here we go again...Atkins discussion!

OMG! No WAY could I eat 3000 calories of anything, no****ermelon, steak...folks, it ALL counts.  What your body do not need stores as fat. Simple.  Not tooooo many bodies here on this board could eat 3000 calories a day and lose weight.  Not even some imaginary person who eats 3000 calories and does about 4 hours of working out.  Sorry, not buying it. Of course, excluding a bed ridden soul who weighs 500+ pounds. Even then, I would be surprised at sustained loss for too long of a period. Again, major confusion here...one person here says over and over she cannot eat more than 2000-ish calories most days, even though her trainer guy says eat about 300-400 more than that each day! Why:   Because her level of food is satisying her, correct?  I had the same experience with Atkins, only I felt satiated at even as low as 1400 calories.  I lost 4 pounds in 30 days..not exactly a windfall, but a good rate of loss for someone with about 50-60 pounds to lose.  I was truly shocked when I would post my food on fitday...never has a mere 1400 calories tasted so good and held me over. I found that it was not likely that I would *really* go the rest of my life not eating grains. THAT was the only reason I did not stick to it. Truly magical the way it handles hunger, no argument here. Atkins whole point is because we eat richer foods, we have more satiety. No where in that entire book did it say it would be okay to eat 3000 calories for anyone. As LVS states, it does say eat til satisfied!

PUHLEEEEASE.

Boy am I glad I have never been, nor do I ever expect to be, interested in Atkins!!!

Ya know, its sooo unrealistic for most people to be able to work out enough to burn all dem calories too Neecee...Geez, we DO have spouses, kids, jobs, recreation, LIFE to attend to doncha know! lol...Hey, whats the dif between South Beach and Atkins anyhoo?   I think you are doing so well, and the new avatar is cute!  BTW, I did discover a NEW diet...I lost 10lbs. in 7 days....Its a lil virus going around, you just live on Nyquill/Dayquill and soup! YummO!

Don't know if you're referencing my trainer friend K who eats 3000 calories and works out 4 hours a day, not Atkins--she's hardly imaginary.  When she has her competition in May I'll send you a link if there's a website about it. You're actually misinterpreting Atkins a bit...as was I until recently.  We all think it's a high protein diet, right? WRONG.  Get this, most people average 60-70% fat intake, 20-30% protein and the remainder carbs. That astonished me, but hey, 4-5 lbs, 1 week Induction and I got my cycle?  I'll take it.  The 280s are coming up soon. Personally, my point of satiety is about 800-1400 calories.  I push to get to 2000 or more because if I eat less than I burn, I am not going to lose weight.

No, I meant an imaginary person for the purpose of the discussion.  I do have a real, tiny friend, a triathlete who eats more like that 'cept she is a vegetarian; can you imagine the volume of food she must eat with very little animal products (she eats eggs, soy cheese)?   For her weekly runs we're talking an 18 mile loop she does 3x a week, throw in two 60 mile bike rides and couple hours gym time.  She works 6 hours a day as a teacher, off all summer. NOT your typical person who holds down a 40-50 hour job, with kids, hubby, etc. Atkins was a little evasive in the section about real athletes...he slams it all into one paragraph about how your body needs carbs to compete, again, not real clear. Of course, he promotes exercise, but keeps it on the moderate side. I cruised thru the book last night to re-read some parts - he does talk about one guy - MAN - who eats 2.5 pounds of meat daily, a huge cheese omelet and lost (allegedly about 3000 cals).  He does not say how tall or hard this man works or how long 3K caloric intake worked for him. I stand by what I say, not many people could eat that and lose weight.  The rest of the book, he never actually cites how much food - again, says a lot, eat til satsified. I "get" Atkins:  note I said richer foods on Atkins.  The fat intake is indeed the kicker. I currently eat a high protein moderate fat diet.  When I was on it, I consumed ~50%-60% and about half of that was saturated fat...which really concerned me.   I know Atkins goes on and on about how sat fat won't hurt you, still, I cannot completely ignore the AMA who has proven exactly the opposite - they have reversed heart disease! That was the other part of it.  II have heart/stroke disease in my genes!  I only tracked my calories on fitday as a matter of curiousity - really, i'll bet most people on it are eating far less than they think.

My trainer went round with me on this one as well.. but not about the caloric intake.  He was more concerned that a person who consumes no carbs won't be able to work out effectively.  Yes.. in the past.. in my building days, I consumed carbs to pull me through the heavy duty workouts, but I'll say it here just like I told him... WATCH ME!  LOL 

Andrew asked that I don't go under 1200 calories a day.  I'll only have cursory conversations with him regarding nutrition because this is NOT why I hired him.  Heck, usually it's about HIS nutrition... not mine.  I see what he does.. he ends up spending 1/2 his time with other folks on "talk".   I'm not there to talk.  We're in synch.... I want to be moving from the time the clock starts until it's over.  I hired him for his body, not his brain.  THAT'S the bottom line. Neecee, you helped explain a point I was trying to make.  NO WHERE in that book does it say to SHOVEL it in just for the sake of shoveling it in.  "EAT FREELY OF" does not mean "ALL YOU CAN EAT".  If I was really good at it, I would never eat one bite past satisfaction.. problem is... I can't tell where that is anymore.. so I measure and I weigh and I count those calories.  Doing the balancing act with the fats is important too.  I try to equal out the saturated fat with the poly and mono.  Yes.. fats keep you full longer.. and people end up eating LESS calories on this.. that's the point of it.

This way of eating is exquisite for a Type II diabetic IMHO.  I'm living proof that an A1c of 10 can be brought into target range without insulin when one ditches the carbs.  For me.. the weight loss is a nice side effect of controlling my blood sugar. Here's the deal in a nutshell.  Picture insulin as a railway car coming out to pick up glucose from the liver to be delivered into the cells which will use it as energy.  When the cells are broken (as in a Type II diabetic), the insulin cannot deliver it's load and the body must assume this means there is already an adequate supply in the cells.. and yes.. stores the remainder as fat.  The delivery system is working wonderfully, but no matter how hard it bangs on the cell doors, they won't open.  Hence, whole train loads of insulin just floating around loaded with glucose have absolutely no where to go.  Whenever I eat something which provokes an insulin response.. this is what happens.  FOR ME (I'm not saying for everyone) the Atkins approach helps to control that insulin response. Since I am not a hardcore athlete.. there's no reason to overload calories.. and if I was an athlete, I would be eating more carbs in order to provoke that insulin response to get more energy into the cells.

I have a friend, now 60 YO who was diagnosed with diabetes 10 years ago. Her body is like yours...she cannot tolerate too many veggies, either. Never, ever even whole grains. She lost 50#, of course.  Just as a reference point, a younger diabetic is usually encouraged to eat whole grains - in the right portions!  Yeah, LVS,  I really beleive most women canot tolerate much grains, diabetes or not. I am glad you found your groove. Don't trip too much on how much you are eating right now, maybe your body needs it.  You are smart to track it, but i hope you let go a little bit.

 

I really think mainly you are using food to comfort yourself as you feel so ****ty now.

" younger diabetic is usually encouraged to eat whole grains - in the right portions! " Just to point out that I have not yet been (and hopefully won't be) diagnosed diabetic.  Just insulin resistant.    That high number of 122 (126 is diabetic if I understand correctly) was when I was eating moderate carbs (about 80-100g) from fruits and minor whole grains. The endo thinks I might have a disorder making me super reactive to carbs since I only lose weight at <20g/10% carbs. By the way, here's a great link about the myths of low carb:  http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/lowcarbmyths.h tm?nl=1 Here's a low carb food pyramid: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/lowcarbmyths.h tm?nl=1ttp://lowcarbdiethttp://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/lowcarbmyths.h tm?nl=1s.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/lowcarbmyths.htm?nl=1

MMmm It's baconnn!!!   Bacon does a body good!!! Give me bacon or give me death! Got bacon?? For the original pic go here:  http://chickencrap.com/c.php?c=1498

Very cool, tho actually the raw bacon made my tummy lurch a little bit!