I screwed up again. Everything was going fine, and last Friday I weighed in at 251. Then Saturday came. We had guests, that I wasn't all that familiar with, come to our house for a bbq. The only thing I know how to bbq well is burgers, so we had burgers. So as not to look out of place, I had a burger (which is not on the Zone diet), cookies, and beer. After they left, I kept on drinking beer. I had too many. Probably about 10-12 over a 10 hour period. I woke up a little hung over. In order to pamper myself I continued to eat garbage not on my diet. I didn't get back to it until Monday. I have really got to figure out what is going on with my social anxiety and binging. Then today, I weighed in at 260!! I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew I would be set back, but not that much. Perhaps the scale was off (I didn't read twice) or I gained a lot of water weight. Either way, all I can do now is pick myself up and get back on track.
Today I am going to talk about Leukotrienes. Their name was coined by the Swedish guy that discovered them- he combined the words leukocyte and triene (signifying that they have 3 double bonds). They are derived from arachidonic acid (the bad eicosanoid) and are mainly involved in the immune system signaling. There are several forms of them. They include: LTA4, LTB4, LTC4, LTD4, LTE4, and LTF4. They act on G-coupled receptors and are also associated with histamine formation (when leukotrienes are made, so is histamine). They are involved in allergic reactions, asthma, and are pro-inflamatory. Since they are so involved in creating inflammation they are pretty much "bad." So, I guess in the Zone you would want to decrease the amount of leukotrienes overall in your system. More on that later.
Today I had the usual oatmeal and protein drink for breakfast. Lunch I had out at a deli by circumstance and I had an apple and their "health" sandwich (low fat, chicken, etc) but I should have gone with the wrap. For dinner I had my chicken fajita salad and an apple. I had peanuts for snacks.
I have been hungry the past 2 days.
I can feel my feet are getting better, but they are still not good enough to exercise. Frustrating.
Transforming biochemistry knowledge into weight loss:
This page was begun as an experiment. An experiment I was conducting on myself. An experiment to test which conditions would allow me to loose weight. Now that I have been at it for a while I realize this page serves as more. It serves as a means for me to research. It is a way for me to pick health topics of interest, research them from a biochemistry stand point, and then share them with the world. Sharing them with you gives me an official feeling and keeps me motivated. However, as described below, I am still experimenting on myself.
How did this happen? I don't know exactly although I am almost sure it boils down to diet and exercise. I hope to find the answers as I explore my journey through weight loss on this blog. I was not always fat. Therefore, I know that I can be unfat again.
I am a biochemist. I should have known better. Of all people, I should have known how to avoid this predicament I am in now. I now wish to harness my scientific knowledge to experiment on myself as well as explore the chemical basis for weight loss methods.
Methods:
I will try new diets. I will experiment on myself. The diets will be chosen from among the most popular in our society. I will chronicle the results and my general experience in my blog here. I will also explore the biochemical basis for these diets as well as evaluate their effectiveness and truthfulness. I will also exercise as regularly as possible, 3-5 times per week, to avoid biasing the results. I will try to keep everything constant in my life except the diet. My method is not perfect. I don't necessarily want to lose raw pounds, but rather gain an understanding of what methods work best for me to permanently regain my health.
Hypothesis:
1. No diet will be clearly better than the others. Conversely, each diet will offer some truth, some piece of knowledge or methodology that I can take away with me to help myself. I think that in the end, I will be able to formulate my own diet based on a synthesis of all the things I have learned from all of these diets.
2. I have been on diets before, lost weight, and then regained it. I wasn't born fat. Given that, I think that my main problem will be shown to be psychological. I think that I may have compulsive eating problems- compulsive eating problems associated with very unhealthy foods.
3. I will lose quite a bit of weight. My blog will help keep my motivation levels high.
4. There will be a lack of clear scientific basis to many of the diets.
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