slimjim78

I don’t mind digression, but I draw the line at UFC.

KFC, maybe.

Back in your box fattie 🙂 . Once you release a thread into the wild it’s no longer yours.

-6lb for the week.
Recurring headaches have eased, a good long dog walk across the Downs yesterday fuelled by nothing but water – no dizziness, no blood sugar crash, no appauling fatigue after.

Am craving sweet things in the sense that if I were allowed, I would eat my fill – but the lack of general hunger means i’m already having to remind myself to eat regularly.

Ketostix confirmed I am pissing out 99% pure nail varnish.

Weirdly, am feeling a bit more spring in my step – slightly fewer aches and pains in the morning. Certainly wasnt banking on that so soon.

Shall report back when I hit my first real target… (in 60 lbs time)
Wish me luck.

-6lb for the week.
Recurring headaches have eased, a good long dog walk across the Downs yesterday fuelled by nothing but water – no dizziness, no blood sugar crash, no appauling fatigue.

Well done, well maybe. Sounds like you are putting yourself though a lot there.

Would still say the same can be achieved by a good balanced calorie controlled diet with a sensible amount of carbs…..

Would still say the same can be achieved by a good balanced calorie controlled diet with a sensible amount of carbs

Thanks. I think you’re right. I’m just really keen to acheive the best results in the short/mid term before I switch out to a more palatable sustained balanced diet.
In the past I acheived a 5 stone weight loss over 18months with a calorie controlled diet – I created a big daily spreadsheet that kept me determined not to lapse. Trouble is, i’ve tried the same method again a couple of times over the last couple years and only managed a month or so before caving.

In my current state i’ve been strguggling to summon up any stamina to ride my bike at all – especially in the evenings. I also got to the point where my current wearable wardrobe consists of about 6 items..

Work trousers already feel a little less restrictive.

Rib-eye steak with lashings of butter, salt & pepper does not feel like a hardship.

Excellent work . I’ve now been sugar,dairy,wheat and fruit free for 3 weeks. Cravings have gone and feeling a bit better (but feel it’s a long road ahead because of my post viral fatigue)

I’ve lost 4kg and I’ve got the flattest stomach i’ve ever had

Rib-eye steak with lashings of butter, salt & pepper does not feel like a hardship.

Hmm had some colleagues who did that… removing carbs and not cutting out lashings of butter etc. never ended well.
Welcome to Moderation my friend, if it was easy everyone would manage it.

Welcome to Moderation my friend, if it was easy everyone would manage it.

it’s easier to manage on a LCHF diet. Carbs make you want to eat more carbs. Eating higher fat content blunts hunger and makes you feel fuller.

(in my experience of course)

I would counter that my diet is now extremely moderate..

I actually dreamt about forgetting I was on Atkins and eating a handful of sweets. Man they tasted Soooo good.

Picking up fresh loaves of bread to merely sniff them, eyeballing each and every food label for carb content, hankering after the sweet taste of a measly carrot, and preparing the next chicken salad.
This is my life now.

The stuff I’ve read (and is what comes up with a simple search) shows if anything a decline in performance for highly trained athletes by following a keto diet.

Seems its great for endurance runners and fat oxidization can occur up to 90%

Dr. Volek’s Latest Research Paper – Metabolic characteristics of keto-adapted ultra-endurance runners

so following my Monday morning weigh in at the health center, thats now -11lb for the first 2 weeks.

Cripes!

Although we booked tickets for a gig in Amsterdam this April and the only thing initially holding us back is the thought of no pancakes, no FEBO croquettes, no Shwarma’s, no hot chocolate with my biffa. In fact, it’ll probably be tricky to find a good balance in any of the local eateries.
It’s going to be torture isn’t it.

No, just take the weekend off, try to limit the damage, and start again on the Monday.

Sorry to dredge this thread up, but if one were experimenting with a few weeks of low carb high fat diet… what the hell do you eat on really long rides to stay fuelled?

TBH I’m thinking of stopping at a pub for a burger and leaving the bun on the side. Searching for useful recipes for the LCHF equivalent of Torq bars is pretty fruitless (ha!). But then perhaps the point is that I won’t really need refuelling as much because I have plenty of fat reserves…

what the hell do you eat on really long rides to stay fuelled?

Baked eggs, frittatas, sweetcorn and feta fritters, granola, nuts, peanut butter wraps etc.

Try and get a copy of feedzone portables – there’s loads of reduced carb snack ideas in there (and plenty of high carb ones too).

I make some low carb flapjacks, bound with coconut oil rather than fat. If you’ve been ultra low-carb for a while, you’ll also find you are accessing body fat as fuel, so a long steady ride will be fine. I’ve done 100km with no food, whilst on my 800 Kcal no carb 8 week diet.

If you want something for your back pocket as emergency, also try Grenade Carb Killer bars.

As long as you are eating your 5 (or 10) a day then thats what matters
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/health-news-latest-food-advice-fruit-vegetables-five-a-day-10-portions-a7594631.html

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/316055.php

For anyone contemplating Atkins/HFLC – I am now convinced on its virtues – my energy levels are up, morning aches and pains significantly reduced and even my 4 year bout of fingertip eczema (yes, fingertip) has virtually disappeared in the 2 and a bit weeks I’ve been on the plan.
I can only put this down to the ‘inflammatory reduction’ that I’ve read elsewhere is related to sugars and grains.

Sustaining higher intensity exercise is certainly a challenge, however. But the way the weight is dropping of me I should be able to counter that negative aspect within a few weeks/months.

Ah science in full flow 😉

4 week weigh in this morning.

-7.5kg / 16.6lb lost so far.

Happy with that.

Eating less and losing weight?

Science in action.

In contrast I lost 3kg in a week by eating a bit less, laying off the midweek beers and riding more.
I’m glad your losing weight but you either need to stick with something that may not be healthy or sustainable long term or find a balance that is.

Eating less and losing weight?

Who said anything about less? You shouldve seen the size of the rib-eye I demoolished last night, along with lashings of cheesy broccoli.

(to be fair, appetite is surpressed to the point where you do tend to eat less than normal – it’s just not so much of a struggle)

In contrast I lost 3kg in a week by eating a bit less, laying off the midweek beers and riding more.

First week results? Water loss, exercise and less food in your gut would’ve made up most of that weight loss. Would you have lost 3kg week on week?

you either need to stick with something that may not be healthy or sustainable long term or find a balance that is.

My body couldnt be telling me any clearer, no blood sugar crashes, no crippling cravings, far reduced aches and pains, clearer skin, less tiredness and more energy.
Which part of the balance have I got wrong?

Despite the common (mostly mis-)placed concerns over Atkins – My health is undoubtedly in a better place than it was just a month ago.

The long term plan is to move off stage 1 Atkins when i’ve lost a total of 5 stone and introduce small amount of root veg and possibly dairy a la stage 2.
I’ll certainly be following a keto-diet in the long term.

Which part of the balance have I got wrong?

The long term bit. As for me experience I managed to drop about 8kg in a month last year just by eating less, smarter and matching intake to exercise. It’s generally not rocket science, this one was mostly prompted by hopping on the scales to weigh my bike bag and correcting a few things along the way.

Why do people think low/zero carb is unsustainable?

by eating less, smarter and matching intake to exercise

Thats pretty much what I am doing. But theoretically, my metabolism could take me to Timbuktoo and back fuelled on my fat reserves – not on carbs.
What’s not to love about that?

Why do people think low/zero carb is unsustainable?

Exhibit A:

Ha!
A fine counter.
Granted, every friday/sat night I do crave a real ale and a Wispa.

Hand on heart – I won’t touch the delicious stuff until im at goal weight (or the significance of an occasion dictates that it would be incredibly rude not to) – but, in the future I will be looking into suplementing longer exercise sessions with carbs and hopefully learning the fine art of balancing intake v exertion. At least, better than i’ve practiced it in the past.

Who said anything about less? You shouldve seen the size of the rib-eye I demoolished last night, along with lashings of cheesy broccoli.

Trust me. You are eating less.

(c’mon…10 pages…we can do it!)

Exhibit B

Just to help you out James.

Week 12, -36lb

All ~Atkins does is reduce the total calories you eat and give you an extremely unhealthy diet

I think most diets essentially do the first bit, less calories, it’s often pretty much that simple for many as we’re aware.

All ~Atkins does is reduce the total calories you eat and give you an extremely unhealthy diet

Pah… I probably eat more calories than i do when not ‘doing the atkins’
Not really about calories is it. When I first started the diet a few years back meals were the same size as i was eating before – just a lot more veg replacing the spuds (etc) and a lot more (good quality) meat. I
I lost 3 stone the first time i did it and have plateaued now…. I have small amounts of carbs these days – obviously, like any other diet, if I started eating the way I did before… I’d be a fatty again.

All ~Atkins does is reduce the total calories you eat and give you an extremely unhealthy diet

What is healthy about starchy carbohydrate?

Well done Slimjim!! I’ve been in the maintenance phase over 2 months now. What I really don’t eat are cakes, biscuits and crisps. I have a couple of beers after riding on a Tuesday, but I still have most of my meals without rice pasta and potatoes.

I’m regularly riding 100k+ without carbs, some with big mountains too.

The rest of my life will be low carb (not no-carb!) with my main focus on cutting out the processed crap!

I think I need to jump aboard the Atkins diet train as Im the heaviest Ive ever been at 118kgs, feel like crap, always tired and not got a lot of energy.

I never crash now or bonk when riding and my fluid consumption on a ride has dropped dramatically not quite sure why maybe because I’m not processing carbs for fuel or maybe converting fat to energy releases water? Don’t know!

Ive noticed that when Im exercising i drink loads of water, 3 litres to do Swinley the other weekend…… is that normal??

Slimjim have you got any recipe ideas that you wouldn’t mind posting up??

Surely zero carb is impossible?

I suspect I’m not the first to say that but I struggle with long sentences

Renton – I couldnt recommend dropping the carbs more highly. Stick with the plan and after 3 or 4 days you’ll find you are no longer craving carbs like a junky on cold turkey. The craving probably never completely goes away due to habitual behaviour being broken, but your sensation of ‘im starving give me carbs now!’ does disappear.

Within a week or two I found I was being rewarded with higher energy levels and significantly reduced general aches an pains that i’d previously put down to onset of age!

Your water consumption does seem fairly high, and coupled with your fatigue I would as a minimum recommend dropping carbs pronto – of course, it would do you well to visit your GP and perhaps ask for blood tests.

I had convinced myself that I was experiencing pre-diabetes warning signs (crippling fatigue/massive crashes where I would feel feint until i ate something carb filled or sugary / cold sweats) – but these symptoms literally vanished within the first week of Keto eating.

Study ‘keto-diet’ for recipe ideas – MrsSlim does most of the research here and we’ve had various wonders such as carb free pizza and cheese crisps, but the key is to stick to the staples:

Green veg (as much as you can stand) – no peas
Cauliflower
Fresh meat (bacon/steak/chicken/fish)
salami’s
cream
butter
eggs
cheez

Small amounts of tomato
small amount of certain nuts

With the above you can usually come up with a meat and 2 veg based diet, chicken wrapped in bacon/stuffed with cheese, steak and broccoli, scrambled eggs or omlettes with ham/salami

eliminate any form of flour/starch/wheat/bread/pasta/sugar/milk and religiously check bottled/canned/packet items such as tomatoes for carb content – some are much lower than others.
The guildines are to stick to around 30grams of net carbs a day, which can be calculated without too much trouble but I frankly cannot be arsed, so I just stick mainly to staple foods and if I dabble with perhaps a few peanuts or maybe a couple of sausages I just check to see how my weekly weigh in went and if not at least -2lbs, i cut back on those ‘riskier’ foods again.

DO NOT be disheartened if you have a slow week or two, it always balances out. For example, the only ‘treats’ we’ve had in the last 3 months was a weekend in Amsterdam where we had pancakes/chips/hot chocolate for a couple of days (not bingeworthy amounts like before, as our appetites are generally much suppressed now) – At my following weigh in I was around 1lb heavier for the week, the next week I lost that single pound, and the weigh in after that was -5lbs..

Best tip, learn to embrace the cauliflower – turning it into ‘cauli rice’ with the aid of a blender is a god send, and helps bulk out meals like chilli con carne.
Courgette spaghetti goes quite well also, im not a fan of the vegetable but it turns out that when its shredded and covered in cheesy/meaty sauces that its pretty good 🙂

Most days i simply dont eat breakfast now (not hungry enough), weekends id possibly have scrambled eggs and bacon. Every weekday I have a tuna or meat salad for lunch, evenings are either one of the above or a chicken shish kebab (throw the pitta bread away!) – or maybe something from the tandoori oven at the curry house (careful on yoghurt content).
Snacks, sugar free jelly, a handful of nuts, pork scratchings (guilt free!), biltong, boiled eggs.
Trust me, you won’t feel hungry enough to want to snack often.

If I ever feel like I need a cheeky sweet hit of something, squirty can cream is your friend. approx 1g of carbs per gaping mouthful..

But seriously, stick to the basics food types for at least a couple of weeks until you have a handle on the plan – then start gradually introducing the ‘phase 2’ stuff.

Also, purchasing a bunch of ‘ketosticks’ to test the ketone level in your piss is a really great way of checking your metabolism state at an instant. Its comforting to know when you’re in full blown ‘ketosis’ and are effectively burning fat as fuel.

I had a similar experience as slimjim.

The most notable changes were sleeping better, snoring stopped, old injuries stopped aching and loads of energy.

i’d forgotten that one gobuchul, my sleeping has improved too – and this weird little ‘snort’ I had started to inadvertently make when getting in/out of my car also vanished.
Weird but true.

Renton – I lost 36lbs in 2 months after xmas this year. I followed the Blood Sugar Diet. 800 Kcal/day for 8 weeks. Minimal carbs- lots of tasty recipes – chicken curries, chilli, veg lasagna. It is designed to reverse type2 diabetes. The science behind it is interesting too.