When I first started this diet I had 150 pounds that I needed to lose. I weighed 282 and my ideal weight for my height was 130. Well it is funny, I've lowered my weight by about 59 pounds, but I've also increased my muscle mass so that my "ideal" weight is no longer 130. So it is like I have been going lower to meet my goal, and my goal has been coming up to meet me.

How can this happen? Part of it happened by accident I think. Part of this muscle building wasn't anything in particular I was doing other than eating more protein. From Dec 2000 until May of 2002 I wasn't really losing any weight, instead I was building muscle (without knowing it). My body dimensions changed by 23.75 inches in the areas that I had measured.

Then in June I started trying to build muscle. Lifting weights etc. Well the exciting thing about this is that I figured out that I have increased my muscle mass to OVER my original goal weight. I now have at least 141 pounds of lean body mass (my body without any fat at all on it). So my goal weight has changed.

When I did these calculations I wasn't sure at first if I could believe them. Yesterday something happened that PROVED it to me. I put on and wore the skirt and top that I was married in 11 years ago. And they fit well. At that time I weighed 176 to 186, today I weigh 223 to 228. But I'm wearing a "large" not an XL or higher.

I hope this is as encouraging to all of you as it was to me. It means this diet works in two directions, lowering your body to meet your goal, and increasing your muscle mass so you don't have as much to lose!

GREAT POST!

Thnks for sharing that with us!

Keep up the good work.

When I was on a previous diet plan, I had lost 40 lb. in 3 mo, and my starting exercise was walking, and then I added weights. I lost inches so fast, that people had thought that I had lost more weight than I actually had, and they all wanted to know how I done it.... Increasing muscle helps so much... at one time I wanted to weigh 115 lb. and now it seems that I would just blow away in the wind if I was ever to that weight again!

Thanks for sharing that. The last several weeks have been a bit deflating because the scale hasn't moved. I'm losing inches, but not weight. It's good to have a reminder that the muscle I'm building (through exercise and weight training) weighs more than the fat that I'm losing.

We get our emotions to tied to what the scales says sometimes. It is good to see actual evidence in pounds in response to our efforts on the one hand. On the other hand, we have to guard against allowing the scale to control our emotional well being.

If you are in this group of people who have a significant amount to loose, I think that it's important to change your thinking about this thing we call "LC". See, I don't call it a diet anymore. A diet to me is a temporary shift in ones food consumption behavior, aimed at producing rapid weight loss. Well, I been on diets and they don't work. What I have come to understand is that there are two factors working against me.

First, my Metabolism. I have a body, that adapts entirely to quickly to minor changes in activity level. Ideally, I probably should be a lumberjack or someone who works outside 12-16 hours per day. I was designed to work long hard hours between meals, my Metabolism being lower would sustain me through periods of not eating. As my energy expendature level drops off, as it does because of my job - I am in the Computer Field, not many physical demands, my Metabolism, also drops. So, I am faced with having to regulate my Metabolism by adding Exercise to my daily activities.

So lesson number 1. Exercise is not an option, especially if I want to loose weight, not just maintain.

Second, I have a system that does not responds much to efficiently to Insulin spikes. Well, this may seem a bit technical it's useful to understand what happens in our bodies. Our body is a wonderful mechanism whose purpose is to maintain specific levels in order to keep us alive. One of these functions is the regulation of blood sugar levels. Most of us have a very narrow range of blood sugar levels that our bodies work to maintain. All carbohydrates that enter our system get convert into glucose - blood sugar. When the glucose level rise, i.e., we eat a decent dose of carbs, our body reacts by secreting Insulin, a hormone, into our blood stream. Isulin causes cells, including fat cells to absorb excess glucose from the blood stream. Now, glucose is absorbed into muscle tissue and the liver, however once these stores are full, most glucose is stored to fat cells. Insulin continues to be secreted until the glucose levels drop.

What happens to many of us, is we consume highly process carbohydrates, bread, pasta, candy, other sugars, which almost immediately cause a spike in glucose levels, cause our bodies to dump Insulin into our blood, the fat cells suck up the glucose, and we get fatter.

So therefore the keys to success are 1) Regulate your Metabolism by exercise and 2) Control Insulin spikes by following a "LC" eating lifestyle. Now, Carbohydrates are not bad, they provide fast energy to our muscles, Athletes learn how to use carbs to improve their performance, you just need to understand what carbs, how many, and how long you can consume them to refill muscle and liver stores, before excess glucose starts to be stored by fat cells.

Since I just switched over to CKD, I am going to try and stay away from the scale. I am going to be adding muscle, which is denser than fat, burns more calories than fat. For the next month, I am going to let the holes in my belt tell me if I am making progress.

Regards,
Lux

Sherry, I just wanted to say, thanks for your post. Actually I've been reading your posts around the forums, and I really enjoy your well-written, thoughtful style.

I think it is a good thing to consider that for example, if someone weighed 120 in high school, or the insurance tables say 130 is their ideal weight, that doesn't mean that's their ideal weight if they actually have some decent muscle on 'em.

I have always hated aerobic exercise, even when thin and athletic, but I have always really enjoyed body building when I had the chance to do it (when much younger). Circuit training in college was cool. (Testosterone, YEAH. LOL.)

At my current weight, "motion" is exercise, never mind anything harder. (Although, it always amuses me, that people who suggest walking, have clearly not tried walking at MY weight -- when the body is so severely unbalanced, the lower back and inner thighs scream after 30 seconds of it, and it literally is difficult -- there is so much crap in motion and secondary motion one is literally unbalanced.)

My aunt loaned me a tape called 'Oxycise' which is really just a sort of wanna-be yoga of sorts, but I found if I really did it (various tuck & holds, etc.) it was helpful - I could feel it was working some muscles I don't normally, the dose of O2 made me feel pretty good the next morning, and it works as a sort of "conditioning" so that hopefully, I can, "get in shape, to get in shape, to get in shape, to get healthy". ;-) I couldn't do some of the on the floor things (well I could, but getting down and up again is not a speedy process!) but it's useful to know that no matter what weight a person is, whether 20lbs over or 350lbs over, there is always somewhere to start, there is always a way to pursue what you can, until your body improves and you can pursue even more.

I think for many people I know personally who are dieting (not LC alas), the hardest part of exercise for them is wanting it to be something 'formal'. For most people seriously overweight, scrubbing the tub and baseboards would be good exercise, and would be something useful done too!

Regards,
PJ

Hi PJ-
You are really on a roll! I am enjoying your articulate posts everywhere this AM. Thanks for sharing!

I'll share my exercise experience and hope it may help you. My starting weight was 370; tomorrow at weigh-in I hope to hit 310.
I have many arthritic joint problems, exacerbated by obesity of course: tendinitis in both ankles, knee problems including torn meniscus, and all the other vague aches, pains and boo-boos that go along with being morbidly obese. Exercise for me is indeed literally a pain in the ass!

OK- it hurts, and at 370, it was almost impossible. While I had the musculature to walk 3 miles, after a mile stuff started to hurt, and I was not a happy camper. But I KNOW that I have to exercise, discomfort or not. So here is what I did to start:

Get yourself a couple of small dumbbells, the coated kind that are easy on your hands. I started with 5 lbs but if you have not been exercising at all, try much smaller. The point is to get something small enough so you can do lots of repetitions and get a cardio benefit, but heavy enough to also have it be weight training. Then.....(this is the part you will love!) GET IN BED! I even turn the TV on to keep from getting bored. Then work out an upper body exercise routine waving those dumbells around, as many reps as you can, every other day, to allow time for healing between sessions. There are lots of websites out there to give you ideas. This will work out both arms and back/chest muscles. Then do leg lifts- on your back, and on your side. So what if you can only do a few- that's better than none, and you will quickly improve!

This is just to get you started- later on, you can become a "purist" in your routine and edge into regular weight training- the point is to start with something easy, comfortable, and non-stressful to already stressed joints! Hey, even at 310 (I am 6 ft tall) I can't kneel on a weight bench or get down on the floor. Well, maybe I could get down, but I'd have to call the fire department to get up! Most exercise tapes assume you can do that!

Another idea for you....Go to your local thrift shop, and look at the row of torture implements (excuse me, exercise equipment) all lined up there, with incredibly cheap price tags on them! You will probably see at least one "Cardio-Glide" there- kinda a cross between a rowing machine and stationary bike, with a gadget to increase the tension, and thus the workout. They have a big, comfortable seat, and no weight-bearing is involved, so there goes THAT excuse! When I stated using the Cardio-Glide, I could only do 10 pulls- isn't that pitiful?? Now I am up to 10-20 minutes, and only stop when I have knee pain. Now, I didn't say you would LIKE it, but a really heavy person can DO it!!

For the so-called Atkin's "Diet", or any other plan, to work, it has to be incorporated into a new way of life, something you can actually DO, and make part of your routine. Sorry gal, "I don't have time" won't work. I know...I tried THAT! I have 3 jobs and a real life too, but I had to MAKE time.....I am worth it!! I have also learned not to listen to my lying-sack-of-you-know-what-body, that whines, wimps around, and says "I can't...I'm too tired.....I'm too busy....I hurt too much..." Ha ha ha ha ha! I try to do my exercise first thing when I get up, before my brain wakes up and starts coming up with inventive excuses!

Hope these ideas help- I am living proof that exercise does work. Oh, I left out the really good part- the "dessert" so to speak....you willfeel really really good after you work out! You will have Sooooooooo much more energy, and feel almost euphoric- definitely worth it.

Kat

I know the feeling, I certainly understand about feeling "too big" to excercise. I felt that way at my highest weight too. To me excercise (then) meant something like doing situps, and there was NO way at that weight I could do a situp. When I tried my belly and boobs got in the way and I would nearly suffocate myself. The pressure on my lungs was ridiculous.

But I saw this thing on TV one time that truly inspired me. It was the "Guinness Book of World Records" and there was this story about a woman who held two records. One for having been the fattest woman on record (she weighed over a 1000 pounds), and the second record was for being the woman who had LOST the most weight. I can't remember how much she lost but it was over 500 and maybe as much as 700. I think she was in the 200s at the time the show was taped.

I think after the original show that showed her at her top weight, Richard Simmons visited her and told her his statement about how "God doesn't make Garbage" and that she was worth something, and needed to start loving herself more and taking care of her needs, etc.

Well anyway he encouraged her to excercise. This poor woman spent most of her life in bed. At that weight all she could do was stay in bed and eat and watch TV. what sort of excercise could she do?

She could clap her hands to the music on an excercise video. That is the only type of excercise she could do at the time, BUT she did it!

The show aired her progress and eventually she was able to do more and better excercises, she became mobile again and had to have surgury to remove excess skin from her huge arms that shrank. They showed the huge folds of skin that were left after she lost the weight and they showed her arms with the stitch marks on them after they removed the extra skin, and that part was pretty gross.

But I was SO impressed with that lady! If anyone ever had a good "excuse" to just "give UP" she did. I tried to imagine how I would feel if I were her, and I know that I would have felt completely hopeless.

But when I saw that, I said to myself "If SHE can excercise, so can I!" So whatever it takes, what ever you have to do, DO it!

Weight training is of course the best. Even if it is just little dumbbells that you do some tricep extensions with. Or bicep curls, (most of us can do small stuff like that no matter what our weight). Sure center of balance things like stiff legged dead lifts, might be a little hard for you right now, but a bench press might not be. (who says you have to use a bench? Like Utah Kat says, why not use your bed?)

But I agree with you, even if certain excercises are beyond your current ability, movement and small steps are the key to getting better and things becoming easier.