Low Carb Lollygagging

Ticks

2008-08-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks I have had facial ticks occurring, uncontrolled twitching of muscles around my mouth. Concurrently the past few days I have had pain in my lower left back, which my wife informs me is a Kidney infection. My pee stinks lately so I thought it was just ketosis, but I guess the wife may be right after all.

The ticks are likely due to both diet issues and severe stress at work and at home. I read up on it and it appears that Magnesium deficiency may be the culprit. I haven't been supplementing with vitamins as much lately. Reading up on this they recommend bananas, almonds, and supplementation. So I have noticed that eating bananas and almonds make it go away, but the ticks come back later. So off to the store for vitamin and nutritional supplements with Magnesium, and more bananas and almonds.

I have been worried that this is more than diet, more than just stress. Things run through your mind. I was hoping this would just blow over but it has persisted for so long now. On the other hand, Magnesium seems to ward it off a little.

So I will wait and see what happens. Hopefully, it's nothing major. But it just goes to show you that you need to carefully watch your diet and to supplement with vitamins and essential good-stuff when your diet is restricted. Especially when stress, lack of sleep, etc is taxing your bod!

Hope all is well with all the low carb friends I have out there in Internet land.

Good Stuff - Low Carb Yogurts!

2008-07-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

One of the fun things I enjoy is discovering new low carb products that are excellent in quality, relatively inexpensive, that taste great - and then sharing them with my friends and family.

There are those of us on the low-carb way of eating (or way of life), and others that are just simply looking to eat healthier and make better choices overall.

One of the products that I discovered not long ago is the Kroger Carb Master yogurts. I had been eating the Dannon Low Carb Yogurts to the point when they changed their packaging, and moved to smaller servings of their low carb yogurt products. They (Dannon) went from decent sized more round servings to taller and thinner product offerings that seemed to give you less for more (like many products nowadays). Whether that was the case or not in fact, I don't know - perception may be reality, but in any case I was somewhat disappointed with a product I had been satisfied with previously. In fact, it was sometimes hard to find the Dannon low carb yogurt in-stock, especially in more than just the strawberry flavor.

About the same time I noticed that Kroger had introduced a Carb Master line of yogurts. They are big, and full of chunky bits of fruit. They are tasty, ...just really delicious!. They seem to have runs on the product as well at my local Kroger's and when it is in-stock we load up (I am sure others are doing the same). I have witnessed others at our local Kroger's loading their shopping baskets (folks call them "buggies" down here) with the Carb Master yogurts and we usually do too. They come in several flavors that all seem to be in-stock (unlike Dannon where I could mostly find only strawberry and vanilla in stock) - Kroger's has Peach, Raspberry, and Strawberry - and I think they also have a Vanilla (I just don't go for Vanilla much myself).

This past weekend we shared Kroger's yogurts with others in my family, and even those not on low carb approved of the flavor, taste, and overall quality. On our prior visit they were shocked to find that they really appreciated the taste of Atkins low carb Chocolate bars - something else they had never tried before.

More on Plateaus & Stalls: Reactive Hypoglycemia

2008-06-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Moore did a podcast that really hit home with me on his Livin Lavida Low Carb podcast. It was an interview with Doctor Keith Berkowitz and touched on something he has seen in a number of Atkins low carb patients who were very large, lost ALOT of weight, then stalled. Turns out what they were experiencing were symptoms related to Reactive Hypoglycemia.

As he read down the list of the many symptoms, I had most of them. Feeling good after not eating breakfast, with high energy, then having an energy crash after eating, and feeling tired. Also, being hungry after eating. I have stalled pretty hard after losing ALOT (about 112 lbs) over a years time. I have been floating just above and below 300 lbs for some time now. Apparently, one of the causes that doing the same old things stops working is this metabolic situation that can develop.

Anyhow, it is interesting as the very things that I have been thinking about doing are some of the very things that the doctor recommends to counteract or deal with this. I have been intrigued by the Body for Life program and have purchased the workbook and book. I have wanted to figure out a low carb version of it. The key to Body for Life is small portions, more often, with very high intensity exercise. One of the points of reference is the palm of your hand. You don't eat a cut of meat larger than the center of your palm - which guides you to portion size in an easy to figure and easy to remember way. If you haven't looked into it, you ought to.

Jimmy got on to this subject when he checked his blood sugar after eating and saw that it actually fell from a pretty normal level to an even lower level after he ate. Which is pretty much the opposite of what you would expect. Pretty cool stuff, just on a science level. Trying to figure out what to do now to get past the stall and the insulin dumping associated with this situation is interesting.

Give it a listen here:

http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/dr-keith-berkowitz-on-the-forgotten-blood-sugar-disorder-hypoglycemia-episode-144/

Comments, insight, and helpful advice much appreciated!!

From Around The Net: Plateaus and Pizza

2008-06-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

I have read a couple of interesting articles about low carb and plateaus people hit. The best was at the Protein Power author Dr. Michael Eades blog entitled Low Carb and Calories, and was really interesting for me. I have slowed in my weight loss pretty dramatically. The article provided hints for me. Bottom line = Calories Count, at least they do more and more as you lose on down to lower levels.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/

I lost weight like crazy when I started this, and it continued to fall off me pretty regularly until I hit around 300 lbs. From then on it's been pathetically slow. I have been looking into exercise programs, walking, modifying things, and even given thought to calorie restriction. When I started I NEVER considered calories at all, only carbs.

I am still losing weight and inches, about to have to punch another hole in my belt right now, yet still it is so slooooooow, compared to before. I am having to believe it is all about the calories at this point. It makes sense and fits with what I have heard from other low carbers about having to lay aside nuts and cheese to the degree that they'd been able to eat it to this point. In other words, calorie dense low carb foods start to matter more than before. :sigh:

The other article was in CNN, and focussed on a low carber who hit a plateau but went on in a fitness program and diet regimen that got him to the point he now sees himself as "Mr. Low Body Fat". Same theme, same problem. Interesting approach.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/05/30/weightloss.muata.kamdibe/index.html

Anyhow, what say you?

Ever hit a plateau?

What worked for you??

As for me, I am staying the course for now, and considering my next moves. I am thinking about a low carb body for life implementation, or some related type of fitness program, walking, or something at least more calorie burning or calorie restricted.

Also - The Pizza Recipe I was talking about...

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/pizza/r/deepdishpizza.htm

Experiment. We made it cheezy, supreme, and pepperoni. It was AWESOME!! I liked it better than typical high carb pizza!!

Who says Low Carb Doesn't Work?

2008-05-27T18:36:00.001-07:00

Daniel, my stepson, has made tremendous progress on the Atkins Low Carb life! He started at the end of November 2007 at around 270 lbs and now weighs somewhere between 215 and 220 lbs! Look at the tremendous difference achieved in just a few short months (Before and After)!!!!

Dan is now planning on moving into maintenance levels of low carb life.

He is healthier, he can jump higher than ever before, and is just doing awesome.

And as for mental performance on low carb - Dan just completed his second year of college, winning accolades for his academic performance - graduating summa cum laude, receiving the Student Leadership award for his campus, and was named the department student for the area he is focussing his studies in.

Now we just have to convince a few more members of our family to join us in the low carb life!

Tonight Dan made an awesome killer low carb pizza (pepperoni & supreme style)! I think I liked it better than regular pizza!!! He found the recipe on the Net, but I may post it here later for those interested! It is absolutely wonderful!! It is great that he is finding all the good things you *CAN* have on the low carb life, rather than lamenting those things you cannot have!

WAY TO GO, DAN!!!!

Progress Post

2008-04-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is me when I started low

carb at 410 lbs and at 85 lbs lighter!

This is me today! 112 lbs down!

Many more yet to go!

A fellow low carber, "Big Daddy D" asked me to post a progress post/pix of myself. So here you have it!

I have a long way to go yet! I am hoping to continue to lose over the next year or two or more till I reach wherever it is that I find bottom. I have posted progress pix at lowcarber.ca and here at my blog in the past, but I haven't updated in a while. I am a long way from my goal, and hopefully there will only be before and in-progress pix. I hate to think of an AFTER picture. I doubt I will ever ARRIVE at some happy place where I can say I have arrived. I think of myself like one of those websites "Under Construction". Towards better health and happier living! Here's to Low Carbin' it!

Quick Update: Low Carb Life

2008-04-20T11:10:00.001-07:00

Well, losses have slowed for me, but they are still clicking a little. I am down another couple pounds over the last few weeks. I am maintaining my prior losses and still eating and living low carb. At this point I am down 112 lbs from where I started, which is great! I still have a long road ahead of me yet, and hope to continue making progress over the weeks and months ahead. I occasionally find myself with carb creepage, getting too high on occasion. Then I whack things back into line with some steady focus on meat and eggs for a little bit, then back to meat and mostly green veggies (green beans, asparagus, broccoli, etc). I am about to sell or donate a bunch of my "fat clothes" and it will be a joy to type somewhere (maybe eBay) "MY LOSS IS YOUR GAIN" on the ad!! :smile:

My oldest stepson has lost a grunch of weight on low carb (Atkins) and is now inspiring others too to join the low carb way of life (or at least to try it). I am really happy for him as he looks great and is doing very well on it. It is about time for him to find a way to transition to an ongoing maintenance level of Atkins low carb. That's a scary thing as you are so worried about over-doing it and totally blowing the low carb gains you have made in weight loss and health.

I have personally found myself spending less time on the low carb forums and posting of late as work and life has gotten hectic lately - between long hours at work, and lots of stuff going on at church and with our family of late (hospital visits, gospel meetings, graduation and awards ceremonies, visiting, etc). I do still like to peek in and catch up at intervals, and hope that sometime soon I will be able to get back to posting and participating more regularly again. I really miss it and many of my inspiring online low carb friends!!! I love the sense of community and support and sharing that exists online in the low carb blogosphere and Internet sites.

Mom and dad recently found out that they are diabetic - type 2 I guess (non-insulin dependant). They recently attended diabetes training classes that included training by dietitians. What was great is hearing them describe basically a low carb eating regimen (really a cross between low carb and low cal/low fat). At least it is a step in the right direction for my folks to reduce their blood sugars and get control of their health. It is nice to see that the Diabetes nutrition experts are shifting at least some of their advice to low carb and low glycemic recommendations.

It has been hard to find time to excercise yet as I was planning, but that is the next step for me. I have been taking the stairs occasionally at work and trying to focus on walking harder and faster when I can, whenever I am going some where. Hopefully it is baby steps in the right direction. I did get several interesting books to read lately and have been grazing through them. Living the Low Carb Life, by Johnny Bowden is excellent! I also got copies of Dr.'s Eades books (Protein Power Life-plan, I think - also EXCELLENT!), and I got my copies of Body for Life book and the Body for Life workbook/success journal by Bill Phillips and they are motivational and informative as well.

It is really wonderful to see the low carb community get recognition with all the great work being done by so many - case in point, the latest conference sponsored by the American Society of Bariatric Physicians - the "2008 Nutrition and Metabolism Society Seminar". Reading about Gary Taubes, Jimmy Moore, Regina Wilshire, Dr. Mary Vernon, Dr.'s Eades, and so many more making so many great advances, studies, and sharing this information with the larger scientific and medical community is really inspiring, informative, and encouraging. Read about it on many of their blogs (links on the side of my blog if you are having trouble finding them). Awesome!!

Hope your low carb journey is on-track, and you are making all the progress you plan to. This is a wonderful way to obtain and maintain healthy living, lower weight, and eliminate many major health and life problems (blood sugar issues, diabetes, Reflux/GERD, hypertension, high cholesterol, etc). Keep on truckin'!!

Off the Grid - Low Carbin' It!

2008-02-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

Well, in the parlance of the Bourne Ultimatum (the big spy movie)... I have "been off the grid" for a while. I have still been low carbing it, and am still absolutely loving low-carb life!

This morning I hit 300.0 lbs (simply 0.2 lbs away from breaking through to the 200's). My wife said if it was her she'd have spit or chopped off body parts to see the lower numbers. I accepted what I saw with joy, and realized that soon I would be trading in the 290's.

I've been stuck between 310 and 302 lbs, bouncing around for many weeks now. My losses have slowed, and I have been frustrated - but still committed. I was fighting it hard at low carb levels doing the same thing as usual at first - but was still pretty stalled. Then I slacked up a little and let my carb counts get a little higher. So I don't know. I figure it is normal adjustments the bod is making - and maybe the things that got me here to this point are now less effective (portions, etc). And also whatever it is, is something I need to adapt to. I have tried cutting portions, and increasing my activity. I have switched to mostly meat and eggs for a few days to shake out some progress. We'll see how it goes. But what was pretty effortless and fast progress has slowed of late for sure.

The other day my wife got me a new pair of 50" jeans that I tried for the first time. These were just a little snug, but are way less in girth than the 62" I wore a little more than a year ago (110 lbs heavier). That was a nice feeling to hit 50" there, and soon we will be into the 40's!

The clothes thing is funny as I am having to retire clothes that are now impossibly large on me, and am still working into the mix clothes that fit, and some that are still in the closet at varying levels of too big for me. I am on my second belt, and I am very near to drilling yet a new hole or two so it will continue to fit me. And as I continue to drop we are having to get more and more new clothes that fit me now. The old ones are so much bigger that they look absoutely silly now if I try to wear them.

My wife also bought me a leather jacket for Christmas (well, she got it for my stepson, but he couldn't wear it, so I got it - :smile:). It is my first leather jacket that I can recall ever having. It is nice and comfortable and warm, but I will admit to feeling a little like I was wearing clothes that I shouldn't be - or that belonged or were meant for someone else. As if someone would come up to me and say, "Excuse me, sir, but you are not supposed to be wearing this!" in an indignant tone. But just the same, it is very nice. :) I also have several new pairs of jeans that are very nice. I never had a pair from "Carhart" before, and I must say they are absolutely the most awesome pair of jeans I have ever owned. They are lined (super warm) and are super tough and super comfortable.

I am still working on using the elliptical machine we slavaged. I have replace two $00.80 parts and it works just like those at the Sears store. I am really happy with that. I have pitiful levels of endurance but hope to increase what I can do over the next few months. I make it several minutes of fast and hard work before I got to get off huffing and puffing, my heart pounding.

Dunno if anyone has ever heard of "Body for Life"? I have been thinking about trying to do it low carb, or something sortof like it. From what I can tell Body for Life is about portion control, nutrition, and high intensity excercise. I think I have made good headway on the nutrition front over the past year, but Bill Phillips advocates higher levels of carbs and high intensity physical training. I really admire the way that he stokes the body with 6 smaller meals (I am thinking insulin control and sugar regulation), emphasizes portion control, and has a strong emphasis on what I would call simple Positive Thinking and Positive Living. It is admirable. I just think that my personal way of doing it (if I did) would be to stay as low carb as I can. The other exercise advocate that has taught me and influenced me in the past is Bill Pearl ("Getting Stronger" and "Keys to the Inner Universe"). Bill Pearl is an excellent resource about types of excercizes, and routines that will help most anybody. I really like the way that Bill Philips does the journalling that goes to nutrition, excercise, goal setting, dreaming a little, planning, and positive thinking. That is something I want to do more of in the coming year.

I am so out of shape it's not even funny. I have little endurance. My cardiovascular health and lung capacity are seemingly pathetic. It will take me a bit to get to weight training, but that is my plan. I brought my free weights (dumbells) home from relatives I had lent them to, and I am hoping to be able to break back into some kind of routine there eventually. Eons ago I worked out and weight trained, and I need to slowly get back into it.

Regardless of what I do, I need to continue to make forward progress. Get healthier. Physically stronger. Anyhow, it's a day at a time kinda thing. :)

Sustainable Weight Loss

2008-01-08T20:06:00.000-08:00

I've been pondering the extraordinarily high failure rate quoted often enough for folks who diet or lose weight (perhaps via vigorous excercise). There was a study last year - one of these mega-studies that studies the outcome of lots of other studies, then draws conclusions.

I have seen different numbers quoted in different studies. It certainly sounds like a doomsday scenario for those who are trying to lose weight or make lasting changes in thier lives.

"You can initially lose 5 to 10 percent of your weight on any number of diets, but then the weight comes back.""We found that the majority of people regained all the weight, plus more," she added.The researchers found a very small minority of study participants managed to sustain weight loss, while the majority put all the weight back on, and more in the longer term."Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people," said Dr Mann." http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/67422.php
UCLA associate professor of psychology and lead author of the study, Traci Mann

So, most folks lose and then regain their lost weight. The Majority put all the weight back on, AND MORE IN THE LONG TERM.

That is amazing!! So how do you plan your life, and how do you live your life so that you are in the few percentage point minority that has lasting change in their weight and life and health? So that it is a LASTING CHANGE without rebound or relapse?

Here's what I've come up with:

1.) Model behaviours of the few long term successful people. Do what *they* do. Learn what they know. Put their "life goggles" on and see the world like they do. If they are permanently changing what they eat - you must do so too! If they are permanently changing the level of activity in their lives - you need to too! If they are studying and coming to grips with why they eat in unhealthy ways (emotional triggers, etc) you must too! If they are adopting strategies that help them, we must also do so. There are folks living successfully after losing hundreds of pounds and successfully maintaining over multiple years of time. We must learn from them!

2.) Lasting change means new ways of looking at old things. One fellow commented recently online in one of my favorite low carb forums that we need to treat sugars and carbohydrates as vegitarians do meat. They don't cheat. They don't all of a sudden give in to cravings for a big giant juicy steak. They just cross this kind of food off the list from now on. It is as if it doesn't exist anymore for them. Not because they *can't* do it, but because they do not want to anymore! I can't agree more.

3.) Some long term low carbers refer to carbs and sugars as poison. I used to think that was just a gross overstatement and almost reckless and irresponsible. As I have learned about the effects of sugars, and sweet syrups, and carbs on our bodies in so many ways it has made me re-evaluate my initial assessment of that kind of language. Certainly the advent of so much obeisity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc, has it's roots in metabolic problems resulting from overconsumption of sugars, carbohydrates, and insulin response. People ARE DYING FROM THIS, PEOPLE!!! It's time to wake up and smell the coffee! I am not saying that everyone has the same problems, but certainly some of us do! Carbs and sugars in such great abundance in our diets are killing us.

4.) I am such a big believer in the power of positive thinking. I am really against negativity and negative thinking in such a big way. I simply cannot stand depressive thinking. I cannot stand loser thinking. Quiting. Giving up. Seeing everything you cannot have, instead of all that you can have. Seeing all the reasons you will fail. Cutting yourself excuses for your behavior. Cutting yourself too much slack. We will reap what we sow. Responsibility means seeing our way through and past problems by ensuring consistent good decisions and behavior on a consistent basis. We have to visualize success. We need to pick ourselves up after each mistake and failure and press on to the goal. We have to have laser-like focus. We need to stick with making the right decisions even when we don't feel like it. This is work. This is commitment. This has to be lasting change. We have to see our way through to success. It has to result from making good decisions over and over again. Not viewing or trying to win the entire battle in any single moment, just making the next decision the best one you can, and putting your foot in front of the other on each step of your low carb journey. Never really arriving. Never quitting. We need to find new things to give us pleasure in life - to replace the sweet foods that satisfy carby cravings. Finding new things that satisfy. New tastes. New levels of accomplishement. New achievements.

6.) Keep making Continuous goals! They don't all have to be losing hundreds of pounds of weight, or losing inches around the waist. They could be about the *next* ten pounds. Or maintaining weight over a certain interval of time. The next fitness goal. Walking a block. Walking a mile. Doing 30 situps. Doing 10 pushups. Doing a hundred pushups in a day. Climbing flights of stairs. The next 10,000 steps on a pedometer. Bench pressing some weight. Riding a bike. It could be some of the direct benefits of losing weight - fitting into a booth or a theater seat or doing something that was impossible before!

7.) Keep reading and learning all the time! Study and learn about metabolism, and low carb living, and psychology, and about low carb foods and recipies, and successful eating and healthy-living strategies.

I haven't really encapulated all the things I have been thinking. But it's a start. You "weigh-in" too! What do you think contributes to lasting success??? Your comments are welcome!

Heart-Rending Stories: Desperate Overweight People

2008-01-01T02:02:00.001-08:00

These are some absolutely heart-wrenching stories about very desperate, very overweight people. I only wish we could have reached some of these with the low carb message before it came to this. It is very sad. Obviously these folks were loved and will be missed. It seems like such a senseless thing to die like this over this kind of problem. Society and doctors make it seem like the risks are so worth taking - risking those lives that are lost to these kinds of extreme surgical techniques.

The half ton mum: Tragic story of world's heaviest woman
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=505198&in_page_id=1811

Cheryl's Struggle: Cheryl Harvey was obese and desperately wanted to be healthy. She chose to roll the dice on gastric bypass surgery. SHE LOST.
Chapter One: http://www.thespec.com/go/journal/article/289979
Chapter Two: http://www.thespec.com/article/290841
Chapter Three: http://www.thespec.com/Local/article/291220
Chapter Four: http://www.thespec.com/article/291736

Are YOU Making Low Carb New Years Resolutions?

2007-12-31T00:37:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be a great idea to post a quick link to those just starting out - making new years resolutions for 2008 to begin eating (or resume) the low carb way of life.

You too can be successful, lose weight, feel better and achieve better health by simply changing WHAT YOU EAT!

The great thing about low carb is that it is a way of life where you can lose weight and still EAT! In fact, if you are hungry on this diet you are NOT EATING ENOUGH, and YOU NEED TO EAT!!! And if you are having intense cravings, you are definitely not getting enough FAT IN YOUR DIET!!! When I began this diet at 410 lbs, I was eating 4500 calories a day and losing weight like crazy!! While that is not the case anymore, I still eat till I am content and full (No White-Knuckle, test of willpower here) and I am not feeling deprived or like I am doing without.

And you can eat practically all you want (or all you can stand) of tasteful foods like meat (steaks, chicken, tuna, salmon, burgers, pork chops, ham, bacon, etc). And you get to eat NUTRITIOUS MEALS full of low glycemic VEGGIES like broccolli, green beans, calliflower, asparagus, etc!!!

How to do this and be successful:

1.) Pick a low carb plan that is right for you. Research them and pick one. I prefer Atkins, but there are South Beach, Protien Power, Carbohydrate Addicts Diet, the Zone, Primitive Diets, etc. to choose from. Read the books. Follow the plan to the letter.

2.) Carefully track everything you stick in your mouth. Especially at first. You need to not "wing it" but to "know it" as far as carb counts go, and permitted foods in the phase of whatever low carb eating plan you are on.

3.) Get committed. Tell people. Announce it. Make it official. Stick with it.

4.) Get support and information from one of the low carb forums. Join. Start a journal. Post often. Make friends. Get to know folks there going through the same things you are. Get to know the seasoned veterans who have been successful over many years! Start a low carb blog. Get accountable. Some folks blog everything they eat and do (activity wise) on a daily basis.

5.) Read and understand all you can about this way of life. Lots of information is online.

6.) Focus on what you CAN EAT, not on what you cannot. Find some of the tons of low carb recipies out there in the forums and in cookbooks and on the Internet. Try new things. Learn how to eat and survive in any setting. You can eat low carb in almost any restaurant or situation if you are determined to!!

7.) Make sure you get into ketosis and through your initial period on the new lifestyle - as it takes a week or two or three to make changes in your body. Be prepared to get through it. You body may have to switch from fueling itself from dietary sugars to other metabolic processes and there is a certain period for that changeover to take place (as fuels are depleted in stored muscle cells and in the liver).

8.) Talk to your doctor if you have any concerns. Low carb probably isn't the best for developing little babies and little kids, pregnant women, and folks with certain health problems (like liver problems, certain diabetes conditions need to be carefully managed, etc). See a doctor if you are not sure and ensure that you are not putting your health at risk. This isn't a scary or seriously risky proposition for most folks, but one size does not fit all, and proper medical/health advice is probably recommended for some folks in certain situations!!

I am not a doctor and do not even pretend to play one on TV. I am enthusiastic about this way of life as I believe it is the way to eat best without endangering your health (compared to the heavy sugar laden typical western diet) if it is done right, and if necessary, with medical supervision.

Follow many of the links on this page and you will learn lots to help you be successful. One thing about this way of eating is that it is a technique that I believe *CAN* enable you to be successful over the long haul (compared to most other diets and ways of eating). Of course, if you get off this way of eating and go back to going face-down in the ice cream, sugary drinks, and donuts - don't be surprised if you Blurrrp! right back up to where you started, or even above that weight!!

Low-Carb Lollygagging in 2007 & 2008!

2007-12-31T00:04:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to have completed my first complete year *and* calendar year of low carbing it! I started in November of 2006, and have continued Atkins-style low-carb living through all of 2007!!

2007 was wonderful and an absolute banner year for me to reach new levels of weight loss and health through changing the way that I eat. I am now convinced more than ever that (for at least some of us), low carb is the way to go! Throughout 2007 I have lost over a hundred pounds (almost 110 lbs), and have gone from a 62" waist to a 50" waist. My neck size on my shirts has shrunk a couple inches as well from a 22" neck to comfortably fitting in shirts with a 19" neck. Very productive lollygagging there!!

I can tell you I feel so much better, fit into clothes better, look better and just feel like it's been an all around improvement so far!

For 2008 I am planning on gradually implementing moderate excercise and more consistent and vigorous physical activity into my life. We purchased a used low-end elliptical machine from a local Goodwill store which I have begun making good use of (it was broken and fixed with an $0.80 part), and I recovered some old dumbells from the in-laws (that I had left there for the use of others in the family). I may start back with some light free-weight workouts as well in 2008.

I will be continuing to monitor, manage, track, and maintain a low carb way of eating. I may be spending more time weighing my food and preparing meals ahead of time this year than I did in 2007. I suspect I may have to pay more attention to portion control, calories, and foods that may trip me up (like cheese, etc) when I overdo them. Carb creep may be a problem as I slack up on the fascist level of control once in a while - to my own detriment.

Thanks to my family and to all of my low carb friends and supporters who have shared so much encouragement, support, advice, information and research, etc!!!

In 2008 I hope to be joined by a number of family members including my oldest stepson (who has been back on Atkins style low carb for a couple months now with great results), and my wife who is also planning on beginning low carb living in 2008! I have a brother-in law and possibly two brothers (and a sister in-law) who may also be low carbing it in 2008!!

Way to Go Dr. Eades!!!

2007-12-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

I am constantly impressed by the quality of the information on a few awesome low carb blogs. If you are following low carb science and are interested in understanding metabolism and nutrition and the way the body works down at the cellular and process levels - well, you JUST HAVE to read these for the occasional and sometimes frequent awesome information they put forth!

Todays blog that blew me away was one by Dr. Eades of the Protein Power low carb diet. He has a link to an almost two hour presentation by Gary Taubes at the University of California at Berkeley (entitled "The Quality of Calories: What Makes Us Fat and Why Nobody Seems to Care"), which is viewable as streaming RealPlayer video.

This is MUST SEE video!!! Here is the link to Dr. Eades Blog on this subject and I will also post the link to Gary's lecture at UC Berkeley.

The Protein Power Blog of Dr. Mike Eades and story on this subject (Thanks Dr. Mike!):
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2007/12/08/gary-taubes-berkeley-lecture/

The link to the page and the actual presentation by Gary Taubes:
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid=21216
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/stream.php?type=real&webcastid=21216

If you are a low carber you simply must stop to watch this! Send these links to all of your friends and family, to your doctor, nutritionist, etc.!! Let's get the word out!!!

--------------

Also, I would be remiss not to also thank Regina Wilshire (at her Weight of the Evidence blog) and Jimmy Moore (at his Livin Lavida LowCarb blog) for their blogs, and for the work done to record a pile of low carb research at A Pinch of Health's site, and to Nancy Appleton for her work recording all the studies related to sugar consumption at her site!!

http://weightoftheevidence.blogspot.com/

http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/

http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowcarb/low-carb-research.html

http://www.nancyappleton.com/
http://www.nancyappleton.com/pages/damages.html

These are especially excellent places to go if you are just starting, or are even considering starting the low carb way of life. Those of us who have been low carbing it frequent these sites often and learn all we can! To lose excess weight, to improve your overall health, this is an excellent place to learn about the simple low carb way to live your life better and fuller with more health and life and vigor, and to also avoid many of the ills that plague modern society through our modern sugar and carbohydrate-rich diets!!

Flu Shots and Still Sick Anyhow...

2007-12-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks we have had various members of our family constantly sick with this head cold, sore throat, fever, chills, coughing, chest cold mess that is going around. I was sortof hoping that this year it would go through the family, and that I would be spared as this year I got the flu shot. It's a first for me. I am not trying to be a big whiney-baby or anything, but my arm hurt for a week afterwards, and I spent the 20 bucks, and now I am waiting for the big payoff. I am *supposed* to not get sick now. :smile: At least that is how it's supposed to work.

Well, the evidently the shot didn't cover this bug as about 2-3 weeks after the cold ravaged a number of family members, I finally fell victim to it as well. ARGH! The first couple of days I felt like death on a cracker, spent a weekend in bed. I missed two days of work this past week on account of it. I braved getting out sick and all (after all, they don't give us 2-4 weeks of sick time) and going to work to see to some important things going on, but wish I could have stayed home through it all with the whole rest and medication route to getting through it.

So if everything holds true to form (based on watching the others in my family) I will surely be sick for another week or more till my body gradually shakes this. I deviated from my low carb norm during all of this, without realizing it. Then I finally did realize it and frankly didn't care. My throat felt so sore from the sore throat I told guys at work it was like gargling razor blades. One fellow enquired if they were safety blades, and I told him that "No, I imagine these are the old fashioned double sided ones". The only cough drops in the house were just about pure sugar and menthol, and I took lots of them for relief without realizing what I was doing. Later, when my weight jumped way up on account of it, I finally realized what I had done. ARGH! Nothing like a little self-sabotage. Oh well, such is life. I continued to take them after I knew it, cause my throat felt so bad and cause I just didn't feel good enough to run to the store. My family members have been sick too and I didn't want to bother them, and I figured I'd just get through this, and get back into low carb and ketosis again. The damage had been pretty well done by this point.

I haven't gone face-down in the donuts or anything, but that is the first real honest to goodness sugary stuff I have had since starting this, I think. I could be wrong, but that is my recollection at the moment. I have stayed away from sugar and refined carbs with a will and a purpose since starting this way of living in November '06.

Anyhow, I am looking forward to getting back on track and getting myself on my way under 300 into the 200's soon. I came close a bit ago, down to 301.6 lbs, then bounced back up again. After eating all the cough drops I saw almost 308 lbs. Now I am back down from that (303 lbs this morning), and hopefully back on track again!

Anyhow, thanks for stopping by and catching up! I appreciate all of my low carb friends out there in Internet land! This is an awesome way of life and has improved my health dramatically. In part, I owe the almost 110 lbs lost so far to all of you, who have informed me, encouraged me, and helped me along the way. I am especially grateful to those who stay at this and share the ups and downs of their lives, and share so much about what works and what doesn't. Keep on keeping on!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-23T17:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey-Day to all of my low carb friends and acquaintences online!! I hope that your Thanksgiving holiday was fun, full of good food and good times with friends and family!

This year we did turkey at our house. Our oldest son came home to be with us, and so our immediate family was all together, and that was nice.

We typically go out to see family or to a restaurant, but this year was different. I wasn't worried as my wife knows enough about cooking to pull as through, but then she got sick and it was all on me (EEeeek!). The latest cold/flu bug has hit our house and several have got a cold and are laid low now. I got the flu shot this year and an anxious to see if any of the immunity I was hoping for will be there for me this year. This is the first year I have ever done that either.

I am not a chef or cook and have never carved (let alone cooked) a turkey! In the end, I made a turkey, half a ham, asparagus cassarole, asparagus, green beans, creamed corn, cranberry sauce, yeast rolls, yam/sweet potatoes (both low carb and another sweet potato casarole that was definitely high carb), etc., and it all turned out great according to reports from the family. I of course only ate the low carb fare, but it was enjoyable, I ate till I was full, and it was a huge relief that I was able to even do it. My wife gave me pointers at critical points, and thanks to the Lord for our many blessings and the dinner working out after all!!

This morning, I checked the scale and I was another pound down, on down to 303.6 lbs. Ye 'Ol belt is about to get another notch or two in it soon as well. That is awsomely excellent! I was grinning ear to ear this morning as I got off the scale. :)

Minor Victory - 19" Collar

2007-11-11T11:15:00.000-08:00

A tiny report of some minor victories. Probably doesn't mean alot to anybody else, but I am now in a 19" collared Oxford style shirt, without the blood flow being constricted to my brain or the life being choked out of me. This is something that I tried but was impossible a number of weeks ago (not too long ago).

My weight loss has slowed a bit the past weeks, but I am still losing down to lower and lower levels (new lows). Last low was 305 lbs. My weight is still fluctuating up and down by 5 or sometimes 10 pounds. I have been working on reducing portion sizes - staying on the same low carb track that got me here otherwise. Meat and eggs and low carb veggies and some few nuts and cheeses here and there.

It's nice to celebrate all the little landmarks as I reach them and pass them by on this low carb journey! This one was kinda neat! At my highest weight last year I was wearing a size 22 inch collar, which now hangs way down around my neck in almost comical fashion.

My waist size has also been slowly and continually declining as well. That's also nice to see!

------------------

Some interesting articles and blog posts to point you to:

Required Reading: Dr. Eades Responds to reports of a study indicating low carb diets cause higher inflamation. Links to an excellent study by Jeff Volek and others.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2007/11/08/more-on-the-low-carb-study-at-the-aha-meeting/

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2007/11/06/does-the-atkins-diet-damage-blood-vessels/

Jack Lalane vs. Ancel Keys (Timely reading if you are reading Good Calories, Bad Calories) features a great video link to a younger Jack Lalane talking about sugar and it's impact on health ("sugarholics").

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2007/11/04/jack-lalanne-vs-ancel-keys/

Wishing you all the best on *YOUR* low carb journey!!

Origins of Low Carb: Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

2007-11-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."

Brillat-Savarin

In reading the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes I am pleasantly surprised to find a good deal of the long history around low carb and low carb science. One of the "fathers" of the low carb premise was Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French lawyer and physician who lived from 1755 to 1826 (to be 70 yrs and 10 months of age at his death).

And in stumbling around the Internet looking for writings of low carb superheros (like William Banting, and Dr. Atkins, and Dr.'s Eades, etc) I found the famous writing (see the web link below) of the aformentioned low carb supergenius.

It is an excellent read, and well worth spending some time perusing! I have included a handy glossary below for some of the excellent words found within the translated version of this low carb treatise.

The Physiology of Taste

by Brillat-Savarin

MEDITATION XXI.
OBESITY

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/brillat/savarin/b85p/part26.html

Word Fun - Glossary

(not in any alphabetical order):

.............................................................

Corpulent:

fat, obese, overweight

Gastrophoria:

One kind of obesity that is restricted to the stomach

Gastrophorous:

Those afflicted with the aforementioned condition

Obesity:

that state of greasy congestion in which without the sufferer being sick, the limbs gradually increase in volume, and lose their form and harmony.

farinacious: (it means starchy)

1 : having a mealy texture or surface
2 : containing or rich in starch

feculent:

foul with impurities, fecal

feculaferous:

see feculent

embonpoint :

plumpness of person : stoutness

apoplexy:

crippled by a stroke

dropsy :

retention of water, edema (perhaps as a result of congestive heart failure)
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13311

The discovery of a new dish

does more for human happiness

than the discovery of a new star.

-----------

By this and similar conversations I elucidate a theory

I have formed about the human race, viz:

Greasy corpulence always has, as its first cause,

a diet with too much farinacious or feculent substance.

I am sure the same regime will always have the same effect.

Carniverous animals never become fat.

One has only to look at the wolf, jackal, lion, eagle, etc.
Herbiverous animals do not either become fat

until age has made repose a necessity.

They, however, fatten quickly when fed on potatoes, farinacious grain, etc.

-----------

The second of the causes of obesity, is the fact that farinacious and

feculaferous matter is the basis of our daily food.

We have already said that all animals that live on

farinaceous substances become fat;

man obeys the common law.
.

The fecula is more prompt in its action when it is mingled with sugar.

Sugar and grease are alike in containing large

quantities of hydrogen, and are both inflammable.

This combination is the more powerful,

from the fact that it flatters the taste,

and that we never eat sweet things

until the appetite is already satisfied,

so that we are forced to court the luxury

of eating by every refinement of temptation.

-----------

INCONVENIENCE OF OBESITY (excerpt)

Obesity has a lamentable influence on the two sexes,

inasmuch as it is most injurious to strength and beauty.

...
It lessens strength because it increases the weight to be moved,

while the motive power is unchanged.

...

It injures respiration, and makes all labor requiring

prolonged muscular power impossible.

...
Obesity destroys beauty by annihilating the harmony

of primitive proportions, for all the limbs do not proportionately fatten.

...

It destroys beauty by filling up cavities nature’s hand itself designed.

...
Nothing is so common as to see faces,

once very interesting,

made common–place by obesity.

Celebrating One Year Low Carbin' It

2007-11-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

An Old Familiar Landmark with a Big Giant One!

Well, it's officially been a year Low Carbin' it!!!!

I started Nov 1st, 2007! YEEEEeeeee Haw!

I have been camped out by the mailbox (like a kid on Christmas morning) awaiting the results of a recent blood test at work. It was part of a health fair and the first I've done since going low carb. I haven't really got a full time doc overseeing my health. More on emergency basis only, as needed. So this was nice to get a bit of a checkup, through work! It was conducted through LifeSigns, and the lab work was done via LabCorp.

The verdict is in. It is certainly better health stats than a year ago! Still not everything I had hoped for. But it is good, and I hope to do better as I lose more weight on low carb, and get into even better health and shape.

Here's my Blood Workup and Health-Check stats:

------------------------------------------------------

BMI: 43 (this one and the next one calculated on one of those hand-grip BF testers)
BF%: 40 (Yes, high. But less than a year ago!)
BP: 142/96 (High, but not as high as before)

--- Blood Test Results ---
Glucose, Serum: 102 (borderline high)
Cholesterol, Total: 209 (borderline high)
Trigycerides: 79
HDL Cholesterol: 52
VLDL Cholesterol: 16
LDL Cholesterol: 141 (borderline high)
LDL/HDL Ratio: 2.7

---------------------------------------------------------

There were lots of other test results - but all thankfully solidly in the normal catagory. The tests they ran for medical geeks out there were (CMP14+LP+CBC/D/Plt) whatever that means. It was testing alot of stuff including kidney and liver function, Lipids, WBC/RBC, Sodium, Potassium, etc., etc.

Also, I took a look at my "Estimate of 10-Year Risk for Coronary Heart Disease Framingham Point Scores" today on the net, while trying to understand the test results. That also turned out pretty OK. You too can try that here:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/cholesterol/risk_tbl.htm#men

Also, this afternoon the family made a trip to the tiny little library in our small town. The non-fiction (non-kids) books line maybe a half dozen or slightly more rows of shelves, tops.

To my amazement, they had a fresh new hardcover copy of Gary Taubes new book: "Good Calories, Bad Calories" in stock. So I checked that puppy out in a heartbeat. Also a hard cover copy of "Protien Power" and "The Paleo Diet". I can't wait to read them all!! I started today reading the prolouge of Gary Taubes book, and it is awesomely awesome! Man, I'd like to slide back in time and thank these doctors and Mister Banting myself!! What a difference eating and living low carb has made in my life!!!

Kinda Funny

2007-10-31T20:12:00.001-07:00

OK - You may not agree, ...but I kinda think the following Readers Digest illustration has a little more than a passing resemblance to one of the more popular low carbers on the Internet. Not an exact match, but see if you can figure out who I am alluding to.

Check it out! Let me know what you think!

http://www.rd.com/content/the-cf-payne-gallery--november-2007/

Funny.

:)

Live from Hectic-Ville

2007-10-30T20:26:00.001-07:00

Well, I have been busy the past few weeks which is causing me to post a bit less frequently.

Still low carbing it, but it has been more of a struggle of late. PORTION CONTROL is the name of the game. That and increasing my activity levels. I am gradually cutting back on the portions and gradually increasing my activity.

What worked to get me from 410 lbs past 350 lbs is not getting it done at the same level at 310 lbs. I need to cut back to smallerish portions, and that is hard for me psychologically more than physically. I am doing it slowly as I am deep down inside afraid of awful hunger, starvation, doing without, stalling my metabolism out, etc.

I have read about alot of successful folks and read what they are eating (quantity of food) and it's alot less than what I am now eating. I am finding myself slowly cycling above and below 310 lbs. I have been as low as 307.6 lbs recently and also above 310 lbs as my weight fluctuates up and down.

I am cutting back on sizes. A coworker told me about Body for Life - a book that advocates pumping up the metabolism and eating more regular, smaller meals. I am trying to do some of those kinds of things, low carb. Eat less. Do more.

It's a slow process right now as I am not cutting back enough to really create a huge calorie deficit. I am still losing on average, but slower. It's OK. It's still in the right direction. It is still showing me the main thing - that this way of life is SUSTAINABLE. That is the biggie for me!!

Keeping the faith! Keeping my chin up! Smallerish portions! More activity!

Thanks for pulling for me and with me on this low carb life-journey!!!

What if it all has been a Big Fat Lie?

2007-10-23T20:02:00.000-07:00

OK... I absolutely know that I am not the first to post these. Jimmy Moore has been all over this for a long time now (and kudos to him for all the goodness he is bringing to the online low carb community, and those interested). In fact, ...I may actually be the last online low carber to post these... :sigh:

But I gotta do *my* part for those within my circle of influence - I am so psyched following all the excitement around Gary Taubes new book (Good Calories, Bad Calories) and more importantly many of the ideas he is challenging and advancing. Gary Taubes is a top science journalist who has spent alot of time (years) apparently studying and challenging (and writing about) various scientific ideas, studys, and conclusions that are often done in error due to one reason or another.

Now, in this new book Gary Taubes takes on the establishment (the man - yes, the man ...who is trying to keep you down) or at least the established thought advanced by the majority of nutrition experts and scientists over the past 4 decades or more. Gary's book is about 600 pages and contains a couple hundred pages (reportedly) of footnotes and references to various sources, studies, quotes, etc.

(BTW - AWESOME JOB, GARY!!!! KEEP UP THE TREMENDOUS WORK!!! KEEP YOUR CHIN UP!!!)

I have not purchased/read the book yet, but I am dying to! Up to now I have been reading and listening and watching Gary online alot lately. I am posting these links here for the benefit of my personal friends, the brethren at church, my work associates and buddies, and members of my family who might not make it to the other major low carb blogs.... but might drop in here.

---------------------------------------------------

This is Really Interesting Stuff:

What if it's All Been a Big Fat Lie? (NY Times Article by Gary Taubes)
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E2D61F3EF934A35754C0A9649C8B63&sec=health

Peoples Pharmacy Interview of Gary Taubes
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/audio/extended_interview_with_gary_taubes.mp3

Sugar Shock Interview with Gary Taubes
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/StopSugarShock/2007/09/27/the-low-fat-high-carb-diet-hoax-why-conventional-dieting-wisdom-is-wrong-date-tba

The Brian Leher Show - Gary Taubes
http://audio.wnyc.org/bl/bl091707dpod.mp3

NPR (National Public Radio) - Gary Taubes
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14419309

Charley Rose Show - Gary Taubes & Panel Discussion with Dr. Oz, Dr. Ornish, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPyme62niYM

Transcript of Gary Taubes on Larry King with Joy Behar
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0710/19/lkl.01.html

Dr. Weil Endorses Gary Taubes Book
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoQGRJqGQTs

- Enjoy!

LC Videos

2007-10-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems like since I've been away the past couple weeks many popular low carb bloggers have jumped into the video scene on YouTube, and have created all kinds of informative and fun video blogs. Or maybe I've just been out of it or hadn't noticed. Anything's possible.

It is really interesting to see some of the low carbers you have met online and followed for years, and meet new ones in this way. You get more personality, more fun, and maybe more of a connection than just in reading someone's typed blog pages I think. It's different. I doubt I am anywhere near ready to do a video blog. But it is fascinating. And I would think it would be of interest to anyone new to low carb, or to anyone who hasn't found these amazing online low carb video resources yet.

I have learned alot watching these and recommend the following for your low carb learning and viewing pleasure. It's a little like on-demand specialized (low budget) TV shows right to your computer over the Internet.

Here are some fun and interesting links:

______________________________

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=livinlowcarbman&p=r

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=DrJonnyBowden&p=r

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=bowulf&p=r

http://www.youtube.com/user/Oh2BFit

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=SparkysGirl91

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFatMelter

_______________________

Have fun. Learn alot.

Like eating watermelon - just eat what you like, and spit out the seeds.

Reminiscing: 2006 - 2007 (This Time Last Year To Now)

2007-10-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

Main Entry: rem·i·nisce
Pronunciation: \ˌre-mə-ˈnis\
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): rem·i·nisced; rem·i·nisc·ing
Etymology: back-formation from reminiscence
Date: 1829
: to indulge in reminiscence synonyms see remember
— rem·i·nis·cer \-ˈni-sər\ noun
-----------------------------------------------------------

Well, I am spending a little time thinking about the past year. I've been offline, still lowcarbin it, but not lollygagging. Lots of work, home, church, family issues, etc. Been meaning to write, but have been literally too busy to post lately. Which is a gigantic bummer as I get alot of buzz and energy and encouragement and strength from focussing my thoughts here and sharing in a larger low carb community online.

So anyhow, back to my reminiscing...

Last year this time: Let's see. I was around or over 410 lbs. Fat. Disgustingly fat. About ill with overweight in so many ways. Last year around this time I had met several low carbers and started researching it online for the first time, seriously. A guy at work lost alot in a hurry. I was intruiged. Then, I met a low carb practicing doctor who kept the weight off for ten years eating this way - a real success story! I found Jimmy Moore's LivinLavidaLowCarb site, and that was an epiphany. I was about to get a call from my bro, telling me he had lost about 80 lbs on low carb any day now... :smile: ...launching me into an Atkins style "If my brother can do this, I can too!" Diet. Which is now the way I hope to eat for the rest of my life.

So what has transpired over the last year?

100+ lbs down!

No more Antacids (Alka Seltzer and Prilosec/Prevacid/Nexium)

No more GERD

Went from a size 60 & 62 waist on my pants to somewhere closer to a 52 inch waist today

My neck now hangs inside the collar-hole of my old 22-inch neck shirts amazingly inches smaller

I am more active than I've been in many slothful recent years

My blood pressure is down

I am sick less this year than the year before, in fact, for a number of years really!

No more blood sugar and insulin spikes (getting really dopey and tired after eating, and shaky and light headed before eating) - having to get an emergency candy bar just to keep my blood sugar from crashing at times

I've made lot's of tremendous and inspiring low carb friends online!

I feel great! I really believe I can eat and live this way for a lifetime of success!!!!

Others are now asking me how I have done it, and are curious. Several have started low carbin it themselves too!!! THAT IS REALLY AWESOME! TO FIND SOMETHING SO WONDERFUL AND POSITIVE AND TO BE ABLE TO HELP OTHERS BE HEALTHIER AND HAPPIER!!!

Aint life grand? Aint it wonderful?!! I can't wait to hit November 1st - my one year aniversary of starting this way of life is almost here! I can't wait to go another few months and be under 300 pounds forever!!! That will be so awesome! And I can hardly wait to lose my way through the 200's to get even closer to my goal weight - wherever that really is (someplace sustainable, healthy, and comfortable). Perhaps under 200 lbs! THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!

Anyhow, it's all in the Lord God's hands anyway. But I am thankful to God and PRAISE HIM for giving me this life, for creating me, for blessing me beyond measure, for forgiving me of sin, and for leading me from an unhealthy situation to one where I can be more healthy, active, useful in His service, and possibly here for my wife and kids over the long-haul! Lord Willing!

Sharing the Love and Helping Others

2007-09-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

One of the things I think many of us low carbers want to do once we have lost some weight it to share the "secret of our success" with others so they can benefit too. It is really rewarding when folks start to notice your weight loss and ask what you have been doing that has worked for you.

It is also very frustrating to feel so happy about losing some large amounts of weight and to still have few folks notice or appreciate the differences. I am just now really getting folks in my life (at work, church, etc) to notice my weight loss, being down a hundred pounds in less than a years time. It's kindof funny in that so many of them were really seemingly oblivious to the fact I was shrinking over the past year, but are only now being struck by the difference. I assume it is because starting out so heavy, my losses really had to be huge in order to be noticed (as a percentage of my total weight).

Anyhow, now that people are asking - some are asking in sincere interest and some are just critical nosey folks who need to get into your business and share their two cents - I am excited to be able to tell them about low carb diets and Atkins in particular. I still have a tremendous amount of weight to go, but I hope folks will continue to notice and ask.

During the time I have been losing it has really bothered me to see other people that are fat. I want to scream to them "YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE FAT!", "YOU CAN LOSE WEIGHT TOO, JUST LIKE ME!!! IF **I** CAN DO IT, YOU CAN TOO!!!"

I want to tell them how easy it is. Almost effortless. No white-knuckle test of willpower. No futile yo-yo dieting and weight regain. It can last. It doesn't have to be an early death of diabetes and blood sugar problems, heart problems, high blood pressure, poor health, etc.

It doesn't have to be a life of social isolation, frustration, anger, and depression!

You don't have to be resigned to L, then XL, then XXL, then XXXL, then XXXXL (and so on) sized clothes.

Anyhow, it is frustrating to watch others when you just want to say, Did you know? Have you considered? Have you heard? Wouldn't you want all these good things for yourself too???!!!!

I don't want to be a militant cult-like diet fanatic, pushing on others his view of the world. But how to share with so many others, especially when some are starting to remark and ask me what I've been doing?

Well, my wife hit on something really affordable, easy, and something that might let me do some little part to help a few folks, if I can. To share the Joy of William Banting running through the streets of London with his letter on corpulence...

My wife found a consignment store with a book section with a pile of old Atkins books at about a buck a book. I now have something to hand to those who are interested enough to try to understand the low carb way of life. It's cheap, easy, and handy, and something anyone can do. I left a couple in my desk at work. I'll put a couple in the car. It ought to be fun!!

Check your local used book stores and consignment stores for copies and let me know if you too have success with sharing this wonderful way of eating and living. Let's have some fun!!!

How Many Benefits of Eating Low Carb Can You Come Up With?

2007-09-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be great to try to list as many as we could, together. Post into the comments and I will compile a master list and then will repost the list in its entirety when it gets big enough. List any references, sources, attributions, etc.

I'll get things started....

1.) Lose Weight (And lose it faster, better, longer, easier than low calorie and other methods)
2.) OK, I took the easy one. : ) Now it's your turn....

Low-Carb Diet As a Treatment for Cancer?

2007-09-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

Time and CNN have a really interesting article found here:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1662484,00.html

It is entitled "Can a High-Fat Diet Beat Cancer?"

In the article scientists are speculating that a high-fat ketogenic diet can help folks with cancer! A German doctor named Otto Warburg (a winner of Alfred Nobel's Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1931) studied cellular metabolism and respiration of cancer cells.

Based on his research and discoveries, scientists are wondering if switching a body from a carbohydrate rich diet to a ketogenic diet would be beneficial for folks suffering from certain cancers. Doctor Warburg discovered that cancer cells can live even in the absence of oxygen and that the cancers fueled themselves exclusively by a process called glycolysis - creating energy through the fermentation of sugars in the cytoplasm.

You can read about him here:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1931/warburg-bio.html

You can read about his ideas here:

The Prime Cause and Prevention of Cancer, Otto Warburg
http://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Loxygen2.htm

"Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. Almost anything can cause cancer. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause.
The prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen (oxidation of sugar) in normal body cells by fermentation of sugar.
All normal body cells meet their energy needs by respiration of oxygen, whereas cancer cells meet their energy needs in great part by fermentation. All normal body cells are thus obligate aerobes, whereas all cancer cells are partial anaerobes.
From the standpoint of the physics and chemistry of life this difference between normal and cancer cells is so great that one can scarcely picture a greater difference. Oxygen gas, the donor of energy in plants and animals, is dethroned in the cancer cells and replaced by the energy yielding reaction of the lowest living forms, namely the fermentation of sugar.
In every case, during the cancer development, the oxygen respiration always falls, fermentation appears, and the highly differentiated cells are transformed into fermenting anaerobes, which have lost all their body functions and retain only the now useless property of growth and replication. Thus, when respiration disappears, life does not disappear, but the meaning of life disappears, and what remains are growing machines that destroy the body in which they grow."
The Prime Cause and Prevention of Cancer, Dr. Otto Warburg, June 30, 1966

Reading all this and trying (in my own way and at my own level) to understand it - let's face it I am not a scientist and don't even play one on TV) it sure makes me think that the low carb folks who say "SUGAR IS POISON", might be on to something. Kudos to those who took their education to a level where they can actually contemplate the cellular chemistry, metabolism, and biological activities described by Doctor Warburg and in related papers and understand it and apply that in meaningful ways.

Carbohydrates and sugars in all their various forms are certainly ready fuel for the body, but maybe it wasn't intended to be consumed at the tremendously high level we do it (here in the the present day United States) without serious negative consequences to your health - think diabetes, various digestive conditions, high blood sugars, etc.

And reading things like Nancy Appleton's list of "147 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health" (found here: http://www.nancyappleton.com/ ) and frequent research found on Jimmy Moore's Livin Lavida Low Carb Site (http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/) it seems to add up in study after study to be shown to cause or be related to numerous health problems. I read the article at Time/CNN with great interest and will be very interested in watching and learning from this study as it progresses.

Your two cents of input is appreciated! What say you?

Popular Low Calorie Low Carb Diet Under Investigation

2007-09-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

I read tonight with interest that the popular diet "Kimkins" with it's web site Kimkins.com and well known founder ("Kimmer") are reportedly now under investigation for potentially fraudulent claims and at least questionable (and potentially seriously unhealthful) advice given.

This has been the source of a bit of an uproar in the low carb Internet community as some have expressed serious suspicions about some of the the founders (supposed) pictures that looked a little fishy. Also some popular low carbers I assume in good faith jumped on the bandwagon and tried this diet approach as well, lending support to the diet that only fueled the fire of criticism by others.

Basically, if what I read is true (in various venues online), even some of the most ardent supporters of this diet, and even some former business partners are now revealing startling information about the founder and the program, and are turning against both publicly.

I have tried to be supportive of some of my low carb friends in the middle of all this broohaha. But now it looks like the truth may be coming out, and it isn't very pretty.

Evidently, a private investigator has produced pictures of "Kimmer" that appear to demonstrate that if Kimmer has ever lost such significant weight as she has claimed in the past, it hasn't taken hold over the long run - at least at present she appears to be a morbidly obese woman pretending/claiming to be someone she isn't. At least that's what things appear like in the stories and pictures linked below:

http://www.slamboard.com/2007/09/05/heidi-diaz-kimmer-of-kimkins-surveillance-picture/

http://www.slamboard.com/2007/09/05/more-surveillance-photos-of-kimkins-kimmer/

http://www.slamboard.com/2007/09/05/surveillance-pics-of-heidi-diaz-kimmer-at-the-kimkinscom-post-office-box/

Wow! I am speechless! Shocking!!!

All About Fat

2007-09-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

As I go along the way in the low carb life I am constantly trying to learn about diet and nutrition, metabolism, body processes, and about the body in general. In my meanderings I have found a number of articles on human body fat, and how it works. Really interesting stuff. I recommend this kind of reading for anyone looking to master their own body by understanding it better and controlling their decisions. This is really essential reading for anyone serious about low carb life or just simply better health and fitness.

Some great links about fat cells and how they work:

What is Bodyfat?
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/Miscarticles/whatisbodyfat.html

How Fat Cells Work
http://health.howstuffworks.com/fat-cell.htm

The Death of Fat Cells
-- and --
Understanding how obese fat cells work
http://kudosforlowcarb.blogspot.com/

And one more about the metabolic process at play here...

What If A Calorie Isn't Just A Calorie After All?

http://www.commonvoice.com/article.asp?colid=7617

Celebrating!

2007-09-01T22:11:00.001-07:00

I hope you will forgive this self-serving and gratuitous post, chock-full of Happy Happy Joy Joy, Happy Dancing, Happy Feet, Celebration, Gladness, Mirth, and Wonderful News!!!

I weighed earlier today at 308.8 lbs, which by my reconning is over 100 lbs down from my starting weight last November 1st, 2006!!!

Thanks to all my low carb friends who encourage, motivate, inform, uplift, share, entertain, strengthen my commitment and resolve, and otherwise help me be successful on this new Way of Eating and Way of Life!!! I appreciate all you have done to help me, for visiting my online blogs and journals and posting and doing all the many things that mean so much to me.

THANK YOU!

and.... THANK YOU DOCTOR ATKINS!!!!

The Easiest Ways to (Supposedly) Lose Weight

2007-08-26T12:53:00.002-07:00

Many moons ago I used to work for a small network equipment reseller and systems integrator. At one point (when the Internet wasn't anything like it is today) they decided that they wanted to start up an Internet Service Provider operation. This is back when the first big dial-up Internet networks were first getting started. We sold bandwidth and we also developed web pages and hosted them as part of the business.

One day a particularly seedy-looking older fellow came in wanting us to create a commercial web site to help him sell his diet pills. He supposedly had thousands sitting in a warehouse he needed to move. This older fellow readily admitted that he had been arrested and charged by the US Postal Service for mail fraud in the past though I don't think he did any jail time or anything. He also freely admitted that the pills really didn't do much of anything. They were mostly vitamins and nutritional suplements. He was able to sell these as diet pills because tucked away in the fine print was the information stating that in order for the pills to work and for the consumer to experience weight loss they also had to follow the diet and excercise plan that accompanied the pills (a very low calorie plan that consisted of salads and plenty of vigourous excercise).

So this fellow surely sold many thousands of diet pills, knowing they wouldn't work, hinting that they would, and leaving the details to the fine print. Although the owners of the company and I eventually agreed to *NOT* be a part of this seedy fellows scam - and we sent him elsewhere for his Internet business - it gave me a real insight into who is behind so many of these kinds of diet pill scams. And the way that they take advantage of nieve innocent folks wanting instant results (without any work or pain or personal loss or even time spent working towards better health on their part). They want their weight loss in a pill. Something easy that doesn't require them to change much if at all.

This is nothing new. And thinking about some of the many diet pills you read about today makes me wonder about the veracity of these and similar diets in a pill bottle. I have no idea how effective they are or aren't. But I am a sceptic at this point. There is something honest about weight loss that actually requires work, pain, sacrifice, discipline, and actually takes time that I like. No catchy legalize in the fine print. It's simple and honest.

People have been looking for these kinds of shortcuts for centuries. I spent a few minutes on the Internet today looking about some of these kinds of quick and easy solutions in the past, and have highlighted a few I found below (I have no idea of the veracity of these, but they mostly look like real published ads or products sold).

And I also read about a number of similar potions, powders, and treatments that I wasn't able to find but read about:

Russell's Anti-Corpulent Preparation Cream
Jean Down's Get Slim Powder
Every Woman's Flesh Reducer
Howell's Reducing Paste
George Burnwell's Obesity Belt
Gardner Reducing Machines
Reducing chairs
Sugar, beeswax, lard, ox-bile (rub where needed)

Today people are really no different. They will buy slimming belts, abdominal-izers of various types, diet pills, do liposuction, get the lap band, do gastric bypass, and try all kinds of gadgets and solutions that promise tremendous and easy results. So this is nothing new, and is just more of the same for hundreds of years. Some of the potions below are simply citric acid and food coloring. Some actually contain sugar (yeah, that ought to work)! For every nieve innocent that's born there's a con man out there somewhere willing to take them for all they are worth.

Some of these are kindof funny to read about. The use of the words "Corpulent", and "Stout", and "Portly" seem to have fallen out of fashion.

"Adipose", "saponaceous", "avoirdupois", and "porcine" are rarely heard either. Yet go to Google and see how often these sort of words (like corpulent) were commonly used in the past by Herman Melville and other literary masters.

It's interesting what the latest fads are in weight loss. The latest shortcuts promising fantastic and unbelievable results. I wonder how many do nothing at all or are simply some old greasy flim flam man behind the products (running from the FTC, the postal service investigators, and the states and federal attorneys general).

An Interesting Link:

Terrors of the Table: The Curious History of Nutrition By Walter Gratzer
http://books.google.com/books?id=YhqHSDjnsbYC&pg=PA233&lpg=PA233&dq=russells+anti+corpulent&source=web&ots=15t9pt_wpq&sig=VxMDuJFAwh2J84oWq-gcaYDHZqs

An Interesting Article:

FTC Stops Diet Spam http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136401-c,spam/article.html

Really Important Stuff

2007-08-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

BigDaddyD posted some thoughts on his blog (lowcarbohydrate.blogspot.com) that I think is tremendously important and is certainly worthy of notice and consideration by any and all low carbers. It really struck a chord and resonated with me.

He basically has already lost about 100 lbs or more and is now contemplating how he has to live in order to be successful on ongoing maintenance. In thinking it through, he realized that it is important to carefully consider and list the kinds of things that he did that got him into trouble in the first place. And to understand what the thinking he had at the time, and pretty much the whole enchilada about how he got overweight in the first place

By being brutally honest with ourselves about this (if we were to do this too), and really considering this, we can probably better understand our own weaknesses and the things that we personally struggle with too. I think it is an excellent idea!

I took my own introspection to my favorite low carb support group forum (one with a special area for folks with 100 lbs to lose or more - the Triple Digits Club). In truth, I think that this is the kind of thing that is SO IMPORTANT, I am going to likely be really peeling the onion on this one (through the layers) to get to my deepest issues and think them through for a long while.

No proper maintenance plan can really be effective without understanding all our mistakes and little failings (and stinkin thinkin) that ended up with us in the position that we are so overweight. Some of us at 100 lbs or more... and in my own personal case much more than a hundred pounds overweight! In fact, at a hundred pounds down I may still have over a hundred more to go!

The most important thing for me is not just the losing of the weight but the maintaining a healthy low-carb life over the long-haul. Like so many of my low-carb heros have already done and are continuing to do!!

Anyhow really great reading here at BigDaddyD's low carb blog:
http://lowcarbohydrate.blogspot.com/

Also many thanks to Sparky's Girl who found this and mentioned this post first (on her blog - http://www.lovinglowcarblife.blogspot.com/)!!

I am really appreciative of the Internet low carb community and all you all do to inform, encourage, and support me!! Thanks!!!!!!

A Couple of Interesting Headlines

2007-08-21T05:20:00.001-07:00

The first article I stumbled across last night suggests that folks who are obese may in fact be (in part) the result of a virus that affects certain people's fat cells. Kinda odd, but interesting info.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20070820/obesity-virus-more-bigger-fat-cells

The second interesting article I discovered demonstrates the health benefits of being 100lbs down from your previous weight. Much improved health and reduced risk of death as a result. Since I am *almost* at 100lbs lost since last November, I was especially interested in reading this:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20070808/what-happens-when-you-lose-100-pounds

The Stone-Age Diet

2007-08-19T13:56:00.001-07:00

While I am not on the "Stone Age" or Paleo Diet, this diet encompasses many ideas that are part of various low carb diet programs. Basically it is sticking to eating low carb and "natural" types of food. It is about avoiding all the "Frankenfoods" (man-made, often high carb, processed foods that don't exist in nature - hydrogenated, chemically treated, enriched, enhanced, etc, foods) is another common theme.

There is so much artificial junk we stick down our gullet. Trans-fats (hydrogenated this and that). Artificial sweeteners and High Fructose Corn Syrups and other sugary stuff. Processed meats and cheese. Chemical cardboard high sugar cereals. Artificial flavors and artificial colors. Preservatives and chemicals of all kinds. MSG. Sulfates. Nitrites and Nitrates. Animal hormones. Pesticides. ARGH! Certainly no self respecting primitive would bother to eat junk like this!

Anyhow, you can find an interesting article about several online blog posts and articles regarding the "stoneage" diet here:

http://community.wddty.com/blogs/birdseye/archive/2007/08/17/The-stone-age-diet_3A00_-How-to-eliminate-the-health-problems-of-modern-life.aspx

I would think that any low carber who is serious about their health and nutrition, and about learning the low carb way of life ought to read and learn all they can about it. And even when something isn't your bag (say in learning about bodybuilding, or advanced nutritional science or studies, etc) you can still read and learn something of value. I would assume that you are obviously this kind of interested and "highly evolved" person yourself, since you have found your way here!

"Eat the watermelon, spit out the seeds", a wise man once said. So with that as my point of view I think I can read about all kinds of aspects of diet, nutrition and excercise and learn something. Probably no one has a complete corner on the 100% of "the truth" in this area.

While I am personally interested in continuing to follow the Atkins plan myself (now and in the immediate future - "Dance with the one that brung ya"), for the long-haul I am reading about a vareity of low-carb diets and alternatives that will hopefully help me be successful in the long run.

I want to know about South Beach and Protien Power and the Carbohydrates Addicts Diet. I want to understand the science behind metabolism and ketosis and nutrition and excercise. And while a PSP (Protien Sparing Fast) is not for me right now, maybe someday I'll try it as an alternative for a very short period of time, just to shake things up a little. While Carb Cycling or CKD isn't something I am doing now either, it is something I am interested in a little, and have noticed some folks are having great results on - going carb up and then carb down at intervals. Maybe I will try that if my losses stall out at some point for too long, and carb control and or carb/calorie control isn't getting it. The body does adapt, and it may be important to change just to keep things cookin at some point.

I think that by reading alot I can learn about the many ideas, tools, techniques that are available, I can learn more about this bod I live in, and how I can be more healthy and happy in the long run. Eventually I may even get to the point where I am working out again and excercising. Right now I am simply trying to continue with moderate (but increasing) levels of activity to ease into a more healthy and active life.

Obesity in America: Trend Illustrated by CNN

2007-08-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

Check it out! CNN has done an interesting interactive map showing weight gain for the United States over the last twenty-plus years! Can anybody say "Supersize Me"? The convenience of the drive-thru lifestyle, and massive amounts of Carbs and sugars in everything are to blame!

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/fit.nation/obesity.map/

Sad Article - Well Regarded 38 yr old man dies from Overweight and Heart Disease

2007-08-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

Kindof a sad article in the news about a 38 year old man who died from heart disease at over 700 lbs. He was buried in what funeral directors in Britain estimated to be the largest coffin used there, which was carried by horse drawn carraige.

This could well be me, or many of you others who struggle with weigh gain and weight loss. He was a dad with a little boy, and left a widow, a family who loved him, and lots of friends.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=474295&in_page_id=1770

Low carb is more than some frivolous message, ...it could actually save so many lives.

Help get the low carb message out!

Life. Live it. Love it. Share it. Help some others along the way...

Keeping it Between the Lines

2007-08-11T18:47:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post to say that since I have been "Keeping it between the Lines" (between 20-30 grams of carbs a day) things seem to be clicking again after stalling out for several weeks! I have continued losing down to 316 lbs this morning. Pretty nice to see the scale moving again!

Someday soon I will be an easy hundred pounds down, and shortly thereafter I will break into the 200's! I can hardly wait!!

So if yer having trouble keepin the weight loss clickin, get the Low Carb "Po-Leece" on yer backside and do some careful carb counting! It is so easy to have some "carb-creep" go on and loosten the reigns a little on yourself without realizing it (after you get used to things, after awhile on the low carb life). Anyhow, it was a little scary seeing things flatten out, and I was glad it was simply me getting out of whack. Getting things back in-whack (opposite of out-of-whack) helped me get back to regular and consistent weight loss again.

Keep on Keeping on! You can do this low carb thing too!!!

Blog/Journal Tagging: Tag Yer It!

2007-08-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well, OK... I am going to blog tag some folks! I will tag some low carbers who I enjoy reading about online in their blogs, forum posts, online low-carb journals, etc. I got tagged by "Sparky's Girl" to share eight random things about myself. Having done the dirty deed I am now (supposedly) compelled to tag eight others. Being the boring person I am, I really don't do this kinda thing often, but it's all in fun.

I know that folks like to keep a little of their privacy online, yet we still get to know folks and pull for them when they struggle or get down, and cheer them on when they enjoy weight loss "whhhooooooshes" and reach weight loss goals or hit special landmarks along the way. Ask someone who isn't interested in low carb living and weight loss what "Onederland" is and they will look at you funny. So we share alot of common ground and have the bond of online friendship and encouragement and support of one another. So as we get to know each other online it doesn't really hurt to share some random things, I guess.

Hopefully you won't be offended by being asked to share eight random things with the world. They don't have to be anything tremendously personal or sensitive info (and probably shouldn't be - the Internet is a dangerous place).

In no particular order, Here goes (consider yourself tagged):

Calianna
http://caliannascottage.blogspot.com/

Dianne
http://dearring.com/

PJ
http://www.thedivinelowcarb.blogspot.com/

Regina
http://weightoftheevidence.blogspot.com/

Haole Fats
http://web.mac.com/anthony_roberts/iWeb/Diary%20of%20a%20Haole%20Fats/Haole%20Fats/Haole%20Fats.html

Kate Welch
http://www.thesteaksarehigh.com/

ValerieL
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?p=6945023

tmatrocks
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?p=6945362

Eight Random Things About Me...

2007-08-06T20:06:00.000-07:00

"Sparky's Girl" (http://lovinglowcarblife.blogspot.com/2007/08/8-random-facts.html) tagged me and seven other low carb bloggers to spill our guts about eight random facts about us. Then I guess we gotta tag eight other folks. Here goes...

1.) What I want to hear (more than anything in my life)... "Well done, my good and faithful servant"! I am a bible-believing Christian (a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ). OK, big surprise, huh? With a handle like "onlinechristian" ...go figure. But that is one of the most important facts about me I could ever share with anyone. Does that mean I am perfect? Nope. Got all the answers? Nope (just One of the big ones). Have I arrived? Nope. Big Giant Hypocrite? Hope Not. I would hope that any and all of us would be interested to learn about the Creator God, and what His Word says, avoiding Hell, and obtaining Eternal Life!

2.) My wife and kids and I really enjoy watching the TV show "MONK". It is pretty funny (with a dry and witty sense of humor), about an obsessive-compulsive private detective. We shut off cable TV several years ago and only get two fuzzy channels via rabbit ears. We bought the CD sets of the program, and it is pretty wholesome and almost no off-color or bad stuff on this show. We try to watch good stuff as a family. You wouldn't dump garbage on your living room floor, so why let your TV do it??

3.) I am probably the worlds most boring person. Really! I mean it! Really boring.

I am not: "hip", "Cool", "trendy", "stylin", With-it, or anything else that would approach being really amazingly interesting. I am amazingly uninteresting. I have no idea who is tops in popular music (rock, etc). I like being boring. It's nice. I suits me. I am the original square peg who has found his square hole in life, and that's the way I like it.

4.) I have been to Australia (twice), Singapore, the Philipines, South Korea, and the island of Diego Garcia. I have traveled through almost every state in the continental United States and have been to Alaska and Hawaii. I have "sailed" on the ocean to the other side of the world twice. Now I am someone who likes being home best. No real interest in travel anymore.

5.) I like to read the Readers Digest magazine when I can. Haven't read one in a long while.

6.) I have enjoyed studying my families and my wife's families genealogy. Whodathunkit - we was related to some mighty interesting and purty famous folks?!! Haven't done much with it in a while. Too busy with other aspects of my life.

7.) I enjoy watching Mayberry RFD and the Andy Griffith Show once inna while. The more my life is like that, and my kids lives are like that, the better. I love small-town America best, where it isn't out of style to say the Pledge of Allegiance, a prayer at a football game, sing the National Anthem, stop on the side of the road in quiet respect when a funeral procession passes (as long as it takes), and where kids are taught to say "Yes, Sir", and "Yes, Ma'am" (manners and polite behavior). I generally like country people better than city people. Folks who still know how to make old fashioned homemade ice cream, and who still know and appreciate honest and hard work, good values, animals and farming, and how to be a good neighbor and help others.

8.) I met my wife on the Internet at an online (Christian) matchmaking site! This is back when this was considered a pretty wierd thing, and was much less common.

9.) I love driving and would rather drive clear across the country than fly. I have flown alot (all over the country and all over the world) but I very much prefer to drive. It is a rare thing that I will fly - though I will if absoutely necessary. Sometimes I feel like Rain-Man. It's hard to REALLY trust technology. Can anybody say "Intermittent Problem"? I drive a little bitty teeny tiny boring car that gets me nearly 40 miles to the gallon, most of the time when I go places. Wheeeeee HOOoooooo!!! My other vehicles regularly support the upkeep and maintenance on many of the palaces in the Persian Gulf region and provide a major boost to the net worth of Global Petroleum Companies - Major Gas-Guzzlers.

Yeah, ..I know that's nine and not eight random facts.

I'll tag some others maybe later in another post, ...*if* I can even think of eight folks to tag online!!

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

2007-07-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-27T21:03:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-19T19:11:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-17T19:54:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-07-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-16T17:44:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-07-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-10T19:26:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-07T22:15:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

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!

From Far Away to Here, With Oh..., So Long to Go!

2007-06-22T21:44:00.001-07:00

I have been at the low carb lifestyle not quite a year now. OK, according to the date calculator (http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html) it has been 233 days, or 5592 hours, or 335,520 minutes, or 20,131,200 seconds so far, to be a little more exact (but still off by some margin of error).

It seems like I ought to have arrived already at some level, and yet at another I know I have probably another couple of years ahead of me just to reach goal, and a bunch of years after that just to be able to say that this isn't some kind of yo-yo thing (diet followed by failing miserably and rapidly and massively regaining the weight lost).

Altogether I am trying to lose about 240 lbs give or take, which is a whole person. A whole entire very large person. Like trying to lose a linebacker or something. (smile).

My wife and I compared pix from September before I started and more recent pix. It is startling in some ways, but also kinda depressing too at the same time. Even tho I have lost ~87 lbs to this point, it hardly looks like it to me. Sure I see my face a little better defined, and my guts are smaller. I know my belt is tighter and I am lighter. But I still sorta look just the same. (sigh).

Anyhow - I am in this for the long long haul. For days and weeks and months and years more, if Lord Willing, I should be fortunate enough to live that long. So this is just a tiny pit stop on the road to where I am going. The road to better health, a fitter me. A higher quality of life. Hopefully here with my wife and my kids, and my friends and those I rub shoulders with in life.

Water Weight

2007-06-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

I guess you can't try dieting and losing weight too long before you encounter the concept of "water weight". After all, our bodies are made up of mostly water, they say. And like oil in your car, you need it just to survive. What do they say? Three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food? Something like that! Anyhow we are made up of alot of water, and our body has some sort of built in regulation of the water level in our bodies "tank" - so to speak.

If you just start a diet, then you will drop a good bit, before your weight loss often slows to a certain level that is consistent for awhile. That first big drop everyone is quick to assure us is "water weight". The slow ebbing away that you struggle with after that first rapid loss is fatty tissue.

If you eat too much salt in your diet you will find that your body will retain water. Beware of processed meats (lunchmeats, hot dogs and sausages, bacon), dill pickles and some other pickled foods, as they are highly salty! They dope these things up with so much salt that I suppose you could have them sit out for a while in a buffet or picnic serving with little (or less) worry of spoilage or bacterial contamination.

I have been tracking my own weight loss and it tends to cycle up and down and up and down. Each cycle I hit lower new weights, and then my weight rides up, up, up, then back down, down, down. For more people on a low carb diet they observe a similar body behavior on their scales. Typically it is 4-5 lbs for many. For me I fly up and down at least ten pounds each cycle. Occasionally I will only have a five pound variance, but mostly more.

So it got me to thinking. Just how much does water weigh???!!! I mean, ten pounds is alot. How much water is that exactly? Well I went to the source of all information (Google) and "Googled it" - and found a bunch of helpful answers at http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_one_gallon_of_water_weigh.

It turns out that the helpful phrase "a pint is a pound, the world around" is an easy way to remember water weight at a rough approximation of it's weight. "Close enough for government work", as they used to say when I was in the military ages ago. So a gallon of water is somewhere between 8.34lbs or 8.35 lbs if you were to weight it, with a pint actually being a smidge over a pound.

That is interesting to put into perspective, as that means the difference between a "water-lean" me and a "water-porky" me it actually about a gallon and a couple pints or so. Hmmm. And a 5 pound weight shift on account of water retention is a pint or so more than half a gallon (or a pint or so more than two quarts).

I have noticed a few things about when I am water-lean. My skin is tighter. I look better. People comment on my weight loss more. I also get leg cramps on occasion when I wake up in the morning. My belt goes a notch or more tighter.

When I am water-heavy, my skin looks baggier all over - but especially in my face. I feel a little demoralized too. It's depressing to go from better looking to jowly and baggy looking. And the scale - ARGH! It is so depressing and frustrating to see it ride up ten pounds over my new low weight.

Anyhow, that's life. Low carb life for me. But I have a little visualization of the amount of water that I now trade on and off in these weight loss cycles. Hope this helps you too!!

Tellin' on Myself...

2007-06-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

One of the things I have done since I started is occasionally find and save off to my computer the BEFORE, IN PROGRESS, and AFTER pictures of folks on the low carb way of life. I really enjoy reading their stories and seeing the remarkable tranformations people have made in their lives. It keeps me pumped up and motivated. It stokes the fires within and I often marvel at what people have done for themselves.

Sometimes it just simply looks like another person altogether, the change is so great - and you wouldn't even believe it unless or until you see the various pix of in-progress steps the person went through.

I hope one day to have a set of those kind of pix myself. In a couple of years or more maybe. Right now I am making daily progress and trying to stay on track. But seeing so many average Janes and Joes doing so remarkably well at this way of life inspires me. I know it will inspire you too! If you are feeling a little low, take an hour or so and go online to one of the low carb forums. Check out the success stories. Meet some of these awesome people that have conquered huge health issues and who have lost tremendous amounts of weight (and kept it off)!!

Although I am on the fence about the whole Kimkins diet thing, they have lots of low carb success stories on their site. Jimmy Moore features lots of low carbers off his low carb links site. Check those out! In the end, you might just stoke your own fires, and charge your own motivational batteries.

Good luck on your own low carb Journey!! Here's to our LC success!!!

An Awesome Quote from one of My Low Carb Heros!

2007-06-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

"One foot in front of the other, dissassociating food from emotions, my weight from my self-worth and my progress from my results. Associating success with making good decisions regardless of the short-term outcome, controlling what I can control and leaving the rest to the whims of the great magnet (to quote Hunter Thompson). Worrying about chipping away on the rock in front of me instead of the mountain behind it."

This from Jake (aka J13) one of my low carb heros! He is the same fellow who has espoused online really tremendous thoughts such as:

"Own Your Decisions!"

With this statement Jake has fought against the excuses people make and the ways that they undermine themselves. Many times people blame their problems or situation on everything and everyone else - but not on themselves and the decisions they have made. They fail to take ownership of their own decisions and the consequences. Jake maintains, I believe, that there is no "cheating", but only conscious decisions one makes with consequences that come from them.

-- and --

"Character is that force that enables an individual to carry out a resolution once the mood in which that resolution was born has died."

That's all about character and commitment to stay motivated and on-track to be a long-term success. Not a 90-day weight loss wonder that loses and gains it all back and then some, living life and eating on yo-yo diets and unsuccessful eating habits.

Jake has lost an enormous amount of weight on low carb living and is a constant source of encouragement to me and to others. He sets his own bar high and helps others keep things in-check as well. One thing that is wonderful about Jake is that he doesn't allow himself or others to live in a land of excuses, negative self talk, living with bad habits, or failing to live consistently and on-track all the time.

You can find Jake in the Low Carb Support Forum and TDC (Triple Digits Club) linked on the right hand side of my blog!

This is essentially what I was talking about in my last blog post. How important successful thinking, successful self-talk, positive mental attitude, commitment, focus, and developing good new habits are to your continued success.

I urge any of you on the low carb lifestyle to pause and take stock of yourselves and your thinking and your daily habits.

Look to others who are successes and who have made great strides and been successful in the long run!

What are they doing right? What habits and thinking can you borrow from these successful people? How can you change things and adapt new ways of eating, thinking, measuring, excercising, tracking, and visualizing to help you achieve your goals long term? How can you get more motivated? How can you change things for yourself? What can you do more consistently - day in and day out? Are you defeating yourself with negative self talk? With bad habits? With allowing yourself too much wiggle room and too much slack? Are you cheating?

I find that learning and sharing with others, and having the right mindset helps me. I hope that if you stop and think about you life right now, and make the right changes in your life by taking a moment to consider these things - it will help you too!

To quote a verse and an idea from the Bible:

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Galatians 6:7

This principle is a spiritual priniciple but is also broadly applicable in all aspects of one's life. If you are not reaping the results you want today, what did you sow yesterday and the days before? And what kind of tomorrow are you sowing for today?

And I don't know about the "Great Magnet" in the quote tho. The only "Great Magnet" in life I know is Jesus.

"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” John 12:32

Mentally Winning or Mentally Losing the Game

2007-06-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

We all know that a lot of top sports performance is the mental-body connection. Where the Winning Spirit and attitude separate the difference between the greats, the almost greats, and those that are not successful at what they set out to do. It is amazing to me to see myself and others struggle through rough spots on this journey, and the mental gymnastics that it takes to stay on track, focused on the goal, and committed to this as a way of eating for life. I am fascinated by how people think, and especially by how successful low carbers think and live their lives.

Not to say that it is especially difficult, or especially easy either. I think it may be different for one person compared to another too! But one of the biggest factors may be one's attitude. I have heard it said that "One's attitude determines ones altitude". That is really true in the workplace. Speaking with other veteran managers it is one of the main things one looks for in hiring new people (after making lots of hiring mistakes over the years and learning what works and what doesn't). A positive mental attitude is a very high percentage of a winning package in the workplace. If you can get someone with a positive attitude who is honest and reliable, is willing to work hard, can learn new things well, and is good with people, ...you about have the total package for a great employee.

And we have all probably watched a big football game that gets down to the clutch moments at the end of the game where the focus and effort makes the difference and the team that has more of it (focus, effort, and attitude) pulls out the win in the end.

The same thing is true for low carb living I think. Being focussed on the goal, staying in the game and committed to succeeding, and maintaining a positive attitude are so important. The quality of one's self-talk goes a long way to helping one succeed. Visualizing success and achievement of one's goals. Seeing through temptation and realizing that the momentary reward of going off-plan is less fulfilling and rewarding than staying on plan and meeting ones goals.

Folks that are really struggling seem to have one thing in common. Folks that are frustrated with this way of eating are looking at what they don't have and are focussing on that - instead of what they can have. When they look at their food choices all they see is what is verboten and forbidden. They see themselves denied everything and only able to eat some smallish amount of lesser satisfying foods. The ones who are successful focus on what they CAN have. And they focus on all the many varieties of what can be made of those things - wonderful dishes and meals and snacks!

I personally see juicy and sizzling steaks and burgers and fish and brats and sausage and pork and turkey and chicken and so many other things that I CAN EAT. They moan over only being able to eat burgers without the bun and bemoan the loss of bread and pasta and potatoes and REAL COKES, etc. I have learned about new choices cram packed with flavor and that are really satisfying. Pepsi One, Lipton Diet Green and White Teas, Coke Zero, Diet Mt. Dew, Crystal Light, Sobe, Fuse, etc. Frustrated folks feel restricted. Instead I feel like there are many choices, and the longer I am at this and work at learning about them, the more and more choices of awesome, tasty, excellent food there are that I learn I can eat and live on (and live WELL)!

I really enjoy Dannon low carb yogurts and Sugar Free Jellos and Breyers Low Carb Ice Cream and Ice Cream Bars! Low carb Cheesecake made with Splenda is AWESOMELY EXCELLENT! There are so many flavored cheeses and nuts and beef jerkies and beef sticks to eat. String Cheese. Sargento "Stcksters" Cheese sticks of all kinds of cheese flavors. And I am eating more veggies than I have eaten in my whole entire life. Tasty veggies smothered in cheese or cream or in rich flavorful broths, or mixed with mushrooms and herbs.

If you want to succeed at this lifestyle and way of eating you need to have your head in the game. You need to explore and love all the many choices YOU DO HAVE, and stop thinking about what you do not have. You need to be good to yourself and EAT WELL. Hot steaming juicy steaks and fillets and chicken. Cooked with herbs. Melted with cheese or flavorful low carb sauce.

Other Low Carb heros out there have invested in sugar free and low carb syrups and are putting chocolate syrups and fruit over their food. They are experimenting with all kinds of tasty flavors and textures in their food. You really need to get out there and try to make recipes other low carbers have developed. Only beware as some folks have labeled dishes low carb when they have 30-100 grams of carbs or more in the dish - WAAAAY over induction or OWL levels and likely to knock you out of ketosis and fat burning Gluconeogenesis.

One other thing that makes a difference in my mind is whether you see this as a temporary diet (till you reach some goal) or as a way of life and eating from here on out.

It does make a difference I think to how much effort you put into learning about the options you do have. About how well you prepare in advance for the day and week ahead of you. And it does translate to learning and implementing lasting changes into your life. It also makes the difference between long-term serious guilt ridden depression over falling off the wagon, and dusting ones self off and getting back on the program (if one overdoes it or gets off the program at any point).

The person who has a long term focus to low carb eating doesn't wonder if they can't do this. They are sticking this out even through stalls, temporary gains, and hard times. This is the long term deal for them. And either through persistance, trial and error, or tinkering and tweaking they see themselves through the times where the body reaches plateaus or fights back against us in our weight loss efforts.

Successful low carbers hold themselves accountable. They don't allow negative self talk. They understand when rationalizations and excuses are occurring and nip it in the bud. "OWN YOUR DECISIONS", one successful low carb hero I admire tags his posts. And he also tags them with, "Character is that force that enables an individual to carry out a resolution once the mood in which that resolution was born has died." Super thoughts!

Some other last few things that I think makes a difference between winners and losers in this low carb journey is being consistent, making an effort, and willingness to make and accept changes to ones life.

Consistency makes this way of eating easier and easier. You get used to portion sizes and ways of eating (habits) that are successful and help you meet your goals. You try not to eat late at night, and you snack to keep your energy up and stay on track through the day. Consistency means that you learn by force of habit how to do successful things, in easy to learn and remember ways. You get used to portions and types of food that "work" for you, and learn to avoid those that don't.

Making an effort means you go the extra mile and put in the work and time to learn about this way of life. You read the books (Atkins, South Beach, Protien Power, etc) and you study and learn from the experts how to be successful. You read the blogs and web sites and other resources. You look hard for tasty solutions for meals, snacks, drinks, and deserts that are permissible for your stage in this way of eating. It means that if faced with lousey choices you make the best ones or simply wait to eat to do something better. You settle for a diet drink for now, or drink some water. You grab a bag of peanuts. You do what you can instead of breaking down and having what you cannot.

One of the best ways to make an effort is to make preparation. Buy some low carb groceries. Order some LC foods online. Boil some eggs. Make some chicken salad and tuna salad. Have low carb snacks on hand. Get rid of the tempting sugary things in the house, or at least have low carb alternatives at hand.

The last thing is making changes. Everybody hates change. It is awful. We are all creatures of habit. In some cases we are trying to change a lifetime of developed habits that have been unsuccessful in meeting our objectives (good health, a desired weight, happiness with ourselves, etc). But unlearning old poor habits and learning new good ones is a key factor in being successful. Learning to drink water and other low carb beverages if one has drank the SUPERSIZED COKES and other sugary drinks every day for years and years is a big change.

We have to learn new habits. Practice desired behaviors till they become part of us. They say if you do some new thing for several weeks it will become a habit and they way you do things. We need to work at this too.

OK. One last thing. Get some support. Go online and meet other low carbers. Learn from them. Encourage them when they are struggling. Share ideas. Make friends. Help others and get some help too. Find some of the many success stories online, and make/meet some low carb heros in your life.

Hope you find something here that can help. Keep you on-track. Keep you focused. Remind you of good things that work. Encourage you to make a little greater effort.

Make yourself a success story and become a low carb hero yourself! Good luck on your low carb journey!!!

PJ's Divine Low Carb Mania!

2007-05-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

You absolutely need to check out the low carb blog mania and web linkage posted here:
http://lowcarbmania.blogspot.com/

What an awesome idea!! Break out your favorite web browser and add this site to your favorites! It's a great place to search for excellent low carb blog links! I personally really enjoy following links to other low carbers sites and then even following the links off of those sites. It is amazing and I have ended up (in my six degrees of seperation) surfing the Internet clear to the other side of the world reading about fellow low carbers and related health and nutrition blogs and sites - all interested in the same things I am!

One thing I personally find interesting and rewarding is reading about the success others have had. Reading about their strategies! Seeing their BEFORE, IN-PROGRESS, and AFTER photos. Reading about their stories. About their struggles! About all the ups and downs (even stalls, gains, etc). Also about the research being done! The ideas being shared!

And don't forget to add another long standing and also awesome low carb link list blogsite to your favorites - Jimmy Moore's Low Carb Links!!!!(http://lowcarblinks.blogspot.com/)

Following and reading the thoughts, interests and progress of others on their low carb journeys is very inspiring to me and is educational and charges my own low carb motivational batteries!! I really enjoy everytime I can read about another person with great recipes, stories of making it through various struggles, launching back after failure, learning of new tools and gadgets and sites to help, etc.

Anyhow this is all part of that bigger picture I blogged about in a prior posting below (The whole is greater than the sum of the parts). And while on my own low carb journey and while dealing with my own personal health and life, I am also sharing something in common with so many others all over the globe! I am cheering them on in their victories! I am hoping for them! Sometimes I can help them, manytimes they help me!

PJ & Jimmy - Thanks!!!!
And Thanks to my many low carb friends!

May I Direct Your Attention....

2007-05-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

Regina Wilshire of the Weight of the Evidence blog (http://weightoftheevidence.blogspot.com/) is taking on an awesome challenge - One I am not sure I am even capable of.

She is feeding her family low carb, satieting, nutrient dense meals on only $3.00 per person per day. It is something of a challenge some congressmen dreamed up to see what a person who lives on food stamps is challenged to live like.

For those complaining about the high cost of low carb diets - it is worth following and checking out!!

The Whole is Greater than the Sum of the Parts

2007-05-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my dad the other day, and he said something that stuck with me - and I have been mentally chewing on it ever since. It was a simple observation - probably one that is patently obvious on the face of it. He said that the reason men band together and form governments (federal, state, local) and other organizations and institutions is that together they can accomplish more than a man can on his own alone.

I got to thinking about that. I have been watching men build highways and bridges on my way to work and from my vantage point in the office space I have been working in for the past couple of months. I got to thinking about it. You never see a single man build a highway. Or a bridge. The scale of the enterprise is so complex and massive and daunting it is beyond the capacity of one man to build it.

There are so many things that we do as a "corporate" function that we take for granted. Roads, a military defense, schools, policing, hospitals, clinics, etc. They all exist in the background and we mostly don't even think of them. Yet the big difference between one society and another in the terms of their level of accomplishment - is the level to which man (people) can successfully band together to accomplish so many things that are bigger than any man.

One of my family members was discussing a former employee of a company he used to work for, branching off and starting a similar enterprise with a similar sorta name (till he was sued into the ground by the former employer). Yet the organization I work for (who shall remain nameless) probably doesn't have as much to worry about ex-employees setting up multi-billion dollar research and manufacturing setups. It could happen, but the chances are significantly smaller. And what we produce and accomplish is really more than any one man can do as well. Something else on the face of it that we may take for granted - but only exists because many men (people) band together to make something not easily made by a single person.

There are alot of ways in my life where this also holds true. As a family we are stronger and better together than apart. As a member of a local assembly of Christians I am better off with the encouragement and strength and help I get from my brethren. And as a participant in low carb forums and message boards like this I also get strength, encouragement, information, advice, pep-talks, course corrections, etc. It is better not to go through life alone, if you want to accomplish many big things. The results will be better if you are part of some larger group of folks pulling together and working towards an objective. Even if that objective is building a road or a bridge, or working to get to heaven with as many folks as we can get to go with us, or just mastering the mechanics of our bodies to lose weight and achieve better health.

Anyhow - to all those that help me build my bridges - THANKS!

Low Carb Goodness! Italian Sausage from Johnsonville!!

2007-05-23T21:12:00.001-07:00

Looking for something that tastes excellent, is low carb, and quick and easy to prepare? Johnsonville makes some really awesomely outstanding-tasting, mildly seasoned Italian sausage. It is precooked and frozen. All you have to do is open the bag, defrost for a couple minutes in the microwave. Cook on high for about 1 and 1/2 to 2 minutes, then cover with some Sargento Pepper Cheese slices and cook some more on high till the sausage is sizzling and the pepper cheese is seriously melted over the sausage. MMMMMmmmmm!

It is quick! It is easy! It tastes just super! The sausage is seasoned just perfectly in my opinion, and is flavorful and reminds me of good eating at the finest italian restaurants - something I have not really done since going on LC (no pasta for me anymore).

Carbs are low, flavor is high, and time and hassle of preparation are at an all time low. Precooked. All you have to do is heat and smother (with cheese), offer thanks, and eat!

Mappin it Out: A Look Into the Future

2007-05-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

THIS ISN'T A SPRINT - IT'S A MARATHON!

I decided to map out the graph of my progress and extend it out - and see what it looks like. Wow! I spent a few minutes putting the graphic together this evening and extended a band that is my current rate of loss into the future - not that I can count on anything, let alone my losses remaining consistent into the future. They could go slower or faster.

One thing that is apparent is that I got a whole giant boatload of flab to lose, and it is going to take some time, for sure. No wonder. I didn't get into this situation overnight and it will take more than a short while to lose the extra weight I have put on since I was about 18 or 20 or so.

Although I can be rational and mature and all that, ...it still **is** difficult to be patient and go through all the time and effort to reach my goal. The one upside of this taking so long is that as long as I am focused on losing weight, I'll likely not be gaining any back. So that bodes well for my health for the immediate future - the next few years at least.

I think that it is better that it takes time probably, as I will spend more than a couple years learning the skills I need to learn to maintain this as an ongoing way of life into the future.

Anyhow I am posting my long term chart as a graphic so everyone can see what a journey this is just to hit my goals. It may take longer - who knows? And in truth - the journey is one that I hope doesn't end. This isn't a diet. This is the way I eat from now on.

What - Me Worry? HA! Down into the 320's!!!!!

2007-05-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Negative Self Talk and Worry - Internal Battles

Well it appears I have hand-wrung and worried myself into a mini-whoosh-like breakthrough into the 320's (see prior blog post). I wonder how many calories are burned in hand wringing, worrying, and the like? Does that count as excercise? Should I log that in my "Fit-Day" journal entry? Hand wringing - 2 days (>14,000 calories)??!!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am big on positive self-talk and staying positive in outlook and all. Yet the truth is, when I start worrying all the negative thoughts get in there and do battle internally - these kinds of things **do** pop into my brain. I try not to dwell on them or give them any place to hang out, but the truth is you do start to worry and have negative thoughts if positive things aren't happening like they used to. So it is a battle! One we got to hang in there and stay the course on!!!

---------------------------------------

SMALL VICTORIES! This morning on the scale I read 326.2 lbs - so I am finally making it into 320-land. "EEEEEE-Doggie!" Happy Happy Joy Joy!!!!

That is a new all time low for me (last low I saw was at 331 lbs), and makes it over 80 lbs down now. Actually 83.8 lbs. So, I'll take it!

Given that I stay true to form, I will now roller coaster ride back up again and then back down again in a few days time. That is so frustrating, but I guess it's how this whole deal works for me. I would like my weight numbers to be much more linear and consistent, instead of oscillating all over the place like they do (riding up and down on water retention). Another week or two and I will be out of the 330's, I would hope (based on past experience).

Anyhow. I feel good. I feel REAL GOOD!! It's been a long long while in coming and I was seemingly never going to break thru out of the 330's.

The Time's: They Are A Changin'

2007-05-20T17:34:00.000-07:00

I dunno - but I think things have been slowin down for me lately. My wife has noticed it herself and has commented to me on it. She thinks I am stuck in the 330's. I am spending more time here than I have at weights previously, I think. My rate of loss has slowed some. I am still losing. I am on the verge of busting into the 320's, still. Just way more slowly. I noticed I am about down another belt notch lower than the last one, and it is about time to drill more holes or get a smallerish belt. That is one good thing!

The cycling of my weight up and down has continued - retaining water weight and riding up, then dropping down to new lows. But I am dropping less lately than before. On one cycle recently I noticed a .4 lb drop (POINT FOUR) from one new low to the next!!! Still it **IS** in the right direction.

ARGH!! I have been getting disgusted enough that I stopped logging my daily weight (something I probably shouldn't do I suppose) and have mostly been logging my weight online when it hits new lows.

I am probably getting to the point where things I did in the past with impunity - still losing weight - I can no longer get away with. I have been reading online alot and thinking about things. Am I in a stall? Have I just hit a levelling off period? Or do I need to crank things up or cut things back just to get things going again??

I am not eating massive amounts of carbs. My average is still 1.9 lbs loss a week since January, but still lately I am certainly doing somewhat less which is frustrating. I still have plenty of bodyfat tho. So it's not even like I am leveling out at rock bottom!

I have been contemplating all kinds of things. Beginning to work-out or doing something to raise my metabolic rate. Jumping on to some lower calories low carb thing to bust things loose (perhaps do a Kimkins or a M/E kinda thing for a short period)? It's probably just me needing to cut back on the cheese and salad stuff a bit. Get more ON PROGRAM than I have been lately. I probably haven't been counting carbs tightly enough, and that is perhaps the deal. I haven't been going nose-down into carbs, but maybe overdoing it on cheese or the salad bar or the like. I may need to get back on fitday and do some fascist level logging of things and tracking day to day much harder.

The past couple of days I have had the stomach flu bug. Massive intestinal disruption in very socially unacceptable contexts (if you know what I mean). I have had a bad headache and stomach ache. I am hoping that going through this might be enough to propel me into 320-land. We'll see.

Hanging in there. Keeping on Keeping on. Staying the course.

Low Carb (Coffee Drinking) Thoughts...

2007-05-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

In one of the LC forums I find myself visiting often someone mentioned that Dr. Atkins was opposed to caffeine consumption as it provoked an insulin response. I thought that surely couldn't be correct - as I have lost weight consuming probably vaster amounts of coffee and caffeine-laden diet sodas than most. But I checked online and as they say... "Sho Nuff", I found studies saying just that. Not grocery store checkout line publication types of "studies", but real honest to goodness doctor/scientist type of studies. Wow!

I started really drinking lots of coffee once I read a study that in Finland (I think) where they drink more coffee than anywhere else - they have lower incidents of circulatory problems and diabetic issues than elsewhere. Having my own personal issues with circulatory problems in my legs - I jumped in with both feet, becoming a very important contributor to Starbucks (and other places serving bean juice) annual revenues.

Now I am about silly with with IV lines running from our Starbucks Barista stainless steel coffee maker direct to my veins (JUST KIDDING - DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!)!!

I am not sure what to do as I don't want worse circulatory problems than I have, but I also want to whoosh on down to new lows if I can - and would hate to slow that down.

Also, I wonder if I am really low on carbage and glucose producing sugars if it is really that significant of a factor for me to even worry about it. Any ideas? Weigh in with your thoughts!

I may run my own highly unscientific 2 week test and just drink water and see the difference and if it is measureable or significant in the difference.

Links to a couple of the coffee & insulin response studies I found online:

Caffeine ingestion elevates plasma insulin response in humans during an oral glucose tolerance test

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=11478588&dopt=Abstract

Caffeine ingestion increases the insulin response to an oral-glucose-tolerance test in obese men before and after weight loss1,2,3

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/80/1/22

One other thought - at least one of these studies showed that excercise actually works the other way - decreasing the insulin response. Maybe that would cancel the caffeine effect out? Or maybe the effect is so short lasting and of so little consequence when there is little sugar in the system that it doesn't matter. Or maybe the sugars from gluconeogenisis is enough to be elevated. Or... maybe the increase in metabolism from caffeine is enough to offset the effects?

Before Going Low Carb: Fear of Scales

2007-05-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

BEFORE LOW CARB: Fear of XXXXXXXL Pants

2007-05-12T00:15:00.000-07:00

Before Low Carb Phobias - Fear of Crowded Elevators

2007-05-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

The Last Post Got the Ol' Artistic Juices Flowin...

2007-05-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. "Keep your day job", you are thinking!

Leonardo DaVinci I am not!

But I thought that the last post wasn't complete without perhaps an additional drawing of a similar phobia I hope to conquer at some point in the future. I am not quite there yet, but at least there is hope....

Fear of breaking flimsy chairs....

Sigh...

I guess I will leave off here. I am tempted to do "Fear of Splitting One's Pants While Tying One's Shoes", but this is a family rated blogsite, and that is a little over the top (or under the bottom) anyhow....

Kewl-Ness of Weight Loss!

2007-05-11T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I am almost down about 80 lbs. Not yet, but almost! I have been on-plan (or mostly always on-plan) since November 1st, 2006. No significant cheats or carb binges, or falling off the wagon as of yet. A couple minor indulgences here and there, but nothing really out-of-bounds so far.

We went out to eat tonight as a family. For YEARS, I have always asked restaurant staff for a "Table and Chairs, ...Not a Booth". Fear of booths has been a constant thing for me since I have had to jam my too big body into someplace way too tiny, and try to look like I am eating comfortably. What a scene I must have made....

Anyhow, that is one phobic tick about me that is seemingly going away with the weight loss, as I progress further and further towards a more normal weight for my bod. It used to be that my wife would ask (in recent weeks) "Are you SURE you want to sit in a booth?", and lately I have been bravely trying to see if I could make it work. And lately, more and more of the time it is no big deal. I fit comfortably, and can eat well, and enjoy my meal.

Tonight was the first night my wife didn't ask, "Are you SURE...??"!

So here's to smallish victories and improvements in the quality of my life!! I now fit into most booths, without a problem! That probably doesn't mean much to you if you have never had the problem I have had over the past years. It means alot to me, and it is a significant landmark on my journey to eat healthier and get healthier on a low carb life!

My drawing at the top is a tribute to the award winning graphics featured on the "Lovin Low Carb Life:By Sparky's Girl'" lowcarb blog... if she can draw pictures of herself there, well ...then I can too!!! [smile!] :)

Sure these are low-budget graphics no-doubt, but hopefully you get the point of the picture... It can be a tight fit when you get too out-of-whack with your bod and sometimes have to fit into smallerish places like the typical restaurant booth!

Getting Others to Jump In to Low Carb

2007-05-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

In something of a surprise to me, my brother in-law has decided to jump in to eating low carb. I am very excited about this and hope he has the commitment to really do this with no cheats. I am sure he will see major results if he does! Rather than commit to a goal of losing X-number of pounds in Y-amount of time, he is planning on committing to this way of eating for 52 weeks. That would be awesome if he did so! I really think that this is the way to go, and the way to long term weight and health improvement.

I have been hoping to have an influence on a number of folks but so far have been striking out. My stepson went on and off the program in a couple days time. I was hoping he would be motivated enough to really truely try it, but no. My wife has been teetering, but hoping that something other than watching what she eats will do the trick and suddenly result in massive weight loss (She is somewhat invested in the CPAP breathing appliance, as some sleep center doctor told her that folks who use it lose weight. I wonder if she asked this doc if it would make her breasts larger or her IQ higher if he wouldn't have told her it would do that too....).

I hope that someday my wife will also join me in this way of eating, as I know it would make her feel so much better, and would better regulate her blood sugars and all - and would probably result in weight loss, better cholesterol numbers, and more.

My brother, who was one of the few folks who originally inspired me to do this (he had lost about 80 lbs on Atkins) has since gotten off the way of eating and back to high carb eating, and has regained much of his weight. Even after I threw down the gauntlet and proclaimed him the new heavyweight champ of the family, he has still struggled. For some reason he will eat low carb all day, then eat donuts or some cake or the like. It's almost like - why bother? I suppose restricting some of the carbs and sugars is beneficial, but the whole deal is to get into and stay into a ketongenic state - ketosis. If you are avoiding ketosis by filling your body/liver regularly with sugars, it seems like nonsense to me. But my bro has the same body type as me & my dad and I am pulling for him, and hope that he too can get motivated to get on this plan again 100%.

Anyhow, I am getting to the point where I want to stop and tell everyone that I meet who are grossly overweight (severely morbidly obese) that they don't have to be that way - that there are pretty easy ways to avoid that way of life if you want to. But I've been biting my lips a bit. The few times I have spoken to folks they haven't really gotten it, or don't want to get it. I feel like maybe like me, they need time to get to the place where they too are ready to commit to this way of life and way of eating.

Ah well,.... I am still:

Keeping on keeping on. Staying the course. Keeping the faith. On plan and on target.
Hanging in there...