Calling in the experts!

[misterbenjamin]

... visited again with a personal trainer this morning and had another evaluation. A different guy, less hurried, more informative. After several calculations and measurements, he concluded that my goal weight of 175 pounds, is unrealistic. He weighed me in at 196 pounds this morning. I couldn't believe it. I am happy to report my scale lies. Lies like a dog! I have no memory of ever being below the 200 pound mark. I stood in awe. So this is a very important day in my life. He then tells me i'm currently at 19% body fat. Preferrably that number should be between 14-17% for optimal health. Lower between 6-13% for seasoned athletes.

First of all, i know many of you are aware of how i have taken my health for granted getting here. I'm not here to discuss the whys or offer further explanation of my misjudgements, but rather ask for your help. Something i should have done a long time ago.

Currently, i am holding at 190 pounds. My goal is set at 185 pounds. Now i do want to encourage my 2-pack on, but i no longer want to do thing incorrectly. I want to continue working my lower body, and bring it ino balance with the rest of me. I also want to preserve the muscle i do have and add in more muscle without losing important, essential muscle.

From a nutritional stand point, can you just give me the numbers. Do the math and spell it out for me, in a clear and precise manner. Considering my stats, how many calories, proteins, fats and carbs should i be ingesting daily to achieve my goals? And more importantly, is there anything i can do to help "increase" my appetite to get me going? I was thinking maybe, i should wait until i my first hunger of the day, and go do the burger and fries, and jolt myself out of this lack of hunger mode.

In the past few days, i have continued swimming, but have set aside all other forms of exercise, until i get a better handle on my eating habits. My first step in stimulating my hunger and i have my hands up in the air over it. I'd appreciate your expertise here.

gratefully,
Ben


P.S. I'm still on vacation until the first of November, and would like to get a new plan of action implemented, before heading back to work. That gives me a little under two weeks to start making some real changes, and hopefully a real difference in my health, and gain a new approach to things.

[Betty]

Well I do know this WOE pretty well, but for what you are asking I am not that type of expert.
I do salute you on your success thus far.
I would not encourage the burger/ fry thing you were talking about.
I am sure that someone will come along who can give you a more precise answer.
To bad Tommy can't check in as often becuse he would probably be able to give you a very good answer.

[SanSSanity]

First I would go to www.mybodycomp.com and create a sign on there. When you fill in your measurements and weight and everything it will tell you how many calories you need to eat per day, and how many you are burning depending on the exercise you do.

Secondly. Where are you in Atkins? If you have already done OWL and you dont know how many carbs you need, then I would go back to the beginning of OWL and start at 20grams of carbs per day. Then I would start adding 5g of carbs for every rung you go up in the OWL ladder. When you stop losing then thats how many carbs your body can take in.

I also believe that by doing this it will slowly start bringing you out of ketosis once you reach the higher rungs of the ladder. By the time you get through all the rungs then you will be set up...and will be eating all the nutritious foods that your body needs.

The main thing is you need to figure out how many calories a day you need to be consuming, as well as carbs. I like to keep a journal of everything that I put into my mouth, including drinks..I also weigh daily and keep track of my weight is for the morning. I just have a spiral notebook that I do this in. I used to go to www.fitday.com also but its a bit of a pain...however it is helpful..and free as well.

I also know for a fact that you need to be eating MORE than 1000 calories per day. I think I read somewhere that you were eating just 1000 cal/day which isnt good. If I remember correctly, I believe my nutrition classes in college taught us that one who limits their calories and eats anywhere from 700-1000 a day on purpose can basically be condsidered as anorexic...its also what youre thinking in your head...and how you perceive yourself...your body image. Not just what youre putting in your mouth. Im not saying youre anorexic, but its easy to get used to this way of thinking that your size just isnt small enouh..so you start restricting more and more calories. So its a good thing you are recognizing that this could be a potential problem and you are asking us for help.

To be healthy, you probably need more like 1500-2000 calories a day, maybe even more depending on how active you are.

To start out though I would go to mybodycomp.com and make an account and see how many calories you need to be eating. Seems like your personal trainer could tell you a little bit about this also? My nutrition professor was a personal trainer...she was psycho about that kind of stuff. Might want to ask him/her about calories.

HTHS.

[misterbenjamin]

Good advice, SanSSanity. I'll check into it. And I'll check into finding a local nutritionalist, who is knowledgeable about Atkins, and see what direction they can give me.

To clarify. I started out on induction and kept it clean. Lost 30 pounds. Stalled. Kicked it up by doing the fat fast. Went off the diet that first Thanksgiving. Gained. Restarted. Dropped another 25 pounds and then stalled out. Adopted the fat fast again. Then i would return to induction. And when i would stall out, I'd return to fat fast. I had incredible success that first six months, and then slowed things down and tried moving up the ladder, made it to about 35 carbs a day and stalled out again, and then gained 5 pounds back. This is the point i panicked and immediately returned to induction, alternating the fat fast to keep the scale moving. Long story short, i did everything, just the way you're not suppose to.

Now it is a matter of appetite. I have used fitday and have logged my food intake and it is there, i learned there my calorie intake falls short. Most days. Not everyday. But most days I "average" somewhere around 1,000 calories. That's just a ball park. Somedays, i eat more and my appetite is good and will average 1,300-1,500 calories. Occassionally, even more. It's not that i'm starving myself or refusing to eat. I simply don't have an appetite. And when i eat, i am easily satisfied, and don't need the big portions i used to eat. So i try to listen to what my body is telling me. It has gone from one extreme to another. First, i couldn't control my appetite, now i barely have one. I know they say Atkins will curb your appetite naturally.

I eat tons of vegetables. Tons. And have added back in a fruit each day. Instead of brown rice, which i don't care for, i'll opt for kidney beans, example and make a three bean salad. And i try to eat nuts. And the right amount of proteins, but my appetite only allows so much. So there lies the dilemma. So maybe i'll do as you say, check out that sight and start moving back up the ladder again. I've got to start somewhere. I'll keep you posted. I appreciate you taking the time to type all this. You've really come through for me these past few days, and i really appreciate it. Thank you.

gratefully,
Ben

[Perry]

Ben, if you provide a link to your fitday account we can help you modify your menu to make your goal. After you build a proper plan for long term weight maintenace I'm sure your fears of failure will subside.

[misterbenjamin]

Ben, if you provide a link to your fitday account we can help you modify your menu to make your goal. After you build a proper plan for long term weight maintenace I'm sure your fears of failure will subside.

Thanks, Perry. I use to use fitday daily, but not for quite awhile now. I can't even get myself logged in. What i will do, however, is create a new account and log a few days of my food intake for you and others to consider. I appreciate your help.


peace,
Ben

[Betty]

I want to plead brain death on the day I first answered this post because I totally missed what you were asking. LOL I focused in on your asking for the numbers and was thinking, I can't give him any specific numbers, and I am by no means an expert on the exercise specifics.
Anyway you did get some good advice and I am glad.
So it sounds like you have a direction to go and that is also good. One of the neatest things about this board is the wide variety of experiences people have with this WOE, and thus a wide variety of wisdom to share with others.

[2big4mysize]

I'm confused Ben what do you want to do.

Do you want to just slim down more in a healthy Atkins way? The fastest healthiest way possible?
Do you want to get in great physical shape too? Do you want to buyild up your muscles?

your feeding numbers will be different for each but will still be atkins. the easiest way to up your cals on Atkins is use calorie dense foods while you don't have an appetite like a rich sauce on your meats and or veggies. add back the OWL Dairy rung 2 that is one way to get more cals in your diet fast. or rung 3 Snack on nuts.

the easiest way to get your appetite back is eat more carbs but this slows your speed of weight loss. Everybody doing premaintenance close to their CCLL finds this out very quickly. I tell you it is the scariest moment on your Atkins when you discover that the appetite suppression that was your best buddy for all those pounds is no longer there and you have to control it yourself using all those things you have learned about controlling your blood sugar during induction and OWL. Now you understand why we urge folks to do a proper OWL and learn about their body's reactions to the food groups while they have pounds to play with and the appetite suppression of the deep ketosis.

When you do Atkins properly you start out with induction at 65% fats. as you add back the carbs you lower your fat intake slighly until you get to the last 5-10 pounds and your fats should at that point be about 55% with your proteins still close to 30 and your carbs up to about 15% of your total cals as you do premaintenance you add more carbs and lower your fats and some of your protein till you get to goal at around 45-50% fats, 25-30% proteins and 20-25% carbs. everybody has slightly different bodies and CCLM numbers so not all can do each ratio if their body has metabolic resistance that doesn't get healed up eating Atkins or they don't exercise enough to handle the higher carb amounts. For those with a CCLM of 30 net carbs they would be doing good to get their carb totals to be 15%.

[misterbenjamin]

I'm confused Ben what do you want to do.

Do you want to just slim down more in a healthy Atkins way? The fastest healthiest way possible?
Do you want to get in great physical shape too? Do you want to buyild up your muscles?

2big: You've given me a lot of food for thought, no pun intended. Losing the weight was the easy part of this. Getting the ball to stop rolling, at a healthy weight for my height and stature, while preserving the lean muscle i have worked hard to develop, while protecting essential muscle, is my priority. Increasing my appetite to intake more of the proper foods is what has been difficult, if not impossible until now.

Dropping the fat % of my daily calories is making the difference i was looking for. Bringing that number down just a little has helped ease my suppressed appetite. And with that extra bit of hunger, i've been eating a good breakfast for the first time in my life. Just that added meal is holding me steady, and have seen no more drops on the scale. I brought coffee back into my diet, too.

So this morning for example:
I ate 2 scrambled eggs, mushrooms, 1/2 whole orange and coffee.

This is also encouraging my appetite come time to eat lunch. I'm still swimming laps every morning, but have also cut all other forms of exercise for now. I have other priorities to focus on right now, and when i get myself onto a good, consistent way of eating, i can implement my boxing and running back in, as desired. Moderation is the key, so i am learning. Thanks, 2big. I appreciate your insightful knowledge. It has made the difference i was hoping for.

gratefully,
Ben

[2big4mysize]

Ben
glad I could help with the appetite. Just becareful you don't get your fats too low so you start having blood sugar swings and out of control cravings. You can look in your DANDR and find the charts in the chapter on premaintenance that tell you what your CCLL should be based on your induction loss. If you are exercising more now then you were then you can go even higher with your carbs. just remember to select healthy low AGR ones from the lists. Atkins For Life has the complete AGR list for all 10 rungs but some of the eat regularly foods are posted in the stickies.

Add your weight training back as soon as you can cause while pool exercise is good it isn't weight bearing so your bones are actually geting weaker then if you were walking.
The weight training will allow you to add more foods as it should up your CCLL quite a bit. I was up over 100 net carbs while still losing the last 15 pounds doing my HIIT and BFL lifting. I know Max99 was up over 100 too and dropped his body fat below 10%

[misterbenjamin]

Ben
glad I could help with the appetite. Just becareful you don't get your fats too low so you start having blood sugar swings and out of control cravings. You can look in your DANDR and find the charts in the chapter on premaintenance that tell you what your CCLL should be based on your induction loss. If you are exercising more now then you were then you can go even higher with your carbs. just remember to select healthy low AGR ones from the lists. Atkins For Life has the complete AGR list for all 10 rungs but some of the eat regularly foods are posted in the stickies.

Add your weight training back as soon as you can cause while pool exercise is good it isn't weight bearing so your bones are actually geting weaker then if you were walking.
The weight training will allow you to add more foods as it should up your CCLL quite a bit. I was up over 100 net carbs while still losing the last 15 pounds doing my HIIT and BFL lifting. I know Max99 was up over 100 too and dropped his body fat below 10%

2big: I will consider your advice. I know all about weight training and how it is essential to the body, and i also know how addictive it can become. But do plan on incorporating it back into my life, and in moderation. But right now, i've got a bigger boat to paddle and need to focus on the nutrional side of myself. Something i should have done from the very beginning. But me being so determined to reach my goal, lost patience, and nearly risked my health in the process. So now i must learn how to eat and maintain, the way i should already know how, if i had done things properly, the way intended and taken a different path. A slower, more natural approach.

You've been of tremendous help to me these past few days. And i have not enough words to express the depth of my gratitude. Your wisdom has come without limits and has made a significant difference.

And the one thing i have learned myself: Patience is key. Pass that on to every newbie, everyone who writes and is feeling discouraged, and anybody who is simply feeling that drive and ambition to reach goal in a hurry. It is important that we teach them the importance of being patient, of taking things slow and steady, and how getting there is not nearly as important, as the path we choose to travel. I can not stress it enough. And from my experience, my wish is to help others learn through me, and to prevent them from having to repeat the same bitter lesson.

Thank you, 2big.

peace,
Ben

EDIT

*This Maintenance thread has been closed due to extended absence of owner. Please feel free to private message any compliments and/or comments to the original poster. If you are the owner and would like to revive your Maintenance thread please PM the forum mod or an Admin.