Okay, I have a question for the more edumacated on the whole "dieting/weight loss" thing. I'm not what most people would consider overweight--I'm somewhere between 5 and 10 pounds heavier than I'd like to be (I'm guessing 170 would probably be my target weight, I started at 184 after the holidays, which is the heaviest I've ever been).
I'm enjoying the South Beach Diet, the variety of food is great, I'm starting to learn to appreciate fish, and Butterfly's been enjoying the fringe benefits of the stronger emphasis on vegetables and low-fat dairy. I *miss* my carbos, but I'm not actually craving them. And the first week was really effective--I went from 184 to 175 in six days. Yay! Can't complain about that!
The frustrating thing is, after that, the next few days of weight-checking were 177, 175, 177, 176. Some of that may be the vaguary of a crappy scale, but it's been pretty consistant within an experimental error range.
So I'm askin', with the low-carb-type diets, is the first week or so just an excercise in burning fictional weight, water, and just a little bit of fat, and then do you get into the "diminishing returns" of actually attacking body mass? Leo, can you help me on this one?
I'm enjoying the South Beach Diet, the variety of food is great, I'm starting to learn to appreciate fish, and Butterfly's been enjoying the fringe benefits of the stronger emphasis on vegetables and low-fat dairy. I *miss* my carbos, but I'm not actually craving them. And the first week was really effective--I went from 184 to 175 in six days. Yay! Can't complain about that!
The frustrating thing is, after that, the next few days of weight-checking were 177, 175, 177, 176. Some of that may be the vaguary of a crappy scale, but it's been pretty consistant within an experimental error range.
So I'm askin', with the low-carb-type diets, is the first week or so just an excercise in burning fictional weight, water, and just a little bit of fat, and then do you get into the "diminishing returns" of actually attacking body mass? Leo, can you help me on this one?
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And another thing about water... especially if you're trying to lose weight, you should be drinking a lot of it. The legendary 8 glasses a day, and caffienated beverages don't count toward the total. If you aren't sufficiently hydrated, you're more likely to retain water.
and, not to get in to a religious war, here, but south beach, atkins, zone, grapefruit, whatever works for you is fine, but really, the only way to sustain weightloss is four magic words:
eat less
exercise more
when I was doing exactly that, I weighed less than I do now. When I stopped doing on, I gained a little. when I stopped doing both, I gained... more than a little.
If the food thing is working for you and making you eat less garbage, then it's a win.
Toss in a bike ride or a brisk walk 3 or 4 times a week and you have something that will bring numbers down and keep them there. The catch being: if you stop what you're doing to have gotten them off, and go back to what you were doing before, they'll come back. That's a promise and a threat.
pick constantly at the neverending supply of doughnuts and pastries in the office until they're too full to eat a healthy mealskip lunch AND breakfast still gain weight?Healthy fat loss happens slowly. Losing 1-2 pounds a WEEK is doing very well. If you end up losing much more than that each week, you're in danger of making your metabolism crash as a survival instinct.
I also don't think weighing yourself every day is good, because you can have fluctuations that will affect things. I only weigh weekly myself at the same time to keep things fairly consistent.