Doug-at-large » Diet

New dieters social network Diet Harbor

doug — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:17:31 +0000

Please also visit my new social network for dieters, Diet Harbor (a safe harbor for dieting mutual support).

doug

40 minutes ’til 2010

doug — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:20:39 +0000

It looks like it’s been 2.5 years since my last real diet diary post, saying I needed to “tweek” my diet. After that it was like a slow-moving car wreck, and I gained everything back again. (sigh)

After so many rebounds can I lose weight again? Or is this like Susan Boyle’s theme song where “there are dreams that cannot be?”

I don’t really feel like I have the confidence to start journaling *yet again*.

Yet I know from decades of experience that it truly is the only way for me to lose weight.

Believe me, I’ve tried EVERYTHING else and the only thing that works is limiting calories and exercise. And the only way of limiting calories (for me anyway) is to journal everything I eat.

The problem is always that after 700 days or so… I just start rebounding.

But I really do have to lose weight, get blood sugar and cholesterol under control, etc. It’s like an emergency already.

In my “last great diet” that started in June, 2005 and last about 2 years, and where I got down to 79.8 kg before rebounding to 125 kg yet again I got very used to beginning my week on Fridays. It seemed comfortable – and a good safety blanket for the weekend starting with bonus calories.

Well, tomorrow is:

- Friday
- January 1st, 2010
- The start of a new decade

It’s like… a sign that I really should start.

Plus I have to travel to Boston in the late spring and will probably end up in economy class, which is really uncomfortable for a 13 hour flight at this size and weight. Another incentive.

So I feel like I should just throw out everything too fattening tonight (like a tube of mayo staring at me) and just somehow, some way find it in me to start my diet over yet again. Even though I have no idea how to deal with the rebound I feel waiting for me down the road. And without the confidence that “it’s time again!”

But I have to start somewhere, right?

doug

Atkins, South Beach, Ornish – diet choice and heart health

doug — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:10:39 +0000

Source: http://www.medicinenet.com

How the Atkins Diet Fares in Cholesterol

Atkins-Like Diet Worse for Cholesterol Compared to South Beach, Ornish Diets, Study Says

By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News

Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD

April 1, 2009 — People who follow a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet for weight maintenance, even for as little as a month, may worsen risk factors for heart disease compared to two other popular diets, a newly published study shows.

Researchers set out to compare the impact of the Atkins, South Beach, and Ornish diets on measurable risk factors for heart disease in people who were not overweight and were not trying to lose weight.

The idea was to examine the effects of the diets when they are used for weight maintenance and not weight loss.

Earlier this year, a widely reported study found that for weight loss, restricting calories is the key and that it matters little whether you count carbs, fat, or protein.

But the newly published research suggests that there are big differences in the diets in terms of effects on cardiovascular risk factors when followed by people who aren’t losing weight.

“If you are losing weight on a diet, that is probably beneficial for your health no matter which of these diets you follow,” lead researcher Michael Miller, MD, tells WebMD. “The question is, ‘Once someone has established a weight they are comfortable with, does it matter which diet they follow?’ And it appears that it does.”

Atkins, South Beach, and Ornish

The study included 18 healthy adults who were not overweight, who followed each of the three diets for one month, followed by a one-month “wash-out” period in which they ate normally. Caloric intake was increased during any phase of the study if a participant began to lose weight.

The low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet designed to approximate the first, and most extreme, phase of the Atkins diet included 50% of calories from fat and 22% to 38% of calories from saturated fat sources like meat, cheese, and other whole-fat dairy products, Miller tells WebMD.

During their month on the Mediterranean-based South Beach diet, study participants ate 30% of calories in the form of fat, but olive and other vegetable oils, nuts, lean meats, and fish were the main fat sources.

While on the low-fat, high-carbohydrate Ornish diet, 10% of calories came from fat.

The researchers conducted blood tests throughout the study to assess risk factors for heart disease, including LDL (bad) cholesterol, triglycerides, and C-reactive protein, which is a measure of inflammation in the body.

They also used ultrasound to study changes in blood vessels’ flexibility — specifically, their ability to widen to accommodate blood flow. Atherosclerosis, the hardening of the arteries, hinders that process and is associated with heart attack and stroke risk.

The study revealed that:

While on the low-carb, high-fat diet, LDL cholesterol levels increased slightly, compared to decreases of about 12% and 17% respectively, during the South Beach and Ornish phases of the study.
After a month on the Atkins-like diet, study participants showed less blood vessel flexibility than they did after a month on the Ornish diet.
CRP levels remained in the normal range with all three diets, but levels went down slightly while participants were on the South Beach and Ornish diets and they went up slightly on the high-fat, low-carb diet, Miller tells WebMD.

The study appears in the April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Atkins Responds

Miller says the study makes it clear that high-saturated fat diets are pro-inflammatory and that they promote heart disease in other ways as well.

But a spokeswoman for Atkins Nutritionals says the eating plan the study participants followed in no way resembles what is recommended for weight maintenance.

In an email exchange with WebMD, Atkins Vice President of Nutrition and Education Colette Heimowitz, MSc, says that on the maintenance phase of the Atkins diet, fat should make up no more than 40% of total calories, and no more than 10% of calories should come from saturated fat.

The study participants typically ate about three times as much saturated fat as they should have if they were following Atkins for weight maintenance, she says.

Heimowitz says that Atkins dieters consistently show improvements in blood fats, or lipids, in the form of decreased triglycerides. But this improvement was not seen in the study participants while they were on the low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet.

“Whatever diet Dr. Miller used, it was not ‘Atkins’, and the lipid response he reported is what one might expect to result from a rich mixture of carbohydrates and fat and overfeeding to avoid weight loss,” she notes.

She says three decades of research has shown the Atkins diet to be safe, and that the study by Miller and colleagues was too small and too short to allow for meaningful conclusions.

“The final sample size was 18, yet they make generalizations to many people,” she says. “The entire duration of the treatment was four weeks, yet they make statements about ‘long-term maintenance.’”

Ornish Weighs In

Miller acknowledges that the maintenance phase of the Atkins diet is not very different from the typical Western diet.

But he says many people stay on the more extreme, early phase of the diet, which is much higher in saturated fats, long after weight loss is no longer a goal.

“The main message is that reducing the saturated fat in the diet is better for overall heart health,” he says.

Low-fat diet proponent Dean Ornish, MD, tells WebMD that the study by Miller and colleagues explores the impact of high saturated-fat diets in a unique way.

He cites a separate study, published last week in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, finding that older people who eat large amounts of saturated fat in the form of red and processed meat are more likely to die of heart disease and cancer.

He says the two studies “directly contradict” the idea that all diets are equally healthy as long as they promote weight loss.

Ornish is founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, Calif.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that no more than 35% of total daily calories come from fat, and no more than 7% of calories come from saturated fat sources.

Nutritionist Alice Lichtenstein, DSc, who is an AHA spokeswoman, says protein should come primarily from low-fat sources like fish, legumes, and lean meat. Dairy foods should be low-fat or nonfat, and, of course, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is important.

“If you follow this pattern you will end up with a diet that is in line with what AHA recommends,” she says.

SOURCES: Miller, M., Journal of the American Dietetic Association, April 2009; vol 109: pp 713-717. Miller, Michael, MD, associate professor of medicine, epidemiology and preventive medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. Alice Lichtenstein, DSc, senior scientist and director, Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory, Tufts University; spokeswoman, American Heart Association. Colette Heimowitz, MSc, vice president of nutrition and education, Atkins Nutritionals Inc.Dean Ornish, MD, founder and president, Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Sausalito, Calif.Sinha, R. Achieves of Internal Medicine, March 23, 2009; vol 169: pp 543-545.

Doug’s Diet – Phase II

doug — Fri, 11 May 2007 01:44:33 +0000

Doug’s Diet – Phase II

After 700 days I have decided, this Friday morning, to make the first actual tweaks to my diet!

After all, being on a plateau (or weight creeping up) for about 6 months now should be an indication to anybody (except maybe George Bush) that the current strategy isn’t working anymore.

I’ve got to get rid of these last 10-20 lbs!

After 700 days of not of not going off my diet even one time I have been hesitant about making adjustments. But I have given this a great deal of thought and think I found an adjustment I can be confident of sticking with. And I really should be more confident of my ability to deal with minor changes at this point!

Here is what I decided to do starting today – the usual “weigh-in” day of my diet week:

Daily Net Calorie Limit (after exercise calories are deducted)
————————————————————–
Old Daily Limit: 1700 calories
New Daily Limit: 1500 calories

Reasoning: My current daily limit was fine when I first started my diet. But when I first started it didn’t matter if I was a bit off when calculating my BMR because I had so much to lose. It is clear that I am now eating too much to lose any more so I must reduce my daily net calorie limit. Duh.

Note: This happens to also be closer to what Weight Watchers recommends I set as my daily target caloric limit: 28 points x 50 calories/point = 1400 calories.

Weekly Bonus Calories
———————
Old Bonus: 1000 calories
New Bonus: 1700 calories

Reasoning: Instead of reducing my daily calories by just 100 calories I reduced it by 200 calories. But I’m really only losing 100 calories (a very minor tweak!) because I’m taking the other 7 x 100 = 700 calories and adding it to the bonus. So I’m just spreading it around differently. There are two reasons for this: (1) Having the slightly lower daily limit is more of a reasonable target and should result in generally lower weekly caloric averages because I tend not go so much into bonus and (2) having the higher bonus there is very reassuring. Like “Mamas Bank Account”.

As with all these strategies, good dieting rules are a bag of psychological tricks designed to make it easy to stick with. Starting the week with a higher bonus will help a lot counter-balancing the lower daily target limit.

Note: This also happens to be almost the same as the Weight Watchers free points for the week, which comes to 35 points x 50 calories/point = 1750 points.

Exercise Calories
—————–
Old Way: 100% credit for all countable exercise calories expended (walking, cycling, etc.)
New Way: 50% credit for all countable exercise calories expended

Reasoning: This one I gave a LOT of thought to. By deducting just 50% of my exercise calories from what I’ve eaten each day (instead of 100%) I accomplish various positive things: (1) The obvious one is that exercise will tend to drive weight LOSS more, rather than just being a counter-balance to what I’ve eaten. The more I exercise, the more POSITIVE weight loss effect there should be. (2) Because I’m getting less “credit” for exercise there should be positive incentive to exercise MORE – so I can eat more. and (3) Doing it this way provides a “margin of error” for calorie (eating and exercise) calculation/estimation errors that might creep into the diet.

Note: This too is closer to the way that Weight Watchers calculates “activity points”.

It is interesting to note that my own independent conclusions about daily caloric intake, weekly bonus calories and exercise calories all result in my personal diet moving closer to the Weight Watcher’s plan.

Anyway, I’ve begun my “Diet Phase II” as of today. I’ll let you know how it goes!

doug

An Old Shirt

doug — Thu, 10 May 2007 13:55:46 +0000

I’m cleaning up my house (I do this once every 10 years or so, whether it needs it or not) and came across this pre-diet shirt from early 2005.

doug

700 Days

doug — Mon, 07 May 2007 03:05:07 +0000

Well, I’ve been on my diet 700 days now without going off even once.

The good news is that I’ve lost and kept off about 42 kg = 92 lb. Also I feel great and I’m wearing normal clothes sizes, etc. Neighbors often do a double-take and say they didn’t recognize me at first.

The frustrating news is that my weight has hovered around 83-84 kg for months now and that I am actually a few kilograms heavier than my low beginning-of-the-year weight of 79.8 kg and just can’t seem to lose any more weight lately.

I would really like to lose another 10-20 lb because I’m still overweight.

Anyway, just sticking to things as best I can…

doug

Pedometers and Calories

doug — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 01:50:16 +0000

Things seem to be going well the last couple of weeks. I’ve dropped about a lb a week each week. I’m still at 83.6 kg, which is higher than my all-time low of 79.8 kg, and I would really, really like to lose another 10 kg, but things are under control. And the most important thing is that I’ve managed to stay on the diet so far for 690 days without going off program even once. And I’m down a net of 42.4 kg = 93 lb since starting.

Anyway, what I wanted to mention here was my new way of counting “walking exercise calories”.

My previous method used calories per minute and speed. For example, at my current weight, the charts show that at my “power walk” speed I burn 8.1 calories/minute.

On the other hand, for “slow walking and shopping” the same charts show 3 calories/minute.

What’s always bothered me about these numbers is that I often do something in-between, so I am never sure if I am calculating fairly.

For example, if I am shopping but spending more than half my time walking at power-walk speeds from store to store it seems like I am not crediting enough exercise calories used.

On the other hand, if I’m out for a few hours shopping but have spent half that time slowly gazing at large panel TV sets it seems that I’m not really using 3 calories/minute doing that, so I am crediting myself too much.

Plus, while on exercise walks I would like to be able to stop from time to time and chat with neighbors and play with their dogs, etc.

So what I did was this:

My sister sent me a pedometer some time ago, which I hadn’t used. I started using it!

I “calibrated” it first by doing a 15 minute walk non-stop at my known “power walk” speed. Thus I had a very good idea of how many calories I used for the steps recorded on the pedometer. This comes to a little more than 0.075 calories per step.

So lately when I go out I always clip on the pedometer and when I get back record the steps. It makes going out on walking errands more fun! (Note: I admire people who can do 10,000 steps a day. I think that would be very very time-consuming!)

I have compared the “time method” with the “steps method” and have found a very close correlation with the 8.1/3 figures above for when I am constantly moving around at high speed or deliberately going at “shopping speed”. So this new way of calculating helps me take into account the more usual kinds of outdoor walking excursions, which is a mix of speeds, plus start and stopping.

doug

Doug-at-large » Diet

New dieters social network Diet Harbor

40 minutes ’til 2010

Atkins, South Beach, Ornish – diet choice and heart health

How the Atkins Diet Fares in Cholesterol

April 1, 2009 — People who follow a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet for weight maintenance, even for as little as a month, may worsen risk factors for heart disease compared to two other popular diets, a newly published study shows.

Atkins, South Beach, and Ornish

Atkins Responds

Ornish Weighs In

Doug’s Diet – Phase II

An Old Shirt

700 Days

Pedometers and Calories

April 1, 2009 — People who follow a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet for weight maintenance, even for as little as a month, may worsen risk factors for heart disease compared to two other popular diets, a newly published study shows.