Re: NT & Weight Loss & Practicalities Issues...

[Guest guest]

>>>I am in a predicament. I want to start changing things now.

However, unless our buyers come up with another freak demand, we are

closing on the sale of this house in 34 days and outta here. Thing

is, just this moment, we're still not sure which church we're going

to be at, and probably won't know 100% until 2 weeks before we have

to be out. So on one hand, I have a whole whoppin lot going on to

find temp sources of NT foods locally to be abandoning and re-

finding in 5 weeks. On the other hand, I don't want to put off

protecting my (and my family's) health for 5 weeks.<<<

Moving is stressful enough. The family won't die and you won't get diabetes

(well I hope not) of less than perfect food in 5 weeks, so just make the best

choices you can at the time and try not to stress too much about the rest. Just

keep reminding yourself it's only temporary. It's called survival ;-) It's not

much point trying to find all the very best foods if you're going to do yourself

in with all the stress of it and everything else that's happening. In a few

weeks you'll be able to attack your health problems with a much clearer head.

Cheers,

Tas'.

[Guest guest]

Amy, i really feel for you.

i have 2 suggestions for you.

www.radiantrecovery.com and her (Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons) 3 books,

potatoes not Prozac, the sugar addicts' total recovery program and your

last diet. there is a lot of help on that web site, especially in the

community forum.

it's a very easy healthy way to live and get off sugar. I've been off

sugar for a couple years now. it takes time, at least 6 months, probably

longer (took me longer) but you feel amazing. i thought i was the most

addicted person in the entire world. but you feel great with her program

and it's not at all restrictive as to calories or amount.

most people either lose wt on her program or at least stop gaining.

chances are the bigger one is, the more one will lose but i can't

promise, either.

in 6 mo. i went from a size 18-20 to a size 16 eating her way, which i

love.

since joining WAPF I've gained it back, tho, i think because of the

lactose in all the raw dairy i consume, I'm not sure. I'm still trying

to figure it out. I'm overeating, so that's a clue it's the lactose.

looks like I'm going to have to go back to PNP if i want to get back to a

size 16 and feel better.

you'd be amazed what sugar does to you, and once your off it, how food

only interests you when you're hungry and you won't overeat anymore.

we can talk more about this; i have more to say but don't want to make

this too long.

email me privately if you feel like it.

the other thing is EXERCISE. i love to exercise. biking, roller

blading, walking. once you start, you begin to LOVE it and don't want to

stop. exercise helps control appetite. i eat LESS when i exercise than

when i don't. plus it tightens you up. plus you FEEL BETTER, more

alive. exercise is great stuff.

Amy...wishing you all the best...

laura

p.s. the one really big thing in your favor is your husband. he sounds

like mine, too. he never berated me or made me feel like he wanted me to

lost wt. he accepts me as i am and when he tells me I'm beautiful i

honestly want to check to see what's in his glass.

I need to lose 150 pounds (wince) and the only thing in my life that

ever worked was starvation...

[Guest guest]

>> Eight days into induction,

I started having excrutiating pains in my right side, that felt like

I was massively constipated, yet, I really wasn't. Found out a few

months later (after my idiot doc misdiagnosed it as hip arthritis)

that I had kidney stones. (Thank God for a good woman

gynecologist!) So I'm scared stupid to try low-carb again for fear

of more kidney stones. <<

Amy, listen.... it takes MUCH longer than 8 days to get kidney stones! You

didn't get them because of eating low carb, that was a coincidence, or

possibly there was a relationship between them coming to a head due to

biochemical changes in your body related to losing water... but low carb

isn't going to " cause " kidney stones.

You asked me to email you privately as to how my combo of NT and Atkins

worked, but I'll go ahead and post it here. Feel free to email me, privately

or on list, if you wish!

I also want to post that as of this morning, my total weight loss is...

drumroll.... 100.6 pounds. I know it's a totally arbitrary number but I am

very excited to have crossed that hundred pound mark, LOL!

I follow the plan laid out in Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution, the most

recent edition. I don't eat anything not allowed on the plan, but there are

tons of things that ARE allowed that I do not eat, most notably any form of

sugar alcohols which I truly believe are death on weight loss, " Low carb

convenience foods, " and soy.

I posted what I DO eat here the other day, let me know if you didn't get it.

The Atkins plan tells you to stay on induction for two weeks, although those

of us with a great deal to lose can stay on it longer. I stayed on 2 months,

and that was about right for me. On induction, you simply eat from a list of

allowed foods that is listed in the book. The focus is exclusively on fresh,

whole, real foods, and so is extremely compatible with NT. You are required

to eat at least three cups of vegetables daily (from lists with amounts).

Your carb intake should be at or just under 20 grams/day. This is the most

restrictive phase, and IMO its benefits are: Breaking addictions,

experiencing a really large amount of weight loss which boosts morale and

motivates you, getting your body out of a state of water retention, getting

your body INTO a fat-burning instead of glucose-burning metabolism, and

instilling new habits and ways of eating that will sustain you throughout

the next phases of the plan.

Next I went onto what is called " Ongoing Weight Loss, " or OWL. This is the

best and most valuable phase, because this is when you learn how to add new

foods in and to evaluate their effect on you. OWL is when you learn how to

eat, learn how your body works, learn how to understand your own unique

metabolism... this is the single most important phase of Atkins, and doing

it " right " is IMO critical. I think a lot of us with longstanding weight

problems and eating disorders find induction quite easy, because we just

fall into a certain starvation mentality and use that type of energy to fuel

our determination. (Although induction should NEVER involve any sense of

starvation.... Dr. Atkins is quite clear that if we're hungry we should eat,

and not a celery stick, either!) I'm talking more of a psychological state.

But OWL is where we learn to individualize the plan for us, which means we

have to learn about us, and how to listen to the signals of our body - the

very things we've been ignorning and misinterpreting for most of our lives.

Heidi used a concept once that I found very useful, which is that for many

of us our appestat (like a thermostat but for appetite) is broken. *FOR ME*

I found that getting off carbs got my appestat working again, and I pretty

much stopped overeating almost instantly. The only time I experience the

sort of bottomless hunger that I used to live with every single day is the

day before my period, which underscores for me that this is a hormonal issue

and has nothing whatsoever to do with will power or even with

emotional/pychological issues! I was quite amazed, in fact, that when I cut

the carbs 95 percent of my " emotional " eating problems vanished. They

weren't emotional at all, they were biochemical. Go figure!

So on OWL I have learned how to exerience appetite, how I lose weight best,

what foods do and do not work for me, how to reduce calories as I lose

weight without feeling hungry or deprived... all the things I couldn't do

and couldn't imagine doing. I'm sure that eventually I will do much of this

instinctively, and that is already happening, but for the time being, doing

it with awareness is very healing and very educational. I use a website

called fitday.com to enter my foods (usually just two or three days a

month)... it calculates macronutrients for you, and calories, and I'm able

to check up on myself that way. I find it a very useful tool, especially if

I've added a new food or changed portions.

I eat between 10-12 times my body weight in calories, which is what Atkins

suggests as a starting point. I know lots of people who can eat more, and in

fact, I can eat more, but it does slow my weight loss (though not stop it).

Eating less than that DOES stop my weight loss, though, and since ketosis

(being in a constant fat burning state) can suppress appetite, there are

times I have dipped too low and had to consciously eat more to re-start my

weight loss. Amazing but very true.

I also never, ever, ever go off plan. I detest the whole simpering giggling

" Oh, I was SO BAD today! " mentality. I know lots of people on all kinds of

plans who " cheat " or go off for a special occasion or whatever. This might

work on a low fat or controlled calorie plan (although frankly, I don't

think so), but Atkins works by healing your metabolism - or at least putting

its disorders into remission - and going off plan undoes that and can set

you back days or weeks. And if it re-awakens cravings and insatiable

hungers, good luck getting back on plan at all. I've seen people go off for

Thanksgiving dinner and still be off the NEXT Thanksgiving, having regained

all the weight they lost and more, complaining about their inability to get

back on plan the whole time. Pyschological or physiological, I don't know...

but I know I want no part of it.

This might seem like superhuman will power, but the whole virtue of

Atkins/NT for me is that I never feel deprived, I get to eat lots of

delicious foods, and the high levels of dietary fat (I get 70 percent of my

calories from fat) keep me feeling very satisfied, and make my meals

delicious. When I'm hungry I eat something really yummy... a deviled egg,

some salami, nuts, cheese (I'm a cheese snob!), whatever healthy leftovers I

have in the fridge. I make it a point to keep my refrigerator well-stocked

with fatty foods like that, that can be eaten without preparation. And the

longer I'm on the plan the less I need them. In the beginning they were like

a security blanket, but now, frankly, I find myself throwing things out

because I haven't eaten them. My whole attitude toward " needing " to eat has

changed completely. I still love food, I enjoy it, I like to cook and to try

new foods. But I don't HAVE TO eat. I enjoy it, food is a hobby and

avocation, but it's not an addiction.

I also find staying on plan easy because I have NEVER eaten anything that

tasted as good as how I feel today... and that " good feeling " started before

I'd lost an ounce.

One last tip. I do think that the advice to drink 64 ounces of pure water

every single day is very important while doing Atkins. Perhaps it's more

than we absolutely need, but I feel better when I drink that much.

The single biggest mistake most people make on Atkins is not enough fat.

That is what NT innoculated me against... I'm quite sure that if I hadn't

been eating NT for more than a year before coming to Atkins, I would also

have had trouble eating such high levels of fat. But without it, I don't

think Atkins works all that well.

Anyway, I hope some of this is helpful to you, or anyone else who faces a

weight loss of over a hundred pounds.

Christie

[Guest guest]

I am glad mentioned exercise, and I'm sorry I forgot to in my earlier

post! Dr. Atkins calls excercise " Non-negotiable " in his plan, and says " If

you're not exercising, you're not doing Atkins. "

I was already exercising before going on Atkins, but with the huge boost of

energy I got, I was able to take that to a whole new level. I also have

really gotten into weight lifting.... heavy weights, few reps as opposed to

the useless low weights/high reps I was wasting my time with before, thanks

to information I got on this list. I think cardiovascular exercise, after a

certain small benefit, is kind of a waste of time... I walk my dogs twice a

day and do things like gardening, bike riding, and sometimes use bike

machines at the gym, but the real bang for your buck with weight loss is

LIFTING WEIGHTS! That's because muscle tissue burns calories while you're

sitting around on the couch. <G>

I want a bumpersticker that says: Eat fat, get thin... lift big, get small.

Christie

[Guest guest]

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 12:37:57 -0700

" Christie " <christiekeith@...> wrote:

> I am glad mentioned exercise, and I'm sorry I forgot to in my earlier

> post! Dr. Atkins calls excercise " Non-negotiable " in his plan, and says " If

> you're not exercising, you're not doing Atkins. "

This is the big bugaboo of most " diets. " If you are not moving regularly

(exercising) then you aren't really serious about losing weight, and

more importantly, reaching optimal health. And if someone is following a

" diet " program that doesn't mention exercise or downplays it, they should

throw it out.

On the other hand, exercise isn't everything, but it sure is important.

And many many activities that we don't necessarily call exercise

nonetheless qualify as such. So not having a gym around or special

equipment is no excuse.

> I was already exercising before going on Atkins, but with the huge boost of

> energy I got, I was able to take that to a whole new level. I also have

> really gotten into weight lifting.... heavy weights, few reps as opposed to

> the useless low weights/high reps I was wasting my time with before, thanks

> to information I got on this list.

Modern exercise regimens are so influenced by modern bodybuilding

regimens that they are virtually useless, since most folks have very

different goals from bodybuilders and professional or near professional

athletes.

The kicker is that the heavy weights/fewer reps scheme was something all

the old time athletes practiced before the advent of modern

bodyshaping/bodybuilding.

> I think cardiovascular exercise, after a

> certain small benefit, is kind of a waste of time...

You go girl! Not to mention the studies that have shown that heavy

weight training, over a period of time, provides the same heart healthy

benefits of aerobics.

Not to mention aerobic weight training.

Not to mention that, at least for me, it is flat out B-O-R-I-N-G. I

would much rather bounce on a trampoline, ride a bike, play basketball,

work in a garden, go hiking, then get on some aerobic machine at the gym.

I walk my dogs twice a

> day and do things like gardening, bike riding, and sometimes use bike

> machines at the gym, but the real bang for your buck with weight loss is

> LIFTING WEIGHTS! That's because muscle tissue burns calories while you're

> sitting around on the couch. <G>

>

> I want a bumpersticker that says: Eat fat, get thin... lift big, get small.

That I like!!!! Hmmm...I might even put it in my viral signature.

The *New* Ten Commandments

http://tinyurl.com/245sr

" They told just the same,

That just because a tyrant has the might

By force of arms to murder men downright

And burn down house and home and leave all flat

They call the man a captain, just for that.

But since an outlaw with his little band

Cannot bring half such mischief on the land

Or be the cause of so much harm and grief,

He only earns the title of a thief. "

--Geoffrey Chaucer, The Manciple's Tale

Eat fat, get thin... lift big, get small.