Posted: 11/20/2005 6:10:52 PM EDT
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Well, I have been working out now at least 5 days a week for the psat month. I started the Weight Watchers diet about 3 weeks ago and lost 3 lbs in the first week and then gained 2 last week and I've gained another two this week. Not good. I am so frustrated. I am doing all that I can. I am going to make an appointment with my doctor and I am going to ask for some help because I'm at a loss. A complete and utter loss. Edit: I guess I'm at a complete and utter gain - cuz at this point, losing would be a good thing. Rachel |
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I want to lose weight for health reasons. I have a long history of heart disease and cancer on both sides of my family and I have two beautiful children who I want to stick around and see grow up. My husband and I have no problem with our sex life, although I can't get picked up and thrown against the wall as easily as I used to - which is a bummer. |
He didn't say it right, but I know where he is going with it. She is working out, probably losing weight but it isn't noticeable since she is also building muscle while working out. If you use workouts to lose weight, you need to measure your body, stomach, chest, arms, legs etc. Measure once a week or every other week. That is how you know you are losing the fat and gaining the muscle. 5lbs of muscle is going to look smaller then 5lbs of fat. |
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Sweethart don't get discouraged. You're taking the first step of taking good care of yourself. In a short time you'll have more engery and your body will start shedding those pounds. I highly recommend you reading this book:Click Here It will explain why your body will go through peaks and valleys during the weight loss process. It will also give you tips that will help you be more successful with weight watchers. Simple tips that will help speed up your metabolism. Best of luck to you, Patty |
Muscles is 10 times as dense as fat. So 1 lb of fat takes up the space of 10 lbs of muscle. If you lose 1 lb of fat and gain 1 lb of muscle, the weight stays the same but your "volume" goes down. |
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Yes, I know that I may be building muscle and losing the fat, it's just discouraging. However, you all make an excellent point. I went from not exercising at all to exercising 5-6 times a week and I am guessing that I have to re-build a good deal of muscle from when i used to workout before the fat that I've gained will burn more efficiently. Thanks for all your help. Rachel |
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You will lose inches before pounds. I have been recommending The South Beach Diet to my patients. It works, as does Sugarbusters. In my experience the efficacy of Weight Watchers is not in the diet itself, but in the accountability of having to weigh in every week. If you choose one of these lower carb diets, don't get caught up in exactly replicating the 'two-week diet planner' that they all have in the back of the book, although doing so is somewhat comforting for a while. Concentrate instead on absorbing the principles of the diet, and apply it to the foods you have available. In the end your keys to success will be your mindset and perseverance. Good luck |
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My biggest problem with food lies in my passion for really good food. My grandmother was a 5-Star French Chef and I was spoiled. The only reason I subscribe to the Weight Watcher's website is because I can use their recipe search and their recipes are low in calories. I'm not going to do the points plan because I don't think it is realisitic. One cup of brown rice is 5 points! When you only get 26 points for a day, 5 points is A LOT! Anyway, I don't believe in the low carb diets at all. I've seen too many people get really ill on them. Had a couple people in my husband's unit in the military die on the Atkins diet because they literally starved their bodies so hard while they were working out so hard. Their hearts got weak. Anyway - I prefer Body for Life or stuff but the protein shakes, I'm not sure about. Rachel |
You are not committed to losing. Your post says it all. I want to lose, but I don't believe in this, I don't like that. Change your mindset, change your life. As a physician, I see people every day who are striving to lose weight. Low carb diets work. Period. Whether you believe in them or not. Unless you personally know the people that you say 'died on the Atkins diet,' the whole story smacks of urban myth. And FWIW, anyone who goes on the Atkins diet while on active military duty is a friggin moron! |
| Last Christmas Dr ordered a blood test to see if I was diabetic and it really woke me up. I have tried many diets including Weight Watchers with no luck. I cut all sugars and most white flour out of my diet, no pop or juices at all. 20 lbs seemed to just melt off, it was great!!! My sister lost 62 lbs though she is alot more restrictive on what she eats. I do have ice cream almost daily, it's what keeps me from cheating and I've made it through holidays and parties. I seem to be stuck at a size 12 so about a month ago I decided to hit the gym 7 days a week for now. Today I put on my size 10's!!! Try cutting out all sugars and go to wheat bread and see what happens. For my sister and I, it really worked. |
Yoda - "Do or do not. There is no 'try.'" 
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Don't be an idiot. Muscle is more dense than fat. If you knew anything about the subject at hand, you would know that. So either you're an idiot, or you're just crapping on this thread. |
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I've done atkins for nearly 20 years now. I started out doing atkins for my diabetes. When I was 18 my appendix ruptured and part of that entire hoopla was losing part of my pancrias. I was insulin dependent for a while but was told by my internist to try atkins. I did and with in a few months was completely off insulin. This was back in 1983. I know that atkins is not for everyone but for those who need a bit more you should try the Palm Beach Diet. Both Atkins and Palm Beach Diet was designed by doctors. There is a lot of good to be had. Read the books - follow their examples [ie the testing before starting]. You'll be amazed. |
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I live by the moderation in all things belief. I don't eat too many carbs as it is. And I"m not making up the dangers of a low carb diet. I rarely eat processed sugar or flour. I gained the weight during pregnancy and my metabolism crashed through the floor. I am exercising at least 5-6 hours a week, usually more. The doctors that I have been to who know my diet and my health have stated that I need to stay away from low carb diets. They have cited many health risks. Limiting carbs is one thing, but these diets are another. Dangers of a Low Carb Diet By: Greg Landry Low carb (carbohydrate), high protein diets are the latest dieting craze. However, before you jump on the band wagon, you may want to consider a few things: 1. Low carb (ketogenic) diets deplete the healthy glycogen (the storage form of glucose) stores in your muscles and liver. When you deplete glycogen stores, you also dehydrate, often causing the scale to drop significantly in the first week or two of the diet. This is usually interpreted as fat loss when it's actually mostly from dehydration and muscle loss. By the way, this is one of the reasons that low carb diets are so popular at the moment - there is a quick initial, but deceptive drop in scale weight. Glycogenesis (formation of glycogen) occurs in the liver and muscles when adequate quantities of carbohydrates are consumed - very little of this happens on a low carb diet. Glycogenolysis (breakdown of glycogen) occurs when glycogen is broken down to form glucose for use as fuel. 2. Depletion of muscle glycogen causes you to fatigue easily, and makes exercise and movement uncomfortable. Research indicates that muscle fatigue increases in almost direct proportion to the rate of depletion of muscle glycogen. Bottom line is that you don't feel energetic and you exercise and move less (often without realizing it) which is not good for caloric expenditure and basal metabolic rate (metabolism). 3. Depletion of muscle glycogen leads to muscle atrophy (loss of muscle). This happens because muscle glycogen (broken down to glucose) is the fuel of choice for the muscle during movement. There is always a fuel mix, but without muscle glycogen, the muscle fibers that contract, even at rest to maintain muscle tone, contract less when glycogen is not immediately available in the muscle. Depletion of muscle glycogen also causes you to exercise and move less than normal which leads to muscle loss and the inability to maintain adequate muscle tone. Also, in the absence of adequate carbohydrate for fuel, the body initially uses protein (muscle) and fat. the initial phase of muscle depletion is rapid, caused by the use of easily accessed muscle protein for direct metabolism or for conversion to glucose (gluconeogenesis) for fuel. Eating excess protein does not prevent this because there is a caloric deficit. When insulin levels are chronically too low as they may be in very low carb diets, catabolism (breakdown) of muscle protein increases, and protein synthesis stops. 4. Loss of muscle causes a decrease in your basal metabolic rate (metabolism). Metabolism happens in the muscle. Less muscle and muscle tone means a slower metabolism which means fewer calories burned 24 hours-a-day. 5. Your muscles and skin lack tone and are saggy. Saggy muscles don't look good, cause saggy skin, and cause you to lose a healthy, vibrant look (even if you've also lost fat). 6. Some proponents of low carb diets recommend avoiding carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, potatoes, carrots, etc. because of they are high on the glycemic index - causing a sharp rise in insulin. Certain carbohydrates have always been, and will always be the bad guys: candy, cookies, baked goods with added sugar, sugared drinks, processed / refined white breads, pastas, and rice, and any foods with added sugar. These are not good for health or weight loss. However, carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grain breads and pastas, and brown rice are good for health and weight loss. Just like with proteins and fats, these carbohydrates should be eaten in moderation. Large volumes of any proteins, fats or carbohydrates are not conducive to weight loss and health. The effect of high glycemic foods is often exaggerated. It's does matter, but to a smaller degree than is often portrayed. Also, the total glycemic effect of foods is influenced by the quantity of that food that you eat at a sitting. Smaller meals have a lower overall glycemic effect. Also, we usually eat several types of food at the same time, thereby reducing the average glycemic index of the meal, if higher glycemic foods are eaten. Also, glycemic index values can be misleading because they are based on a standard 50 grams of carbohydrate consumed. It wouldn't take much candy bar to get that, but it would take four cups of carrots. Do you usually eat four cups of carrots at a meal? Regular exercisers and active people also are less effected by higher glycemic foods because much of the carbohydrate comsumed is immediately used to replenish glycogen stores in the liver and muscle. By the way, if you're interested in lowering insulin levels, there is a great way to do that - exercise and activity. 7. Much of the weight loss on a low carb, high protein diet, especially in the first few weeks, is actually because of dehydration and muscle loss. 8. The percentage of people that re-gain the weight they've lost with most methods of weight loss is high, but it's even higher with low carb, high protein diets. This is primarily due to three factors: A. You have lost muscle. With that comes a slower metabolism which means fewer calories are burned 24 hours-a-day. A loss of muscle during the process of losing weight is almost a guarantee for re-gaining the lost weight, and more. B. You re-gain the healthy fluid lost because of glycogen depletion. C. It's difficult to maintain that type of diet long-term. D. You have not made a change to a long-term healthy lifestyle. 9. Eating too much fat is just not healthy. I know you've heard of people whose blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides have decreased while on a low carb, high protein diet. This often happens with weight loss, but it doesn't continue when you're on a diet high in fat. There are literally reams of research over decades that clearly indicates that an increase in consumption of animal products and/or saturated fat leads to increased incidence of heart disease, strokes, gall stones, kidney stones, arthritic symptoms, certain cancers, etc. For example, in comparing countries with varying levels of meat consumption, there is a direct relationship between the volume of meat consumption in a country and the incidence of digestive cancers (stomach, intestines, rectal, etc.). Fat is certainly necessary, and desirable in your diet, but they should be mostly healthy fats and in moderation. Manufactured / synthetic "low fat" foods with lots of added sugar are not the answer. Neither are manufactured / synthetic "low carb" foods with artificial sweeteners or added fat. By the way, use of artificial sweeteners has never been shown to aid in weight loss and they may pose health problems. According to Dr. Keith-Thomas Ayoob of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, "In my experience, unless you're willing to throw out decades of research, you cannot ignore that diets chronically high in saturated fats are linked to heart disease," Dr. Ayoob is also a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association and says that low carb, high protein diets are an attempt at a quick fix and not a long-term lifestyle change. 10. As someone recently told me, "it must work - people are losing weight". People that are truly losing fat on low carb, high protein diets, are doing so because they are eating fewer calories - that's the bottom line. There is no magic - the same can be done on a healthy diet. 11. Low carb diets are lacking in fiber. Every plant-based food has some fiber. All animal products have no fiber. A lack of fiber increases your risk for cancers of the digestive track (because transit time is lengthened) and cardiovascular disease (because of fibers effect on fat and cholesterol). It also puts you at a higher risk for constipation and other bowel disorders. 12. Low carb diets lack sufficient quantities of the the many nutrients / phytonutrients / antioxidants found in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, necessary for health and aiding in prevention of cancer and heart disease. In fact, you need these nutrients even more so when you're consuming too much fat as is often the case on a low carb high protein diet. 13. Amercans already consume more than twice the amount of protein needed. Add to that a high protein diet and you have far too much protein consumption. By the way, most people don't realize that all fruits, all vegetables, all whole grains, and all legumes also contain protein. Animal products contain larger quantities of protein, but that may not be a good thing. Excess dietary protein puts you at a higher risk for many health problems: gout (painful joints from high purine foods which are usually high protein foods), kidney disease, kidney stones, osteoporosis (excess dietary protein causes leeching of calcium from the bones). By the way, countries with lower, healthier intakes of protein also have a decreased incidence of osteoporosis. 14. Low carb, high protein diets cause an unhealthy physiological state called ketosis, a type of metabolic acidosis. You may have heard the phrase, "fat burns in the flame of carbohydrate". Excess acetyl CoA cannot enter the Krebs Cycle (you remember the old Krebs Cycle) due to insufficient OAA. In other words, for fat to burn efficiently and without production of excess toxic ketones, sufficient carbohydrate must be available. Ketosis can lead to many health problems and can be very serious at it's extreme. 15. Bad breath. Often called "keto breath" or "acetone breath", it's caused by production of acetones in a state of ketosis. So why the low carb, high protein craze? I believe there are several reasons. A. Weight loss (mostly muscle and muscle fluid) is often rapid during the first few weeks. This causes people to think they're losing fat rapidly. B. It gives you "permission" to eat the "bad foods": bacon, eggs, burgers, steak, cheese, etc., and lots of fat. C. Many see it as the new "magic" they've been looking for, although it's been around, in various forms, since the 1960's. References: - Brooks, G, Fahey, T: Exercise Physiology - Human Bioenergetics and its Applications. John Wiley and Sons, 1984. - Cheatham, B, Kahn, CR: Insulin Action and Insulin Signaling Network. Endocrine Review 16:117, 1995 - Fain, JN: Insulin Secretion and Action. Metabolism 33:672, 1984. - Fitts, RH: Cellular Mechanisms of Muscle Fatigue. Physiological Review 74:49, 1994 - Griffin, James, Ojeda, Sergio: Textbook of Endocrine Physiology. Oxford University Press, 2000 - Guyton, A, Hall, J: Textbook of Medical Physiology. W.B. Saunders Company, 2000. - Herzog, W: Muscle Function in Movement and Sports. American Journal of Sports Medicine 24:S14, 1996 - Hoffman, JF, Jamieson, JD: Handbook of Physiology: Cell Physiology. Bethesda: American Physiological Society, 1997 - Kimball, SR, Vary, TC, Jefferson, LS: Regulation of Protein Synthesis by Insulin. Annual Review Physiology 56:321, 1994. - McArdle, William, Katch, Frank, Katch, Victor: Exercise Physiology - Energy, Nutrition, and Human Performance. Lea and Febiger, 1981. - Mcdougall, MD, John: The Mcdougall Plan. New Century Publishers, 1983. - Simopoulos, AP, Pavlou, KN: Nutrition and Fitness. Basel: Karger, 1997 |
Horseshit |
 Look, it's all about sugar and good carbs/bad carbs. Your body needs the good carbs (fruits, veggies, whole grains). Logic should dictate that you need to cut out the refined crap (anything white/starchy). Don't look at it like a 'diet', but a lifestyle change in your eating/exercising habits. Cut the sugar, white stuff, anything that comes ready to eat from a box, and stick to the fresh fruits/veggies and lean meats and cheeses. Keep on exercising and you'll see a big difference. It takes 4-6 weeks before you see a difference in how your clothes fit. Don't necessarily go by what the scale says...a 5'5", 145lb woman that works out with weights is going to look a helluva lot different than a 5'5", 145lb woman that doesn't. Just takes time, dear. 
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Carbs aren't bad, bad carbs are bad. Bad carbs = processed foods - sweets, pasta, bread, rice, cereal, dried sweetened fruit, crackers, pretzels, etc. Focus on eating lean protein and getting most of your carbs from vegetables with a little fruit as a treat and the pounds will melt off, especially if your exercise routine is good. I dropped 30 pounds in 4-5 months eating right and exercising. You can too. |
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I think there is a misunderstanding. I agree with the no bad carbs thing and for the most part I stick to that. I eat a ton of veggies, some brown rice and one serving of meat for dinner most every night. Sometimes I switch couscous for the rice. I just needed to complain when I made this original post. That's all. A little discouraged. Rachel |
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Atkins success story, here too. 25+ (I don't have a scale..so 25 pounds was about a month ago, the last time I used a scale at my friends house). It's more since then, but I gauge how my clothes fit. Anyway at least 25 pounds since Labor Day. 2 pant sizes. yay me. It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle choice, and it's worked for me, without too much pain/frustration/sacrifice. It's not for everyone, and it's not for people that want to lose a quick 10 pounds for a wedding, etc. those who badmouth Atkins or South Beach don't understand it, plain and simple. NO DIET is easy, or a quick path to success. To do it correctly you HAVE to exercise, and choose your food wisely. Atkins isn't a license to eat omeletes and bacon at every meal, or have a sirloin steak for dinner every night. You still have to think about what's right, and what's wrong to put in your body. It's not rocket science. |