JULY 15, 2009 - I'M LOSING WEIGHT! WHAT AM I DOING RIGHT?

For those that don't know me, I am 53 years old, 5'3" tall, had a highest weight of 158 in February 2009, starved 8 pounds off using The Zone, and started Atkins on March 15, 2009. My goal is 125 pounds. I am the typical "I can't lose weight no matter what I do" woman!

For the first 7 weeks, I lost nothing, but lately, I have been losing weight, and I am now down to my lowest Atkins weight of 140.8.

The mystery is - What am I doing right? Why am I losing weight? What have I changed in my life since February?

1. Eating high fat, moderate protein, low carb (Atkins)

2. Exercising and weight resistance

3. Drinking 84 oz. of water a day

4. Taking nutritional supplements (lots!), including Acetyl L-carnitine

5. Replacing my progesterone and testosterone naturally with bio-identical hormones.

6. Getting 9 hours of sleep per night in the dark

7. Taking a yoga class twice a week

8. Visiting this Forum often (too often, according to my husband!) and staying motivated and helping others.

I'm glad to be losing weight, but it would be interesting to know which of these changes made the most difference. Not that I would give any of them up if I knew they were low on the list!

I think I feel better now than I have since I was in my twenties!

So, thank you Dr. Atkins, thank you Suzanne Somers, and thank you everyone on the Forum who has helped me through this difficult transition. I think I am ready to give away my fat clothes now, because I am becoming convinced that I will stick with this for the rest of my life!

JULY 13, 2009 - YO-YO DIETING, LOW CALORIE DIETS AND WEIGHT LOSS

If you have a long history of repeated diets, you have most likely turned your body into an extremely efficient, sophisticated fat-storing machine!

The body does not know about weight loss - it only understands the threat of starvation. Its main concern is survival. When insufficient quantities of fuel are consumed, it naturally thinks it may be facing starvation, so it begins to create and store fat in a highly efficient manner.

This is an important point that bears repeating. People interested in losing weight need to understand how their body operates. The body likes fat. It likes to create it and hold onto it and does not like to burn it.

When people go on starvation weight loss programs, most of the weight loss that occurs is muscle loss - the body does not want to lose fat when it is starving. People lose weight rapidly, which makes them happy. This happiness, unfortunately, is short-lived because there is a rapid regaining. Less muscle tissue means less room for carbohydrate (sugar) storage (as glycogen), so any excess is apt to be stored in the fat cells. And less muscle means less fat is burned, since muscle is the fat-burning tissue of the body.

Added to this, the body becomes even more efficient at storing fat. The bottom line is: cutting calories is probably not the best weight loss approach for long-term weight management.

Fat is a very efficient fuel - it burns at nine calories per gram - and the body wisely reserves its most efficient fuel for last.

(This is an excerpt from "The Miracle of Bio-Identical Hormones" by Michael E. Platt, 2007)

JULY 12, 2009 - PACEBOOK

This is an excerpt from an email I got from Dr. Al Sears, the author of PaceBook:

Having Muscle Means YOU Call the Shots…

No Matter What Your Age
Back when you passed your 30th birthday, you started losing something vital: Your muscle mass.

Every year you lose more and more and it never lets up. Very often it’s hard to notice. Muscle gets replaced with fat. And unless you’re watching out for it, you won’t see it happening.

But you’ll feel it…

Losing your muscle mass opens a Pandora’s box of new problems:

Weakness
Fatigue
Chronic illness
Trouble in the bedroom
Weight gain
Wrinkled, sagging skin
Clouded thinking
Forgetfulness
Apathy
Depression
Brittle bones

Like a progressive disease, your body simply “wastes away” over the years. In fact, skeletal muscle mass drops between 35% to 40% by the time you reach 80.1 That’s about three pounds every decade.

But you don’t need to worry. That won’t be you.

Today I’ll tell you exactly how to avoid the worst catastrophe of all… and it’s much easier than you might think.

Muscle = Power and Youth

Muscle loss is just as threatening as osteoporosis. Maybe even more so… but you won’t see any TV commercials telling you to take a drug for it. (There aren’t any.) Osteoporosis is a serious problem and you shouldn’t ignore it. But drugs aren’t always the best answer.

Ironically, it’s the loss of muscle that causes your bones to weaken. In a young adult, the stress and pull your muscles put on your bones help them stay dense and strong. But when you lose that muscle power, your bones become light and brittle.

Your dwindling muscle mass also dramatically increases your chances of falling down and breaking a bone. This happens to be the leading cause of injury and death in older adults.2

Muscles do a whole lot more than help you move around and lift things. They are responsible for a host of vital bodily functions.

Muscles store energy in the form of glycogen—your body’s main source of instant power for living. They also ramp up your metabolism and kick hormone production into gear—especially testosterone, essential for both men and women.

Use this Muscle Building Secret for More Power and Better Mobility…

You’ll See Results in Just a Few Short Weeks

The most powerful tool for building muscle is exercise. The right exercise can reverse just about every change of aging. But not just any exercise will do. You need to do resistance or “strength” training. And you want to work a big muscle group like your legs. This is the key to building muscle—and maintaining it.

In one study, researchers launched 12 weeks of low-intensity leg training in a group of men aged 69 to 74. After lightly working out three times a week for three months, they experienced a 9% to 22% increase in strength in their upper leg musculature.3

Another study examined the effects of a high-intensity, three times per week lower extremity workout on men with an average age of 64. At the end of the study the men showed an increase in upper leg strength ranging from 107% to 226%.4

And this isn’t just for men: women benefit, too. In a study looking at the effects of whole-body resistance training in a group of women and men with an average age of 68 years, thirty weeks of three times a week training resulted in an increase of upper leg strength of 30% to 97%.

Rebuild Your Muscle Mass in Less Than 1 Hour a Week

I usually recommend body weight exercise because they resemble the challenges you face in your everyday environment. You’re also avoiding the kinds of stress injuries that conventional training techniques can cause by unnaturally isolating a single muscle group and working it to death—something your body just wasn’t designed to do.

Here’s something you can do right now… they’re called alternating lunges.

With your hands on your hips, take a step forward with your right leg until your front knee is bent 90 degrees and your back knee almost touches the ground. Push off from your leading foot and return to the starting position. Repeat with your left leg.

Make sure you keep your back straight and hold your head high. Drop with your hips as you step forward. Push up using your thigh muscles. Start by doing ten, five with each leg. As you develop more lower-body strength, add more reps to your routine.

This workout is simple but it gets results. It won’t take more than 10 minutes at first… 20 at the most. Do it three times a week and you’ll see great results. That’s less than an hour for the whole week.

Fuel New Muscle Growth with These 4 Power-Boosting Nutrients

Protein provides the building blocks for your muscles. So eat protein at every meal. Cross starchy foods and carbohydrates off your shopping list. Go for protein-rich foods like lean meat, milk, cheese and beans.

Add a protein shake to your daily routine if you can’t get enough from your diet. You should shoot for 100 to 120 grams of protein a day… at least.

There are also a number of inexpensive, widely available supplements that will keep your muscles strong and powerful.

• L-Carnitine: This supplement plays an essential role in maintaining a healthy body. It provides a host of benefits to your body including converting fatty acids into energy, helps you lose weight, increases mental alertness, protects your heart, helps men in the bedrrom and improves diabetes.

I take 500 milligrams of the L-carnitine form. It is important that you choose naturally occurring L-carnitine and not synthetic D, L-carnitine. The D-form interferes with the natural action of the L-carnitine.

• Creatine: This is one of the safest and best-researched supplements to increase muscle mass and strength. It enhances performance, endurance, strength and speed and will boost the amount of muscle you pack on during resistance training.

I recommend a minimum of 5 grams of creatine daily until you build the muscle you need.

• L-Arginine: Another supplement for muscle building. One double-blind study measured the change in muscle strength and lean muscle mass in men taking L-arginine. 6

Twenty-two men on a strength-training program took either the L-arginine supplement or a sugar pill. The men taking the arginine supplement showed a significant increase in muscle strength and lean muscle mass after only five weeks. I have used arginine-containing supplements for 20 years. Like creatine, it is natural and safe.

Daily doses ranging from 500 mg to 1g of L-arginine will support your muscle growth.

• Carnosine: This is a multi-functional compound made from two amino acids. It’s naturally present in your nerve and muscle cells. It protects the integrity of the muscle you have, and will help ensure that the muscle you are building will be healthy and last.

I recommend taking 500 mg of carnosine, twice a day.

• Glutamine: The amino acid glutamine is an important muscle-building supplement for a couple of reasons. For starters, glutamine helps stabilize your energy levels. More importantly, it actually boosts the hormones that tells your body to shed fat and build muscle. In addition, I routinely use glutamine in athletes to prevent muscle breakdown.

For maximum muscle growth, take glutamine as a powder at 5 grams per day. You can dissolve it in water or put it in a protein shake.

By the way, Dr. Sears advocates low carb eating in his book. By the examples he gave of what he eats and recommends, it looks just like Atkins!

Learn more about Dr. Sears' weight loss strategies by right clicking here.

JULY 12, 2009 - WEEK 17 RESULTS

Beginning weight - 150 / BMI 26.57 / Body Fat 37.9%
Current weight - 141 / BMI 24.98 / Body Fat 33.8%
Goal weight - 125
Goal date, based on average since starting - February 7, 2010
Goal date, based on average in the last 30 days - November 30, 2009

Here is an average of my daily food intake for this past week:

1554 Calories

116g Fat (67.2%)

100.7g Protein

26.6g Carbs

10.5g Fiber

16.1g net carbs, of which 12.3g came from veggies

I weigh on a body composition scale, so I can tell how much fat, muscle and water I have gained or lost.

Scale weight lost this week - 2.4 pounds
Fat lost this week - 1.5 pounds
Muscle lost this week - 0.8 pounds
Water lost this week - 0.1 pounds
Total scale weight lost since starting - 9 pounds

Since starting, I have lost 6% of my total body weight. I need to lose another 10.7%. I have lost 36% of the 25 pounds I need to lose.

According to my doctor, I needed to lose 35 pounds of fat, and gain 10 pounds of muscle. So far, I have lost 7.7 pounds of fat, and lost 1.3 pounds of muscle/water.

I've also been keeping track of my measurements on fitday. I measure every Sunday.

Neck 13.75 - 13.00 = 3/4 inch down
Bicep 11.75 - 11.5 = 1/4 inch down
Forearm 9.00 - 9.00 = same
Bust 38.25 - 37.00 = 1-1/4 inch down
Midriff 33.00 - 30.75 = 2-1/4 inches down
Waist 31.50 - 29.00 = 2-1/2 inches down
Navel 39.25 - 34.50 = 4-3/4 inches down (the heart health zone, so this is great!)
Hips 42.00 - 39.25 = 2-3/4 inches down
Thigh 24.50 - 22.50 = 2 inches down
Calf 14.50 - 14.25 = 1/4 inch down

Total lost this week - 1 inch
Total lost since starting - 19-1/4 inches

At Colette's advice, I dropped my calories down to the lowest end of minimum, and, as soon as I did that, I immediately started losing. In the last couple of weeks, I did start trying to increase my calories, but started gaining again. Again, Colette advised me to decrease them again, and I started losing the next day. I guess I may have to stay here for awhile...

I am taking my supplements, including Acetyl L-carnitine, and drinking 84 oz. of water each day.

I started the Pacebook recommendations for exercise.

I also do a 1-hour Hatha Yoga class twice per week.

JULY 5, 2009 - WEEK 16 RESULTS

I gained 1.8 pounds this week.

Beginning weight 141.6

Ending weight 143.4

Here is an average of my daily food intake for this past week:

1476 Calories

109.1g Fat (66.5%)

93.2g Protein

30.5g Carbs

12.8g Fiber

17.7g net carbs, of which 12.5g came from veggies