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| Atkins Introduction | Induction | Pre-maintenance | Lifetime Maintenance | Fibre/Psyllium Husks | Vitamins/Minerals | |
| ONGOING WEIGHT LOSS
These are my journal entries for the period I remained on the 'OWL' phase of the Atkins weight loss, and diet re-education, programme: |
| Tuesday, November 4, 2003 Atkins Low Carbohydrate
Diet - Weeks 19 and 20
Now in week 21. Measurements last Sunday are at the foot of the message. I didn’t post last week because I was away for a few days. In the week to 26th October I again had quite good results. I lost 0.9 kg (1.9 lb), and in the week to 2nd November, the first full week on OWL, I lost a further 0.6 kg (1.4 lb). Chest, waist and hips were down over these two weeks a further 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 inches respectively, – overall losses so far are 4.7, 11.7 and 8.0 inches respectively. I am now on the 2nd stage of the OWL carb ladder, adding 5g carbs a day of various fresh cheeses, and seem to have lost about 0.4kg (0.8lb) since Sunday, partly attributable to having unavoidably missed a meal yesterday. I’ll add another 5 daily carbs to my diet this coming Sunday, when I move to the nuts stage of the ladder. (In all my menus below: tbsp - tablespoon of 15ml; tsp - teaspoon of 5ml)
Supplements - all taken before breakfast, after swallowing the fibre mixture.
Snacks - none (I rarely if ever have any as I've never been hungry since beginning Atkins). Exercise - walks with my dog. Morning about 2 1/2 miles. Afternoon about 2 miles. Evening about 1 mile. I now do about ¼ mile of light jogging during the morning and afternoon walks. Issues this week – OWL seems to be going well. Cheating this week – Over this past weekend I had four quite large glasses of dry white wine; I was away at a conference and relaxed a little. It doesn’t seem to have done me too much harm. Diet stage – OWL level 2 of carb ladder (30g carbs a day)
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| Friday, November 14, 2003 Atkins Low Carbohydrate
Diet - Week 21
Now in week 22. Measurements last Sunday are at the foot of the message. In the week to 9th November, week 2 on OWL, I lost a further 0.5 kg (1.1 lb). Chest, waist and hips showed reasonable reductions - 0.2, 0.2 and 0.3 inches respectively, – overall losses so far are 4.9, 11.9 and 8.3 inches respectively. I am now on the 3rd stage of the OWL carb ladder, adding 5g carbs a day of nuts, a stage I’ve been looking forward to reaching for WEEKS. So far I’ve had some roasted almonds and hazelnuts and just a very few brasil nuts – delicious. I seem to have lost about 0.5kg (1.1lb) since Sunday and I suspect I’m managing to keep up the weight loss partly because of the regular, but not very lengthy periods of jogging I now do as part of my daily dog walking routine. The other reason may be a change in my mineral supplement regime – see below. My stamina remains pretty abysmal, but I think I am beginning to see some improvement – very encouraging and good for the morale. Next week I’ll be able to add some berries – yum! As I’ll be entertaining a few people to dinner during the week, we’ll be able to have berries (probably raspberries and blackberries) and cream for a dessert – a lot easier than some of the contortions I’ve had to go through when entertaining over the past few months. (In all my menus below: tbsp - tablespoon of 15ml; tsp - teaspoon of 5ml)
Supplements - all taken before breakfast, after swallowing the fibre mixture.
Snacks – I’m having some of my nut allowance late morning and the rest late afternoon. I haven’t noticed the re-emergence of cravings so far, but am on the lookout for these. Exercise - walks with my dog. Morning about 2 1/2 miles. Afternoon about 2 miles. Evening about 1 mile. I now do about ¼ mile of light jogging during the morning and afternoon walks. Issues this week – OWL seems to be going well. I’m probably being over-cautious with the quantities of fresh cheeses and nuts I am eating – I’m afraid of stalling my weight loss, so I think I will try my hardest NOT to measure my weight daily, but only weekly so that I still see a measureable difference and not become discouraged by daily measurements. Cheating this week – none. Diet stage – OWL level 3 of carb ladder (35g carbs a day)
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| Thursday, November 20, 2003 Atkins Low Carbohydrate
Diet - Week 22
Now in week 23. Measurements last Sunday are at the foot of the message. In the week to 16th November, week 3 on OWL, I lost a further 0.4 kg (0.8 lb). Chest, waist and hips showed small reductions - 0.1, 0.2 and 0.2 inches respectively, – overall losses so far are 5.0, 12.1 and 8.5 inches respectively. I am now on the 4th stage of the OWL carb ladder, adding 5g carbs a day of berries, yet another stage I’ve been looking forward to reaching for WEEKS. So far I’ve only had some strawberries (amazingly, still English-grown) with double cream, but I hope to find some raspberries or blackberries in the next few days, no doubt at this time of year either from Spain or California or perhaps Chile. I seem to have lost slightly over 0.5kg (1.1lb) since Sunday, although I didn’t quite meet this target last week. I’m gradually extending the length of my brief jogs, whilst walking my dog, and today for the first time I noticed that I could run up a short hill near my home without any calf pain – real progress, I think. I think I’ll stick on this OWL stage for at least another week, though – quite apart from anything else I’m finding it a little difficult to add more back into my daily diet and not feel over-full. I may add a little more salad though. This week, instead of just giving a sample diet, very much the same as previous weeks, except for the berries added this week, I thought it’d be more interesting to look at how my weight loss has progressed over 4-week periods since I began this WOE; the figures show quite an interesting downward trend, with just a few peaks along the way. It confirms, I think, just how well Atkins WOE works if you follow the book reasonably closely, as I have tried to do, with only minor and very sporadic ‘cheating’: LOSS FOR 4 WEEKS ENDING -------- Kg ---- Lb
Supplements – same as last week, except I now take 2 magnesium tablets daily, the first at breakfast and the 2nd mid-afternoon (150mg each). I’m looking at adding Pantothenic Acid, which I can source in the UK, and Pantethine. Unfortunately, the only source I have been able to trace of this is in the US, so it may be some weeks before I can get a hold of it. I’d prefer to start taking both simultaneously, however. See previous weeks for other parts of my daily regime. Cheating this week – none. Diet stage – OWL level 4 of carb ladder (40g carbs a day)
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| Monday, December 1, 2003 Atkins Low Carbohydrate
Diet - Weeks 23 and 24
This morning I entered week 25. I was too busy with ‘real life’ away from my PC last week to do a report so this covers 2 weeks. Measurements last night are at the foot of the message. In the first of the 2 weeks (to 23rd November - week 4 on OWL), I lost 0.9 kg (2.0 lb). I would have lost considerably more than this, possibly as much as 1.5kg (3.3lb), largely I suspect because of the lengthier and lengthier light ‘jogging’ I now do whilst out taking my dog for her daily walks. I think I had been instinctively too restrictive in what I was eating and leaving too big a margin below the daily limit of 40g carbs. To compensate, I increased both the protein I was eating and the amount of salads/vegetables I was taking at several meals. In the second of the 2 weeks (to 30th November - week 5 on OWL), I remained on the same 40g carb level a day, but ensured I was eating much closer to the daily maximum allowed. I lost a further 0.6 kg (1.4 lb). Chest, waist and hips showed pretty reasonable reductions over the two weeks - 0.1, 0.4 and 0.4 inches respectively – overall losses so far are 5.1, 12.5 and 8.9 inches respectively. As I am now on the 4th stage of the OWL carb ladder, adding 5g carbs a day of berries, I am enjoying all the additional vegetables, nuts and berries I am allowed and so far haven’t noticed any particular ‘cravings’. With nuts I am careful that I measure out what I am allowed onto a small dish and PUT THE BAGS OF NUTS AWAY IN THE CUPBOARD OUT OF SIGHT – I then ration out my nut allowance over the period when I am preparing lunch or dinner. I do NOT want to get back into the habit of ‘snacking’ between meals, something I no longer have any desire to do and just don’t notice. The strawberries available here at the moment seem to be from Holland, but it won’t be long before they’re coming from Spain or Morocco – many years ago I lived in Morocco and consider them to grow amongst the best strawberries available anywhere. The blueberries I’ve been getting have been from Chile and have been delicious. I’m going to stay on 40g carb a day for the next one or two weeks, but make sure I am actually eating pretty close to this daily limit and not instinctively eating less. In both the last two weeks I have ‘cheated’ a little by having a couple of glasses of red wine each week and I shall certainly be continuing to do so, but will of course not overdo it. Depending on progress over these two weeks I expect to be able to move to ‘Pre-maintenance’ sometime during this period. I want to make the change when I have about 7 lb left to lose. At present I am 8.9lb from my target. Supplements – same as last week. Cheating this week – minor; a couple of glasses of wine during the week. Diet stage – OWL level 4 of carb ladder (40g carbs a day)
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| Wednesday, December 10, 2003 Atkins Low Carbohydrate
Diet - Week 25
Now in week 26 (This week straddles OWL and Pre-maintenance (PM). Measurements last Sunday are at the foot of the message. Last week (week 6 on OWL), I again remained on the same 40g carb level a day. I lost a further 0.6 kg (1.3 lb). Chest, waist and hips showed small reductions - 0.2, 0.2 and 0.1 inches respectively – overall losses so far are 5.3, 12.7 and 9.0 inches respectively. Since last Sunday, I seem to have dropped a further 0.4 kg (0.9 lb) – validated over two days – so I now have only 3 kg (6.6 lb) left to reach target. Therefore, I decided today to move on to ‘Pre-maintenance’, rather than wait until next Sunday. I’ve added more nuts, comprising additional amounts whilst preparing lunch and dinner. I’ve also added some more vegetables – some courgette and some mangetout. So far I haven’t noticed resurgence of cravings, but I’m trying to observe this over a couple of days, just to check! Supplements – I forgot to mention last time that the week before last I added Co-enzyme Q10 to my daily supplements (1 x 10mg tablet). Last week I added Pantothenic Acid (1 x 550mg caplet), mentioned last week. Cheating this week – I was away this past weekend for 3 days and ate both home-cooked and restaurant meals. However, I was able to stick pretty closely to the rules. I did have a few glasses of wine, though, and I’m afraid that one of the rib-eye steaks I had was accompanied by red rather than white wine. Diet stage – OWL level 4 of carb ladder (40g carbs a day) until 9 Dec; Pre-maintenance (50g carbs a day) with effect from 10 Dec.
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| Future entries are in the 'Pre-Maintenance (PM)' page. |
| Atkins Introduction | Induction | Pre-maintenance | Lifetime Maintenance | Fibre/Psyllium Husks | Vitamins/Minerals | |
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