I read a clever article discussing the Atkins approach and its draw to those who enjoy thinking out of the box. It's called Hackers on Atkins. I get a kick out of blowing peoples minds who aren't too informed about Atkins by telling them I lost over 100 lbs eating 2500 calories a day. They usually think I exercised a ton (I didn't) or ate low fat (I eat about 100 grams of fat a day). I did exercise, but not until I lost about 75 lbs. I was just too self conscious to go to a gym.
Reading the Hackers article reminded me of why I did Atkins in the first place - I was fat and pissed off at diet gurus like Susan Powter that encouraged eating a high volume of carbs. I got even fatter doing that!
Check out the article, its a good geek read.
S h r i n k i n g Geek
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
The Razor Blade Diet
I thought that diets were sometimes difficult, even painful. Until I saw this video I thought I was having a hard time...
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Nicotine cravings associated with hunger cravings?
In a previous post, Food addicts shouldn't take a day off from healing, I discussed how the suppression of my hunger pains also seemed to reduce my desire for compulsive activities in general. Well, after seeing from the LA Times "Study links brain region to smoking addiction" I looked up the "Insular Cortex" in Wiki.
Here is a bit from the article:
"The insula has increasingly become the focus of attention for its role in body representation and subjective emotional experience. In particular, Antonio Damasio has proposed that this region plays a role in mapping visceral states that are associated with emotional experience, giving rise to conscious feelings. This is in essence a neurobiological formulation of the ideas of William James, who first proposed that subjective emotional experience (i.e. feelings) arise from our brain's interpretation of bodily states that are elicited by emotional events. This is an example of embodied cognition. Functionally speaking, the insula is believed to process convergent information to produce an emotionally relevant context for sensory experience. More specifically, the anterior insula is related more to olfactory, gustatory, vicero-autonomic, and limbic function, while the posterior insula is related more to auditory-somesthetic-skeletomotor function. Functional imaging experiments have revealed that the insula has an important role in pain experience and the experience of a number of basic emotions, including anger, fear, disgust, happiness and sadness. Functional imaging studies have also implicated the insula in conscious desires, such as food craving and drug craving. What is common to all of these emotional states is that they each change the body in some way and are associated with highly salient subjective qualities. The insula is well situated for the integration of information relating to bodily states into higher-order cognitive and emotional processes. The insula receives information from "homeostatic afferent" sensory pathways via the thalamus and sends output to a number of other limbic-related structures, such as the amygdala, the ventral striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex."
Surprise! The insula regulates subjective emotions, hunger, and various other body states. Due to the fact that I'm so profoundly affected by proper diet, reason leads me to believe that the low carb lifestyle I've chosen was truly meant for my metabolism. I wasn't imagining things!
Notice I'm not saying, "Low Carb Cures Addiction" even though it's the case with me. I've heard plenty of people tell me about how they have done the same thing through simply exercising. What I will stick to is that what we do to our bodies our bodies do to us; if we excercise and eat well we will be rewarded.
I'll be investigating this further, so stay tuned - I'll scrape up some research concerning specific diets and their effect on mental states.
Here is a bit from the article:
"The insula has increasingly become the focus of attention for its role in body representation and subjective emotional experience. In particular, Antonio Damasio has proposed that this region plays a role in mapping visceral states that are associated with emotional experience, giving rise to conscious feelings. This is in essence a neurobiological formulation of the ideas of William James, who first proposed that subjective emotional experience (i.e. feelings) arise from our brain's interpretation of bodily states that are elicited by emotional events. This is an example of embodied cognition. Functionally speaking, the insula is believed to process convergent information to produce an emotionally relevant context for sensory experience. More specifically, the anterior insula is related more to olfactory, gustatory, vicero-autonomic, and limbic function, while the posterior insula is related more to auditory-somesthetic-skeletomotor function. Functional imaging experiments have revealed that the insula has an important role in pain experience and the experience of a number of basic emotions, including anger, fear, disgust, happiness and sadness. Functional imaging studies have also implicated the insula in conscious desires, such as food craving and drug craving. What is common to all of these emotional states is that they each change the body in some way and are associated with highly salient subjective qualities. The insula is well situated for the integration of information relating to bodily states into higher-order cognitive and emotional processes. The insula receives information from "homeostatic afferent" sensory pathways via the thalamus and sends output to a number of other limbic-related structures, such as the amygdala, the ventral striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex."
Surprise! The insula regulates subjective emotions, hunger, and various other body states. Due to the fact that I'm so profoundly affected by proper diet, reason leads me to believe that the low carb lifestyle I've chosen was truly meant for my metabolism. I wasn't imagining things!
Notice I'm not saying, "Low Carb Cures Addiction" even though it's the case with me. I've heard plenty of people tell me about how they have done the same thing through simply exercising. What I will stick to is that what we do to our bodies our bodies do to us; if we excercise and eat well we will be rewarded.
I'll be investigating this further, so stay tuned - I'll scrape up some research concerning specific diets and their effect on mental states.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Week Two Progress Report - Charting and Predicting Progress
After two weeks of charting my weight, I have enough data to give some idea of how fast I may be approaching my goal.
In the chart to the left, the light blue bars represent actual loss. The dark line represents a trend, calculated using the equation you see at the top right. I chose this equation based simply on gut feeling rather than any special knowledge I have of this sort of thing. The resulting line simply looked like it may represent the diminishing returns of losing weight over a period of time. It's hard to tell by looking at this particular graph why the trend looked appropriate. Here is what helped me make the decision:
Notice in this 6 month forecast there is a bit of a curve to the trendline. It does seem steep - six months is too short of a time period to lose this much weight. I'm thinking this only because LAST time I lost that fast, I packed half of it back on!
So, I'd like to get to goal as close as possible to my 52nd progress report. It divides up to just about 2.4 lbs a week on average. I'm currently averaging 5.6 lbs a week. This average will fall, mostly because I lost water weight in the first few days. Notice the erratic numbers in the first graph?
So, 11.2 lbs lost in the first month. My chart tells me I'll lose another 11 lbs or so. Think I'll prove it right or wrong? Only time will tell. If the equation is good, then with more data I get closer to making a decent prediction!
Stay tuned...
Friday, January 26, 2007
Cookie Blues
At times I have the cookie blues. I'm not a cookie like this fella, but I sure get down for the sweets...
Thursday, January 25, 2007
This made me feel good.
Okay. So this doesn't have to do with food, body image, or pretty much anything that I've mentioned so far. Yet, it made me happy to watch.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Food addicts shouldn't take a day off from healing themselves
It’s become pretty clear to me that the “six day on one day off” approach to dieting doesn’t work, at least for me. I’ve heard people that have successfully used this approach to dieting, but for a person like me who is so soundly addicted to sugar and simple carbs it just doesn’t make sense. Have you ever heard of a drug addict using this type of approach? You don’t hear any doctors suggesting that a patient in a drug rehab program should “indulge” now and then.
If I have even one meal consisting of any carbs other than vegetables, my cravings for massive amounts of food kicks in and my willpower deteriorates. When I’m not “under the influence” of sugar or the like, I can quite easily pass up pretty much any kind of food if I shouldn’t eat it.
Also, when exercising, I find it much easier to resist binging. I also have some trouble with smoking – I currently smoke and I have plans to quit very soon. I know based on past experience that after a few weeks of eating low-carb I can also stop smoking with minimal cravings! It’s amazing, the connection between my sugar addiction and my various other vices. I feel so much more in control of my behavior when I don’t eat a ton of carbs. I feel less anxiety, I feel better about myself, and I sleep so much better!
When I was a kid, I was diagnosed with ADD – doctors also warned I could continue to experience symptoms into adulthood. I did, and I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Up until I started low-carbing, I had so little control over the way I lived my life. I had tremendous mood swings, insomnia, and simply wasn’t able to manage my life. Now that I’m older and have started taking better care of myself, the mental and emotional difficulties I experienced have slowly disappeared. I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m convinced – low-carb eating has alleviated the symptoms of serious mental illness. It did more than drugs or therapy ever did.
I am pretty sure that as time goes by, people will come to the realization that most of our health struggles (physical and mental) can be erased with proper diet and exercise. I think low-carb methods may not be perfect, but they have brought to light that we truly are still just barely scratching the surface as to how our bodies work as a whole.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Week 1 Progress Report - New scale = teh suck
7.2* lbs lost, but other data I fear is invalid.
I'd like to toss my new scale through the window. It seemed consistent the first few days, but on the 4th day of weighing myself it couldn't seem to make up it's mind pertaining to my BMI. At one point it told me I dropped a whole **10 points off of my BMI. That would be like 50 lbs or so which is utterly impossible in a week. So, until I figure out a new way of keeping track, I'll use the old fashioned method.
I started this week at 300.6 lbs, and now I'm at 293.4. I think the lbs measurement is accurate, because it gives me the same exact result every time I step on the scale (during my weigh in time, that is). As I said before, I'm afraid that this is the only accurate measurement. As soon as I am able, I'll get some ketone test strips so I can start tracking my ketone levels. Also, I'll be getting regular blood work done starting in a few weeks so I'll be keeping track of cholesterol levels as well. It's looking like Week 3 or 4 I'll have more data to share.
EDIT*edited to reflect actual starting weight - I originally reported my start weight as 303 lbs. This is incorrect, in a way - that was what my scale read the day before I started my tracking spreadsheet, so I now consider it invalid. Real loss for the first week is as reflected in the above post.
EDIT** It seems to be that I was particulary well hydrated that day - when I am well hydrated, my BMI tends to read lower. I'll post on this later, as I better understand the science behind that sort of thing.
I'd like to toss my new scale through the window. It seemed consistent the first few days, but on the 4th day of weighing myself it couldn't seem to make up it's mind pertaining to my BMI. At one point it told me I dropped a whole **10 points off of my BMI. That would be like 50 lbs or so which is utterly impossible in a week. So, until I figure out a new way of keeping track, I'll use the old fashioned method.
I started this week at 300.6 lbs, and now I'm at 293.4. I think the lbs measurement is accurate, because it gives me the same exact result every time I step on the scale (during my weigh in time, that is). As I said before, I'm afraid that this is the only accurate measurement. As soon as I am able, I'll get some ketone test strips so I can start tracking my ketone levels. Also, I'll be getting regular blood work done starting in a few weeks so I'll be keeping track of cholesterol levels as well. It's looking like Week 3 or 4 I'll have more data to share.
EDIT*edited to reflect actual starting weight - I originally reported my start weight as 303 lbs. This is incorrect, in a way - that was what my scale read the day before I started my tracking spreadsheet, so I now consider it invalid. Real loss for the first week is as reflected in the above post.
EDIT** It seems to be that I was particulary well hydrated that day - when I am well hydrated, my BMI tends to read lower. I'll post on this later, as I better understand the science behind that sort of thing.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Tracking weight loss progress
I found a wonderful scale that not only tracks weight, but also body fat percentage and hydration levels! It gave me the idea to chart in an excel spreadsheet the details of my daily fat status. I put together a chart that tracks BMI, Hydration, Weight (lbs), ketone level (by-product of body fat breaking down) and Cholesterol (good and bad). Each week I'll post the chart for all to see! Since I bought the scale, I've tracked three days. On the seventh day, which will be Saturday of this week, it will be ready for the "official" first weekly report.
My goal is to be at a BMI of 20% after 52 weeks. I have a ways to go... Tune in on Saturday for week 1 results!
My goal is to be at a BMI of 20% after 52 weeks. I have a ways to go... Tune in on Saturday for week 1 results!
Friday, January 12, 2007
Getting a head start with fat loss
I had originally planned, as I mentioned in a previous post, to ween myself off of a carb heavy diet and slowly ease into induction. As I started to eat better each day I got a little restless - my body was getting what it truly needed and begged for more. So, I've decided to give myself a head start and begin today instead of Sunday. I'm a bit strange - I wanted to start my two week induction at the beginning of the workweek. And, to give me another advantage I'll hit the weights! Here is why, and it might be a little different that what you're thinking...
For any weight loss plan, exercise is a must have if you want to keep off the weight and keep toned as you shrink into your new self. I find, especially with Atkins, weight training in the first 48 hours really buys you a major advantage. You see, low-carb diets work so well because they force your body to work extra hard to create the energy it needs because it loses much of its much-too-easy energy source - sugar. Fuel that is stored in your muscles, called glycogen, becomes harder to come by in a carb restricted metabolism so much of your fat is burned to fill the energy gap.
So, if you weight lift in the beginning stages of the diet you empty your muscles of the glycogen stores and therefore rev-up your metabolism faster than if you did cardio - and much faster if you didn't exercise at all. You see, ballistic exercises (like weight-lifting) require you to use the stored "quick-energy" in your muscles more than straight up cardio. Your body is forced to store energy in your muscles even faster than low-carbing alone.
The other advantage to not consuming simple carbs during weight loss has to do with the spike of insulin that comes when you eat, say, a candy bar. In a person who is insulin sensitive (ever get tired after eating alot of McDonald's or Ben and Jerry's?) the glucose made so easily from white bread and, well, sugar, is very quickly consumed and converted to fat. Not only does blood sugar then plummet because an insulin sensitive body consumes too much blood sugar - guess where all the glucose went as you feel you're ready to fall asleep? It converted to fat. Merry Christmas! You're now fat and tired, like I've been for a large portion of my life. These rapid spikes and dips are referred to as hypoglycemia.
When you are maintaining your weight, cardio will keep your cardiovascular system healthy but you will have yourself some extra fat insurance if you keep your muscles doing ballistic work - like weights! If you keep those muscles slightly hungry for good-old glycogen, you'll keep that fat from building up from extra glucose in your bod.
Lastly - I'm not a medical doctor. I can't predict how ANYONE will react to low carbing except me. I've heard many other folks who experienced the same sucess, and maybe you could too!
Read the book.. chat with your Doctor.. chat with two Doctors, and may you live a loooong life.
A little entertainment as you ponder todays post...
For any weight loss plan, exercise is a must have if you want to keep off the weight and keep toned as you shrink into your new self. I find, especially with Atkins, weight training in the first 48 hours really buys you a major advantage. You see, low-carb diets work so well because they force your body to work extra hard to create the energy it needs because it loses much of its much-too-easy energy source - sugar. Fuel that is stored in your muscles, called glycogen, becomes harder to come by in a carb restricted metabolism so much of your fat is burned to fill the energy gap.
So, if you weight lift in the beginning stages of the diet you empty your muscles of the glycogen stores and therefore rev-up your metabolism faster than if you did cardio - and much faster if you didn't exercise at all. You see, ballistic exercises (like weight-lifting) require you to use the stored "quick-energy" in your muscles more than straight up cardio. Your body is forced to store energy in your muscles even faster than low-carbing alone.
The other advantage to not consuming simple carbs during weight loss has to do with the spike of insulin that comes when you eat, say, a candy bar. In a person who is insulin sensitive (ever get tired after eating alot of McDonald's or Ben and Jerry's?) the glucose made so easily from white bread and, well, sugar, is very quickly consumed and converted to fat. Not only does blood sugar then plummet because an insulin sensitive body consumes too much blood sugar - guess where all the glucose went as you feel you're ready to fall asleep? It converted to fat. Merry Christmas! You're now fat and tired, like I've been for a large portion of my life. These rapid spikes and dips are referred to as hypoglycemia.
When you are maintaining your weight, cardio will keep your cardiovascular system healthy but you will have yourself some extra fat insurance if you keep your muscles doing ballistic work - like weights! If you keep those muscles slightly hungry for good-old glycogen, you'll keep that fat from building up from extra glucose in your bod.
Lastly - I'm not a medical doctor. I can't predict how ANYONE will react to low carbing except me. I've heard many other folks who experienced the same sucess, and maybe you could too!
Read the book.. chat with your Doctor.. chat with two Doctors, and may you live a loooong life.
A little entertainment as you ponder todays post...
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Alton Brown is my hero!
I love this guy. He does a show on the food network called "Good Eats" He totally dorks it out when he does his cooking thing. Basically, he goes into delicious detail about the science behind his methods. Love it...
Long live Alton Brown
Long live Alton Brown
Ramping down the carbs
Over the last week or so, I've been gearing up to start (for the ump-teenth time in my dieting life) the first phase of the Atkins diet. Basically, the first phase (called the induction phase) is the point at which the carbohydrate intake is at its lowest. Twenty grams of carbs, about a small salad, each day for two weeks. Some people stay in this phase longer than two weeks if they have alot to lose.
In the past, I remained in induction for as long as 4 months at a time. Doing this allowed me to lose fast - not always the best medicine for a food addict! I'd lose fast, then gain even faster when I messed up. This time around, I'm going to follow the Atkins Book to a tee and carefully add in the carbs over time. There is also the The South Beach Diet. It's a lower fat (bleah) alternative. Notice I say "lower"! It's still a nice amount of fat, they just go into more detail about which fats are better for you than others. I think they encourage too many carbs - but I haven't formulated a very strong opinion of it yet. I should try the diet perhaps, just to check. =)
In the past, I remained in induction for as long as 4 months at a time. Doing this allowed me to lose fast - not always the best medicine for a food addict! I'd lose fast, then gain even faster when I messed up. This time around, I'm going to follow the Atkins Book to a tee and carefully add in the carbs over time. There is also the The South Beach Diet. It's a lower fat (bleah) alternative. Notice I say "lower"! It's still a nice amount of fat, they just go into more detail about which fats are better for you than others. I think they encourage too many carbs - but I haven't formulated a very strong opinion of it yet. I should try the diet perhaps, just to check. =)
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
"I was hungry..."
I came across this today. Very funny vid of a sneaky woman rummaging in the fridge...
I have to feel a little bad for this lady, I know how hard it is to deal with food addiction.
Side of shame, anyone?
I have to feel a little bad for this lady, I know how hard it is to deal with food addiction.
Side of shame, anyone?
Makes me want a ps3, after seeing this
I wanted to gag after seeing this. Sure the skinny blonde is hot, but I think my IQ dropped just listening to her. Fat chick gets extra points, and so does the PS3.
Those glasses are sexy...
Those glasses are sexy...
I love Rachael Ray
What a smile - and MAN she sounds like an angel...
I wonder how that fudge tastes...
Anyway, I'm not obsessed or anything.
Enough about my object of non-obsession -
I love food - especially when I'm in my own kitchen making the magic happen. Yes, this is why Rachael Ray is on my mind.
At the moment I'm cooking up a nice fat burger in my rotisserie grill thing. I love it - it's one of those Ronco Showtime Rotisseries. I do chicken sometimes too, sausage also comes out very well.
It's going to be key in my future endeavors to keep my cooking interesting - if I start going out to eat again, I'll be too tempted to eat junk.
Monday, January 8, 2007
Big Fat Blog
I found an interesting blog while browsing. I like the tone of it. I think most of those who are overweight though, no matter what the rhetoric, would prefer to be thinner. Maybe that's my own desire coming through.
Of course, I'm not talking about being wafer thin or anything, but there are health problems associated with being heavy. Apparently, some studies suggest many problems are relative to those with normal weight but it's hard to ignore the extra strain on the back and other joints. I myself have severe back problems associated with my weight.
Time for work...
Of course, I'm not talking about being wafer thin or anything, but there are health problems associated with being heavy. Apparently, some studies suggest many problems are relative to those with normal weight but it's hard to ignore the extra strain on the back and other joints. I myself have severe back problems associated with my weight.
Time for work...
the big shrink
I weigh 285 lbs and I'm 6' tall. By this time next year, that three digit number is going to be smaller... 52 weeks to go.
Aren't you glad I got that out of the way? So am I, because my weight is usually something I pretend doesn't exist as a barrier. Really, it's not the size of me that's the barrier. It's what the size and the food I eat to maintain my size does to my life and my health.
You see, I'm convinced that everything I wanted for myself in life has been denied because of my poor relationship to food and to my body. I consistently eat myself into a low blood-sugar coma to cope with what my life hasn't become. To top it all off, I haven't made much of my life because I've allowed food to be such an overwhelming addiction that my life's only purpose has so far boiled down to eating as much as possible whenever possible.
A large amount of my income goes to fast food, so my addiction even hurts my finances. I'll usually east 3 or 4 meals a day - not just a single meal but a meal and a half adding up to almost 40 bucks a day. I'll go to McDonalds, for instance, and eat 3 sandwiches (say, a Big Mac and 2 double cheeseburgers) as well as a drink and fries. Out of shame, when my appetite calls for even more food, I'll order another drink as though I'm ordering for two.
I have no idea why I started eating like this, there may have been a reason I was stuffing my face at 8 years old but that reason is lost forever. All I can dig up from my childhood relating to food is shame. Shame while I hid behind the bathroom door eating a candy bar. Shame when, at 11 years old, I vomited to make more room for food. Shame when I'm seen without my shirt, jogging, dancing - ANYTHING that makes my physical being obvious.
Sure, I've gone through good patches when it comes to food - in my early 20's I lost around a hundred pounds eating low carb. I felt great and was starting to look it - but I lost my way and gained back 35 pounds. It's been a struggle.
At this point you may be thinking, "so what? boo hoo! what's your point?"
My point to all of this whining is that it's time that I not be ashamed. I'm sick of shame that keeps me from doing the things that will make me healthy. I refuse to feel ashamed about my body... just in time for me to take care of it.
You see, this is the first of many blog entries that will discuss my weight loss progress and expose for all to see the change that my body will go through. I'm not sure what I'll have to show for it, but I promise I'll be honest and creative. I'm going to have some fun with it.
Aren't you glad I got that out of the way? So am I, because my weight is usually something I pretend doesn't exist as a barrier. Really, it's not the size of me that's the barrier. It's what the size and the food I eat to maintain my size does to my life and my health.
You see, I'm convinced that everything I wanted for myself in life has been denied because of my poor relationship to food and to my body. I consistently eat myself into a low blood-sugar coma to cope with what my life hasn't become. To top it all off, I haven't made much of my life because I've allowed food to be such an overwhelming addiction that my life's only purpose has so far boiled down to eating as much as possible whenever possible.
A large amount of my income goes to fast food, so my addiction even hurts my finances. I'll usually east 3 or 4 meals a day - not just a single meal but a meal and a half adding up to almost 40 bucks a day. I'll go to McDonalds, for instance, and eat 3 sandwiches (say, a Big Mac and 2 double cheeseburgers) as well as a drink and fries. Out of shame, when my appetite calls for even more food, I'll order another drink as though I'm ordering for two.
I have no idea why I started eating like this, there may have been a reason I was stuffing my face at 8 years old but that reason is lost forever. All I can dig up from my childhood relating to food is shame. Shame while I hid behind the bathroom door eating a candy bar. Shame when, at 11 years old, I vomited to make more room for food. Shame when I'm seen without my shirt, jogging, dancing - ANYTHING that makes my physical being obvious.
Sure, I've gone through good patches when it comes to food - in my early 20's I lost around a hundred pounds eating low carb. I felt great and was starting to look it - but I lost my way and gained back 35 pounds. It's been a struggle.
At this point you may be thinking, "so what? boo hoo! what's your point?"
My point to all of this whining is that it's time that I not be ashamed. I'm sick of shame that keeps me from doing the things that will make me healthy. I refuse to feel ashamed about my body... just in time for me to take care of it.
You see, this is the first of many blog entries that will discuss my weight loss progress and expose for all to see the change that my body will go through. I'm not sure what I'll have to show for it, but I promise I'll be honest and creative. I'm going to have some fun with it.
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