Help me lose weight

[Pbartender]

I think you guys are making the mistake of comparing low carb diets to diets that require way more self-discipline and work way more slowly. Atkins is a tool for making a transition to a healthier life than you would otherwise have not for making a transition to a healthier life than you would ideally have.

Most of those of us who have had good experiences with Atkins simply would not have had the strength required to lose weight 80% slower for 500% more work. Now, once you're on Atkins and your blood sugar is stable, you're feeling better about your body, your energy is up and, in many cases for the first time ever, you have actually been able to take some control over your physical self, then you should make a transition to a healthier diet and exercise regime. Atkins is a bridge not a destination.

There is no way I could have built the confidence, willpower and energy to start exercising again without the Atkins diet providing me with my first ever experience of setting a goal for my physical body and actually realizing it after 30 years of failing and failing again.

Alright... Now that I can understand and get behind. The trouble is, many people using the Diet Plan of the Year (be it low-carb, low-fat, high-fiber or whatever) don't look at it that way either. Instead of seeing as a short-term booster toward a different stable and healthy lifestyle, they see at it as a long-term solution. Inevitably, they get frustrated at the restrictions and tired of the work. They quit, go back to their normal eating and exercising habits, gain back all their weight, and are right back where they started (sometimes worse).

You are actually the first person I ever heard suggest using a fad diet as a bridge to an ordinary, but healthy, diet... To be honest, I hadn't thought of it myself. It's a great idea.

And congratulations on finding a way to make it work, Fusangite!

Oh... I ran across a website called Calories per Hour. Aside from calorie counters and such, the site's got some really good tips in its FAQ section.

 

[Eolin]

fusangite, let me agree with Pbartender that that is the awesomeest reason I've ever heard to use atkins.

I've never had "willpower over food", and my currently diet doesn't force me to have it. The no food for a week thing I could *not* have done if I hadn't built up to it -- by simply drinking lemon juice morning and night. Which is easy, and it was a supplement to my intake. I didn't remove anything *except* for when I started not wanting as much food. My food desires became lessened over the months.

Also, here's something I remember doing about a month ago. I was at home, eating oreos. I'd eaten more than I had wanted to, but coudn't stop eating them. So, I briefly stopped long enough to do my lemon thing. The lemon juice acts a pallete cleanser. With the taste of the sugar washed out of my mouth, I could stop eating those things.

Unlike a lot of the diets here, mine hasn't required additional willpower, it has added onto my own. Like what you did with Atkins. I'm glad it worked for you, even though I'm fairly anti-Atkins in general.

 

[Zander]

Also, here's something I remember doing about a month ago. I was at home, eating oreos. I'd eaten more than I had wanted to, but coudn't stop eating them. So, I briefly stopped long enough to do my lemon thing. The lemon juice acts a pallete cleanser. With the taste of the sugar washed out of my mouth, I could stop eating those things.

After not having eaten sweet foods (except fruit) for over a month, I had some cake (my mother insisted!). I found it cloyingly sugary (no one else did). It seems that I'm slowly losing my sweet tooth, which is probably a good thing. Now, if I could only do the same about salt...

 

[Torm]

You are actually the first person I ever heard suggest using a fad diet as a bridge to an ordinary, but healthy, diet... To be honest, I hadn't thought of it myself. It's a great idea.

Not that it wasn't good of you to point it out if so, Fusangite, but isn't this kinda what Atkins himself says in the book, and people are just missing it mostly because they are "doing the Atkins diet" by going low/no carb and not really reading it?

The reason I ask is because I had a friend - good guy, but hardly the sort to come up with new nutritional theory on his own, if you know what I mean. He read Atkins' book, started the diet, and he told me it had phases and toward the end it was going to get to be more of just a normal healthy diet - adding back in some carbs, etc.

 

[fusangite]

Not that it wasn't good of you to point it out if so, Fusangite, but isn't this kinda what Atkins himself says in the book, and people are just missing it mostly because they are "doing the Atkins diet" by going low/no carb and not really reading it?

The reason I ask is because I had a friend - good guy, but hardly the sort to come up with new nutritional theory on his own, if you know what I mean. He read Atkins' book, started the diet, and he told me it had phases and toward the end it was going to get to be more of just a normal healthy diet - adding back in some carbs, etc.

Everything you say here is true -- the final phase is just whatever level of carbs you can sustain without gaining weight.

 

[Desdichado]

Any expert you ask will tell you that 1-2 lbs. per week is the maximum healthy weight loss rate. Anything higher than that, and you are likely losing either water weight (dehydrating yourself) or weight from non-fat tissues (losing muscle mass). Either way it's not a good thing to do to your body, and you'll be more likely to put the weight back on afterward for two reasons...

Unless your quite obese, of course. If so, most experts will recommend a more rapid weight loss, especially if you're already coupled with high risk factors like heart disease, etc.

 

[der_kluge]

Why not? It woudn't be the first time this thread has been hijacked.

To the others: Yeah, ten pounds in a week is more than is thought to be healthy. I know. I look at myself now compared ot then and can tell you with a fairly reasonable degree of certainty that it was fat. It sure wasn't water fat, I was drinking 3 to 4 liters of water a day.

How do you know you only lost fat? Did you test your ketones? You can't tell by looking in a mirror if you're losing muscle.

 

[der_kluge]

Cthulhu's Librarin, Nakia, and myself came up with the ultimate diet regime. We called it the Diaglo/Gen Con diet.

It takes elements of the average Gen Con gamer, and applies the foolhardiness of Diaglo to it.

Hitchhike to Gen Con.
Spend all your money on gaming books.
Don't eat for 4 days.
Sleep on the ground.
Carry around a 40 pound backpack full of lead miniatures.

 

[Eolin]

How do you know you only lost fat? Did you test your ketones? You can't tell by looking in a mirror if you're losing muscle.

I sure didn't. According to webmd ...
"Ketones are often found in a person who has not eaten (fasts) for 18 hours or longer."

Which I was doing for over a week. I wasn't doing it for the weight loss, that was a nice side effect. Also, I didn't smell bad, so I don't think I was in ketosis. If anything, I smelt better. And everyone else seemed to smell bad. Like they were filled with mucus.

My fast is called the "lemonade fast", and you can easily google it. Under that name or the more exact "master cleanser".

I was getting *plenty* of carbs. Sugars. I've already tossed out all my Grade B Syrup contains, but iirc, the amount I was going through has a lot of sugars -- I've forgotten the numbers. If you want, you can always go check your local health food store. I was going through around 12 ounces a day of the syrup.

If I was losing muscle, would I have been full of energy? Would I have been going on my normal five-mile walks? Would I have had energy at roleplaying? Let me know, as I honestly don't know.

The place I think I lost most of it is in my digestive system. I'm pretty sure it has shrunk. In that, right now a very small amount of food will fill me. Yesterday at game we had spagetti, and I just had a bit of it -- about half what I normally do -- and I was full until bedtime. Game starts at noon.

Whatcha think now?

 

[der_kluge]

Here's what I think: I think this is the stupidest stuff I've ever researched, and I believe that you are gullible for believing in something which has absolutely no basis in scientific fact.

From:
http://www.ehow.com/how_13481_understand-lemonade-fast.html

Understand that the theory behind this fast is that lemon and lime juice, while high in vitamin C, potassium and other minerals, are also astringent, which causes tissue in your body to contract, squeezing out toxins stored deep within.

There's that word again. "toxins". Apparently the liver in our body stops working when pseudo-science is introduced into the equation.

2. Realize that this fast is also designed to help your body eliminate much of your old fatty tissue, at an average rate of 2 pounds a day, with a very low risk of negative side effects. This prepares your body to build new fatty tissue. Many of the toxins stored in the old fatty tissue are also released during this fast through the usage and breakdown of the tissue.

Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Losing 2 pounds a day is dangerous regardless of the method used to fast. And the exact same thing could be accomplished by drinking water. I just love the pseudo-science on this one. Not only is it getting rid of "toxins" (pfeh!), but toxins stored in "old fatty tissue!". Really, I wish someone would define "toxins" for me.

3. Keep in mind that people also believe this fast eliminates and dissolves accumulated mucus throughout your body, helping to clear up the flu, asthma, hay fever, sinus or bronchial troubles, as well as colds and various allergies harbored within mucus. Cholesterol deposits in your arteries and veins also respond well to the intense cleansing power of lemon juice and cayenne pepper.

Last I checked, flus, asthma, hay fever, sinus and bronchial problems don't just lounge around in the body waiting for their number to get drawn. If this worked, every asthmatic in the world would follow this technique. And the only place "mucus" resides is in the sinuses, not throughout the body. Also, cold is a virus, and isn't even in the same category as allergies. And at the biological, chemical level, there is nothing "intensely cleansing" about lemon juice of cayenne pepper. By this argument, eating nothing but jalapenos would make me breathe fire.

4. Realize that in addition to the cleaning powers of the ingredients of this fast, in general, juice fasting flushes your system with large amounts of liquid, allows your digestive organs to rest, and reduces the fermentation activity in your internal organs by supplying very little sugar or starch to your body.

Sorry. The digestive organs never rest. And what the hell is the fermentation activity in my internal organs? Since when do our bodies produce wine?

5. Understand that, because all the foods that most of your internal organs are constantly striving to filter, process and digest are eliminated, all of your organs are given a chance to rejuvenate themselves.

You know, if I did nothing but eat doritos and masturbated every day, my internal organs would continue to rejuvinate every day. It's just what they do. Drinking lemon juice has absolutely jack and sh*t to do with this.


This whole thing boils down to this:
If it works for you, Eolin - great. Continue to do your thing, and don't let me (or science) try to convince you otherwise. I seriously recommend talking to your health professional regarding *any* diet regimen before starting one, lemonade fast, Atkins, or whatever. These things are simply too dangerous otherwise.

But you simply can not convince me that this thing has any valid scientific benefit since there are absolutely zero scientific studies on the topic. It's unproven, and unfounded, and for you to defend it is simply an utter waste of time. You can believe it, and have opinions about it which is fine. But you just can't argue about this from a factual standpoint.