Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Day 15 on Atkins 20

I have been doing quite a great deal of research on healthy eating and how our body's chemistry affects our health. In my studies I have found a rather alarming fact. When those who have a lot to lose finally do so, their body fights them tooth and nail to get back to their bigger size. Their metabolic rate slows down considerably, even for a person their smaller size. What this means is that for many if not most, it is very hard to keep the weight off once lost. Another alarming fact is that although low-carbing is effective in losing and helping people stay on plan, it can have lasting effects on your thyroid if you stay on induction level carbs for too long.

So is there no hope? Of course there is! The answer is in not only losing but doing so effectively and the right way. It may sound sexy to lose 100 pounds in 6 months like you see on Extreme Weight Loss or the Biggest Loser, but do some research and find out how many of those contestants are back up to their previous sizes or are even bigger. Very few of them still weigh anything close to their final weigh in now. Armed with this information I have decided to take the advice of many who are succeeding in keeping off the weight and lose it more slowly. That will include diet breaks where I go to level 4 maintenance foods for 2 weeks after 8 weeks of induction level carbs. This is what many doctors are suggesting and to me makes sense to keep me from getting bogged down with plateaus. This will also mean possibly watching some of my progress disappear while I let my body reset during these 2 week stretches. This will also mean losing ketosis for those 2 weeks but that may also be a good thing. What it doesn't mean is going hog wild, living on donuts and cake and french fries again. I will be charting my meals, food choices and numbers during this time period as well so anyone reading this can take note if it works or not. I still want to lose 100 pounds this year and think even with this strategy it is attainable, but if I lose 50 this year and keep it off without sending my body into chaos, I'm still a winner.

As I mentioned yesterday I am going to make sure I don't come in low on my numbers this week, even if that means adding food after I am hungry. Here are my meals and numbers for day 16:

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch - 2 pork chops, mashed cauliflower with cream cheese and mushroom gravy

Dinner - Chopped sirloin w/cheddar cheese and applewood bacon, 1/2 cup green beans, 1/4 broccoli

Snacks - AM - Atkins cookies and cream shake, PM - 4 baby dill pickles

Total counts for day 15, 17.5 Carbs, 1934 Calories, 144g fat, 148g protein

I was very pleased with these numbers. They are much more in line with where I should be compared to last week. I definitely felt more full yesterday at the end which was also nice.

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