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The background: I'm six feet tall and 42 years old. My ideal weight is around 188-190.
In 1985 I weighed 184 pounds.
In 2000 I weighed 222 pounds and after considerable procrastination I realized that I needed to do something about it so I went on the Atkin's diet for about four months and dropped down to 190.
Over the next six years I managed to slowly drift back up to about 223..
In 2006 I found out that most of my allergies and other dietary problems were being caused by consuming way too much High Fructose Corn Syrup.
My body just reacts wildly to this sweetener causing crazy changes to my metabolic and immune systems.
After dropping that from my diet completely, a little over a week later the horrible allergies I had suffered for 20 years vanished (2 Claritin and 12+ benedryl were needed daily just to bring me up from "Take me to the hospital" up to "just miserable" ).
After dropping this, not only did my allergies go away but my triglyceride count (which was through the roof) dropped back into the "low normal" range.
(strangely enough though, even with the HFCS in my system, my fasting blood sugar levels never went above 90)
I made no other changes in my diet, substituting products with natural sweeteners instead of HFCS.
Foods like cereals, breads, jams, sodas and ice cream with sugar, etc. are all part of my "normal" diet (not insane amounts but they are there) and despite eating the same amounts of the same types of foods I have not gained (or lost) a single pound in the two years since dropping the HFCS.
It seems to me that without the HFCS, my normal dietary intake is able maintain my weight exactly. Since HFCS was seriously introduced into the American food system in the mid-eighties it also seems possible that it may have played a part in my initial weight gain as well.
So, after having spent the past two years staying steady at 223 I have finally decided that enough and is enough and have gone back on Atkins until I get back to where I want my weight to be and hopefully this time without the HFCS I'll be able to maintain that weight going forward. Once I hit my goal weight I intend to go back to my regular diet (after a 6 week transition period to reintroduce my system to carbs) and see exactly what happens.
This will be a kind of experiment for me to determine if in fact it was the HFCS which added all of those pounds onto me in the first place or if I am blaming the wrong source and just need to learn to cut a few calories (carb related ones) from my diet every day instead.
Ultimately if I gain back say, 10 pounds I'll know that I just need to cut back and that the HFCS played little or no part in the weight gain.
I started by beginning the induction phase on Jan. 1st and as of this morning I am at 213 pounds. My goal is to return to 190.
(Oddly enough, ever since I started ketosis my allergies (which have been gone for over two years) has been returning off and on albeit in a milder form than what I used to experience.)
In 1985 I weighed 184 pounds.
In 2000 I weighed 222 pounds and after considerable procrastination I realized that I needed to do something about it so I went on the Atkin's diet for about four months and dropped down to 190.
Over the next six years I managed to slowly drift back up to about 223..
In 2006 I found out that most of my allergies and other dietary problems were being caused by consuming way too much High Fructose Corn Syrup.
My body just reacts wildly to this sweetener causing crazy changes to my metabolic and immune systems.
After dropping that from my diet completely, a little over a week later the horrible allergies I had suffered for 20 years vanished (2 Claritin and 12+ benedryl were needed daily just to bring me up from "Take me to the hospital" up to "just miserable" ).
After dropping this, not only did my allergies go away but my triglyceride count (which was through the roof) dropped back into the "low normal" range.
(strangely enough though, even with the HFCS in my system, my fasting blood sugar levels never went above 90)
I made no other changes in my diet, substituting products with natural sweeteners instead of HFCS.
Foods like cereals, breads, jams, sodas and ice cream with sugar, etc. are all part of my "normal" diet (not insane amounts but they are there) and despite eating the same amounts of the same types of foods I have not gained (or lost) a single pound in the two years since dropping the HFCS.
It seems to me that without the HFCS, my normal dietary intake is able maintain my weight exactly. Since HFCS was seriously introduced into the American food system in the mid-eighties it also seems possible that it may have played a part in my initial weight gain as well.
So, after having spent the past two years staying steady at 223 I have finally decided that enough and is enough and have gone back on Atkins until I get back to where I want my weight to be and hopefully this time without the HFCS I'll be able to maintain that weight going forward. Once I hit my goal weight I intend to go back to my regular diet (after a 6 week transition period to reintroduce my system to carbs) and see exactly what happens.
This will be a kind of experiment for me to determine if in fact it was the HFCS which added all of those pounds onto me in the first place or if I am blaming the wrong source and just need to learn to cut a few calories (carb related ones) from my diet every day instead.
Ultimately if I gain back say, 10 pounds I'll know that I just need to cut back and that the HFCS played little or no part in the weight gain.
I started by beginning the induction phase on Jan. 1st and as of this morning I am at 213 pounds. My goal is to return to 190.
(Oddly enough, ever since I started ketosis my allergies (which have been gone for over two years) has been returning off and on albeit in a milder form than what I used to experience.)