Isn't it wonderful how forgiving the 18 year old body can be no matter how badly you treat it?
Whether you want to believe it or not, your body does require vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidants present in fruits and vegetables, especially in the polluted environments that most of us live in, to maintain good health. Lean isn't the only indicator of good health, nor is blood pressure and cholesterol. Please, feel free to provide us with a study from a credible source that concludes that the vitamins, minerals, etc...found in vegetables and fruits are absolutely unnecessary for good health.
I also wonder if you really believe that you can follow this way of eating that you've chosen for the rest of your life. If the answer is no, then you're on a diet. If the answer is yes, I think you're probably kidding yourself.



Yeah, he takes the time to respond with "buy my e-book".
Sorry, Dr. Ellis has already had his time on this forum and I wasn't impressed with what he had to say. I can think of a lot better things to spend 60 bucks on, especially if it's telling people that they should eat NO carbs and don't need vitamins, minerals and such.

You keep saying this, but don't tell us how you come to the conclusion that Dr. Atkins was overweight. Please...enlighten us.

Isn't 5% a bit too low for body fat? A male athlete has about 10% BF and the average guy has 15-18% BF.
Personally, I'll stay on the plan that keeps me slim and healthy rather than try tactics that would bring my stats below normal. It just doesn't sound...normal

5% is what professional body builders shoot for, especially during competition. Anything below that is unhealthy even for them. You're correct, though, the average healthy fit male has a body fat percentage in the range of 10-15%. Shooting for less doesn't make you healthier, it just makes you more cut (vanity). Personally, I don't find that 5% range all that attractive and it's difficult to maintain/requires a huge amount of discipline, especially as men age.

Well have you reached your goal doing what youre doing. Oh and I was not undereating I was eating 2,000 calories a day and actually preserved more muscle mass because I ate no carbs. All carbs turn to fat. Also I exercised 2 hours a day to reach my goals. Now I can either starve or exercise and eat what I want. I choose to exercise. Oh and you'll never get lean eating the way atkins says it's impossible. Please show me someone who is lean at a body fat eating the way atkins suggests. If you want to lose more weight than you need to take a better look at what youre doing. So tell me waht is your goal eveeryone here tell me. Also to maintain my body fat of 5 percent I need to exercise 2 hours a day which is not hard since we have 2 a day practices but once we stop I will never be able to maintain that body fat. 10 percent I can maintain not 5.

Well, for a start, there's Dankar...

Rosebud

You keep saying this, but don't tell us how you come to the conclusion that Dr. Atkins was overweight. Please...enlighten us.

Well Lisa if you've read anything I've posted you can see what I am trying to say is that you can't eat as much as you want and be lean. Look at my first couple of post about how Atkins disregards calories. Well if you look at him then you can obviously see he is overweight. Oh not overweight according to who the body mass index. PLEASE. A 5 6 bodybuilder is overweight according to the body mass index. What is your definiiton of overweight. Obviously you and see overweight as something different. I consider a beer belly overweight something that Atkins has. 286 at the time of his death. Yes I know some of it was water but it still makes him overweight. Like I said you can lose weight anyway you want and undereating you lose muscle unless you exericse. So do what you want and if youre happy with your goals then fine. Just agree with me that atkins dosen't acknowledge the role of calories in weight control.

A bit more info about Dankar...

From this thread: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=36276

Rosebud

Well, for a start, there's Dankar...
Rosebud that's very simple he lost weight eating less calories than he burns if he ate more calories most likely it turned into muscle. He still didn't disobey the laws. He lost weight following a low carb diet and exercising. Simply he just followed a low carb plan. Atkin's idea of low carb works but not his idea of disregarding calories.

Rosebud I see your goal is 145 i wish you luck. Let's see where you hit a plateau. Just remember once you stop losing weight it's because youre eating too many calories.

It's really easy to get down to 20 or even 15 percent but below that is where most people reach their plateau. If you keep losing weight then you haven't reached a plateau yet. Most people will eventually reach a plataue to get down to 15 or 10 percent. When they do they get confused why.

Oh, how interesting. What happened to your "all carbs turn to fat" statement?
I thought Dankar was a perfect example of the way of losing weight which you say is not possible.
You said:

And I showed you someone who has done it. Are you now agreeing it is possible??

Rosebud

You want 60,000+ members to tell you their goals one by one?

It's easier to tell us your goals and how you plan to acheive them. So far, at 140 lbs, you are severly under-weight for a young, healthy male. Calorie-counting can get very obsessive, and lead to eating disorders. It's not how low you can get your weight, but how healthy you are.

Wa'il

So....you had 15 pounds to lose (which shouldn't take long for a healthy 18 year old male), you lost it following a plan that you admit you can't maintain without 2 hours of exercise a day (let me clue you in, the average person with a full time job and a family can't maintain that kind of exercise schedule unless they have a highly physical job or don't want/have a life). Umm...your plan is sounding less attractive all the time here.
No...I haven't reached my goal yet, but I'm a 43 year old, perimenopausal woman with PCOS and diabetes (both conditions make it very difficult to lose any weight at all, let alone what I've lost so far) and I started out needing to lose nearly 8 times as much weight as you did.
Furthermore, when I do reach my goal, I can maintain that way of eating for life and probably be a lot healthier for it since I'm not excluding fruits and veggies from my diet and I won't have to exercise like a maniac to do it.

So far, at 140 lbs, you are severly under-weight for a young, healthy male. Calorie-counting can get very obsessive, and lead to eating disorders. It's not how low weight you can get, but how healthy you are

Well I guess all wrestlers are underweight but I guess you know nothing about gentic limitations and building muscle. 140 lbs is the lowest weight I can get and this is where I have the least fat. Most men who are around 185 their lowest weight would be 165 if they stripped off all their fat. So at 18 weighing 140 how does that make me unhlealthy. If my blood pressure cholestrol and everything is perfect I don't know how that makes me underweight or unhelathy. If i was 165 at 15 percent body fat would that make me more healthy? I doubt it. So I guess all athletes weighing 140 lbs and below are unhealthy including wrestlers. Some people are shorter some are smaller. At 5 6 weighing 140 lbs with very little fat makes me unhlealthy?
I'm only 18 I haven't started my bulking phase something I will do in the summer to reach 165. My goals are simple minimum fat maximul muscle. My goal is not throw my body fat to a another level. If you saw me you would not say I am underweight. I'll post a picture soon.