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I had my yearly check-up two weeks ago and I wanted to share a little of what my doctor told me.
First, as soon as he came into the room, he said, "let's talk about your fantastic bloodwork! What are you doing?" I guess I looked puzzled and he clarified, "Your labs came back great." He showed me the chart and explained all the numbers to me. My cholesterol and triglycerides were in the low range of ideal and my good cholesterol was right in the middle of ideal. He said that all he would change is that he'd maybe bring my good cholesterol up one or two points.
I had never really discussed my diet with him before, at least not in detail. So then I just came out with it. I told him that I am a huge fan of Atkins, but that I always give up after two weeks because everything seems to stop and I get depressed and decide I'll try it again later. And he smiled. He told me that he eats low carb too. He's not overweight, but he is trying to lose some. Then he gave me some excellent advice that I really wanted to share with everyone.
First, about keto-sticks. He told me that in his opinion, those are one of the best tools anyone who eats low carb can use. He explained how if that little stick is purple, your body is absolutely, without question, doing what you want it to do. It's a chemical reaction and there's no way around it. He said that the typical bathroom scale is only partially accurate at best. He said that if the stick is purple and your scale reads that you are up two pounds, there should be no question in your mind that those two pounds have nothing in the world to do with fat. If you're feeling down and the scale isn't budging, and even if your waistline isn't going down, never fear. Fat is still going away and it's only a small amount of committed, determined time before you see it and feel it.
Second, he is a huge fan of charting your progress. We are similar in that both of us love to use Excel, but I hadn't used it like he suggested. You can turn anything in Excel into a chart or graph. He told me that this his experience: He started charting his progress on Excel just to keep track and to have it handy. He would have the same feelings when the scale wasn't budging, but he kept right on because his sticks were always purple and he knew the science behind that. So he kept right on filling in those numbers on his chart. In time, he began to see a definite pattern. He would lose, lose, lose, lose and then stop. Then he would go up maybe one or two pounds. Then he would lose, lose, lose, lose and then stop and then maybe go up one or two pounds. He learned that this is how his body works. That is his natural rhythm of losing and when you look at it long term, it is consistent. That's the key - it's consistent.
Then we talked about my resting metabolic rate. There is a fitness center at the medical complex where I go and he wants me to go get tested. Apparently they have a way over there to very accurately gauge your resting metabolic rate. What's important about that is knowing what you need to eat because every person is different. Although Atkins gives us the tools to eat well, the fact still remains that every person is different. We have to be in control of ourselves and know our own bodies. I've heard stories of people who have "done Atkins" with huge success eating things that I know or a fact will stall me, give me leg cramps, cause severe intestinal pain, not to mention draining my energy. All of us are different and each of us has the responsibility to ourselves and and our families to take charge of our eating and get to know our own bodies. What works for me might not work for you and the other way around. But low carb does work and it is healthy! There are new studies all the time that prove it. We just have to learn what on those lists of acceptable foods work for us as unique individuals and we have to get out there and get that blood pumping!!
So here I am again, down a total of 5 pounds after losing and regaining again, and I am putting his good words to use. I hope some of this will be as inspirational for others as it was for me.
First, as soon as he came into the room, he said, "let's talk about your fantastic bloodwork! What are you doing?" I guess I looked puzzled and he clarified, "Your labs came back great." He showed me the chart and explained all the numbers to me. My cholesterol and triglycerides were in the low range of ideal and my good cholesterol was right in the middle of ideal. He said that all he would change is that he'd maybe bring my good cholesterol up one or two points.
I had never really discussed my diet with him before, at least not in detail. So then I just came out with it. I told him that I am a huge fan of Atkins, but that I always give up after two weeks because everything seems to stop and I get depressed and decide I'll try it again later. And he smiled. He told me that he eats low carb too. He's not overweight, but he is trying to lose some. Then he gave me some excellent advice that I really wanted to share with everyone.
First, about keto-sticks. He told me that in his opinion, those are one of the best tools anyone who eats low carb can use. He explained how if that little stick is purple, your body is absolutely, without question, doing what you want it to do. It's a chemical reaction and there's no way around it. He said that the typical bathroom scale is only partially accurate at best. He said that if the stick is purple and your scale reads that you are up two pounds, there should be no question in your mind that those two pounds have nothing in the world to do with fat. If you're feeling down and the scale isn't budging, and even if your waistline isn't going down, never fear. Fat is still going away and it's only a small amount of committed, determined time before you see it and feel it.
Second, he is a huge fan of charting your progress. We are similar in that both of us love to use Excel, but I hadn't used it like he suggested. You can turn anything in Excel into a chart or graph. He told me that this his experience: He started charting his progress on Excel just to keep track and to have it handy. He would have the same feelings when the scale wasn't budging, but he kept right on because his sticks were always purple and he knew the science behind that. So he kept right on filling in those numbers on his chart. In time, he began to see a definite pattern. He would lose, lose, lose, lose and then stop. Then he would go up maybe one or two pounds. Then he would lose, lose, lose, lose and then stop and then maybe go up one or two pounds. He learned that this is how his body works. That is his natural rhythm of losing and when you look at it long term, it is consistent. That's the key - it's consistent.
Then we talked about my resting metabolic rate. There is a fitness center at the medical complex where I go and he wants me to go get tested. Apparently they have a way over there to very accurately gauge your resting metabolic rate. What's important about that is knowing what you need to eat because every person is different. Although Atkins gives us the tools to eat well, the fact still remains that every person is different. We have to be in control of ourselves and know our own bodies. I've heard stories of people who have "done Atkins" with huge success eating things that I know or a fact will stall me, give me leg cramps, cause severe intestinal pain, not to mention draining my energy. All of us are different and each of us has the responsibility to ourselves and and our families to take charge of our eating and get to know our own bodies. What works for me might not work for you and the other way around. But low carb does work and it is healthy! There are new studies all the time that prove it. We just have to learn what on those lists of acceptable foods work for us as unique individuals and we have to get out there and get that blood pumping!!
So here I am again, down a total of 5 pounds after losing and regaining again, and I am putting his good words to use. I hope some of this will be as inspirational for others as it was for me.
Great pointers!!
~ 
I think it's because I can manipulate the charts and stuff like that.
I've also decided not to count what day that I'm on because I'm trying to condition a mindset that this is for life and I'm not going to count what day I'm on for the rest of my life. Anyways, I really enjoyed this post! Thanks for sharing!!! 
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