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  #1   ^
Old Sun, Dec-31-17, 16:08
Meetow Kim Meetow Kim is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 166
 
Plan: Atkins Concept
Stats: 225/190/175 Male 70.5"
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Central Virginia
Default New "Loser"

Hello, I am simply not comfortable putting my real stats in a public forum my browser tells me is insecure. So please forgive my numbers.

I'm doing the typical New Years resolution thing. Yes, it's cliche, but I have a hard time during the holidays and drink a lot. So I need the fresh start of a new year. Alcohol obviously is one of the really big drivers of my bloatedness and carb intake, so I'll get a big boost in weight loss hopefully with just going alcohol free for months in addition to the low carb foods.

My goal is to lose a minimum of 25lbs and I would be overjoyed with myself if I lost 50 lbs. I realize this is a life change and I will miss all the great carbs I love. I know I can have some of them once in a while, but I hate whole grain and "brown" starches, so those are NEVER going to replace those beautiful white starches I love so much. But the good news is there are a lot of great foods I can enjoy in a low carb lifestyle otherwise.

I'm doing my induction phase trying to stay as close to South Beach's low fat model as possible. I am of the belief that we have been lied to about saturated fats' health hazards and will introduce them, but I know they are also calories. I lost 40 lbs two decades ago with a low fat diet, so I'm familiar with fats. Then as is now, the goal is weight loss and I almost dont care how I do it, as long as it works, but decided the low carb gave me the opportunity to not starve. I have always said in order to lose weight you have to be hungry. I hope this approach proves that wrong and keeps me taking in good foods and fats while doing it.

Depending on how this goes, my thought is to stretch the induction phase to possibly a full month, shifting to Atkins for the second two weeks introducing those fats, and then pretty much sticking with the Atkins concept from then on. Maybe dropping back to 2 weeks of South Beach induction if I start slipping...as punishment!

My first question for the community is a forum question. Am I correct there is no search feature on this web site, or have I not looked around enough? I wanted to search for something before asking a question, and found no ability to do that. It sure would eliminate a lot of redundancy and me having to read the entire forum to find something.

Please let me know if I am missing that feature somewhere.

Thank you!
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  #2   ^
Old Sun, Dec-31-17, 21:25
scrapgirl's Avatar
scrapgirl scrapgirl is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 4,033
 
Plan: Carnivore
Stats: 232.8/210/185 Female 5' 7"
BF:
Progress: 48%
Location: NC
Default

There is a search option in the middle of the screen but I have never had much luck searching with it.
Good luck with your new way of eating. I'm not very familiar with South Beach but I have personally found that if my carbs are very low, and I eat protein and fat, the calories aren't an issue. It typically mutes my appetite to the point that I have trouble getting enough calories. I'm enjoying using Atkins 1972 as a guideline right now. It can be quite restrictive but it also lends itself to a great deal of appetite control.
You might like the food tracker on the Atkins site. I was surprised to see my macros when I started tracking my food.
Happy New Year!
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  #3   ^
Old Mon, Jan-01-18, 05:56
JEY100's Avatar
JEY100 JEY100 is online now
Posts: 13,368
 
Plan: P:E/DDF
Stats: 225/150/169 Female 5' 9"
BF:45%/28%/25%
Progress: 134%
Location: NC
Default

SEARCH. In the above green bar is Search this forum or thread. A box opens but do NOT put the terms into the box. Instead click ADVANCED SEARCH and put it there. Doing that opens your search to a Google search limited to this site. Use standard Boolean search terms. Note this site is more than 15 years old and search will sometimes call up ancient threads, so limit or watch dates.
More at the Technical Questions sub-forum below: http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=13

Also start from this Index Page: http://forum.lowcarber.org/index.php? That allows checking a related sub-forum first... you might find your answer right in the sticky at top or some else's recent question.
Don’t miss Newbie Questions forum to the right>>.

Welcome Kim
I didn’t overly worry about fat intake to start. Keep carbs at 20g or below, protein normal meal portions, and as much fat as needed to feel satisfied, not hungry but not stuffed either. By keeping carbs so low, you should start burning your own body fat...you do not have to eat much fat in Atkins Induction either. You may want to look around at newer versions of LC and see if those explanations help. DietDoctor is popular. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto

All the best,
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  #4   ^
Old Mon, Jan-01-18, 10:28
Meetow Kim Meetow Kim is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 166
 
Plan: Atkins Concept
Stats: 225/190/175 Male 70.5"
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Central Virginia
Default Thanks!

Yep, there it is, the search feature. Duh! I had a feeling I was looking right at it somewhere.

Scrap, thanks, I have had not so good luck with site search features in the past too, but I always try them so I can say I at least tried. I've been in many forums for other things and the patrons that have been there for a long time appreciate when someone does a little looking before asking a question that has already been asked a gazillion times

Jey, thanks for the detail. That will be very helpful.

And thanks to both of you for the advice and words of encouragement!
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  #5   ^
Old Mon, Jan-01-18, 19:45
nawchem's Avatar
nawchem nawchem is offline
Registered Member
Posts: 8,701
 
Plan: No gluten, CAD
Stats: 196.0/158.5/149.0 Female 62
BF:36/29.0/27.3
Progress: 80%
Default

Welcome Meetow!

I wish you the best of luck. Fat is very satiating and your LC friend. The 2 recipes I recommend are Mock Danish and Meatza. Simple to make and approximations for foods you might miss.

I enjoyed your Chinese food recommendations. I had a boss whose father was a chef in China, he would take me out for real Chinese. Everytime within 2 hours I would be sick. My stomach didn't how to digest chicken feet and other specialties he liked.
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  #6   ^
Old Tue, Jan-02-18, 09:34
Nrracing Nrracing is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 747
 
Plan: Custom 22/2 Clean Fast
Stats: 290/258/210 Male 72.5
BF:
Progress: 40%
Location: Missouri
Default

Welcome I hope all goes well.

PS the thing about the site not being secure is not a big deal. If you on the internet at all your stats are out there.
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  #7   ^
Old Thu, Jan-04-18, 10:16
Meetow Kim Meetow Kim is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 166
 
Plan: Atkins Concept
Stats: 225/190/175 Male 70.5"
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Central Virginia
Default Thanks again

nawchem,

Thanks. I thought I would start with the south beach concept with not as much fat at first, just to keep calories as low as possible. I am completely expecting to be wrong on stuff though. I figured to shift to a higher fat low carb diet after a couple of weeks. I hope that's not a mistake.

I will look in to those recipes. The biggest problem I have right now is I went and bought a bunch of core foods on the approved list to eat, but haven't done the research on the recipes. I can eat those boring "single foods" to try and hit the mark, but creating great meals is something I dont have a handle on yet. I jumped in to this on an almost last minute decision, so I am totally unprepared for the complex cooking part.

I am a cook...I mean I have been doing some really good cooking for years, but with zero eye on restricting a lot of stuff. My chef abilities are trashed now because of the minefield of the diet issue...its the most aggravating part of this. My wife and I have been enjoying my near gourmet level of cooking a wide range of foods, now I'm lost and what I make is so far like the boring stuff I see others eating in normal life. This week has been horrible and stressful because I'm used to fantastic food nearly every night cooked at home. So far it's a life of eating to live rather than living to eat...which is a boring life, but the weight has to come off somehow, so unfortunately this horrible extreme is what I have to try. It's payback for the gluttony of the past. Quitting drinking at the same time is a double stress, both physically and mentally. I'm not a happy person right now.

I find two major issues. I simply cannot force feed 4-5 cups of vegetable in to my gullet every day. I love many vegetables, even the low carb ones, just not the extreme portions required with South beach for instance...it literally feels like force feeding for me to eat so much volume. And I simply cannot eat vegetables first thing in the morning. V8, yes, but its high in carbs. At some point (I'm busy, I have other stuff to do in life too) I want to explore making my own vegetable juice without the sugary veggies in V8, but so far searches have landed me nothing on blending here on this site. I could blend some veggies of my own I'm sure. And I'm not concerned about salt so I can make them taste good enough to drink in the morning

The other issue is I'm getting mad at food manufacturers. It is maddening all the things they add that I have to avoid and most of it is completely unnecessary. I got some 1% cottage cheese and looked at the label (I actually had my wife pick it up for me when she was shopping and she is so far clueless on actually reading labels for these diets). I didn't understand why the cottage cheese was so high in carbs, then I started reading the ingredients list and among other ridiculous things that dont need to be in cottage cheese...is flipping cornstarch! No wonder it was so thick and not watery! Arrrrggggghhh!

Nrracing,

Thanks to you too! I realize we have very little secrecy on the web. But there IS a difference between a secure site and one that is not. Secure sites have the little padlock icon before the https:. This site is not secure. I'm only going by what my browser is telling me and its telling me that for a reason. When it says "log in information may be seen by others" compared to other sites that do not...I think I can accurately say, there is a difference. But I'm here, so...

To all,

I am a bit confused where to post questions here. The forums are named such that its not totally clear to me. If I want to ask the community "has anyone noticed?" or "is it OK to?" or "what are other people doing about this?"...where do those questions go? I have used the search function to some success, but many results can be from a decade ago, a lot of new information could be out there since.
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  #8   ^
Old Thu, Jan-04-18, 10:36
JEY100's Avatar
JEY100 JEY100 is online now
Posts: 13,368
 
Plan: P:E/DDF
Stats: 225/150/169 Female 5' 9"
BF:45%/28%/25%
Progress: 134%
Location: NC
Default

The General Low carb forum is a good place to put general questions. http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=1
If you put it under South Beach not as many would read it.

You used the word boring rather frequently in one paragraph...you can add spices and sauces to add zest to foods. Do you consider steak "boring"? If you were doing standard LC you could add a bearnaise sauce. If you don’t like vegetables, then maybe SB isn’t a plan for you. Keto as Dr Westman's clinic version of Atkins Induction only allows a maximum of 3 cups of salad and veg. I would often make a large salad with a piece of protein for lunch and use up my veg allowance in one go. Dr Hallberg's TedTalk has five simple rules...one is don’t eat anything you don’t like. Low carb is eminently flexible...go through your favorite recipes and pick the low carb ones.
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  #9   ^
Old Thu, Jan-04-18, 11:09
Meetow Kim Meetow Kim is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 166
 
Plan: Atkins Concept
Stats: 225/190/175 Male 70.5"
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Central Virginia
Default

Thanks Jey.

thanks for the info on where to post.

I'm just complaining I guess. To me a life without starches and alcohol is boring, yes, because its all out there and it all makes for "good eats"...as far as indulgent flavor is concerned. I want it all...dont we all? But we cant...

I stopped ordering steak out because I grill a steak perfectly, and usually hand cut all my own to proper thickness (should never be less than 1 1/4" thick) straight from a whole strip loin. We stopped having that baked potato years ago and just have salad usually...but usually with some sort of crouton or rice noodle crunchies on the salad. Something I was overjoyed to read is that pork rinds are OK, so that can do me for that crunchy for that meal. But that's one meal, a really easy one to get right and low carb.

I am a spice heavy hander. So that's not going to be a problem...I like it really hot-spicy too.

Really good advice...I really appreciate that! I think I bit off more than I can chew (pun intended) with SB regarding the veggies...its just too much and the low fat takes away a lot of those luscious fatty foods that nawchem referred to that can take the "boring" out of much. I'm going to do my best to stay with it for a little while longer. My strategy was to go as extreme in concept as possible, that way when hidden stuff in foods finds its way in my face like that cottage cheese with cornstarch in it (what?), I have room to slip. It looked like SB was just a low fat version of Atkins, so I thought it would be a safe starting point. I want to attack this weight loss as hard as I can without starving.

I didn't do gobs of research unfortunately before jumping off in to the abyss, so that's why I'm stressing I guess, that and the typical physiological issues of sudden diet change combined with alcohol abstention for someone who is a heavy drinker like me. I'll get through this detox/induction phase...I know I'm not the only one out there dealing with it. Thanks for your and everyone's calm replies, I know when you have something down/figured out/under control, its easy to tell people to just flippantly do "so and so...its easy, no big deal", so I appreciate the careful replies. I've read through a lot of threads where for instance when people say they cant eat that many veggies, the community kind of jumps on them like its silly...because THEY can do it easily.

I will look in to Westman and Hallberg. It sounds like it could be really helpful for my type.

A big lunch salad is no problem for me, but every day can get monotonous. I've been trying to alternate homemade soup to mix it up a bit. I'll get it down and get some good cooking sorted out again. I'm a bit of a control freak, so me not having all of this lined up to knock down like dominoes is way out of character for me. I just decided (like many) January first I was jumping on it with both feet...I just didn't look down first!

Also, I didn't mean to disrespect anyone's meals or cooking. What I meant is, what many people eat as a typical meal is...well, I have spent the last several years cooking a huge variety of challenging stuff. Just not what most folks are doing at home in the wide range I do of methods and ethnicities. so I'm working from a really high bar for comparison. I find it hard to eat out because "average" restaurants are often a let down to me, where other people love them. What others call good eats...I'm usually amping up...a lot...

Last edited by Meetow Kim : Thu, Jan-04-18 at 11:18.
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  #10   ^
Old Thu, Jan-04-18, 11:19
JEY100's Avatar
JEY100 JEY100 is online now
Posts: 13,368
 
Plan: P:E/DDF
Stats: 225/150/169 Female 5' 9"
BF:45%/28%/25%
Progress: 134%
Location: NC
Default

Here is Dr Westman's Diet as it was in the excellent book by Gary Taubes, Why We Get Fat
https://www.dietdoctor.com/se/wp-co...starch_diet.pdf

It is used as the template for the Two Week Challenge on the DietDoctor website...they have a two week menu for that all free. Check the recipes there and see if any appeal. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb

Dr Hallberg's 18 min TEDTalk http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=467437
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  #11   ^
Old Thu, Jan-04-18, 11:31
Meetow Kim Meetow Kim is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 166
 
Plan: Atkins Concept
Stats: 225/190/175 Male 70.5"
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Central Virginia
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by nawchem
Welcome Meetow!

I enjoyed your Chinese food recommendations. I had a boss whose father was a chef in China, he would take me out for real Chinese. Everytime within 2 hours I would be sick. My stomach didn't how to digest chicken feet and other specialties he liked.


I forgot to reply to this part.

What I meant about "real Chinese" was not the extremes like chicken feet, more the the preparations that dont include so much sugar and starches. Asians do eat some funky stuff! I've been around myself, and its stunningly different from our American diets...for sure. I'll never forget being in Japan and seeing that instead of potato chips and Doritos, they had rice crackers and dried fish in the snack isle...AND they eat fish for breakfast...something I could never get in to unless fried, but a restaurant napkin can taste good fried!

I have learned so much though, by simply experimenting on the menus (hit and miss) and also both talking to the servers (actual immigrants) and eyeballing what other people are eating.

You know how to tell if a Chinese place is authentic? Actual Chinese people eat there of course! Same with Mexican and any other food genre...

My nickname here comes from how Vietnamese customers used to call and ask for me at place I worked at years ago. It always stuck with me. My name is actually Ken. They would call and say, "may I pee spee tooooo meetow kim!". It just stuck. The office manager used to call me that half the time back then because of this. My wife even calls me Meetow Kim sometimes! (she's not Asian)

I ended up being the designated person to handle our Vietnamese customers because they liked me and I knew how to haggle with them on sales. I used to try so hard to help them learn how to say horse radish...they are so awesome, they would try so hard...I just gave up and started calling it "hos lattice". To this day when I write it on my grocery list, I write "hos lattice". But...I'm weird and really dig humor!

Last edited by Meetow Kim : Thu, Jan-04-18 at 17:24.
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  #12   ^
Old Thu, Jan-04-18, 17:19
Meetow Kim Meetow Kim is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 166
 
Plan: Atkins Concept
Stats: 225/190/175 Male 70.5"
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Central Virginia
Default

Thanks again Jey. I will definitely give those two a peruse.

Education must work...you are nearly to your goal. Which is almost identical to mine. (dont go by my listed numbers)

I know I cant expect loss long term like what happens at first, but I'm already down at least 4lbs in 3-1/2 days. And that's with drinking a half gallon of water a day
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  #13   ^
Old Fri, Jan-05-18, 05:39
JEY100's Avatar
JEY100 JEY100 is online now
Posts: 13,368
 
Plan: P:E/DDF
Stats: 225/150/169 Female 5' 9"
BF:45%/28%/25%
Progress: 134%
Location: NC
Default

You can do whatever you want with the stats, some who do not want to focus on the scale, place all zeros. But realize before we answer questions, we often check the profile to see how long you have been LC, long weight journey or trying to lose "the last ten", if your goals are realistic for your height, sex, Calculate BMI, and how much you know about LC (the book list).
There are many great success stories here, under both Success and Milestones forums. DietDoctor has inspiring stories in 4 age/sex groups. Two large FB groups I follow have success stories where weight loss was consistent right to goal...it can be done if you find the right eating plan for your body.
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  #14   ^
Old Sat, Jan-06-18, 13:28
zoogirl's Avatar
zoogirl zoogirl is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 1,910
 
Plan: atkins 20
Stats: 127.6/111/110 Female 5' 2"
BF:
Progress: 94%
Location: Canada
Default

Wow, I have been following your posts, I do want to wish you luck, however you must really feel like you are scrapping the bottom of the barrel hang out with us, dull boring Low Carber's.

As for me, I like the dull boring routine, and hey, it gets the job done...so, it is all good.
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  #15   ^
Old Sat, Jan-06-18, 15:39
Meetow Kim Meetow Kim is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 166
 
Plan: Atkins Concept
Stats: 225/190/175 Male 70.5"
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Central Virginia
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by zoogirl
Wow, I have been following your posts, I do want to wish you luck, however you must really feel like you are scrapping the bottom of the barrel hang out with us, dull boring Low Carber's.

As for me, I like the dull boring routine, and hey, it gets the job done...so, it is all good.



Ha, ha,...no, its not like that. As I recall reading, a person goes through some serious physiological stuff when starting a strict diet like this. Plus, I stopped alcohol literally the same day, January 1st and everyone knows THAT causes a person to get "flaky". I've been a heavy drinker all my life. In addition, the written word can be perceived the way the reader feels it in the mood they are in, as much as the writer's mood when writing.

I took heed when Jey mentioned that I used the word boring and realized maybe it was coming off wrong. I did not mean to project, criticize other otherwise define anyone in here with that word. I dont know anyone here well yet. Anyone taking that word to heart is taking it personally themselves. It's just a descriptive for me, but in retrospect, it can come off wrong I guess and can actually be perceived as a bit immature.

I did a search in this thread and I used it 5 times prior to this post...so its not like my posts were saturated with it. But, the last thing I want to do is come off arrogant or elitist. I am trying to keep my attitude in check as I "detox" and intend to try to not offend anyone if at all possible. It's not intentional if I have.

Trust me, its really obvious if I do intend to. I'm not the passive/aggressive type.

I appreciate your well wishes and will try not to complain about all the stuff I cant have that I have loved all my life. I figured that would be a common theme in here

I was just helping my wife with her Christmas boxes in the garage a while ago, taking down and putting up as she packs away the season and she asked if it was hurting my back (I do have back issues). I said, "no, the back is doing great", then gritted my teeth and said..."I do want a freaking martini, a biscuit and a cookie really bad though!"

She understands

Last edited by Meetow Kim : Sat, Jan-06-18 at 15:47.
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