It's Wednesday weigh ins!

[Kronk]

Originally Posted by Kronk

1/23: 196.8 17.1% body fat.
1/30: 196.0 16.6%
2/06: 198.2 16.9%
2/13: 194.8 16.4%
2/20: 191.8 16.5%

Goal: 192.0 15.3%

Heh. Well, last night I ended up not having a real dinner after I came home from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at 9:30. I had an apple and a slice of toast with a butter-type spread. And I was still a bit dehydrated this morning, so I haven't really hit my weight goal (and I was 195.2 yesterday).

The body fat percentage will be fairly hard to hit... that means I'd be converting 2.2 pounds of fat into muscle. I really dislike weight training, and I can't really do upper body lifting right now anyway -- my dorsal scapular nerve isn't working, which means my serratus anterior isn't firing, which means my right shoulder blade doesn't move correctly, which means that lifting my right arm in certain directions even without weight is tough enough as it is.

Made me feel good that my weigh-in this morning was 192.8 at 15.9% body fat. I may have still been a little dehydrated this morning, but not as badly.

And, Sarah, between three different martial arts, I do a lot of body weight exercises, including lunges, pushups and high kicks. With my nerve issue, pushups aren't good, though. Lifting a barbell onto my shoulders is just not going to happen. Might be fun to get a weight vest and work explosive jumping movements or uphill sprints. Well, maybe "fun" isn't the right word...

[FinanceDude]

I don't think the Atkins diet is healthy over a long period of time, but it's still being studied, so we will see.

Ketosis is what the Atkins diet does in your body, basically your body uses a different kind of "fuel", ketones instead of blood sugar. Most everyone I know loses weight on Atkins, but gains it back because they don't do LIFESTYLE changes to make it stick, same as any other diet where you don't work out.......

[Art G]

Originally Posted by Rambler

Thanks Alan, I think this is good advice. As you will have seen in my previous post, I lost 55 lbs 5 years ago (over 6-8 months or so) by doing Atkins. I don't think that would be considered "eating right"...what is your version of eating right, and how did you come to settle on that "eating right" pattern?

Thanks

R

I've had other people tell me that Atkins isn't healthy and I really don't see why not. I've given up most sugars and white carbs. I now eat a vegetable daily and it's not a fried one. I eat fish regularly which I never did in the past. And I take a multiple vitamin daily and drink lots of water. So what exactly is it that people think isn't healthy about the Atkins diet? It's not like you're supposed to give up all carbs forever, you just skirt down to the level where you maintain your optimum weight.
For what it's worth, I cheat on occasion, having whole grain pasta or a baked potato on occasion, I've been on it for over three years, and I've lost a few pounds in this past week just by increasing my workouts.
I will state that living on pork rinds and beef jerky isn't probably the best idea. At least not for your colon.

[FinanceDude]

Originally Posted by Kronk

Made me feel good that my weigh-in this morning was 192.8 at 15.9% body fat. I may have still been a little dehydrated this morning, but not as badly.

And, Sarah, between three different martial arts, I do a lot of body weight exercises, including lunges, pushups and high kicks. With my nerve issue, pushups aren't good, though. Lifting a barbell onto my shoulders is just not going to happen. Might be fun to get a weight vest and work explosive jumping movements or uphill sprints. Well, maybe "fun" isn't the right word...

You weigh 192, so divide that by 2, and it means you have to drink 96 ounces of water a day. I am at 232, so that's 116 ounces of water a day. Sounds hard, but here's how I do it:

8 ounces when I first wake up
8 ounces of orange juice and 8 ounces of water with my vitamin and supplement pills
16 ounces between 9:00 am and lunch
16 ounces at lunch with the meal.
8 ounces green tea an hour after lunch
8 ounces green tea late afternoon
20 ounce bottle on my commute home
8 ounces before dinner
16 ounces or so during workout

Sounds like a lot,but water is the best thing for you there is............remember cells are 70% water...............so WE are 70% water..........

[Art G]

I'm guessing a large part of your day is spent running to the restroom?

[FinanceDude]

The first month, yes. After that, it has been normal.

Somedays I don't get all that fluid in...........

[Kronk]

Originally Posted by FinanceDude

You weigh 192, so divide that by 2, and it means you have to drink 96 ounces of water a day.

Yeah, I know. I'm normally short of that. I generally have 32 ounces over the course of a morning. 16 more in the afternoon when I get home from work. 8 more or so during the course of a workout, and usually 16 ounces more after working out for a total of 72 ounces.

Of course, I usually end up drinking an additional 64 ounces or more of diet soda. I should really drink more water and less soda, but none of us are perfect.

Since most of my tough workouts are in the evening, ending between 8:30 and 9:00, I don't often rehydrate afterwards as well as I should.

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Rambler

Thanks Alan, I think this is good advice. As you will have seen in my previous post, I lost 55 lbs 5 years ago (over 6-8 months or so) by doing Atkins. I don't think that would be considered "eating right"...what is your version of eating right, and how did you come to settle on that "eating right" pattern?

Thanks

R

Rambler,

What worked for me was Weight Watchers coming to our work once a week at a lunchtime, so it was easy and subsidized by the company. I am not one for diets and am not particularly promoting WW, but the principles are to keep things in balance, carbs, fiber, fat, protein, monitor portion sizes, and exercise.

These days DW & I eat little or no red meat, whole grains, lots of vegetables, 1 or 2 measures of red wine/alcohol every day and varied forms of exercise. At the cafe at work I always eat a salad, except on Fridays when they have great broiled fish.

A few years ago we would eat a curry with rice and/or nan bread. Today we eat our curry over vegetables only. We re-discovered our love of soups, particularly bean soups, spicy, with tasso and / or chicken or andouille sausage.

[Rambler]

Thanks all.

Alan - this sounds a little like Atkins, but more like Southbeach. I guess the takeaway is to eat the right balance of proteins, carbs (from whole grains and fruits/veggies rather than refined white flours), and fats (again from the right sources - olive, fish, etc).

We don't have WW here, so I think I will stick to my Atkins for now, but try to do it right (or at least better) this time. One of my stumbling blocks has been the chocolate DW likes to keep around the house. Over the past 10 days or so, after I began getting serious (concerned enought about the state of my health) to avoid the chocolate and the refined whites (flours, rice, sugars) that she enjoys, she took the all the chocolates left in the house to a church function to get rid of them (and no, I didn't ask her to do it...). She is not really overweight herself, but she has put on a little over the past few years, and has been saying she's eager to get it off. She joined a gym some months ago, but had not changed her eating habits....looks like maybe she'll try a healthier eating approach too (we only eat dinner together so I don't know how she eats during the day, except for what I see on weekends).

Anyway I am eager to get some weight off, but I will struggle. There is a gym down the street from the office that I will probably join. My biggest concern, I guess is being able to find whole grain products here. Whole grain breads are essentially non-existent in this country, but at least we can find canned legumes like kidney beans and black beans (I would buy dry beans and cook myself if I could find them here). I like the idea of soups as well, with beans and lots of veggies.

Anyway, thanks for the input.

R

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Rambler

Alan - this sounds a little like Atkins, but more like Southbeach. I guess the takeaway is to eat the right balance of proteins, carbs (from whole grains and fruits/veggies rather than refined white flours), and fats (again from the right sources - olive, fish, etc).

We don't have WW here, so I think I will stick to my Atkins for now, but try to do it right (or at least better) this time. One of my stumbling blocks has been the chocolate DW likes to keep around the house.

I think the key is to pick something that suits you that you can maintain for the rest of your life. Whatever you choose, don't plan on on sticking to it until you get to a target. Think about it like buying into an index fund - look to the long term, and diversify as too narrow a selection of foods could mean you tire of it.

DW and I both love chocolate plus it is very good for your health when eaten in moderation, so we buy different types of dark chocolate with high percentages of cacao (60 - 85%), break it into single portions, and keep it in a tub in the fridge. Each evening we usually have a single portion, and enjoy it by letting it melt in our mouth to savor the flavor and make it last.

[Art G]

Rambler, check out the diabetic section of your local grocery store. Russell Stover has lots of candy that are less than 1 net carb, and if you buy the diabetic version vs. the low carb stuff it's cheaper. Their toffee squares are great and .2 net carbs. Also, there's a cookie company out there that uses Splenda instead of sugar and three cookies are about 7 net carbs. Even Oreo's now have a low sugar option.
The key to Atkins is that if you give up white flour and sugar long enough, you lose your cravings for it. I've been on Atkins for 3 1/2 years and my cholesterol has dropped and I've had no problems. I would urge you to drink water.

[Khan]

Originally Posted by Art G

Rambler, check out the diabetic section of your local grocery store. Russell Stover has lots of candy that are less than 1 net carb, and if you buy the diabetic version vs. the low carb stuff it's cheaper. Their toffee squares are great and .2 net carbs. Also, there's a cookie company out there that uses Splenda instead of sugar and three cookies are about 7 net carbs. Even Oreo's now have a low sugar option.
The key to Atkins is that if you give up white flour and sugar long enough, you lose your cravings for it. I've been on Atkins for 3 1/2 years and my cholesterol has dropped and I've had no problems. I would urge you to drink water.

I'm not on Atkins, but have gotten rid of most refined carbs (do have some occasional whole grain pasta); after a time of getting used to what real food tastes like, the highly refined stuff tastes terrible.

[Art G]

Originally Posted by Khan

I'm not on Atkins, but have gotten rid of most refined carbs (do have some occasional whole grain pasta); after a time of getting used to what real food tastes like, the highly refined stuff tastes terrible.

Absolutely. It's amazing that when you give up these fake sugar products, fruits taste incredibly more sweet.

[Rambler]

Thanks Art and Khan

I've been back on Atkins for about a week now, and I am beginning to lose the heaviest of the cravings. I'll be back in the states for a few days next week so I'll pick up some of the diabetic chocolates but I won't leave them out where they will always be at hand. I'm thinking of picking up some of the super dark chocolate that Alan mentioned as well and keeping little squares in the fridge (out of sight for the most part), but I may wait on that until I get a little of this excess weight off.

I have also learned from past experience that real food tastes better when you give up the artificial and/or refined stuff. In the spring we keep strawberries in the fridge all the time and since they have few net carbs, they'll be at the top of my list of sweets to have once I get past the first few weeks of this. I used to keep frozen strawberries from costco in the freezer all the time, and I think I will also go back to that to make protein/berry smoothies for breakfast.

All in all though, I have found that if you have a partner who will eat the same food as you, then it is so much easier to stay on Atkins, Southbeach, or even any other way of eating. After DW saw how much I lost last time, she joined me, lost a little, but since she didn't need to lose as much and wasn't so into it, she got off the wagon and it became harder to stick to it.

Thanks, R

[Art G]

Rambler, you have got to stop thinking about it as if it were a diet, and more as a way of life. When you go to dinner, you don't all order the same thing, do you?
You've got to decide which foods are yours in the house and stick to them. The beauty of Atkins is that you're not limited to just food with a name brand. So you can eat meat and fruit and vegetables and chocolate, you just have to start reading labels and figuring out which of those you can eat.
If anything, now that my son is also on the diet, I have to wrestle him for the food.
If you want though, here's a good place to order food...
Low Carb Diet, Atkins Diet Products, Low Carbohydrate Diet & Weight Loss Support
Of course, you need to be strict in the first couple weeks.

[Rambler]

Art
You are absolutely right...I know I have to stop thinking of it as a diet and start thinking of it as a way of life. The first time I did Atkins, I did it too strictly, didn't go thru the phases so properly, and ended up getting bored. I did keep almost all of it off for nearly three years, but fell off after that. The biggest reasons I fell off were: 1) the relative lack of healthy food near my office (was packing lunch during Atkins), 2) the heavy travel I was doing (food provided by megacorp 70% carb/30% fat, and no choice at restaurants), and 3) having been too strict, thinking of it as a diet, and getting bored (yes, I admit it...I kept the "D" word in my head).

I'll have to check out the link you provided to see if they ship int'l...sometimes that is a problem. I have mostly been picking up the "atkins" branded products when I am in the states (about once every 3 months).

Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

R

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Rambler

All in all though, I have found that if you have a partner who will eat the same food as you, then it is so much easier to stay on Atkins, Southbeach, or even any other way of eating. After DW saw how much I lost last time, she joined me, lost a little, but since she didn't need to lose as much and wasn't so into it, she got off the wagon and it became harder to stick to it.

I agree, I think this makes things so much easier. Although we cook and eat the same things for dinner I do still snack in the evenings so I keep a range of healthy snacks for myself. One tip I was given which works well - you don't need to try and eliminate all your bad eating habits otherwise you are increasing the chances for failure - replace them with something that is in line with your new heathy approach to eating

[Art G]

I think the bottom line secret is to learn what skinny people all over already know....eat to live, don't live to eat. What Atkins did for me was to make food boring. Once you get there, you find you're not looking forward to your next meal.
If we could figure a way to bottle that feeling we'd be rich...rich I tell ya'!