New and Need Direction
Hi everyone! I am brand new to this group and need a little
guidance.
First, I must say that I am not following the Atkins plan. My husband
is planning to start on Thursday and even though I am a strict
vegetarian, I have joined this group and vow to learn as much as
possible to support his effort. At 6′1 he weighs 309 lbs. His
primary reason to lose weight is to recover the energy he lost about
75 pounds ago. For myself, I’m afraid for him as he is not only
heavy, but has high BP, cholesterol and smokes 5-6 cigars per day. I
feel like he is the human time bomb if he doesn’t do something! I’ll
do anything to help now that he want to try to tackle his health
problems-even if it means I have to buy and cook all that meat. But I
digress..
I am looking for good websites that give practical tips for the
induction phase of the diet (or all phases for that matter.) I have
also seen MANY books about the Atkins diet but would like
recommendations on which is the most user friendly.
Any advice or direction you can offer is greatly appreciated. If this
group is restricted only to dieters and I am out of place, please
pardon my intrusion and point me to a more appropriate group. Thank
you so much!
Shannon
allrightbrained
April 29th, 2003 at 5:40 am
Shannon, If you are allrightbrained, would you be left-handed?
April 30th, 2003 at 1:56 pm
ok, i’m impressed that a vegetarian is going to help a spouse do atkins. i know it goes against your grain. that being said, you are going to have to remember that this is a high fat diet. the more fat intake, the faster and better the weightloss. for me, i have optimum weight loss and energy if i am at 75% fat, 20% protein, and 5% carbohydrate.
water will be a large issue here. he needs to drink 150 oz a day if he works indoors. if he works outside where he will be sweating, the water needs will go way up. water is a very important part of this way of eating. as he begins to consume his own fat stores, he will be breaking down stored fat and producing ketones that will need to be washed from the body.
make sure you take his measurements before he begins. it will be amazing how fast he looses inches.
it is important that you read the atkins book, the New diet revolution, not atkins for life. that one comes later. i would also strongly suggest that you also read “Protein Power” by Dr. Eades. the first 100 or so pages of the protein power book do the best job of explaining how food affects the body, what raises blood sugar, how insulin and glucagon effect the body. it is by far the best explination in “layman’s terms” that i have come across, and i have read all the books. it will help you understand that these types of diets are about controlling insulin, and the best way to do that is with fat.
i also recommend you go to www.fitday.com and plan on using that tool to help monitor progress, and to make sure he is getting the right ratios of protein to carb to fat.
initially when people start this way of eating they go overboard. it is nothing to have a lb of bacon for breakfast during the first couple of weeks. after that, saiety from all the fat and protein set in, and the reverse problem starts to occur for some…. too little eating. you have to consume enough calories to keep the metabolism from lowering.
also very important to eat breakfast within an hour of waking.. that raises metabolism and gets the day started right.
pay attention to the vitamin supplement requirements. and by all means, start him on potassium supplments after about the first 3-4 days. he is going to need them.
it’s not uncommon to have flu like feelings during the first 3-4 days. that is your body switching from gluconeogenesis to lyponeogenesis. (the switch from burning glucose as fuel to buring fat as fuel.) the headache, and cravings will subside. eat lots during this time, it helps. the energy level will kick in in 3-4 days.
will he be doing any exercise?
if i can be of assistance, feel free to contact me though this board, or privately at monica200tolose@….
hope this helped. oh, yeah, if he takes meds for the high blood pressure, you need to watch for signs of low blood pressure when he starts… there will be a significant drop in his blood pressure after he has been eating this way for a few days… afew weeks… (differs from person to person) i have had many patients that had to get off of meds entirely becuase blood pressure normalized long before all the weight was gone.
monica
(Chiropractor, BS in human biology, MS in nutrition)
In a message dated 6/9/03 7:55:24 PM Central Daylight Time, bluidgrl@… writes:
Hi everyone! I am brand new to this group and need a little
guidance.
First, I must say that I am not following the Atkins plan. My husband
is planning to start on Thursday and even though I am a strict
vegetarian, I have joined this group and vow to learn as much as
possible to support his effort. At 6′1 he weighs 309 lbs. His
primary reason to lose weight is to recover the energy he lost about
75 pounds ago. For myself, I’m afraid for him as he is not only
heavy, but has high BP, cholesterol and smokes 5-6 cigars per day. I
feel like he is the human time bomb if he doesn’t do something! I’ll
do anything to help now that he want to try to tackle his health
problems-even if it means I have to buy and cook all that meat. But I
digress..
I am looking for good websites that give practical tips for the
induction phase of the diet (or all phases for that matter.) I have
also seen MANY books about the Atkins diet but would like
recommendations on which is the most user friendly.
Any advice or direction you can offer is greatly appreciated. If this
group is restricted only to dieters and I am out of place, please
pardon my intrusion and point me to a more appropriate group. Thank
you so much!
Shannon
allrightbrained
May 4th, 2003 at 4:58 am
Yes! I am strongly left handed and lean quite far toward creative
thinking rather than methodical processing.
“Rightbrain” has been a nickname for many years but I am always amazed
at the number of people who ask me what that means, is it opposite of
wrong brained, did I hit my head and other absurd questions.
What does your name mean?
Shannon
May 8th, 2003 at 7:01 pm
Shannon…
My name oz_the_cat is a way to remember my favorite cat who passed
away about 6 years ago. My real name is Gayle
May 8th, 2003 at 11:20 pm
Sorry…and I am also left handed. That’s how I know what right
brained is!