April 21, 2006
After getting on the scales and seeing a large number (210 for 5'9'' me near 60 yrs old), I decided to retry Atkins and do it right this time. I did an Atkins diet a few years ago and went from 202 to 175 - a decent loss, but then didn't transition correctly to a life-long diet.
Reading Atkins diet book, you see where some people get misconceptions about the diet. He does not say eat all the fat and protein you can - he says eat until satiated and then stop. Little things such as eating more slowly and drinking plenty of liquids (water and tea in my case) are a great aid.
I jump started the diet by doing the all-fat diet. This is a restricted diet of about 1000 calories in which you only eat fats - I did this for about 3 days eating primarily olive oil and quickly got into ketosis. I cut out alcohol though I did not cut out caffein. Subsequently, I pretty much stuck to Atkins recommendations for the initiation phase of the diet. I was careful, however, not to eat too much red meat (lots of chicken though, and salads with lots of olive oil). I also counted calories in order to get a handle of what I was actually consuming in terms of caloric food values. The daily calories were around 1000 or so. Having experienced constipation before on Atkins, I used psyllium husk for fiber and was more or less free of constipation - though not completely. I weighed myself at the same time daily at work. Below is my weight loss by week (with clothes and shoes):
start 210.6
week 1 201.6
week 2 197.8
week 3 196.2
week 4 192.8
week 5 190.2
week 6 190
week 7 187.4
week 8 186.8
week 9 185.6
My goal is to get down to about 160, so I'm halfway there. Even if I only make 165, I'll be in the correct range for my height and body type (large frame).
I have lost 25 pounds in a relatively short time. The first weeks loss was probably a lot of water loss, but after that I have had fairly steady weight loss of about 2 pounds a week.
Subjectively I feel little hunger on this version of Atkins. I consume 3+ heaping tablespoons of the psyllium husk every morning and I feel like I've eaten oatmeal and don't have any hunger until lunch. If I feel hungry late in the afternoon I eat a tablespoon or so of olive oil. I also take dietary supplements of a vitamin pill, 2 grams vitamin C, 1/2 gram of chromium picolate, stool softener, aspirin, and acidophilius. Dinner is meat or fish with a green vegetable. I drink lots of puerh tea.
Additionally I embarked on an acupuncture treatment designed to reduce cravings (and incidently make you feel better) - you get the needles stuck in your ears, feet, face, and hands. I don't know if the acupuncture really helped, but I don't crave food and when I have treatment now (once every two weeks), I feel energized.
As far as exercise goes, I increased my walking a little bit and plan on restarting a swimming program of 1 to 2 miles a day. I also have started a yoga program. In my future postings, I will give a more day to day accounting of my diet and how I feel.
