re: PuttaDaForkDown

Hulk,
I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but here goes:

I know you have been frustrated lately with the lack of weight loss. I'm going to give you some advice that is counter to what everyone else in this thread has said. I know I'll get some negativity for this advice, but it is what I believe.

You need to eat more. If I remember correctly, you are around 340 lbs and are eating 1200-1500 calories per day. That deficit between what you are eating and what your body expends is too much. Your body reacts to this by slowing your metabolism. This is why you lost a lot of weight quickly at first and then plateaued. Your metabolism adjusted. At your size, you really should not plateau as early as you did. I think you are somewhat trying to mimic Myth (who wouldn't with his success), but you have to realize that he is 140+ lbs lighter.

I, like you, am a believer in the Atkins plan. I do think it's the right diet for you. However, due to ketosis, while on Atkins your body burns even more calories than normal when the metabolism is working properly. Because of this, your calorie deficit is even bigger than it normally would be. One would think that the bigger the deficit, the faster the weight loss. This is only true as long as your metabolism doesn't slow.

By the way, I'm the opposite of you. I have to start cutting calories. So far, I've lost 20lbs just by cutting carbs. I've been eating like a pig, but just eating tons of protein and fat. I did this purposefully to keep up my metabolism while adjusting to fat burning instead of sugar burning. I've ridden that train about as far as I can, and now need to create more of a calorie deficit.

I think weight watchers does a good job of establishing a good calorie intake for healthy weight loss. I'm not suggesting that you do weight watchers, but just use it to establish your calorie intake. Weight watchers uses a point system, but it is basically 50 calories per point. Minor adjustments are made for fiber and fat, but calories are a huge majority of the formula.

The basic calculation is this:
1) 2 base points for women and 8 for men. We both get 8 points just for having that y chromosome.
2) Age also helps determine points. 17-26 years old = Add 4 points. 27-37 = Add 3 points. 38-47 = Add 2 points. 48-57= Add 1 points. 57 and older = Add 0 points. If I recall, you are a young fellow and get 4 points. I'm a little more seasoned and get 2 points.
3)Activity level is the next factor. Not Active= 0 points. Mildly Active = 2 points. Moderately Active=4 points. Very Active=6 points. Iam a cpa, so my job is very inactive. I like to use exercise to lose additional weight rather than allow me to eat more. Therefore, I give myself 0 points here. For discussion, I'll do the same for you.
4) Next up is your weight. Take the first two numbers in your weight. For me, it would be 24. For you, 34. When you hit 339, change this to 33.
5) Finally is height. Under 5 ft.=0 points. 5 ft to 5 ft 9 inches = 1 point. 5 ft 9 inches and over = 2. I'm right at 5'10", so I technically get 2, but I usually only add 1 because I'm at the bottom of the range. You're taller, so you get 2.
Adding all of that up gives me 35 points and you 48 points. That translates to approximately 1,750 and 2,400 calories, respectively.

This may sound like too many, but the weight watchers formula suggested fewer calories than the 5 or so other weight loss calorie calculators I checked. Keep in mind that these are for low-calorie diets. For Atkins, you are allowed more calories, not less.

You can probably go under this # by 100-200 calories without much problem. However, you are currently 900-1200 calories below the recommended amount for weight loss.

At this point, I wouldn't recommend suddenly changing from 1200 to 2400, but build up slowly so your metabolism can build back up. Continue to keep your carbs at 20 or so and add calories in the form of protein and fat. Have an extra meal or add a piece of smoked sausage/andouille to your grilled chicken (watch carbs in sausage since they vary greatly).

Just my 2¢ worth (due to length, maybe my 25¢ worth).

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you might have to change your name.

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If he changed it to guzzlinggirl he would be the most popular person on the OT

Oh, I know. Those were just some general thoughts I decided to share right there

I appreciate the advice Bham. I know I need to eat more.. and I'm really not trying to mimick myth, I've started eating higher calorie meals so I think I'm hitting 1500 more.. I haven't kept up my food journal >_< Got derailed with getting down in the dumps and all. Anyway, I don't think I'm trying to mimick Myth.. I'm just not hungry. I eat til I'm full and then I stop and I just don't get hungry til mealtime. I force myself to eat snacks most of the time. To get around 2000 calories.. I'd be stuffed all day long, not sure I can hit that anymore..

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I force myself to eat snacks most of the time.

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NO!
bad hulk!
no biscuit!

dont snack. i think the myth of 'i have to eat little bits of food all day long' causes more people to over-eat than anything else.

also hulk..this might sound counter-intuitive..but exercising is hurting you. the less exercise and more 'pure atkins' you do..the better the weight-loss machine purrs. when you do all that walking and moving around, you make muscles..so they break down and get sore..and then they retain water..and then they GROW (and yes my friend..at 300+ lbs your muscles are GROWING quite well right now) and your weight loss slows thereby making it appear you're stalling when you're really just trading muscle for fat.

unforunately the end result is you feel like you're not losing weight as fast..and its actually a good thing..but if you're focused on the numbers..this will seem to be a problem.

you want to feel good about the numnber you see on the scales..so dont emphasis the exercise piece as much.

PSSST: here's a secret people don't tell you when they talk about 'you're losing muscle'..YOU CAN GET IT BACK BY WORKING OUT shocker i know..but much like fat comes back..so does muscle when you start working out again.

save the hard workouts for when you're in the low 200s and you can really start to see the definition.

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I got frustrated trying Couch to 5K. After reading Sisson, I realized I don't want to be a long distance runner, I just want to lose weight and get in shape. Tool shed is shrinking, unfortunately so is ...

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bench..you want my suggestion?

1. BUY A BIKE AND LEARN HOW TO RIDE IT.
2. ENTER A LOCAL RACE.
3. KICK THE shite OUT OF BUFF 20 AND 30 YEAR OLDS IN SAME RACE.


trust me you can do it. it feels fricking awesome to outsprint punk-arse 20 and 30-year olds who are in INCREDIBLE shape when you're twice their age.

cycling is the most level-the-playing-field sport out there. older people actually do better because we are *SMARTER* about how we train..and we typically have a little more money to spend on toys so we can train properly.

i'm following chris carmichael's TCTP (time-crunched training plan) and i'm only 4-5 weeks in and already had a super race..beat 34 people (out of 50) included entire TEAMS of punk-arse young-uns who were completely buff and cut.

so don't give up..frick running. we can't do it. leverage something that actually makes you feel fast (i've seen 55 year olds win the races i'm entering) and its a pretty damn good feeling.

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NO!
bad hulk!
no biscuit!

dont snack. i think the myth of 'i have to eat little bits of food all day long' causes more people to over-eat than anything else.

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fwiw i don't eat biscuits! And by snack I mean I eat a string cheese or something like that. Not that I sit down and eat a whole bag of pork rinds or something. But I'm not really eating enough.

And as far as exercise.. I stopped exercising for the most part the past 2 weeks because I got lazy and that was when I went up 3 pounds. This past weekend I went back down to 339 after all of that walking, and today im back up to 341. I have hit a plateau again >_< Last one took 1 1/2 weeks before I lost weight again but I do know not to freak out and I will stick with the diet and lose weight eventually again. The thing is this isn't a plateau really, the body loses in cycles. According to DANDR, the Atkins book, it's not a plateau until you don't lose size or weight in 4 weeks. It also says that exercise is not an option, 30 minutes of walking at least 3 times a day.

Yeah I know that's how you get muscle back.. that's how people build muscle. Work it out to break it down, take tons of protein and it builds back more than you had before.. rinse and repeat and you gain muscle lol.

I will say this though, it's much easier for me to walk and I can walk a much further distance than I could prior to losing any weight and exercising. All of my friends were huffing and puffing at 1/2 mile and I was barely busting a sweat even though I was keeping ahead of any of them, and I'm twice almost any of their weight. They were looking at me like, wtf?

I wish I knew and could afford it, I'm freezing cold when I go swimming currently

Keep up the great work

excercising is never bad. Especially if you are only doing cardio, you shouldnt be adding too much muscle weight to the point that you are gaining weight.