I signed up yesterday for a motivational online weightloss... er, thing. There are options to post on message boards (who has the time?) and a place to keep track of calories etc. I haven't explored all the options on the site, and probably won't. It was a whim that led me there in the first place.
This morning, there was an email for me about "when the scales don't budge." How timely.
There was a long explanation about building muscle and how to monitor the changes I'm experiencing. (Retired pants, for example. I have several of them, and most of them fit now.)
I'm not exactly lamenting over the number, because I am seeing changes. But it's difficult. I expect the 'reward' of a smaller number on the scale instead of focusing on the real reward of feeling better. I really do feel good, at least this time around.
I've read so many times that one cannot "diet" and stay successful. My own experience bears this out. I have lost weight in the past by eating in some pretty strange ways.
A few years ago, I ate the way the late Dr. Atkins told me to. To give him credit, he was right about some things. I found out for sure that it was sugar that was really whacking out my system.
I lost weight when I wasn't eating sugar. However, I also wasn't eating fruit or bread. I could not go to the bathroom. Atkins recommends all sorts of nutritional supplements and psyllium husk so you can poo. I lost quite a bit of hair. (it's back now)
Well, my thoughts on a diet that causes one's hair to fall out (unless you balance things a bit by taking bunches of chemicals) are that the diet is A: not healthy and B: not something one can do over the long term and remain healthy.
There is some research out there to suggest that it's not very good for your brain to keep it carb-starved, either. Since this is MY blog, and I have already read that stuff somewhere, YOU look it up if you're interested.
I can tell you this, though. I did not sleep well on Atkins, I had some strange dreams, and for most of the time on it, I didn't feel all that swift mentally.
You know that rush you get when you're starting to lose lbs? I have it this time, but on Atkins, I never got it. I lost about 40 lbs while adhering to the plan, but I felt sort of crappy the whole time.
I do not feel crappy this time.
I've never tried the Atkin's diet... I just don't think that I could go all meat-a-licious, you know? But I definitely agree with you on the losing hair bit... Nope, not the diet for me. :)
ReplyDeleteSo... Good luck with the new online thing! I'm sure you'll do great!
I have not been on the Atkin's diet, but I did start eating protein for breakfast. I can't eat bread because of the yeast, but I still eat a fair amount of carbs. Of course, I haven't lost a lot of weight recently. I did loose about 6 pounds in the last couple of weeks so I am hoping to keep going. Having my birthday this week didn't help, but I did ski today, and next week, I will be back on track.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the best way to go is Weight Watchers because they teach you how to eat a realistically balanced diet. . .for life. I have two friends, a married couple, who have both lost 100 pounds on WW the past year.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the case is for you, good luck with it!
I'm so glad you are doing well and feeling good! I don't know anything about The Atkin's Diet, but I love my fruit.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
There is no silver bullet that will make you lose weight. Generally, eat in moderation and do exercise. It doesn't even have to be big exercise. I go for walks...sometimes :-)
ReplyDeleteWhatever you do, hope you are successful.
I have had great success with substituting more fresh veggies for the vast majority of the bread and other grains I used to eat.
ReplyDeleteI still eat bread if, say, somebody is serving home-baked, and I occasionally have pasta (although I load up on the veggie, meat, and sauce parts of the dish more than the pasta part). But I no longer plan my meals around bread (e.g., sandwiches), pasta, cereal, and the like, as I used to do. Nor do I start my day off with a bowl of cereal and milk (however whole-grain and high-fiber the cereal may be).
If you eat enough veggies and fruit, then you get plenty of carbs and fiber, in a form that your body evolved to process (i.e., those things or things like them have always been part of the human diet, whereas processed grains are very new, evolutionarily-speaking).
When I stick to eating that way, I feel better and I fill up faster. I also stop craving bread when I don't eat it all the time, and I no longer get occasional bloating around the middle like I used to.
I eat a lot of salads with whatever veggies we have on hand, some sort of high-protein food (hb egg, meat, fish, cheese, nuts, seeds), a sprinkling of chick peas, kidney beans, etc.
We've gotten pretty good at knowing what and how much fresh veggies we're most likely to go through between trips to the market, what we like chopped into a salad, etc. And we do things like grill extra meat to have on hand in the fridge.
I don't worry about the calories in the salad dressing, but I do go for simple and healthy, mostly along the lines of olive oil/balsamic vinegar/dijon viniagrette, but will eat any kind I like from time to time, for variety. (Even just balsamic vingegar splashed on with a little salt and pepper is good, I think, but may not be everybody's cup of tea.)
The reason I starting trying this way of eating was I noticed that bread (even the 100% whole wheat bread that I mostly ate) was starting to make my blood sugar shoot up. Ditto my morning bowl of bran flakes, banana, and milk. So I tend to play down the starchier fruits and veggies (although I do not avoid them entirely).
I have found that eating this way also makes it easier keep my weight down without really trying to cut back overall (or anyway on anything other than grains).
Of course, we're all different in what we like, and what our bodies tolerate (and how well), so YMMV, but this is working tremendously well for me.