Low Carb Support - Week of 10/12

[tbb113]

Well, since no one started a new thread last week...I wanted to make sure we had one this week. I definetly think I am done losing weight. While I could probably lose another 5-10 pounds, I don't think I have the motivation or the will power to keep my carbs that low anymore. If I could ever decide to exercise, I'm sure that I would lose more weight (or at least inches) but after losing 32 pounds and 25 inches, I can say LOW CARB works for me

On the supplement issue, I have been taking a multi-vitamin every day, and just recently started taking additional vitamin C hoping that maybe that will help with my black and blue marks. Anybody else bruising easily? Any ideas as to what I'm lacking (since I just started bruising easily again since going on low carb)? Atkins suggests a broad multiple vitamin and mineral supplement and an EFA supplement (or eat food rich in EFA).

Have a great week...

Tyra

[kwormann]

Congrats Tyra!!! Who knows, maybe you will decide to lose more later on...altho maybe you are PERFECT the way you are

Well, low carb wasnt in my vocab THIS weekend! We went to Austin to celebrate my bday and I ate every high carb food known to man! I am ready to get back on the wagon tomorrow, though. I feel AWFUL!!!!

HOw is everyone else doing???

[TamiKnight]

Hey, ladies! I have recommitted to staying on the low-carb wagon. I'm reading Dr. Phil's weight loss book; I've never really seen him or read anything by him before, but it seemed like a good idea. He does have a no-nonsense, don't-lie-to-yourself approach. I decided I needed to look for some answers, since this is about the point in weight loss that I ALWAYS sabotage myself. I can hear the negative self-talk in my head, and I really want to figure out where it's coming from and kick it to the curb.

I went back to the gym today for the first time in 2 1/2 months. After just 2 very faithful days back on SBD, I lost another 3 pounds. That puts me at a total of 25 since I started in June. DH and I decided to take a cruise for our 20th anniversary in April; my goal is to be able to buy (and look fantastic in) some super-sexy red thing the night we celebrate on the ship. That's put a new fire under my feet. Work is still absolutely nuts, but I'm determined to make some time for me. It's good to "hear your voices."

[Juny]

Started this confounded SBD after purchasing the book @ Costco. Doing pretty?? good at keeping the diet but need motivation in the walking department. Took my old bike out of moth balls this week and put a new set of tires on her hopeing to expand my exercise routine. What are you all doing? Can you tell I am from the south?? You all? Try, most nights, to walk an hour. It is so hot down here a fellow could melt on the sidewalk !!!! Tomorrow I start riding my bike ~ wish me luck. Tyra, think you are on the right track with the Vitamin C for the bruising. I take a multi-vitamin and also Vitamin C.

[kwormann]

YEA Tami! So glad to see you!!!

[Melman]

I've been doing extremely well until this weekend. Too much life interferences. Friday night - worked at a hockey game with a group of people. I stopped myself at 3 SMALL chicken strips as my dinner. Usually, it would have been chicken strips all evening. Ok...a tiny bit of control. Saturday, worked at a college football game ALL DAY LONG!! I had roasted peanuts (not a horrible amount...and they ARE allowed on SBD), TWO chicken strips (and I gave the rest to some kids working at the Dipping Dots cart), and had some Dipping Dots near the end of the game. Not horrible...not great. NOT eating any of that would have been better, but remember from a post a while back, there are NO good options at the game.

And then yesterday, my family finally celebrated my birthday (from almost 2 weeks ago). My mom did well though..no casseroles, not high fat items (we had smoked turkey!!!) and only a tiny piece of birthday cake. Hey, it was MY cake..I had to have a piece of it.



But today...back on the wagon!

[Mlasley]

Doing pretty well - first week on SBD and lost 6 pounds. Then the flu hit and all I've wanted were things like saltines and toast. Because I wasn't eating much I didn't gain any back. Anyone have good ideas for low carb "sick food"?

[d_ferrero]

Checking in with you all... I seem to be on a longer term plateau (although if I'm honest with myself, it's the same plateau I spent several months on on my way UP, so I'm not griping too loudly yet). I've lost a total of 22 pounds so far (since July 1) with LOTS left to go, and I'm taking it one day -- sometimes one choice at a time. Looking at the last two weeks, I'm pretty pleased with most of my choices. When I strayed it was a conscious decision to do so -- no carb creep for me yet. My plan at this point is to evaluate on Friday...If I haven't broken my plateu "naturally" by the end of the week, I will spend the last two weeks of October on a return to South Beach "phase 1".

[CindyF]

I too have been at the same weight for awhile now, not gaining but not losing either. It is a little frustrating because I would like to lose ten more pounds. Sigh
Maybe I need to try to bribe myself to work out. LOL Hummm.... another five pounds and I can go get a new CD, or that stick blender I have been eyeing or oh better yet a massage!

[HeatherTx]

Hi Everyone! I just completed week 2 of Protein Power. I lost 5 pounds the first week and 0 the second. I only have 10-15 more to lose so I imagine I will lost slowly which is ok. I really like the plan and haven't cheated once in the two weeks. It is very easy to follow and stick to.

Mlasley---I had a 24 hour tummy bug this weekend and wanted carb filled comfort food too. I ended up with yogurt and homemade eggdrop soup. The soup really did fit the bill and is low carb.

[heeter]

Thought I needed a holiday after the first two weeks of SB and 13 lbs. But I sabotaged myself by doing mexican. Bad choice. I'm up 2.5. No chips and a taco salad, no shell with lots of cheese. Plus a margarita. It was a holiday, and now it's over. I'm back on this morning. So we'll see. I have a lot of weight to go. The only exercise that works for me is walking at 6 AM which I do every morning for 45 minutes. Accountable with a neighbor which helps. Good luck to everyone!

[jefoster]

My wife and I are thinking of going on The South Beach Diet. I was wondering if any of you who have been on it for several months have had your Cholesterol checked.

[Melman]

I just gave blood earlier this week. In another week or so, I'll get the little flyer from the blood center that will show my cholesterol. When I find out, I'll post it.

[TLee4]

I've been following SBD (sometimes more closely than others!) since July. I was wondering about my cholesterol too. I eat A LOT of hard boiled eggs these days (at least 9/week). I just got my cholesterol tested and it was 166.

Terri

[kwormann]

thought Id share this with you...

Low-Carb Diets Are Working, Study Says
Mon Oct 13, 3:30 PM ET Add Health - AP to My Yahoo!


By DANIEL Q. HANEY, AP Medical Editor

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The dietary establishment has long argued it's impossible, but a new study offers intriguing evidence for the idea that people on low-carbohydrate diets can actually eat more than folks on standard lowfat plans and still lose weight.

Perhaps no idea is more controversial in the diet world than the contention — long espoused by the late Dr. Robert Atkins — that people on low-carbohydrate diets can consume more calories without paying a price on the scales.

Over the past year, several small studies have shown, to many experts' surprise, that the Atkins approach actually does work better, at least in the short run. Dieters lose more than those on a standard American Heart Association plan without driving up their cholesterol levels, as many feared would happen.

Skeptics contend, however, that these dieters simply must be eating less. Maybe the low-carb diets are more satisfying, so they do not get so hungry. Or perhaps the food choices are just so limited that low-carb dieters are too bored to eat a lot.

Now, a small but carefully controlled study offers a strong hint that maybe Atkins was right: People on low-carb, high-fat diets actually can eat more.

The study, directed by Penelope Greene of the Harvard School of Public Health and presented at a meeting here this week of the American Association for the Study of Obesity, found that people eating an extra 300 calories a day on a very low-carb regimen lost just as much during a 12-week study as those on a standard lowfat diet.

Over the course of the study, they consumed an extra 25,000 calories. That should have added up to about seven pounds. But for some reason, it did not.

"There does indeed seem to be something about a low-carb diet that says you can eat more calories and lose a similar amount of weight," Greene said.

That strikes at one of the most revered beliefs in nutrition: A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. It does not matter whether they come from bacon or mashed potatoes; they all go on the waistline in just the same way.

Not even Greene says this settles the case, but some at the meeting found her report fascinating.

"A lot of our assumptions about a calorie is a calorie are being challenged," said Marlene Schwartz of Yale. "As scientists, we need to be open-minded."

Others, though, found the data hard to swallow.

"It doesn't make sense, does it?" said Barbara Rolls of Pennsylvania State University. "It violates the laws of thermodynamics. No one has ever found any miraculous metabolic effects."

In the study, 21 overweight volunteers were divided into three categories: Two groups were randomly assigned to either lowfat or low-carb diets with 1,500 calories for women and 1,800 for men; a third group was also low-carb but got an extra 300 calories a day.

The study was unique because all the food was prepared at an upscale Italian restaurant in Cambridge, Mass., so researchers knew exactly what they ate. Most earlier studies simply sent people home with diet plans to follow as best they could.

Each afternoon, the volunteers picked up that evening's dinner, a bedtime snack and the next day's breakfast and lunch. Instead of lots of red meat and saturated fat, which many find disturbing about low-carb diets, these people ate mostly fish, chicken, salads, vegetables and unsaturated oils.

"This is not what people think of when they think about an Atkins diet," Greene said. Nevertheless, the Atkins organization agreed to pay for the research, though it had no input into the study's design, conduct or analysis.

Everyone's food looked similar but was cooked to different recipes. The low-carb meals were 5 percent carbohydrate, 15 percent protein and 65 percent fat. The rest got 55 percent carbohydrate, 15 percent protein and 30 percent fat.

In the end, everyone lost weight. Those on the lower-cal, low-carb regimen took off 23 pounds, while people who got the same calories on the lowfat approach lost 17 pounds. The big surprise, though, was that volunteers getting the extra 300 calories a day of low-carb food lost 20 pounds.

"It's very intriguing, but it raises more questions than it answers," said Gary Foster of the University of Pennsylvania. "There is lots of data to suggest this shouldn't be true."

Greene said she can only guess why the people getting the extra calories did so well. Maybe they burned up more calories digesting their food.

Dr. Samuel Klein of Washington University, the obesity organization's president, called the results "hard to believe" and said perhaps the people eating more calories also got more exercise or they were less apt to cheat because they were less hungry.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Medical Editor Daniel Q. Haney is a special correspondent for The Associated Press.