RE: Experiences with Atkins diet

From: Greg Burch (gregburch@gregburch.net)
Date: Sat Apr 26 2003 - 15:31:18 MDT

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    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Hal Finney
    > Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2003 1:10 PM
    >
    >
    > I thought I'd write about my own experiences with the Atkins
    > diet. I've been on it almost two weeks. Coincidentally I
    > began just a few days after Greg Burch's post about it,
    > although I had decided to try it a few days earlier after a
    > friend told me about his success with the diet.

    I should check in, since as of yesterday, I've reached my target weight:
    225 pounds (I'm 6'6" -- 198 cm for the Euros). Recall that my
    motivation was our upcoming quasi-extropian scuba trip (Max and Natasha
    are joining a large group of my friends and clients in Cozumel) -- we're
    leaving in 4 days, and this morning I tried on my wet suit. Damn! I
    look like a balding Batman! Seriously, I've lost 31 pounds in two
    months.
     
    > So what are the results? Well, there's good news and bad
    > news. The good news is that I've lost a lot of weight.
    > Today I was 187, down about 8 pounds in 12 days. I think
    > much of that is water weight; the diet acts as a diuretic and
    > I'm going through a lot of water. I lost half the weight in
    > the first three days! But it still gives you a psychological
    > lift to see initial results. And breaking through the 195
    > pound barrier I'd been fighting with for so long was a great feeling.
    >
    > The bad news is that I haven't felt that good. After about
    > two days I started getting headaches and feeling an upset
    > stomach, with not much appetite. This is supposedly because
    > ketosis is kicking in as the body has used up its store of
    > carbs and now has to digest fat. The book said this would go
    > away and I would feel full of energy. Well, the headaches
    > have gone away but I don't have that much energy. My workouts
    > are not quite as hard. Generally I feel somewhat listless,
    > and I'm slow to warm up, although once I get going I can work
    > at pretty much the same level as before. The one positive
    > difference is that I literally feel light on my feet. The
    > rapid weight loss is noticeable in the soles of my feet as I
    > walk, they feel the lessened pressure.

    My experience was much the same. The first week to ten days brought on
    some very odd feelings, along with rapid water-weight loss. (As to the
    latter, be sure to drink LOTS of water!) Thereafter, the weight loss
    wasn't quite as rapid, and came in waves -- I'd lose a pound or more a
    day, then plateau for 2-3 days, then the weight loss would increase
    again.

    I HAVE experienced an over-all loss of energy and also had the same
    experience of warming up slowly. In the evenings I have felt very
    "flat," and think I may well have noticed some lack of mental sharpness
    and quickness, as well -- perhaps due to the lack of glucose in my
    system. However, all of this was offset, as you've experienced, by
    weighing less.
     
    > It's possible that if I increase my carbs somewhat I'll start
    > to feel more energetic. Atkins recommends doing a very low
    > carb diet, less than 20 grams per day, for the first two
    > weeks, then gradually increasing the carbs and seeing how
    > your weight loss goes. My main concern is the first
    > triathlon, but that isn't until August. I need to be at full
    > energy by then. Hopefully I will be able to do that by
    > increasing carbs, without falling back into my old eating habits.

    Having hit my target weight, my plan is now to return to a much more
    normal diet. Next week, I'm planning on eating a substantial fraction
    of the tortillas, beans and rice on the island of Cozumel. This
    shouldn't cause that much weight gain, since diving even in tropical
    waters burns a LOT of calories. After that, I plan on slowly increasing
    the carbs in my diet until they're up to a level that will provide
    energy but hopefully not pack on the fat the way I did for the last four
    or five years.
     
    Greg Burch
    Vice-President, Extropy Institute
    http://www.gregburch.net



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