“Oh. Low-carb.” Or how I learned to ignore the snark and sarcasm.

I started my Atkins low-carb lifestyle on January 9, 2008. This time I call it a “lifestyle” rather than a diet because the first time I tried it, I lost some weight and then greedily went back to eating the way I used to and gained it all back plus some more. Well, DUH! That’s not how it works. The difference is that this time I understand. I’ve read the book, researched the principles before I embarked on the journey, and I truly get it now. 

Anyway, my husband, who had lost about 30 pounds a few years ago on the South Beach Diet, was very supportive of my choice to live low-carb. And we went shopping together right away to stock up on what I needed. He still eats fairly low-carb, but is not hardcore about it.  I wasn’t worried about telling him, knowing he’d be alright with it.

My husband wasn’t the first person who knew I was doing this. A co-worker, Regina, approached me around the time I was thinking about it and said she’d planned to start Atkins in the New Year. Would I perhaps join her as a weightloss buddy? I agreed. We do keep each other on track, though she cheats and I don’t.

The next people to find out (as if it were a “dirty little secret”!) were my father-in-law and his sister. My FIL scoffed immediately. “You know, Atkins died from that crap. You’re going to follow HIS advice?” I corrected him, obviously, explaining that the good doctor suffered head trauma from a fall. “Oh sure,” FIL snickered. “Only because he was so weak from malnutrition. Of course he fell and died.” Allrighty then….moving right along. Dad’s sister was a little more encouraging, but not much. “You know, you just have to eat in moderation. Why cut out anything in particular? Won’t you miss all that chocolate?” she smirked as she popped a truffle into her mouth.

FIL and sister were only mildly impressed with my first few pounds of weight loss. But that, of course, didn’t stop me.

Another work friend, however, has been rather demoralizing. She’s someone I consider more than just a work friend, and I was surprised and disappointed by her reaction to my diet. I went to her house after work one week, and she commented on my modest weight loss. “Oh, I’m doing Atkins!” I chirped happily. She turned a funny shade of gray, and shook her head sadly. “You know, I’m glad you’re losing weight, but I wish you were doing it another way. That’s just not good for you.” I started to discuss it a little, but I could see there would be no swaying her. Thankfully, she had a platter of cheeses out and some crudites with spinach dip, so there was food to eat that wouldn’t cause me to cheat. She seemed annoyed that I didn’t eat the crackers or chips and that I brought some pork skins with me.

About two weeks later, in mid-Feb, this friend and I went to lunch. She openly looked me over as I sat down in the restaurant, at this time about 10 pounds lighter than when she’d seen me last, but made no comment about my obvious weight loss. Whereas we always order a glass of wine with our heavily carbed Italian lunch, I ordered a chicken caesar salad–no croutons–and a club soda with lime. She made no comment at all as I ignored the plate of bread, and said not a word about my food or drink or the way I looked.

She has since avoided me, which I find odd. I saw her the other day in the cafeteria, at which point she again openly looked me up and down (now a full 16 pounds lighter) and then merely remarked to me, ”I think I have that same sweater.”

What is it about low-carb and Atkins that turns friends into enemies and warm people into catty bitches?

A very senior level female executive came up to me yesterday and said, “you’ve lost a lot of weight!” I said, “Yes, sixteen pounds.” Her eyes grew round with amazement and then came the question. “How did you do it?” I hesitated. What do I tell her? Atkins? She’ll attack me and give me the whole ‘That’s bad for you’ story. I’m not in the mood! After a moment of contemplation, I said, “I’m eating low-carb.”

Her reaction? “Oh. Low-carb.” It was a conversation killer.

My mother-in-law sent me an email about two weeks ago about what was new and exciting in her life. She lives with her husband in Florida. I wrote back and told her some of our own happenings, and mentioned I’d lost 15 pounds since she saw me at Christmas. Her response was swift. “Tell me! How did you do it? I gained 10 pounds recently and I can’t seem to shed it!” So, I wrote back and told her. I even went so far (with a captive audience) to explain that it’s low-carb not no carb like so many make it out to be. I explained induction, and how I was now eating a lot of vegetables and including some strawberries in my daily menus.  I told her I was working out and getting fit, and feeling great and that I would be getting my blood done in a few weeks so I was looking forward to my numbers. Blah, blah, blah.

Well, can you guess what happened next? Nothing. Nada. No response.

The silence is deafening.

What is it about this diet that rouses people’s anger? Why does it cause so many folks to shut down and walk away? WHY WON’T THESE PEOPLE SHARE IN MY JOY??

It’s frustrating, but it only motivates me more. Are they insinuating, perhaps, that I’m crazy and have no idea what I’m doing? That my intelligence went the way of the potato and the pasta? That I threw the baby out with the bathwater?

No, I say! I’m in my right mind and I’m doing fine. I have no hunger cravings. I’m not starving. I’m not eating non-stop meat and cheese, or eschewing anything that remotely looks to be a vegetable. Read the book, people! It’s not a fad. It’s a scientific and nutritionally sound way of eating developed by a CARDIOLOGIST for goodness sake!  And the roadmap is right there in black-and-white. I don’t have to think about what to do, Dr. Atkins figured it all out for me!

It’s alright. You can keep your snarky and sarcastic comments, the rolling of your eyes, the mocking smirks to yourselves. I’ll have the last laugh. I’m already starting to wear 12s again when I was wearing 14s and 16s for the better part of past few years. And when I’m in 10s and 8s again (and, oh yes, I will be!) you can praise me all you want for my weightloss and–by golly–my willpower. I’ll just smile and quote what the good Dr. Atkins wrote:

“Willpower is not required on the Atkins diet, only the wisdom to put yourself in a position where you won’t be needing it.”
- Dr. Robert C. Atkins      

Day 55, 165 pounds: Another half inch off waist and hips

Although the scale still has not moved, last night I measured another half inch off both my waist and hips. That is 2 inches from my waist and and 1.5 off my hips since I started measuring a couple of weeks ago. Last night I started recording other measurements that are not captured in SparkPeople – bust, upper arm, thigh, calf and ankle.  When the weight isn’t coming off, the obvious reshaping of my body motivates me.

I’m not sure what is stalling me. I did Atkins induction to the letter, and thereafter slowly added back 5 grams of carbs each week. Coming up now on 8 weeks, I never seem to go above 40 g of carbs when tracking my food (which I am doing religiously) and, accounting for fiber and sugar alcohols, my net carbs are usually below 30 g. Although the plan recommends adding 5 g more each week, I’m inclined to go backwards to induction again and see if I can jumpstart this puppy. Not really sure.

Sheila Pike-Pereyra of Sugar-Free Sheila has offered to look at a typical menu for me and let me know where I’m going wrong. I’d wanted to tough it out, but frankly, I’m getting a little cranky so I may take her up on it. The only things that I’ve really added into my diet are a half-cup of cottage cheese and a few strawberries for breakfast on some mornings, a few ounces of nuts per week (sliced almonds in my salad and the occasional macadamia nuts), and salad a little more often (mostly just lettuces).  What gives??? Am I not eating enough carbs??? I don’t want to eat any more carbs!

I do think part of my problem is constipation. I’d blogged about this before, and I’m being a little stubborn about making Metamucil a regular part of my routine. I guess I have to give in and drink the stuff every day…

In my next post, I will talk about the reactions (both verbal and non-verbal) I’ve been getting from others when they hear I’m doing Atkins.

Couch to 5K – Week 1, Day 1

I’ll tell ya, low-carbing and getting fit makes a gal do cRaZy things!

Things like doing yoga, walking, and even strength training. Yep, I even dug out those dumbbells from the late 80s from the attic. Do you know what kind of crud gets on yer weights after all these years??

And the nuttiest thing of all, I decided I would start running. Now mind you, I’ve done plenty of walking but never ran more than 20 seconds in my life. Run for 20 seconds and my lungs start to burn, my calves start to burn, my brain screams “stop the torture!” and I quit. 

But there’s this great program on the Cool Running site called “Couch to 5K.” It purports to take a fluffy couch potato like moi and turn her into a 5K runner in 9 short weeks.  9 weeks? Impossible! Well…maybe not impossible, but improbable. I may, in fact, do the program in 18 weeks to stretch it out.

What does it entail? You are asked to workout 3 times a week for said 9 weeks,  running for only short circuits throughout the 30 minute routine. The program can be seen here. I found a wonderful podcast by Robert Ullrey which eliminates the need to carry a stopwatch; Robert does the 30 minute program with you, telling you when to walk, when to run, and when to cool down – motivating you with his encouraging words and great electronica music. Check him out here and on iTunes.

Today I did my first C25K workout, using Robert’s Week 1 podcast. The workout consisted of 5 minutes of brisk walking for warmup, followed by alternating circuits of 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of brisk walking, ending in another 5 minute session of brisk walking for cool down. Although I was enjoying the warmup and the accompanying music, my mind was psyching me out. I kept telling myself I’d never be able to do the run, I’d embarrass myself (in front of who, some neighbor looking out their window?), I’d fail…until Robert said, “OK – are you ready? Time for your first 60 second run. Go!” Suddenly, I was jogging along and the 60 seconds flew by!

But I didn’t realize that it gets harder everytime you do another 60 seconds! By the 6th interval, I was winded and fading.  Yet I kept on. By the 8th and last interval, I pushed myself to finish and I did! The 5 minute cool down was like a reward for perservering. Can I run a 5K in 9 weeks? Doubtful. But even if I never run a 5K at all, I will be increasing my aerobic capacity and burning calories every time I head out to do these podcasts. 

I can’t wait to do Day 2!

Walk for Water – World Water Day March 22

What could be better than walking for your health? Walking for a great cause, of course! On March 22, several major cities are holding Awareness Walks for World Water Day. What is World Water Day? I’m glad you asked!

World Water Day and the Walk for Water are inspired by the example of women in water-stressed countries who often walk 6 miles each day just to get water for their family. Can you imagine it? Walking that far to 1) get water and 2) bring heavy jugs of said water home to their families. (And I complain when I have to get up and walk to the kitchen and refill my Poland Spring bottle.) Read more here.

I’m going to do the walk in New York City, March 22. It’s a good cause, there doesn’t seem to be stringent (or any) fundraising criteria like so many other walks, and it will be good preparation for my upcoming fitness endeavors like the Arthritis Walk in May and the Couch-to-5K program that I want to start when the weather warms up.

If you live near one of the cities where the walks are being held (Seattle, Tacoma, NYC, Los Angeles), consider participating. If you can’t participate, there is a Virtual Walk via their website.  Join me in NYC if you can!

Day 48, 165 Pounds: 1 inch off my waist this past week.

The area that has given me the most grief once I hit 40 is definitely my waistline. Once, I used to think that belting and highlighting my waist only made my butt look big. Then I hit 40 and belting and highlighting my waist…wasn’t an option any more!  And by 42, I had a genuine “spare tire.”  

When I started this diet, I truly wanted my thick middle to diminish. My hope was that I would lose everywhere and the waist would be included. And as I started working out, I began to feel muscles I forgot I had start to work beneath the fat layer. Unfortunately, I hadn’t measured myself before the diet as a benchmark, but I did measure myself the past three Sundays.  By the second Sunday of measuring, I lost a half inch each off my waist, hips, and neck.  Yesterday, the third Sunday of measuring, I lost another half inch from my hips and a full inch more from my waist!

As for my fitness routine, I did 35 minutes of yoga yesterday (which, for me at this stage of fitness, is fairly aerobic) and 10 minutes of free weights. Tonight I will do about 55 minutes worth of strength training, including free weights and floorwork. Never did I think I’d be blogging about working out! But I’m seeing the change in my body composition and it motivates me all the more. I’m trying to do cardio four times a week and strength training three times. I plan to do a couple of charity walks, including the May 17th Arthritis Walk, so I’ve begun training with those goals in mind.

I began taking a multivitamin and a vitamin E gelcap, three times a day with meals. I have a variety of other supplements on the shelf that I’m not quite ready to add back into my routine. It’s not that I don’t think I need them; it’s more that I’m not fully in the habit yet with simple things like the multivitamin. As soon as it is more second-nature, I will build upon it. The other supplements include an iron capsule (I’ve had low iron most of my adult life, though I am not anemic), vitamin C, Co-Enzyme Q-10, GLA and Omega-3, and a great probiotic called Primal Defense.  I also have a glucosamine-chondroitin tablet that I may begin taking again.

Why do I have these particular supplements? I had a herniated disc in my neck last summer (C3) and was out of work on medical leave for about 6 weeks. The gluco-chon seemed to help after the weeks of physical therapy. During the same time frame, I had some digestive issues, and a friend recommended the PD to help stablize the friendly flora in my intestinal tract. I have to say, I did feel a difference and then, like with so many other things, once I felt better I put the problem (and the pills) out of mind. I don’t think they’d hurt to add them back into my regimen, but again, I want to wait a little while. Baby steps, and all.

As a treat to myself, I bought two pairs of capri-length Hanes sweat pants yesterday – in size MEDIUM! The large looked too big, and even if the mediums are a little snug now, they won’t be for long.