Carving out my own thread - Posting odd experiences

[spirilis]

Ok, fun facts learned today from Dr. Atkins' Vita-Nutrient Solution.

1. Magnesium deficiency is bad, very bad, but overdosing is bad too. Your body can obtain a good amount of magnesium (without over-doing it) by soaking yourself in epsom salts. I gave myself an epsom salt foot bath tonight after reading that.

2. Iron -- Too little iron is bad (anemia), but too much is bad too. Dr. Atkins believes excess iron in men, something that occurs most often as men age, is a significant vector by which arteriosclerosis develops--excess iron turns into 'free iron' in the blood, which act as free radicals going around oxidizing LDL, which turns into plaques.
Luckily, there are two forms of iron, which makes the problem manageable:
2a. Heme iron, from animal meats--Your body can't absorb too much of this at one time (maybe 2mg)
2b. Non-heme iron, from plant or synthetic (supplement) sources, which your body can absorb a LOT of at one time (20mg).
Certain substances can reduce non-heme iron absorption, like drinking tea with a meal (something I've heard before). Good thing for Atkins dieters is that our primary source of iron shouldn't hurt us in the long run.

3. Potassium deficiency usually goes hand-in-hand with magnesium deficiency, and the best way to obtain potassium is through diet, either eating lots of avocado and nuts/seeds (sunflower seeds are good), or using salt-substitutes with lots of potassium. Supplement pills are almost useless due to their low content (thank the FDA for that), and too much is dangerous anyhow. Deficiency usually results from illness, drugs (BP meds) or excessive whooshie. If you are truly deficient it should be treated by a doctor because there's probably a medical reason why.

4. Zinc - deficiency is hard to detect using blood tests and unreliable, but a simple taste test exists to find out if you're deficient.

Though a person's zinc status is an important health measure, until recently nutritional medicine never had a good way to gauge how much of the mineral is actually inside the body's cells. Typical blood measurements have never given us an accurate assessment. But a simple taste test that anyone can perform at home can prove to be a crucial part of determining the adequacy of your supply of this mineral.

The test works because our sense of taste depends on zinc. Simply take a swig of zinc sulfate heptahydrate, a widely available liquid supplement, and swish it around in your mouth. If you immediately notice its bitter taste, you don't have a deficiency. If, however, you taste nothing or have a delayed recognition of the taste, you need to replenish your body's zinc supply.

My guess is that you won't instantly taste the mineral. Our land is becoming increasingly barren in zinc content, and high-carbohydrate diets are leaving us with even less. Calcium supplements and high-calcium diets can reduce our zinc absorption up to 50 percent. The mineral is quickly expelled from the body by stress (whether physical, emotional, or chemical) as well as exposure to toxic metals, pollutants, and pesticides. Growing old gives us an inborn disadvantage, because we don't secret the amount of stomach acid necessary for absorption. Based on the high incidence of zinc deficiency among the sick elderly, zinc supplements should probably be mandatory for all older adults.

Hmm reminds me, that "Stress Management w/ B-Complex" vitamin addition I bought (should get tomorrow, along with my new multivitamin) has zinc in it along with vitamin C. Now I know why.

[spirilis]

Looks like my breath is rocking nail polish remover again... took a number of hours but the 'ole ketosis is back! My appetite for dinner is completely gone too. I ate a couple squares of my coconut bark when I got home a few hours ago.

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 248.2

Holding on to something I guess... or maybe the carbs I've had in the past few days are doing something, but at least it's down from yesterday. Overdue a major whoosh lol

[spirilis]

Ok so I just took my very first tablet of GTF Chromium (from yeast) 200mcg with lunch, and um.... Wow I'm stuffed. Stomach's still feeling over-stuffed and food is the last thing on my mind.

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 247.6

Starting to feel like a roller coaster here, going over the same humps... I felt noticeably bloated this morning, like I'm overdue a purge, so at least seeing the 247's while at my maximum bloat is saying something significant. Chromium has been a good addition so far BTW. Still feel less appetite even this morning.

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 246.6

Heh cycling down through... I hope tomorrow morning I go below 245.8, that'd at least make this week worth it! lol

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 246.8

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 245.6

Hm, well, that closes out this week--lowest low is 0.2lb lower than last week. I still consider that a stall. I am not sure if I'm doing anything wrong so I am going to assume it's my body trying to fight the weight loss, or some carb creep that's come in during the week (I have eaten out a couple times, so that may be it) but I am not going to change anything and just ride it out.

I need help...
^ That post reassures me a bit. The pants and belt have felt looser during this slow few weeks so I just need to keep on keeping on.

[ChristineCQ]

I definitely think you're in a period of stabilization, and I'm sure you're due for a good loss soon!


Saw the big green egg in a store today. WOW! That thing is a BEAST!!!

[spirilis]

Originally Posted by ChristineCQ

I definitely think you're in a period of stabilization, and I'm sure you're due for a good loss soon!


Saw the big green egg in a store today. WOW! That thing is a BEAST!!!

hah awesome! Yes it is a beast, I got the Large one (they make a Mini, Small, Medium, Large and XL) and yesterday I walked into a store that sold them and looked at the Small one. I think if I really had spare cash to blow I'd buy a Small one to go with my Large, as I think that would handle most of my small uses better (e.g. it takes a while and wastes charcoal to fire up the Large BGE to cook 1 steak).

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 246.8

Lol surprised it's not higher, yesterday was definitely the closest thing to a cheat-day; had an early valentine's day lunch with my wife... red lobster, had a glass of wine and a few bites of cheesecake. I could smell the ketosis on my breath by 8PM so I guess I burned through that pretty quickly.

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 247.6

This is with a lot of food from dinner last night so I feel pretty good about it!

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 248.0

Hmm, one pattern I notice unfailingly is that I usually rise in weight after Monday, then drop later on in the week.
Very interesting. I guess that could only be correlated with stress levels, due to coming back to work and knowing the "rest of the week" is in front of me. I should read more about stress's impact on weight loss.

[spirilis]

Stress Cortisol Connection

Wow, an actual article that doesn't spout complete BS (to my knowledge)!
Very interesting on the point that cortisol helps relocate fat from other fat cells in the body to the abdomen...

Yoga's mentioned as a good stress reliever, I just did yoga last night (hatha, just doing asana's one at a time for a few minutes each) for the first time in months. I would like to make it a routine although I've said that for most of a year and it hasn't happened lol...
My wife believes doing yoga every other day would be perfect, every day is too much but once a week is too little if you really want to make progress.

[ChristineCQ]

Yoga sounds like a great idea!

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 247.4

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 246.6

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 247.8

Had a lot of food last night, went to a japanese steakhouse with my wife and I'll admit I used the sauces quite a bit... those seem to have a little sugar in them. Plus had wings for lunch and the sauce definitely had sugar in it (gotta find one that's no-sugar lol)
Still impressed that I'm staying under 248... I think I might be making progress, and if I clean up my eating more this week it might show. Here's hoping.

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 247.4

I broke protocol this morning and forgot to weigh myself when I first got up (didn't go to sleep until 4AM anyhow), so this is my weight an hour or so later, after eating breakfast and drinking a lot of water. Not too shabby really! The number should have been much lower.

[spirilis]

mmmmm did I mention I love my Big Green Egg? Just smoked a brisket on it today, started at 8AM and took it off around 7PM... yum. Tender as your typical corned beef inside, with a nice meteorite crust on the outside. Yummm.

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 246.6

Here we go again... I damned well hope it doesn't rise to 248 again this week!

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 244.4

Wow new low!! Looks like progress is finally being made...

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 247.0

Just set my highest-high this week so far. Yesterday was my first day of work this week (was off president's day), didn't do too bad except later in the afternoon I ended up going out briefly to buy some Atkins bars 'cause I didn't have any snacks and I was craving something like that... then promptly noticed the Atkins bars gave me indigestion, lol. They might be the perfect snack to keep around--they're there in an emergency but I'm less likely to touch them now!
Had a big dinner last night, at an indian food place, so I had a fair amount of calories and less than 3hr before bed. Ordered 2 more of the Chicken Tikka Makhala (creamed spiced chicken mmmmmmmmmm) to go so my wife and I will eat that for lunch today

Can't wait till spring... it snowed monday night ~2-3" here and last night it got down to ~9-13F, which constitutes a very brief wintery break in what was starting to become a profound spring tease, but the quasi-springlike weather will return in a day or 2 to melt that snow. Bought a new bicycle monday when I was off, a RANS fusion crank-forward ("semi-recumbent") bicycle which fit me so well like a glove, less hard on the back and very relaxing to ride, not like your typical upright bicycle. That will be my main source of daily exercise come Spring.

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 247.2

setting another high, hmm. Had more indian food for lunch yesterday. I guess it's just something about work... maybe sitting at a desk all day? Can't wait till spring when I can ride my bicycle.

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 246.0

Delightful! But still following the same rough pattern... just delayed? Well I shouldn't call it a pattern until I've seen it through a couple weeks. It seems my weight stayed lower mon/tues but then rose wed, thurs and finally dropped friday. I did yoga sunday & tuesday nights.
The weekly weight increase might have more to do with how much I eat than anything else. Seems I was eating a lot this week. Next week I should strive to curb that (having a dinner-portion indian food dish 2 lunches in a row after having it for dinner once was a bit much food...and I am pretty sure there were a ton of hidden carbs inside to boot!)

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 243.4

WOW!!! Brand new low again! Looks like my stall has officially broken... I'll keep up with the Yoga on sunday night (might not be able to do it tuesday night due to being out of town for work) and see how I do next week.

[spirilis]

Morning weigh-in: 241.6

Dayum!
Didn't eat jack **** yesterday -- bacon & eggs for breakfast, then BBQ (arkansas beef BBQ with a sugary bbq sauce + carolina-style chopped pork BBQ with the vinegar+spice sauce) around 2PM (was starvin') and nothing at all until I had a couple strips of brisket w/ cheese around 9PM.
That concludes a delightful week of weight loss! Closing the week at my lowest-low is even sweeter. Stall broken!

[ChristineCQ]

Great job! Congrats!

[spirilis]

Originally Posted by ChristineCQ

Great job! Congrats!

Thx! How's the knee?

[ChristineCQ]

Much better, thanks! Still bruised and cut, but no longer painful! I'm back to Zumba, thankfully.