Inspired by the flood of people who came to the site in January ready to start a new year on Atkins, I decided to try to follow along – I would give up my controlled carbing that I had been following and go into hard-core, ketogenic, Atkins induction.
So far, it’s been rough going. Frankly, a lifestyle that allows some carb works well for me on a lot of levels as my family does *not* follow a low carb diet and the stuff is all around. Controlled carbing – very low carb during the day, then a controlled portion of carbs at night – worked well enough for me last year to help me off 25 – 30 pounds.
But then it stopped. So I thought some ketogenic low carb for a while might be worth an experiment – I’ve done it many times before – I’m an old pro at this, I told myself. Ha!
I’ve kept a blow-by-blow of this, but I’ll spare you the ‘and then I ate…’ listing of a month – it didn’t get me anywhere, for the most part. I had been inhabiting the range between 204 and 208, and now I’m hovering in the 200 to 204 range – progress, but not all that much.
The cheats are easy to come by in my house, and while they’ve been infrequent, they’ve been enough to remove any expectation of the potentially rapid weight loss of continued ketogenic low carb.
While a tad bit frustrated – that magic number of being under 200 so tantalizingly close but seemingly so far, I thought it necessary to perform a bit of self-assessment to reflect on what I have accomplished. I am a person of many flaws and weaknesses - it’s not just being fat that irks me – and I try to tackle a basket full of goals at the beginning of every year.
I suppose that one can argue that trying to do too much invites failure. You might be right, but there’s another way to look at it: If you challenge yourself with 10 major things and fail at 6, you’ve still accomplished 4 major things.
If you can get over the feeling of the failed 6 and focus on the successful 4, it can bring your mojo back and show you that you can accomplish big things – perhaps not in the order you’d like, nor with the speediness you’ve decided upon with no input from your mind or body or the capriciousness of life – but it’s still worth reminding yourself of as you pick yourself up and throw your shoulder, yet again, at that particular goal that just won’t seem to give way.
So here’s my list of accomplishments in the past year, to help me through a dark and dreary February.
Gave up Alcohol (May, 2011)
I have nothing against the stuff, except that I have proven to myself time and time again that I cannot lose nor maintain a weight loss while consuming it. So I gave it up in May of 2011 – and that was probably a big help in me peeling off that 25 pounds last year. I will have a taste on the rare occasion – I was at a dinner party and had a sip of the champagne and a sip of the red wine, and on our vacation I had a few sips of a home-made ginger-infused rum that was awesome – but it’s for the flavor, not the buzz, and it’s not a habit anymore.
Gave up Nicotine (December, 2011)
The gist of this blog frequently is: “I do something stupid and you watch from the sidelines”. I’ve come to enjoy the process of experimentation in dieting – it’s become a serious hobby of mine. Unfortunately, my experiments sometimes resemble those of J.B.S. Haldane, the eccentric British scientist who used to run all sorts of dangerous experiments on himself and his family. Here’s a brief example of just a small bit of what this fellow would do :
Haldane was a keen experimenter, willing to expose himself to danger to obtain data. One experiment involving elevated levels of oxygen saturation triggered a fit which resulted in him suffering crushed vertebrae. In his decompression chamber experiments, he and his volunteers suffered perforated eardrums, but, as Haldane stated in What is Life, “the drum generally heals up; and if a hole remains in it, although one is somewhat deaf, one can blow tobacco smoke out of the ear in question, which is a social accomplishment.”
OK – I’m not that nuts, but I did think that using nicotine to control appetite might work.
Dope .
It did work for a while, but then the effectiveness diminished and left me with an addiction to the lozenges. I had tapered off slowly, going from 4 mg to 2 mg for a few months, then took to breaking the 2mg in half, then quitting completely the day after Christmas when I ran out. I’ve substituted Altoid Smalls for the ritual of popping something into my mouth, but I’ve had no urges to go out and buy more lozenges.
The other thing I did was: I gave them up without gaining weight. Most people who quit nicotine gain weight. Extra credit.
Gave up Artificial Sweeteners (December, 2011)
Artificial sweeteners are controversial. I originally lost all my weight using them. Regardless, I’ve decided to eliminate them as part of my regular diet – it’s a personal thing that comes from my desire to remove as many man-made chemicals from my life as possible.
I used to use the SodaStream sodamixes with Splenda daily, and used to use Splenda in my Greek yogurt. Now I eat the yogurt plain and just drink seltzer water – sometimes with a little lemon or lime juice. The two exceptions to this are the occasional Atkins bar, kept for emergencies only and not for regular use, and the aforementioned Altoid Smalls, which I’m hoping to eliminate as well.
So while not at absolute zero on these substances, I’ve made a major behavioral change and reduced consumption by maybe 90-95%.
Reduce Coffee Consumption (December, 2011)
This one stems from the fact that I have been an over-the-top coffee addict for 25 years. It was not uncommon for me to drink an entire pot of strong coffee before work, then drink another pot at work. Of the four things listed here, this is proving to be the toughest. I have found benefits in limiting it – there’s seems to be a magic quantity that leaves me clear-headed and calm. Too little and I am foggy and sleepy. Too much and I’m frazzled. There’s a real ‘medicinal dosage’ that, at present, it appears I need to function. So like the nicotine, I am tapering off.
I still make a pot every morning, but it’s at 60% the strength – I use 3 scoops instead of 5. I also try to drink only 2 mugs of the stuff and leave the third for the evening (I fall asleep and annoy the wife without the evening cup). In work I supplement with 1 mug (instead of 1 pot) in the late morning or early afternoon.
This one is proving a bit tough – I sometimes go over my limit, and I’m finding myself availing myself of Dunkin Donuts too frequently. There’s still an adjustment phase here, a settling in to a new routine and the arising of new bad habits, so while this one is still in progress, I can say that progress has been made – my coffee consumption is now between 50 and 75% less than it was.
So that’s an overview of where I’m at. I’m going to keep at the ketogenic low carb thing – I’ve set a goal of 2 solid weeks in ketosis for February. After a carb-laden mishap last night – today I’ll start again, and remind myself that last year I would have given my left…leg to have accomplished what I have accomplished, and with patience and dedication, more will come.
© 2012, LowCarbConfidential.com
Inspired by the flood of people who came to the site in January ready to start a new year on Atkins, I decided to try to follow along – I would give up my controlled carbing that I had been following and go into hard-core, ketogenic, Atkins induction.
So far, it’s been rough going. Frankly, a lifestyle that allows some carb works well for me on a lot of levels as my family does *not* follow a low carb diet and the stuff is all around. Controlled carbing – very low carb during the day, then a controlled portion of carbs at night – worked well enough for me last year to help me off 25 – 30 pounds.
But then it stopped. So I thought some ketogenic low carb for a while might be worth an experiment – I’ve done it many times before – I’m an old pro at this, I told myself. Ha!
I’ve kept a blow-by-blow of this, but I’ll spare you the ‘and then I ate…’ listing of a month – it didn’t get me anywhere, for the most part. I had been inhabiting the range between 204 and 208, and now I’m hovering in the 200 to 204 range – progress, but not all that much.
The cheats are easy to come by in my house, and while they’ve been infrequent, they’ve been enough to remove any expectation of the potentially rapid weight loss of continued ketogenic low carb.
While a tad bit frustrated – that magic number of being under 200 so tantalizingly close but seemingly so far, I thought it necessary to perform a bit of self-assessment to reflect on what I have accomplished. I am a person of many flaws and weaknesses - it’s not just being fat that irks me – and I try to tackle a basket full of goals at the beginning of every year.
I suppose that one can argue that trying to do too much invites failure. You might be right, but there’s another way to look at it: If you challenge yourself with 10 major things and fail at 6, you’ve still accomplished 4 major things.
If you can get over the feeling of the failed 6 and focus on the successful 4, it can bring your mojo back and show you that you can accomplish big things – perhaps not in the order you’d like, nor with the speediness you’ve decided upon with no input from your mind or body or the capriciousness of life – but it’s still worth reminding yourself of as you pick yourself up and throw your shoulder, yet again, at that particular goal that just won’t seem to give way.
So here’s my list of accomplishments in the past year, to help me through a dark and dreary February.
Gave up Alcohol (May, 2011)
I have nothing against the stuff, except that I have proven to myself time and time again that I cannot lose nor maintain a weight loss while consuming it. So I gave it up in May of 2011 – and that was probably a big help in me peeling off that 25 pounds last year. I will have a taste on the rare occasion – I was at a dinner party and had a sip of the champagne and a sip of the red wine, and on our vacation I had a few sips of a home-made ginger-infused rum that was awesome – but it’s for the flavor, not the buzz, and it’s not a habit anymore.
Gave up Nicotine (December, 2011)
The gist of this blog frequently is: “I do something stupid and you watch from the sidelines”. I’ve come to enjoy the process of experimentation in dieting – it’s become a serious hobby of mine. Unfortunately, my experiments sometimes resemble those of J.B.S. Haldane, the eccentric British scientist who used to run all sorts of dangerous experiments on himself and his family. Here’s a brief example of just a small bit of what this fellow would do :
OK – I’m not that nuts, but I did think that using nicotine to control appetite might work.
Dope .
It did work for a while, but then the effectiveness diminished and left me with an addiction to the lozenges. I had tapered off slowly, going from 4 mg to 2 mg for a few months, then took to breaking the 2mg in half, then quitting completely the day after Christmas when I ran out. I’ve substituted Altoid Smalls for the ritual of popping something into my mouth, but I’ve had no urges to go out and buy more lozenges.
The other thing I did was: I gave them up without gaining weight. Most people who quit nicotine gain weight. Extra credit.
Gave up Artificial Sweeteners (December, 2011)
Artificial sweeteners are controversial. I originally lost all my weight using them. Regardless, I’ve decided to eliminate them as part of my regular diet – it’s a personal thing that comes from my desire to remove as many man-made chemicals from my life as possible.
I used to use the SodaStream sodamixes with Splenda daily, and used to use Splenda in my Greek yogurt. Now I eat the yogurt plain and just drink seltzer water – sometimes with a little lemon or lime juice. The two exceptions to this are the occasional Atkins bar, kept for emergencies only and not for regular use, and the aforementioned Altoid Smalls, which I’m hoping to eliminate as well.
So while not at absolute zero on these substances, I’ve made a major behavioral change and reduced consumption by maybe 90-95%.
Reduce Coffee Consumption (December, 2011)
This one stems from the fact that I have been an over-the-top coffee addict for 25 years. It was not uncommon for me to drink an entire pot of strong coffee before work, then drink another pot at work. Of the four things listed here, this is proving to be the toughest. I have found benefits in limiting it – there’s seems to be a magic quantity that leaves me clear-headed and calm. Too little and I am foggy and sleepy. Too much and I’m frazzled. There’s a real ‘medicinal dosage’ that, at present, it appears I need to function. So like the nicotine, I am tapering off.
I still make a pot every morning, but it’s at 60% the strength – I use 3 scoops instead of 5. I also try to drink only 2 mugs of the stuff and leave the third for the evening (I fall asleep and annoy the wife without the evening cup). In work I supplement with 1 mug (instead of 1 pot) in the late morning or early afternoon.
This one is proving a bit tough – I sometimes go over my limit, and I’m finding myself availing myself of Dunkin Donuts too frequently. There’s still an adjustment phase here, a settling in to a new routine and the arising of new bad habits, so while this one is still in progress, I can say that progress has been made – my coffee consumption is now between 50 and 75% less than it was.
So that’s an overview of where I’m at. I’m going to keep at the ketogenic low carb thing – I’ve set a goal of 2 solid weeks in ketosis for February. After a carb-laden mishap last night – today I’ll start again, and remind myself that last year I would have given my left…leg to have accomplished what I have accomplished, and with patience and dedication, more will come.
© 2012, LowCarbConfidential.com