Posted: 11/25/2003 5:31:15 PM EDT
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I've had quite a beer gut for about 2 years, and I'm sick of it. So I went shopping and I'm going to live off the following for the next 4 weeks: Frozen chicken breasts Reindeer sausage Eggs cheddar cheese flax oil soy protien shake powder This powdered algae/vitamin powder Right now I weigh 185 lbs, have a 36" waist (used to be about 32") and am 5'11, which makes me about 20-25 lbs overweight. I plan on lifting weights and building muscle to help in burning the fat off. I'll tell y'all how it's going a week from now. |
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Raven, How's it going? I've been trying the Atkins for about 5 weeks now. It's working pretty good for me. I did 2 weeks of the Induction and am working my way up on carbs now. I'm down 23 lbs. My biggest weaknesses are beers and sodas. I was drinking a lot of both before I started. I've pretty much stopped the beers and am drinking Diet Rite sodas now. Overall I feel much better. CHRIS |
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Raven, Read over the South Beach Diet. It is just a modified Atkins dieit but is more healthy in the long run. I am doing a hybrid Atkins-South Beach diet and have lost 10 pounds in a week! I just feel like such a pussy doing something called the South Beach Diet. I am also mucho pissed that I am going ot have ot cut back on beer consumption. [Homer] mmmmmmmmmm...........BEER[/url]. Let us know how it is going! |
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Arfkom went down right after I started this thread. I'm doing pretty well [:)] Have really restricted my carbs, and I like my diet. Down to 175, I can tighten my belt by two notches. I think it was cutting out the beer and starting the ice skating in the morning that has helped the most. One more week to go, I'll check out the South Beach diet. I was just over at my mom's the other day, and she had a little fruitcake from the store. I checked out the dietary info out of curiosity (something I used to never do). This little fruitcake had five servings, each serving was something like 560 calories, 88g of carbs [shock] |
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I'm going to keep checking in here to see how you guys are doing...I'm planning on starting the Atkins diet also. I read a book called "The Paleo Diet", pretty interesting read, but not a lot of depth into research of what we believe the Paleo diet really was and how those foods are different from the same type foods we have now. I went on the B.O.S.S. diet a couple of years ago and lost 20lbs in 28 days...regained it in a couple of weeks! |
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from www.drweil.com Today's Question There seems to be a lot of discussion now about how much protein we should be eating. I know The Zone and Dr. Atkins' diet push a much higher percentage of protein in our daily intake than you do. What's wrong with eating a lot of protein? -- Anonymous Today's Answer (Published 09/04/1997) Proteins are large, complex, nitrogenous compounds built of chains of amino acids. Protein forms the building blocks of muscles, blood, skin, hair, nails and internal tissues. Enzymes are proteins that orchestrate all biological reactions in the cells. Protein is great. But we get plenty of protein in a normal Western diet. As little of two ounces (60 grams) of a protein-rich food is enough for most of us. Most people in the Western world eat at least four ounces at every meal. But biochemical researcher Barry Sears, who wrote "The Zone," thinks Americans are protein deficient. He recommends 30 percent protein in every meal as part of a program that professes to help you lose weight permanently, achieve your best athletically, prevent disease and pump up your mental capabilities. The reason these kinds of high-protein diets work -- at least temporarily -- is because all that protein is forcing the kidneys to get rid of urea, a toxic breakdown product of protein metabolism, and pump lots of water from the body into the urinary tract. So much of the weight loss is simply water loss. While this is going on, however, you're also losing minerals from your body, including calcium from your bones. If you're eating more protein than your body needs to repair tissue, it's burned as a fuel. Unfortunately, protein is both an inefficient fuel and a dirty fuel. It's inefficient because you have to expend more energy to take protein molecules apart than to break down carbohydrates and fats, because they're more complicated in structure. It's dirty because protein contains nitrogen. Instead of just producing carbon dioxide and water, burning protein produces nitrogenous residues that not only are irritating to the immune system and toxic to the liver, but also put a big workload on the kidneys. High-protein diets may cause fatigue, digestive strain and aggravation of allergies and autoimmune diseases. I've never seen anyone in the United States develop protein deficiency, even on very low protein diets. You would know if you were protein deficient because your hair and nails would stop growing and wounds would not heal. Unless you're recovering from a serious illness or injury, or are a nursing mother or a young child, you don't need extra protein. |
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again from www.drweil.com Today's Question A friend gave me the diet book by Dr. Robert Atkins, who seems to contradict your position on weight control. Losing weight is so hard, it's tempting to follow a plan that allows so many " forbidden" foods like bacon and eggs. Isn't it better to get weight off quickly this way than to lose the battle due to hunger from restrictive diets? -- Meredith Today's Answer (Published 05/19/1999) (Published 5/19/99) Dr. Robert Atkins, author of "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution," (December, 1996) has been remarkably successful in promoting a diet that is appalling to proponents of low-fat diets as well as to most nutritionists. However, millions have lost weight on the Atkins Diet and its spin-offs, including the Montignac Diet, which has been extremely popular in Western Europe since the early 1990s. Even Barry Sears' "The Zone" can be considered an offshoot of the Atkins "diet revolution." The theory underlying all these plans is that consumption of carbohydrates, especially refined sugars and starches, exaggerates insulin production in the body, which in turn promotes fat storage and has harmful effects on cardiovascular function. At its most extreme this phenomenon leads to insulin resistance (your cells resist the efforts of insulin to deliver glucose), which, in turn, can lead to adult-onset diabetes. The fact is that after 48 hours on a very low carbohydrate diet, the body exhausts its reserves of glycogen (stored carbohydrates) and begins burning fat for fuel. Conventional physicians regard this change as unhealthy, but Atkins and his supporters don't see a problem. My view is that some version of this diet may be useful for people with insulin resistance (those with high serum triglycerides, low HDL -- a.k.a "good cholesterol" -- and a tendency to gain weight around the middle). While Dr. Atkins may be right in theory, in practice his diet is not what I regard as healthy. In return for giving up bread, pasta and (most) sweets he gives dieters license to gorge on high-fat foods like lobster soup or bacon and eggs -- OK to splurge on for your birthday or other special occasions but certainly not sensible as a daily regime. If you're tempted to try the Atkins diet, I advise passing up the high-fat menus he recommends and keeping your fat consumption to no more than 30 percent of your daily calories. Especially, keep your saturated fat intake low, meaning easy on the meat, butter, cream, and cheese. You also could include some healthy carbohydrates -- starchy vegetables, whole wheat pasta and chewy whole grain bread. If you exercise some nutritional common sense while on the Atkins Diet, you'll probably do very well. And no, losing weight quickly isn't a good idea. The faster you lose, the faster you're likely to regain. |
| Dr. Weil, like most physicians, is clueless when it comes to performance-related dietary requirements. He completely fails to address protein needs for people seeking to enhance their physiques and athletic abilities. For many who are serious about regulating their diets, the objective does not involve consuming the minimum quantity of protein to stay alive - it involves consuming enough protein to support muscle hypertrophy. And as far as I know, there is no evidence that "high" protein intake results in adverse health effects for individuals without pre-existing kidney problems. |
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Atkins/low carbohydrate diets are only dangerous to the kidneys if you're not consuming enough water, i.e. at least 64 ozs. per day. The reason for this is an over abundance of ketones which may potentially cause kidney stress. I am a proponent of low cabohydrate diets. While carbohydrates may be converted to fuel and burned quicker than fat or protein, this notion assumes that you are burning all carbohydrates ingested, and then fat reserves. Any excess carbohydrates are converted and stored as fat. Even for many active, physically fit people, it is difficult to lose weight without restricting carbohydrate intake, regardless of exercise levels. I also have a good friend who competes in triathlons and adventure races at a high level. He has told me of many athletes in these sports moving towards "limited" cabohydrate intake, by consuming "high fuel" carbohydrates only as fuel during a race or training activity, and consuming mostly fat and protein for meals. I think the point is, there are many ways to skin the cat, Atkins like diets just happen to be very fast and efficient at burning fat/weight loss, and correcting many metabolic disorders. Do Atkins and drink plenty of water! BTW, if you use ketostix as verification/motivation, sometimes the strips won't turn dark purple if you're drinking a lot of water because you're diluting the ketones which is a good thing. So if you're under 20 grams of carbs for at least 4 days, you're in ketosis and the fat is melting off. Good luck! Blake |
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If only the world was that simple. WRONG ANSWER! Fewer calories alone will seldom result in weight loss because your body goes into preservation mode, and slows down the metabolism in order to maintain itself - the same weight. What you ingest is more important than how much. SO... for many people, though they may be consuming fewer calories, their slowed metabolism results in an increase in weight. Because of the abundance of carbohydrates, your body will burn that first, and if most carbohydrates are not burned up, your body will store the excess as fat, hence no weight loss. Your correct answer would have been... restricted calories PLUS exercise. But that would have been only partially correct because not everyone can respond with significant weight loss as a result of reduced calories and exercise, despite the fact that they may be physically fit. Additionally, many adults cannot exercise enough to burn off most carbohydrates. This is where Atkins begins to shine. Let's all assume exercise is the first step towards a healthier life. As a complement to exercise, the Atkins diet will result in positive metabolic changes. In all likelihood, you will not be able to consume enough calories from a low carb diet to exceed your basal metabolic rate as a result from stable blood sugar levels; result - weight/fat loss. If you are able to consume more calories than your basal metabolic rate, then you will STILL LOSE WEIGHT because you will be burning fat for energy instead of glucose and burning fat takes more energy; result - weight/fat loss. I do agree that consuming fewer calories on Atkins will speed up the weight loss, but by no means will additional calories preclude you from it. That was easy. Next! Blake |
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I started the Atkins on the 27th and I've lost 5ish pounds so far. I eat some form of eggs, meat and cheese for breakfast. I buy chicken strips from the deli for lunch and then I mix it up for dinner, anything from hamburger, chicken, fish, etc.. with plenty of veggies. I have to eat kosher so it makes it a little more difficult but not much. This diet will bring out your creative side, otherwise you'll get tired of the same thing over and over again. I'll start adding tofu products as I go along. |
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Quoted: I've had quite a beer gut for about 2 years, and I'm sick of it. So I went shopping and I'm going to live off the following for the next 4 weeks: Frozen chicken breasts Reindeer sausage Eggs cheddar cheese flax oil soy protien shake powder This powdered algae/vitamin powder Right now I weigh 185 lbs, have a 36" waist (used to be about 32") and am 5'11, which makes me about 20-25 lbs overweight. I plan on lifting weights and building muscle to help in burning the fat off. I'll tell y'all how it's going a week from now. 185? Thats so fat![rolleyes] I was gonna go on Atkins till I found out I couldn't drink beer. I guess I need to look at something else. |