[OT] Sleep Apnea, Limes, Folic Acid and Weight Loss

[frankthedm]

Originally posted by Zogg

1) The Subway diet. As annoying as that Subway guy is, it worked for him.

Most of the weight loss likely came from actual walking to and from the subway.

[Kastil]

Originally posted by MaxKaladin

Again, for the record, I'm supposed to be getting something called a Bipap machine to help correct the problems arising from the sleep apnea.

My husband had one of these machines, I believe. I called him Darth Vader. It made bed time....interesting but considering how many times he stopped breathing during the sleep study, it wasn't a bad trade off.

THey say just losing weight sometimes helps the apnea but in the long run there was no way my husband was going to lose the weight needed. He ended up getting the surgery where they remove the soft palette, tonsils, and that thingy that dangles from the back of your throat (uva-whatever). No problems now but his case was kinda extreme.

Has your doctor mentioned surgery at all as an option?

ADDED: I've got a used CPAP. The 'thrill' is gone, shall we say.

[Gnome Berzerker]

My fianceé convinced me to go on the "South Beach Diet" with her, starting about a week ago ("convinced is the wrong word... I really didn't have a choice ). Anyway, one week later, I've lost 7 pounds, and I'm not going to stop here.

Although I've never read any of the Atkins books, this diet seems to be (at least in "Stage 1") pretty much the same thing. You can't eat any sugar, and no carbohydrates.

Just thought I'd throw it out there.

[Pbartender]

Well, I've spoken to quite a few nutritionists, and they tell me there are really only two ways to lose weight...

1. Eat fewer calories.
2. Exercise away more calories.

It doesn't really matter what you eat (though it's best to eat a widely varied diet to get all of your vitamins and minerals, etc...), only that your burning off more calories than you are taking in. If you have a negative net caloric intake, you'll lose weight.

I also know that rotating shift work is completely non-conducive to proper sleep patterns. Been doing it for five years, and it's something you can never really get used to.

[mythago]

Please, please talk to a non-nutty doctor. And look into a CPAP. Yes, you need to lose weight, but you need to stop the apnea first. I have a friend in a similar situation, and the CPAP has completely changed his life. He now has energy to function at his job, exercise, spend time with friends, and so forth.

I third or fourth or whatever the recommendation to talk to a nutritionist. And speak to your doctor about exercise, because you need some idea of what limits your health imposes on that.

My I-don't-even-play-a-doctor-on-TV advice, learned the hard way:

--Find an exercise you like and do that. No point in taking up jogging if you hate running, or rowing if it throws your back out, but if you love to swim, do that. Do it regularly.

--Don't go on "diets," whether that's Atkins, vegetarian, grapefruit only, whatever. A diet is a short-term trick for losing weight that you will put right back on when you get sick of the diet.

--Cut out junk food, drink lots of water (instead of soda pop), eat more vegetables, and replace your starchy food (white bread, white rice, etc.) with whole-grains (brown rice, whole-wheat bread). You'll feel more full and you need fiber and water in your diet.

--Look at your health and your clothing size, NOT YOUR WEIGHT. Scales lie. If you dehydrate yourself or lose muscle mass you 'lose weight,' but both of those things are terribly unhealthy.

[GentleGiant]

Some people have given what I consider good advice regarding methods of weight loss.
The key thing to remember, especially if you want the apnea to stay away, is that a diet isn't the answer.
I'm just going to quickly say that something like Atkins should be so obviously bad that I don't know why people do it, even for the short term effect.
Okay, as several people has said, the basics are exercise and nutrition.
What you need to do is to change your whole way of life. Yes, it sounds lige a huge change, but bear with me here. You need to make new patterns for yourself, new habits to replace the old ones.
I'll quickly sketch up what is a good and healthy way of living (loosing the unwanted fat and making sure it stays off):

• Nutrition:
  Strive to eat 5-6 small meals a day, evenly spaced out. Don't skip breakfast! Each meal should contain a roughly 40/40/20 energy ratio of protein/carbs/fat. Eat low-fat protein sources (lean meat e.g. chicken or turkey, red meat is fine, just keep off the fat - egg whites - cottage cheese), low glycemic and fiber rich carbs (the glycemic value is an indicator of how fast the sugars in the food enter your bloodstream and thus how fast it causes insulin to be activated, low glycemic numbers are better) and healthy fats (e.g. fatty fish, olive oil etc.). Try to get vegetables with at least two meals of the day. And no need to count calories (how boring is that!), a meal more or less consists of a portion of protein and a portion of carbs, each the size of your fist or your palm.
• Exercise:
  Start doing both weight lifting and cardio exercises. A good plan is to alternate the days on which you do lifting and cardio. For instance: Monday-weights, Tuesday, cardio, Wednesday-weights etc. Take one day off during the week, e.g. Sunday, where you don't do any exercise and where you eat like you want to (no reason to binge just because you can). The most effective form of cardio, especially when it comes to fat loss, is interval training. Do some searches for High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT - a very basic example could be: warm-up, 30 seconds of sprint, 30 seconds of slow jogging (or walking if you're just starting out), 30 seconds of sprint, 30 seconds of slow jogging, rinse and repeat). Interval training speeds up your metabolism for up to 48 hours after your workout.
• Water:
  Make sure you drink plenty of water. Drink at least two full glasses with every meal.

It's really that simple. No hokus pokus with weird diets.
If you want more specific advice and a "stricter" framework, try checking out e.g. the book Body-for-LIFE by Bill Phillips (you can also check out the http://www.bodyforlife.com website).

Good luck