Water is extremely important.. You are supposed to drink half your weight in ounces of water daily... I don't because I will drown if I drink that much.. I drink about 80 or so ounces daily, and I find, that is plenty to keep me running to the toilet way too often.... Naturally I have my coffee and a pot of tea, but the water is water and the rest doesn't count....
Holly... To answer your question about my weight loss on another thread... NO, I didn't exercise much as I was working as a COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT CONSOLTANT and was at my desk for much of the time.. I did that job working for myself for years and years.. The weight I gained didn't come on overnight so it won't go away overnight.. Naturally it took sometime as I want to lose it slowly in order to keep it off forever, besides, losing that amount of weight too fast isn't healthy.. Like I said, I have a disease called "Compulsive Overeater" and the first thing I did was to accept the disease and move forward from there with the most logical food plan of all which is Low Carb.. I was under the care of my family doctor that saw me every week to monitor my situation.. Exercise isn't my strongest point, but a walk now and then was something I tried to do.. Food intake was my main concern and the proper food... Believe it, as the weight came off, my income increased as I had more energy to work..
I’m glad you brought up the carb loading thing Don. For me, carbs and fats are essential elements in order to prevent any protein glucogenesis from happening. For a person who is in training, in the absence of carbs, the body will go for protein in order to manufacture glucose for energy which is a humongous no-no. Protein should be the very last source for energy because it has so many other jobs to do especially in the muscle building department so I carb up before a workout and then take in a limited amount of carbs afterward. But do note: I wrote “limited amount” because I still take in a few carbs after I leave the gym. The workout isn’t finished when I quit doing reps and go home because the body still needs energy to repair the damage that was done in the gym. All that said, it does indeed depend on a person’s lifestyle when we choose a diet. I have seen low carb diets work especially for those folks who are heavily involved in aerobic exercise and are overweight (a term which has to be accurately defined as well). I have also seen low carb diets work for desk jocks, conveyer workers and the normal come and go folks but it just isn’t in the books for a bodybuilder. Edit: For those folks who are into so called low carb “energy drinks”. STOP Do your homework. Nuff said.
Bobby... I agree with you on the active person.. Personally, I am not very active, and actually, I was never that active.. I was working at a desk for years and years and that was during my very heavy time.. The only way I could lose the weight was to low Carb it which I did and it worked perfectly for me.. I lost the weight and I also felt a whole lot better.. I kept the weight off and am still not gaining back any weight..
I think a lot of the “substance” of a nutritional program depends on how we train our body to react to certain foods. For instance, if the body is used to storing fats and using other elements to sustain our energy level, that is what it will do. For me, it’s a matter of setting certain goals and going for them in a well planned manner. I’m pretty sure that most folks who diet mean well but I would say that a majority of them have no idea how to attain their goals, that is, if they actually have a distinct goal. A low carb/no carb nutritional training program is absolutely ideal for the average person who is overweight and wants to lose the pounds but the object of the diet doesn’t always mean that the body will automatically shoot for the stored fats with the absence of carbohydrate intake. Some people are just programmed that way. Sometimes, a person just has to put their foot down and train the body to do what you want it to do. Now, at the present time, I hit a plateau. I have reached a place in my training whereby I feel like I am not developing the way I should so that means three things. Either I am not working hard enough or my body is going for proteins for energy or my body is trying to turn testosterone into estrogen and it needs more fat cells to store aromatase. (The last two happen to every man over 50 or so no matter what our lifestyles are) As a senior guy, the last two are the most detrimental. The third one is an easy fix but re-training my body to go for carbs instead of the proteins is a little harder (but they both still go hand in hand.). 1. I change my routine and stay away from working the larger muscle masses as hard. (A couple of weeks) This decreases testosterone production thereby decreasing the need for more aromatase. A prescribed aromatase blocker might also be appropriate at times but I do ingest Tongkat Ali for that purpose. 2. I increase the amount of branch chain amino acids I take in and also take a carb blocker. The combination of the two force feeds carbohydrates for glucose development and stears it away from using proteins. The implementation of 1 and 2 will retrain my body to do what I want it to do but it doesn’t last forever because at some point, I will have to re-train it again....and again.....and again. I guess my body just likes to take the easy and fastest way sometimes so I’m stuck with having to carry the whip and make it do the proper thing. I am sure that most folks who enjoy the low carb / no carb diet can get some great results but the main thing is no matter what the nutritional program one chooses, it takes having a set goal and the ability to train our body to do what we wish it to do and then stick to it.
@Bobby Cole I am no expert, but the guys I know feel that a plateau means that your body has grown accustomed to the routine and it needs to be re-balanced, which I think you referenced. Increasing the aerobic and keeping the anaerobic phase the same or lower may help. If your body grows used to that, reverse it. With carbs in healthy people, the key is to keep the liver full of glycogen but no more. Glycogen allows your body to adjust you blood sugar, but (hence carb loading), but anything more turns into fat, either on/in the liver or deposited elsewhere.
Funny you should mention that Don as my wife is a diabetic.. She started out taking a shot of insulin (10ml) before every meal as well as one at bed time which was 50ml.. Since she went on strict Low Carb, she has eliminated the morning shot and the lunch shot.. She takes her shot before supper and her nighttime... Shot that was originally 50ml and it is now down to 30ml at bedtime.... She isn't on strict low carb any more but her numbers for her diabetes are still very low.. She is on maintenance like me...
There was a dietary doctor who said everyone should avoid meals over 40 grams of carbs. I consider <20 grams to be low carb, 20--40 to be moderate carb, and >40 to be high carb for any given meal.
Don.... Anyone that has 40 or more carbs at one meal is surely eating something wrong... I try to limit myself to about 45 or so net carbs daily.. naturally I go over at times but there again I am often under that .. Now there is a difference between carbs and net carbs................... Big difference !!! OK... let me explain... Say for example you have a food that had 10 carbs per cup (just an example) however it has 3 grams of fiber... What you do is subtract the fiber from the carbs and you have the net carbs which would be only 7 net carbs in this case.... I try to stay around the 45 or so net carbs daily as I am on maintenance... I still stay away from the 5 very bad foods as much as possible... Sometimes it is unavoidable but generally I don't touch them.. Should I be in a situation, I drink one heck of a lot of water the next day.. About 80 or more ounces.... Flush out the evil spirit !!! I had previously mentioned them and I will do it again... they are........................ 1} Flour of any kind.. that means pasta, bread, cakes, and anything made with flour regardless of what kind of flour.. 2} Sugar ... That means anything that contains sugar in any form.. I use a sweetener.. I use Splenda... 3} Rice ... That means any form of rice including rice cakes, rice flour, or anything with rice.. 4} Corn... That means anything that has corn in it including corn starch, corn flour, or corn meal... 5} Potatoes.. That means anything that contains potato such as potato flour, potato starch, chips, French fries,... There are substitutes such as Wheat Gluten flour or Almond Flour which are extremely low carb and OK to use... I make my pancakes with wheat gluten and my waffles with almond flour..
I understand the net carb thing, @Steve North, but it is not difficult to exceed 40 grams of net carb. One large plate of spaghetti, or even a sandwich with white bread will usually do it.
You are right Don, however I still look at the 40 carbs while I eliminate the 5 foods.. Now, that looks like something else.. No flour, sugar, rice, potato or corn and 40 carbs over that ????... C'mon ... As a no restriction, yes.... Throw in a large ice-cream sunday with whipped cream and you have probably 100 carbs...