Hey - new guy here.

"Former" athlete that kept carb-loading long after the 4-6 hours of training a day were over - oops.

I am definitely a carb addict - pasta, bread, sugar (lots) in coffee, on cereal, etc...

I am, luckily, also a meat fiend and the son-in-law of a beef farmer. So far so good.

I seem to have lost a lot so far - not sure if I caught myself on a particularly heavy day at first, but after 5 days I'm down 9 pounds - that's with exercise and sticking to the induction diet. I know everyone's different, but I am wary of loosing "too fast"...

No questions yet, but I research everything to death, so be prepared.

Actually, one question - haven't looked much yet, but are there a lot of guys here, or are we few and far between? I assume most would be afraid to admit they were dieting ... macho bravado et al.

So, hi everyone - hope this works. If ther rest goes as the first 5 days (with some problems, but not too bad), it should!

Hello and welcome,
Not sure how many guys are on here but I have seen a few. You seem to be off to a good start. Guys do seem to lose faster than women. I have lost 14 lbs in a month on Atkin's and I feel great. Induction is very important. You will go through withdraws you may feel slugish but that means it is working. I am sure you take a multivitamine which is important.
Try to stay away from the Atkins bars and shakes they can slow things down for some people. You do not always lose weight some times just inches. It is great.
You have come to a great place to do research. There is just so many good ideas and lots of great recipes. If you do not have the Atkin's book I would go get one and follow it. Very important.
Once you are past the cravings and all it is easy and sence you are all ready use to exerciseing you should do great.
You should try to keep a journal on here of what you eat during the day and people will give you tips incase you start to stall in weight loss. fitday.com is great for counting carbs. It is very easy.
Keep in touch. If you learn anyting you do not see on here be sure to post it.
Keep up the good work

Pylon don't even worry about it, there's no possible way your gonna keep on losing the weight that fast, it doesn't happen, during induction period you always lose about 10% and then it slows up. I would just say go with the flow and watch and see. Good Luck and welcome! I would say there are alot of men on diets but they don't want to talk about it maybe? Look around in the journals you'll see quite a few here. Take care

Pylon,

There are a couple of us guys on the forums and we are here to help. Great progress so far ... congratuations! Be prepare for even better things.
My advice ... Keep up the exercise ... I have found it is key to continuing weight loss and it makes you feel great ... careful not to overdue it. Ramp up slow! Also check out Fitday.com. It is an easy way to track your carb intake and helps make sure you stay on track.
This is an amazing way of eating ... Good luck! Let us know how we can help!

-- DJ

Welcome, Pylon. Be sure and check out the exercise thread as well. You may find some more male bonding over there.

Best of luck and congrats so far!

Good Plyon! So do I! I've found out sooo many useful thigs that way. It's a great asset to have on this WOE, especially on these boards, you'll learn a lot. Welcome!

Thanks, everyone - I will check out the exercise area.

I've set myself up on fitday - my fat calorie intake seem to be pretty high right now - is that typical? Also - has anyone figured out how to track vitamins and supplements there? I tried setting the mutlivitamins up as a custom food group with no calories, fat, etc, and jsut entered the vitamins that were there as a percentage of the daily reccommended - a lot of them were 150 - 200% (its Centrum Strong I'm taking). It seems to work with the daily nutrients report, but are there any other suggestions?

Pylon-

That is exactly the way I do my supplements too. It works for me. A good rule of thumb is you should be eating 10-12 times your weight in calories each day. Your cals should be 65% fat (you could go up to 70), 5% carbs and 30% protien. In the beginning I seemed to be eating what ever I wanted and somehow found the right "zone" and my ratios were pretty on track. The cals may have been a little on the high side (I didn't do fitday regularly though). I should roughly be 1350-1620 per day and I usually had a few days a week I was over 2000. I'm finding now though a couple of months into it I need to watch my cals and ratios more and I'm now an avid Fitday user (sooooo helpful!!!). Maybe it's just me but the first few weeks seem to be more "forgiving" in the calorie department.

By looking at my supplements in Fitday I find I need to take potassium, magnesium, calcium and B12 plus my multi. I don't know how it will be for you but that seems pretty typical from other peoples posts I've read.

hello everyone...i am new to this sight and i have some concerns about doing the atkins diet ....i started it about 18 days ago and i have only lost about 7 lbs...i am following it very strictly and i have been having problems with heart palpitations....has anyone else had this problem? thanks

Zeuss you know that happened to me too but I wasn't sure if it was my heart papitating because I was really wanting high carb foods. http://www.ptyza.com/pamstuff/lowchint.htm
Check out this site it gives some tips as to what is happening with your body.
BTW mine only lasted for a short time and it was gone...good luck and take care...

Zuess - don't know how old you are but you may want to see a doctor about the palpitations.

As for the weight loss, you've averaged over 3 pounds a week which is pretty good. Not everyone has an enormous weight loss during induction and after that the body usually takes some recovery time when you won't lose at all. Keep on the plan and you will start losing again. Slowly but surely, as you should.

Pylon:

I don't know if alot of guys dont post because they're afraid of admitting to being on a diet or not. I kind of had that myself. Of course logically I know what's wrong with being on a diet ? Who could possibly find fault with someone for trying to better themselves ? I told my close friends and my mom, then a coworker, and now everybody and their brother knows, both in my personal life and at work. And everyone has been supportive and good about it.

Zeuss:

Stick with it man. I lost 12 lbs in the first week and thought it was great, and then 2 lbs in the 2nd week and I thought it was going to be terrible and drop off to nothing. I'm now 3 1/2 weeks into this and down 21 lbs. with hardly any excercise outside of my normal routine.
As long as you're losing you're winning (Hmmm, sounds like a good quote).
I know everybody has these visions of "Man, wouldn't it be nice to lose 70 lbs in 3 months ?" but as long as it's coming off, keep at it. I always counter that quote (when I think along those lines to myself) "I'd already be there if I had started this a year ago, or 10 years ago, or even 6 months ago." Just stick with it. Be careful about those heart palpitations though.

Met

hey pylon... welcome looks like youre doing great... i do want to suggest that you go by some of the guys journals on here...

szar - lost over 100lbs and still going strong

smokeyjon- just started but is doing great

joejoe- great role model

bigguyjon-lost 100 lbs

i hope this helps... and its a known fact that men lose faster than women

Hey Pylon!

There are way more ladies here than men, but we are a presence here. I'd say maybe 10%. Also as guys we do tend to lose quickly, but as I've found out we can gain quickly too. I've lost then indulged in the carbs and gained it all back.... so the lesson learned here is carbs are what put the weight on, you go off carbs, and lose it, but be sure to follow Dr. Atkins plan when adding back carbs, cause if you don't carbs are really insidious and addictive and they will creep back in with a vengence and before you know it BAM the fats back! lol

Another thing you'll find with exercising and carb restriction is you'll start bonking. Your energy level will drop as your body loses it's glycogen stores, so lot's of us that really work out either do CKD (Cyclical Ketonic Diet) there's a thread on it.... or some other form of slightly higher carb intake, just remember that carbs are the key, restrict them, the weight comes off, just balance the exercise and carb restriction, you'll certainly feel it if you listen to your body!

later,