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While what I'm doing is working, I want to take a moment to talk about a diet I've tried in the past and what happened.
Atkins and I:
That's right, I gave the man diet a run. I call it a man diet because it feels full of testosterone. I didn't grow a beard, but I think that was eventual. Did it work? You bet your biscuits it did! (Please, bet mine too, because biscuits aren't allowed on that diet.)
The ability to stay on Atkins was beyond what my pudgy little fingers could grasp. During induction (it's just as scary as it sounds and I expect Leonardo DiCaprio to eventually star in a movie with this title... or Matt Damon), the amount of carbs are severely limited. If you can think of synonyms to severe, apply all of those and you are now in the induction phase of Atkins.
I found myself reading labels like crazy and reading articles like crazy. The general consensus was, "bad." It seems there are trace amounts of carbs in almost everything. Everything delicious and worth eating, anyway. I found myself in candy aisles, but sugar free candy isn't going to help. The sugar alcohols in sugar free candy burn into carbs and Voila! Diet Fail!
The side effects on me were pretty hideous. I've never been over weight enough to appreciate feeling like crud when I lose 10 pounds. Atkins made me constipated; I thought I had bad breath, but that may not have been accurate. I felt like baked cow pie, always tired, super irritable, and basically the whole experience was much like constantly PMSing, only having myself to thank instead of nature.
The best part of Atkins? Well, seriously the best part is that it works, but the sarcastic part is I gained all of the weight back - just as quickly as I lost it. Can I get a round of Cheetos grins? Oh yeah! (Kool-Aid with my Cheetos.)It wasn't hell to gain the weight back. I think it took a Papa Johns pizza and a Coca-Cola to get the party started with all my friendly little pounds comforting me on the scales again.
On a side note, my aunt in her late 30's decided to do Atkins and for a good while. She lost probably 40 or 50 pounds and it was a remarkable difference. Having health insurance, she went to the doctor to get tests and all that fun right on schedule. I'm not sure if it correlates, but she developed diabetes on the diet.
So Atkins wasn't all bad. Have you ever taken a pregnancy test? Guys get to write their name, and us women get to pee on sticks. I still consider it marking my territory and it makes things much more fun! With Atkins, I bought Ketostix! They are a reagent strip for urinalysis originally used to help monitor diabetic patients... (Think... diabetic supplies on a diet. Red flags yet?) I used to have great fun urinating on these, counting the seconds and matching the color to the bottle. I may feel miserable, but I can turn a pee strip purple. The first day I had everyone in the house peeing on them. Kids like this, by the way.
Yesterday I got a wild hair to see if I had ketones in my urine stream. (Wee I get to wee on a stick!) I did. A little more than trace amounts, but less than small. So the hypochondria sets in, and in the back of my mind I knew I should have stuck to pizza, vanity be damned! However, after more reading, it looks like I'm doing something right. Small amounts of ketones are good if you're still eating carbs. It shows a balance.
Here is a link to the best article I read on this: Metabolism and Ketosis: http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/metabolism-and-ketosis/
All that said, thanks to smartin's journal, I now have a name for my diet: common sense. I must be lacking, because I didn't even think of that!
Good Day =D
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153.7 lb
Lost so far: 6.3 lb.
Still to go: 28.7 lb.
Diet followed reasonably well.
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Diet Calendar Entry for 14 January 2011:
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732 kcal
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Fat: 19.30g | Prot: 26.22g | Carb: 119.07g.
Breakfast: Milled Golden Flaxseed, Crystal Light On The Go Strawberry, 2% Milk, Vitacraves, water, Special K red Berries. Lunch: Peanut Butter Jif, lemon, water, milk. Snacks/Other: banana. more...
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losing 5.6 lb a week
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