Dietary Changes

Decided to focus on my diet after I noticed that I was increasing my weekly running mileage, but my weight was creeping higher and higher.  I have been in the 190-195 pound range for years, especially since I have given up roller hockey and went to running as my full time exercise outlet.  When I see the weight get to 195, that is my alert to check on what I have been eating and possibly make adjustments.  Typically, a night of beer and/or barbecue would spike the weight a bit, so I could dismiss it as being too indulgent.  As long as I did not eat/drink like that on a steady basis, the weight would stay in my self-defined safe zone.  One day I noticed that the weight was not going back down, staying closer to 195 than to 190.  I figured some changes were in order.

I had a good friend that had reaped the benefits of going to a Keto diet.  I won't get into the specifics, but essentially, its a low/no carb - high fat/protein diet.  The science behind Keto and other carb deficient diets is that you get your body to burn fat instead of carbs.  You do this by not eating sugar/carbs (carbs get processed as sugar in your body).  Then your body has no choice but to burn the fat since there's no carbs/sugars left.  Since carbs fill you up, you need to offset the carb reductions with an increase in protein and fat.  This could be right up my alley.

I did the research and noticed that there is a high barrier of entry to this diet and what seems like an even higher level of commitment.  All new foods to buy (what is monkfruit?).  Readily available foods I used to eat any time are now forbidden.  This was not going to be easy.  Instead of jumping in the deep end, I decided to take a more gradual approach.  I created some customized guidelines for myself.
No potatoes - I had already mostly phased out potatoes from my diet, but now it was real.  I had been eating fries out of habit, not out of desire.
Less pasta/rice - I'm married to a native Louisianan.  Rice is going to show up on my plate from time to time.  Smaller rice portions should do the trick.  Removing pasta will be a battle.
Much less bread - I was having toast with my omelettes at breakfast.  Those were easy to eliminate.  Decided to eat half the bread on most sandwiches/burgers.  I would either toss the top bun or cut the bread down to smaller pieces. 
Beer on weekends - I'm a craft beer drinker.  Almost every beer I drink has carbs out the ying yang.  No more beer with dinner on week nights.  If I need to imbibe, I go to spiked seltzer which has been a refreshing twist during this summer already.
No desserts - I was never much of a dessert guy anyway. 

After only a week of using these guidelines, I saw the pounds come off.  I weighed in at 191 before deciding to ruin my progress by drinking beer and eating carbs over Labor Day weekend.  This 3 day weekend helped highlight some of the obstacles I may encounter using my guidelines

Sweet Tea - A few years back I switched from full on Sweet Tea to Half Sweet/Half Unsweet Tea.  I'll admit that I am addicted, since its a staple when I go out for lunches.  If I remove tea completely, I would probably offset by increasing my coffee intake.  Bought some low glycemic sweetener just in case.
Pasta - Some of my favorite cuisines are based on pasta (Italian, Chinese, assorted southeast Asia fare). 
Bread - The wife made some awesome sweet zucchini bread.  That was extremely difficult to ignore.  Cereal -  For most of my life, cereal is all that I would eat for breakfast.  Recently went to making eggs in some manner, but cereal is close to 50% of my breakfasts.  The carbs are just too high, so cereal has to go.  This will be phased out over a longer period of time.
Cheese/Crackers - I make a killer cheese dip.  The cheese dip can stay, but its delivery mechanism will need to change.  Still working on what that will be.  Might be an actual spoon.
Dark Chocolate - If I drink red wine, I love to finish with some dark chocolate.  Its more of a habit, I know, but the craving will be a battle to subvert. 

Although I had some quick success, it was fleeting since I did not stick with it long enough.  Looks like I can focus on my breakfasts and lunches, Monday through Friday.  I would hate to force the rest of my family to change their diets just because I decided to change mine, so dinners will remain mostly the same.