Hi Sarah,
I was so thrilled to see your post here...I've read your entire blog and have been keeping up with it. You're a very courageous person and I really admire you. I've really enjoyed your blog...you write well, you have an amazing life and I love your perspective and outlook. It's been very comforting to me to read it, for some reason. I suspect it's simply because of who you are and how you live your life. I'm so thrilled that this diet is working for you too.
I love this diet for so many reasons...the primary ones being that I'm rarely hungry and it works so well (for me). BTW, I love all your veggie dishes and recipes you've described. I'm in veggie heaven...trying all sorts of new ones and developing recipes for them. I made a savoy cabbage soup yesterday...delicious.
But another reason I love it is that the weight comes off my body is such better dimensions. On low-cal, I would get drawn in the face initially...it would look like I was losing all my weight in my face and I'd think, "oh great, now my face is smaller and it makes my body look even bigger".
I'm rather short so I wear men's levi jeans and at 195 lbs. I was in size 40" waist. Today, I am wearing a pair of 34" waist jeans (levi's). Technically, still being above 160 (I was 161.5 lbs. this morning....but it will jump around for a few days before it actually settles at that weight)...I should NOT be fitting into these yet. I wore size 34" quite a bit in the past and they should not be fitting me until I'm below about 155 lbs. I'm amazed at how well they're fitting me.....and I'm thinking that it's the way I've been burning the fat off my body. I've remained in small to moderate ketosis every day so I know it's fat that I'm burning.
From past experience, I should be fitting into 32" waist jeans when I reach goal at 135 lbs.....so I should surely NOT be fitting into these 34's only half-way to goal. I would not have fit into them at this weight years ago. But I never had this much weight to lose before. At my highest pregnant weight, I was 174. Never in my wildest dreams (nightmares) did I ever think I'd hit 195 lbs. I don't think I've fully gotten over the shock of it even to this day. I don't remember looking at myself in a full mirror once that entire time....I must have just blocked it out.
Back in the 90's I used Atkin's to lose the 30 lbs. but this time, I've had to use it to lose twice that much and it's so interesting to me how the weight is coming off.....and that I'm fitting into a size pants I could not have at this weight in the past.
I know I need to cool it....I am such a huge proponent/cheerleader for this diet that I want to go out into the world and tell everyone how great it is. But I've learned that different things work for different people.....and I've been amazed to read all the success stories here on such a huge variety of different diets.
It's funny though...nothing sells like success. Yesterday, in my now-fitting 34" jeans, my neighbor stopped me and wants me to give her all the info on Atkins induction. When I first started this a little over 5 months ago, she sorta scoffed at it, saying she couldn't eat that much protein. I tried to tell her I eat a normal amount of protein but she didn't seem that interested. Suddenly now...she is.
Go figure.
After thinking about it....I'm thinking I should knock even the 3 packs of splenda out and adjust to unsweetened coffee. Everything else I'm eating is so healthy...why add those chemicals into it? Sounds like a good idea to me, now that you mentioned it. Thank you.
Hi Slimmingsi~
It's so interesting that you brought up the diet of our ancestors. I've given quite a bit of thought to the rationale of Atkins in terms of what our ancestors ate....that we came from omnivores (possibly even carnivores at an earlier point)....not herbivores.
But I didn't stop to think about evolutionary adaptation to diet. I'm wondering, though....do you think the human body would be able to adapt to the diet of highly processed foods many eat today? So that it would not cause all the negative health consequences?
I went to nursing school back in the 70's and was working in a hospital by the late 70's....and I cannot believe the huge epidemic of diabetes in this country since then. And not just diabetes, but insulin-dependent diabetes. It's almost unbelievable. I mean, I know that was 30-40 years ago....but the explosion of insulin-dependent diabetes in that short a time span is really horrifying.
Just the basics, in terms of physiology, that I learned was that eating large quantities of simple sugars can overwork the pancreas. Initially, a pre-cursor to diabetes can be hypoglycemia...where the pancreas releases too much insulin (the first signs that the pancreas is beginning to malfunction) and this rapidly drops the blood sugar and one can become lethargic, diaphoretic, develop a headache....and also become very hungry again...very quickly. As the pancreas malfunctions more, the person can become diabetic....with the pancreas either unable to release adequate insulin or unable to release any at all.
I am truly beginning to suspect that eating all these processed carbs and simple sugars are doing far more harm than the fat that was blamed as the huge culprit. The last time I did Atkins, I used margarine....this time, it's butter. I can't believe that I somehow thought margarine was healther....a fat is a fat...why alter it with chemicals? At this point....I'm not even 100% sure that all this stuff about healthy versus unhealthy fats is true. I'm hoping they do more studies on this. It's amazing how dietary recommendations have changed over the years....sometimes completely reversing prior recommendations.
I just FEEL so much better on Atkins...mood and energy-wise. I feel so sluggish and crappy when I eat any significant amounts of carbs. Is this just me or am I actually eating more like my ancestors did and that's why I feel better? Or am I just sensitive to carbs and should permanently stay the heck away from too many of them? Or maybe my body never adapted (evolutionary-wise) to a high-carb diet most eat?
OK...I'm writing a book here, I fear. Will wrap this up for now.