Diets Suck...Inspired By TripleDigitRide

[VERO1]

Well I'll go against the grain here. My recommendation is Weight Watchers. Especially now that you can do it online and not have to do the meeting thing weekly. I think currently they are running a one week free trial now.

It is basically a low fat/low carb type diet. Every food is given a points value, you are given a total number of points to use per day according to your present weight. No food is prohibited, even doughnuts!, you just have to decide if you want to burn the points for that item.

Its not a rapid weight loss program, it took me about a year to knock off a hundred pounds. And like most others have posted I have out some of it back on and am now working it down again.

[Guest Runnfree]

If you cut out most of your carbs you can lose the weight. Since Thanksgiving of last year I've lost 35lbs. Found out the hard way that I am a diabetic, after going into a diabetic comma. So after that I went on the low carb diet. Cut out all the "white or pale" foods and sugars. It was hard at first but now it is easy for me to walk right by the deserts. Eat lots of meats, be careful of that. Easy on the red meats. The doctor has pulled me off of some of the meds now, thank God. I have a goal to lose 20 more before the end of August.

[DRM]

Well I'll go against the grain here. My recommendation is Weight Watchers. Especially now that you can do it online and not have to do the meeting thing weekly. I think currently they are running a one week free trial now.

It is basically a low fat/low carb type diet. Every food is given a points value, you are given a total number of points to use per day according to your present weight. No food is prohibited, even doughnuts!, you just have to decide if you want to burn the points for that item.

Its not a rapid weight loss program, it took me about a year to knock off a hundred pounds. And like most others have posted I have out some of it back on and am now working it down again.

I won't knock WW - if it works for you, it works foryou.

My sister worked for one of the other major players in the game for a time - and even their own literature said the BEST of those programs claim a 5% success rate... To me - that's not saying much.

I just don't want to bother with 'counting' anything. If I want something - I will eat it. I just might eat less of it, or plan on exercising or otherwise compensating for the splurge.

And considering the real goal here is LIFESTYLE change - I just can't see someone being on WW for life, or counting carbs until they are dead. I *can* however see people making smarter choices about what food they put in their body and deciding to get more active... those ARE rational life-long changes that don't require any special tools, programs, or products.

[Oh Shoot]

... and any other potential for renal (kidney) insufficiency have got to be very careful about the dangers of large amounts of protein in their blood (hyperproteinemia). ..

Actually "hypOproteinemia" is very LOW blood protein, because the kidneys retain it and pass it through too quickly and seems more common than hypERproteinemia, which as you say, is too much protein in the blood, but generally is more of a liver related conditon. In the former, high protein levels are found in the urine rather than the blood. And actually, treatment still allows moderate protein intake. Blood sugar level is again most important factor in treatment, and sodium restriction, and etc.

Certainly, protein expulsion/retention problems are serious, but no research indicates that large intakes of protein causes that, although it is anecdotal medical urban legend, just like "high fat diet causes heart attacks". A healthy body uses the protein it needs and discards the rest; it can't be stored.

But sure, blood/urine tests are important and should be part of at least a yearly exam regardless of what you are/are not consuming.

- OS

Edited June 11, 2009 by OhShoot
grammer, clarity

[Oh Shoot]

...

Biggest thing I have found is you have to change the way you eat AND get some real exercise in there ..

Certainly, expending more calories than you take in will cause weight loss, with the added benefit of better fitness. That's why our more agrarian ancestors could eat most anything in large amounts and still be "skinny as rails".

Actually, getting "fit" often means slower weight loss than merely changing diet, since you are adding muscle while losing fat (muscle weighs about 18% more than fat per equal volume).

- OS

[nightrunner]

Actually, getting "fit" often means slower weight loss than merely changing diet, since you are adding muscle while losing fat (muscle weighs about 18% more than fat per equal volume).

- OS

this is where i fall in at. i really could care less how much i weigh or what size clothes i wear or what not. i just want to get rid of the excess fat and gain some muscle. not body builder size but just kinda muscular.

i lost about 30lbs. over the course of about 8 months simply by eatin ALOT less, and during that time, my stomach shrank some because i cant eat as much i used to at one sitting, i like it, i am full quicker. i know 30lbs isnt much but it feels alot better not lugging around that much extra weight, especially in the summer months. i lost about 4-5 inches off my waist (went from a tight 36 to a loose 32) only problem now is finding jeans that fit ( i am 6'4" and now 185lbs., i need a 32x32 and sometimes a 32x34) and shirts are hard to find that fit too, since my torso is so tall i need a LT(large tall) shirt if i needed to conceal something (hcp coming soon) and those are hard to find.

[Oh Shoot]

this is where i fall in at. i really could care less how much i weigh or what size clothes i wear or what not. i just want to get rid of the excess fat and gain some muscle. not body builder size but just kinda muscular.

i lost about 30lbs. over the course of about 8 months simply by eatin ALOT less, and during that time, my stomach shrank some because i cant eat as much i used to at one sitting, i like it, i am full quicker. i know 30lbs isnt much but it feels alot better not lugging around that much extra weight, especially in the summer months. i lost about 4-5 inches off my waist (went from a tight 36 to a loose 32) only problem now is finding jeans that fit ( i am 6'4" and now 185lbs., i need a 32x32 and sometimes a 32x34) and shirts are hard to find that fit too, since my torso is so tall i need a LT(large tall) shirt if i needed to conceal something (hcp coming soon) and those are hard to find.

Dude!

Many here wish we had your "problems"!

- OS

[Guest Bronker]

Actually "hypOproteinemia" is very LOW blood protein, because the kidneys retain it and pass it through too quickly and seems more common than hypERproteinemia, which as you say, is too much protein in the blood, but generally is more of a liver related conditon. In the former, high protein levels are found in the urine rather than the blood. And actually, treatment still allows moderate protein intake. Blood sugar level is again most important factor in treatment, and sodium restriction, and etc.

Certainly, protein expulsion/retention problems are serious, but no research indicates that large intakes of protein causes that, although it is anecdotal medical urban legend, just like "high fat diet causes heart attacks". A healthy body uses the protein it needs and discards the rest; it can't be stored.

But sure, blood/urine tests are important and should be part of at least a yearly exam regardless of what you are/are not consuming.

- OS

Whew, you're making my head hurt! In the cascade of events that is metabolism and secretion, I am aware of, and agree with all of that as well. However, as apparently you are well aware of, the capacity of the kidneys to adequately function does depend on the health of those kidneys in the environment of increased protein (blood or urine) regardless. If you're "on top of that" and know you have good, healthy kidneys, you're good to go!

In short (and long) we do agree and you are educating us here! You certainly took the time to go into much more detail than I did. Thumbs up! Biophysiology, isn't it a hoot!?!

You're going to give me nightmares about my old biochem classes! If you do, I'm going to call you in the middle of the night!

[Oh Shoot]

Whew, you're making my head hurt! In the cascade of events that is metabolism and secretion, I am aware of, and agree with all of that as well. However, as apparently you are well aware of, the capacity of the kidneys to adequately function does depend on the health of those kidneys in the environment of increased protein (blood or urine) regardless. If you're "on top of that" and know you have good, healthy kidneys, you're good to go!

In short (and long) we do agree and you are educating us here! You certainly took the time to go into much more detail than I did. Thumbs up! Biophysiology, isn't it a hoot!?!

You're going to give me nightmares about my old biochem classes! If you do, I'm going to call you in the middle of the night!

Bronk....I surely don't know jack about biochemistry compared to you. I don't even claim to know that much about general or specific medical research or conditions.

The only reason I know things directly and indirectly related to the science surrounding low carbing is because I'd never paid much attention to diet/weight in my life, until '02 when I quit smoking and gained so much weight so quickly I went into panic mode. It was obvious I had to do something pretty drastic or soon join a carnival as their Fat Man!

Hence, I jumped into study of the various "diet theories". Knew I wouldn't keep up with simply counting calories, knew I couldn't succeed at low fat diet, wasn't in a position to really exercise my way out, so almost by default, low carb seemed the best odds. So I really delved into it, as some of the initial scare stories, well, scared me.

Oddly, since I didn't know jack about nutrition or chemistry of food groups, I gained most of the weight from (I thought) eating healthy. Since I knew going into smoking cessation that I'd want to eat more, I thought snacking on fruit would be a good idea. Right. Fifty pounds later, I looked and felt like crap.

I may still look like crap, but there's 50+ less pounds of it, and feel pretty good for an old fart. (I think. I've never been this old before).

All in all, the old saying is true: if I'd known I'd live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!

- Chief Oh Shoot

[Guest Bronker]

Bronk....I surely don't know jack about biochemistry compared to you. I don't even claim to know that much about general or specific medical research or conditions.

The only reason I know things directly and indirectly related to the science surrounding low carbing is because I'd never paid much attention to diet/weight in my life, until '02 when I quit smoking and gained so much weight so quickly I went into panic mode. It was obvious I had to do something pretty drastic or soon join a carnival as their Fat Man!

Hence, I jumped into study of the various "diet theories". Knew I wouldn't keep up with simply counting calories, knew I couldn't succeed at low fat diet, wasn't in a position to really exercise my way out, so almost by default, low carb seemed the best odds. So I really delved into it, as some of the initial scare stories, well, scared me.

Oddly, since I didn't know jack about nutrition or chemistry of food groups, I gained most of the weight from (I thought) eating healthy. Since I knew going into smoking cessation that I'd want to eat more, I thought snacking on fruit would be a good idea. Right. Fifty pounds later, I looked and felt like crap.

I may still look like crap, but there's 50+ less pounds of it, and feel pretty good for an old fart. (I think. I've never been this old before).

All in all, the old saying is true: if I'd known I'd live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!

- Chief Oh Shoot

I'll say this, Dr. Chief, your knowledge is SPOT-ON and you have an exceptional grasp of the factual concepts of biophysiology. You are sharing information here that is beyond the scope of classes I didn't endure () until grad school!!

So, no...you're well versed! Thanks for your insight!

[lowbud]

Not sure where you got that from, but when I did Atkins I drank diet coke or diet pepsi like there was no tomorrow. For me I do not think anything made me crave suger. never been a sugar addict anyway.

There also was a store down the street from us. It specialized in low carb and no carb foods. They had anything and everything. Even some low carb frozen yogurt stuff. ooof that was good. My favorite though was baked cheese. It was crunchy and made a great snack, all kind of flavors too. I have not seen a store like that in Knoxville.

I also attest to low/no carb diet keeping a person out of diabetes. Actually I never felt healthier than when I did Atkins. I wish I had the strength to skip white food forever. Processed sugar and processed wheat are terrible for a person and is the biggest reason we are a country of fat asses.

The only water I was referring to was becasue I can't stand diet drinks. Never could get past the after taste. Atkins does work for some people.. but if your like me.. After about a week of water, decaf, horrible unsweetened drinks, I'm ready to bail.

LOL... Can I SUPER size that?

I dunno. I have to do something. I'm not SUPER sized but at 5'7, 250 pounds I could stand to shed about 80 or so... My biggest problem is pushing a keyboard for too many years. The days of running around fixing things are long but over. Almost everything now can be done from a sitting position.

I just need to force my self to get off my ass and do something.