It appears I lost some weight !

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Last Sunday, while posting in the "Bacon Grease" thread, I mentioned my over weight woes and a bad Doctor appt. I had in October,,,then a fellow CB member sent me a PM. I just thought I'd share.


Part of a private message I received from a CB member last Sun, 08 Dec 2013

snip...
The wife and I made the decision to stop eating wheat on January 5th and we both lost lots of weight very quickly. The added bonus to me is my heartburn just went away after a couple weeks - can't give myself heartburn now it's crazy.
Since that time I've dug down the nutrition rabbit hole with a vengeance and sadly found out most everything we've been told about eating low fat and lots of healthy whole grains was a political decision given to us in 1971
... snip


My reply today to that CB member.

I'd like to thank you. While I've had two friends try the Atkins diet 15+ years ago, one was successful (for a while), the other one was a total failure. I've always considered the No carb type diets a joke. I always figured the ones selling me on the diet were out to make some $$$ on a book or whatever. So why did I listen to someone this time ??? Besides me being a little more desperate than ever before, I knew a fellow boolit caster wouldn't have any financial interest(if it wasn't mentioned), and us boolit casters tend to be honest to a fault.

I still haven't got the book yet, but I got lots of friendly advice on what food is allowed and what isn't, on a "wheat belly" facebook page. I did start the diet last Sunday. I was skeptical if it would work, all week long, I thought this is too easy, I'm not really cutting any calories, although it's hard to tell without getting out a calorie counting book and calculator, because the food I'm eating is more calorie dense food, more fat, I love nuts, they are my new snack. I just eat til I'm satisfied, which seems like a reasonable amount. Although I must say, when I heard that eating wheat and grains and processed sugars make you more hungry, or better said, you are never satisfied, seemed like BS. BUT, I must say there seems to be something to it. So I am probably feeling satisfied sooner eating carb-free foods.

I did notice my pants were looser on thur and Fri during work, I figured I just choose a loose fitting pair, but sadly I'd gotten large enough, my all time highest weight (295 lbs as per my 1950's bathroom scale on sunday, the first day of this diet), that I didn't currently own any loose fitting pants. This week, I purposely haven't set foot on my scale. I didn't really want to know, so many times in the past when I started a diet, cutting calories, cutting portions, I seen no weight loss in the first week, sometimes even a gain of a pound or two. That is so discouraging, I usually just quit the diet.

ALSO, I haven't done any purposeful exercise. While I did work all week, my usual electrical panel building work. I didn't do anything like splitting, cutting, hauling of firewood, like I occasionally do. I didn't go for a walk, mostly I just rested after work...I did a little snow shoveling ;) like that counts for anything?

Anyway the punchline, Six days in, I stepped on the scale this morning...it read 284. I'm still a little skeptical, maybe this was an anomaly ? stay tuned.

[Garyshome]

I just quit eatin' lost 20 lb. in about a month. Couldn't loose it any other way. I Re-adjusted my eating habits, and it works for me. And no more Heartburn!!!!!!

[thekidd76]

JonB…the low carb thing does work. I started it awhile back again and have lost 25 pounds so far. Good luck and keep it going.

[firefly1957]

I have seen a couple medical studies that heart burn is often related to bacteria that should not be in the stomach as soon as they are published they seem the vanish?

[Jailer]

John it's called a paleo diet. Check out the link below to get a basic understanding of it.

http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/

I've been contemplating trying it out myself. I take nexium daily and would love to get off it. Plus I just had a dr appt yesterday and I've gained 12lbs in the last year and a half since I've become a desk jockey and my blood pressure is up because of it. I refuse to start taking blood pressure medication because I've put on 12lbs, I'll diet and jump on the bicycle first.

[garandsrus]

Low carb diets do work. Pretty amazing, really.

[KLR]

Here's an interesting video about simple carbs. I mostly eliminated simple carbs started a carb cycling diet this summer and lost over 30 lbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

[runfiverun]

there is an article in one of the womens magazines about the low carb diet.
I seen it on the cover at the wal-mart tonight, but didn't read it.

[MaryB]

Modern wheat has been changed and contains an enzyme the human body can't tolerate. Organ and older w heat varieties don't have it and won't cause as many problems. I was having really bad nausea in 2012, bad enough that I couldn't function. Docs couldn't find anything wrong and I started thinking of what I had changed. My doc had told me to eat more whole wheat... commercial bread from modern wheat is really bad for you I found out. Stopped eating commercial bread, went back to grinding my own wheat and the nausea went away. I had stopped grinding my own because my grinder blew up, found I could do small batches in the blender and now I have a new flour mill coming so I can enjoy real bread again. One key is the grain has to soak overnight.

[runfiverun]

I wonder if that is where the need for all this gluten free stuff is coming from.
I never heard of anybody being allergic to wheat as a kid growing up.

[Love Life]

I've read that food allergies are a 1st world problem.

Back on track, Congrats on the weight loss. If you can, throw some walking in there. Maybe 30 min to an hour a day.

[jmort]

I know two people who were tested and have celiac disease. There is a small percentage of the population that has it and is "alergic" to gluten. For most people, there is no benefit to a gluten free diet.

[leftiye]

I'm a diabetic, and thought I couldn't lose weight. Recently, my blood sugar had been uncontrollable and going to the doctor had been absolutely a waste of time not to mention money. They gave me the usual guilt trip about it being my fault and no help whatsoever. I was so depressed that I stopped eating and stopped using all of the meds they gave me.

And I lost twenty pounds. We developed a few bean dishes using soy beans (you need to pressure cook them) that has very little starch. I totally stopped eating bread and milk. There are many foods that are carb free (I really like chicken salad on celery for breakfast, and I'm really close to being carb free. Best news is that now I'm eating again, the process is continuing, I'm continuing to lose weight, and I'm getting more carb tolerant, and blood sugar levels are getting better all of the time.

[Ickisrulz]

While there seem to be nuances to weight loss, it is a number's game. Consume fewer calories than your body needs and you lose weight. Consume more than you need and you gain weight.

Americans are gaining more weight because they are eating too much food that is high in calories. More vegetables will go a long way to curing this and lots of other health issues. Exercise is also essential.

[leftiye]

They's a good bit more to it than that. You're right as far as you go. Your body can slow your metabolism in response to not eating so far that you won't lose if you eat at all. It's about the cortisol versus insulin (and it's not about diabetes) balance/ interaction. As you get older cortisol is the only hormone that doesn't decrease drastically in its production. Due to this, I've had instances of my blood sugar dropping (drastically) in response to eating when I was fasting. The cortisol thing elevates your blood sugar by refusing (raising cell membrane resistance) sugars entry into the cells.

[Ickisrulz]

I know there are a lot of things going on with the body when it comes to using the food. But the bottom line is that too much makes you fat. A life-longer proper diet will keep the average person thin and more healthy.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

While there seem to be nuances to weight loss, it is a number's game. Consume fewer calories than your body needs and you lose weight. Consume more than you need and you gain weight.

Americans are gaining more weight because they are eating too much food that is high in calories. More vegetables will go a long way to curing this and lots of other health issues. Exercise is also essential.

This is some great 'tradition' information. But it doesn't work for millions of Americans in today's society. WHY ? well, IDK. I have some suspicions, I have the book ordered and plan to read about it. Will the book be all correct or not? IDK?, But I'll be looking into things from other sources,more and more, as time goes by, especially if my diet is successful (my goal is a 50 to 100lbs loss).

What I do know is, I've dieted in the past, unsuccessfully, by cutting portions and exercise. That's frustrating beyond belief. Millions of Americans have that same experience...you imply it is everyone's lack of willpower? ...Millions of American's that lack the willpower to eat less? with the incentive of feeling better and living a better life. This seems more like an addiction than just watching what you eat and a little 'extra' exercise. There is just more to this.

I had a friend who was overweight, She tried everything, always failing, had the gastric bypass surgery. continued to eat less and exercise, but didn't change her diet enough apparently, she gained alot of the weight back. She committed suicide last year. Why would a large percentage of obese American's who have had gastric bypass surgery, gain their weight back after going through all that ? BECAUSE THERE IS JUST MORE TO AMERICA'S PROBLEM THEN LACK OF WILL POWER.

If you get a chance, watch this. There is so much we don't know about the Body and it's reaction to our modern food supply. Scientists are still learning.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2354483548/

More of his shows
http://video.pbs.org/program/michael-mosley/

[Ickisrulz]

This is some great 'tradition' information. But it doesn't work for millions of Americans in today's society. WHY ? well, IDK. I have some suspicions, I have the book ordered and plan to read about it. Will the book be all correct or not? IDK?, But I'll be looking into things from other sources,more and more, as time goes by, especially if my diet is successful (my goal is a 50 to 100lbs loss).

What I do know is, I've dieted in the past, unsuccessfully, by cutting portions and exercise. That's frustrating beyond belief. Millions of Americans have that same experience...you imply it is everyone's lack of willpower? ...Millions of American's that lack the willpower to eat less? with the incentive of feeling better and living a better life. This seems more like an addiction than just watching what you eat and a little 'extra' exercise. There is just more to this.

I had a friend who was overweight, She tried everything, always failing, had the gastric bypass surgery. continued to eat less and exercise, but didn't change her diet enough apparently, she gained alot of the weight back. She committed suicide last year. Why would a large percentage of obese American's who have had gastric bypass surgery, gain their weight back after going through all that ? BECAUSE THERE IS JUST MORE TO AMERICA'S PROBLEM THEN LACK OF WILL POWER.

If you get a chance, watch this. There is so much we don't know about the Body and it's reaction to our modern food supply. Scientists are still learning.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2354483548/

More of his shows
http://video.pbs.org/program/michael-mosley/

There are always exceptions, but for the average person a good diet and exercise will work. It has worked for thousands of years and in every culture. Americans now exercise less and eat more than they should. This is a fact.

[geargnasher]

For the average young person with a healthy metabolism and reasonable activity level, the oversimplified "calories in, heat out, the remainder fat" may sorta, kinda be a decent guide, but not really. The Weight Watchers diet is a more complex version of that same concept and works for a lot of people temporarily, but really it's sugar that kills us. Refined starches and complex sugars all turn into sugar when digested, we might as well just eat straight from the sugar bowl as eat a white-flour biscuit or macncheese.

When the body's metabolism gets out of whack through age, stress, genes, or years of pouring poison into it, you can't really look at it from a calorie standpoint anymore at all. Food is much more than a source of fuel.

Atkins never got the recognition he deserved in his lifetime, and he refused to commercialize his ideas. His body wasn't even cold before restaurants and food companies started stamping "Atkins Approved" on low-carb stuff. It made me sick, more people trying to create diet fad and cash in on it. Well, the books are out there, read up. Jon, congratulations on your early success. Take it easy and don't try to lose it all at once. If you lost a pound a week that would be fifty in a year, your liver will be much happier with you than if you dumped it in a couple months.

Gear

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Ickisrulz,
You are right when you say,"it is a number's game."


The CDC defines Obese as an adult who has a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese. which is about 35lbs overweight for a 5'9" male.

Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest age-adjusted rates of obesity (49.5%) compared with Mexican Americans (40.4%), all Hispanics (39.1%) and non-Hispanic whites (34.3%)
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

over 35% of Americans are Obese, that's over 1/3 of the whole American population, that's over 100 million American's. You make this sound like a Lifestyle choice(laziness). You say that "a good diet and exercise will work. It has worked for thousands of years and in every culture." Do you think 1/3 of our society chooses to eat more than they should, to their our misery? The exceptions are too numerous to count. The 'numbers game' indicate to me, that it is more than a lifestyle choice. I believe there is something effecting the majority of our nation...1/3 of us can't be that Lazy.

Thanks for having this discussion with me. The more I'm challenged, the more I look at related factors, the more I am convinced.
Jon

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

snip...
Well, the books are out there, read up. Jon, congratulations on your early success. Take it easy and don't try to lose it all at once. If you lost a pound a week that would be fifty in a year, your liver will be much happier with you than if you dumped it in a couple months.

Gear

thanks Gear,
I believe I am taking it easy. Maybe this first week is an anomaly ? IDK? I figure I'll lose X amount of weight watching my sugar and simplex carb intake, then hit a Wall. Then I may have to up the ante, by reducing fat content or exercise...because honestly, I am not seemingly reducing calories right now, it's not really good to guess, but I'll guess anyway,,,I guess I am way over 2K calories a day right now...it was before last week, I sure it was during last week...it will be that today. So I will lose what I lose...and God forbid, I start gaining.
Jon

[geargnasher]

You probably will hit a wall, several maybe. Be patient. "Walls" in weight loss are periods of detoxification where the poisons stored with fat are having to be processed and your filter (liver, etc.) are overloaded. Just stay steady. Also, just about everyone I've know who buckled down and dedicated to losing more than 20 lbs or so experienced periods of violent depression, anxiety, or random anger at various stages that seemed to be related to emotions experienced while putting on the weight (experiencing divorce, loss of a loved one, giving up an addiction to tobacco, alcohol, drugs, etc). Perhaps that was all in their heads, but perhaps not. Bad Juju may be stored along with bad fat. Just be prepared. I wish you the best of luck and determination, I know how difficult it can be to lose just 15 lbs, but I also know how much better I felt after doing so. Shedding weight will give you a new lease on life.

Gear

[BNE]

I've lost 20 pounds doing this also. Biggest thing for me was getting off sugar.

Great job! Losing weight is hard and takes forever!!

With Paleo, if you can pick it or club it you can eat it!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

snip...
Just stay steady. Also, just about everyone I've know who buckled down and dedicated to losing more than 20 lbs or so experienced periods of violent depression, anxiety, or random anger at various stages that seemed to be related to emotions experienced while putting on the weight (experiencing divorce, loss of a loved one, giving up an addiction to tobacco, alcohol, drugs, etc). Perhaps that was all in their heads, but perhaps not. Bad Juju may be stored along with bad fat. Just be prepared. I wish you the best of luck and determination, I know how difficult it can be to lose just 15 lbs, but I also know how much better I felt after doing so. Shedding weight will give you a new lease on life.

Gear

Oh my !
I did get a little more verbally grumpy than I should have, at work on friday last week, when the Boss commented how messy the shop was (inferring I should spend some time cleaning up other peoples messes, I tend to be a very neat worker, especially with tools...almost obsessive) this was right after he told me about all the deadlines that needed to be met this month on the projects I'm working on.
thanks again,
Jon

[DRNurse1]

Go Go Glecoe...Even small amounts of regular exercise can accelerate your weight loss and help your mood to boot. Something about endorphins and such. 30 min a day 3 days a week or 10 min 3x a day 3 days a week...just keep it real, that is something you can and want to do. The short story is fewer Calories in than out =weight loss. You will notice an improvement in your knee and hip joint discomfort with the weight loss, too.

Hey, pull up your pants, kid (don't you wish folks would say that more often).

[monadnock#5]

Congratulations on your success thusfar.
Try to pick up a copy of "Protein Power" by Drs. Michael R. and Mary Dan Eades. Whereas Adkins was all protein, even to the exclusion of fresh fruits (sugar is sugar), the Eades focus much more on protein and exercise. The more muscle mass you carry, the more calories you burn, period.
Their idea is, rather than cut your intake to just what you can burn, you should turn your body into a calorie annilhilator.
I suspect it won't work for everyone, but it's working quite well for me.

[Ickisrulz]

Ickisrulz,
You are right when you say,"it is a number's game."



over 35% of Americans are Obese, that's over 1/3 of the whole American population, that's over 100 million American's. You make this sound like a Lifestyle choice(laziness). You say that "a good diet and exercise will work. It has worked for thousands of years and in every culture." Do you think 1/3 of our society chooses to eat more than they should, to their our misery? The exceptions are too numerous to count. The 'numbers game' indicate to me, that it is more than a lifestyle choice. I believe there is something effecting the majority of our nation...1/3 of us can't be that Lazy.

Thanks for having this discussion with me. The more I'm challenged, the more I look at related factors, the more I am convinced.
Jon

Reports say that in the 1950's 45% of American adults smoked. So, people don't always choose what's best and most healthy.

In our society people work less hard than they used to...for whatever reason. Calories are plentiful and cheap. In fact, high calorie food is cheaper than healthy stuff. Portion sizes are out of control...no one even knows what a "portion" is anymore.

You will have a hard time convincing me that people are victims of wheat or any such thing. I will concede there are exceptions due to health problems or genetics, but people are eating too much. Pick 10 obese people off the street and let me follow them around for a few days and I'll tell you why 9 of them weigh what they do.

I mean no offense and have dealt with my own person weight from time to time. Normally because I had gotten into bad habits that needed to be corrected. I love sugar.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Here's an interesting video about simple carbs. I mostly eliminated simple carbs started a carb cycling diet this summer and lost over 30 lbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
KLR, thank you

and WOW !!!
I finally got through this 90 min video.
Fantastic Bio-Chem analyzation of how the body processes high fructose corn syrup as compared to ethanol (Beer and Booze), but also some recent US food history and politics and Fast food info...and why fiber and carbs should dance through the digestive system together...and so much more.
Jon

PS, Ickisrulz, if you have the time to spend, watch this video.

[KLR]

KLR, thank you

and WOW !!!
I finally got through this 90 min video.
Fantastic Bio-Chem analyzation of how the body processes high fructose corn syrup as compared to ethanol (Beer and Booze), but also some recent US food history and politics and Fast food info...and why fiber and carbs should dance through the digestive system together...and so much more.
Jon

PS, Ickisrulz, if you have the time to spend, watch this video.

You're welcome. This really helped my understanding. I used to think that calories are calories but after doing some research no longer believe this is true. This summer I followed a carb-cycling diet faithfully all week and then splurged on Sundays with simple carbs. After eliminating them all week I could immediately feel their effects on Sunday when I splurged. This included a hangover-like feeling on Monday including a headache.

You might want to look into a carb cycling diet to help you break through the plateau. On a carb cycling diet you eliminate all simple carbs and alternate days with low carbs one day and add a modest amount of high complex carbs the next. It keeps your body from adapting to a new eating schedule and keeps you losing weight. I started off by getting this book from the library:

http://www.amazon.com/Choose-Lose-7-Day-Cycle-Solution/dp/1401324452/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1387141125&sr=8-3&keywords=chris+powell

[gbrown]

In dieting, it's very common to "hit a wall." The body has to adjust, sometimes if it senses a "starvation" mode (reduction of calories), it will start stealing from other areas and re-adjust metabolism. In my 20's, I got about 30 lb. overweight and used a 0 carb diet--supposedly you should only stay on it 2 weeks. Dropped 20 lb in 2 weeks, hit a wall, got off, waited about a month and went back on it. Total weight dropped was about 40 lb. in 2 sessions. All I can say is be patient--go for the long run, not the short sprint. May take a while, but go for it--from 2006 to now, I have dropped about 50 lb. I've never felt better.

[leftiye]

I read on here somewhere the other day that there's an enzyme (or a bad spirit) in the new genetically modified wheat that people can't digest. In concurrence with gearnasher"s posts, I do believe that much of this may be, probably is, caused by new poisons of a variety of types in our manufactured (reads messed with, messed up, and with no regard for our health) foods nowadays. People have been running around my whole life crying "the sky is falling" about poisons in foods, but I believe it is fer shore true now - may have always been. There is I can tell you, very little in a store (now and for about 40 years) that I can eat, or would want to eat either. Eat stuff that's in its natural form. If you can afford it go organic. Beans are health food! Smoke your own, it's better tasting too. Etc.,etc.. As for will power, nobody has enough for some things. There are at least two areas (maybe ten) where the medical professionals just lay aside their duties and leave us to our own devices. Appetite control for one. Who loses a hundred pounds by starving? Inmates in a japanese prisoner of war camp.