Norinew, this is pretty much what the Atkins plan is. Atkins is somewhat more strict about what you can eat for the first 2 weeks but after that, it’s very close to what you are doing.
Obviously everyone’s health is different and people should absolutely get their own doctor’s opinion about what kind of lifestyle nutrition change (not “diet”) is right for them - I’d just like to add that Atkins recognizes the possibility of kidney stones and thus REQUIRES that you drink at least one gallon of water a day. That’s one gallon of water in addition to whatever other beverages you might drink.
Anyway, I feel the same way you do after having cut out the sugar (whether straight or hidden as carbs). It’s only been 3 days and I feel more energetic than I have in 10 years. I’ve been waking up at 5:30 AM rarin’ to go. I used to think Atkins was a load of BS but that’s because I never bothered to get the facts. And for the vast majority of people who try it, it works. It’s not a “high fat/high protein” diet. It’s a “no/low sugar & starch, high fiber, very little processed food” diet.
Back in 1992 I had just graduated from college and was really out-of-shape. I thought to myself, “I’m already short and balding, and I do not want to end up being the stereotypical ‘short, bald, fat guy.’ I can’t do anything about being short and bald, but I can do something about being fat.”
I had tried diets in the past, but they all failed.
Then I realized why they failed; in order to lose weight and get in shape, I must undergo a lifestyle change. In other words, I must not look at dieting as a temporary thing – dieting must become a permanent aspect of my life. It sounds like a common sense thing, but at the time it was a revelation.
So I made a lifestyle change in my eating habits. And to this day I’ve stuck to it. I also regularly exercise (run, lift weights, etc.) and do not watch TV.
I’m now in the best shape I’ve ever been in my life (including high school). Gone are the days of eating fatty sandwiches, using butter and mayonnaise, and gorging myself at every meal. As an example, my breakfast usually consist of oatmeal, my lunch consists of a couple cans of tuna in water (straight from the can), and we always have a lean dinner (fish, rice, green vegetables, etc.)
One other kidney related thing about atkins. The high protein nature of the plan is very bad for people with kidney disease. In my case my kidneys leak protein and so the more protein in my system the more leaks out and the more damage to my kidneys.
For what it is worth… my doctor highly recommended the WW program I follow but wrote me a doctor note because he did not feel the goal weight they set was appropriate. (He wanted me a little heavier than the program did)
Wow. I’m not usually one to be so blunt, but Isabelle, it sounds to me as though you are on a physician-endorsed eating disorder program. Taking in far fewer calories than your body needs (even to lose weight), tricking your body by introducing substances which will make it think it is in need of functioning differently. The fact that HGC is a ‘naturally occuring’ hormone doesn’t mean much here, because it wouldn’t naturally occur in you at this point, seeing as you are not pregnant.
I think a sensible eating program (I did well on WW a few years ago) combined with some therpay to determine how and why you are ‘feeding’ your own unhappiness/disorder is in order. If you were taking Ipecac, you were not becoming bulimic, you were bulimic. I hear how desperate you are to not end up like your Mom, but it sounds to me that there are some real issues here for you, some real sadness and some real fears. No eating plan in the world is going to ‘cure’ that, no matter what the scale says.
I, too, feel your doctor is being pretty suspect, too, and I wonder how well he is being compensated for these visits, which have you so dependent on him.
As tanookie said, because of the higher than normal protein intake initially, Atkins isn’t a diet for people with pre-existing kidney problems, which is why norinew has mentioned in previous posts that she can’t do it. But if your kidneys are already healthy, it’s fine.
What I like is that although I do deprive myself of some foods, the vast majority of them are foods I should never have eaten to begin with. Those that are still healthy, such as whole grain breads and beans, I always ate too much of, so I have to watch my quantities anyway. Since I’ve started this diet, I’ve eaten sandwiches on whole-grain, high-fiber bread, added beans to soup, and had carrot slivers in my salad (carrots are high in sugars, which in turn makes them high in carbs).
I hope that the OP is taking everyone’s words to heart and is reconsidering her dangerous quickie weight loss plan. As others have said, you can’t lose the weight and keep it off until you change your mindset about food.
This diet is costing me $32.50 a week and insurance doesn’t cover it. It costs a little more if I choose to accept the appetite suppresants. I tried them last week but they didn’t work.
Since I have been on this 800 calorie diet I have been eating better.
I am going to do a little research on the HCG too. The doctor gave me a phamplet on it but I don’t know what I did with it. It wasn’t that important to me as long as the diet worked!
My cousin was not dangerously overweight (a US size 12 - 14) but she was larger than she wanted to be, and acknowledged that the reason was that she had McDonalds almost every day and didn’t exercise enough - but she and her boyfriend were stuck in a rut of eating junk food, and then watching a movie or videos rather than doing something more active. Her father tried bribing her to lose weight, but invariably she resented the way he went about it and tuned out his message.
It wasn’t until her boyfriend broke up with her (for an unrelated reason) that she thought about wanting to look and feel attractive, and shifted gears. She started eating Lean Cuisine meals and joined a gym, which she went to three days a week and did a combination of weights and cardio. In less than three months the change was absolutely remarkable - she’d not only lost weight from her body, but her face was also less puffy and more defined. Her diet might have helped her lose weight, but it was the workout she did at the gym that made her more toned and fit. The improvement was so incredible that it inspired me to join the gym too - I’m lucky in that I can eat what I want and stay a size 2, but my metabolism won’t give me toned thighs, and it won’t help me jog even half a block without feeling my lungs will explode. So now we go together to two workouts a week and one cardio class, and it’s so much fun that my boyfriend is sick of hearing me talk about the gym. Afterwards I feel so alive and fit and motivated.
My cousin doesn’t isn’t on Lean Cuisine anymore, but she’s more careful about what she eats and a lot more active. It might not work for everyone, but it’s what worked for her, and you can’t beat the natural high you get afterwards!
There are a lot of things out there that will allow you to lose weight and destroy your body at the same time. The Ipecac diet you mentioned is one that my husband and I were discussing just a day or so ago.
It frightens me that you are willing to blindly do anything just to be thin. And it bothers me more that you have found a doctor willing to support your destructive behavior. Please give some serious thought to what you are doing to your body and why.
Problem is, I’m denied those things by my doctor not for weight reasons, but for health reasons—my stupid liver doesn’t metabolize cholesterol effectively, so even on medication my levels are near 300.
I’d been gaining weight gradually for years. I also had a lot of heartburn (been on prevacid previously, and took OTC pepcid and tums daily) and joint pain and generally felt like crap.
I was looking for possible dietary reasons for why I felt so bad. I found the book Neanderthin by Ray Audette. I became a diet crank. I went paleo.
The basic theory behind the paleo diet is to eat what you could eat if you were naked in the wilderness with a sharp stick. Ok, so you modify that for modern times and you eat meat, lots of leafy greens, and fruits. For vegetables, you eat what you could eat if it was raw. No potatoes (can’t digest them raw). No wheat or other grains. No dairy. No sugar. No Lean Cuisine (no processed foods.)
It’s a little like Atkins, in that it’s high protein and you don’t skimp on the fat.
I lost the 30 lbs. I needed to lose in 7 months and (so far) have kept it off for a year.
And my heartburn went away. That’s what really blew my mind. I’ve had heartburn every day for YEARS. And it was gone. That’s what’s kept me on the diet.
I’ve started cheating a little though, and when I do, I can tell. I get achy again, and I get heartburn.
YMMV, but this works for me. Getting over the carb addiction is the really hard part. And eating with other people can be a challenge. No pizza parties or pasta for me. And eating out can be a little challenging. But you can always find a steak and a salad, and that works!
My daughter stays lean and mean by adapting her life to becoming a Veegan. In my opinion she hardly eats anything but she thinks she does fine. Eats lots of soy based products, lentils and rice, pasta and fake meat. She looks healthy.
Oops, so never mind then… (Although maybe some of my advice is still sound: check the cholesterol on the low-fat ice cream treats I mentioned. They might be acceptable for your doctor’s mandate, and they are a decent replacement for the real thing.)
I don’t know the details of your liver, but speaking of livers, I forgot to mention the #1 reason I lost the weight that I did. My doctor saw that I had elevated liver enzymes, which prompted an ultrasound, which found that I had fatty liver (i.e., human foie gras). Doctor said lose weight. After years of knowing for myself that I should lose weight, this finally hit home. So I lost weight. After the first 30 lbs my liver was back to normal.
So, YL(iver)MV, but losing weight is good for livers.
Has anyone seen the new ice cream that Slim Fast has come out with? I wonder if this would be better for you then say frozen yogurt or a sugar free ice cream.
It looks very good. Fudge ice cream on a sticka nd ice cream sandwhichs.
Has anyone sseen the new spokespersons for Subway?
Sherman and Herman (twins) they lost a BUNCH of weight eating only Subway sandwhichs for 7 months. The subs are less then 6grams of fat.
I’d like to know how they managed to get to Subway every day for breakfast. I mean, don’t these people work? Does their Subway open at 6:00 AM? Maybe they were buying them the night before and taking them home and eating cold leftover sandwiches the next day. Uh, mmmmm. And the cost: what does a Subway sandwich go for? I’d guess about $6 or $7. That’s $108-$126 a week (assuming only 3 meals a day), not counting whatever they drank.
Well if it worked for them I suppose I shouldn’t knock it. But holy hell didn’t they get bored with the same thing every single day for at least 630 meals???
Cholesterol is a huge problem for many people. Like Eve even on medication my cholesterol is about 250 (without it was 480)
Oh and Isabelle… you can eat almost no fat and still gain weight. The total calories are what determines if you gain or lose. Atkins has you eating meats/cheeses/whole fat dairy products and people still lose weight. What you need to find is a sustainable lifestyle of healthy eating and exercise - no gimmicks/drugs/ipecac. Until you realize that pretty much any weight loss plan is doomed to fail long term.
Oh! The other thing I did to change my diet – and I use “diet” in the “what I eat” sense, not the “program to lose weight” sense – was to just stop going to Taco Bell. I swear they put crack in their food – that salty greasy cheesy spicy goodness – but it ought to be called Fat-Bomb Bell. Cheap and fast and good = eating there four times a week. And pretty much anything I can make at home is going to be better for me. So I don’t eat TB anymore, at all, ever, but oh good Lord, I miss it.
I’m trying to make better choices and have lost 30 pounds in 10 months. I’m not on a diet/exercise plan, but am taking a dance class regularly, as well as walking more.
I’ve seen too many people binge on foods they’re trying to avoid so am not restricting my diet; I’m trying to drink more water instead of not drinking pop; eating more fruit, salads, etc. I’ve noticed that most of the time I’m fine without the bad stuff; however this is a bad choice week and I bought bugles. Sometimes you just need salt.
I eat a lot of sanwiches, but since my idea of “sandwich” includes either turkey or ham on wheat with swiss, it isn’t a huge fat/calorie issue.
I got a new job and have made a point of not learning where the vending machines are, as well as bringing healthy snacks to work with me. So far I’ve had a banana, peach and grapes today. I still have an emergency apple, and have single serving applesauce and peaches just in case.
I have a goal in mind, but not a target date. My replacement wardrobe is getting loose, and when its too big and needs to be replaced itself, I’ll buy a few more clearance items, and work on going down one more size.
I lose weight incrementally, 10 lbs. at a time. It’s a way of measuring, and is a small enough amount that it seems attainable.