Low Carb Diets, What Do You Think

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Cooker

Cooker

Chillin, just chillin....
Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2005
Messages
10,549
Location
South Carolina
OK in the last 2.5 years I quit drinking, had OHS and quit smoking, I know, I know big deal:cool: I need to lose about 50 pounds. I had great success on Atkins before but I know that it is not a long term answer. My good friend Blanche says South Beach is the way to go. What do you think?

Any fatties out there that want to jump on the diet train with me???:D We could have cyber weigh ins:eek: :eek: :eek: No web cams:cool: Honor system. Before and after pics?? Ross could monitor us and Hank could toss in a free tee shirt for a prize.......Well?

Tom
 
It appears ( by lack of response ) that I am the only one who needs to loose weight:eek: :eek: NOT!!!!

Come on now. I need some input. My weight is all in my torso, arms and legs are the right size and I have a "white boy *ss". I understand that there are problems associated with excess weigh around the middle. I detest sit ups or crunches.
 
I had good success with Protein Power by Drs. Eades. Carbs are definitely my enemy and when cutting back on them in my diet, I am able to maintain a healthier weight. I'm in the process now of doing so, as I have been bad the last few years. It also involves drinking a lot of water. I try to drink at least 1/2 gal a day. Your body eventually adjusts to that much water, but initially be prepared to never stray far from a bathroom.

A mixture of chocolate, sugar and flour is like crack to me. I could literally make a pan of brownies, eat the whole thing (never have in one sitting due to a tiny amount of restraint) and I don't think my brain would ever tell my body I'm full.

I've found that some people tend to be sugar-carb-aholics and some are starch-carb-aholics. I can have just one potato chip. My husband can't. He can turn down a chocolate chip cookie. I can't.

Cutting way down on carbs has never really messed with my INR. Nor has drinking a lot of water.

I still eat plenty of veggies, but try to stay away from the fruits and veggies that are higher carbs. I eat a lot of berries, but stay away from bananas and apples.

If you are thinking of cutting out some carbs and adding protein, be careful of any of the shakes or bars. Check the protein source - if it's soy - it will mess with your INR. I usually have a whey protein shake for either breakfast or lunch. I also found that making sure I include dairy in my diet also helps weight loss.

Hope this helps Cooker.
 
cooker said:
My weight is all in my torso, arms and legs are the right size and I have a "white boy *ss".
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So you aren't bootylicious???

Mid-section weight loss is supposed to be helped by 3-8 oz servings of dairy a day. Calcium pills don't do it. It has to do with some component in dairy. I get my dairy from cottage cheese, cheese and a little bit of milk. I usually have a bowl of cottage cheese and strawberries for either lunch or breakfast.

I don't have 50 to lose, but I would like to lose 10. 15 would be super - but I'd be happy with 10. I'm suffering from the middle-aged woman mid-section spread. I used to have a 26" waist. Now it's the size my hips were when I was 25!:mad:

Why wasn't I happy with my body when I had a body I could be happy about???? Ignorance of youth.
 
Yo' gotta git busy, yo' only got until February t'git shed of them extry poun's. Don't be hankerin' t'go into th' "SCAR-OFF" competishun wif them folds a hidin' yer scar. :eek: :p :rolleyes:

Mah Cardio is real big on th' South Betch. He an' his office staff haf lost on over 100 poun's so fer. He's got a stack of 5 poun' sacks of sugar on one wall in th' waitin' room equal t'th' weight they lost so fer.

Bubba :)
 
Chocolate or Chips...

Chocolate or Chips...

I have a good friend who can't rest if she knows there is any chocolate cake in her house until she has completely devoured it. She told me that she can pack away an entire cake in one sitting:eek: !!!

I won't even look twice at a chocolate cake; but I'm the same way with a bag of potato chips as my friend is with her chocolate cake--very much like Karlynn described. And if I know there's sour cream in the fridge and green onion dip mix in the pantry (NOT french onion), well LOOK OUT:eek: !!! I can hardly rest until it's all gone. I feel like a big potato chip when I'm finished though. And I'm really sorry. Until the next time;) . So I try not to have any loose bags of that evil stuff lounging around in my pantry, calling out to me.

What I've read about the South Beach Diet makes a lot of sense to me. However, I have a book that a friend recommended that also makes a lot of sense to me, Dr. Abravanal's Body Type Diet, a New York Times bestseller. He breaks us down into four groups based on our dominant gland, which he theorizes we tend to overstress and deplete. So we find what our dominant gland is and eat things that allow it to rest while also eating things that make the other three glands take over. I don't know if it works. "I couldn't have coffee with the diet for my body type, and frankly, I'd rather be plump," she said as she threw back another cup of joe.

But recently I've been trying to bring down my cholesterol with diet and I actually and accidently dropped ten pounds doing it. I think it might have been from all of the natural fibers. Vegetables and fruits are important. And be sure you drink plenty of water; I think that's important with every good diet.
 
I have some degree of familiarity with Atkins, South Beach, and Protein Power, and all are, I believe, worthy and effective lifestyle programs; all will work when followed carefully and intelligently. It's sort of up to each individual as to which program is the better fit with respect to preferences in food choices, ability to follow the program based on lifestyle (how much running around you do, how much you like to cook, how much $$$ you have to spend, allergies/restrictions, etc.), and how seriously you take the concept of overhauling the way you eat. None of these programs will work if you eat foods off the plan regularly or if you cannot wrap your mind around the concept of the program as a lifetime lifestyle change. If you figure you're on it until the 10 pounds come off and then can resume the way you used to eat, you'll gain back the 10 and then some. Waste of time.

These are great programs in that they offer an opportunity to establish new patterns, and those patterns will stand you in good stead in the years to come. Carbs--that is, the ones these programs have you avoid (until later on, when they have you begin to test your vulnerability)--work against you for more than one reason. In moderation, no food is the devil--and that includes carbs. But in many people, carbs can cause an insulin spike that triggers the need to binge. That's what makes them--as opposed to pure fats (who binges on a slab of butter?) or pure protein (who binges on a plate of egg whites?)--the food to watch out for. Fibrous veggie carbs are cool. Some people can tolerate the lower-GI fruits, too, like berries. But the starchy carbs and the refined sugar carbs can kill. So can carbs mixed with fat; yikes!

Anyway, whichever program you decide to try, once you've found it to your liking, try to think of it as a change for the duration rather than "a diet." That'll help you in the long run.

Good luck!

Best, Sona
 
Hey handsome!!

I'm real squishy and buxom at this point. I used to, however, be a sassy lean long-legged blonde.....like what my 20 year old daughter is now. Somewhere between those 2 extremes is where I'm headed. It would be nice if my husband were supportive, but he likes every extra pound! :mad: (and my gourmet cooking!)

I've already lost 20 pounds and could easily go 50 more. Half of that 20 came off just due to my feeling better post-op. I've read several books and tend to think that they all have good ideas. I've taken bits and pieces from each "plan" and kind of incorporated their notions into my daily habits. For instance, I love the South Beach diet fake egg muffins. So those are in my freezer. I love YOU the Diet's idea of having the same thing for 2 meals a day, so I have a bowl of Kashi cereal with vanilla flavored rice milk for breakfast and lunch. Of course, I do not do this on weekends, when my husband is home....we have bacon and eggs! I like someone's recommendation to eat raw almonds, so those are always on hand for snacking. Then there's the obvious, celery my new best friend (I gotta have crunch!) and lotsa water and lotsa veggies.

I think the MOST important thing in all this is to get our fat as*es moving!!! I meet 2 friends and we walk and talk around a middle school track for 2 miles, 3 times a week. Then we go down to Curves which is fat lady body toning machines....and we gab some more. It's great. Not too difficult and fun enough so that I am getting it established into a routine. The key is to find SOMETHING and stick with it...no matter what that is. Anything is better than nothing, so try to find something that you can stick with.

So, my sense of it would be to go to the library (or Amazon) and get ahhold of South Beach and You the Diet. Read them both. They will tell you some amazing facts about how your body the machine actually works. Then you can go around and say to yourself, hey....that's really not the best choice for me, I can do this instead! And you'll be on the road to establishing a healthier lifestyle with very little pain. For my lifestyle, I can't do the special diet meals, or charting every ounce of food, or writing down every minute of exercise. But I sure can make some choice changes...they're pretty easy. These books give you a great notion of what your body wants and needs to function better.

GO FOR IT!!!!

:D Marguerite
 
I don't want to p*ss anyone off.....but how do I put on weight?
I eat small amounts of good foods, meats, veggies, fruits, etc. and a couple of cookies or bit of ice cream for a snack. Now you all got me thinking about dairy....I'm always low on that.....and of couse increasing exercise would give me the odd muscle or two. I better go back to my yogurt snacks!
 
Most members who want to lose weigh..are a LOT younger than me..Age 67..Believe me..it gets harder to lose weigh as one ages...So, you better do it now...:D When I was younger:( and wanted to lose weight..I could do it by....NOT eating after 8 P.M. (still don't)and if you need to eat before noon the next day...Eat fruit..then from NOON-8 P.M...eat whatever you want.......Also remember to NOT eat anything white...that would be white bread, sugar, flour, ect.....Also, as one ages..we cannot do that hard exercise..pay for it the next day...:p Example..swam in lake last weekend..tried to pull myself onto son's pontoon boat on a small ladder..Paid this week with pulled muscle in left back..:eek: Cooker. I walk a lot..but with this latest heat wave..No way...Also, I don't eat that much?But try to eat healthy..to keep my INR in range....If I try to diet..throws it off..But I am willing to be your diet buddy..:D If you post your current weight..I will post mine...Any other takers..:D Maybe you can start a new thread..Losing weight?Any takers..but have to post their current weight and be honest the next week..When we check in and post our lost for one week? bonnie
 
Granbonny said:
Believe me..it gets harder to lose weigh as one ages...
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AMEN sister! I was just telling my 21 year-old daughter that at her age, all I needed to do to lose weight was think about it! It was like that until I was 40. Now I have the middle age spread. I'm not really what anyone would consider over-weight, but to compare me now, to 8 years ago - :( :( :( :(

I'll admit that part of it is that I'm getting to that age where I don't want to have to deny myself something I love - like brownies! Or cake. The issue is moderation.

Thank goodness I have a husband with very poor eye-sight, because he still thinks I look like I did at 30.
 
rckrzy1 said:
I took what I thought was best of all the diets and sorta made my own. I halfway like the hypoglucemic idea, as in I eat good carbs. I also eat very low fat, I snack with healthy snacks. And I EXERCISE atleast 3-4 hours a week, and I mean get the heart rate to 125 and keep it there.

I've dropped 65 pounds since January (OHS date)
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WOW!!!

Good for you, Adam!! Write a book! ;) You may have a great plan!

Keep up the good health.

Marguerite
 
Cooker,

I'm someone who has struggled with weight loss most of my 44 years. I spent 3 1/2 years from Jan. 2001 to Jul. 2004 losing 50 pounds. The couple of years following that I very slowly let 20 pounds creep back. In the 9 months between my brother's mitral valve replacement in Sep. 2006 (boy, was that enough to make me want to get healthier!) and my mitral valve repair in Jun. 2007 I lost that 20 pounds again! And, finally, as a result of my surgery I finally lost the last five pounds I was working on! Yea!!

I did what many here have said and used a combination of plans, but what has ultimately worked the best for me is using that combination of plans within the Weight Watchers framework. I've never attended a meeting in my life, but copied the materials from one of my sisters. Once I learned the point system I had no problem eating out almost anywhere (Italian and Mexican are huge challenges though so I avoid them unless I can get fajitas). In time, you learn to guesstimate a point value for food by your experience with other food. As long as on most days you stay within your "points" you can eat anything you want. The "points" are calculated based on a formula taking calories, fat and fiber content into account.

I love Atkins because protein has been a real craving killer for me. There was a period when I was eating steak ever day for lunch and I can say my heart and arteries are in great shape!

A very big weakness for me is bread so I found I had to cut it out completely until I was strong enough to control it. You can definitely put chips in that category as well. What has also helped is never giving up what I really enjoy, regardless of the plan. I still had popcorn and other carbs while on Atkins and a glass of wine when I want it regardless of the plan.

Another thing I've always, always done is keep a log by writing down everything I eat and my weight loss progress, whether I'm losing or gaining. As you can see from my timeline above, I've kept pretty close track of my history.

Hope this helps. I would be happy to support your weight loss and offer any support I can.
 
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