great diary moab, i'm learning a lot

Good luck this weekend at your school. You have already come a long ways, even if you did slip up a little this weekend, I can't see it putting a huge dent in the great work you have done already! Keep it up!

I ended up staying on Atkins this whole weekend, and I was glad to be able to be on atkins because I would have failed otherwise. Going out to dinner, I was able to eat the meaty entrées. I had fajitas without the tortillas. I had breakfast with everyone and ate just eggs, bacon, and sausage. I had pizza toppings, I had salads with lots of meat and cheese and I had hamburgers with no buns. I would have to say that I felt like it was a glutfest, but with restrictions. I felt like caving in several times, and even had decided to, but with great support, I was able to get by on Atkins. I came home and expected to have gained 10 lbs, but I was exactly the same as when I left. Hurray for the Atkins diet. Sure, I didn’t lose weight, but I ate a ton so I have the associated water weight and intestinal weight that comes with eating a lot. I had been eating very little before going on Atkins this week, so I bet when I get back on my regular diet I will drop a few pounds quick. I’m working on getting back on track right now. I like doing Atkins short term and I really think its great for times you want to let yourself eat great stuff, but doing it all the time gets boring. Being I am on a low carb type diet anyway, its easy to switch over into ketosis. Right now, Im doing very low Calorie Atkins. Tomorrow I will slowly switch back to eating my normal diet. Now I just need to get my butt back to the gym after 4 days of slacking!

hey moab, how many calories do you aim for? i need to do something soon to help my loss. i'm finding it harder to get to the gym because of work and kids (i work full time and am a single mum with two children). i used to go at 0600, but i took about 6 weeks off work over the school holidays and am finding it too hard to go back so early!

thanks

Hey Shiedi. My calories vary quite a bit. When I am on Atkins I don’t shoot for a calorie number, my intake is pretty high. Normally, I avoid talking about my caloric intake on this forum because from what Ive read here, people tend to shy away from vary low cal diets (VLCD), which is precisely what I do for my regular diet. A VLCD usually shoots for around 800 Cals or even a bit less. I watch everything I eat and eat mostly protein foods and veggies. I also of course take supplements. A dangerous thing that can happen with the rapid weight loss you get with a VLCD is gallstones, which I have personally experienced. About 9 years ago I lost about 50 lbs by exercising. I didn’t diet at all, just ran a lot. I got stones, they had to take it out which stopped me running for 3 weeks and I lost my routine after that. It was winter when it happened too so it wasn’t hard to stop running. Anyway, I quickly gained back all the weight that I had lost. It was a bummer. Anyway, so gall stones are a reason not to do a VLCD…..I don’t have a gallbladder, so that reason doesn’t pertain to me. You can also get gout by having a build up of uric acid. Im trying to avoid this by drinking plenty. I should have my uric acid level checked, but I haven’t yet. VLCD’s are for Obese people with BMI’s over 30….which I was well above. Some people cannot handle the level of determination that is required for this kind of diet and fail. I don’t recommend this diet unless you know what your doing and you actually need to do it. I think I wrote before kinda how I diet, but Ill describe it again. I think you can adapt this to any caloric amount diet and it would help lose weight quicker. I eat about a 30 Cal snack every hour. It can be veggies (bulkier for filling you up) beef jerky (great protein, low fat, high sodium though) Ive done balance bars cut into 1/7th of a piece (pretty unsatisfying) or a nice little snack which is a personal favorite is a 110 cal granola bar (Quaker) cut into 3rds. I carry these snacks around and munch on them every hour. The point is to keep my blood insulin level very low. Insulin drives energy into your fat cells. I stay away from any bread products for the most part. I eat my snacks right through lunch and usually feel OK with that. I like to have a low cal yogurt for breakfast, and Ill have a 200 or so Cal dinner. Chicken stir fry works great. So do the lower calorie WW frozen entrees. My average caloric intake is around 700 Cals to actually answer your question.

Wow Your Doing Great Keep Up The Good Work!!!

Thanks Redneckwoman. Ill take as much support as I can get.

This is the last day of Feb. I beat my goal by 3 lbs. 18 lbs lost this month and it was a short month. Wow, I look over my progress over the last two months. Its pretty amazing to be sitting at 232 a mere 2 months after tipping the scales at 280! Plus if you figure in my scale seems to weigh 3-5 lbs heavier… These 2 months have been hard no doubt and sometimes very frustrating. I hate to skip out on social time, and I hate to be a grouchy hermit, but Im back to my “normal weight” in only 2 months of sacrificing and hard work. Some of my pants that I couldn’t button up are now loose! I could get criticized on my calorie intake I suppose, but my metabolism doesn’t seem to have taken a significant plunge and I have had very little of the weakness associated with fasting. Most of the time Ive been week has been when Im doing low calorie Atkins. I switched my goal for next month to be 217 at the end of March. Ive been losing at a constant rate, I lost 18 lbs in 28 days, I figure 15 lbs in 31 days is not too much of a stretch, but it does seem too good to be true. That is a lighter than average weight for me if you average my weight over the last 10 years.

Great job!!!!!!!!!!! & I know you can reach your March goal\

Chip

Wow that is incredible to lose 18 pounds in 28 days! I have all the faith in you that if you stay at the same pace you will make your 15 pounds mark for next month! Good luck and keep up the great work!

Thats an amazing loss for you!! Keep up the good work, 15 lbs should be a cinch for ya

48 pounds in only 2 months??? Amazing!! Congratulations on the great success you are having! Keep up the great work!!

Thanks guys. Yeah, I keep expecting my weightloss to slow down but it just keeps coming off. After my initial drop of about 15 lbs in less than a week when I first started (waterweight...gotta love it) Ive just been losing at a constant rate. Except for when I visit home, or go out with friends. But I return to losing pretty fast. I love this diet Im doing. A few months ago I got a "diabetic lecture" from an attending physician and we talked about the evils of insulin, so I thought I could try a diet minimizing insulin and maximizing metabolism and it seems to work pretty good. Im sure I could have a great meal once a day eating the calories I have but I wouldnt lose near as fast, and I would be starving the rest of the day. I usually dont get too hungry eating my 30-50 cal snacks every hour....some days are worse than others of course. And I do miss larger or even normal size meals, but if its working, I aint changing it.

fantastic, moab! thank you for your post about your calorie intake - i might try the 30-50 cal snack and see how that works for me!


all the best for march

Sheidi, let me know how that works for you if you do. I got a little scale to measure out things that didnt come in standard amounts, like fruits and veggies. I figure out how many calories/oz. That way I dont get stuck eating all pre-packaged foods. Good luck