Haven’t been hungry for 3 days ??

by | Jan 16, 2013 | Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Below is a copy of the post where I have commented on about ketosis

 

Myers728:

The last 3 days I haven’t been hungry. The idea of eating something small even when I am not hungry makes me sick. I force myself to eat something small to get some food in. I don’t want to complain b/c I would rather not be hungry then hungry all the time. What is happening?

 

Me:

Hi Myers728,

Yes it definitely sounds like you’re in ketosis. What you’re experiencing is in effect a typical fasting response where the body will start looking elsewhere for energy in order to keep itself going. As the others have said, it won’t last forever but it will for many people, be the one time in their low carb journey, do they experience the highest amount of fat loss that they’re ever going to experience.

Also, during this time, the physical size of your stomach will shrink so that does mean when you start eating again, the size of portions that you need to satisfy  yourself will be very small. Now there can be a temptation once you got the munchies; just to think, “Oh, I’ll make up for what I haven’t been eating over the last how ever many days”. Well, I would counsel you try and regulate how much you eat to take full advantage of your new small stomach simply because the longer that you can be satisfied with small quantities, the longer you will experience a period of either unusual fat loss.

Do remember, however, to make sure that you eat enough fat in order to satisfy the body’s need for energy.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Exercise is NON-NEGOTIABLE

by | Jan 14, 2013 | Exercise, How Your Body Works, Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Yet another copy of a post I just commented to at forum.lowcarber.org about exercise

KristyRusi Said:

So.. i’ve been reading my Atkins New Diet revolution book. (i’d slacked on that focusing only on getting induction down but as i’m done with my 2 weeks tomorrow i figured i should get crackin’) And i came to chapter 22 titled “Exercise: its Non-negotiable”

The very first line is ” Calling all couch potatoes: if you’re not getting regular exercise you aren’t following the Atkins Natural Approach. It’s that simple.”

(the chapter goes on to give reasons why and how much and what exercises to do, but non the less, it is non-negotiable)

The reason i bring this up is because i’m new, i want to do this right, and i’ve all but said that no diet works without the same key ingredients. reduction (in food types or quantities), staying on path (if you stop you gain, in all diet types) and exercise was my big question mark. I’ve assumed at some point exercise would be required even calorie reduction (which he also says YES you eventually if you stall may have to count calories too), no one can expect to eat a list of ingredients limitlessly and lose weight by laying on the couch. Maybe at first but not for a real long term goal. At least i know the book clears it up. (i know i know everyone said read the book >.<)

My biggest reason for posting, is that so many people make a big deal about how they did no exercise and lost all their weight.

Well, good for you. But it’s not realistic, and you aren’t following the plan per Dr. A. No matter what i wouldn’t have exercised during induction anyway i felt horrible, i still dont’ feel back up to my old energy level either, but for the future i want to give it the gung ho try, so i guess exercise it is. For me this only adds a bit of self doubt. Can i not eat carbs? sure. that’s easy… will i keep an exercise plan?… i dunno, it never worked in the past. It sounds like old times again (old long failed but never forgotten diets).

No one should promote this diet to work without exercise (or gloat giving a new person false hope). At least it makes sense to me now. At least the fog (not just induction fog) has lifted and i see it clearly. This isn’t about being Low Carb or Low Calorie, this is just a mind trick to get me to realize i can not be thin without sacrafice, and hard work. I can’t be a couch potato and reach my goals.

I guess i just needed reassurance that its okay to work this into your lifestyle slowly, and mold it to work for you food wise as best you can stand as far as eating, but as he said.. exercise.. it’s non-negotiable. *gag*.. I will say that i hope that this won’t be another failed diet. I hope this will be the one that worked for me. I hope that my attitude (though pretty grumpy and depressing verbally as of late) stays positive towards sticking with it and with that said…. here we go phase 2 bring it on.

 

My Response:

I used to do loads of exercise, mainly weightlifting and circuit training. The reason behind that was at the time, I needed to be strong for the job I was doing. Yet, the problem I found with the conventionally suggested diet was that while it indeed gave you the nutrients your body needed in order to make up the muscles that you are building up, along with it came a lot of extras that you didn’t need and this led to not just muscle gain but also fat gain at the same time. The picture however changed drastically when I switched to low carb, as I think I have mentioned elsewhere.

That was many decades ago and things have changed now, whereas once upon a time I was happy to spend an hour and a half, two hours in the gym building up my lovely muscles. Age, wisdom and the consciousness of time have made me realize that perhaps, those two hours could be better spent. Now, instead, I do 10 minutes of simple body weight exercises everyday. Things like push ups, pull ups, Hindu squats and that sort of things and I find it gives me more than enough strength to go through my day to day activities and I can still surprise some of the youngsters around me, able to lift things that they would only just look at; all that, without ever finding me in the gym.

For the last 10 years, my exercise of choice has been salsa and jive dancing. So you can imagine, I’m fully behind cnmLisa where she says exercise is movement and that can be as mild as a walk or something that challenges your muscles.

The thing about the gym is while, yes, it may challenge your muscles, it doesn’t really challenge the rest of you. Whereas, something like dancing means that you have to challenge your brain for remembering patterns of movements and so forth, stamina, (yes, I can dance from 7 pm right away through to 2 am), your sense of timing, your sense of balance and a whole host of other things.

But the really great thing about an exercise form like that is that it is social, you’re not just looking at the machines screen or something like that. You’re interacting with other real people and enjoying yourself. So if anybody’s got their mind to, why not take the challenge, why not go out dancing or find yourself another physically active yet social activity to join in with?

Hope that helps,

Mark

Re: I’m Starting Again

by | Jan 11, 2013 | Food Choices, Low carb diet, Meat Products, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Here is a copy of another comment I made at fattoskinny.net about a previous thread on weight loss

 

Here is the thread:

 

From: Itsoversugar

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve checked out prices online. They’ve always been more expensive than I could get locally. Where do you order from?

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From: Umpa

Welcome MarkMoxom! I am Umpa Dougs wife if I can help you please ask.  I have a column on the homepage where I can convert your favorite foods to fat to skinny friendly.Enjoy the forum

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From: TooSweet

Welcome to the forum MarkMoxom     I’m curious where you order your meat as well

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From: mouseissue

Welcome to the FTS family, Mark!!!      

We are blessed to live around a LOT of ranchers.

We buy our beef by the side and save a good deal of money compared to stores prices.
And we get the prime cuts too!… Those are the ones usually reserved for restaurants only. 

Tony

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My response: 

 

Hi everyone!

Thanks to Umpa, TooSweet and mouseissue for the nice welcome.

I’m now fortunate enough to spend a lot of my time in France so a lot of what we eat comes from the farms, literally, just next door all around us. Our chicken comes from Pernwal who is just across the lane. Our fresh eggs come from Petit Poulet who lived just down the end of the lane. In fact, virtually, everything we eat, vegetables, cheese, meat, you name it, is locally produced because we decided some time ago to make the effort to eat as cleanly as possible, by clean, I mean, free from preservatives and things like that, artificial flavors, colorings, and all those sort of things our body neither needs nor wants. There are two really good things about living in the country. One, you can see exactly where your food comes from and two, because your buying form the actual producers, you’re getting more or less, market prices. This can be typically to a third, or four, even half the price to what you would see the same type or produce in the Bio section of your supermarket or delicatessen in many cases.

So in answer to Itsoversugar, it’s been a while too since I actually ordered naturally raised products by mail order. Some months in fact, I’m now thinking about it, it’s even longer than that. Many of my circles who continue to live the urban lifestyle and they keep me upraised about what’s going on in various parts of the world. One supplier, I’d like to draw your attention to, and I have no connection to them, by the way, I just think they are a brilliant, brilliant operation, is Polyface Farms. They are based in Virginia, but I think they serve Virginia and Maryland but one of the great things about Polyface Farms and many others who follow a very similar pattern is that take on apprentices. Once the apprentice is qualified, they then go off and start farms of their own so you’ve got them in Ohio, Iowa, Oregon, Pasadena, quite a few places around that part of the States. The thing is they’re not alone. It really is a simple matter of going onto Google and  putting in the search term, firstly, “farmer’s market” and the  your local area or “grass fed beef” then your local area, county, state or whatever and you’ll find a whole hosts of different producers producing exactly the type of food that we as low carbers want to eat. If you got the opportunity to go to one that is near to you, you’ll often find that the price that you pay on the farm is a lot less than your paying mail order. The thing to do then is to get together with other people who would like to eat the way you do and buy, say, half a cow, or half a sheep, or that sort of quantity and divide it up. Another good thing about doing in that way is that, if you buy half an animal, you get virtually everything that comes with that half of the animal. They are also buying it a lot earlier in the food supply chain so you can guarantee its freshness.  And as just as mouseissue had said, you get the cuts that are often sold off to restaurants or specialist delicatessen. Where we are, they have a very, I’ll say, a curious system, but it’s not curious in many ways. It’s quite sensible. Quite a number of these small farmers all over Europe, in fact, will at certain times of the year, allow you either on your own or as a group to buy,  say, a calf and you pay for it  there on and it becomes your calf. You are the registered owner of cow number, whatever its ear ticket says but you don’t take it home with you. It stays on the farm and the farmer will continue to raise it for you. This is normally done through the grass feed season as well so you can be sure that most of its feed is on good, natural pasture. Once it has reached its table weight the farmer will also organize the preparation for table giving you excellent quality meat at a very reasonable price.

The main thing I’d like people to take away from this is that we don’t have to accept just what the shops have to offer, that with a little bit of investigation,  a little bit of tenacity, and not being shy to ask around, we can find some of the best food for our table and our families that is possible to find.

Hope that helps,

Mark

P90X

by | Jan 11, 2013 | Exercise, Fat Loss, Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Below is a copy of the post at Jimmy Moore’s where I commented on regarding exercise while on a low carb diet

 

Here’s what greggers19 said:

Has anyone tried to do the P90X workouts while on a low carb, high fat diet? I am starting it today but wanted to know if someone on here has done it before and what to expect. I’ve done P90X before but it was when I wasn’t low carb, and I saw mild results, I wonder why ha. 

Thanks, Greg

 

My comment:

Hi greggers19,

I have to tell you, you’ll find some seriousrly brilliant resulsts if you do any type of exercise when you’re on a low carb diet. I remember when I first started low carb, I used to be a body builder and I would spend anything up to an hour and half, 4 or 5 times a week doing a number of sets. Now the concensus of opinion among many in the bodybuilding arena is that you can’t do low carb when you’re doing weight training. They says it zaps your energy.

Well, after a  few, maybe 6 weeks on low carb, the most amusing thing was is that towards the end of my time at the last gym I was at, the trainer used to follow me around and he couldn’t believe that I was doing the same sort of weights in the time I was doing them in, mind you, at that time, neither could I. So as ecocarnivore has said,  any exercise program works on low carb, I would change it, just slightly, any exercise program works better on low carb.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Questions Concerning The Zone Diet – So Confused

by | Jan 9, 2013 | Fat Loss, Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

This is a copy of a certain post on forum.lowcarber.org  that I have replied to about Zone Diet

Rick said:

First, I know you do not have to count calories on The Zone as long as you follow the blocks. But, I checked for how many blocks I am supposed to have and it is 19 blocks. I am a male 5’11” and weigh 441.2. So, according to the block calculation (since the calculator won’t do it for me), I am to assume 50% body fat and 50% lean which means that I have 220.6 lean body mass. I multiply that by .6 which gives me 132.36 grams of protein. When I divide that by 7, I end up with 18.9 blocks. So, 19 blocks. 

Here is my concern. When I did low carb a few years back, I had trouble losing weight. I found out that I wasn’t eating enough. I was eating around 1500 calories and I needed to be eating close to 3000 calories. I have also heard this even after I quit low carbing. So, that got me to calculating. 19 blocks of protein is 7 grams per block (133 grams). Since each gram of protein is 4 calories, then that means the calories for protein is approx. 532. Carbs are 9 grams per block making 19 blocks 171 grams. Since each gram is 4 calories, that calculates to 684 calories. Fat contains 19 blocks with 1.5 grams per block making the total grams 28.5 grams. Since fat is 9 calories per gram, this equals 256.5 calories.

When I add the calories for each, I get a total of 1,472.5 calories. This is less than half of what I was told before I needed and what I am being told that I need now. On top of that, I am being told (and was told when I was on low carb before) that I at least need to eat my BMR which is 2550. But, it is recommended I eat 20% less than my TDEE which would be 3,775 calories. I know the story about the I think it was 1700 pancakes and that your body gets its extra calories from the excess fat. I agree it will do that. But, I also have experienced my body stalling because I wasn’t eating enough.

What also concerns me is the protein amount. Even all the other low carb programs tell me I need at least 1 gram per pound of lean body mass which would be around 221 grams. That is 60% more than The Zone is telling me I need. I am being told that if I don’t each enough protein, that I will lose muscle mass which I don’t want to do. 

So, here is what my question boils down to. Has anyone who was morbidly obese and had to lose over 100 pounds ever monitored your lean body mass while on The Zone? Did you follow the guidelines provided or did you increase your intake? Did you lose lean body mass while doing this? 

I need something that is going to sustain me for life and I am concerned that this may not be sustainable for me since the calories are so low and I may not be able to keep up with it. In other words, I am so confused because I really don’t know what the truth is.

I replied:

Hi Rick,

Yeah, I do know where you’re coming from. I was quite a big lad before I decided to lose weight. The thing that most people tend to forget is that, the bigger we are, the more our body needs to keep going. As Seejay had said below, the Zone diet was developed for people, who are in no way, is as big as you and I are, or were in my case.

The other thing I’ve discovered about the Zone diet is that it’s very complicated when compared to other diets such as Atkins. Having lost weight myself, a considerable amount of weight, I should add, with a much simpler diet, I can unreservedly recommend that you change the diet that you’re on now. As Nancy LC had said below, that the Zone diet is, at heart, a low calorie diet, I think you’d b pleasantly surprised if you do change. Not just that you will feel more satisfied by what you eat, but also, you will feel what you’re body feels as the pleasure of being a slim and  fit person becomes more and more a reality.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Get Started

by | Jan 9, 2013 | Low carb diet, Portion Sizes, Sensible Eating, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Here is a copy of the post on about.com that I have commented on regarding low carb diet

sunnydesertday posted:

It’s a wonderful way to start losing weight and eventually changing a lifestyle. Adjusting to Atkins may be a challenge, but the results are worth every struggle. Eventually, lower carbs can become a way of life and no longer a challenge. And carbs are returned, to a certain point.  Atkins does not necessarily mean high fat. I prefer lower fat, as well. I don’t have to have bacon with my eggs or on my hamburger. Also crucial is portion control, no matter how or what one eats. Many of us would be better off with smaller portions and small snacks.

My comment:

There is no doubt that the low carb diet is a wonderful way to start losing weight and as that weight is lost, obviously, our lifestyle would change because there are so many things that we can start doing our excess weight stopped us from doing it in the first place. So, I would agree totally with sunnydesertday, Atkins, or any low carb diet for that matter, is really a wonderful way to start losing weight. Adjusting to any low carb diet is a challenge but we can minimize that in so many ways.

One thing I’ve noticed that many people concentrate on when they start any diet, but particularly a low carb diet, is that they start concentrating on all the thing they can’t eat and instead of enriching their diet or taking the challenge, they actually start to limit the amount or the types of food that they eat…. “Because you can’t eat anything but potatoes and you can’t eat anything with rice and you can’t eat anything with bread”, and all those sort of things. However, if we were to take a step back, and accept what so may regard as a challenge, then quite frankly, what we can eat is far  more likely to become varied in so many, many ways. Let’s face it,  when was the last time you decided to buy a different cut of meat from the one you always buy, or buy a different  type of fish to the one that you buy most of the time? When was the last time you walked pass a vegetable counter in your supermarket or hypermarket and thought “Oh that looks different, I think I’ll try that!”

I’m sure you see where I’m coming from. The simple fact is that, yes, any new diet can be a challenge if we allow it to be so but it can also become a wonderful opportunity to try new things and simply dare to taste things that we’ve never tasted before.

Hope that helps,

Mark