So, it’s only been about 5 days since I started, but I thought I’d drop a quick update. As most of you know, I am a big supporter of low-carbohydrate diets, mostly because a great deal of research show they are superior for treating things like diabetes and heart disease, but also because I once lost a great deal of weight (with relative ease) by just giving up carbs.
Effectively, the last few days have really been a transition from a moderate carbohydrate to a low-carb one for me. I’ve been keeping accurate food, weight and activity logs, which should help me figure out what’s working and what’s not. First thing of note is that I seem to be eating about 500 calories *more* per day than I was about a week ago, and I find I’m still actually quite a bit hungrier than I was before (which is sort of weird, because low carb diets typically suppress hunger). So either I was sort of starving myself before (which is possible considering I typically don’t eat very much), or my metabolism is increasing due to the dietary changes. My gut feeling says it’s more of the latter.
The good news is I’ve been dropping about 0.5 lb a day for the last five days. Obviously some of that is water weight, but for me the important thing is that it’s not going up. In terms of how I feel, I feel about the same — maybe a bit more energy. I’ve been trying to hit the gym every second day, mostly to lift some weights and try to add a few more pounds of muscle over the next little while. Lifting weights is important because it increases whole-body insulin sensitivity (due to unknown reasons), which basically makes it hormonally easier to burn fat instead of sugar, which is the whole point of this exercise really. I’m also throwing in the odd bit of cardio, mostly for heart-happy reasons though.
I’ve also been taking a multi-vitamin again, something that I haven’t routinely done in quite a while. So far, so good. My main goal is to drop 15 lbs before my birthday, which is in approximately two months.
If on the off days of weights, you do at least 30 minutes of cardio, you could drop 30 pounds in the same amount of time that you wanna drop 15. Bike, elliptical, or, if you’re like me, you run the trails in Stanley Park. 🙂
I’ve never had much luck with losing weight by cardio. In fact, I spent a full year doing the gym four times a week for an hour (all cardio) and only lost 2 lbs in the whole year. I recognize lots of people lose tons of weight with cardio, I just don’t appear to be one of them.
I’m up for a bike ride once a while though, or maybe a jog.
A couple studies here where exercise didn’t always make a difference in weight loss:
The effects of high-intensity intermittent exercise training on fat loss and fasting insulin levels of young women.
Insulin Resistant Muscle is Exercise Resistant
You do realize that beer contains an awful lot of empty calories. 😉
When you do your cardio, you might want to monitor your heart rate. I believe that there is a range considered optimum for burning the fat. I think the Polar website has some information on that. Plus they make great heart-rate monitors.
Way to go D !