Calorie Warrior

Next week I’m planning on visiting my brother in LA for four days and Id like to stay on track with this eating thing. I like to visit my little bro once or twice a year because he lives all the way across the country. The only other time I get to see him is Christmas or if he has to come back home to New York for an emergency.

New York is a great place for food but when I go LA its even more of a food Mecca. When I originally discussed my trip with my bro we talked about sampling some of the most popular food trucks in LA. I even did some homework and read the reviews to find the most popular ones.

On most of my trips I fly in on a Wednesday night and we walk down to Cabos Cantina on Sunset Boulevard. This place is awesome for cheap, delicious Mexican food and huge margaritas. This is usually followed up by some bar hopping on the walk back to my brothers place. My stay is filled with sampling some of the great LA food and binge drinking the nights away. It’s always an awesome time!

Not so much this trip

This trip is probably going to be a little different. My brother switched to full Paleo Diet in the beginning of January. He’s really been sticking with it and has no intentions of going off anytime soon. I thought “why should my visit have any impact on his new lifestyle change“? So, I called him last week and told him that if he was concerned I would fuck up his Paleo he didn’t have to go off it just cause I was coming. Surprised by his answer he said “no worries, your eating Paleo too!” Apparently his roommate (my best friend) also started eating 100% Paleo. He told me that this trip would consist of all paleo eating and lots of hiking in the Hollywood Hills.

This was actually kind of a relief for me. I’m sure I will still indulge a little here and there but, eating at my brothers place and adding in lots of exercise would be great to keep me on track with my own goals. Los Angeles is a great place for being outdoors and enjoying outdoor activities. There are so many awesome hiking trails and I’m really curious to see what its like. My brothers in way better shape than me but with all the treadmilling I’ve been doing I’m sure I can keep up.

What Exactly is Paleo?

Briefly, Paleo is one of the oldest diets known to man. Sometimes referred to as the hunter gatherer diet because it only includes things that are natural. Paleo eaters don’t eat anything that’s processed. Most Paleo meals consist of meat and vegetables. After I spend a few days with my brother I’m sure I’ll have some more to add to my brief definition.

Can I lose weight on vacation?

Sounds like I can! Just as long as I don’t go overboard and we keep active I don’t see it being a problem. Last year I found myself sitting by myself in the airports Carl Juniors trying to sample everything on the menu. This time around I know I have way more self control.

In the beginning of February I had some blood work done for some life insurance I applied to. The results came back fine by the insurance companies standards, but I looked over the results myself and noticed something strange. One of my protein levels came in on the low side. It was just below the acceptable range but still low?

These were my blood work results

Whats Globulin?

Out of curiosity I went to the Google and did some research on Globulin. The results I found were interesting. Globulins are proteins in the blood that regulate the function of the circulatory system. According to Wikipedia the normal concentration of globulins in the blood is about 2.6-4.6 g/dL. Mine were lower than this and slightly lower than the insurance rating of 2.0 g/dL.

Whats Low Globulin mean?

Low globulin levels can indicate liver disease, an inability to digest or absorb dietary protein, malabsorption, inflammatory bowel disease or Celiac disease, some sort of cancer, anemia or kidney disease. I’m thinking this is something Id probably want to look into.

After further research I discovered that you should also have a specific ratio of Globulin/Albumin. Albumin is circled in my blood work results and comes in at 4.8 g/dL.

Albumin / Globulin Ratio

You get your Albumin/Globulin ratio by dividing your albumin by your globulin. My ratio is approximately 2.52. Its suggested that the ideal A/G ratio be somewhere between 1.7-2.2. A level higher than 2.2 can indicate decreased thyroid function, low globulin, an excess of glucocorticoids or a variety of other problems.

My Thoughts

People say you shouldn’t freak out when you self diagnose yourself by reading stuff on the internet. I don’t, but I do think I should get checked out. My weight isn’t coming off as easy as Id like to these blood proteins point directly to weight related problems like hyperthyroidism or Celiac. My younger brother has Celiac but he has issues gaining weight. I think the best thing I can do is make an appointment and get checked out by a doctor, its been a while anyway.

Last night I was reminded how I’m an addict and I haven’t overcome my desire for food. Even though I’ve been doing so great I actually embarrassed myself. The hardest part about me eating better isn’t changing what I eat but, limiting the amount I eat, especially when it comes to take-out.

This Friday night we went over our friends house for dinner and ordered in some pizzas. They had some chips out and my friend offered me some beer. I thought to myself, “I got this”. I ate pretty good all day so some pizza and beer wouldn’t hurt. I sat down with my bud light and started munching on a few chips. I kept noticing that I was the only one eating the chips and my hand wouldn’t stop reaching into the bowl. Finished beer #1 and started working on another. Luckily it was time to leave and pick up the pizza.

There were four of us and we got two pies and probably two dozen wings. My friends really don’t eat to much. I started with two meatball slices, four wings and I could have been content. I knew the pizza was going in the garbage and a little voice kept saying have another slice. So, I grabbed slice #3 and dropped in like 3 more wings. Another beer….. and now I realized control was gone. Everyone was done eating and there was so much left. Figured I would clean off the table and when I went in the kitchen I saw the boxes of pizza sitting on the counter. This is where it was kind embarrassing because I grabbed a paper towel and walked out of the kitchen with slice # 4. WTF was I doing? I also knew that we had brought little ice cream cups over for dessert and I polished off one of those too.

I was pretty disappointed in myself and don’t know why I feel the need to finish EVERYTHING. Even when I’m at someone else’s house. In our house the temptation isn’t there because I restrict everything that comes in and the amount that’s cooked. I know I’ve been doing good and limiting my calories all week but a slip up like this really isn’t acceptable.

I felt really bad when I forced myself to log everything into MFP when I got home. I totally killed all the exercise I did that morning just to big out on some beer and take-out. My biggest hurdle will be learning how to stop overeating.