Ask buriedbeds about losing 200 lbs (very, very long)

[buriedbeds]

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Good read. Thanks for posting. I'm back on a diet (just losing vanity lbs, not anything as worthwhile as your goal and success), but don't think your plan would quite work for me; eating is too much a part of social-life for me, so imposing restrictions on what I can cook for friends and what they can cook for me sounds no fun.

I've been mostly on the "Eat less. Exercise more." diet, which has worked for me in the past. Still your post is definitely good inspiration, and I appreciate the candid trip report. Good work.

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That's fine - good luck. My diet was/is an "Eat less. Exercise more." diet. It's just a different kind.

Incidentally, while there may be restrictions, there are also benefits. For instance, my triglycerides and cholesterol are excellent and I can dip bacon in hollandaise sauce and still lose weight. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] So it's not all bad. I can eat lots of things that would kill me if I were also eating carbs - because instead of using the fat for fuel, which my body does, it would be using the sugar for fuel and storing the fat in my gut and the cholesterol in my arteries.

So it's a toss-up, and one that I'm quite happy with. Good luck. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]



-bb.

[buriedbeds]

Incidentally, no one's brought it up yet, but I'm sure they will - this is a good article on the "calorie-in, calorie-out," thermodynamics argument that often comes up.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2...d-weight-loss/

-bb.

[buriedbeds]

Someone asked me this in a PM, but I figured it belongs in the thread:

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I've considered atkins(I have probably 40 lbs I could lose, would be happy with losing 25)- what do you recommend to learn about it/start it? I've been overweight my entire life, had some success dieting as a teenager, but gained most of it back over time- one of the problems I ran into was I hit a point where even w/ diet + lot of exercise, I was still overwieght, and couldn't lose any more it seemed. my genetics aren't good either, so while thats not the problem its certainly not helping.

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My advice on where to start is, to use an internet acronym, RTFM. The main thing that screws people up with Atkins is NOT READING THE BOOK. This drives me insane - people do their own little variant of a "low carb" diet, where they go an eat a ton of bacon and pepperoni and "sugar free" foods with tons of additives and sugar alcohols and then call it "Atkins," when the truth is that even Atkins bars are NOT really Atkins food. It's a product put out by a company that bought the man's trademark and then made things that would have him spinning in his grave.

Atkins - the guy - believed in eating whole, fresh foods, with lots of vegetables. He did not like foods with ingredient lists as long as your arm, nitrates, etc. etc. etc. If you stop eating refined sugar and starch, yes - you'll probably lose weight. But you're not doing Atkins.

So the place where I'd start is by reading his book, Doctor Atkins' New Diet Revolution (aka DANDR). It's a great book. The iTunes audiobook is what I used - I've probably listened to it 10 times. If you really want to do a low-carb diet in a healthy way, reading and following the book is my best advice.

The same goes for any plan - weight watchers, south beach, whatever. DO WHAT THEY SAY. I'm also on a weight loss support board, and here's what I wrote about the commonalities between people who fail at losing weight. Note that none of them have anything to do with the mechanics of the diet:

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I've noticed over my time here that people who don't succeed have certain basic things in common. (1) They give themselves excuses when they do something off plan ("there wasn't any food in the house," "I was at a restaurant and I had to get..."), (2) They make up excuses *to* go off plan ("It's my birthday," "I'm under a lot of stress," "I don't have time right now..."), (3) they delude themselves into believing and try to convince everyone else that they know more than the plan does, and they make up their own "variation" instead of sticking to what an expert - whichever one, from south beach to atkins to whatever - has to say, and (4) they get combative instead of being open to advice from other people.

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-bb.

[jackflashdrive]

Absolutely amazing. Though I am not overweight myself and have no experience dieting, I've always been really dismissive of Atkins when speaking to friends on the diet. I've seen research showing that the Atkins diet only works because people on the diet consume less calories (so it is the low-calories, not the low carbs, responsible for any weight loss).

Your story makes me want to take another look

[Tony_P]

"
One other very notable thing is being able to shop in normal stores. Big and tall stores are EXPENSIVE and generally of lower-quality. Just being able to shop in an Old Navy, for instance, is fantastic. It's cheap, it's easier...it's great."

To me, this is the worst part of being fat. It is serving as my primary motivation to continue losing weight. .

[Ikaika]

Nice work...Atkins-style dieting is great if you actually eat clean. I've had so many friends that do a low/zero carb diet and just go nuts eating total garbage. They'll drop 30 lbs then blow up again. Eating clean with lots of protein and healthy fats is a fantastic way to lose weight.

Mad props on finding something that worked for you. Some folks are lucky enough to find out what works right away, others struggle and many give up. I have several friends who just cannot eat carbs...they watch me eat a piece of toast or some cereal and THEY gain 5 lbs. Low carb/carb cycling is the only thing that works for them and they are used to it now.

Eating healthy and training hard is a lifestyle, not a hobby. Integrate it into who you are and it becomes no more tedious than waking up in the morning.

[goofball]

What's your current diet and workout regimen?

[Keyser.]

good read. Do you have before and after pictures? Feel free to block out your face.

[JaredL]

Congrats.

If you don't mind, how old are you?

Mainly looking for perspective on this "since I was 12 or 13" stuff.

[Keyser.]

He mentions that he was 28 in the beginning.