Thanks and Yay!

[SleepyD]

Hello forum,

I visited this site and picked up some good tips last week (lettuceburgers!). I am one week on the Atkins path and pretty happy with the results so far. About two days in I realized that what they say about not being hungry on the Atkins diet was true. I feel in control of my appetite, for the first time ever.

I am moderately obese middle aged man. I have never successfully dieted before - never really tried because I failed within days, maybe dropped 2-5 pounds (just trying to eat "healthy and less") and put them back in a week, the reason for failure was the same - I got very hungry. So i've been adding about 2-5 pounds a year since high school, mainly in the gut. For most of my life i have had the attitude of a epicurean, enjoying the consumption, being a big eater, big drinker. My diet has been typical North American meat & potatoes & beer and junk. I think the hardest part of losing weight for me has been to give up the "indestructible" self image. Having kids helped to change my priorities, I want to be healthy and mobile for a long time to come. So this change of attitude has been about a five year process.

I came to the Atkins diet by process of elimination. Nothing else works.

Eating "healthy" (whole grains, less red meat, more vegetables, less processed foods) seems to have no effect. I know i have been eating a lot healthier for the last five years (thanks to my wife) prior to that i had a pretty bad case of bachelor diet. and really it had no effect on my creeping obesity.

Exercise seems to have no effect. This is a strong claim but in the last year i have a pretty valid experiment. I took on a paper route (for health reasons), which means 40 minutes of fast walking/or 30 minutes cycling every morning. At the time i assumed this daily does of exercise would help me lose weight. I did loose a little for a few weeks but it all came back (and then some more).

Eating less doesn't work (for me anyway). I applaud those who have the willpower to endure hunger pangs every day and not eat. I don't. When i get hungry, I eventually eat. I think i did taper off the "binging" type of behavior - eating too much at a sitting over the last couple years.

So really none of these things changed my metabolic "set point". And by the way, there wasn't really much i could do to get fatter either, not that i ever tried. My weight has been pretty darn consistent no matter what. Also i have had persistently elevated blood sugar and BP - just below the standard definitions of diabetic and hypertension.

My remedy.

Ok so far i have lost 8 pounds in a little over a week (losing 40-50 would be the goal). I am amazed that i can choose to eat or not to. I am somewhat targeting calories as well as carbs. I know that my body needs approx. 3200 calories a day to sustain now, and 2700 a day at my target weight. I'm holding loosely to a target of about 2000 calories a day. Yesterday i had about 1400, i think it helps to shake off a couple pounds to have a low cal day. I never had much of a sweet tooth so it was mainly giving up the cereals that was tough - but i can't say that i have really craved them. Staying under 15 grams of net carbs has been really hard. I probably average a little over 20. I had liver and onions one day and realized after it blew up that days carb count. I'm not bothering to change my coffee habit, and cutting out beer in exchanged for the occasional whiskey seems to be manageable. So ok i'm cheating, but so far, so good, so what?

diet: beef, eggs, cheese, pork, chicken, ham, fish, spinach (lots), mushrooms, onions, celery . . . samplings of other veggies. coffee, diet pops & herbal tea.

supplements: multivitamin, green tea extract, siberian ginseng, cod liver oil.

overall: feeling good, really pretty normal throughout. I am hoping to continue losing 5 pounds a week (high results = high motivation) & stay in induction till the end of november, but i know it will get harder from here. The carb manager app has been quite helpful though it has some annoying flaws.

I want to thank the posters of this board for the enthusiasm and good ideas.

[Aradasky]

Welcome SleepyD First-ask to get this moved to the progress thread, then we all (those who are brave enough to speak up can all join in on your progress!)

Congratulations on the one week in, that was the hardest week for me. I am fairly new, too but am so excited about this new way of living.

I know from my experiences too, that I need to change my way of thinking about this process. If you go into ScottyMike's Progress thread, you will find logs of wha the has been able to do and how he ahs changed his life. I can't call this a diet, it will have to become an everyday thing. I am insulin resistant an on the verge of medications and with this way of eating, my fasting glucose had gone below what they consider normal.

You are looking to lose the weight fast. If you slow down to one or two pounds a week, what will happen? Some people even plateau but do not give up. I am measuring myself, too, as if I plateau, I know that will be a way to gauge my progress. I am on extended induction and will be until I am more secure with myself and then will move into OWL. I hope for two pounds a week, but will take one and I know the closer I get to my goal, the slower it will be, however, if I am not on a steady gaining path, I win!

It will be fun to have you as part of the community. Thank you for joining in!

[FlorayG]

hi
Sounds like a good plan you have - but don't restrict your calories too much, eat what you need otherwise your body will naturally try to hang on to what fat you have because it will 'think' you are starving. I'm pretty small, only 5ft, and when I started on this diet I'm sure my calorie intake went UP even - but I still lost the weight.
I've been at my target weight for about 3 months now and have no inclination to return to my previous diet. It's nice to know I CAN have a slice of cheesecake now when I want it. Usually I have to share it though as I can no longer take so much sugar and flour all at once. I start to feel a bit sick after half a slice.

[Aradasky]

Oh Hurrah for you FlorayG!!!!! That is so cool! It will be a while, but I will be there too someday.......

[SleepyD]

If you slow down to one or two pounds a week, what will happen? Some people even plateau but do not give up. I am measuring myself, too, as if I plateau, I know that will be a way to gauge my progress. I am on extended induction and will be until I am more secure with myself and then will move into OWL. I hope for two pounds a week, but will take one and I know the closer I get to my goal, the slower it will be, however, if I am not on a steady gaining path, I win!

Hello, based on your comment i did some more thinking and research. Before losing 10 pounds in 8 days, i didn't think at all about losing weight to fast but once that became "a nice problem to have" i did consider that it is better healthwise to make the goal more like your -2pounds a week.

That being said i don't think i would have repeated the same weight loss in the next two week period anyway. I think that is the nature of atkins (for me anyway) a quick initial drop followed hopefully by more gradual progress.

Again after the "a nice problem to have" of losing weight without feeling hungry i relaxed on the net carbs, and tried to eat better - i mean, i was kind of doing the "steak and cheeseburgers every day" that mainstream doctors declare to be dangerous (what do you think?). I hope to learn as i go about going low carb without the downside of too much red meat.

[Aradasky]

I am really passing this lecture around, it is about an hour and half but will answer so many of your questions. Please watch it and let me know what you think. It has changed me and I wish it had been available years ago. W have been fed so many lies about food. The worst thing for us is processed sugar and fructose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6vpF...e_gdata_player

[SleepyD]

I am really passing this lecture around, it is about an hour and half but will answer so many of your questions. Please watch it and let me know what you think. It has changed me and I wish it had been available years ago. W have been fed so many lies about food. The worst thing for us is processed sugar and fructose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6vpF...e_gdata_player

Thanks Arad,

I think i was listening to Gary Taubes or someone with the same ideas on the radio about two days before "the beginning" and that is really what clicked for me, because it agreed with the personal observations (start of this thread) and the fact that when i ate carbs i was soon hungry, and only a meal with substantial meat left me "full" for more than 90 minutes."

After watching this - i have to admit i'm pretty confused, because the idea that the "medical science" has been so wrong for so long about this is rather difficult to comprehend.

Specifically, the "calorie equation"

Calories(Eaten) = Calories(Burned) + Calories(Stored)

Means to get thin you eat less or exercise more.


I was thinking earlier today: "but what if the body only absorbs the calories it needs from the food you consume and disposes the rest".

Calories(Eaten) = Calories(Burned) + Calories(Stored) - Calories (Disposed)

Do we always convert all the food energy we eat into glucose? Seems implausible. How does that explain people who are naturally slim no matter what? Its not like they are hotter to the touch. I have an economics background so it is natural for me to re-write the equation like this.

Demand = Supply
Calories(Burned) + Calories(Stored) = Calories(Eaten) + Calories (Disposed)

The demand side of this is asking the question: "how fat does your body want to be?" which translates to how hungry we are. How much we eat follows how hungry we are like supply follows demand in any economic equation.

Atkins and Taubes believe that the demand for calories to store is a function of how much insulin promoting simple carbs we consume. Do i have that right?

So really what we are talking about is a controversy between demand side nutritionists vs. supply side nutritionists.


Weird. Funny and Weird.

[Aradasky]

I understand the confusion, I have been wondering the same since I started this process. The information I have read have lead me to two conclusions that may help answer some of these questions.

Taubes says in some of his lectures that he is not sure if protein is a problem with weight gain, probably not, but he is sure fat is not a problem with weight gain or heart disease. He says the chloresteral that is bad, HDL and triglycerides are made by the liver and made from sugar and fructose. That is why the results from the chloresteral studies have been so surprising in LC ways of eating. I have read an found out through all my years of eating that I get hungry and eat more on processed carbs (bad calories) but love the taste and do not get hungry after eating something fatty or if i include fat in the meal some how. So eating fat will turn off the hunger pangs, the chemistry in our brains that tells us we are hungry after we get full. I have not seen anything about calories in his talks, but I would assume that if you have someone who has an addiction to eating and continues to eat past being full that weight gain would happen.

I also read Eat Fat, Look Thin by Bruce Fife and his Coconut Cures book. He says that if you raise your body temp that you can burn off more calories and feel better. He says many people do not know they have thyroid problems, that some cannot be diagnosed, but suggests making our meals spicier with red pepper or salsas. I think naturally thin people, if you took their temp at different times of the day, they would be warmer, maybe a degree or so? I know it takes more calories to make yourself warm, so some people say you can loose weight by drinking cold water. Lol, that I don't know about. What I do k now is that the natives in the gosh awful cold northern parts of our world keep warm and fed by eating lots of fat....

[Aradasky]

I wanted to post that last. Message before it disappeared. Lol. I saw a movie that will also blow you away' Fat Head. It is on Netflix and can be streamed or ordered. If you go to the website you can order a copy from him, too. I will go and find the man who made it. The history of the "medical" decisions will shock you. I am so unhappy with what is being taught to our kids now, that I am teaching my grandkids how to eat. Definitely not the way that is said the right way by our govt. Okay off to get the information on Fat Head.

[Aradasky]

If you are not a subscriber to Netflix you might be able to download the movie Fat Head free if you search this way --- fat
head movie free download

[Aradasky]

Oh my goodness, here is the interview with Michael Eades about the movie, lots of info here too
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/f...ead-the-movie/

[SleepyD]

Oh my goodness, here is the interview with Michael Eades about the movie, lots of info here too
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/f...ead-the-movie/

Thanks I will look that up. (have netflix)

Reading more i see that there is a fair bit of (backhanded) support in the mainstream for low carb as a means to weight loss. e.g.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/up...ate0904c.shtml

On the long term health risks, there is still a lot of criticism.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMcibr0908756

And some other stuff which says the opposite.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0614115037.htm
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v1...y2004276a.html


Personally i would suspect that weight loss for me has been a result not just of eating differently, it has been eating differently and less.

Still confused and still learning.

[Aradasky]

It is the same for me, the big difference is that when I loose the weight I will not go back to the way I used to eat, low fat, high carbs. It does not work for me, and if I don't pig out I will be fine. Calories do matter, 3500 calories of steak, or lettuce or coconut oil are still 3500 calories that equal a pound if not needed.

[FlorayG]

Now that's interesting Aradasky, I was listening to a radio prog about calories this week and apparently that 'a pound of fat = 3500calories' is also a myth, it's just something someone said in 1918 in a diet book that just gets quoted and quoted as fact and there is no basis in reality for it. Also it's almost impossible to count calories efficiently, you can tell the difference between 2000 and 3000 a day maybe but less than that you can't ...e.g. X calories in a banana for example - what size banana? How ripe? How was it grown? etc. it all makes up to 20% difference and add 20% error to everything you eat and you can't accurately count calories.

they had a lovely, simple explanation on this programme which I will use to explain my diet in future. Your liver converts the fat (except coconut fat of course) you eat to simple molecules that circulate in your bloodstream. In order for them to be stored rather than used they have to be converted to triglycerides - 3 fat molecules and one glycerol molecule. You can store ONLY triglycerides as blubber. the glycerol molecule comes from glucose which comes from carbohydrates, so if you don't eat carbs YOU CAN'T GET FAT (their actual words!)

I love that...

[FlorayG]

just re-read your post ...3500 calories of lettuce... just imagine it...you'd never want to eat lettuce again for the rest of your life after that would you?