Weigh in

Well today I was down 1.4 pounds. I have to be happy about this as in the last 3 weeks I have only lost 5 pounds and being that on this diet I should be losing 3 pounds a week that's not to much. SO while I am still on this diet for the next few weeks I hope that the scale moves closer to 165 so I only have about 40 pounds left to go. That seems like a good number to me, we will see....

More talk about Salt

I have to say that I am learning a lot about eating. A lot about my body and about what I need to do to make it happy. I don't know if I have mentioned this before but I was diagnosed with hypothryoidism basically my thyroid is sluggish and does not produce enough thyroid hormone making me tired, depressed, moody and gain weight. I went on a syn-thyroid hormone for about 6 months. Now the issue with that is that it may balance out my thyroid but it also makes my body stop trying to produce the hormones it needs relying on the synthedic to function. I was scared of creating this within my body so I went to a holistic doctor and he got me to start taking Iodine. It was a miracle and I can say I'm off of the synthetic hormones now and my thyroid is balanced naturally. What does this have to do with salt? As a society we do not get enough iodine in our diets as to why you will notice that all table salt is Iodized. The issue with that is you need to consume a lot of that salt for your body to get enough. So really we should be supplementing iodine and cutting back the salt. As you will read in these articles I am going to post here to much salt is not a good thing.

http://www.theultimateweightlossplans.com/losing-weight-can-salt-make-you-overweight/
http://thecravingscoach.com/blog/salt-cravings-weight-gain/

This article explains that it is very important to keep a watch on how much salt that you are consuming when losing weight. This is the missing piece that many are overlooking making it harder for them to lose weight.

Salt has no calories. So it will not create fat. But there are other things that can make you overweight. If the problem is fat, then all you have to do is burn more calories than you consume making losing weight simple.


Salt and Sodium

Here is an explanation of concentration. Say you have a pool that has salt water in it and you need to keep the concentration at a teaspoon of salt per gallon of water. You have a device to measure salt concentration. If someone adds a gallon of water to it, then when you measure the concentration, you will find that you need to add teaspoon of salt to it.

If someone adds a teaspoon of salt to it, then you will find that you need to add a gallon of water to it to maintain the right concentration. Your body needs to always maintain a proper concentration of sodium (and other minerals) or you will die.

But foods contain very tiny amounts of minerals like under 1%. But salt is not a food and it contains 40% sodium. So the more salt or sodium you consume, the more water needs to be in the body to keep the concentration constant. The body tries to get rid of salt but it can only do it at a certain rate. This is why sweat and urine is salty. This is not the case with people who do not consume salt. Almost all foodscontain all the sodium that you need.

Excess Weight

So consuming salt causes your body to hold on to extra amounts of water (water weight) giving you excess weight. This is also called water retention or retaining water. This makes you heavy and look fat. But no matter how little you eat and how much you exercise, it will have no affect on this extra weight. So if your problem is excess fat, then eat less and exercise more.
But if that does not help, then it may be excess water weight that you need to lose. For example Beyonce lost 20 pounds in 10 days on the lemonade diet. Now if that was 20 pounds of fat then she would have needed to burn 70,000 (20 x 3,5000) more calories than she consumed in 10 days. That is burning 7,000 more calories than she consumed each day to lose weight.
She would have needed to exercise all day long to do that. But the lemonade diet has no salt in it. So it is easy for her body to lose most of that 20 pounds by losing water weight. Now if you look at labels you will see that many foods, including diet foods, have huge amounts of sodium in them due to added salt.

Losing Weight

There is a problem in plans on losing weight. People lose the weight then reach a plateau where they cannot lose any more weight. That may be because it is not fat but water weight. And exercise and eating less calories has no effect on water weight (water retention).
Any person that is overweight could probably quickly lose 20 pounds of weight by reducing salt intake. One lady wrote to me and said that she had tried everything to lose weight but nothing worked. She was frustrated. Then she learned the above and quickly lost the weight.
Also salt is bad for cardiovascular health even if you do not have high blood pressure. There has never been salt detected in human skeletons over 10,000 years old. So that is probably when man started consuming salt on a large scale. Almost all foods have some sodium in them.
Instead of adding salt, you can add granulated kelp (seaweed) to foods (found in health food stores). It has plenty of iodine and is loaded with trace minerals that you need and will also help metabolism. Also use other spices. They are foods and great for health. Salt is a mineral or rock and not a food.

Salt - Remove Excess Sodium to Stop Water Weight Gain

If you are a woman, you know all too well that bloated feeling every month during your menstrual cycle. It’s unfathomable how a pair of jeans that fit yesterday won’t fit today. It’s a curse, but water weight gain affects everyone. The main culprit is sodium.

We are talking about salt. The chemical name of the salt compound is sodium chloride. It is used as a preservative in many foods. Salt increases shelf life. Derivatives like monosodium glutamate (MSG) are used to tenderize meat and add flavor to our food, but it is also ruining our health.

Low Fat and Diet Options May have Lots of Salt

Even when you opt for low-fat chips, fat free cookies, light soups and low fat cheeses there is still that sneaky ingredient that keeps you feeling bloated. It is caused by the sodium and it is everywhere. Learning to avoid sodium in excess can save your life.

Body Needs 2 Teaspoons of Salt at most daily

Your body only needs about 2,400 milligrams of salt per day. That is about the equivalent of two teaspoons. A bowl of canned soup can provide that much and more. You don’t think about the foods that contain sodium because you have been programmed to be worried about and concentrate on things like fat and calorie counting when it comes to weight loss or healthier eating habits. These are not the only things you should be cautious about. Beware of the amount of sodium in your foods as well.
Even some dishes you normally wouldn’t think contain salt have a measure of sodium in it. Pasta mixes, hot dogs, deli meat, and pizza all contain sodium, even the diet varieties.

Your Body Does Need Salt
Your body needs sodium to help it maintain water balance, but not in the amounts that are typically consumed. We need more potassium to counter-balance the sodium in our diet. Our bodies are 90 percent water so the amount of sodium we take in is very important. Sodium also assists in absorption of nutrients within the body and the function of muscle fibers and nerves. While you lose weight you are also working to build muscle and get stronger and leaner. As your body reaches age 40 and beyond, you begin to actually lose muscle.

Excess Sodium Bloating and Puffy Weight Gain

Excess sodium causes fluid to collect in the tissues. You feel puffy and bloated all the time. More water is drawn into the blood leading to increased blood volume and high blood pressure. Everyone’s heard of high blood pressure. You exercise to lose weight so you won’t become afflicted with such conditions as high blood pressure (hypertension), heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease, but your food choices are making it a possible reality, regardless of your physical activities.


Your taste buds are so used to the high content of sodium in foods that they may not even taste salt anymore. Think about that. Even when sodium has already been added to food, how often do you reach for the salt shaker?

Salt and Weight

So I guess I have been eating to much salt. I went to the clinic yesterday for my weigh in and I am up a pound but I am burning +1 for keytones so I was like ?? The nurse told me that even if you are 100% strict and burning good keytones you can stall if you have to much salt. Now when I say salt I don't just mean the table variety but sodium that sneaky stuff that gets into foods, like the yves products. As I am basically a vegetarian I do eat some fish I have been eating more yves products then the 2 allowed per week. But I never thought of the sodium in these foods so I have been overdoing it. Crazy who knew 1-2 veggie dogs a day was overkill... Anyway it is so they are out at least until next week. I'm back to eggs and prawns for the next while. Not really so bad;)

I am not too sure of what happens in the body but my understanding is that when we eat to much salt the body holds water and when it holds water it holds fat as well... I got a bit scared thinking well then what am I burning but the nurse told me that I was not burning muscle so I am going to have to believe her. I don't want any of that. So I will do whatever I can to burn the fat away!

A few of my favorite things

I have found a few favorite foods while being on the Bernstein diet. As you can't have much these are my "treats".

Kale chips:
Pre-heat oven to 375'

spray cookie sheet with oil (I use spectrum olive oil spray but you can use pam etc...)
place 4-6 leaves of kale on the sheet
spray with oil

bake for 5-10 mins or until crisp
lightly salt

Baked Apple:
Pre-heat oven to 400'

Cut an apple in half (i use organic spartan apples, but use what you have)
Core apple and sprinkle with Stevia and Cinnamon
Spray glass pie dish with oil
Place apples face down and spray tops with oil

Bake for 15-20mins or until soft and juicy.
Serve in a bowl on their own or with a side of fat free yogurt.

They say it takes 3 months to make or break any habit.

I know that I say how unhealthy this diet is. It is unhealthy. But it is also "health giving" in someways. I am part of a forum for the diet and love reading about the positive life changes people go through. I see how it can affect people as they finally make the right steps to weight loss and weight management. Because really if you lost 50, 100, 200 pounds on this diet you would feel wonderful afterwards. This diet does work. It does give people the motivation to lose weight and start a healthy lifestyle that will make them happy. As much as I am going off of this diet in a month, it was what I needed to jolt me out of my old patterns and give me the motivation to be kinder to myself. The thing with this diet or any diet is that in order for it to work for you, you have to change what you are doing. And what ever gets you to change your life in a permanent way is what you need. We can all be happy and healthy if we just start taking steps in the right direction.

Glycogen Stores and Low carb diets

Here is some interesting information that I found on glycogen stores and low carb diets. This is something I didn't know until recently but it is something anyone thinking of going on a low carb diet should know.


What you REALLY Lost or Gained

When you cut the carbs out of your diet, your body empties out the "emergency" stores of carbohydrate it keeps in the liver and muscles in the form of a substance called glycogen. Glycogen is a normal part of our metabolism and allows us to do energy-intensive things like sprinting, for example, by letting us draw on the carbs stored in our muscles for energy.

More importantly the glycogen stored in our liver allows us to keep our brain functioning. A person who is not low carbing needs 100 gms of glucose a day merely to supply the brain's basic needs. If the body can't get glucose from the diet it has two choices: use stored carbohydrate--our friend glycogen again, or convert dietary or muscle protein into carbohydrate using a lengthy process called "gluconeogenesis" which takes place in the liver. Because the body wants to avoid using its own muscle fibers for fuel, it does what it can to keep that liver glycogen store filled up.

Nutritional research that shows that a typical 150 lb man is carrying about three quarters of a pound of glycogen. But what most people don't know is that each molecule of glycogen is bound to four molecules of water and water has weight too. This means that when your liver and muscles are charged up with glycogen it adds an additional four pounds or more to your body weight.

When you start a very low carb diet you cut off the body's supply of dietary carbohydrate and this leads to a rapid emptying of these liver and muscle glycogen stores. And when you lose that glycogen, you also lose the associated water. That's the reason why, during the first couple days of a low carb diet, you lose weight so dramatically. It's also why you may feel slimmer and lose "inches." You haven't lost fat. You've simply dumped the water out of your muscles and liver.

But what happens when you go off the diet for even so little as a single meal? If you eat a significant amount of carbs, your liver and muscles grab glucose from your bloodstream to replenish that emergency stock. As they do this, four molecules of water join each molecule of glycogen and, as fast as you can say, "Omigawd, I cheated!" the pounds you lost at the very beginning of the diet pile back on.
How many carbs does it take to replenish your glycogen?

Not too many. Given the figures in Lyle McDonald's book, The Ketogenic Diet I figured that the three quarters of a pound of glycogen that 150 lb. man is carrying in his liver works out to only 70 grams of carbohydrate.

Chow down some french fries and a regular soda and you're there. There's an additional 120 gm in his muscles. That's two coffee shop bagels with peanut butter.
Do you lose any REAL fat weight on a Low Carb Diet?

Probably not in the first three days--unless you cut 1200 calories out of your usual diet, too. But once you have gotten through the first week or two another benefit of low carbing kicks in that does make it much easier for most people to cut out the calories they need to cut to lose real fat.

That's because when you cut out your carbs you eliminate the blood sugar swings that cause hunger in most people. The cravings you used to get when dieting may fade out in as little as two weeks. When you stop eating in response to those nasty hunger cravings, you will find it much easier to eat a whole lot less than you used to. It is the drop in calorie intake that follows this drop in hunger that that results in the very real and often dramatic weight loss so many long-term low carbers report.
Will you gain it all back when you go off the diet?

Many books and experienced low carb dieters warn that low carbing brings with it a "devil's bargain." They tell you that you can lose all the weight you want on their diet but if you do, you must make low carbing a "way of eating" for the rest of your life.
The instant weight regain that low carbers experience tends to confirm that this is true, which can be very frightening if for one reason or another the dieter decides to return to a balanced-type diet.

But the good news is that this may not be as true as most people think. It is true that dieting off more that 10% of your body weight using any diet makes the body "fight for fat" when you go back to eating an non-reduced calorie diet. If you stop low carbing and start pounding the calories you will gain weight, and like any lapsed dieter, you may end up fatter than before. But the equation hasn't changed. You still need to eat 3,500 more calories than you burn.

The only "rapid" regain the low carb dieter will experience is the water weight that comes with glycogen refilling. Once you've put on that four plus pounds--whatever you took off when you started the diet--weight gain will proceed slowly--probably no faster than the rate at which you took it off, and often at a slower pace if you regulate your calorie intake to match what you burn off.

This is good news, because it means that low carbing does not trap you into staying with a way of eating unless that way of eating is something you want to stick with.

But low carbers need to remember every time that every time you get on the scale your REAL weight--the weight you will be when you stop dieting-- is whatever you weigh now plus whatever you lost during the first week or two of the diet.

If you go off plan for a day, don't panic when you step on the scale. That instant three pounds is only water. Compare what you weigh--with the water--to what you weighed the last time you went off plan. It's less, isn't it? And that is REAL weight loss!
http://www.phlaunt.com/lowcarb/19058097.php

Weigh in

Today I had my weigh in with the Bernstein people and I am down 2 pounds far this week. Just over 22 pounds down so far and almost in the 170's can't wait to be there:)

6 weeks and a day

I slept well last night, dreamed that I was in this coffee shop and just really wanted to have a soy latte. I was telling my partner just how long it had been and that I was going to have one when I looked at the espresso station and saw just how dirty it was. I stuck with an americano. I can't even seem to cheat in my dreams, now that's a strong will!

This morning I hopped on the scale to see that I had finally made it to 179 pounds, it will be interesting to see whether or not the clinic scale shows a loss tomorrow. I always find that by the time a get to the clinic and have my weigh in I'm up a couple of pounds. But it is still nice to see the scale moving downwards. Onwards and Downwards!

Food Dreams

So a lot of people on this diet talk about having food dreams, where they are eating forbidden foods. Well I had my first food dream last night but it was more of a foodmare then a tantalizing food utopia.

In my dream I was at home and had an apple for breakfast, a bunch of things happened and I had leave my place. I found myself on a bus and the bus kept going and going and all the time I was getting soo hungry. Finally I got off the bus because I realized that I wasn't going the right direction. Anyway when I got off the bus I found myself at this weird farm where they were holding a protest for Tibet and everyone was eating apples. I was soo hungry and got sad when all I was given to eat was an apple. Then I woke up. And funny enough I have not had an apple today!

I am sure I could look deeply into this, with the road to life and about how I am not eating regular food but I will leave it here for now.

Calcium and B6/B12

Aargh.

Why has it gotten hard now? The funny thing is I'm not craving foods at all, but I am thinking of stopping this sooner then later. I was just reading up on Calcium and the Dr.B diet and I found some interesting info which may explain why I'm tired, cranky, and now am having pains in my chest and head. Here's the quote I found from www.acu-cell.com :


In addition to their proprietary weight-reducing programs, some weight loss clinics also provide clients with Vitamin B12 and/or Vitamin B6 injections. Extra Vit B12 frequently improves energy, well-being, and supports thyroid functions, however some individuals already exhibit above-normal Vit B12 levels, and of those, a small percentage experiences panic anxiety-like symptoms following a B12 shot, or a
worsening of Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP) symptoms (which are rarely attributed to B12 injections), so this should be kept in mind if those symptoms are experienced.


Vitamin B6 can help with weight loss through a stimulating effect on the thyroid, which - by boosting the right cardiac output - reduces water retention, hence the diuretic attributes. In those with a disposition for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), higher doses of Vitamin B6 and higher doses of Vitamin C are not advisable since they can trigger erratic blood sugar changes and depressive mood swings.

Higher doses of Vitamin B6 will also result in a high magnesium / low calcium ratio, so if not matched to a patient's requirements (which can happen when Vitamin B6 + Vitamin B12 injections are regularly given at weight loss clinics), a severe calcium deficiency develops. This by itself - or when aggravated by an overstimulated thyroid from the regular Vitamin B6 / B12 shots - can result in insomnia, anxieties, mood swings, chest pains, depression, joint pains, muscle cramps, or other symptoms.

Day 38

Well I'm tired. And a wee bit cranky...

I would have to say that this reaffirms that in a month I am stopping this diet. It works but is it good for longer then 1-2 months I don't think so. The nurses switched me to K-lite potassium yesterday as it is a higher dose. This is suppose to help with my fatigue but it hasn't so.... I am hoping I don't feel like this for another month it's depressing.

Anyhoo that's where I'm at.

Day 37

Well I am down 2.2 pounds this week, this diet does work. Onwards and downwards.

Fatigue

So it will come as no shock I am sure that living off of 600-800 calories a day lends itself to being fatigued. And I have been. They say that your body may need more potassium but really this isn't right. Even if I take more potassium it's just masking the underlying issue of starvation... Because really that's what this diet is a starvation diet except you eat. It's strange. Now I'm happy that I did start this crazy unhealthy diet for this reason alone. I have changed my eating patterns and now understand the importance of proteins and carbohydrates in my diet. I've been doing a lot of soul searching and feel that after mid March when my Bernstein diet payments are finished I will go it alone. This has been a great kick in the ass I needed but if I want to be fit and healthy I need to accomplish that through other means. My plan post Bernstein is to consume a 1300 calorie diet and engage in a moderate exercise program to get me fit and toned. I should be at my goal weight between Nov and Jan of this year. Somehow although that is a longer time frame then mid May it seems like a healthier option.

Day 34

I have many things running through my mind these days. One of them is how and when to end this diet. It works this diet it works well, is it healthy no... I'm a strange one as I am a healthy person so it is very weird for me to be doing something that is unhealthy so that I can become even more healthy. I am a freak. Half of me says when mid march hits and what i've payed so far is finished maybe I should just go the rest on my own. Rational thinking. By mid march I should be around 160-165 pounds that would mean I would have about 40 pounds left to lose. Now 1 pound = 3500 calories so if I want to lose 2 pounds a week I need to keep my calorie intake to roughly 1275 calories a day. Ok that's easy I'm eating half of that now. lol (actually it's kind of true) And I would also have to burn 500 calories a day with exercise. That's doing a high intensity workout everyday... If I can do that I will be down to my goal weight of 125-130 pounds by August. Which is actually wonderful as I haven't been that small in over 6 years. But this is where it's hard. Will I burn 500 calories a day? Because if I don't I'm looking at January of next year for my end date.... If I suck it up and stick with this diet till May they tell me I can be at my goal weight... It's expensive and not really healthy but it's tempting. I just don't know. I feel lazy thinking that the natural healthy way is harder, but I just don't want to be disappointed again. I guess I will just have to wait and see how I feel in March.....

Foods

So Dr. B has these lists of foods that you are allowed to have. And when you sign up for the program they tell you not to eat anything off of the list as it could throw you out of ketosis. So when I started this program I stuck to that 100%. Now what I've discovered is that you can choose to eat other products instead of the allowed ones if the nutritional info is the same or less as their recommendations. I have found the important thing is to check your keytones as well so you can monitor what works for your body. We are all different.

A re-cap:
On the Dr. B you are allowed the following everyday:

2-3 peices of fruit:
apple, asian pear, orange, 1 cup blueberries, strawberries, 1/4 cantaloupe. And as much lemon and lime as you desire.

Vegetables:
2-3 servings
Absolutly no starches, no root vegetables, no okra, no eggplant. Everything green, peppers, cauliflower, Tomatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms etc...

Protiens:
2-3 fist sized servings
White fish, lobster, shrimp, chicken, turkey, game.
Lentils, black-eyed beans, edamame, pigeon beans.
Tofu, vyes products.
6 Egg whites

And then you get into the dairy which is different depending on what list you look on but I have deduced that as you can have trader joe's fat free cottage cheese in the states you can also have island farms victoria style F.F. cottage cheese. And as you can have dannon light and fit yogurt you can also have dannon silhoette 0. Yogurt is an extra on top of your other foods:)

Breads:
2-3 servings
Joesphs low carb pitas
Silver hills little big bread
Kavli crackers

Of course there are more things on the list but this is the basics.

Vitamins:
Potassium, a multi vit, omega fish pills. I can't stress enough how important the vitamins are.

I wouldn't advise doing this strict of a diet on your own at least until you've done it for a month with the Clinic. I know it's expensive but it is very intense and you could hurt yourself just winging it. If I were going to do something like this on my own I would add in 1.5 cups of either brown/black rice, quinoa, millet, whole grain pasta a day and 1 tbs of a good oil like coconut oil or olive oil or flax oil. If you did that then you would most defiantly shed pounds and you would feel pretty fabulous.

The most important thing if you like me are over weight and sick of it is to change your eating patterns, it's hard and annoying but just do it, your the only one holding yourself back. Cut out the sugar, the processed junk foods, and stick to a whole foods diet with low oils but good oils, complex carbs like whole grains but not tons, a few fruits and lots of vegetables:) Water is also your friend drink 2-3 liters a day.

I'm not a doctor these are just my thoughts, it's hard to break out of our habits but it can be done.

Still Burning

Well I guess that that little bit of sugar wasn't a big deal as I am still burning at +2 today. Not that I am going to let my guard down around sugars as I know that my body can't handle processed sugars well. Years ago when I was on a whole foods, sugar free diet I went traveling to Morocco. While I was there I ordered one of their famous mint teas, I had a gulp and of course there was sugar lots of sugar. They use those cubes of white sugar (like 3 of them) with crushed mint leaves to make the tea. Now after I drank a bit of this my tongue actually swelled! After a year of no sugar other then fruits my body freaked out and of course all I craved afterwards was that super sugary tea! So I know once I get off of processed sugars I just can't go back to it, it's to intense. And really there are soo many more nutritious and delicious natural sugars like dates, dried fruits generally (although those are not good for your teeth, like candy) and even honey and maple syrup.

Day 30

So today I accidentally had sugar:( I went out to lunch with a friend and ordered the shrimp ceviche and a small garden salad. I made sure there was no oil in it but forgot to say no sugar, so of course there was sugar in the marinade... They sneak that stuff in everywhere! Needless to say I did eat half of it as I didn't want to send it back and make a scene. I feel fine but it's hard to say if it will affect the keytones or not, guess I will just have to wait and see in the am.

I got my order in today from http://www.thelowcarbgrocery.com going to make a pizza tonight with fat free cottage cheese veggies and my new pitas:) I ordered Joseph Flax, Oat Bran and Whole Wheat pitas, some stevia and some walden farms dressing. I can tell you that I am really looking forward to dinner tonight!

4 weeks in

So today marks 28 days on this diet. So far I have lost 16.6 pounds, not so bad if I do say so myself:) Hope I can keep losing at this pace!

Breads

I am happy as a clam as I have just found Silver Hill's little Big Bread! On this diet 1 slice is one bread serving which is fabulous as all other breads are 1/2 slice for one bread serving. And Silver Hill's in organic sprouted grain as well. If you are looking for it you can find it at Choices in the freezer section:)

I have also ordered Joesph'd low carb pitas from the low carb grocery online and should be getting those in the next couple of days. They are suppose to be amazing and like the bread 1 counts as a serving so I could have 2 in one day if I wanted to.

Love it!

Vertigo

So I suffer from vertigo, but I don't get the full spin happening that often. Usually I just feel a bit motion sick. But since I started this diet I have been getting dizzier and dizzier, which happens to be a side effect of low potassium intake. So I called the clinic this morning and I am uping my dose of potassium to 3 tablets of cal-k twice a day. I'll see if that was the issue or if I'm just having a vertigo flare up.