low carb diet?

[nmevan]

greetings cpapers

I am overweight and on cpap. I'm 54, relatively healthy and very active.
I've been pretending to try to lose weight for 30 years.
Apparently, my will power is under powered.
I'm considering trying the low carb approach (the Gary Taubes ideas).
I'm hoping I might stick to it for a change because it allows me to eat foods like eggs, bacon and cheese.
I'm also hoping that it will curb my desire for sugar.

I realize this is a cpap forum, but I believe that weight, diet and sleep are all intertwined.

I'm looking for some good tips from those of you cpapers who have had success losing weight, and if you can bless the low carb diet.

thanks

evan

[Mary Z]

I have lost weight on a low carb diet. In the beginning phase you really need to count your carbs and stay within the recommended range (see atkins web site or any other book or website that gives you carb restrictions for different stages of losing). I find that going over my carb limit definitely kept me from losing.
They make low carb ice cream now. I eat a lot of low carb tortillias as I miss bread- they're great with cheese, eggs, ham, bacon or whatever stuffed inside.
Atkins bars are the only low carb meal substitute or snack that I have found.

[archangle]

If you want to look at Atkins, the "original" low carb diet, the book to get is "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution."

There's a lot of hatred for Atkins in the traditional medical/diet industry because it says that the "party line" on weight loss and diet is all wrong. That doesn't make Atkins right, but it doesn't make it wrong, either.

If you do use Atkins or any other diet, remember, it's a diet, not a religion. If you "fall off the wagon," Dr. Atkin's ghost doesn't appear and haunt you. Get back on the wagon.

Done right, you won't feel hungry in terms of having low blood sugar and having "real" hunger. You may find you really want some bread, or even something like an apple.

Also remember, Atkins doesn't mean you just eat bacon all the time. You can still eat lean meats like turkey, chicken or fish. Plus selected and limited fruit, nuts, and veggies.

[packer]

thinking of going on it again myself-- it is really only diet ever worked for me

another good side effect is that your cholesterol goes down - it really does-
I had blood work before and after going on Atkins-

there will be many bashers showing up I fear- but from my personal experience it works to
lose wight and to lower cholesterol
fwiw Packer

[JeffH]

I've gone from 324 to 218 eating a Paleo / Primal diet. Basically real food, but non starchy vegetables. My blood work is great. trig. @ 62. It ain't the fat that makes you fat it's the CARBS! And the best part is I'm not hungry all the time.

@ over 300lbs


and taken today at around 218lbs



Sadly it don't do anything for ugly...LOL

[Guest]

greetings cpapers

I am overweight and on cpap. I'm 54, relatively healthy and very active.
I've been pretending to try to lose weight for 30 years.
Apparently, my will power is under powered.
I'm considering trying the low carb approach (the Gary Taubes ideas).
I'm hoping I might stick to it for a change because it allows me to eat foods like eggs, bacon and cheese.
I'm also hoping that it will curb my desire for sugar.

I realize this is a cpap forum, but I believe that weight, diet and sleep are all intertwined.

I'm looking for some good tips from those of you cpapers who have had success losing weight, and if you can bless the low carb diet.

thanks

evan

I like the Gary Taubes approach. What has worked for me:

* Start with just meat and fat, lots of fat. Avoid trans fats and liquid fats except olive oil and coconut oil. You can add sour cream, mayonnaise, heavy cream, cream cheese, or butter to increase the fat percentage.
* Find recipes that suit your diet. Drop any that aren't delicious. Keep searching, all the time, to add to your recipe repertoire. This diet is work.
* After two weeks, grant yourself one day a week to eat whatever you want. Don't eat more than you feel like eating, but feel free to eat the things you miss. The next day, go right back on a high fat diet with very low carbs. I chose the day of the week that is hardest for me to stay on my diet.
* I check my blood glucose instead of getting on the scale. Weight varies too much, even with strict dieting. Blood glucose number is a more reliable reward.
* Study fast food menus to find something you can have. Best I've found are salads (at McD, I get Ceasar salad with grilled chicken) and burgers without buns.
* PLAN AHEAD. I keep Atkins shakes on hand for those moments when I haven't planned.
* Avoid fruit and starchy vegetables. I have strawberries or raspberries with whipped cream for an occasional treat.

[Breathe Jimbo]

another good side effect is that your cholesterol goes down - it really does-
I had blood work before and after going on Atkins

It doesn't work for everyone. My cholesterol and blood pressure soared on Atkins. I had to start taking both cholesterol and blood pressure meds as a result, for the first time in my life.

A better approach, IMHO, is a diet high in lean protein and low in high-glycemic carbs. This is not the same thing as Atkins.

[JeffH]

greetings cpapers

I am overweight and on cpap. I'm 54, relatively healthy and very active.
I've been pretending to try to lose weight for 30 years.
Apparently, my will power is under powered.
I'm considering trying the low carb approach (the Gary Taubes ideas).
I'm hoping I might stick to it for a change because it allows me to eat foods like eggs, bacon and cheese.
I'm also hoping that it will curb my desire for sugar.

I realize this is a cpap forum, but I believe that weight, diet and sleep are all intertwined.

I'm looking for some good tips from those of you cpapers who have had success losing weight, and if you can bless the low carb diet.

thanks

evan

I like the Gary Taubes approach. What has worked for me:

* Start with just meat and fat, lots of fat. Avoid trans fats and liquid fats except olive oil and coconut oil. You can add sour cream, mayonnaise, heavy cream, cream cheese, or butter to increase the fat percentage.
* Find recipes that suit your diet. Drop any that aren't delicious. Keep searching, all the time, to add to your recipe repertoire. This diet is work.
* After two weeks, grant yourself one day a week to eat whatever you want. Don't eat more than you feel like eating, but feel free to eat the things you miss. The next day, go right back on a high fat diet with very low carbs. I chose the day of the week that is hardest for me to stay on my diet.
* I check my blood glucose instead of getting on the scale. Weight varies too much, even with strict dieting. Blood glucose number is a more reliable reward.
* Study fast food menus to find something you can have. Best I've found are salads (at McD, I get Ceasar salad with grilled chicken) and burgers without buns.
* PLAN AHEAD. I keep Atkins shakes on hand for those moments when I haven't planned.
* Avoid fruit and starchy vegetables. I have strawberries or raspberries with whipped cream for an occasional treat.

All good advice. I've found that to lose weight I need to eat lots of good fats (the kind Gary speaks of)


JeffH

[marcosv]

FWIW, I'm on one of those medically supervised liquid diets (although not strictly a liquid diet due to the inclusion of four differnt flavor of bars). The one I'm on is based on a product brand called Optifast, although HMR is the more recognized brand. Seventeen weeks of "product" only; four to eight weeks of transition back to food; then a year+ as a more optimized weight watchers like program (although that final phase is free as long as you attend class regularly). Since the emphais is truely on behavior modification instead of a quick fix/extreme diet, it's working a lot better than any other diet I have tried. A lot of those fad diets don't seem to have a good end game, don't take into account an individual's personal problems (especially medical), and the penalties for straying can be pretty harsh (e.g., low carb diets).

One of the things I learned from one of the doctors on my program is the importance of sleep in weight loss. Several people in my group (you stick with the same group of 18 to 20 people for 30 weeks straight) got checked and were diagnosed with sleep apnea early in the program --- the ones who got the sleep apnea under control lost weight; the one who is having a difficult time isn't losing all that much.

So far I dropped from 265 lbs to 198 over the last five months. On my APAP machine I noticed about a 1.5 cm H20 drop in average pressure. More importantly I'm sleeping better. I seriously doubt I will be able to stop using a CPAP/APAP machine, but, the weight loss, feeling better (e.g., less stress), are certainly helping.

Biggest improvements so far: I'm a lot more physically active, I'm eating a lot more veggies, and I'm handling (problem solving) eating related setbacks a lot better than before. My high blood pressure has dropped down into the low normal range (i.e., the doctor is planning on pulling my blood pressure medication within a month), my type 2 diabetes is also now well controlled (down to 250 mg of Metformin per day which also might go away), and *ALL* of my blood results are well within normal range.

So whatever diet you try, I hope you keep striving to find what works for you, and remain open to adapting/changing as required.

[nmevan]

thanks to everyone who has responded so far!

great info and great success stories

evan

[Catnapper]

I do generally low carb. No grains, sugar, fruit (except some berries), no starchy vegs. Keeps blood sugar controlled, good cholesterol numbers too. Fairly easy once you become accustomed to it. Planning to cheat a bit on my birthday coming soon. Otherwise, I feel sick if I eat the wrong stuff. That helps.

Catnapper - Joanie

[napstress]

Between cutting way back on carbohydrates and doing regular, pleasurable exercise (dance), I lost about 15 pounds. Now, at age 46, I weigh what I did in my early 20s, and have maintained that ideal weight for the past 5 years. Eating small amounts of meat—along with the fats that naturally occur with it—at all three meals has done wonders for stabilizing my blood sugar, which has made me emotionally balanced and stable. I never get shaky, irritable, cold, and overwhelmingly and randomly hungry anymore.

The premeditated "cheat day" works very well for me too: in that way, I fend off feeling deprived. When spontaneously tempted (when someone brings something sugary into work, for example), I will take just the teeniest portion: just one or two mouthfuls. It's the mouth that wants the carbs, not any other healthy part of me.

I've also noticed that once I'm off sugar, I no longer crave it. It takes about 3 weeks for me to reach that point. If I fall off the wagon, the cravings perpetuate themselves—then I have to make the decision to stop eating sugar again.

It didn't have any affect on my Insomnia (though maybe the OSAH would be worse if I weren't doing it). But I do know I am functioning much better on it than I had been.

Best of luck!

[Ms.Snuffleupagus]

I am thinking of restarting the South Beach Diet. I found this site very helpful: http://www.southbeach-diet-plan.com/

[purple]

My doc gave me a lecture that the Atkins diet, while lots of folks have lost a lot of weight on it, also has horror stories. People whose high cholesterol while on the diet triggered heart attacks and strokes. That for some the high protein diet led to kidney failure, then dialysis, and kidney transplants will not lead to the same quality/longevity of life as having one's own kidney.

You will do what you want to do, and a lot of people lose weight on Atkins and do not seem to suffer long term effects.

If options are what you want. My doc clearly wanted me to focus on a wide variety of vegetables diet (without starchy potatoes or rice, and little bread). Like the rule, if it is white, then do not eat it, or eat very limited portions.

Another option would be "Overeaters Anonymous," I have never tried that option.

I used to have a disabled, retired nurse who lived next door who offered the opinion that nearly anyone who successfully loses weight and keeps it off, will always write down everything they eat, carbs, and times. For one thing, most people do not realize how much they really eat.

There is a "Carbohydrate Addicts Diet." which has some information that is very interesting besides just a description of a diet. I find interesting is the discussion of the metabolic happenings that keep us from losing weight while starving ourselves. All that is available for free online, and I am sure those who might be interested can find their way to the public library to borrow a copy of the several different books that has been written on the subject of Carbohydrate Addiction.

If one is going to go Atkins diets, then I might add, the only frozen Entree which might conform to the Atkins diet are a few (but not all) of the Stouffers Entrees will fit onto the limited carbs of a meal.

The rule for a diabetic is to eat protein with every meal or one will not feel satiated.

Best wishes all.

[archangle]

My doc gave me a lecture that the Atkins diet, while lots of folks have lost a lot of weight on it, also has horror stories. People whose high cholesterol while on the diet triggered heart attacks and strokes. That for some the high protein diet led to kidney failure, then dialysis, and kidney transplants will not lead to the same quality/longevity of life as having one's own kidney.

Sounds like a typical response from the medical mafia. If you bring up people who were helped by something, he'll tell you that that's anecdotal evidence and there are no controlled, double-blind, peer reviewed studies. Then he'll bring up unattributed anecdotal evidence against what he doesn't like.