Although I actually have a couple more days before my first year of low carbing rolls over into another one, I thought I'd sit back this afternoon and take a good look at just where I've been, and just what I've experienced over the past 12 months.
On January 3rd of this year, as most of you know, I felt recovered enough from my health issues to start back on the Atkins diet. At that time, I chose Atkins because the Atkins diet had been the first low carb plan I'd ever tried back in the 70s, and it had worked wonderfully for me. In fact, every time I'd ever been able to follow it, it had worked well -- and I had no reason to believe it wouldn't work again. By "well" I mean easily and fast. Like 5 pounds per week. All I had to do back then was control my carbs and the weight just corrected itself with little effort.
So when I stepped on the scale after a clean two-week induction this time and saw a loss of only 2 pounds, rather than 10 or 15, I was devastated!!! And as I stood there staring at those measly two pounds down, it hit me pretty hard that I'd waited just too darned long to return to low carbing. That losing all of the weight I'd gained from being bedridden with the vertigo all those months, wasn't going to be as easy as I had anticipated. Let alone the weight I was still carrying when the vertigo struck.
This was going to take time. A VERY LONG TIME!!!
And I consoled myself with the fact that at least I could eat all that I wanted. At least, I didn't have to go hungry like I'd had to do on Weight Watchers. At least the scale was moving downward, and not upward like it had done the prior December. In fact, I'd gained nearly 15 pounds that prior December!!! Which is what "REALLY" scared me into running back to low carb dieting fast.
The six months I spent on Atkins felt like such a LONG, LONG TIME to me. Cuz let's face it. I was USED to losing 15 to 20 pounds in a month. I was used to being able to do low carb without being hungry. I was used to feeling better on low carb, and lousy when I ate carbs. I was used to being able to eat all of the fat and calories I wanted, and still lose.
And this time around, none of that held true for me.
I was TIRED, I was SICK, I was HUNGRY (because if I ate until I was satisfied I would maintain or gain), I was in PAIN, and I was despite to find something that would work better than what I was currently doing. So that's about the time I started experimenting...REALLY experimenting. Researching other plans. Reading everything I could get my hands on. Pondering, discussing, trying--Reaching--for a way to make low carb a lifestyle change. Something I could live with for the rest of my life. Something that would WORK. For me.
Now...my intension here isn't to scare someone away from low carb dieting. So please don't think that's the direction I'm heading in here. Because it isn't. I KNOW that Insulin Resistance is at the "heart" of all of my health issues, and that controlling my insulin levels is the only way I'm going to improve my health. BUT...there just seemed to be something missing this time. And my guess at that time was that I'd destroyed my metabolism. And that I needed to start listening to my doctors.
Maybe that isn't a good choice of words, "destroyed my metabolism," and maybe I just don't know what the heck I'm talking about, but throughout the years, I've had crazy family doctors try to talk me into going on wild crash diets. We're talking very low calorie, low fat, low carb diets.
Things like eating nothing but a quart of low-fat cottage cheese and a pound of steamed veggies with no butter per day. Or a bowl of Total Cereal for breakfast with 1/2 cup low-fat milk each and "every" morning, with a salad for lunch dressed with a can of dry, water-packed tuna or chicken, an apple for afternoon snack, and lean meat and dry veggies for dinner. Or how about the last one? He wanted me to go on hard boiled eggs, chicken breast and veggies for lunch, and chicken breast and veggies for dinner. SOUND FAMILIAR???
All of these diets were something like 500-800 calories. And it was the advice I got from each and every doctor I've ever been to throughout all of my life. In fact, my in-laws as you know, are also currently seeing doctors who believe in low calorie, low fat, low carb diets. Just not as low in calories as the doctors that I personally have been too. But then, my sister-in-law is 5ft 8 and weighs in the neighborhood of 300 pounds. So restricting her to only 1200 calories "IS" a very low calorie diet for her. As well as my brother-in-law who is 5ft 6. They want him on 1350.
So when I started investigating out the Kimmer threads over at Low Carb Friends I wasn't "hearing" anything that I wasn't already familiar with. Besides, I'd already taken my food intake down from 3 times a day to 2 when I'd become bedridden all of those years ago. Which is "why" I began to believe I'd destroyed my metabolism and needed to find a BETTER WAY. And what better way to learn about a diet, than to try following it for a limited period of time? A trial run so-to-speak.
So in June, I first went on Atkins 72 for one week to get myself "used" to giving up carbs, before having to give up both carbs and fat, then went on Kimmer's Experiment for one week. Now interestingly enough, it was the week I did Atkins that got me really, really sick. And it caused my calorie intake to drop from 1600 to 800 real quick. Sometimes only 700. Because if I ate more than that, I wouldn't be able to keep my meals down. So for me, K/E was a relief of sorts because not only was I able to eat more calories without all of that fat, but the sick-to-my-stomach feelings I'd experienced on Atkins went away. As well as lots of other health issues I'd been experiencing lately.
Now...I DID find myself craving salad and veggies, and was never so GLAD as when I decided to move from just meat and eggs to the regular Kimkins diet. However, even with the salad and veggies, living on chicken breast for someone who "prefers" dark meat and pork chops just wasn't very sustainable. So even if I'd listened to my doctor way back when, I wouldn't have been able to follow his advice either for more than a month. Because that's about as long as I was able to strictly follow the Plan "behind" the plan. And even the 13.5 pounds I dropped that month wasn't enough incentive to keep me chained to those chicken breasts and spray dressings for more than a day or two at a time.
So I next moved into what is known as cycling. I did "some" Kimkins days, and "some" Atkins days, as real life tended to interfere with the limit-ness of Kimkins anyways. It worked wonderfully well for me. And I was able to drop around 11 pounds that month. But that's about the time the Kimkins controversy began.
At first, I just ignored what I was hearing, because by then, I'd already figured out through reading Kimmer's comments within her Ask Kimmer thread over at Low Carb Friends, plus her reluctance to show herself, that she was overweight. Not whom she was pretending to be at all. But I didn't see that as a problem. Because it was the principle of lower fat and lowering the calorie content of my low carb plan that was working for me. And who or what Kimmer was didn't make any difference to me.
It still doesn't actually. Because if it wasn't for Kimmer, and the things she had said in her threads over at Low Carb Friends, I'd be completely STUCK right now. And probably would have given up on low carb altogether, regained all of my weight back without ever having read Dr. Eades books. Because that's what my weight loss pattern was showing. I was losing less and less each month, consistently, and had just coasted to a stop the week before I entered my Kimkins experiment. Especially since I'm not one of those who can honestly say I feel better on low carb, so I'll stay on low carb whether I'm losing weight or not.
Now, you "could" say that I might have been introduced to Dr. Eades books and beliefs another way. And that could very well be true. But I'm a BIG BELIEVER in the fact that the Lord "sometimes" uses BAD THINGS, a.k.a. worldly selfish people, to bring about his righteous purposes. So I am NOT going to judge Kimmer or anything she has done, in any way, shape, or form, because that isn't my job.
"All judgment has been given to the Son."
So I'll just go forward with what I have learned about myself, expressing and embracing gratitude to the Lord that I was given the opportunity (even if it was in a bad way) to learn them, so that I can now complete the journey I started last January.
For awhile, I got sucked up into the hysteria, and ran back to Atkins with my tail between my legs. But I'm really mad at myself that I allowed myself to be influenced by others in that manner. Because "before" I went on Kimkins, I asked the Lord just where the truth lay, because Kimkins would involve for me a bit of letting go of Atkins. Or, at least, that's what I believed at the time.
Due to that request, I was given a vision where I saw Kimmer on my left hand side, Dr. Atkins on my right hand side, and a line between them. On that line, I was shown just where the truth of the matter lay. And the truth was much closer to Kimmer's side of the line than it was to Dr. Atkins.
Now in all fairness, this was regarding the Plan as Written over at Low Carb Friends. I didn't ask about Kimmer's personal advice at her web site (at least...not then) because I wasn't a member there. I wasn't about to pay for something I could get for free elsewhere. And I'm talking about the truth as far as "I'm" concerned. Someone else could have asked the Lord the same question and got a different answer for 'them.'
Later on, I "DID" ask about Kimmer's personal advice, and the truth was no where NEAR Kimmer's personal advice, so I want to take a minute here and just say that I DO NOT WANT someone to inadvertently run to Kimmer's door and line her pockets, because of what I have done this past year, nor for what I am doing now. What Kimmer is personally preaching today, is not what I did, nor anywhere near what I am personally doing.
Which is why I'm having such a HARD time with "some" of the folks over at Low Carb folks who are just attacking folks without actually LISTENING to what they are saying. High fat doesn't work for everyone. That's just the way it is. There are really some of us who HAVE to count calories, who HAVE to cut the fat down to lose.
So I've been stumbling for a while now because I didn't want to make my health any worse than it already is. But Dr. Eades' books have really, really helped me in that effort. Not only was I able to "see" low-fat low carb in it's true light, but I was also able to square myself once again with the Lord. So in a sincere effort to break away from all of the influences in my life, I took December off. From almost everything. But now am ready to go the rest of the distance.
However...It will just be on my own terms now. It won't be Atkins, it won't be Kimkins, it won't even be Protein Power. Because if I want this to work for me, I have to make my eating plan personally MINE.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Carbalose Pie Crust
For Christmas this year, I made my Strawberry Pie with blueberries instead of sliced strawberries, then placed it all in a basic, Carbalose Pie Crust instead of a nut one. The crust was really good. No after taste at all, at least to us.
Carbalose Pie Crust
1-1/2 cups Carbalose flour
3/4 cup butter-flavored shortening
up to 1/4 cup ice water
Cut the shortening into the flour. It will be more sticky, than peas. Add water a tbsp at a time until a pie crust consistency is reached. Press into a large pie plate. If you need to pre-brown it, you can bake it at 400 for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned. If you are filling the pie and then baking it, you don't have to pre-bake it first.
Carbalose Pie Crust
1-1/2 cups Carbalose flour
3/4 cup butter-flavored shortening
up to 1/4 cup ice water
Cut the shortening into the flour. It will be more sticky, than peas. Add water a tbsp at a time until a pie crust consistency is reached. Press into a large pie plate. If you need to pre-brown it, you can bake it at 400 for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned. If you are filling the pie and then baking it, you don't have to pre-bake it first.
The Craziness is Over Now!!!
Well...my inlaws didn't come home for as long as they usually do for the month of December, and with Christmas now over, and New Year's Day not much of a celebration for us, I see no reason to prolong my time off from dieting any longer. I've pretty much learned what I needed to know, that "some" of the foods I'm particularly missing -- like sourdough bread, mashed taters, and low-carb deserts -- won't be outta my life forever as I was easily able to maintain my weight during my short time off this month.
So I'm now ready to buckle up and finish the journey. But WOW. What a crazy ride it has been lately!!!
Therefore--My number one resolution for the coming year, which I'm also making right now, is to STOP LISTENING to what others are telling me to do, stop allowing their fears to influence my decisions, and start "listening" to not only my body, but my spirit and emotional needs as well. Because quite frankly, all of this Kimkins controversy, and all of the confusion and darkness that has manifested itself in my life because of the scare tactics being thrown around, has only "HURT" my health and weight loss efforts, not helped it.
Reading through Dr. Michael Eades' books this month, has greatly helped me see that light.
The real truth is...the low carb world doesn't revolve around the Atkins diet, even though it seems that most folks do tend to pick that plan. Nor does beginning the Atkins Plan mean you will be able to meet your goal by "staying" on that Plan as written throughout your entire journey. What we need to take into our hearts, and begin ACCEPTING is that the Atkins Plan works best for those who are either new to low carbing, or who don't suffer with a LOT of metabolic resistance.
Because even Dr. Atkins himself said that it was QUITE COMMON for folks to begin his diet then stall somewhere short of their goal weight.
QUITE COMMON...
So why do we, as a low carb community, fight against that reality? Why do we INSIST that if someone gravitates towards something different as a means of continuing their weight loss journey, (low-fat as in my own case), modification isn't ALLOWED? Why do we even HAVE to have a "name" like Atkins or Protein Power or Kimkins tagged onto what we are doing?
Why can't we just take the BEST aspects, the BEST principles of each plan, and then create something that works for us without having others attack us for what we have chosen to do? Why do we have to go UNDERGROUND, and LIE about what we are doing, what works for us, in order to reap the support and acceptance we seek?
WHO CARES what someone "calls" what they are doing, as long as they are successfully changing their life for the better?
Yes...there is a point where low-fat diets become a health risk. And Yes...there is a point where low-calorie diets become a health risk. But if "WE ARE NOT DOCTORS" who are we to say just where that line is for any particular person?
I have a lot of faith in Dr. Atkins. I have a lot of faith in Dr. Eades. And while they don't necessarily agree with each other in terms of fat calories, there is certainly a place for both plans within the low carb community. Who I have NO FAITH in, is the hordes of Sheeple running around PRETENDING TO BE DOCTORS and telling the rest of us what we should or shouldn't be doing -- even though for myself, I have yet to go to a doctor who hasn't tried to put me on a diet similar to Kimkins.
So I've finally made the decision.
The CRAZINESS is going to stop right now.
I am no longer going to remain in the closet, because pretending to do Atkins when I'm really doing Kimkins isn't going to help anyone else who might find themselves in the same situation I'm in. Where the Atkins Plan just isn't working very well for me this time around. Because the truth is, even though I've lost almost 75 pounds this year so far, MOST of that weight loss didn't come about by following the Atkins diet. MOST of that weight loss came from following the principles of Kimkins.
And that's the honest truth.
What I've since discovered, however, is that the principles of Kimkins I chose for myself are thoroughly within the Protein Power Lifeplan. So maybe what I'm doing is closer akin to that. I'm not sure yet. But whatever it is I'm doing, my health is NOT suffering from it. In fact, when I had my blood pressure taken a few days ago, it was NORMAL for the first time all year!!!
So we're going to start the New Year out right.
We are going to no longer PRETEND.
No longer act CRAZY.
And we are going to do what is RIGHT FOR US!!!
Because the Name of the Game is weight loss--and how we achieve that loss, as well as how we choose to maintain that loss, is going to differ for each one of us.
So I'm now ready to buckle up and finish the journey. But WOW. What a crazy ride it has been lately!!!
Therefore--My number one resolution for the coming year, which I'm also making right now, is to STOP LISTENING to what others are telling me to do, stop allowing their fears to influence my decisions, and start "listening" to not only my body, but my spirit and emotional needs as well. Because quite frankly, all of this Kimkins controversy, and all of the confusion and darkness that has manifested itself in my life because of the scare tactics being thrown around, has only "HURT" my health and weight loss efforts, not helped it.
Reading through Dr. Michael Eades' books this month, has greatly helped me see that light.
The real truth is...the low carb world doesn't revolve around the Atkins diet, even though it seems that most folks do tend to pick that plan. Nor does beginning the Atkins Plan mean you will be able to meet your goal by "staying" on that Plan as written throughout your entire journey. What we need to take into our hearts, and begin ACCEPTING is that the Atkins Plan works best for those who are either new to low carbing, or who don't suffer with a LOT of metabolic resistance.
Because even Dr. Atkins himself said that it was QUITE COMMON for folks to begin his diet then stall somewhere short of their goal weight.
QUITE COMMON...
So why do we, as a low carb community, fight against that reality? Why do we INSIST that if someone gravitates towards something different as a means of continuing their weight loss journey, (low-fat as in my own case), modification isn't ALLOWED? Why do we even HAVE to have a "name" like Atkins or Protein Power or Kimkins tagged onto what we are doing?
Why can't we just take the BEST aspects, the BEST principles of each plan, and then create something that works for us without having others attack us for what we have chosen to do? Why do we have to go UNDERGROUND, and LIE about what we are doing, what works for us, in order to reap the support and acceptance we seek?
WHO CARES what someone "calls" what they are doing, as long as they are successfully changing their life for the better?
Yes...there is a point where low-fat diets become a health risk. And Yes...there is a point where low-calorie diets become a health risk. But if "WE ARE NOT DOCTORS" who are we to say just where that line is for any particular person?
I have a lot of faith in Dr. Atkins. I have a lot of faith in Dr. Eades. And while they don't necessarily agree with each other in terms of fat calories, there is certainly a place for both plans within the low carb community. Who I have NO FAITH in, is the hordes of Sheeple running around PRETENDING TO BE DOCTORS and telling the rest of us what we should or shouldn't be doing -- even though for myself, I have yet to go to a doctor who hasn't tried to put me on a diet similar to Kimkins.
So I've finally made the decision.
The CRAZINESS is going to stop right now.
I am no longer going to remain in the closet, because pretending to do Atkins when I'm really doing Kimkins isn't going to help anyone else who might find themselves in the same situation I'm in. Where the Atkins Plan just isn't working very well for me this time around. Because the truth is, even though I've lost almost 75 pounds this year so far, MOST of that weight loss didn't come about by following the Atkins diet. MOST of that weight loss came from following the principles of Kimkins.
And that's the honest truth.
What I've since discovered, however, is that the principles of Kimkins I chose for myself are thoroughly within the Protein Power Lifeplan. So maybe what I'm doing is closer akin to that. I'm not sure yet. But whatever it is I'm doing, my health is NOT suffering from it. In fact, when I had my blood pressure taken a few days ago, it was NORMAL for the first time all year!!!
So we're going to start the New Year out right.
We are going to no longer PRETEND.
No longer act CRAZY.
And we are going to do what is RIGHT FOR US!!!
Because the Name of the Game is weight loss--and how we achieve that loss, as well as how we choose to maintain that loss, is going to differ for each one of us.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Changes, Decisions, and Hibernation
I accidentally took a swig of my husband's Root Beer on Sunday, having mixed up whose glass was whose, and my body just about had a fit. Not my mind...my body. I've also noticed the same, or similar reactions, whenever I LOOK at 'some' of the high-carb foods I used to eat. Could I really ever go back to who and what I was before I began this round of low-carb dieting? I don't think so. Like I've said before, I've come tooooo far to ever go back to who and what I was then.
What I've come to realize this past week is that after almost a year of breaking patterns, behavoirs, and pretty bad eating habits, I think it would be just as hard to return to where I used to be, as it is to just go forward and finish the road I entered last January.
I find the "idea" of body hibernation to be extremely interesting. Especially in light of the fact that my body has been demanding quite a bit of extra sleep lately. Quite unusual for me, since I've suffered for soooo long with bouts of insomnia.
Now part of that might be because I've cut waaaaay, waaaaay back on the amount of Nutra Sweet I've been using, and I seem to be as tired as heck. I didn't do it to try and kick-start my weight loss, though, because it doesn't seem to have any effect on that. But because I didn't really like Dr. Eades description of what an excitotoxin is and does. I've lost enough of my brain cells through Multiple Chemical Sensitivity that I don't need to lose any more. Especially since the Meniere's has the characteristic of slowing everything down anyways. So the exciting of my brain cells to 'death' has gotta stop.
But we live in the middle of nowhere. And I can't always get Diet Coke made with Splenda. Neither can I drink Spring water, or other waters that contain sodium. So "sometimes" this past week, about twice I think it was, I DID have diet drinks with aspartame. And I noticed a considerable change in my sleeping "patterns" each and every time I did that. So I'm going to try harder to be more prepared, with Splenda-sweetened soda or prepared iced tea on hand, that I can take with me, so I don't have to do that.
Another change I made this week was to move myself up the carb ladder a bit, from 20 carbs a day to 30. The idea was to give my diet more variety, plus keep it simple by "giving up" my addiction to Fitday, (which just kept me too preoccupied with how much fat and how many calories I was eating), and just keep each meal limited to Dr. Eades recommended protein intake (which in my own case is 5 to 6 oz) with a maximum of 10 to 12 carbs, plus fall back on Kimkins "original" recommendation of using only enough fat to make your diet WORK.
The results of this expansion have been good. But I gotta tell ya, it was really, really, SCARY. Because even though I'm sick and tired of dieting, I sure as heck don't want to gain any of my weight back. And that is really, really possible even within the low-carb framework. So I took the plunge, added back ANY food I wanted to eat in the "quantity" needed to keep within my 10 to 12 carb allotment, which included 1/4 cup mashed potatoes on Sunday by the way, and I've been doing just fine with that.
In fact, I weighed in at 185 pounds this morning. A tiny bit up from my weight of 184.6 on Friday, but certainly lower than I've been for the past couple of days. Which means I've finally achieved my next mini goal. That makes a total of 71-1/2 pounds for this year gone so far. And about a .8 pound loss for this past week.
I know the weather isn't helping matters any either. Especially with the S.A.D. We have had snow for days now, with one storm rolling in after another. Wet, slushy snow, not dry snow. So my ears are fit to be tied. I've had to go back onto the Meclizine, which I had gotten completely off of before. Not happy about that, but with HAVING to work, and not being "able" to just go back to bed when the weather is not cooperating, and I'm depressed, I haven't had any other options. It makes me tired too, by the way, which is why I'd been fighting having to return to it.
I'm really, really HOPING that the comment from my last post regarding things getting better for me after the Soltice is true. Especially since my in-laws are coming home about that time, and things are going to be just downright crazy then.
What I've come to realize this past week is that after almost a year of breaking patterns, behavoirs, and pretty bad eating habits, I think it would be just as hard to return to where I used to be, as it is to just go forward and finish the road I entered last January.
I find the "idea" of body hibernation to be extremely interesting. Especially in light of the fact that my body has been demanding quite a bit of extra sleep lately. Quite unusual for me, since I've suffered for soooo long with bouts of insomnia.
Now part of that might be because I've cut waaaaay, waaaaay back on the amount of Nutra Sweet I've been using, and I seem to be as tired as heck. I didn't do it to try and kick-start my weight loss, though, because it doesn't seem to have any effect on that. But because I didn't really like Dr. Eades description of what an excitotoxin is and does. I've lost enough of my brain cells through Multiple Chemical Sensitivity that I don't need to lose any more. Especially since the Meniere's has the characteristic of slowing everything down anyways. So the exciting of my brain cells to 'death' has gotta stop.
But we live in the middle of nowhere. And I can't always get Diet Coke made with Splenda. Neither can I drink Spring water, or other waters that contain sodium. So "sometimes" this past week, about twice I think it was, I DID have diet drinks with aspartame. And I noticed a considerable change in my sleeping "patterns" each and every time I did that. So I'm going to try harder to be more prepared, with Splenda-sweetened soda or prepared iced tea on hand, that I can take with me, so I don't have to do that.
Another change I made this week was to move myself up the carb ladder a bit, from 20 carbs a day to 30. The idea was to give my diet more variety, plus keep it simple by "giving up" my addiction to Fitday, (which just kept me too preoccupied with how much fat and how many calories I was eating), and just keep each meal limited to Dr. Eades recommended protein intake (which in my own case is 5 to 6 oz) with a maximum of 10 to 12 carbs, plus fall back on Kimkins "original" recommendation of using only enough fat to make your diet WORK.
The results of this expansion have been good. But I gotta tell ya, it was really, really, SCARY. Because even though I'm sick and tired of dieting, I sure as heck don't want to gain any of my weight back. And that is really, really possible even within the low-carb framework. So I took the plunge, added back ANY food I wanted to eat in the "quantity" needed to keep within my 10 to 12 carb allotment, which included 1/4 cup mashed potatoes on Sunday by the way, and I've been doing just fine with that.
In fact, I weighed in at 185 pounds this morning. A tiny bit up from my weight of 184.6 on Friday, but certainly lower than I've been for the past couple of days. Which means I've finally achieved my next mini goal. That makes a total of 71-1/2 pounds for this year gone so far. And about a .8 pound loss for this past week.
I know the weather isn't helping matters any either. Especially with the S.A.D. We have had snow for days now, with one storm rolling in after another. Wet, slushy snow, not dry snow. So my ears are fit to be tied. I've had to go back onto the Meclizine, which I had gotten completely off of before. Not happy about that, but with HAVING to work, and not being "able" to just go back to bed when the weather is not cooperating, and I'm depressed, I haven't had any other options. It makes me tired too, by the way, which is why I'd been fighting having to return to it.
I'm really, really HOPING that the comment from my last post regarding things getting better for me after the Soltice is true. Especially since my in-laws are coming home about that time, and things are going to be just downright crazy then.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Struggling to Keep my Head Above Water
Been MIA for awhile now, I know...and I can only blame "part" of it on my health. We've been having rain and snow storms, and yeah my ears are inflammed/swollen from that which means I'm dizzy and nauseated as heck right now. But that's really not new. I've been fighting that problem for years now. What "is" new is my personal inner struggle with dieting itself.
I've often talked about the NEED to make low carbing a lifestyle change. And I've said it soooo often lately that even my brother-in-law parroted it back to me the other day when my husband asked him (for me) if he and his wife were still doing Atkins. They are planning on coming home sometime around the 15th of this month, and I needed to know how to plan Christmas dinner. Low carb just for me, or low carb for everyone.
The answer was...low carb for everyone. Because this is a lifestyle change--he said. There is no turning back.
Maybe that's true. Heaven knows I've said it often enough to believe it subconsciously now. But I'm so darned TIRED of dieting!!! So darned TIRED of depriving myself!!! So darned TIRED of making it "hard" on my friends to fix things for Sunday Dinner that "I" can eat. And I'm so darned TIRED of listening to all the "bull crap" about Kimkins and low-fat dieting. Bull crap that has caused some of us to go underground. Some of us to feel alienated. And some of us to just quietly "do" in the background, what we need to do to make low carb dieting work for us.
You know...I've never had Atkins "not" work for me, to the extent that it has this time around. And even though I was more than ready to shed my excess pounds 11 months ago, and have tried very hard this year to make that diet work for me, I am still far, far short of my goal.
Yeah, I've done well. I've lost about 70 pounds this year so far, with just under a month to go before my anniversary on January 3, 2008. But I've now reached that point in my journey where dieting itself has turned into a major struggle. A struggle that I didn't realize was going to hit me, and affect me, in quite the way it has.
What do you do when you're only a little more than half-way to your goal, but are "tired" of dieting?
My husband tells me I should be proud of what I have accomplished this year. That I should accept the fact that since I am older now, I might not be able to be as slim as I would like to be. A size 7 or so. But it really wasn't what I "needed" to hear among all the inner turmoil that I am going through right now. Because I miss...I mean I really, really, MISS being able to eat whatever I want to, whenever I want too. I MISS being a "part" of the social gatherings I attend where food tasting and sampling are a "major" part of that gathering.
And because of that, I've begun entertaining ideas of being able to do just that once I reach maintenance. Can I "control" myself right now? Can I limit myself to normal, healthy portions of food? Yes...I can. That really wasn't my problem in the first place. Because due to the Meniere's and the drastic lack of activity from that, I had already lowered my food intake to 2 meals per day. Which is probably why my metabolism is shot to hell.
I'm sick and tired of hearing folks say you can FIX your metabolism with healthy, high fat, Atkins-type dieting, because for the life of me, I haven't been able to do that. Not in the slightest. Even though I haven't left the low-carb trail even once. Provided you don't count the Cracker Barrel fiasco (which never did make good on their promise by the way, to send me gift certificates so that my next visit to Cracker Barrel wouldn't be as disastrous as the last one was. All the central office did was give me a song and a dance about how low-carb meals are expensive and more meat than the general public is used to, and blah, blah, blah).
I started off last January at a crawl, and I'm still crawling. Because the ONLY WAY to "break" out of that crawl at this point in my life is to incorporate "some" of the principles I learned from Kimkins. You know...those things that everyone is screaming "Foul Play" about. Going below 1200 calories, or limiting your fat to something less than 60 grams. Even though Dr. Atkins "Fat Fast" and Dr. Michael Eades "Thin So Fast" plans are only 1000 calories.
Where in heck did that number come from in the first place? 1200 calories!!! Everyone is parroting that number these days, but I can't find out where or why that number first began. I just know it was the number being used for a typical low-fat diet when I first began my weight-loss journey waaaaay back when I was 16 or so.
The depressive cloud that is hanging over me is really, really THICK right now. So thick, that I've even entertained the idea of quitting low carb all together. Quitting...because...afterall...isn't low carbing "supposed" to WORK as written? Isn't it supposed to make you FEEL BETTER? Have "more" energy? And put you in a better, more CLEAR frame of mind?
What if it doesn't? Then what? What if it makes you depressed, lethargic, insomniac, nauseated, dizzy, and physically and mentally tired? Because quite frankly, I've never felt as "bad" on low carb as I have this time around.
Am I just detoxing?
Is my Seratonin Levels low?
Probably...
But with no end in sight, I don't see any of that changing for the better anytime soon. Not if I continue to "buy into" all of this stuff being preached lately about low fat, low carb dieting being sooooo unhealthy for you.
Granted, the behind the scenes Kimkins levels being followed by many were pretty drastic. So drastic that folks weren't eating enough protein to maintain their lean body mass. Because it takes waaaay more than a single chicken breast at 42 grams of protein per day to keep your muscles and organs regenerated and running in tip top shape. Even though that's what the "nutritional experts" of the day recommend.
But what if you DO eat enough protein to maintain your lean body mass? Is low-fat dieting STILL unhealthy for you????
There is sooooo much contradictory information and opinions running around these days, especially on the various egroups and bulletin boards, that it can give you quite a head-ache trying to figure it all out. Everyone believes they are right. So everyone is running around trying to shove their ideas and notions down everyone else's throats who are doing something contrary to their beliefs.
But what if they are WRONG?
I was reading in Dr. Michael Eade's older book "Thin So Fast" this morning, and he was talking about scientific research and how we have to be sooooo careful when we are reading the conclusions of others. Because it's so easy to jump to the wrong deduction.
Take complex carbs for instance. Research shows complex carbs help to control blood sugar swings, reduces insulin levels, and improves cholesterol numbers. So nutritional folks, as well as the general public, were quick to jump on the "eat lower cholesterol foods and more complex carbs" bandwagon without truly understanding WHY this is so. And hurting themselves in the process.
It turns out it isn't about the carbs, it's about the soluable fiber in those carbs. So now...a lot of folks have diabetes and/or insulin resistance from eating all of those complex carbs haphazzardly, without truly understanding just what it was that made a person more healthy by eating them.
Maybe low fat, low carb dieting is much the same. We just don't understand enough to make a call yet.
What really FRIES me though is that most low carb folks, for the sake of remaining "loyal" to Atkins as written or what what have you, (current ANA quidelines, etc.), would rather see you stay fat, tired, and icky feeling than lose the weight and thus improve your health overall, in a different manner than what "they believe" Atkins would have advised.
Or would he?
That's just the thing. We're all running around trying to get inside the head of someone else. Someone we look up to, and admire, yes, but someone else just the same. And that's just about impossible. Because let's face it. Diet books and interviews (what most are basing their beliefs upon) are geared towards the MAJORITY. What the major part of readers need to know and do to achieve success. Not towards those of us with specific, indvidual metabolic defects that don't respond to such generalized treatment.
Which circles us back around to SQUARE ONE!!!
Where do we go from here?
Well...I weighed in at 187.6 this morning. That's up from the past 3 days where I was 186.6 and up even more from last Friday, when I was 185.8--so I seem to be CLIMBING yet again. Partly because of the storm here, yes, but also because we had Shrimp Alfredo last night for dinner. And Dreamsfield Lasagne for the two nights before that. Because I just couldn't look at another low-fat dinner plate, and remain SANE.
So I'm up about 2 pounds since last Friday. Which the scale is claiming is FAT.
Overall, I didn't do too badly for the month of November. I lost 8.6 pounds last month. At least as of on the 1st. But that wasn't achieved by following Atkins or even generally accepted low carb. It was achieved by returning to Kimkins level of dieting. The ONLY thing that seems to work anymore for me...
Which is why all this quandary is really surfacing. What do I do...and where do I go from here? Heck if I know....
I've often talked about the NEED to make low carbing a lifestyle change. And I've said it soooo often lately that even my brother-in-law parroted it back to me the other day when my husband asked him (for me) if he and his wife were still doing Atkins. They are planning on coming home sometime around the 15th of this month, and I needed to know how to plan Christmas dinner. Low carb just for me, or low carb for everyone.
The answer was...low carb for everyone. Because this is a lifestyle change--he said. There is no turning back.
Maybe that's true. Heaven knows I've said it often enough to believe it subconsciously now. But I'm so darned TIRED of dieting!!! So darned TIRED of depriving myself!!! So darned TIRED of making it "hard" on my friends to fix things for Sunday Dinner that "I" can eat. And I'm so darned TIRED of listening to all the "bull crap" about Kimkins and low-fat dieting. Bull crap that has caused some of us to go underground. Some of us to feel alienated. And some of us to just quietly "do" in the background, what we need to do to make low carb dieting work for us.
You know...I've never had Atkins "not" work for me, to the extent that it has this time around. And even though I was more than ready to shed my excess pounds 11 months ago, and have tried very hard this year to make that diet work for me, I am still far, far short of my goal.
Yeah, I've done well. I've lost about 70 pounds this year so far, with just under a month to go before my anniversary on January 3, 2008. But I've now reached that point in my journey where dieting itself has turned into a major struggle. A struggle that I didn't realize was going to hit me, and affect me, in quite the way it has.
What do you do when you're only a little more than half-way to your goal, but are "tired" of dieting?
My husband tells me I should be proud of what I have accomplished this year. That I should accept the fact that since I am older now, I might not be able to be as slim as I would like to be. A size 7 or so. But it really wasn't what I "needed" to hear among all the inner turmoil that I am going through right now. Because I miss...I mean I really, really, MISS being able to eat whatever I want to, whenever I want too. I MISS being a "part" of the social gatherings I attend where food tasting and sampling are a "major" part of that gathering.
And because of that, I've begun entertaining ideas of being able to do just that once I reach maintenance. Can I "control" myself right now? Can I limit myself to normal, healthy portions of food? Yes...I can. That really wasn't my problem in the first place. Because due to the Meniere's and the drastic lack of activity from that, I had already lowered my food intake to 2 meals per day. Which is probably why my metabolism is shot to hell.
I'm sick and tired of hearing folks say you can FIX your metabolism with healthy, high fat, Atkins-type dieting, because for the life of me, I haven't been able to do that. Not in the slightest. Even though I haven't left the low-carb trail even once. Provided you don't count the Cracker Barrel fiasco (which never did make good on their promise by the way, to send me gift certificates so that my next visit to Cracker Barrel wouldn't be as disastrous as the last one was. All the central office did was give me a song and a dance about how low-carb meals are expensive and more meat than the general public is used to, and blah, blah, blah).
I started off last January at a crawl, and I'm still crawling. Because the ONLY WAY to "break" out of that crawl at this point in my life is to incorporate "some" of the principles I learned from Kimkins. You know...those things that everyone is screaming "Foul Play" about. Going below 1200 calories, or limiting your fat to something less than 60 grams. Even though Dr. Atkins "Fat Fast" and Dr. Michael Eades "Thin So Fast" plans are only 1000 calories.
Where in heck did that number come from in the first place? 1200 calories!!! Everyone is parroting that number these days, but I can't find out where or why that number first began. I just know it was the number being used for a typical low-fat diet when I first began my weight-loss journey waaaaay back when I was 16 or so.
The depressive cloud that is hanging over me is really, really THICK right now. So thick, that I've even entertained the idea of quitting low carb all together. Quitting...because...afterall...isn't low carbing "supposed" to WORK as written? Isn't it supposed to make you FEEL BETTER? Have "more" energy? And put you in a better, more CLEAR frame of mind?
What if it doesn't? Then what? What if it makes you depressed, lethargic, insomniac, nauseated, dizzy, and physically and mentally tired? Because quite frankly, I've never felt as "bad" on low carb as I have this time around.
Am I just detoxing?
Is my Seratonin Levels low?
Probably...
But with no end in sight, I don't see any of that changing for the better anytime soon. Not if I continue to "buy into" all of this stuff being preached lately about low fat, low carb dieting being sooooo unhealthy for you.
Granted, the behind the scenes Kimkins levels being followed by many were pretty drastic. So drastic that folks weren't eating enough protein to maintain their lean body mass. Because it takes waaaay more than a single chicken breast at 42 grams of protein per day to keep your muscles and organs regenerated and running in tip top shape. Even though that's what the "nutritional experts" of the day recommend.
But what if you DO eat enough protein to maintain your lean body mass? Is low-fat dieting STILL unhealthy for you????
There is sooooo much contradictory information and opinions running around these days, especially on the various egroups and bulletin boards, that it can give you quite a head-ache trying to figure it all out. Everyone believes they are right. So everyone is running around trying to shove their ideas and notions down everyone else's throats who are doing something contrary to their beliefs.
But what if they are WRONG?
I was reading in Dr. Michael Eade's older book "Thin So Fast" this morning, and he was talking about scientific research and how we have to be sooooo careful when we are reading the conclusions of others. Because it's so easy to jump to the wrong deduction.
Take complex carbs for instance. Research shows complex carbs help to control blood sugar swings, reduces insulin levels, and improves cholesterol numbers. So nutritional folks, as well as the general public, were quick to jump on the "eat lower cholesterol foods and more complex carbs" bandwagon without truly understanding WHY this is so. And hurting themselves in the process.
It turns out it isn't about the carbs, it's about the soluable fiber in those carbs. So now...a lot of folks have diabetes and/or insulin resistance from eating all of those complex carbs haphazzardly, without truly understanding just what it was that made a person more healthy by eating them.
Maybe low fat, low carb dieting is much the same. We just don't understand enough to make a call yet.
What really FRIES me though is that most low carb folks, for the sake of remaining "loyal" to Atkins as written or what what have you, (current ANA quidelines, etc.), would rather see you stay fat, tired, and icky feeling than lose the weight and thus improve your health overall, in a different manner than what "they believe" Atkins would have advised.
Or would he?
That's just the thing. We're all running around trying to get inside the head of someone else. Someone we look up to, and admire, yes, but someone else just the same. And that's just about impossible. Because let's face it. Diet books and interviews (what most are basing their beliefs upon) are geared towards the MAJORITY. What the major part of readers need to know and do to achieve success. Not towards those of us with specific, indvidual metabolic defects that don't respond to such generalized treatment.
Which circles us back around to SQUARE ONE!!!
Where do we go from here?
Well...I weighed in at 187.6 this morning. That's up from the past 3 days where I was 186.6 and up even more from last Friday, when I was 185.8--so I seem to be CLIMBING yet again. Partly because of the storm here, yes, but also because we had Shrimp Alfredo last night for dinner. And Dreamsfield Lasagne for the two nights before that. Because I just couldn't look at another low-fat dinner plate, and remain SANE.
So I'm up about 2 pounds since last Friday. Which the scale is claiming is FAT.
Overall, I didn't do too badly for the month of November. I lost 8.6 pounds last month. At least as of on the 1st. But that wasn't achieved by following Atkins or even generally accepted low carb. It was achieved by returning to Kimkins level of dieting. The ONLY thing that seems to work anymore for me...
Which is why all this quandary is really surfacing. What do I do...and where do I go from here? Heck if I know....
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