I'm new big-big man

[Jacob450]

Dear friends, I think Atkins's diet is last resort for me.
But task is very, very complicated, almost unresolved.
I'm 51 old programmer, 6.0" and 450 lb or >
I'm still alive and started Atkins diet 2 week ago.
Since that I feel some good filling and found that my appetite
decreased significantly. But nobody can see any changes in
the my belly and I can't get ketosys.
I WAS VERY STRONG about carbs, from the second week I have reduced amount of carbs up to 10g or less, but got ketosis
only once in the middle of the week.
I eat only myselg bouled chicken + 2 eggs + 1 cup of shredded
celery with olive oil & vinegar.
Some deviation: I can drink only 1 ltr of water + 2 -3 cups decaf tea or coffe, is it enough?
Please, give me advice how to move ahead.
Sorry for mistakes, I'm from Russia.


Thank in advance! Jacob.

P.S. PLEASE HELP ME TO RESP LC MEMBERS!!!!!
WHERE IS A MAIL ICON ON THE EACH POST ???
THANKS FOR ALL WHO WELCOME ME, BUT PLEASE ASSIST !!!

[fth_msktr]

Jacob,
Welcome aboard. This diet has worked for many people I hope it works for you to. Have you read a copy of Dr. Atkins book or are you trying this diet on your own?

[Kayceecan]

:wave: Hi Jacob,

Welcome to this forum! Don't worry, you are doing good with english.
2 weeks is a little early to be able to see a big difference in your belly ;) And I wouldn't be too concerned about those ketosis stix. They aren't all that reliable. A lot of people don't even use them anymore.
Do you have the Atkin's book? By what you said you eat, you are not eating enough and you need more fats and vegetables. Can you only eat chicken? What about beef, pork, fish, etc? You can have butter and some vegetables, lots of things. Read through the different people's journals and you can get an idea of what everyone is eating.
There are some guys on this site that are just about where you are....they would really be able to help you. I am sure they will be by to welcome you! I will drop by a couple of their journals and let them know you're here! :D Come and visit me (in my journal) sometime and let me know how you are doing! You should start a journal too and write down what you eat everyday, that way others can help you and give you suggestions. Good Luck Jacob .... K.C.

[greentea]

HI Jacob, :wave:
Glad you're here.
If at all possible, please try to increase your water...I know that is hard for some people but you'll get used to it. Maybe just a little more each day until you're getting the recommened amounts.
You probably "feel" the difference in your belly (which is great)
but its a little soon for much of a visual difference. Hey,
"feeling" good is another great part of this WOL so you're
already reaping some bennies :thup:
You'll have all the support you need here :exclm:
greentea

[CindySue48]

You've come to the right place!

You didn't mention if you've read Dr Atkin's book or not, but you are definitly not getting enough to eat!

Try this: http://atkinscenter.com/howto/index.html

It's the Atkins site...pretty much everything you need to know is on there. I would recomend getting the book also, but at least check out the site. Dr Atkins spells out just what you should do.

I agree that you shouldn't worry about the ketosticks! I've lost well with only a few days in ketosis...according the the sticks that is. We all spill ketones differently....some are more likely to show ketosis and dont' loose at all! Others hardly ever do and loose great!

I think you should be proud that you're doing this. You've come a long way....just making the choice to low-carb living!

Take things one day at a time! Dont' rush things. Eventually someone will notice! And until they do....you will notice! And it's you you're doing this for, right?

Good luck!

Feel free to post on any of the forums. The people here are all very helpful and supportive!

Oh! Almost forgot....there's another site called Fitday. You can enter what you've eaten and get the Fat, Carb and Protein contents. It's great. Makes you see exactly what you're getting, so even if you don't show ketosis you can see that you're doing things right! http://www.fitday.com/

Cindy

[Shark01]

Hi Jacob, welcome :wave:

You have come to both a good place on the internet and in your life. Trust me, this works. The diet is really quite simple.......reduce the amount of carbs you eat by replacing them with fat and protein. Like you, I was addicted to the white devil......sugar.......also.

Don't be concerned by acheiving ketosis, eating a certain number of calories, or counting carbs. These all get in the way of LISTENING to your body. As you reduce your level of carbs, your head will clear, you won't feel sluggish anymore, your appetite will reduce to normal levels, and you will just want to move ALL the time. It's weird, I just don't want to sit still anymore.......and the pounds just fly off.

And the drink water thing is whack too :rolleyes: I like to drink Diet Cokes and ice tea instead so I do......I'll leave the water drinking stuff to people stuck on desert islands :D

There's a section called JOURNALS where many of us chronicle what we do to lose weight and live with the diet. There are several of us that started at over 400 lbs that are now in the 320s to 330s. Visit the journals of SZAR and DRWOLFE, along with the Shark Tank ;) . If you have any questions, let us know.

By the way, where in Russia are you from? Our darling daughter Katerina was born in Kemerovo Siberia :)

[szar]

Welcome!

I heard you were over here and wanted to stop by and officially welcome you to the fold.

I agree with everyone who is telling you not to worry too much about the ketosis sticks. I used them for a few weeks when I started and haven't touched them since.

Like Shark said, Listen to your body! When you are hungry, eat. When your not, don't. Start a journal and take a look at a few others. And by all means read Dr. Atkins book if you haven't already. We're all here to help--ask us anything you would like.

What kind of programming do you do?

I worked with the Moscow ballet last year. They presented The Nutcracker in my theater. You have a much better hold on english than they did...

Mark

[Luxsit]

Hi Jacob,

Welcome to the forum. We are very similar except that you are about 9 years older than me. I am about 450, male, and work in the Computing Industry.

Recommendations:

1) Start a journal. Record exactly what you are eating each day. You are going to have to start to count calories to be sucessful. If you need information on starting a journal it can be found:
Starting a Journal (http://forum.lowcarber.org/announcement.php?s=&forumid=110)
I also recommend getting a diet software package that will help you 1) record exactly what you eat 2) record exercise 3) help you remember and track water intake. I use Diet Power which runs about $40-45 US.

2) Determine your Base Metabolic Rate(BMR) to find out how many calories per day you need to consume. This may be completely against what you currently think about eating but the bottom line is you probably need to eat more to loose. There are a number of tools to use to compute your BMR. First, there is a fast calculation method (10-12 x' your current weight). Let say for you it's 10 x 450lbs = 4500 calories. There are several other formulas Including the Harris-Benedict Model. Here is a link to a page that will provide that calculation:
Harris Benedict BMR Calculator (http://businessplanforthebody.com/plans_metabolism_men.asp)

I ran your numbers through this model and I came up with 3953 calorie per day BMR.

These calculations show you need between 3900 and 4500 calories per day to maintain your current weight. Now, rule of thumb says you need to reduce your calorie intake 500 calories per day to loose a pound per week. I would not exceed a goal of more than 2 pounds per week, because more would not be healthy, and would probably cause your metabolism to slow down to far. This means that 1000 calorie per day reduction might be your goal. Therefore if we take 3900 calorie BMR and subtract 1000 we get 2900 calories per day as your target daily calorie intake.

Next, we look at your consumption balance between protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Again there are a number of ways to compute your ideal requirement. General rule of thumb says:
Protein 25-30% Total Calories
Fat 65-70%
Carb 5%
Another method is to multiply your weight in pounds by (.6-.8). I suggest .6 in this case. One more which I like personally is 1 gram of protein times your Lean Body Mass(LBM) in pounds. Now computing your LBM, may not be easy but for me for example the lowest weight I'd ever been in my adult life is 235lbs. At that weight I was probably about 15% body fat. That means 235lbs x .85 = 200 pounds would be 0% body fat.

So assuming you are similar bone structure-large, and weight, and height as me, we take 200lbs as your LBM times 1 gram/pound = 200 grams of protein per day minimum. Since protein is 4 calories per gram we get 200 grams x's 4 calories/gram = 800 calories per day protein.

Next we subtract 800 protein calories/day from 2900 target calories per day = 2100(fat calories + carb calories) calories. Next, if we give you 25 calories of carbs(ok, Atkins purest will save 20 calories of carbs, but 5 calories is not going to make or break ketosis) we have 25 carb calories times 4 calories/gram for carbs = 100 calories per day carbs. Subtracting this from 2100 calories we get 2000(fat calories). 2000 fat calories divided by 10 calories/gram fat = 200 grams of fat per day.

Now lets see how these number compare to guidlines:
800 Protein Calories = 800 calories /2900 target calories = 27%
2000 Fat Calories = 2000/2900 target calories = 68%
100 Carb Calories = 100/2900 target calories = 3.4%

As you can see this is very close the guidelines for recommend ratio intakes. I am not saying this is exact but should be a good approximation.

3) Try to spread your calories out into 5-6 meals per day. A suggestion is eat every 3 hours. Breakfast, mid-morning snack, Lunch, mid day snack, dinner, evenging snack. Spreading meals out will help stimulate your metabolism.

4) Drink more water. Someone at your weight should be getting a gallon of water in per day. Yes, I said one gallon per day. My plan of attack on water is as follows: 30 onces before I leave the house in the morning (yes, you will probably have to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes starting an hour later, but think of it as good exercise). Get a water bottle at your desk, and just starting siping it. I try to get two 20 onces bottles of water down while at work. When you get home, another 30 onces before dinner. After dinner, another 30 onces. That adds up to 30 + 20 + 20 + 30 + 30 = 130 onces.

5) Exercise. Start slow, but do something. Walk a block out and back 3 times per week. Each week, pick up the pace a bit. If you have access to a decent gym I recommend an eliptical trainer or a stationary bicycle.

6) Learn everything you can about Metabolism. What you will find is that winning this battle against obesity requires you understand how your body processes food, how exercise impacts metabolism, how and what to eat to help your body burn fat. Get and read some books on this stuff. Trainerdan on this forum in the exercise section has a very good book on Metabolism. I highly recommend it:
Trainerdan Metabolism Book (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44347)

7) Be patient, set a plan, set reasonable goals, ask questions. There's a lot of people here in the same boat as you are. There's a ton of very good information here.

Well, that should get you started. Welcome again, we are here to help so get your journal started. Look forward to seeing you around.

Regards,
Lux :wave:

[Jacob450]

TEST

[Jacob450]

Dear friends,
sorry for delay with my answer, but only after
Doreen's consultation I understood that I can't answer personaly.
Thanks for welcome messages and very usefull information.
Now I understand the mail think - listen yor body, really,
if my appetite decreased and I able to walk calm near refrigerator, life will continue!
Cindy, thank you for very usefull link!

Shark01, you frastrated me, I hoped I will biggest person on the forum today & in the past.
But I'm happy that I'm biggest man only today and other already left 400 lb region. I'll try to leave this position soon, too
I lived in Moscow and we immigrated to USA in September 1991. I want to visit to Moscow & meet my friends, but I can't do this
in my curent condition, of cource. What do you did in Kemerovo?

Mark, thank for your post. If you did this, it mean it's possible!
In my past live I visited to theathers very often and I saw
all performance in BOLSHOI in 70-80's.
Mark, what is means Szar?

Dear LUX, I' m very thanksful for your detail post, you clean a lot of things for me, I'll try to follow you instructon and may be I'LL ask more ?.

Mark & Lux, how your track you weigth?
Do you use 2 scales?
Please advice me about vitamins,
should I ordered Basic#3 ?

Thank you all. Jacob450

[Kayceecan]

:wave: Hi Jacob!

So glad you had so many visitors! And such good advice! Told you there were a lot of nice people here..... You can do it my friend! You're on your way! Good Luck! K.C.

[tofi]

Hello Jacob and welcome. I hope you will do really well on Atkins and lose the weight you want.

Szar: Mark has chosen a "Name" for his posts which is different than his real name. Sometimes that is done for security reasons on a board. My screen name is "tofi" but I sign my posts "BarB" because that is one of my given names. So I am both tofi & BarB. Mark is both Mark & Szar.

If you are not hungry like before when you were eating carbs, then you ARE in ketosis. But the ketostix are not sensitive enough to register the amount. I am glad you have decided not to worry about them.

All the best.

BarB

[Jacob450]

Hello Barb and thank you for welcome words & wishes.
I have asked Mark about pseodunym, because it sounds
like 'KING' by Russian, but in this case it should be written by
' TCHAR'. Sorry for lingvo exersis, but may I ask you:
According you profile, you stayed on this diet from 1998 but
still do not reach goal. What is wrong?
Also, please advice me about vitamins. I got only Russian
book about this diet and some discrepacy between PHARMACY
exists.

[szar]

Hey Jacob,

Szar is the short version of my last name. I have been called that all my life--wasn't called Mark again by anyone until I got to college.

As far as supplements go, I take Atkins Basic #3, Dieter's Advantage, and Essential Oils with CLA. I usually order them right from Atkin's website just because it's quick and easy.

I use only 1 scale, now. I outline this in the first post of my journal, but I never weighed myself until one day I went to a factory that makes hardwood flooring. I weighed myself on their loading dock scale and continued to do so until I dropped under 400#. I then went to www.drugstore.com and bought the health-o-meter duet premium dual display scale--goes up to 400#. It can be found here (http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=71405&catid=10308&trx=PLST-0-SRCH&trxp2=71405&trxp3=1&btrx=BUY-PD-PLST-0-SRCH)

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Mark

[Jacob450]

Hi, Mark,
thank you very mach for your answer.
Today I'm full the new info and you gave final and very usefull
data. I forgot to answer to your ? , I'm a MAINFRAME programmer, COBOL, DB2, CICS, etc.
Will be better lose something till future interview...

Good night. Jabob450

[Shark01]

Jacob,
There is another forum "The Triple Digits Club" where people who want to lose 100 pounds gather to discuss our special issues.

Before I reached 360 lbs, like Mark, I used to weigh on a 1000 lb shipping scale at work. I hear from some doctors that there are now medical type scales that can add counter weights so you can weigh on a normal scale. You might browse the internet for one.

You are not the biggest person on the forum, maybe just the best :blush:

We were in Russia last year to adopt our daughter Katerina. Kemerovo is in eastern Siberia near Tomsk and Novosibirsk. We loved Moscow as well. I traveled to Russia at 370 pounds, so maybe that trip might not be far off for you :)

If you visit my journal, it might explain some of the diet method and how to live with it long term. Unlike some others, I take a "simpler is better" approach to dieting. You may find it works great for you.

[DWRolfe]

Hello, Jacob!

Sorry that I wasn't able to get to your post sooner, but I was away from the forum for a few days...

I'm so happy that you have found the fourm and that you're ready to give LCing a chance. I'll tell you, it has changed and saved my life. 9 months ago I was so unhealthy, uncomfortable and in so much pain I didn't know what to do...until I made the decision to try LCing (Atkins).

I want to reitterate the invitation to join us in the Triple Digits Club, where people with 100+ lbs to lose discuss all sorts of issues. I also invite you to visit my journal (and start one of your own!) as well as those of the folks who have been following your posts so far.

Like szar, I also take Atkins Basic #3, Essential Oils with CLA, potasium, glucosamine and chondroitin, chromium picolinate and probably a few other supplements as well.

I hope your LC journey will be as sucessful as mine and others has been. I'm down more than 90lbs and I feel great!

Keep in touch!

Donald :wave:

[Luxsit]

Jacob,

On scales, a couple options, as suggested find someone in your area that does shipping, especially cartons, might try a moving company. Ask to use their scale once a week. Second, if you can afford $200, Siltec makes a digital scale with and without a tower arm. I got the one without the tower arm, I use my toe to turn it off on on, this scale about $20 less than the tower version. Scale goes to 500lbs.
PS500L - 500lb digital scale no tower arm
PS5AP - 500lb digital scale w/tower arm

Here is a link to a site that offers about the best price and free shipping in the US.

Siltec 500 pound digital scale (http://www.scalenet.com/siltec/ps500.html)

Vitamin Supplements
I recommend Absolute Nutrion Dieters Multi and EAS Structured EFA. netrition.com has some decent prices.

Regards,
Lux

[Jacob450]

Dear friends,
you are wonderfull, I got answer for all my ?? just in 2 days!
I was terribly foolish when I started, I thought that I need just
cut off carbs and I'll melt, sorry for that.
Now, I know what I should do:
1. Find some scale around;
2. Order vitamins;
3. reorganize my food stracture ( I tell you true :
I fell very strong internal resistance to increase quantity of fat
and of food. I'm so long live in conditions of internal limitation of food and attempts to avoid all parties and even family dinners... You know it too..
Today my decreasing appitite not agree ...)
4 Start journal, may be it helps with p.3.

And one small thing - find job, althrough I think, I may pass only
non face -to -face interview. Of cource, EOE is EOE, but who
will hire man-like-mountine...

Thanks again, you give me a HOPE.

JACOB450

P.S. Dear SHARK01, thank you for your tremandous action,
I hope your girl is healthy and happy, Cemerowo not a very good place for living, a lot of pollutions, but not a very bad. How old is she? Did she remember Russian?

[Shark01]

Jacob,
We adopted Katie at 15 months old, so unfortunately she doesn't remember anything about Russia. She is two now. She is surrounded by the souveniers we bought in Russia, and we will teach her about her wonderful heritage. Here is our princess:

[Jacob450]

Dear Shark, your princess are beautiful!

I must say you that your action rescues one more little life and made one more child happy. Believe me, I know what I said. I left Russia from position of chief of the Computer Center for one of the biggest Moscow’s hospital. Elderly seek people and children w/out parents are most Non-defended in Russia. Not because the people in Russia very bad, no, very simple – State has not enough money and resources for not-profit people.
I know, a lot of Americans have adopted children from different countries and the State must to be proud of that.

With deepest regards, Jacob

[wbahn]

Jacob,

Welcome aboard from another very large man. We'll take this journey one step at a time and arrive at our goal when we get there - and we WILL get there.

Keep the Faith!

[Jacob450]

WBahn,
Thank you, I just wondered how many people pay attention
to me, may be because today I'm a biggest man on the forum.
Shame on me , I was in your shoes 5 years ago...

Will figth!

Jacob

[Shark01]

Jacob,
The Russian people are wonderful, it is just a trying time....that's why there are 800,000 children like Katie in the childcare system :( As soon as we can afford it, we plan to adopt another Russian angel :angel:

How are you doing on the diet so far? Just make it simple......just replace all the sugar, bread, potatoes, and pasta you eat with meat and vegtables.

OK, one last picture of Katie in her Russian dress taken this time last year (we just made new photos of her in the same dress this weekend).

[Jacob450]

Shark,
wonderful pictute, but it's looks like Ukranian dress.
By the way, in the Huston exists a big Russian speaking comunity.

I exluded all mentioned product at least 1 -1,5 month ago,
I'm 'officially' on LC from 08/18. As today I can not see
visual changes, it's unestandable.
I feel good, I'm in the beginning of ketosis and my appetite
decreased very mach. From yesterday I increased quantity of water, but not enough yet, today I'll increase fat.
I'm very toleranted to food stile and do not need change dishes very often, I able to eat the same simple dishes day by day w/out problem.

Have a nice day!

[Jacob450]

Hi, I started my journal, please take a look and advice!

[Jacob450]

Hi,
I put my first weekly update in my journal,
any suggestion very welcome.
Please, forgive me grammar mistakes.

I need your advice.
Monday is Yom Kippur, the and even I'm not religious person, I
have to keep fast, may be just drink water.
May this deviation to influent on my LC way significantly?

Tnank you in advance!

Jacob450.

[Mark Radke]

Wow Mark...you should be so proud of yourself..I have read atkins..but manu people have told me to look into the power plan due to all the exercise i do...so now i have to get ANOTHER book to read. I do still drink diet coke, but am cutitng it down to 1 a day. I have the low carb yogurt for a treat in the am and pm. I try to keep my calories between 2100 and 2500 and carbs between 17 and 20.
I have to admit this is so confusing and it will be a learning experience..all I know is low calorie and low fat just makes me hungry..and i think the low carb way is for me to go. I have not experienced a major weight loss in the last 5 days..between 4-6 pounds....which i am sure is just water...
ANy advice you can give me is appreciated,,