NY winter is one of the worst provokers of symptoms. The cold weather it brings aggravates symptoms including fatigue, poor digestion, pain, brain fog, blood flow, weakness, and weight loss. Even with a carefully constructed diet, the harsh climate + school will interrupt recovery. The contrast between summer and now is huge, as I was able to perform a wider variety of actions (physical, mental, etc) than now. School is a big problem - stressful, uncomfortable, and unhealthy environments worsen illness and pain. Going to have to switch to homeschooling as soon as possible. It's hard attending school when getting out of bed is such a big mission.

It gets better in time. This is my second New York winter eating RPD and even though it was a brutal winter weather-wise compared to last year I feel it wasn't as tough on me as last winter. Give it some time and it'll be easier.
Not sure if you exercise much but regular exercise keeps the cold much more manageable.

I've got smallish testicles. I'd say maybe 1" by 1 1/2"; not much bigger than a grape. Maybe I have lower testosterone, maybe not. I have no problems getting aroused or performing. I do have diminished performance after the first ejaculation though and only rarely ejaculate a second time but I'm OK with it.

I am feeling awesome lately.

Started back up the push-up routine last week. Knocked out ~600 in 4 days but put it on hold Friday/Saturday/Sunday as I could feel I was pushing myself too hard after a couple months of less than optimal exercise. I was strangely feeling it most in my abs but also some in my shoulders. I'm going to do some bench presses and chin-ups this week (I'm think 3 sets of 5 on the bench presses Monday and Thursday) and get back to the push-ups next week. I'm also working on my abs some this week so they're up to the task.

It was nice out yesterday so I went for a walk. Went up a road up a mountainside down the street. ~2.5 miles at maybe a 45* incline. After I got back on flat ground I jogged a bit then broke into a full out run. I missed that exhilaration but I'm glad I get to start back up in earnest again soon. I've been reading "Born To Run" and it has me wanting to get back out there and enjoy every second of it.

Since last week my food intake has gone up tremendously. I went from a little over 1 pound of meat a day to 2-3 pounds a day. It's pretty much all getting used to. Saturday was 1 1/3 pounds of ground bull, 1/3 pound suet, a bit of honey, and another 1 1/2 pound beef tongue.

I'm from NJ. Where is this farm and what is it called?

http://www.grazinangusacres.com/
They're probably 2 - 2 1/2 hours north of NYC. They're a little over an hour drive for me.

EDIT: They've got a stall in Union Square as well as attending markets in Brooklyn & South Salem. Definitely worth a drive out to one of the markets to give their meat a try.

djr, i find this interesting about your 1/2 tsp of honey.  it seems calorically and nutritionally negligible to me, but obviously it's not.  i don't get it.  does it have to be honey??   

I don't know yet. I'll try it with something else in the future and keep everyone posted in my journal.

and i've read on here that tongue is really good for newbies, and tasty, but.. it looks... like a tongue! 

Feels like one too when you take it out of it's bag. I threw the first one out because I couldn't get past it.
Tongue is recommended because it's mild unlike many other organs. The mental image of eating a tongue is the hard part to get past.

My favorite honey is an Israeli honey I buy at an ethnic store. It's a 6x6 piece of comb in a small plastic container. I couldn't tell you the name though as the package is practically devoid of English. It's slightly stronger in flavor than a Clover honey and makes me feel good in small doses (1 teaspoon max with a full meal of ~1/3 pound suet and 1 pound ground GF beef, a dash of sea salt with the meat & fat). If I eat more than that, or eat it by itself I get a bit of acid build-up and malaise. If I eat just the little bit with a full meal I seem to have more energy afterwards.
I still have concerns about how the honey does or does not feed Candida. I am on a sabbatical from it right now but will probably buy more in a couple weeks.

I was at a job site ~15 minutes from the store today so I made the drive to stock up on a couple things including the honey. It wasn't as enjoyable with this evening's meal as it had been last time so maybe I instinctively needed something in it. I'll probably leave it be for a while now.

FWIW the honeycomb is Turkish, not Israeli. It's a brand called Anadolu.

My favorite honey is an Israeli honey I buy at an ethnic store. It's a 6x6 piece of comb in a small plastic container. I couldn't tell you the name though as the package is practically devoid of English. It's slightly stronger in flavor than a Clover honey and makes me feel good in small doses (1 teaspoon max with a full meal of ~1/3 pound suet and 1 pound ground GF beef, a dash of sea salt with the meat & fat). If I eat more than that, or eat it by itself I get a bit of acid build-up and malaise. If I eat just the little bit with a full meal I seem to have more energy afterwards.
I still have concerns about how the honey does or does not feed Candida. I am on a sabbatical from it right now but will probably buy more in a couple weeks.

For those who eat relatively low carb, what sort of values are you hitting for daily fat consumption (grams if possible)?
Do you just chew on fat until your desire to eat any more diminishes?

I eat it usually as chunks of suet with my meat. I hit maybe 1/2 pound a day.

Could over-eating raw fat be taxing on digestion?

Yes, definitely. It takes a fair amount of bile to break down denser fats and if you eat way too much they'll sit very heavy. It's also likely if you eat much more that you can handle that you'll purge it all with diarrhea as well.

Do you consider my taste for fat and my desire to eat it as a sign I should go wild with it?

Personally, yes. Just take it slow and listen to your body. You should get signs to stop when you've had enough.

I have not but I'm intrigued by it. I was watching "Bizarre Foods" on TV and Andrew Zimmern was talking about the high Vitamin D concentration in the skin. Might be a good source for those concerned about getting enough.

    How do you know what the animal ate, if someone else raised it and slaughtered it far away?  I don't trust what I don't see.

    I got tripes to eat a few times.  The contents therein were smelly brown decayed grass.  I didn't find any grainlike substances.

    How about you?  Experience or advice for knowing grassfed?

    Wow, the government will maybe dislike this.  We're supposed to accept whatever they say is for our best, without ever thinking it out.

    Have you found grain in the tripe?

I've found a farmer that I trust implicitly. I've also been to their farm and walked through the whole process with them. They're just as concerned with keeping their animals pastured/grain-free as I am.

Still dabbling in the carbs even though I've moved to doing it usually on a Friday or Saturday night. I'm intrigued as the longer I do this the less negatives I seem to be having from them and I don't have huge cravings for them.
The raw honeycomb seems to work fine in small amounts (1/2 teaspoon with my meat/fat at a meal, beyond that I get sleepy/spacey).
Fruits can result in more noticeable negatives including gas, constipation, diarrhea, spaceyness, sleepiness, and itching. Different fruits have different thresholds.
I'm not sure if I will be going back to full ZC or if I will stick to VLC. The test will be athletic performance this spring.
Of note I'm up to 187/188. The added weight appears to be either fat or water as a result of the added carbs. I will see if this results in easier mass gains in the spring as well.

I tried a frozen Durian over the weekend. I'm one of the minority that is not truly repulsed or enamored with the fruit. It smelled bad and tasted sweet yet oniony (as Sully mentioned in the past). I do not feel compelled to buy one again. FWIW my wife was truly repulsed by the bit she tried.