Hello all!

I started a low carb diet and exercise program the first of the year determined to get control of my life again. I'm 37 years old, stressed out, constantly tired & overweight. In the last few months I had a hard look at my life and made the decision it was time to get my body and my life back in order.

In short all the stuff I planned on doing tomorrow for the last few years is now getting done!

Only once before have I gone on a diet (Lean and Mean, M.Shaevitz) , perhaps 10 years ago and in all honesty had no problems with it. Of course back them my metabolism was faster then it is now, I worked harder and I think just cutting out the junk food had much to do with the weight loss!

The first of the year I talked to my older brother who always kept himself fit (currently 180 pounds, an inch or two shorter then me though) and inquired about his diet and exercise. I figured since we had the same genes, chances are what worked for him would work for me as well.

Pretty much he stated the Atkins diet was the way to go and since he is one of those people who researches everything before doing anything I felt somewhat comfortable about trying the diet plan even though I'm a bit of a skeptic. At this point I'll point out that chances are I'm a carbo addict- I love nothing more then cakes, bagels, different breads, french fries, cokes, mashed potatoes, chocolate etc.

After reading Atkins book I have to say I'm really surprised with how much sugar is pumped into foods that have no need for it! Checking labels in the supermarket has been a large (and at times depressing) eye opener. I'm beginning to think WE are being fattened up for some reason!

My first step was to whack all the drive through food I was consuming and reduce the stress of my job. Then I started walking a 1.65 mile circuit around my house in a brisk walk. I started out taking 35 minutes to make the circuit and now 2 weeks later can do it under 25, sometimes 20 minutes. I do this every morning and this morning did a double circuit in under an hour working up a good sweat while cranking along at a fast walk/march. When I can I head over to a buddies house (like tonight) and I jog on his treadmill at 5 mph for 1 mile (12 minutes) Later on as I lose some more pounds and get my cardo level back up to something reasonable I will hit the weight stack and start doing some bodybuilding. I have not done ANY exercise or gym work for 15 years and my job the last several years has been pretty sedate. I'm chafing at how limited my current cardio level is!

A current meal day goes something like this-

1 cup of coffee with splenda
2 eggs with sausage or hamburger with a few mushrooms with butter
1/2 slice of low carb flax bread with cream cheese
Good multivitamin and extra vitamin C and E

(Coffee in the morning is the one thing I'm not able to give up, decaf is terrible and I'm no longer using sugar) I have slashed my coffee consumption down to a single mug when I use to consume 2 pots a day!

Lunch usually is something light, either beef or pork with water and cucumber slices and an ounce or two of cheddar cheese.

Dinner most of the time is pork/beef/fish with broccoli or spinach with more water.

I drink 64 ounces of water a day now, I used to drink none at all! Coffee several times a day was the norm with perhaps a drive through Coke while dashing around town doing work related errands.

The first week of the Atkins diet I felt a tad sleepy for a day or two but the last few days been feeling much better. Between the exercise and different eating I'm starting to "come back to life" so to speak. I'm not nearly as lethargic, my stress level has gone down, I seem to sleep better.

I have several goals with my main one to get down to 180-190 lbs and a size 32 waist (current is a 38) before I start lifting weights. I feel so foolish now- When I was younger I had a good body but always found some fault in it not realizing how good it was and how much stamina and strength I had! Just three months ago I had trouble walking up a flight or two of stairs without running out of breath, how embarrassing! Now I realize not only can I have that younger body back but better if I have the mind to just do what needs to be done.

Thoughts and suggestions?

Gary

p.s. I have gone from 230 lbs to 216 lbs since the last week of December.

p.s.s. If I'm not hungry between meals will reducing my portion size hurt?

You seem to be doing fine. I wouldn't consider reducing portions, though. If anything, you should be working UP on veggie intake... especially as you increase exercise, you don't want to cut calories, or you may find yourself sluggish, sickly and stalled out on losing.

Good luck and keep going!

I'm was concerned about getting too much carbs from the veggies, I was trying to drive the them as low as possible.

What else can I do to make the diet work as efficient as possible? Is there a minimum number of fat grams I should be geting?

My weight is up this morning 4 pounds from 2 days ago, now I'm annoyed.

Gary

Hi Gary,

Firstly welcome and well done on the weight loss.

My thoughts for you

1. Start a journal on this forum (how-to thread)

2. Get an account at FitDay this is 1 free and 2 allows you to enter all your details so that you can check your carb values and fat % and other things too (plus you can add in exercise), they have just started doing a PC package version which was $19.95 I think introductory offer.

3. Most people suggest to aim for 65%+ Fat percentage, based with ~20g carb

4. A lot of people say that going below 20g carbs doesn't give any more benefit but I seem to find the lower the carb intake the higher you need your fat intake.

5. You shouldn't have that many carbs that you can't add in more veg (i.e. full salad at lunch time), remember that fibre doesn't count.

Also you might notice a rise in weight but a lose in inches - so make sure that you are taking both. Generally after a large weight loss your body can take a week or so to stablise during that time your weight could go up but your inchs might be going down.

Basically I rarely use the scales now as I found that depressed me - whereas those small jeans are a great indication of how I am doing.

Good luck and regardless of how fast your weight lose is - the health benefits are 10-fold.

Sarah

I'll try but I'm trying to decrease the amount of time I spend behind the keyboard as it is ;-) I do keep a paper log of all food and activites though.



Did so this morning, looks like this mornings breakfast was 938 cals with 71% fat, 24% protein and 6% carbs.



Will try to up the veggies a smidge and see what happens.

Thanks for your feedback Sarah!

Gary

My pleasure



I forgot to answer this part. Generally most people find that during induction and the lower carb section of this OWL, calories aren't important (but obviously they are to a point )

Keep an eye on your o/a calorie values in fitday and see how you get on before you start reducing anything - because on this you do need to EAT to lose the weight!

Most people try for about 10 or 12 * your weight in cals, so for me its about 1600-1800 but usually I am slightly lower. This willr educe to lighter you get but its generally a good way of keeping in check! ALthough I do have days when I just keeping eating - quite normal also

You will also notice that you might lose your appetite this is generally a good signs of weight loss and is perfectly ok, although make sure you don't not eat for longer than 6 hours (other than sleeping )

Good luck
Sarah

Welcome to the life of the low carber!!!
I can't tell you how important it is to increase your veggies in the form of SALAD. You really need the fiber and a really good salad will stay with you through the afternoon.
Good luck
Lois

Most of the time I eat every 4-5 hours (3 meals a day) and never, ever feel hungry, hence the question should I be reducing portion sizes.

This is all new to me and it just seems to me if I take in calories I have to get rid of them in some manner and don't wish to take in more then needed, but don't wish to hinder the fat burning mechanism either!

Gary

don't worry after putting things into Fitday you will soon see the amount of calories and I beat that won't be as high as you think.

and yeah when its new you tend to worry about everything!

Get the journal set up and link to your fitday online I will pop in we can keep in touch and see how you get on!!

Sarah

2727 alrady and it's just past noon, a stick of Pepperoni carries a hefty calorie/fat payload! Currently at 70% fat for todays intake.



I will try but between work, home, being on the road and having the worlds slowest net connection more time on the 'net is the last thing I can afford.

Gary

ouch that is rather a lot!! what was your total for the day? Might be worth copy/pasting from fitday to here - oh and double check the serving sizes on fitday - they can be a bit large

Food Name Servings Serving Size Cals Fat Carb Prot

Coffee, espresso 21 0 4 0

Egg, whole, cooked, 168 12 1 12

Ground beef or patty, cooked, 672 46 0 60

Bread, wheat or cracked wheat 25 1 3 2

Butter, NFS 36 4 0 0

Cheese spread, cream cheese 335 32 4 8

Mushrooms, raw 45 1 7 5

Mayonnaise, regular 198 22 1 0

Tuna, canned, water pack 150 1 0 32

Pepperoni 1247 110 7 53

Cheese, natural, Cheddar or American type 342 28 1 21

Totals 3239 258 28 194

Didn't have much in the way of veggies yesterday and I don't normally eat Pepperoni!

Gary

so that peperami - it was a whole 10 1/4" long and 1 3/8" sausage and you did have the whole thing?

?? essentially I think you should try to reduce the amount of cals 2600 probably should be your higher limit!

an easier way of doing it is in the fitday software you can click on home and at the end of the page you can view a link which allows people to see your fitday online.

Sarah

Hello Gary!

I'm also a bit suspicious of that sausage...
Maybe you forgot to change the default fitday portion value? Also, I suppose you're not on Induction since you have bread on your menue. On Atkins it takes quite a while b/f one's allowed to add any kind of bread. Are you following the plan to the t or making your own version (some people do, but it could be difficult to reach the same results that way)?

BTW, here's a great thread with lots of tips for LC beginners:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=94619

Bestest of luck to you!!

/gil

1) Yes I was bad and in a moment of weakness eat the whole sausage. Man it was the most tasty thing I had in days, I don't do that too often.

2) The bread slice is a low carb flax with 4 carbs per slice and I allow myself only a 1/2 slice per day.

2 carbs.

Am I wrong in this thinking?

Gary