I weighed in today at 282.8. Seems like quite a loss for over night- must be a combination of water loss and the time of day I weighed in.
The rules of Atkins, or my interpretation, which may or may not resemble too closely the real Atkins diet are these:
1. No refined carbohydrates.
2, Shoot for below 20 grams of carbs a day.
3. Avoid trans fats (something not included in the original diet)
4. Eat as much protein as you want. Same with fat, but if you want it to work more quickly don't go overboard with the fat.
5. Most green vegetables are ok as they contain mostly cellulose as the carbohydrate (which is not digestable by humans) and are very low in insulin spiking carbs. Avoid starch and sugar vegetation such as fruits, carrots, potatos, etc.
6. Drink as much water as possible. Avoid soda. Only diet soda is allowed if used at all.
7. Avoid artificial sweeteners as they spike insulin to some degree.
8. Avoid too much caffeine as it alters blood sugar as well.
9. Take mulitvitamins every day due to the lack of vitamins in high protein foods.
10. Either take fiber supplements or ensure you get enough fiber in your diet. High protein, low carb foods like meat are often low in fiber.
11. Candy, chips, ice cream, regular soda, and bread are absolutely forbidden. While Atkins friendly immitations of these foods are available, they too are to be avoided if one follows the diet strictly.
I had scrambled eggs and cheese with bacon again for breakfast. I find this to be very satisfying for breakfast. I wonder if I will tire of it. I also think bacon is not a healthy thing to have for breakfast every day on most diets. A switch to turkey bacon would be a help. I had a chicken ceasar salad for lunch at Quiznos and was satisfying as well as Atkins friendly. I had a few ham slices as a snack. I had BWW wings and tossed salad for dinner. I drank water all day and had 1 glass of decaf coffee.
I don't feel quite as shitty as I imagined I would today. Maybe I feel so crappy all the time due to my obesity I can't notice my blood sugar plumiting. I feel tired and week though. Things are pretty much on par with previous experiences on this diet. I had mutliple shits today, each getting more loose. When I have done this diet before I would get loose bowels 2-3 days into it, then it would switch to a coffee colered watery mess, then I would suffer from constipation (a common complaint of the diet). I also intened to begin regular fiber supplements tomorrow. I have been taking a multivitamin and fish oil everyday, but I intend to take these on every diet I try. After tomorrow I should be in ketosis. I will monitor this with urine strips soon.
I am still too sick to exercise. I feel a little better everyday and hope to get at it this week.
Transforming biochemistry knowledge into weight loss:
This page was begun as an experiment. An experiment I was conducting on myself. An experiment to test which conditions would allow me to loose weight. Now that I have been at it for a while I realize this page serves as more. It serves as a means for me to research. It is a way for me to pick health topics of interest, research them from a biochemistry stand point, and then share them with the world. Sharing them with you gives me an official feeling and keeps me motivated. However, as described below, I am still experimenting on myself.
How did this happen? I don't know exactly although I am almost sure it boils down to diet and exercise. I hope to find the answers as I explore my journey through weight loss on this blog. I was not always fat. Therefore, I know that I can be unfat again.
I am a biochemist. I should have known better. Of all people, I should have known how to avoid this predicament I am in now. I now wish to harness my scientific knowledge to experiment on myself as well as explore the chemical basis for weight loss methods.
Methods:
I will try new diets. I will experiment on myself. The diets will be chosen from among the most popular in our society. I will chronicle the results and my general experience in my blog here. I will also explore the biochemical basis for these diets as well as evaluate their effectiveness and truthfulness. I will also exercise as regularly as possible, 3-5 times per week, to avoid biasing the results. I will try to keep everything constant in my life except the diet. My method is not perfect. I don't necessarily want to lose raw pounds, but rather gain an understanding of what methods work best for me to permanently regain my health.
Hypothesis:
1. No diet will be clearly better than the others. Conversely, each diet will offer some truth, some piece of knowledge or methodology that I can take away with me to help myself. I think that in the end, I will be able to formulate my own diet based on a synthesis of all the things I have learned from all of these diets.
2. I have been on diets before, lost weight, and then regained it. I wasn't born fat. Given that, I think that my main problem will be shown to be psychological. I think that I may have compulsive eating problems- compulsive eating problems associated with very unhealthy foods.
3. I will lose quite a bit of weight. My blog will help keep my motivation levels high.
4. There will be a lack of clear scientific basis to many of the diets.
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