Picture on the left was taken on August 27, 2012, at Folly Beach, SC, while on vacation visiting friends in the Charleston area. This was about two months after I began the slow-carb diet. Before I went on that vacation, my weight was 233 pounds, with 33.9% body fat.
So what a difference made by these two years. The picture on the right, on a cruise excursion at Grand Cayman, was taken on May 1, 2014. We flew to Tampa on April 26, 2014; my weight/body fat that day was 171.2 pounds/14.4%. My waist decreased from size 42/44 to 34.
That day at Grand Cayman was no doubt more than 171 pounds. On the slow-carb diet, you get a cheat day. The cruise was, well, kind of a cheat week. I certainly did not deprive myself. The first night's dessert was creme brulee (I had three since this is my favorite dessert in the world).
But I did eat differently than I did on other cruises. First, no lemonade, only unsweetened tea (I did drink alcohol when free, because I'm cheap (natch)). Aside from a couple of hot dogs, a few corned-beef/pastrami sandwiches, and a couple of bowls of nachos, I eschewed bread (every night at dinner, servers offered bread, so I just declined). I did weight resistance just about every day, and on most days used a rowing machine. For breakfasts, no toast, very few potatoes, and every morning had mushrooms and onions with the bacon and eggs. I did have fruit every morning, which consisted of a big bowl of grapefruit and dates.
Lunches were those aforementioned sandwiches and hot dogs (the second hot dog on the cruise was my third hot dog in two years; those sandwiches were the first in two years, btw) along with (really big) salads. After lunch, I usually had ice cream; I had dessert every night on the cruise.
So I did gain weight on the cruise, which I knew I would. The next time I weighed myself, the scale said 182 pounds (16.7% body fat), so a gain of 10.8 pounds. The days after cheat days ran between two pounds to about seven pounds gained, so I liken the cruise to the equivalent of two cheat days (this morning, before the next cheat day, weight is down to 174.8, so the week after the cruise I've dropped seven pounds).
This cruise was our second time on the Carnival Legend. Unfortunately, our original maître d' was not there. Just for kicks, here's a picture of us together back in 2009. Needless to say, at the time I ate what I wanted and clearly took advantage of ship's reception with free alcohol that night.
