet proof coffee is actually awesome. It has butter/Ghee, heavy cream, and MCT oil or coconut oil.

So....
I'm on my way to pick up my youngest. We're going to the Smokey Mountains for a few days! Super psyched.

Recently he said he likes to be outside but doesn't know what to do, so I'm using this as an opportunity to show him how awesome nature can be to explore.

He has a couple small national forests within driving distance that he can explore with friends.

We're gonna do some geocaching too. That's where you find a cache that somebody planted then logged coordinates for others to find. Most have trinkets in them and you can take one if you leave one. Sometimes you'll find a geocaching coin with a serial number so you can look online to see where it's been.

We're in for a good time.in Tennessee, that's for sure.

have a great time IC :)

D

glad things went ok amp :)

D

Glad things went well this weekend Amp!

It's nice to be able to socialize without having drinking fears ruin the occasion. Indeed, heavy drinking does look bad from the outside.

Take care guys!

Cool Amp! Ever wonder how old you gotta be before you realize things rarely work out the way you think they will? For me... It was 50. Lol

Last day in the smokies. Been awesome so far. Yesterday we hiked mountains for 5hrs. It was on one trail but we peaked 3 mountains.

We also followed the Appalachian trail for 3miles for part of that trip. That was awesome because I grew up close to that trail towards the end of it in Maine.

This time I was towards the beginning of it. Both were over the top beautiful.



​

Glad you are having a great trip Inc! How warm is it there?

Have a good day guys!

Just realized we rolled into April. It's our big four year anniversary month. So happy to be over the madness that was my drinking life. My life totally revolved around drinking. Thinking about drinking, drinking, dealing with the aftereffects of drinking. Repeating the same cycle daily. And I never realized that there was another way until four years ago.

Have a good day all!

I hear that SG!! Congratulations guys! You continue to be in anchor in this sober storm! Not so stormy these days but still good to know we're there for each other!

Agreed!!

Inc, if your company still is having trouble hiring, I would suggest using an online job portal. My company, which is a tech dinosaur, finally did so and we hired, or over hired enough staff to fill all hours within six weeks. This is after struggling for years. It allows us to cull the best of the online apps and not waste our time interviewing folks who are not obvious matches.

Enjoy your painting class this weekend Amp!

Weather is bouncing back to cooler temps and winter coat once again. It's never dull this time of year. Not really looking forward to lawn cutting every week shortly, but will appreciate the spring warm up and no snow.

Have a good weekend guys!

Just dropping by to say hi.

Do any of you do anything to mark another year sober? Four years is pretty big, but I don't have any plans to do anything special. Being sober has always been a personal journey for me, both the troubles and the triumphs.

Have a good one guys!

I seem to remember that I justified buying myself a new guitar once as a sobriety celebration, but being sober would seem to be reward.enough in its own right! Have you guys passed the big 4 yet? I didn't get sober till the end of the month. Maybe the 25th. Amazed I can't remember the exact day now!

Well, I guess I justified buying a guitar Amp! I totally agree. Not drinking is its own reward.

I put my sobriety date in my profile to help me remember and I have a phone app that counts days and money saved that I check every month or two. I hit mine next Wednesday.

What is your latest painting that you are working on?

Inc, how are you doing after getting back from your vacation?

Have a good day!