Thread: Is this for me?
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Old Sun, Dec-21-14, 04:28
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Benay Benay is offline
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Posts: 876
 
Plan: Protein Power/Atkins
Stats: 250/167/175 Female 5 feet 6 inches
BF:
Progress: 111%
Location: Prescott, Arizona, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TauntonGir
I notice that not many posts have been added for some time to this section and I wonder who is still doing it.

I intuitively feel that this programme may work for me. I have been doing Atkins for about 6-7 weeks and haven't had steady weightloss, I've just come out of a 3 week stall which is very frustrating. Nevertheless overall I would think I've lost about 20lbs!

Carbohydrate addiction is definitely my thing but I'm not sure Atkins is the cure for such a disease for everyone. I don't feel great on Atkins - I feel sluggish and physically shutdown, I am suffering with low blood sugar levels which really doesn't help. I feel a carefully crafted meal containing carbs once per day may suit me.

I want to change plans in a considered way rather than my usual leaping from one plan to another.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


These are some of my thoughts in response to your post:

1. Steady weight loss is not part of any weight loss plan. Weight loss is not like puncturing a balloon. It takes time, commitment, constant monitoring, and patience. We lose weight in fits and starts and sometimes not at all for weeks. Human bodies are not mechanical machines where you insert your ATM card and get your results. We are biological entities that factor in a lot of variables based on a need for survival.

2. Fatigue and even depression can come from changing a dietary pattern to a low carb plan. The "New Atkins for a New You" by Westman, Volek and Phinney (which I highly recommend) discusses what is happening in your body that causes this phenomena, how long it is likely to last and what you can do about it. Basically they say low carb dieting is a diuretic so you are losing fluids as well vital nutrients (minerals). You need to replace those fluids and electrolytes. They recommend a cup of bouillon. See if that helps.

3. Eating one meal a day will probably not make blood sugar go up. If you suffer from low blood sugar, eating more frequently might raise it. Blood sugar goes up after eating and goes down with fasting so eating one meal a day does not sound like a treatment for low blood sugar (which may affect fatigue levels).

4. There is only 1 treatment for an addiction -- avoidance. If you feel/believe that you are addicted to carbohydrates, stop eating them. Atkins gives you an excellent plan for self discovery of which carbohydrates are the ones you have the most difficulty with. (See the Westman et al book mentioned above.) No drug can do this for you. Exercise cannot help you. Eating carbs will not help. Atkins can help. It is up to you to decide to avoid the foods you are addicted to.

Discouragement is part of the process. Weight loss is not a straight line on the chart. If you weigh and chart every day, you will see unexplainable ups and downs. Even if you weigh one a week, you will still see ups and downs.

Think about what it takes to be a competitive athlete. How long does it take? How often would you have to practice? Would every day be a growth day, or would there be set-back days or weeks. Would you quit before achieving your goal because you couldn't attain it fast enough? Being a weight loser requires the same kind of persistence, patience, and time. Having a good coach helps. (I again recommend the Westman et all book as a coach or guide. They offer a lot of tips based upon their research and clinical practice.)

I hope I have not overwhelmed you with these stray thoughts. It took me almost a year to lose 80 pounds on low carb with a lot of frustration along the way at the incredibly slow (and a lot of no) progress. Having regained 30 of them back from slipshod choices, I am back at the slow grind of re-losing them. As a carb addict myself, the only treatment (not cure) for me is avoidance. And the treatment is lifelong as there is no cure for an addiction. Sigh.
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