Setanti's Progress - Year 2

[Steve S]

Zim, it's the same as here, setanti.

Week 5, day 7...

Successfully navigated a weekend including a birthday party without a drop of the dreaded alcohol. Back on track now.

Had a great weekend food-wise and only managed to eat 2 meals yesterday 'cos I was so full from breakfast.

All my coffee is now decaff and I'm cutting it back to a max of two a day. Not feeling quite so groggy today, so hopefully I'll be seeing results soon.

Missing my daily greeting from Jim, so GOOD MORNING, everyone!

 

[chell_needs_to_change]

It's a very good morning for me, Monday morning and after 9am and I still sat in bed Reading!! Just love being on holiday!

I haven't taken any notice of the caffiene thing yet and still drink about 5 cups of strong coffee a day, with at least 3 litre of water. I do love my coffee and don't like decaf at all, will this make a big difference to weight loss?

 

[Steve S]

Hi Chell, holidays rock don't they!

Regarding the caffeine, I think it depends. I suspect I might have what the venerable Dr Atkins called a high metabolic resistance. Caffeine can cause an insulin spike in some people and I'm trying to remove all obstacles at the moment.

I don't drink instant at all, but Sainsburys do a decaffed Colombian fresh ground that's delish! If it's done properly you shouldn't be able to tell it's been emasculated.

 

[chell_needs_to_change]

hmm I suppose if I am going to commit to this I should be more open to changing the caffiene aspect too! The sainsburies coffee does sound good. I will put it on my list of essential items to puchase today .... Along with flaxmeal and splenda!! Thanks Steve

 

[chell_needs_to_change]

Morning Steve! Hope you have a good day x

 

[Steve S]

Thanks Chell! Feeling a bit more positive today!

 

[chell_needs_to_change]

Good!

 

[Quak]

Hope your change of direction has the desired result - stay positive!
Bren xx

 

[Steve S]

Don't want to get too optimistic yet, but I could've sworn my belt was a little looser by yesterday evening...

I had a peek at the scales this morning and 1.5lb has gone somewhere.

I'm gonna try to stay away from the scales and wait until next week's WI, but when you know, you know...

 

[chell_needs_to_change]

Morning Steve. Glad your feeling more positive. Have a good day!

 

[Quak]

Yay (although I think some of it came my way, feel bloated this morning for some reason and my scales have gone up 1lb lol) - keep doing what you are doing!
Bren xx

 

[Steve S]

Thanks Bren & Chell.

I just started to feel un-bloated yesterday and just had to have a peek at the scales this morning.

 

[Cinta]

Lol, it's very difficult not to scale hop all the time. Hope you get a good result this week Steve

 

[Zimara]

Yey for you Steve, glad to see you finally got some movement!

 

[Steve S]

It dawned on me today that most of the foods in the fatsecret.com database are Americanised. I changed my preferences to show net carbs (as you would in the States) and I see that I'm probably not getting enough carbs.

I've upped my veg intake for tomorrow and I think it's more balanced now.
Gotta remember to get my head into USA mode when using the food diary there!

 

[Steve S]

Oh FFS! 2lb up today.

I've been having a talk with myself about this...

I spent 7 months recently on Cambridge and was surviving on 600 kcal a day. The weight was dropping off me just fine.

I switched to Atkins 5 weeks ago because I felt I needed to take in far more fats and proteins so I could start building muscle and exercise more.

Should I expect a delay while my body changes from using 600 kcal with 60g carbs to using 3000 kcal with 20g carbs? Um, yeah!

Should I expect problems when suddenly switching fuel systems to such a degree AND hitting my body with 500-600 kcals intense exercise every day? Um, probably!

I've kicked caffeine, I've kicked alcohol, I'm closely tracking what I eat. Now I'm going to give it time to level out. I'm not 18 any more!

Rant over. Thankyou.

 

[Zimara]

Aww bless ya Steve, i've had many words with myself too!

Re fat secret; most of the foods are American so when i add my own UK foods onto the database i add the fibre content onto the carb content so it will correctly display me the net carbs. That way you get your fibre in there too.

 

[chell_needs_to_change]

Its not easy is it? Finding the right balance for your own individual lifestyle. I sometimes think I'm doomed to a life of returning to shakes and going without food completely for periods of time (as I have done for two years!!!). Thats why I really whant to get this atkins milarky right for me whilst I off work and on holiday. I know if I was trying all this during work time I wouldnt stand a chance because I just dont have the time to plan and evaluate and read in the same way.

My take on this is that the cambridge is an extremelly effective plan, but very extreme, and very difficult to achieve lasting results on if you dont committ to a complete maintenence plan. On paper the atkins diet should allow a good follow on reduction diet / maintenence plan, but i think the reality is that eating anything at all represents a major transition for the body and I do think the key is patience and finding the right balance for your individual body and lifestyle. Easier said than done!! But I do think in the long term we would need to go through this juggling act anyway ..... so maybe nows as good a time as any?!

I get on the scales every morning and feel so dispondent cos at moment I am 3 pound heavier than last weigh in (AAArrrgh). But I am going to put my scales away untill next Tuesday and concentrate on listening to my body and getting my carb intake / energy levels right for me.

Have a good day Steve

 

[Quak]

Steve and Chell - you are so right in what you say - we are putting such different stuff into our bodies and working it in an entirely different way that it is bound to be confused and take time to adapt. We just need to keep it up and hope our bodies respond the way they should before too long.
Bren xx

 

[Yambabe]

Should I expect a delay while my body changes from using 600 kcal with 60g carbs to using 3000 kcal with 20g carbs? Um, yeah!

Should I expect problems when suddenly switching fuel systems to such a degree AND hitting my body with 500-600 kcals intense exercise every day? Um, probably!

Just wondering if you went straight into Atkins after CD Steve or did you do a planned refeed and do it gradually?

I'm at a similar stage myself now and all the research I've done so far seems to indicate that the most effective way of losing those last few lbs and moving onto maintenance is to reintroduce food slowly, in stages, and over a fairly prolonged period of time, upping the calorie intake in stages.

I've also found articles that seem to indicate that one of the well-known side-effects of doing a VLCD is that your metabolism slows and it can take quite a while for it to get back up to "normal" again (KD in the Cambridge forum has written some interesting stuff on this subject) - by quite a while we could be talking years rather than months in some people, and definitely not weeks in pretty much everyone! If this is the case then regardless of the carb content your body isn't going to be able to process all those extra calories immediately and will be storing some of them for future use.......

However, I also noticed what you said about the belt feeling looser. It could well be that you have replaced some of your sloppy fat with denser, firmer muscle, which is a good thing right?

I've always maintained that the scales, especially as you approach what you thought was your goal, are not necessarily the only or even the best indication of if your body is "right" for you. Sod BMI and it's associated charts, how you feel about yourself and how you see yourself (and to a certain extent how others see you too) is far more important in my opinion.

You have done so well so far. You're already so much lighter and now you're building up to the fitness level you want to achieve as well. This can only be a good thing. If your fitness is continuing to improve I would say you are getting it about right even if the scales aren't necessarily moving downwards at the moment. Stick with it and keep reviewing - like you said your body has been through some major changes in the last year and it will need some time to adapt.