DozenDiets.com

 Weight today: 181.0

Whew…I am STRUGGLING. Not just with the diet, but maybe some of that. Here is a different format than my normal posts. I am just going to run down the last few days.

I was diagnosed with strep throat for the second time in three weeks. I went on Augmentin this time since my doctor thought maybe I had a “stubborn case” of it. Then on Thursday, I felt like total poop. Completely run down. At that point I was wondering was it A) Strep throat, B) My new antibiotic or C) Low carb dieting.

I looked up the symptoms of Strep throat and Augmentin side effects and did not find fatigue. I did postulate that maybe I had a cold on top of strep throat. I don’t know if that is possible. So then, on Thursday, I ran six miles. Since then, I have felt horrendous. I did think dehydration so I made sure I got plenty of water.

I skipped my race today (which knocks me out of my race series for the fall) and I will take a few days off of exercise and rest. I am also increasing my carbs daily. I have been eating 20-25 grams a day. I am going to go up to 30-35 grams and see a) how I feel and b) what happens to weight loss.

I don’t know if I can blame it all on the diet or not. I did cheat on Saturday intentionally. It’s funny…at one point weight loss, exercise and running my next race seems all-important, but when you feel as bad as I felt, all that seems to matter is feeling better. So, I will do my best to stick with the diet and see if I can modify it a little AND get to feeling better at the same time.

I did get a good post from Dr. Parker (author of The Advanced Mediterranena Diet) and I totally agree with him. Here is the text:

Congratulations on the new PR! And with a strep throat, no less!

I remember running my 2nd (and last) marathon years ago. My first one was about 4 hours even. I was training to cut 30 mins off that time, and was on track. I got a simple head cold a few days before the event. Came in at 4 hours again, this time with dry heaves at the finish line.

For those not familiar with marathons, the world record, I think, is a little under 2 hours.

Wow, almost a pound a day so far, for 10 days! You can’t lose that much fat that quickly without liposuction. So you are seeing the infamous and usual “water loss.” [Assuming your scale is accurate.] Enjoy it while you can. I suspect that, at some point, much (70%?) of that weight will come back as quickly as it left. In the not-to-distant future.

But I hope not. I’m rooting for you!

-Steve

I appreciate the positive support. I agree though that the weight loss seen during induction on Atkins can’t be “real” weight loss and I would not expect it to be long lasting. I only say that for anyone who reads this and thinks it is a good way to drop 10 pounds, switch back to the “old” way of eating and just be ten pounds lighter. I think I can keep some of it off and I will keep rolling and hope to lose some more weight, but the rapid weight loss in the first couple of weeks is more of a “wow, this thing might work” phenomena than a true weight loss. I think anyone who has tried it has seen that a few times. It also might account for the nose dive in popularity of the low carb dieting. Don’t get me wrong, I expect that “lower” carbs is better in terms of the allowed daily level (300 gram or something?) but I think 20 grams is way to little. I expect that, at the end of the year, when I write my plan for lifelong weight maintenance (I’ll share it with everyone for what it’s worth) that I will have a target daily carb level between 60-100 grams. That’s just a guess at this point as I am still doing research. Remember though, I expect that it might be a highly personal number that you have to find for yourself. I’ll talk about all that when I write my magnum opus on dieting and slap it on the web.

Later

JG