I am on low carb and have been on it for some time.. I am now on maintenance which means I don't want to lose much weight but I don't want to gain any either.. I am close to my desired weight and I maintain it.. At one time I weighed 358 pounds.. I went on Atkins and I am now down to 210 and holding.. That's about 148 pounds lost.. I have a story that goes with this, but I won't go into it now..
@Steve North Perhaps because you desire no public exposure to it? I would personally very much like to hear it, if such request isn't excessively inquisitive. Conversation, maybe.....? Frank
@Arlene Richards What you say is absolutely true. Watch me catch hell for saying it! From the very simple Physics of it, ignoring the usual metabolic rate arguments, and ignoring interfering factors of illness affecting metabolism, calories in = calories out, over the long run means no weight gained or lost. Just my opinion as a hard-headed steadfastly dedicated Engineer. Frank
Not at all.. I have nothing to hide.. In fact, I am proud of myself for accomplishing something like that.. The story could be a longish one and right now, I am not prepared to write it out, but I definitely will perhaps soon.. ~~~Why the weight gain started ~~~How I realised that something had to be done ~~~What I did about it to start ~~~How I managed during those times ~~~How the weight loss came off ~~~How long it took ~~~Some major items to make weight loss happen ~~~How I feel now ~~~ Etc. Etc. Etc .................. No use just telling you the end results as you know them.. You want to know the story completely... Perhaps a new thread for the story would be appropriate as well..
I tried a diet soda once and didn't like the taste of it nor the after taste and I experienced an awful headache just from the little bit that I had. Now I avoid any food or drink that has an artificial sugar of any kind because of that experience. Having work within the medical field I learned a lot about how sugar affects the body and took it to heart by reducing my intake of regular soda. I'm a Pepsi drinker and early on in my twentys it was my coffee, tea and water replacement any time I was thirsty. I paid for it dearly with a bladder infection and I never want to experience that again.
There is a catagory called "Personal Diaries", @Steve North , and that would be the perfect place for you to tell us all your story, and then we can all read it. Since I am also in the process of losing weight with a low-carb diet, I am definitely one of those people who will be looking forward to reading your story and dieting tips when you post it here.
I have to agree with @Arlene Richards on this one. I have seen people do that, too. I use aspartame and so far, I have never had any bad side effects. If you drink any kind of low cal drink and still load up on fast foods, you're gonna be fat. BTW, @Arlene Richards, congratulations on the weight loss!!!! You done good.
@Shirley Martin You will not have any "bad" side effects, Shirley, that you will know of. However, if you have never heard of Wood Alcohol, please listen. The simplest alcohol, Wood Alcohol, is poisonous, in any but the very MINUTEST quantity. Next simplest, is Grain Alcohol, consumable, contained in virtually all alcoholic beverages. Wood Alcohol killed a lot of people during Prohibition, during which time alcohol production was prohibited commercially, so folks took it upon themselves, including criminal folks, to make it and distribute it. They strove to make Grain Alcohol, but often wound up with Wood Alcohol, and didn't know it. So what? All foreign substances we ingest must be removed from the body. The liver accomplishes this. Grain, or "drinkable" alcohol, is changed to various other chemicals, none of which are particularly harmful, and they are excreted from the body. ASPARTAME is metabolized, or changed, by the liver in a number of steps, one of which produces Wood Alcohol, which is poisonous. Critics of aspartame claim it is poisoning folks, slowly. Adherents to aspartame claim the amounts of Wood Alcohol produced are inconsequential. Knowing this, it is now YOUR CALL. Continue slowly being a victim of the effects of low-level amounts of Wood Alcohol being removed from your body, or "poo-poo" the proven studies. Do I use aspartame? Yes. But only in Pepsi Max, which unfortunately has not joined it's brother & sister Diet Pepsi and Diet Pepsi Caffeine Free as proclaiming "Now Aspartame Free". Your call. Frank
Did you just say that grain alcohol is not harmful? What did all those alcoholics that I've heard about die from then? Also, I just remembered my grandmother was diabetic for at least 30 years before she died at age 87 used those artificial sweeteners they had back then. I can still remember seeing that bottle of liquid sweetener and those little white pills of it too on her kitchen table....they didn't kill her. I'm sure my one or two packs of Splenda a day isn't going to kill me either. Also...the title is misleading. Carbonation in drinks doesn't affect anything. Carbonated water is fine. Yikes...it's only 6:46 am and I sound like I'm in b*tchy mood already....
Alcoholics normally die by either cirrhosis, heart attack, stroke and going through windshields. Other than that, nope, bonafide grain alcohol is not poisonous. A small drink a day is actually considered healthy although for me, I'd rather abstain. Now, there are some methods of obtaining an alcohol high that is poisonous such as drinking sterno, lysol, listerine, et al. I understand it's a cheap buzz but alas, it could be the last one.
The sweetener that your grandmother used back then would have been saccharin, which has been in use since at least before the Second World War, because I remember people talking about using it when they could not get sugar due to food rationing. Although it has been said to be bad for you, as far as I know it has never produced seizures, or any of the other side effects that can come from aspartame, and it is still on the market. Splenda, although not supposed to be good for you either, is also different from aspartame, which is the sweetener that @Frank Sanoica is talking about. And I don't think that Frank was trying to deny that people die from alcoholism, either; but he was trying to point out that you can die from wood alcohol, because it is not safe to drink in ANY quantities. A few sips of grain alcohol is not likely to kill a person outright like the same amount of wood alcohol would do.
That's what I meant about alcoholics dying, Bobby. I was thinking drinking a lot causes cirrhosis and death, not drinking in moderation. Yes, I know wood alcohol is poisonous. I e heard alcoholics that were desperate and drank it. I don't know about aspartame and seizures. I personally don't know anyone that's had one except my sister in law from England but she takes meds and hasn't had one since I've known her which is about 40 years. She also doesn't drink any diet pop or use sweeteners but I don't think that's the reason. She's into natural with everything. She's also the only one I know who weight watchers worked for. What's in equal? I used to use that before Splenda came out. Maybe I should go back to saccharin.
Here is what Dr. Mercola has reported about aspartame. There is a lot of other information about aspartame and its side effects, including the seizures online besides Mercola. One webpage showed the results of a study with mice, and literally all of them who were give more than a low dose of aspartame had seizures, and one diied partway through the study. Although they probably didn't record it from the animal studies, other studies with humans has shown neurological side effects, such as depression, being caused by aspartame, as well as the more common side effects of migraines, asthma, and IBS. http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/hidden_dangers.htm
My daughter stopped drinking Diet Coke hoping to stop her migraines but it hasn't. She doesn't drink Diet Coke anymore though anyway or use aspartame but she still gets the migraines. We don't have seizures or even asthma or IBS in anyone in my family but we sure do have many with migraines and a few with motion sickness. The ones that get migraines get motion sick too, except me. My migraines are also a lot milder than my daughter's or sister's. A few nieces also get the migraine and motion sickness. I can't say wether aspartame caused the migraines but most of these relatives that I mentioned didn't drink diet drinks or use sweetener except my daughter and she quit a few years ago. I'll look it up on another site, mercola is one I don't trust.
I don't have a lot of confidence in the Mercola site, either. I can find a lot of evidence that aspartame is harmless. I never believed that saccharine was harmful, either. Many years later, it turns out that I was right. I never quit using it. As for the alleged harmful side effects: I have never had a headache. I don't get dizzy. I don't have seizures. My memory is pretty good for an old fart. I don't have mood changes. My doctor checks my kidney function, liver function and everything else once a year. If I had any damage from aspartame, surely it would show up in the tests. I think the supposed dangers of aspartame have been greatly over hyped.