Setanti's Progress - Year 2

[Steve S]

Hi Yambabe,

All this time I've been on Atkins I've been wondering if Cambridge would've screwed something up for me. I never imagined it might be to this degree.

I can't tell you how much I wish I'd started losing weight with Atkins properly, with the support of the lovely people on this forum. I guess I got seduced by the promises of rapid weight loss. The promises hold water okay, but at what cost? Nowhere in the marketing spiel is it mentioned that it'll screw your metabolism up.

I lost almost 4 stone with Cambridge, which is cool and groovy. I've regained about half a stone since I started Atkins but I have absolutely no desire to return to the starvation plan!

It could well be that my metabolism is damaged, evidenced by the extreme lethargy all day despite sufficient calories coming in. I've just started taking vitamins (and L-carnitine to help fat metabolism - ZipVit is the cheapest BTW) and there may be a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. Time will tell...

Since I stopped exercising so much I don't appearing to be gaining weight despite all the food I'm eating. So I intend to carry on until I start to see progress. I really LIKE this way of eating, I just wish I'd started with it last November.

 

[chell_needs_to_change]

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.......

Oh Great ..... Thats made me feel a lot better :sigh: An adjustment period I can handle, but the thought of being doomed to a lifetime of screwed up metabolism is a tad depressing. There must be people out there who have managed the transition successfully? Bren? Your doing great judging by your story?

 

[Yambabe]

Take heart people, any adjustment to your BMR is NOT going to be permanent, it's just that having done extensive reading on the subject (cos I'm a bit of an anorak) it appears to me that a staged refeed programme is pretty much essential when coming off a VLCD, even if you are moving over to another type of diet for healthier loss to goal or for maintenance.

Another thing to consider is that once you have lost weight on your VLCD your "normal" BMR is going to be lower than it used to be anyway cos thin people don't need as many resting maintenance calories as fat ones, their bodies don't have to work as hard!

It seems to go against all Dr Atkins' principles to calorie-count when you're doing this diet but I'm beginning to think that for ex-VLCD dieters it might be a bit more important than with someone starting from scratch.

I have to stress that everything I'm writing here is my own opinion, although I can back a lot of it up with reference to scientific studies and other stuff, especially posts on the other sections of this very forum.

Exercise seems to be very important when coming off VLCD as well. My personal trainer (ooh that sounds good lol) as well as my internet reading has stressed to me many many times that more muscle mass = faster metabolism, and indeed while I was on Exante he tailored my workouts to be mainly resistance-based in the hope that this would help me maintain muscle definition and keep my BMR up in the long-term.

So going back to Steve (now I've stopped waffling ) I think keeping up with your workouts will come good for you in the long-term, but it may be that whilst you are building up that lovely muscle you will experience some short-term fluctuation on the scales. I also think that keeping a food diary (maybe just for a week or so) and checking your daily cal and carb intake properly might help.

Other than that, going back to Induction 100% for a short while and basically restarting Atkins from scratch (counting those net carbs oh so carefully) might be useful.

I don't know what the answer is for any of you, but I do know that maintaining after a VLCD seems to be just as hard (if not harder) than losing the weight was in the first place. I know that you may never be able to have a "normal" relationship with food again, and neither can I. But I also know that there ARE people out there who have managed the whole maintenance thing sucessfully so I know it's possible. It's just going to be a case of finding the right tools.......

 

[Quak]

Oh Great ..... Thats made me feel a lot better :sigh: An adjustment period I can handle, but the thought of being doomed to a lifetime of screwed up metabolism is a tad depressing. There must be people out there who have managed the transition successfully? Bren? Your doing great judging by your story?

Hmmm great is probably not the word, but am keeping fairly steady, am trying to keep away from all processed stuff and cooking from scratch where poss so I know what is going in to what I put on my plate. I have never once worked out how many carbs or calories I have consumed to the letter, rough calculations is as far as I have gone as I am trying not to get obsessive with it.
The only obsessive thing I do is weigh daily (sometimes more than once lol) but I only record my first morning weigh in - in my little purple diary lol. Some days I go up a little, some days I go down a little. Only one thing I will have to say to you all is make sure you get the fats in, butter, extra virg olive oil, as that seems to make the difference for me - trying to do it at a lesser fat content works against me.
Bren xx

 

[Steve S]

Firstly, big thanks to everyone who's taken time to support me with information and encouragement so far, it's really, really appreciated! :gen126:

Second, I'm in no way bashing Cambridge or other VLCDs. They're extremely good at what they do, they're just not for me any more.

Right, what I want to say is that I've balanced what people have been saying about it taking time for me to adjust to this new way of eating. I've seen that I'm getting fitter with better muscle definition in all kinds of groovy places (the point of the exercise). I've accepted that things will change for the better in the near future if I just carry on doing, including the exercising (it's very addictive!).

So for the next fortnight I pledge not to whinge or moan about not losing weight, but I'll continue to log my daily food and exercise intake. This is in the hope that when it does start to come good, all this might be beneficial to someone who happens along in very similar circumstances to me.

That is all.

 

[Quak]

go go go Steve!!!

 

[Jim]

Morning Steve.

 

[Steve S]

Hi Jim!

 

[Steve S]

I caught myself in the mirror last night...

I was surprised to see that I'm putting some serious muscle definition on my shoulders, biceps and triceps at least!

Jean also pointed out that my thigh muscles are really well defined too. There's a lot more muscle than fat there now.

Just need to lose the belly now, but I know it's the last thing to go on blokes.

P90 30-day photos will be done at weekend.

 

[Jim]

Morning Steve, that's good to hear mate, I bet Jean is thrilled as well.

 

[Quak]

Great stuff Steve - dedication eh?
Bren xx

 

[lolo]

That's brilliant steve,you must be so pleased.Just goes to show,you are gaining muscle so that is whats masking the fat loss.Will be great to see the pics.
Well done.
lorna

 

[Cinta]

Well done Steve. My belly is the last to go on me too, lol!

 

[Steve S]

Morning everyone! :wavey:

Thanks for all the encouragement. It makes a difference, keeps me motivated!

Hope you all have a great day, don't get hungry now!

 

[Jim]

Morning Steve.

 

[ladyfelsham]

Well done Steve, you have been so focused - it's great encouragement for lazy sods like me

Susie

 

[Steve S]

Thankyou Susie. :hug99:

I'm in this for the long haul, so it should be really interesting to follow progress over the months.

 

[Fisherman]

nice to see your seeing results steve just hope i can be as dedicated when i start ramping up my exeercise programme do you do most of your work at home or the gym ?

 

[Steve S]

It's all done at home/at a mate's house.

 

[Steve S]

What a day!

There was a big fire at a mate's house last night, apparently caused by an electrical fault in a downstairs plug socket! He and his wife were trapped upstairs and had to wait for the fire brigade to come and get them. His wife was taken to hospital with smoke inhalation but she's been discharged and is fine, thankfully!

The ground floor is toast and they've lost all their bike gear in the fire. They're stopping with friends and are being very philosophical about it. They're both okay, that's the main thing.

In other news, there's well weird goings-on in Manchester today. There's some kind of hot thing in the sky - probably a meteor - and people have this funny black thing attached to their feet. It follows you round until you go inside. You can throw stones at it and hit it with sticks but it just won't let go! I'm going back outside for another go in a minute, see if I can set fire to mine.