Harvard Medical School & U of CA Study: Having Fat Friends Makes You Fat!

In a study of 12,067 individuals and 38,611 of their friends and relatives it was determined that fat people have fat friends and family. OK - more than that. They discovered what they believe is an actual causal relationship.

It goes without saying that fat people might have fat friends and family. Family members might share the same genetics, the same upbringing, the same environment, fondness for the same types of foods, and would likely have the same instruction and examples from their parents growing up.

Overweight people having overweight friends is also something that on the face of it would seem obvious to me. It's not like someone who is seriously morbidly obese is going to be hanging out with all the athletes and fitness fanantics (or more to the point, visa versa). Anyone who has been there knows the stigma of being overweight. Those who discriminate against folks who are overweight are likely to not want to have them as their closest buds. Let's face it.

But supposedly this study, conducted by Harvard Medical School and the University of California has factored all that into their study, and has determined that there is a causal relationship actually in effect. One person in the study gets heavier and as a result their friend is likely to get heavier too. According to this study, in same sex friendships, where one person put on weight, the other is 71% more likely to put on weight as well. I wonder if it is in part that people tend to have friends their own age and folks at certain ages tend to put on weight (women have babies, men get too busy at work for softball and regular excercise,...).

If the study is correct, I guess it all goes to the power of influence we all have. I would imagine we all don't even have an inkling about how much we influence others. As a general statement, I would bet that even those that are beyond our immediate sphere of influence are affected by us, and may have never even met us before!!

We all know this at some level (conscious or unconscious). Just look at how concerned parents are when their kids starts running with kids who might not be a positive influence on them! And how happy we are when they are with really good kids (well behaved, successful, positive, happy, well adjusted, respectful, etc). This is especially true when they start dating and begin shopping around for a husband or wife (times a thousand)!!

I know that when I meet someone who tells me about an exciting new movie, or a good new restaurant, or some new activity that is really working for them I pay attention - and if it makes sense I might even jump in and try it (for better or worse). This is especially true of folks who are enthusiastic and have alot of facts and reasons to back up thier arguments.

At work we recently worked for a couple of months with a couple people who were rabidly enthusiastic about the Apple Macintosh laptop computers. It wasn't long before we were plotting on how we could buy one. As a result (in this one example) I believe that the wives of at least two of my coworkers (who met and listened to the Mac-o-Philes/Mac-Vangelists) now enjoy computing on Macs instead of PC's! All as a result of the exposure of my team to the influence of these two fired-up people. Hey, as a result... I'd LOVE to get one for myself!! :sigh:

Before I started eating low carb I watched a bunch of folks go on diet after diet. When someone was particularly effective I would ask what they were doing. It peaked my initial interest in this low carb way of losing weight, eating, and living. They included a couple of folks at work, my very own brother, and a new doctor I met due to some health circumstances. So even I am here where I am as a result of the influence of others.

Once I started losing weight I was waiting for someone to notice. Nobody did for a long time. I lost 10 lbs. Nothing. 20 lbs - Zip! It took some fairly longish time for the very first people to notice. That is probably on account of how large I was to start with (Around 410 lbs). A big giant overweight fellow. When you start out lsoing weight being that heavy, as a percentage it probably takes a bit more weight loss to be noticeable to others. When you do something like this - you do actually WANT to have your weight loss at least noticed by others!! And it is awesome to actually think about potentially having some influence on others in a positive way too! To be able to help others move towards better health and a better life!

In a few months (November) I will be a year into this and I am about 89 lbs down now and I am really only just starting to get lots of comments from folks at church, at work, and who just know me casually. It is so refreshing to hear folks ask me about my weight loss - FINALLY!! :smile: I have a very long way to go. I may be doing this for another couple years before I hit GOAL/rock bottom (if the Lord tarries and allows me to live that long).

Hopefully, I will be able to have the same positive influence on my family, friends, coworkers, church members, and acquaintences as well! And hopefully some of the great new changes I have made in my life over this past year will also be something to encourage others to give Atkins or low carb life a try!! Today I am aware that a brother in-law has gone on the program, and my brother has reportedly restarted after getting off the plan for a bit. Who'd a thunk it?

IHT report on the Harvard Medical School and University of CA study:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/25/healthscience/fat.php

The Good Doctor Atkins

I sure am happy that Doctor Robert C. Atkins developed and promoted the Atkins low carb approach to eating and living!

I know that he didn't "invent" the concept of low carb eating himself, as at least some people have likely eaten low carb for many, many thousands of years! Take the Inuit (for example) and other groups of people on the planet who have subsisted on a primarily low carb diet for ages.

Doctor Atkins did develop a specific plan towards eating low carb that (I believe) is healthy and so very easy to follow, and produces tremendous results. More importantly, it is a sustainable way of eating and living for the long term! Doctor Atkins, along with William Banting and countless other low carb legends are responsible for so many people losing weight and attaining improved health and vitality in their lives (including me) - for which I am so tremendously appreciative!!!

It just riles me that some folks out there are under the misconception that the late Doctor Atkins died of heart problems or in any way as a result of his diet - or that are knowingly spreading misinformation about the doctor or the diet program. I know lots of folks have written about this, but I thought I ought to do my part to correct misinformation out there regarding his death and the merits of the way of eating he proposed.

Here are some excellent links for those who might want to read about this online:

USATODAY.com - Atkins wasn't obese, hospital file shows

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-02-10-atkins_x.htm

Statements on Atkins' death

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-02-10-atkins-statements_x.htm

Snopes.com - Death of a Diet Doctor

http://www.snopes.com/medical/doctor/atkins.asp

As I go through my life and see so many enormously obese people - morbidly obese, without hope, in dispair, with lousey and deteriorating health I want to shout from the housetops that there is hope! That this plan works! That *YOU* C-A-N DO THIS!!!!

It is easy!!! EASY!!!! It doesn't have to be an awful struggle or a white-knuckle test of wills. Losing weight and improving your health doesn't have to be a giant endurance test of starvation and desperation! You don't have to be hungry all the time! You don't have to excercise yourself into the ground! There is a way you can lose weight, get healthier, and not suffer or feel so deprived (as you have to do on so many weight loss programs)!

The folks who spread this misinformation - whether they are sincerely misinformed or have an agenda... are potentially affecting the lives of so many folks who can be helped by this way of eating! I hope that the links posted above clear up any questions any reader may have about this... and may be able to open someone's eyes about the tremendous benefit to the Atkins low carb way-of-eating and weight-loss program.

Granted - even if Doctor Atkins was the very picture of health, ...or, even if he was not - the relevance of any single individual is probably not statistically highly relevant in evaluating the efficacy of any of the many ways of eating, dieting, or weight loss. The many, many folks that have consistently lost weight on low carb ways of eating, who have maintained their weight losses over the long term, and the many scientific studies that have concluded that the Atkins and similar low carb diets *ARE* effective - are the real measure of the effectiveness of this program!!

Science, Research, and Recent Articles of Interest

I thought it would be neat to list some recent published articles about low carb research from a variety of sources. Hopefully this is interesting reading for low carbers and for those considering the low carb way of life.

There have been alot of studies recently and pro low carb research in the news. Various studies are discovering low carb advantages in long term weight loss, compared to other diet programs, and in metabolic or hormonal advantages we are only just beginning to understand. This is special interest as recent articles are highlighting the growth in overweight Americans and higher numbers of folks struggling with diabetes and blood sugar issues.

Low-Carb Diets Combat Metabolic Syndrome

http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2007/07/20/hscout606585.html

More Evidence Favors Low-Carb Diets

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-7-17/57747.html

Low Carb Hormone Discovered in Mice

http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2007/07/14/5317.html

Low-Carb Diet Finding: Study Identifies New Regulator Of Fat Metabolism

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070605121134.htm

Good diet + exercise = less insulin in the brain and a longer life!

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=27898

Low glycemic load diet may improve acne

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL06845320070720

Americans Getting Heavier And Heavier (Study Predicts that 3 of 4 Americans will be overweight by 2015!)

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/77493.php

Low Carb Sweet Pickles!

I was trolling through the local grocier the other day (Krogers) and I beheld something wonderful. No Sugar Added Pickles from the Mount Olive Pickle Company!

I flat-out love pickles! I have cut down on them seriously since starting low carb. First I was told they were OK to eat - other than the sweet varieties. So I ate dills and such. Till the high sodium levels really made me retain water and made my ankles and calves swell. I have a circulatory problem that is fairly well exaccerbated by salt. And the sweet pickles had too much sugar. ARGH!

One of the things that is a bit frustrating when you start out on the low carb way of eating is learning what you can't eat. No bread. No pasta. No white potatoes. No rice. No sweets. No blah blah blah.... ad infinitum. I will interject here that successful folks at the low carb life that I have observed seem to focus on what they CAN have rather than what they CANNOT HAVE and are missing. Anyhow, it is such a pleasure to learn when there are low carb alternatives of what has been on the VERBOTEN list for awhile - and to find that you can now eat these restricted forbidden food items once again!

I tend to do so in moderation. Others go for the gusto and do low carb breads, pancakes, snacks, candy and treats. I ease into these kinds of things to ensure that I don't blow it and go off track. But still it is way cool to have something re-introduced as an option in your diet, even sparingly.

The Mount Olive Pickle Company is now making no-sugar pickles sweetened with Splenda! They rock! They are awesome. Low carb counts. Great taste! I have always liked sweet pickles and one of my favorites is the "Bread and Butter" Pickles. Now I can eat them again. A serving of six pickles chips is less than one gram of carbs and zero calories! WOW!

I am never comfortable with something that reads "less than 1g" on the nutrition label - carbohydrates row. And zero calories! After all, it could be 0.000001 grams or 0.999999 grams of carbs. My guestimate of human nature is that because they said six chips is less than one gram it is probably closer to 0.9999999 grams. Or else you would think they would say something like "100 chips, less than one gram" on the label.

But having said that, it is still nice to have some sweetness in the pickle variety. If you, like me, also enjoy pickles, you can now look for the No Sugar Added Mount Olive Pickle products on the shelves at the grocier near you! The sodium levels listed for the same six chips was high (160 mg, I think, but could be wrong) - so sodium-sensitive folks need to check and watch these levels when they make their food choices!

I am not a compensated endorser for this or any other pickle company. Or any other company for that matter. And I don't plan to be. I have a real full time job, and this blogging is just a hobby for me - to keep myself psyched about low carb living. If I get excited about a product I may share it here or I may not. Feel free to buy sugar free pickles with recless abandon without a worry that I will see a nickle of it. My opinions are my own and may be subject to change, full of misinformation, and jaded by my own cynical outlook and by my own life experience. Your milage may vary. I am not a nutritionist, dietician, doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, or mult-gazzillionaire and I do not play one on TV.

Like Finding Money in Your Pocket!

Found Money! Isn't that the best most exciting thing? You are going through some of your old stuff, maybe an old suitcoat or pants or a jacket you haven't worn in a long, long time - and there it is! A wad of money long forgotten. HUZZAH! WONDER OF WONDERS! It is like winning the lottery on a much smaller scale (of course). This hasn't happened to me often in my entire life, but found money is a wonderful thing!

So, ...I didn't actually find money. What I did find (still in it's original unopened plastic wrapper) a box called "The Essential Atkins for Life Kit", that my wife had purchased long ago and stuck on a counter next to alot of our cookbooks and similar books. I just noticed it for the first time! I could hardly wait to open it and thumb through all the secrets and hidden treasures that lay inside.

It contained an Audio CD called "Atkins - Staying Motivated for Life", some handy references ("Choosing the Right Carbs for Life" and "Staying on Track for Life - Tools, Tips, and Techniques for Lifetime Maintenance"), a bunch of LC recipes, and alot of good advice on living the low carb life. I will probably be going through this for the next month or more pouring over things and maybe trying a recipe or two or three.

Kindof a very nice surprise! My wife got it on sale at "Books a Million" ages ago, she said. I had no idea!!! "Tools, Tips, and Techniques for Maintaining a Low Carb Lifestyle, Permament Weight Loss, and Optimal Health", it reads on the front cover. For some reason I had never ever seen this before! Opening the wrapper was a little like Christmas!

I have already listened to the first few tracks on the CD and it was kinda nice to hear the voice of Doctor Robert C. Atkins himself as well as some others talking about the Atkins program, the results seen, and about the program itself and how it works.

Now this is really a kit for ongoing maintenance as the carb counts indicated are for 45, 60, 80, and 100 Net Carbs - something WAAAAAY Waaaaay beyond what I need to be doing right now. I am needing to be alot closer to induction levels to continue to lose. Recently my carbs creeped up to the levels mentioned in this program and my losses slowed and probably even stopped. Ketosis was extinguished or at the very least slowed down. Now I think I am getting back on track and am watching closely as my weight is once again moving downwards. It has taken a bit for me to tweak my menu hard enough to put the breaks on the excessive carbs and get things back in swing again. It probably took a week to get rockin again - and the juries still out. I will be convinced when I break past my last low to new territory and start seeing my losses at the old familiar level.

Someone else indicated that a phrase had already been coined for this phenomena - carb creep. Well, that's just what I let happen around the magins (no donuts, just cheese, nuts, and other things a little too much, too often). And so I am now doing something that is proving to undue carb creep - some personalized course correction and mental adjustment, and increased metrics on what I am doing. Holding myself accountable. Bad decisions lead to bad outcomes. God's absolute law in effect, You reap what you sow! Sowing higher carbs reaps a stall. ARGH!

Anyhow, even though this Kit is meant probably for Ongoing Maintenance, and is not for the phase of Atkins where I am at right now (at least not by my own tracking and measurement) it is still appreciated and a neat find! I can still learn how to eat low carb for life, and to maintain whatever I manage to lose (hopefully a great deal more than I have lost already)!

And it is motivational! One thing I have noticed that many low carb heros (I admire) do, is to constantly read and learn about this way of eating/living. They read the science and studies going on. Books by experts. Information about related diet plans. Books about the psychology of changing how we think and act.

Some are nearly amatuer nutritional experts, and a few actually are recognized experts. Others mearly learn a little more info, techniques, tips, etc, as they continue eating low carb to ensure that they make better choices, they stay motivated and on-track, and so that they avoid pitfalls. There is nothing like thinking you have arrived to derail you in whatever you are doing! You always have to continually work to improve at everything!! I have found that true in many areas of my life. You are either going forwards or backwards. Making progress or losing ground.

On Weighing & Reaching a Goal

So it is early in the morning. One can hear faintly the sounds of the crickets still at work and the early morning birds chirping. In the other room, the low chain-saw-like growl of snoring, farting, and drooling resonates like a large commercial freezer set to chill (or perhaps an industrial woodchipper), as my wife lays sound asleep in bed. OK - I admit that was gratuitus. She reads this blog once in awhile... and I couldn't resist :smile:

So... quiet as a mouse ...I shuffle, bumble, and tiptoe into the bathroom, eyes still three-quarters shut. After taking care of the first order of business, then comes the second order of business - the one I've been waiting for (fearing, dreading, hopefully expecting) ...as I climb onboard my scale and stand in judgement.

The very first time the scale dips into new virgin territory I plant the flag and claim it for my own. I am like Juan Ponce De Leon or Chistopher Columbus (or maybe even Don Quixote in all his glory - tilting at windmills).

"*This* ...is my new land", I proclaim triumphantly! "I will LIVE HERE!", I think.

But I know, like a ghost or like a vapor, it is here but a fleeting moment. Here, and then gone. I anxiously await the next cycle of up and down to see if once again I will hit this newfound land, ...the land I have discovered and claimed and named in my own honor.

Slowly I dipsy doodle up and down on the scale until one day I sail momentarily lower than where I had last planted the flag, and I plant a new one on my short visit to this brand spankin' new territory.

"I proclaim thee Littlersizedohbuht, land of tiny people!"

OK - I am getting carried away here. But it is interesting the way I weigh myself. I do not climb all over the scale in gyrations to find the sweet spot. I *have* weighed myself more than once though I can honestly say, ...um, to ahhh, make sure my scale is still accurate on subsequent reads. Yeah,... that's the reason. But no gyrations. I always knock off reweighing after at least the fifth or sixth try, I promise!

Anyhow, in reading the blogs of experienced low carb weight loss champions I have found it interesting on when someone claims a weight for themselves and how they do so.

Over at the Carbohydrate Addict blog (http://stumblingtobethlehem.blogspot.com/), Victoria actually sets several goals for the weight. I am almost reluctant to recount them for fear of getting it wrong. But she measures and counts the weight if:

1. she hits the weight on any day

2. hits it on a Sunday

3. hits it four days in a week

And I think I have read previously and remember where she counts weighing the weight consistently for a week or more.

That demonstrates a maturity of thought and effort that I can appreciate, but am growing into still. I still want to have a carnival everytime I can hit lower weight, even if it is mere milliseconds or the result of some large object in space altering gravity momentarily as it sails past Earth or something. I'LL TAKE IT!!! :smile:

So it begs the question... What level of the maturity model are you at in your weighing, measuring, and metrics recording?

The Seven Levels of Weight Loss & Weighing Maturity:

1.) What's Maturity? I'll even jump up and down on the scale if necessary, to get that needle swinging back and forth! Anything for lower numbers!

2.) I'll take it if I see it, even if I *think* I might have seen it! Scale gymnastics ARE acceptable.

3.) I definitely must actually *see* the weight on the scale, though I would take the word of a one-armed, rabid, senile, demented, blind-in-both-eyes con-man if he offered it.

4.) The numbers gotta be there for awhile. Maybe a day, ...or at least an hour or so. OK, I'll take five minutes...

5.) I gotta have some hang-time there before I claim these numbers as my own!

6.) I will live at this weight for a month or I will absolutely refuse to accept it

7.) Ten scientists and doctors must conduct multiple experiments with lasers and atomic microscope powered Ultra-magnetic resonance imaging computer-precision scales to calculate the collective weight of all my individual atoms and ensure that the margin of error is beyond any question or doubt. Published papers in a medical journal on the subject (after peer review), might be considered, ...Maybe.

How do you do it? Are you weighing like a cheap carnival showman, or weighing and calculating like Albert Einstein might calculate it? Do you have any techniques? Do you have any couth? Do weigh with style? Or do you weigh like you tell fishin stories to your buddies?

Do you have a guilty conscience for the way you point the fan up from the ground blowing up on you and you jump and cluck and flap your wings in hopes of a few less ounces....

Do you weigh using the "Crane style" or "Monkey Style"? Do you adjust your position on the scale like someone adjusting old style rabbit ear antennas to get some really fuzzy TV station to come in... Tell the truth! Do you know exactly where the SWEET SPOT on your scale is? Have you actually LOOKED FOR IT? Have you found it?? Have you worn the paint off on it?

Would your weighing stand the scrutiny of your peers? Fess up.... You know you want to tell all!

I will offer my personal absolution (for what it is worth) only to those who clear their burdened consciences in whole, and leave nothing out in comments to this post. You will potentially receive the forgiveness of your collective world body of low carb weight loss peers. The one millionth comment on this post may possibly receive an Apple i-Pod!

:smile:

Back on Track!

Well, on the low carb tracking biz ...I am back on track today! And I am glad to feel like I am in control of my low carb eating after feeling out of control for a few days! I am measuring and tracking now. It is encouraging to me to be able to see what I am doing and identify my mistakes and correct them.

Fitday is an awesome resource for tracking your food eaten, weight, and excercise and everything. If you have never done this you ought to sign up and give it a shot. http://www.fitday.com

I also really like the support I get from the great folks at the http://forum.lowcarber.org or at http://lowcarber.ca as well. They also have some awesome tools to help you on your low carb weight loss journey. If you haven't visited there you ought to. Some of the nicest and most supportive folks on the planet and lots of great recipes, information, and online tracking tools. You can start a daily journal there and also can track your food, excercise, and weight changes on a regular basis in their MY PLAN section. One of the great things I have found there is the chance to create a daily journal online there and to visit the journals of others. Also to visit the various forums of interest. You get to know folks there after awhile and they become good online low carb friends. Very supportive. I don't know how to describe it except to say that it is an awesomely positive thing to be a member of this online community, and of the larger low carb Internet community as well.

For those that haven't done it yet - I recommend stopping by, reading, stick your toes in the water a little (maybe even get your feet wet), and once you have lurked long enough and built up your courage - introduce yourself. Tell folks a little bit about you. Start a journal. Post often. Ask questions. Share all kinds of things. Give support and encouragement to others. You will get some too. It is a very positive thing!!!

Don't be shy! YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!

WOW! Fitday Rocks! I STINK!

OK. So I logged my food today. All of it I could remember.
:Hangs Head in Shame:
Man - was I off track! I dunno if this is a typical thing tho or just an exception.

I was catering my own meal today and probably overdid it. Fear of starvation I think. Totally unreasonable. But probably something STUPID like that made me overcompensate. ARGH! I don't normally do this but I am going to learn to make my meals myself. I am a pretty clutsy cook. I burn stuff. I ruin it. I make major mistakes doing the best I can. My best just HAS to be better than today!!!

Anyhow - here's to tomorrow!
To measuring, tracking, and tweaking.
I need a good swift kick in the head evidently!!
Back on track!!!

New Hardware!

I feel like handyman "Tim Taylor" on Home Improvement. I just invested in a Salter model 3003 Aquatronic digital kitchen scale. "OOOh Ooooh, Ahhhh Ahhhh Ahhhh!"

OK - it's just a little dinky scale, but most all kitchen scales are kinda dinky and small. I am not even sure it is a "perfect" scale or device. But I think it will do. Salter offers a ten year warranty. That is pretty good if you think about it. Wish I had ten years and a couple hundred thousand mile warranty on any of my vehicles!! It's kinda nice *someone* feels good enough about their product to stand behind it for ten years!!!

I decided to opt for some extra sheckles (an extra $20.00 over the other Salter model on display) to get the wet and dry weighing capability. Over the life of the product it should hardly be noticeable, and will probably be something I use sometime between now and then.

It has the TARE or Add-To feature. If I was a scale expert I could tell you if there is a difference, but I am not, so I'll just have to FAKE IT. :clearing throat:

The TARE or Add-To feature allows you to reset the zero reading if you put a plate or bowl or even a bowl with some ingredients on it. Then you can keep on weighing as you add the new ingredient and see only how much of it you are adding. That should be pretty kewl!

I got mine at Ye Ol' local "Linens and Things" purveyor of dry goods and all sorts of goodness for the home. Evidently there isn't a huge demand for these kinds of things here in the sticks where I live - as the local major-sized stores you think would have something decent DONT! All they had were really cheap looking ones. ARGH!!%@#*!!

I had to look up my fitday.com account today and I hope to learn a bit about my daily nutritional and diet posture and track it for awhile. Then I can see how it's going and learn what affects me how much it affects me. Tweak things a little. Measure. Get metrics. Analyze. Ponder. Ruminate. Cogitate. Mentally meander all over the landscape until I have those "WHALLA!" moments of inspiration and insight and reach the human equivelant of a fine tuned race car!

Well, one can hope anyhow!

My wife is sure that the snazzy lookin glass top will last mere picoseconds before it is dashed to smitherines by my little human destructor offspring. I promised I would put it up and take care of it. I tried to reassure her that I will take excellent care of it, and will put it up away from little hands and misfortune when I am done. But I know she might be right. :sigh:

But I sure hope not!

Looking for a Little Digital Precision in My Life...

When I started the low carb WOE (Way of Eating) I was pretty fanatical about tracking the carbage (and other details -fat, carbs, calories, sodium, etc) real close. It helped me develop some really positive habits. I have stayed mostly at induction levels, straying a little here and there but surely staying within OWL levels. I got an account at fitday and tracked everything I ate closely.

I started out around 410 lbs I think, and I am currently at around 322 lbs (though like always my weight has been fluctuating alot up and down). It has been 255 days since I started and I figure I have lost about 88 lbs so far. That works out to an average of 2.41 lbs per week, so not so bad on average. I would say that I was probably losing weight at a faster rate early on and have slowed down a little bit lately. In fact I am starting to get concerned (not major-league concerned, but concerned nonetheless). The past week or two things have been moving slower for me I think. I have been trying to bust through to somewhere between 310 and 320 for the past few weeks. Even on my best efforts my cycles of up and down still have been leaving me around 322, ...though the swings have not been swinging up nearly so high lately.

I am getting fired-up and more motivated than I have been in a while! With a number of popular low carbers seeing tremendous weight loss results on Kimkins lately (in a short period of time) I am thinking I might purchase a digital food scale and get back to the really critical and precise tracking/accounting/analysis of my foods and drinks on a daily basis. I also purchased some Rubbermaid/Tupperware kinda plastic containers so I can pre-cook, measure, and prepare meals ahead of time for myself and store them up in the fridge or freezer. Kinda make my own "Nutri-System" or "WW" type TV dinner meals. Prepackaged No brainers. I am not really thinking about doing Kimkins myself, but maybe a little more carb-conscious and maybe even more carb and calorie restricted on my Atkins than I have been lately.

I would love to see my weight loss moving at a slightly higher clip, and I am getting the realization that as I am losing down to the point that the things that have been working well in the past are working "less well" for me today. My basal metabolic rate is getting lower and so my body is probably more sensitive to any excesses in carbs or calories. Maybe too my body is starting to adjust or push back a little. The weight isn't flying off like it used to, and it appears a little bit like I am hitting some kind of wall or weight loss speed bump anyhow. It might be perfectly normal. It might be a short term thing. Who knows?

I figure I can really get back to tracking things on fitday.com again and tighten things up a little where I need to. In talking with my wife about where I am at and how things have been going the past few weeks we are looking at things that might be causing some slowdowns. Right now I am suspecting small bags of peanuts I eat as snacks at work on occasion, maybe too much cheese occasionally. It is possible that I need to be doing more water and less Diet Sodas and drinks. Maybe less coffee and cream. I dunno. Maybe portions need to be smallerish as I get smallerish. All I know is if I want to continue to see good results I may not be able to lacadaisically lollygagg around about this but may need to be a little more strict with myself. Cut back here and there. Track it. Analyze it. Make some changes. Then see what happens.

If you can recommend a good digital food scale I am all ears. I am looking into what is good out there. I think this is the next logical step for me. I have already determined the following:

- I think I want a digital one versus a mechanical kitchen scale
- I think I want the "tare" or add-to feature that allows you to zero out the weight of a plate or bowl, or add a series of ingredients and measure each incrementally.
- I guess accuracy is important
- I would think the granularity (precision) of measurement is important
- I would also think having a larger upper weight capacity is important too. Some are smaller.


---- Kimkins Contraversy ----

I have been watching and reading some of the Low Carber blog comments and uproar about the Kimkins diet program lately. I have no problem with other folks doing that if that is their decision and it works for them. Same as I feel about Weight Watchers or LA Weightloss, or NutriSystem or whatever.

I am not sure Kimkins is for me tho. I don't like the idea of going low carb and very low calorie (and I have read the debates about describing this diet as low calorie). It reminds me of my own personal experience being on a low calorie diet (First NutriSystem then my own low calorie version of that later) where I ate rabbit food every day, and got so sick of salads and chicken and teeny-tiny "TV-dinner" type diet dinners (with a few tiny micro-chunks of meat in them) after a couple years of it that I could not eat it for years afterward. I lost a hundred pounds then and kept it off for over two years doing that though!

It really was a white-knuckle diet program. I have found Atkins to be so much better and different. I think Atkins is much more sustainable than low cal dieting. It can be a workable way of eating for life. Anyhow I have a pretty visceral response to the very idea of it just based on that experience of mine alone. It brings back some BAD memories or hunger pains, self-denial, and struggle with a way of eating that was difficult for me and not sustainable over the long-haul.

I guess the other turn-offs for me personally when you get past the gut-level reaction are first the commercialization of the program (not unlike other commercial weight loss programs that are nationally recognized), and then also secondly remembering the folks who had heart problems or other problems many many years ago on these high protien low calorie systems/diets that were all the rage when I was on NutriSystem years ago. I can't remember their names but they involved protien drinks and possibly doctors. I remember the big stink in the papers and news at the time about some folks dying on these diets (Heart Muscle Loss, I think, if I recall correctly). So protien diets that are very low in calories or perhaps in some sort of necessary nutrition are scary to me too.

Anyhow I wish Jimmy Moore and Sparky's Girl (and others of my online friends doing Kimkins or other similar programs) all the best on thier new efforts to make some breakthroughs to their goals. I sure hope it works out well for them and they are obviously enjoying great success so far. The results from those doing Kimkins are tremendous and undeniable. The Kimkins-ers also seem to be a very supportive and enthusiastic group.

I also think that those people that are making a stink about this kinda low carb diet probably have good intentions, or perhaps a reservoir of personal experience and recollections that frames their points of view. I certainly think that there is room enough for folks to try different things, and if they are safe and will produce long lasting results - we will see.

For me, I am sticking to the Atkins low carb plan, but may tighten things up and be more restricted and controlled myself as I hit little bumps in the road or struggles here and there and find that I need to do. One of these days I may even start to excercise a little!

Abandon Hope... All Ye Who Enter Here!

The other day (OK, more than a couple days ago), some super sharp expert-like people at some University somewhere (in California) reported in major publications everywhere that on the basis of SCIENTIFIC reviews of many major weight loss studies (Brace yourself, here comes the hard part...) ..DIETS DON'T WORK!

Now who am **I** to argue with the REALLY SMART folks like all these experts who did all this crackerjack analysis and studying using the latest in scientific methods and statistical analysis (I'm Sure)?!!

After all, they are probably RIGHT. I am DOOOOOMMMMMEED! Doomed to a hopeless existence in some enormous carcass. Probably better lay down on the couch right now and start barking to the family to run and get me some LARGE SUPER VALUE BURGER MEALS, so I can hurry up and GROW my skin into the sofa(http://www.wftv.com/news/3643877/detail.html), and wait for the Fire Department to come RESCUE FAT ME cutting large holes in the side of my house and so they can take me to a hospital on a FLATBED TRUCK! :sigh:

So they can X-RAY me at the ZOO, and weigh me on some scales at a truck stop somewhere. ARGH! So Richard Simmons can rush to my aid and maybe feature my pitiful story on an infomercial somewhere. PERSPIRING to the Oldies. Doctors can intervene with some magical weight loss shakes.

I mean WHY TRY?!! It's Hopeless!! Might as well start looking on eBay for some 17-X Shirts and I dunno if they make pants that big. Wow, I guess I should start PLANNING FOR MY INEVITABLE FUTURE! I am doomed, after all (if you are to believe all the super geniuses). Better find a good PIANO BOX for a casket and a good COUPLE ACRES to plant myself in!

OK. I am being a little dramatic and more than a little sarcastic. I admit it.

I actually haven't lost hope! At all!!

Like I said in my prior posts - I have met folks who have been there, done that, and they got the WAAAAAY Smallerish T-Shirts to prove it! There is no way I am going to get discouraged by all that negativity! In fact, I have no reason to doubt the veracity of the reports and analysis. Most folks probably do start and then quit on some diet, and rebound right back to above where they started. I have noticed this for years in my own life and with others all around me. So it is real. Just not for me. :snicker:

I am changing the equation. I am not going back to the way things were. I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT! I am rewriting my future (not simply accepting the past as the equation for my future). I am learning to eat differently. I am learning to live differently. Over the long haul. Not a diet. Not a temporary thing I GET ON, and then GET OFF.

I saw this piece (entitled "Dieting Doesn't Work") over at CNN's homepage (linked to "The Onion" - An online satirical look at the news) and it inspired me to vent a little. http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/dieting_doesnt_work?utm_source=cnn00

Actually, lots of folks are writing about this directly or indirectly. Jimmy Moore is writing about someone who told him he couldn't do something (to find out what, read his blog at http://livinlavidalowcarb.blogspot.com/) and follow the links.

I am impressed and challenged too by people too who tell you that you cannot do something. I always remind the fellows who work for me that Henry Ford was told by his engineers that the V-8 engine was absolutely impossible (till they figured out how to invent the camshaft and make it happen). He kept sending them back to the drawing board till they made it work! At least that is how I recall the story.

Anyhow - it is your choice! Wallow in self pity and doubt and dispair, eating donuts and canollis or get up off yer large behind and go do something about it. Make some changes. Rewrite history... that is, your future. The script for your life. If you are to buy what all the super-scientific folks in the University of California are writing for your script, or if you want to rewrite it to be something else. That is my choice. And I am so glad I decided to try the low carb lifestyle! It has allowed me to take control of my decisions and eat in ways that have resulted in a healthier me. THANK YOU DOCTOR ATKINS!!!! THANKS JIMMY MOORE!!! THANKS J13, ValerieL, Victoria (size8), Bob2112, Calianna, Diemde, JudyNYC, SparkysGirl, PJ, and so many many other really super (ordinary but still majorly overachieving) awesome people online!!! You guys give me HOPE! You guys give me encouragement! I CAN DO THIS!

YOU CAN TOO!

Interesting Related Articles/Reading:

Certain Factors Associated With Weight Regain After Weight Loss http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/558092

Dieting Does Not Work, Researchers Report http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070404162428.htm

Why dieters have fat chance of losing weight http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2054265,00.html

Dieting does not work, researchers report http://www.physorg.com/pdf94906931.pdf

AND LAST, ONE OF MY FAVORITE RECENT ARTICLES:

What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E2D61F3EF934A35754C0A9649C8B63&sec=health

My Bro Throws Down the Low Carb Gauntlet

One of my many brothers was one of the impetuses for me starting the low carb way of eating. He and I have been large fellers all our adult lives. Big Boned Hosses. Anyhow, one day he calls me and tells me he has lost 80 lbs on low carb! I couldn't believe it. We had just met a number of months earlier at another brothers house and we were both something other than lean and trim!

Anyhow, that did it for me! I decided at that moment to go on the "If my brother can do this, I can too!" Diet.

Anyhow it was a real hoot to find that he had gotten off his DIET and was back to being a BIG GIANT DONUT EATER! He regained about 30 lbs or more. All the while I was in decline, losing the blubber I had built up so carefully over the years. Then the day came where I sailed past his current weight and left him in my dust!

Since then I have taken aim at my own Dear Ol' Dad, who is next in line on the scale of Chubbiest in the family. Well, just as I relish passing Dad, guess who is back into ketosis BIG TIME, and is closing on my current weight??!!!

Yep - You guessed it. Nothing like a little sibling rivalry!!!

So tonight my bro and I were talking about how we would drop the next pounds as we are fairly close (by his report, though there has been no independant confirmation of this as an actual fact - and the veracity of which is something brought somewhat into question by others in the family).

"Well..., I think I will get a haircut", he said. "I've got alot of Hair... Maybe Six Pounds or so worth!"

"I think I might just donate a kidney or a lung or even a leg... After all I have a spare....!"

"I am planning on shaving my back hair tonight... probably several pounds right there!!"

Anyhow... and so it went! I envision my bro shaved to the nubs, sans eyebrows and hair everywhere, just to lose a few measley ounces - all in the name of shameless victory in sibling rivalry!!!

OK, Donut Eater.... BRING IT ON!!!!

Low Carb Super-Heros

I get so encouraged by those folks who have lost lots of weight eating and living low carb. These low carb heros have made tremendous progress in losing many, many pounds, and in many cases even hundreds of pounds. It takes sometimes a year or more, sometimes several years - of consistent effort eating and living on-plan.

I made up my mind not to even start any weight loss plan if there wasn't a hope of long term success with what I was about to do. The last thing I wanted was to rebound and to eventually turn into one of these folks that has the fire department coming to cut him out of his house, to take him to the hospital on a flatbed truck. No, I am not one of those folks who stays at home and has his family running to get him sacks of Major Burgers from the local drive through. I have a job and get off my butt plenty. Still it is not such a reach, having seen person after person diet and then rebound back up OVER where they started. EVERY time.

I kidded my kids about the story I read about a lady who was taken to the hospital after laying on the couch for years and her skin had actually grown into the couch somehow. They had to cut her from the couch, and I believe she later died. Dunno how that happens, but it is gross, and not something I want for me. Is that likely? I don't know. But I told myself there is absolutely NO WAY I was going to start any (diet) lifelong Way of Eating until I knew I could have long term success.

I was so excited about finding the low carb way of eating. At ~410 pounds or so, I couldn't stand for things to get worse (and live). And I needed something that will work and work long term.

Lucky for me I have met and found online many folks that are my low carb heros. They have done this thing. REALLY done this thing! And I am so proud of them, as they give me hope. The first I met was a doctor (the doctorin kind of doctor that actually went to medical school and practices medicine). He had kept it off for ten years!!! WOW! AWESOME!

I then met folks in the low carb forums who have lost a hundred pounds or more and kept it off two or three or more years on an ongoing low carb eating program. THAT IS INSPIRING! That gives me HOPE!

Anyhow, the best part of meeting and getting to know these low carb heros is that they are regular folks with all the flaws and imperfections that regular folks have. They are not all just totally so above average that they could do this (and maybe I can't). They are regular folks. Not to knock them either. They are super people, who stick around and continue to live the low carb life, and continue to share with and encourage others on low carb living (Even after they have met their own personal goals)!

This is especially important as we read in the news of studies and reports that say that it is impossible to lose weight long term, and that show that folks on diets typically rebound. I am not debunking those studies, just acknowledging that most everybody in those surveys are "going on a diet", and then later, "getting off a diet". That will never work! Long term success requires total lifestyle change in more than just lipservice or some temporary adjustments. It really does mean changing how you eat and live long-term!

Tremendous thanks to all the regular folks that have made such awesome progress and shown such a consistent effort over the long haul!

My own personal goal is to lose up to 240 lbs in total. Dunno if I can do it, but I am going to try anyhow! So far I have lost around 90 lbs or so!! In a couple of months I hope to be a hundred pounds down from where I started. It may take me two or even three years (or more) to approach my goals but I am heading in the right direction now and reversing years of bad and unhealthy eating and living. Some day I hope to be able to have lost the weight (as much as I can maintain and be heatlhy and still actually EAT) and kept the weight off long term for at least several years (if not much, much more)!! I hope then to be somebody elses low carb hero and show them just what is possible!

I don't know where you are at at this point in your life. Maybe you need some encouragement too - just to even get started (like me). I encourage you to go online to one of the Low Carb support groups and meet others and get to know some of the Low Carb Heros there. Regular but yet extraordinary folks, who have accomplished great things! And you can too!!!

Famous Thoughts: Food, Dieting, and Eating

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973)

His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking, best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973), The Hobbit

You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.

Julia Child (1912 - )

There is no love sincerer than the love of food.

George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950), Man and Superman (1903) act 1

It's amazing how pervasive food is. Every second commercial is for food. Every second TV episode takes place around a meal. In the city, you can't go ten feet without seeing or smelling a restaurant. There are 20 foot high hamburgers up on billboards. I am acutely aware of food, and its omnipresence is astounding.

Adam Scott, The Monkey Chow Diaries, June 2006

The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you're hungry again.

George Miller

LOVE: A word properly applied to our delight in particular kinds of food; sometimes metaphorically spoken of the favorite objects of all our appetites.

Henry Fielding (1707 - 1754)

Our minds are like our stomachs; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetites.

Quintilian

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.

Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004), quoted in Observer, March 29 1981

If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners.

Johnny Carson (1925 - 2005)

Getting my lifelong weight struggle under control has come from a process of treating myself as well as I treat others in every way.

Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), O Magazine, August 2004

Eating everything you want is not that much fun. When you live a life with no boundaries, there’s less joy. If you can eat anything you want to, what’s the fun in eating anything you want to?

Tom Hanks (1956 - ), Esquire, June 2006

Miserable mortals who, like leaves, at one moment flame with life, eating the produce of the land, and at another moment weakly perish.

Homer (800 BC - 700 BC), The Iliad

Chew before you swallow.

George W. Bush (1946 - ), On TV, about his passing out eating a pretzel

A man of sixty has spent twenty years in bed and over three years in eating.

Arnold Bennett

NY Times: The Hideous Masters of Gluttony

The New York Times (the Sports Section of all things) has an interesting article about the world of competitive eating, and in particular, the Nathans Hot Dog eating contest entitled "The Hideous Masters of Gluttony". It is a funny name for the NY Times article in and of itself, just thinking about that alone.

You can read this article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/sports/othersports/06sandomir.html?ref=sports

It is kinda interesting reading and thinking about these world champion competitors that prepare their bodies for so much food, so fast - food that they cram by the handfuls into their gullets (Hot Dogs in their Buns, Twinkies and Cannoli's, Pies, Quesadillas, Jalapeno Peppers, SPAM, donuts, etc.).

It is an intentional spectacle of gluttony to the point of pain, and to the point where containment of the massive quantities of food ingested becomes a problem. The most skilled eaters even study and practice the science and techniques of eating so much food so fast, and at keeping it down.

I suppose we have all had times where we have overindulged, and eaten too much in one sitting, for the shear pleasure of the tastes, and textures, and simple satisfaction of eating pleasant food - though it is doubtful many of us have gone to such extremes as competitive eaters do. Watching these things or reading about them has kind of a tabloid or Jerry Springer quality to it. Like a bad accident you stop and watch amazed and revolted and shocked at the same time. In this instance it entertains us and disgusts us at the same time. Sort of like watching the freak show at the fair, or seeing someone eating glass or swallowing swords.

So much of our lives revolve around food. The connections we have with food are so visceral we remember vividly the great meals we have had, and we even build much of our lives around food. Birthdays, celebrations, wedding receptions, closing business deals, anniversaries, dates, picnics, parties, fairs, carnivals, pot lucks, and other great times would not be the same without food.

Now that I am low carbing it, working hard to watch (be aware of and control) what I eat, and how much I eat, and even when I eat, I probably find more of interest in reading about these competitive eaters than I would have ever had before. Watching them eat with a passion to try to surpass perhaps even their human limits reminds me that I have overeaten myself in the past. Eaten myself into a condition testing my own limits and impacting my own health in the process. Reaching a whopping 410 pounds (or so).

Too much good food. Great food. Too much stuffing high carb sugary stuff down my gullet. Too much fast food. Too many Cokes. Too much desert. Too much bread and pasta and rice and potatoes. Too many good times. Too many excellent restaraunts. Looking back on it, though I did not eat the volume of these competitive eaters, I wasn't eating right and I was eating too much of the wrong stuff over a long period of time. To me, today, looking back on it - it is just as much as spectacle and just as disgusting.

Now I am celebrating low carb heros - more than these spectacles of overindulgence. I celebrate those who have carefully considered and controlled what they eat. Cutting out the carbs and sugars, and controlling their portions. Making wiser choices. Eating meat and eggs and veggies and other low carb choices. Cutting out the sweets and the sugary drinks. And the potatoes, and rice, and bread, and pastas that so quicky turn to sugars in our body.

It's funny too that a number of these competitive overeaters are thin. Kobiyashi (sp?) and others are not the big heavy & overweight folks you might imagine. And I got enormous and I never once ate giant plates full of hot dogs or pies like they do. I often ate no more or no more often than the folks I was with, though occasionally I did just a little.

That tells me that the consistancy over the long run is so very important, and that the food choices I make are so important. I got huge eating a little more than I should, too often, for too long. I got seriously overweight and in seriously lousey health eating foods that satisfied my desire for taste and sugar and texture (with lots of carbohydrates) for too long. Now I am reversing the trend.

By eating great food, great meat (steaks, burgers, hot dogs, sausage, bacon, pork, turkey, chicken, tuna, salmon, tilapia, turkey, etc) and plenty of good low glycemic veggies, nuts, and lots of eggs - I am full and satisfied and still losing weight. I am never suffering. No white-knuckle test-of-will diets here. I eat till I am satisfied. I eat healthier foods than ever before. My health has improved. I even snack. I eat low carb deserts - low carb cheesecake and low carb ice cream.
I no longer have blood sugar issues: where I get shaky if I haven't eaten, and sleepy if I eat alot. I no longer have acid reflux and esophageal spasms. I no longer have gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD). My blood pressure is lower. I have more energy. I feel so much better - better all the time. I am wearing smaller clothes. I fit in booths and chairs and tight spaces better. I have lost the better part of a hundred pounds so far, in less than a year.

Without suffering. Without really going without or feeling that I am. Without missing the sugars. Without being hungry. Without that starving sensation where you are about to gnaw your arm off (you are so hungry).

It is wonderful!! If you find yourself in the same situation I did last November (and haven't necessarily personally set any world eating records in your recollection) - and want to improve your lot, this is the absolute best way to do it. I highly recommend the Atkins or other similar low carb way of eating for you (Atkins, South Beach, Protien Power, Carbohydrates Addicts Diet, Kimkins, Sugar Busters, etc). You too can have great results and better health before you know it!

YOU CAN DO THIS!
IT IS EASY!

IT WORKS!

If you want to jump in on the low carb way of life I recommend the following:

1.) Get one of the good low carb books and read it - and follow the directions to the letter. Wait to modify the program once you have been on it a good while. Keep your carbs low 20 grams or less each day to start - and get into ketosis (not to be confused with ketoacidosis - a potentially life threatening condition that is *NOT* associated with these low carb diets) and stay in ketosis.
2.) Get some online support from other low carbers. There are about 4 or 5 online low carb support sites available - some linked off this site! Introduce yourself. Participate. Setup a journal. Post often.
3.) Remove the low carb temptations from your environment
4.) Plan ahead and work hard to learn about all the low carb and low glycemic options and recipes out there. Try them. Learn what to avoid.
5.) To start do not count calories or fat grams or anything else - just count carbs and keep them low. Make sure you are making good choices with your carbs - eat healthy and satisfying veggies!
6.) Get a scale or find some place to weigh. Weigh yourself and keep track of your weight daily or weekly (or at some interval that works for you).
7.) Drink lots of water each day!
8.) Visit low carb web sites and read and learn all you can about this amazing way of life!!

Good luck on *YOUR* low carb journey!!!!

Lone Star Lollygagging

Well, we just got back from a week in the Lone Star State... The Great State of Texas (not to disparage any of the other "great" states). I have to take this moment to proclaim Texas a low carbers absolute "dream state". There are so many different wonderful restaurants in Austin, Texas featuring some of the best mouth watering low carb food you could put in your mouth. Can you say BEEF???!! Turkey? Chicken? Pork? More Beef?



First I was treated to a wonderful low carb Texas barbecue plate of turkey and veggies (asparagus) at the Salt Lick Restaurant in Austin, Texas. They had it all - Great food, great ambiance, and excellent service. And did I mention great food?!! I highly recommend the Salt Lick in Austin!

Next we tried some of the excellent Mexican restaurants in town. One word. Awesome! Had the Fajitas, and they were so superior to what we have in Tennessee. Great cuts of meat, served sizzling hot and full of flavor.

Then the local steakhouse chain. Once again, no complaints.

Last - we dined at the County Line Restaurant. Man what an awesome Texas barbacue joint that was. Big plates piled high with excellent barbecue meat just about spilling off onto the floor. One fellow in our party got a rack of ribs that looked as large as a doormat, and they were as thick as my fist. Amazing. I had a meat sampler plate that had brisket, turkey, and other meat. Outstanding! The kids had a great time feeding the turtles out behind the restaurant too! Great fun! Highly recommended! Good Eatin! Good Ambiance!

If you are thinking about the ideal place to vacation and find low carb good eating - plan a trip to Austin, Texas! No shortage of beef and other great Texas barbecue meats there! And they sure know how to cook and eat in Texas! Texas sized portions, and excellent quality!! While I was there on business, I enjoyed every minute of this trip - in part due to the excellent low carb food I enjoyed there!