175 lbs. Half pound weight drop, but here’s what’s REALLY interesting:
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’d heard, from my Paleo brother, that drinking hard alcohol while in Ketosis doesn’t stop and ruin the ketosis like drinking a beer would, requiring additional time to restart it, the alcohol just pauses the ketosis while the body uses the alcohol for energy and then continues.

So, last night I had a vodka martini, and measured my ketosis with the Ketostix: Sure enough. Gone. No ketosis.

But this morning I measured again and I was back in ketosis, and at the highest level I have yet achieved. I love that stuff! (The information and experimentation, I mean, not the vodka.)

So, I’ve got six pounds to still lose. I was hoping to do it by this Friday, but that’s not looking likely, as my average weight loss is about a pound a day.

Just to prove that I don’t only eat steaks, here’s a photo of my lunch, of smoked salmon and deli ham. Salmon is great for ketosis because it has lots of fat, which supports your energy levels and is just great for you all around. The mustard is about as carb-free as condiments get. Except home-made mayonnaise.

Jump in. Try this experiment: Just eat carb free until dinner, and then eat what you want. Breakfast and lunch just proteins and fats, and then dinner is whatever you want. Try it for a couple days.

Uh-oh. 182 pounds again. That’s it. No carbs today at all.

Breakfast: bacon and eggs, coffee with butter and coconut oil.
Lunch: hamburger patty, and half my son’s hamburger patty.
Dinner: I got a fat steak in my headlights and a diet ginger ale.

Oh, and I also had three espressos today, too. No sugar, obviously.

I’ve done a bunch of press interviews over the last two days, and everybody I speak with seems to get it, that drinking the ten Cokes is to get people’s attention about the important issues of sugar in diet and how your insulin level is the important thing to consider in weight control, not calories. But all the comments on news articles are like, “Duh, what did you think was going to happen when you drank ten Cokes?”

Well, I thought I would gain weight, but not 23 pounds. It’s a surprise. And the real result is fantastic: thousands of people are really thinking about how much sugar is in their diet.

Thanks for all the new likes and comments and advice, except for the people who think I need a pedicure…

Guess what? It turns out that it’s hard to lose weight over Thanksgiving. Who knew, huh? My weight has been basically unchanged over the last five days, at about 186 pounds.

It was a holiday though, and my philosophy of diet is that you eat right most of the time, so that you can eat poorly some of the time… but I went so far off the Paleo diet that Robert Atkins may have rolled over in his grave. Stuffing, deserts, chips, pig roast, fresh bread, fried potatos, tacos and Margaritas at El Coyote restaurant, pizza – but no Cokes, actually.

So, now I’m really going to dial down the carb consumption, maybe even try and get my body into ketosis so that I start releasing and burning those fat stores, really kick start the weight loss. I’m tired of the little gut, although my wife, kindly, says she likes it.

I got a great note on the website today from a girl named Kate who has just stopped drinking Cokes. Here’s the note:

“Hi, George: I was on Yahoo when I saw the article about 10 cokes a day. I clicked on it, watched your video and am amazed. My housemates and I started a detox diet yesterday and it’s been especially hard for me because I drink about 5-8 20oz soda’s a day. Water has never really been an option for me until yesterday when I agreed to not drink any soda or eat sugared foods for one month. Within 12 hours, the headache started. The lack of sugar is driving my body nuts, but after seeing your stats on how much your body went down hill in just 30 days, I realize I have to do this. I have a feeling I’ll be watching your video everyday for the next 30 days to remind me why I’m doing this. Thank you…in the name of science =)”

This is exactly why I’m doing this blog, exactly why I’m doing this experiment. Thanks, Kate.

So, here I go. Hopefully some meaningful weight loss for a while now.

The total weight gain for my 30 Days of 10 Cokes a day is 23 pounds. I’m going for a blood lipid test tomorrow morning, and I’ll see if my cholesterol levels have been affected. I started out with Paleo cholesterol, which is radically high good cholesterol, and we’ll see if just 30 days can change that.

Yesterday was the first day of no Cokes and it was such a relief not to have to slam cans of soda all day, and also I spent less time running to the bathroom. I haven’t been particularly hungry the last two days, but I’ve been eating Paleo again right from the start: eggs and beans yesterday for breakfast, plain burger meat and cheese for lunch, but then I ate out for dinner and had fish and chips. Today, so far, no carbs. Buttered coffee and bacon for breakfast, deli meats for lunch – but I honestly don’t have much appetite and still feel full – maybe I’m not used to the new fat around my organs, or my body’s reacting somehow to not eating all the sugar, but I don’t have appetite.

A couple of readers commented that they thought my weight gain was mostly water weight. 23 pounds of water weight?! On top of 168 pound starting weight? I’d jiggle like a water balloon. No, sorry, it’s bulging fat cells, not water-logged skin. Here’s the Paleo argument about why it’s totally possible to put on 23 pounds in a month:

The reason why we have the ability to gain weight when we have an abundance of food is because there were no refrigerators back in Hunter and Gatherer times, and food sources were inconsistent. People had to be able to gorge themselves on available food to store as fat and get them through times when there wasn’t much food. Fruit ripens on the walla-bulla tree? Eat it quick and store it as fat, because it’ll all be gone in a week. Killed a cave bear? Feast like it’s the last cave bear in the world, because you need to store that energy until you catch the next cave bear, and that could be a while, right?

It’s a simple and wonderful strategy – that was only screwed up by our success as humans: we now have constant abundance, and we’re constantly eating and storing food.

Anyway, totally possible to gain this much weight as fat, and totally healthy – as long as lose the weight now.

I’m up to 189 lbs. 21 pounds of gain in four weeks. This is the last day of four weeks of this ridiculous diet and I can’t wait until two more days pass, for a total of 30 days, so I can stop drinking Coke and start losing weight. I have to wear shorts at the office because my pants don’t fit. My face is filled out and kind of round like a chubby little baby, and, also like a little baby, I keep pooping my pants.
Can’t wait to lose weight. I don’t seem to have developed diabetes or much insulin resistance yet, but a few more months like this would probably do the trick.
I got an email on my website today from a guy who asked if I’ve been using the Coke Rewards coupons from my Coke cartons, and if not, can he have them…
What could I get from 300 cans of Coke? A free 2 litre bottle? 10% off dentistry?