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Doin' the carb thing

3K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  Eric 
#1 ·
On a related note...

I started the South Beach-esque carb limiting diet on December 1st while also starting a work-out regimen (Uechi-Ryu Karate) 2 nights a week. At that point I weighed roughly 190 pounds at 5' 7".

A freind gave me his book to read and I started to apply the theories of preventing sugar / starch based glycemia reactions and insulin (carbohydrates) while feeding the body with things it can convert into energy over longer periods of time (proteins).

I just wanted to drop a few pounds but so far I have dropped 18-19 pounds in two months and weigh 171-172 with a new goal of 168-ish while being more fit than I have in over a decade. Once there I will start training for muscle mass and hope to go back up to about 175 converted. I also intend to complete black belt training over the next few years.

Along the way I have discovered foods that are indulgently good but innocent for the body and will post them in this board FWIW....

Example breakfast:

Wasa sesame crisp (<10 carbs)
Baba gannouj or hummus (spread as if mayo)
layer of Taboule spread over
Scottish style lox laid over
squeeze of lemon
6oz low sodium V8 w/ celery stick (virgin bloody mary of sorts)

total carbs in that are minimal but it feels like I ate something rich and satisfying

Compare with bagel, cream cheese which are also yummy but the carbs, fat and calories there convert differently in the body. To me they dont taste any better but they turn into FAT.

Another example - dessert:

1/4 cup frozen blueberries just thawed
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
a few blackberries or other thrown in for variety
one tablespoon of plain yogurt (more to taste)
stir together to your liking

the frozen berries are a little sweeter and juicy while the fresh have a better texture so combined with the yogurt the make a rich purple dessert that is off the charts in terms of antioxidants and no less satisfying than a bowl of ice cream to me.

Add up to two tablespoons (a dollup) of pure whipped cream (e.g. cabot's) from a can which has 1g of carb and 1.5 g of fat - barely registering as long as you keep the topping to 2 tablespoons or less.

Compare that to a bowl of coffee heath bar crunch ice cream which is off the charts in sugar, carbs, fats, etc.

Sure at first it takes an adjustment but for me it was far less than regular soda to diet, or real sugar to splenda, etc. But the benefits are huge and frankly I am discovering new foods that I like as well or better and dropping the pounds fast.

Like fishing, it's all about satisfaction. Eating without concern for impact on the body is like gut hooking because you want to get the hook set well. I thought satisfaction from food was about the food itself but it's more like how the food and your body get along. Eating stuff that makes you unhealthy is a one-way street where the eating might be mighty fine but the living is pooor. Finding things that please the palate while making your body more healthy is much more satifying overall in the larger scope of life.
 
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#2 ·
Way to go dude, I switched over to the lo carb thing a couple years ago, fell of the wagon during the holidays and am back in the saddle again. Now I've just got to get back on a workout schedule. I find when I get in the groove even sleep is better - unless there's an o'dark thirty mission to be had.:lildevl:

BTW - Blueberries are VERY good for you, locarb or not.
 
#3 ·
Congrats

Juro,

Congrats on your progress to date.

I have been pretty thin for the past 10 years. I avoid empty calories and I have worked out somewhat regularly over the past 8 years. Before that I worked out a lot more.

Anyway, 7 or 8 years ago I decided to trim some fat and bulk up at the same time. I was working at the Univeristy of Maine in Orono at the time. I spent 3 months on a Zone like diet (40/30/30 calorie breakdown so the carbs are a little limited). Anyway, in 3 months I lost some fat and definitely packed on muscle.

The routine works.

Back when I was in the midst of this routine I had a great life....
- Get up and cook a nice protein rich breakfast
- Do some research for 6 hours or so
- Go to the gym for 45 minutes
- Go to the Penobscot and spend 3-4 hours fishing for salmon or stripers (I had no idea that stripers were that far upriver)
-Cook a nice dinner with friends
-Sleep and repeat

Keep up the good work....

Mike
 
#4 ·
Juro, I weighed 190 pounds when I was 14 (but I was 6'2" at the time).

I was in really good shape until I hit about 35 at which time I began spending 10 to 12 hours a day driving a cement mixer. I then suffered a bad leg injury (fully recovered now) and am now a good 50 pounds over weight, have little time to work out (I work from 6 am to 5 pm on average) and after going on the Atkins diet my cholesterol went way over 200. Bad news there, been on Vytorin for some time.

So then, where did you get this diet info or where can I research this? I'm also thinking of getting into morning Yoga to get the body stretched and the mind relaxed and a bicycle for evening rides. I'm only 41 but feel 60. Sounds like yo got good results.
 
#5 ·
Hey Moose -

A friend at work lost 50 pounds, then another brought in the South beach diet book for me after losing a bunch of weight. I think he was trying to tell me somehting but I didn't even open it for months. :)

Then he left the company and I thought I had better read it before I give it back. I opened and scanned a few pages and tried a few of the things that stuck. I was amazed at how my body reacted. I went most of the day without being hungry by avoiding the carbs and eating a breakfast that burned slowly in the stomach.

For me it was an initial experiment giving me confidence that what they were saying was true. I tried an egg-white omelet made with veggies, small glass of v8 and a celery stick, no bread. I popped a few dry roasted peanuts as a snack with water mid-day. 3pm came and went and I really wasn't hungry but I ate something anyway realizing I didn't need it. Then for dinner I had a salad with grilled chicken and sliced almonds and a light vinagrette dressing. I felt like I could enjoy that kind of food for a while. I found other stuff, started reading labels and a week later I saw the pounds dropping and I haven't turned back since.

I think you should first read the first 60-70 pages of the SB diet book, try a couple of the things they suggest and give it a couple of weeks. It's pretty amazing what happens in two weeks. Then it's steady from there if you stick to it.

I am no expert but rule#1 is - if you eat carbs like sugar and starch the body converts it into fat unless you exercise like mad to burn it up right when you eat it. Rule #2 - to lose fat you need to run the body lean on calories as well, they say to really lose fat you need to create a deficit of calories vs. expenditure.

So the secret is to cut carbs out and pick good foods that are low in calories that make you feel satisfied. Use good snacks in between clever meals to keep things on the even keel.

Keep the calories low but that doesn't mean you can't fill up with good foods. And exercise works the body toward that deficit that burns fat even when you are doing nothing.

I am still learning, like I said it's only been two months but I am 17-18 pounds lighter (190# to 171-172#). I figure by next month if I really stick to it I will hit my 165# goal and then put the muscle back on which I know weighs more than fat so I will change focus to being in shape rather than weight.

Good luck, maybe if we keep talking about it here it will help. I know that talking about it with others has been a key ingredient for me! I am more than happy to keep this dialog going :)
 
#6 ·
I'll have to pick up that book. I think the dangerous thing about the Atkins no carb diet was the high fat intake it encourages. I think some folks are just biologically inclined towards a high cholesterol level and this diet put mine through the roof even though they claimed that this would not happen.

Funny, but the doctor had plenty to say against that Atkins diet and watching my cholesterol but had next to nothing productive to say about what TO do to actually lose weight other than "Watch what you eat and excersise more". Well, duh!! Too bad modern medicine is basically reactive rather than proactive.
 
#7 ·
Moose -

One thing you can do is take those psyllium fiber capsules and eat foods that provide fiber (without carbs or fat). I take metamucil capsules 2 w/ breakfast and 1-2 more with meals later in the day unless I forget, but I always get those two with breakfast. I read that taking the right kind of fiber pills prior to meals can make a huge difference in the way your body processes food.

Anyway it's just fiber (not drugs) and for me it does not affect frequency of having to go in the least but it definitely improves the way I digest food. Without going into the details, you can definitely tell. But that's not why I take it.

I take it because (a) I have a history of colon cancer in the family (b) it blocks carbs and (c) it reduces cholesterol by moving it out of your body. I read that even a very healthy blend of high density lipoproteins (HDL) vs harmful LDLs can only get cholesterols to the large intestine but you need fiber to carry it out of the body or it sits there and accumulates. Yikes! With my genetics that sounds like a bad thing.

With plenty of exercise lately I think I am getting the HDL count up there and hopefully fast-forwarding cholesterol to the large intestine but unless it's effectively sent to the hopper my genetics could still fail me despite all my efforts. So fiber is an important ingredient in my recipe for health.

It might help lower your cholesterol level (?)
 
#8 ·
It's great to hear about the positive progress that some people are making in this area.

I have never had any issues with carrying too much weight; in fact, I've been on the opposite side of the spectrum. I'm 6'6" tall and weigh 195 pounds. All during my teenage years my coaches were trying to beef me up with weight work and diet changes, but in hindsight you really can't fight genetics. My metablolism is quite high, and in my growing years my doctor demanded that I eat four meals a day or else suffer the consequences (fatigue, anemia, vitamin deficiencies, etc.).

I'm now 35 and in the best shape of my life. I attribute much of this to my martial arts training over the past fifteen years, but I also have to give partial credit to changes in my diet. Two years ago I suffered a cluster of migraine headaches the likes of which I had never experienced. In addition to being put on a preventative medication, I dropped as much crap from my diet as possible. I eliminated soda (have you ever taken a good look at a soda can label, even if it's diet? :eek: ), candy, and other types of food and drink that are more synthetic than natural. I eat large portions at meals, and eat a large variety of the foods outlined in the pyramid. At this point in my life, I'd rather eat an apple than a cookie.

I'm a very active person, and I want to stay that way for a very long time. I have noticed a difference in my energy level the past few years since I made those diet changes, and it's afforded me the opportunity to keep my performance and expectations high, whether it's teaching and training fifteen hours a week at the kung fu school or doing a death march on a Cape beach. :wink:
 
#9 ·
Congrats Juro. I did not think you had that much weight to lose. Good stuff.

I also am getting back on the workout train. Took a couple years off with the arrival of the new baby but for his and my sake I am getting back into it. So far 10 pounds gone in 3 weeks by eating lots of protein and hitting the gym 5 days a week. I build muscle quickly so the weight loss is slowing down but the inches are still going away. I feels so much better to be getting physical activity. Life is much better.

Moose your doctor gave you the best proactive advice there is. Watch what you eat and exercise.

I have always been leery of those diet fads like adkins where one can lose weight without excercising. To me you are only solving one part of the equation. You can be as skinny as a rail and still drop dead from a heart attack. The south beach diet looks alot more sensible.

Not having time is never an excuse. You just gotta fit it in. I will admit there are things I rather be doing but like Mark I want to be able to do the things I enjoy for a long long time.

-sean
 
#10 ·
Sean -

5 times a week!! Wow.

I wouldn't want to mess with you before now I will need the less weight and cardio health to run in case I ever piss you off... so keep bulking up those heavy muscles in case I do :hihi:


Mark -

Martial arts is great stuff; I am impressed you have done it for 15 years. I used to do it as a kid but now at 46 years young I get humbled by librarians and teenagers 2-3 times per week, 4-6 hours which is only a fraction of the time you train and teach. Sounds funny but the humbling part is really important to me because I've learned it's not about fighting. Like fly fishing it's about untangling a life mystery and striving for mastery in something that makes us well-rounded and well-centered people. I have no interest in being "tough" except to myself - I want to be self-disciplined and the best father, husband, worker, friend, teacher, student, all of the important things in life and karate is among life's best paths to that end as you already know even more than I.

It doesn't hurt that it gets me in shape as well. :)
 
#11 ·
The martial arts is a great way to go because it offers the mental as well as physical training. I played footbal in high school and also studied judo at the same time. Aside from the balance training and learning how to get hit and fall well, it tought me a lot about contact sports NOT being about fighting. I'm thinking tai chi as a starting point (I misspoke and said yoga in my earlier post, it was early and I was working on my first cup of coffee). Three years ago I bowhunted elk in Idaho's Bighole mountains and now it would literally kill me to try to do that. Things change quickly when you pass 40. It's definitely time to do something about it.

Those fad diets are bad news. I went on the Atkins diet because a frined at work had success with it, but apparently it aint for me. Your sentiments about making time now to be able to enjoy time later rings true Sean, I need to just create the time and make it happen.

I'll pick up that book this weekend.
 
#12 ·
Re: Atkins:

Body chemistry is the whole key. I've been on the Atkins diet for about three years now; my cholestrol is well within normal limits, and I'm able to keep the weight off that I lost (about 35 pounds). My blood type is O negative. Apparently, according to some things I've read, that makes a difference.

Frankly, I don't really miss pasta dishes, desserts, or bread, but I sure as hell miss my Guinness and the wonderful northwest IPA's.

Cheers and congratulations on your success with the South Beach diet, guys,

Eric
 
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