One of my big questions is: why did I lose the weight on Atkins when so many others don’t? While I still am trying to find the answer to this, I thought I’d document some of the things that I do that most people probably don’t.
Is it something about these things that helped me lose the weight? I dunno:
- I weigh myself every day – They used to say this is bad – then within the last year I saw a study that said it was good. Wait long enough, and a study will come out that agrees with whatever you believe, I guess. Weighing yourself every day puts you more in-touch with your body, alerts you to when things are going horribly wrong before your clothes do, and can be a powerful reminder to watch out for those bagels in the lunchroom.
- I weigh myself before dinner – When I come home from work and am changing clothes, I weigh myself. The scale can be quite the appetite suppressant.
- I drink up to a pot of coffee a day – or more – Remember, I’m reporting – not recommending. I do this in the morning before work – I infrequently have coffee later in the day. I have drank this much coffee, then had my blood pressure taken – 120/80. Some people with hypertension (like me) don’t increase their blood pressure if they drink coffee regularly – their body acclimates to it. Coffee also contains antioxidants – a lot of them, apparently. coffee affects people very differently – some people shouldn’t use it on low carb and some people shouldn’t use it at all, but it agrees with me.
- I take my supplements in the evening, after my dinner – Because I typically have a small breakfast, and coffee will deplete your body of minerals, I take my vitamins with my evening meal – I have heard that many vitamins are better absorbed with food.
- I eat most of my calories in the evening – This is considered a disease now – amazing – take a behavior, and give it a name like Nocturnal Caloric Impact Syndrome – NCIS (I just made that up), and now it’s something more than a physiological or behavioral preference. Whatever it is, I probably take most of my calories in the evening, most of the time – most of my life – fat or thin.
- I don’t watch TV – Want to be reminded of food? Try this test: take a pad, and in one evening of TV, count how many times you see people eating food, commercials for food, or commercials for diet programs. An impressive number, isn’t it? Atkins helps you take your mind off of food – you don’t need TV to remind you about food that many times.
- I don’t follow the news – I used to. I used to be a news junkie. I gave it up and find the world is not that much different – just less depressing. Point is – no one will ever get on the TV and say: “nothing much happened today – let’s show some cartoons.” The way things are structured, if something doesn’t happen, they have to invent something worth showing – news is about ratings – not information. Try it – you won’t find yourself all that uninformed. Why does this matter? More on TV and the news in another post.
- I take a fiber supplement every morning – Metamucil, store-brand (I use Costco), or plain Psyllium husks (never tried ’em). Sugar free, of course. The sugar-free varieties use Nutrasweet, but it’s a small amount and doesn’t prevent ketosis in my case. I take 3 or 4 small teaspoons in a half-glass of water every morning – totally ignoring the label. Don’t try taking it dry – you’ll choke. And drink it as fast as possible after mixing – it isn’t a taste sensation to begin with, and it only gets worse as it sits. Why take a fiber supplement? To put it gently, what goes in must come out, and fiber helps in this department – and again, as I said – I’ve used it on induction and it works fine. Also note – using fiber supplements is NOT laxative abuse. Laxatives are unnatural and harsh on your body – this is just ground up seed husks.
Anyone out there have their own ‘unusual’ habits that run counter to the norm but seem to work? Let me know – I’d love to hear them.
Low Carb Confidential 
Very interesting. I also eat most of my calories at night. My husband works 2nd shift, gets off at midnight and we eat “dinner” at 12:30am. We go to bed around 2:00-3:00am.
I asked my Endocronologist once “Everyone says I shouldn’t eat late. Can people lose weight, eating late at night?” He said to me “Are you losing weight eating late at night?” I said “Yes”. He said “Well, you can lose weight at night”. Seems sort of simple, but I really do lose at night (80+lbs).
I also am a daily weigher! It REALLY does work. If it seems up, I am extra careful, if it’s down, I’m excited and MORE motivated to do well. I wonder though, are you a food “addict”. In other words, do you binge, do you eat until you’re sick, do you eat emotionally? I don’t and I think that’s why the scale doesn’t do “a number on me”. Some people, see the scale go up, freak out and say “what the heck” and eat crappy food the rest of the day. What are your thoughts on that?
I also weigh at a weird time, NOT first thing in the morning. That’s my highest weight of the day. I weigh every day around 3:00 in the afternoon – before my FIRST meal of the day. Because I too drink a ton of coffee! LOL
I do watch TV, but not loads because I run our family business and that means I work A LOT! But I DO love cooking shows. Mostly because I’m getting ideas for our family.
Great post!
Hi Yvonne,
Thanks for the comment. You bring up an interesting point about being a food addict.
I don’t think I am. While some may argue that maintaining a blog on low carb is a sure indicator of some sort of obsession, I ideally strive for a low carb lifestyle to complement my life – not dominate it.
For me, the scale is an indicator – if I see it go up, I access my diet for the past day and sometimes really wonder why it went up – or down. I don’t use it as an excuse for binging – I eat what I eat and there are those times where I eat what I’ve decided I ‘shouldn’t’.
I don’t cut myself any slack – in my own way. I cheat, but I focus on the long-view – a day or two doesn’t matter in a lifetime. I beat myself up, but I don’t *give up*. It’s a lifestyle – not a diet – a temporary thing.
I like your style – it might sound odd to some, but it works for you – that’s the way I think it’s done – you find your own natural rhythms and leverage them to achieve your goals.
As to TV – I think it’s a complex issue, and as I said, I want to discuss this at length in another post, but when I do watch TV, I like the cooking shows too.
I think the key is Whatever works for you…works. Experts be damned.
I weigh every day… and I write it down. It keeps me honest and in line.
I weigh at night before dinner
I weigh before bed for a preview of the morning (yes, I realize this borders on obsessive)
I drink all the coffee I want because I refuse to give it up.
I try and get all my water in before dinner too.
And I’ve lost 33 pounds.
Lisa,
‘Obsessiveness’ is a label that could easily be ‘single-mindedness’, ‘determination’, ‘perserverence’, to name a few. Leonardo DaVinci was obsessive about his paintings. Thomas Edison tried 10,000 different materials before he came up with a working light bulb. Being ‘obsessive’ is only bad when it reduces the quality of life.
I think the problem is some people aren’t creative enough to try these sorts of counterintutitive things. They get a book, follow it to the letter, don’t succeed – and think it’s some failure on their part.
That obviously not you – ‘experts be damned’ – I *like* that!
Regards,
LCC