Rocknsoul

I've been really good for the last 2 weeks...well, except yesterday. A friend is sick & I made "Get Well" cookies for her--wouldn't you know, a few found their way into my mouth. Grr.

BUT, the good news is that I'm down about 4 pounds from where I was the day of the triathlon. I've got a ways to go, but I feel good and in control (cookie binge excepted--but I didn't touch them today) and I feel nourished.

This morning, I did Pilates for the first time in about a month, and I could see the difference in my body. My muscle tone is really coming back, and there was no limitation in my shoulder rotation or movement at all, which there still was the last time I went. Happy stuff!

Carla, I definitely feel a difference when my fats go down--in satiety, most of all, but the more I eat, the more I lose. That has to be the biggest reason I decided to try Atkins in the first place, 13 years ago. I do love fat. :p

I'm reading "Good Calories, Bad Calories" right now, from the library..."Why We Get Fat" was checked out. I'm on a waiting list for the e-book version & will read it then. Interesting stuff so far, but it is dense. It just makes me sick how the whole low-fat=healthy farce managed to stick.

Happy Friday Everyone!!

Yippee!!............I saw a number on the scales that I haven't seen in awhile.....!! 219.8

Ya......it's the under 220 number that I've been watching - seriously- for a good month!! :D Hubby is right at 200...for him...he looks so good! He doesn't struggle with the reflux on Low Carb and so he's a pretty happy guy these days! ...and as he says... His Big Boy pants, really are loose!! haha!

It's shoveling rock I tell ya!! haha.......... :D

Way to go, Jean & Hubby!! :)

Hey, Lisa, How did your race go?? We want the info!

That's funny...when I saw the Atkins update in my email, I realized I hadn't said how I did, and then I saw your post!

I finished! :) My goals were to bike at least 15 mph, and jog the whole run part without walking. They still haven't posted the final results, so I don't know my bike speed yet, but with the exception of 2 major hills that many people walked up, I "ran" the 3 miles. I put it in quotes because at the moment my run is more of a slow jog=slog. :D I felt every pound of the 20 extra I'm carrying right now.

I'm just crazy enough that I'm doing another one June 8th. This one's swim is twice as long, the bike is 18 miles instead of 12, and the run is 4 miles. Blecch. But I'm not going to get faster unless I keep doing them. Thanks for asking!

Hi everyone- lost another 4 pounds- down to 205.

Everything fine. I hope everyone else is doing well!

WOOHOO! See? Inspiring!! :)

Thank you Jean! :)

Hi Lisa! I am 5'9, currently 210 and in a 16. So: if that is anyone's idea of success I'll take it! :D

 

Read Taubes' book. It's very heavy on the science but man oh man, it explains a lot. What was funny to me about reading my old post is when I said "eating granola bars out of my purse". I was juuuust doing the same thing on WW: cereal and skim at 7, Special K bars out of my purse at 9:30. I am trying to lost the "points calculator" that is pinging wildly in my head- ex; I just ate 2 cans of tuna with a small amount of mayo. That is totally Atkins/Taubes/low carb compliant. For WW that's like 8 points. I had pork for dinner, which was about 400 points. I have to put it on IGNORE and just move ahead.

 

Questions:

 

Has anyone ever done an egg fast? Just curious.

Does anyone here eat nuts? If the carbs are within an acceptable amount, does it interfere with losing?

If my ketosis sticks are purple, do I need to worry about: caffeine, nuts, anything else?

How many of you exercise?

Do you worry about fat content?

 

OK, thank you....

I think if you keep going like you're going, you'll lose the weight in no time. 9 pounds in 2 weeks is very inspiring! :) I can't lose weight quickly anymore. After my 3rd child was born (well, 4 years after she was born:o), it took me 11 months to lose 24 pounds. That's 11 months of weighing in every week. Ridiculous.

Yep, I will get it. Hopefully it's available on e-book. I can only imagine the re-programming you have to do with your brain. It might even help to read the Atkins book again.

I have not had a problem with nuts per se, but I will say peanuts probably slow me down the most. Almonds & Macadamias I have no problem with.

I don't worry about fat at all, not for a minute. :)

Hi Seago2! (For some reason, your screen name made "Officer & a Gentleman" pop into my head--"Heeeey, Ceegahr!"):p

I saw myself in your story. I'm 5'10", but I have been the same weights & the same sizes as you. I'm now 43 with 3 kids, and at the moment I wear anything from an 8 to a 12, depending on the brand. :)

Congratulations on your great start. I've read some articles that Taubes has written, but I think it would be a good thing to get his book.

At the moment, I'm training for a triathlon, so my WOE is in & out. Taubes is right--heavy exercise makes me hungry, and usually for the wrong things. And there's that little part of my brain that says "Go ahead, you'll burn it off"...but I know better. It's not about burning calories, it's about programming the pancreas.

Thankfully, the triathlon is this weekend, and I've got lots of summer trips planned to motivate me to stay on track from here on out. The good thing about training for the tri is that I feel strong & fit, which I hadn't felt for a year since I tore my labrum last March & had surgery in Dec. The bad thing about the tri is that I'm 20 pounds heavier now than when I did my last one, in 2003. :( I have 4 more to do this year, hopefully by the last one, I'll be 20 pounds lighter again.

Anyway, welcome back! Please keep posting, your success is inspiring!

Have you done one before?

 

I tell ya, I feel older every day. Okay...well...I realize technically I AM older every day, but that is not what I mean. I think it is the speed to which I recover that I miss the most. When I became sore this winter after throwing bread to ducks, I realized I was at the height of something (in my defense, I was throwing into the wind).

I did the Olympic distance in 2003 (1-mile swim, 25-mile bike, 10k run). I was practically crawling by the end, and only found enough in me to run across the finish line.

A lot has happened since then. I've met some very cool people who are training with me. If I don't "die" in this one, I'll do a couple more sprints this year.

My body is creaking and groaning, and I'm only 43. But I'm doing what I'm doing so hopefully I can walk by myself when I'm 83. :)

So, in the past we've talked about the Atkins / Low Carb whoosh!.. I had a whoosh of the scales this morning, so did my Hubby!... So my scales say that I was making good choices during my Galveston Girls weekend!! Yippee!!! :D:D

Woohoo! Gotta love that swoosh! Or whoosh! :D

So, I finished my half marathon and I cut 20 minutes off my previous time. This sounds more impressive than it is, because there were no potty breaks this half :) Still, I feel confident that I was at least 5 minutes faster :D

Great Job, Andrea! I couldn't come close to a 1/2 marathon. 20 minutes is impressive any way you slice it. :)

I am, however, doing a sprint triathlon May 19th for Memphis in May. 1/4-mile swim, 12-mile bike, 3-mile run (slog, in my case--I'm a horrible runner). I've only been training a couple of weeks, so finishing is my goal--anything else is gravy.

I lost a lot of muscle tone before and after my December shoulder surgery. It's coming back, but it's taking a while for my metabolism to kick back into gear. Mercy, I feel old.:o

Three workout classes so far this week, and 3 to go. My gym is having March Madness, a goal for 20 classes by March 31. I feel like I'm back. My shoulder still has a couple of positions to get back to normal, but it's doing so much better.

I went shopping this evening for low carb foods, been reading the book again and now the journey begins ..... Thanks for the warm welcome back.

Way to go! You'll do great!

Having the right foods at hand are half the battle. GOOD LUCK!

 

I got the strips to chang, even though the color doesn't match any on the bottle. They are a nice lilac;) Also, I have gotten the opps pounds off and am 1 pound less than when I went on the cruises for two week.

 

I just love how Atkins works when I stay the course.

I hope everyone is having a great low carb day.

You too! You're doing awesome!

Right Food + Exercise = Results!!! Proven !! Keep going!

So..we continue to stuggle with the flu....YUCK!!! :mad::(:mad::( Will be glad when it has run it's course out...and we can get back to LIFE!!

Jean ~ my baby (who's now 7, can you believe it???) had the flu last week. Her fever's gone, but she's still a little under the weather. I hope you feel much better quickly!

I too found great support here before and that is why I'm back here. Also my surgeon wants me on Atkins. They just don't call it that, bad mouth Atkins and than that is the diet they have me on. Go figure.

It drives me nuts when they do that!

I'm heading to Disney at the end of the month, as a chaperon for my daughter's band trip. I have a lot of firming up to do by then! I've begun decorating cakes--a deadly hobby to take up, but as of last night, I might actually be sick of the taste of buttercream. :o

The good news is that my gym is having a March Madness challenge with prizes for people who take 20 classes this month. I'm all over it. Time to get nuts! Nuts are good for me anyway. :p

Hey Jean! :)

I'm hanging in there, even though I ate at a buffet 4 nights in a row. Long story. :p

Fell off the wagon this weekend in the carb department. Back on I go tomorrow. Some days are just like that. I blame the fact that I ran 8 miles (4 against the wind) in 28 degree weather Saturday. My body thought I needed to pack on fat like I was living in the Arctic. It is either that or the fact that the Girl Scout cookies were delivered. One of those two :D

Andrea, you crack me up! And I'm very impressed with your running!

I'm back today from a week on the Mariner of the Seas, and it was fantastic! I used the stairs exclusively and tried to be very active every day, but it was harder with the kids there. My weight gain for the week was 7 lbs, and I'm hoping at least five of that will come off as water/glycogen storage in the next couple days. We'll see where I'm at after a week back on induction...

Welcome back, scotte! It makes me a little green (with envy), but you'll probably be well on your way after a week on induction. I wish things would work that way for me. :o If Voyager keeps going out of N.O., I hope to sail her someday in the not-to-distant future. But with going to Disney, possibly France, San Antonio, and a fall family (cheap) cruise this year, I think I'm done for 2012. :D

So, there has been a lot on my schedule lately and I've been bad about not eating enough. I've found that I stall with Atkins if I don't eat enough too (I know it sounds crazy, but it is the truth). Today, I tried to do better in the afternoon (morning was still nutso). Luckily tomorrow is another day.

 

I'm supposed to run 3 miles today. I need motivational vibes, people, to get it done. I've been "off" and it is just easier to not run. However, it will not help me come Saturday when I have to run 7.

Andrea ~ it's so true, whenever I don't eat enough, I don't do well. Sending you motivational vibes! Go, go, go!!:)

So... Let me ask you...............If you had to ..... could you go right to...and put your hands on your copy of the Atkins Book?? You know....to refer too....:)

Yep! One's on the bookshelf in the basement, just to the left of the bed. The other is a few rows away. :)

Surprisingly, it didn't happen for me, and I have a history of getting "mean" when I get hungry :D The first Down Day was a bit challenging; the second was very much less so, and from then on, it's easy not to eat until 4:00 pm. And remember, you only have to do it every other day. And you don't have to wait until 4:00; I just find it easier that way, as do many who participate.

 

The big thing I noticed when I joined the JUDDD forum was that most of the participants (and all of them who had been there for very long ) were below goal. How often do you see that?

 

I am not trying to get **any** one to try a different WOE; I just only want to mention that the calorie cycling can be done within the context of low carb. It's just that not everyone chooses to do that.

 

To answer another poster's question, I have been low carb since 1999, and I'm pretty firmly committed to it. Even though I have given myself permission to eat some higher-carb items on my up days, I find myself returning again and again to my low carb staples. And I'm a big proponent of the Low Carb Cruise (which I will be going on again this year), which will have, as a featured speaker, Veronika Atkins, as well as Jackie Eberstein, who was Dr. Atkin's nurse for some 30+ years.

 

But I needed to do something to get things moving, because after a while, people on LC can easily get stalled.

 

Hope that answers the questions, and again, I am not trying to recruit anyone :)

Don't worry about the recruiting part. :) We all get stalled, and we're the ones asking you the questions! Since I've been at the same weight for two years, I'm open to suggestions, as long as they won't slow my metabolism in the long run, or make me frustrated enough to eat like a "normal" person, which will cause me to be overweight. :)

I'm confused about something, though...on the website he says to go for 2 weeks of down days before alternating. That's the part that I think would take me out. So did you just go straight into the alternating, and that worked for you?

Something just occurred to me: in the book, Dr. Atkins talks about a fat fast for those who are really stuck. I suppose that would be a good way to start, and to alternate...just making the low-calorie days made up of high-fat food. It would mean less food, but the way my body works, it might keep my blood sugar from crashing.

Yes, I understand it sounds very restrictive. You have to get past the "idea" of it before you find out you can actually do it with little or no discomfort. The intermittent fasting activates the SIRT1 gene, which makes it much easier.

 

If someone told me two months ago I'd be doing 20-hour fasts with zero discomfort (on alternate days), I'd have asked them what planet they just dropped in from :D

All this time I wondered what the "G" stood for. Georgene! What a beautiful name!

I read the website. It sounds interesting, and fasting is pretty easy for me, but I don't think I could make it through the first 2 weeks. When I don't eat, my blood sugar drops & I get mean.:p This happens more often than I'd like it to, because I can get very busy & don't want to just grab whatever. How did you & other low-carbers deal with that?

Happy Friday to Everyone!!Yee Haww... We're going to the Rodeo tonight!

Ya' all have a Wonderful Weekend!!

You have a wonderful weekend, too!

Hello everyone! I'm back to low-carb after a couple years of gradual weight gain and sugar addiction. I actually started in November, and I've been losing 3 lbs a week pretty regularly -- down 44 lbs as of today.

 

I'm happy to find this board -- going to try those chocolate cookies as soon as I get off my sweet-free kick. I hit a plateau and decided to try eliminating sweet-tasting food/drinks on the theory that the sweetness can trigger an insulin release, which slows fat burning. I think it works! I do miss the green tea, the occasional diet coke w/ splenda, and my low-carb cheesecakes. :(

 

I'm also going to check out JUDDD to see what it's all about. I've heard a lot about intermittent fasting on the Jimmy Moore Livin' La Vida Low Carb show from the Eades (Protein Power) and various other doctors. I haven't tried it yet, but I intend to at some point.

 

So does anyone have advice for minimizing weight gain on a cruise? (Short of eating low-carb the whole time, which I don't want to have to do :eek:) We're going on Mariner in one week (taking our kids for the first time) but I've got to keep losing weight for the MS 150 bike ride from Houston to Austin in April. In the past I've started the cruise with the goals of "no elevators" and "portion control" but failed miserably at the portion control part. It sounds easy when I'm low-carb, but after that first plate of bread and dessert my carb cravings return with a vengeance!

 

Thanks,

Scott

Hi Scott! WOW!! I'm so impressed with your success. The only time I've not gained on a cruise (I always indulge when I go, but try to keep most meals sane) was when I exercised like a fiend during the cruise. Every sea day I went to the gym, every port day made sure to do something active--and no elevators.:p Like Jean said, the worst for me is when I come home. I want to keep that cruise feeling going, and I end up eating poorly at home. I hate that.

How wonderful for you to do the MS ride. I have 4 very close friends with MS: 2 are men in their 60's, 2 are women in their early 30's. I'm astounded by the MS Foundation and the way they've enabled my friends to get access to the very best pharmaceuticals this country has to offer. Best wishes for your ride!

Have a wonderful cruise!

Dear Jean;

I think that we should name you the cheerleader for the group. You always make me feel better and you cheer everyone on. How nice to have you.

 

I leave tomorrow for the Magic. I am not going to diet, but I'm not going to be out of control either. I'm just going to enjoy.

 

Nancy

For years, Jean has been the anchor for this thread. She's awesome, isn't she??

Have a fantastic cruise! Enjoy every minute!

OK I got to ask with all the talk here. Are most people here doing Atkins? Sounds like alot are doing something else. :confused: Is there anybody that has made it a long term lifestyle and are things still working out for you?

 

I have gone back to induction. I went out and got the test strips. I'm not having much luck with the color changing. Could I be drinking TOO much water causing dilution?

That's a good question, Melody. I think over the years we've had some who do low-carb, not necessarily Atkins itself, even though many call it "Atkins" if they stop eating bread, sugar, etc. :)

I've followed the principles in Dr. Atkins' book for almost 13 years, with the exception of my last pregnancy, which took many years to "recover" from. :) At the moment, my daughter is almost 7. I lost 26 pounds a couple of years ago, and seem to have found my perfect CCLM (Critical Carb Level for Maintenance) over the past 2 years, because I've hovered in that same weight range, even though I have about 20 more pounds to go. I'm at a good size & can fit into most of my clothes (I'm tall), so it's been tough to get motivated to get that rock-hard bod.:p

For a while, we were pretty adamant about it being an ATKINS board, because a lot of people would come here and talk about how Atkins was bad without having read the book. But I think it's been good to see how different things work for different people. I still think it's important that we differentiate between true Atkins and other low-carb variations; for example, the nonfat twist that was recently mentioned would completely throw my insulin response out of whack...for those new to Atkins, it's important for them to know how crucial getting enough fat is on the Atkins plan. A nonfat low-carb plan may work for someone, and that's great, and can be celebrated, but it's not Atkins. That was probably much longer of an answer than you wanted. :)

As for the strips, yes, too much water can dilute ketones, and they can be there without showing up on the strip. I only use them first thing in the morning, and I have never in my life gotten them darker than the lightest shade of pink. I do love to see that color change. :) As long as the weight is coming off, it's okay not to see the color change. If there's no color change and no loss, I would check to be sure your eating few enough carbs. Keep us posted!

You're not alone. I'm out here too. :)

It is tough, especially when I discovered yesterday that my Mom bought 3 lemon donuts & left them here...those are my favorites. But I managed to get away with a bite.

Who would like a LOW CARB Christmas Cookie Recipe!!!???

I FOUND ONE!!!:eek::eek::D

Let me know....... great for Cookie exchanges, kiddos coming or an after dinner treat!!!:D

This board is quite....... If I see 5 "I DO!'s" ... I'll post it!!!;)

Okay, you pulled me out of my post-surgery haze! You did it! :D

Nothing serious, just a faulty shoulder. I got my sling off yesterday, so I can type with 2 hands again. I've been eating rather well for being stuck in my house for 2 weeks and at the mercy of other cooks--but I want to enter the new year at a lower weight than I started 2011, so I've got some work to do in the next couple of weeks.

Jean! Great picture! Hot sounds wonderful as I sit here in 32 degrees. :eek: It should warm up a little next week. I really have nothing to complain about; the weather here has been absolutely pristine this autumn. Lovely.

cerabella ~ you just keep hangin' on in there! :) Please say a big HELLO to Tom if you see him!

The good news: I'm still the same weight. The bad news: I'm still the same weight. :p

I've been allowing myself a couple of days' indulgence each week, and that's going to need to stop if I'm going to begin next year at a good weight. I'd like to lose during the holidays for a change...wouldn't that be something?!

Jean, welcome back & great job!

Bon Voyage, Jean!!