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