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Yep. Maritus and I do the low carb thing, too. I can’t recommend it to others enough. This link is just one of several reasons why we follow this diet. Both of us, between eating low carb and weight lifting, are in the best shape we’ve been since we’ve been married. I have even gotten down the the weight I was at when we met. My body is not the same as three kids and not eating right for several years will do that to a woman, but I am getting very close to being in top shape again and I can’t wait. I COULD NOT have done this with the typical Weight Watchers low calorie diet. Been there, done that and I will describe my experience more in another post.
Please Note: I am working on a proper post but it will still be a couple of days. My family just left early this morning and we are all quite tired and my youngest is sick. In the mean time, I love talking diet/nutrition/exercise so please feel free to talk away in the comments about this. I find it fascinating.
On the Rock 
Add intermittent fasting to that!
Yohami,
I have been seeing more about this yet know very little about it. I need to start looking more closely into it. We have taken so many steps with all of this and I think that may be the next one.
Been low carb (paleo/primal) since March 1, 2012. Not going back to SAD (standard american diet). Feel sooooo much better.
Here to–we feel great with the Paleo/Primal and the weightlifting. Went away last week to visit family, ate some things we were not used to eating lately and we felt it, augh.
As for the intermittent fasting, we haven’t done that yet, but I know there is some written about it on marksdailyapple about it. Definitely something that we would like to incorporate in our lifestyle.
Question for you, Stingray, with guests in town did you serve what your family has been eating, low carb? and did you get any comments about it? I still get the eye roll and such from family even though they see the results in my husband and I and compliment the way we look. Just curious if anyone else has the same experience.
Jacquie, I know as a single man I get a mixed bag. Eye roll type behavior from most guys, because most guys my age have no inclination towards health. Some will actually listen, but I haven’t heard of any that actually do anything about it. Women I get appreciative looks, conversations expressing interest in personal health, and/or rolled eyes. Depends on the interest level or feeling threatened.
Also, as I’m 26, depends on if the person is a veggie/vegan hipster. Those people don’t know crap about themselves – body, mind, or soul.
It’s always interesting to see the reactions. Especially from women I knew before I lost the weight.
Jeff,
We’ve been doing it since January, I think. I still can’t get over how much more energy I have. I also can’t get over just how terrible I feel when I stray. I will eat what I like on vacation and definitely pay for it shortly after.
Jacquie,
Actually, everyone in my family eats like this and our closest friends do as well. It actually makes entertaining much easier as preparing cheeses, meats and veggies for a get together is very simple and everyone seems to like the food even more. I haven’t really gotten any eye rolls from people, but I have gotten quite a bit of “how do you not eat bread?!” When I tell them that after a period of time that I don’t ever want to eat it they look stunned and move on. I have had one friend worry about my cholesterol, but she has seen the changes that I have made in my body and I’ve told her about my energy levels and she doesn’t say anything any more. 😉
When we do go to places that I would probably get an eye roll, I am usually eating a small portion of the carb du jour. I love food. Seriously love it. They say everyone has a vice and food is mine. While I can give up the carbs for 2-3 months, when we are invited to a get together that will have SAD food, we go to these types of things so rarely that I enjoy myself. If we happen to have events like this close together I will plan to eat at one and only do low carb at another. Most of the things we go to have a good mixture of food that make it very easy to stick to the low carb.
For anyone reading that might want to learn more about low carb eating Fat Head is a wonderful place to start. It’s how I got my start in this. It also streams on Netflix and it would be easier to watch it there as you won’t have to watch it in 11 different sections.
From there we moved on to the book Protein Power by Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades. This gave us even more science and details on the best way to do it. The link for that is here.
I have been lowish for a few years now (<150g/day) and am leaner now since 8th grade or so at 19% BF. Unfortunately, the Mrs will not join me. Any tips?
OTC,
Show her the Fat Head film. The man who made it is a comedian and it is a very entertaining documentary. It gives the science behind it in a way that is completely understandable and fun to watch. Do you work out? Take her with you if you do and work out together. If your not working out, start together. Bodybuilding.com and T-Nation (this site might scare her off but it is fantastic for men). Also, I can’t remember if Fat Head covers this or not, but the way she will most likely feel after about a month of doing this will be like night and day. The sluggish way she probably doesn’t even realize yet that she feels will be gone. I would recommend you both going at it together. Frame it such that you are going to go even further with it and you want the family to do it together. Drop it down to less than 100 or even 50 grams of carbs a day. I haven’t been doing it for the past two weeks (I suffer from terribly allergies in the fall. Between that and my family member being here I got out of the low carb these past two weeks) but I typically eat less than 30 grams a day. A lot of people think that too extreme, but I feel fantastic and I rarely get hungry or the munchies. I don’t want to eat more than that and I don’t miss it.
If you go this route, warn her that for the first few days to one month (it varies from person to person) that she is going to feel very tired and may even get headaches/nausea from it. When we eat a SAD our stomachs produce a certain enzyme to process the carbs and not very much of the enzyme needed to process the protein. It takes time for our bodies to stop producing the carb enzyme and create much more of the needed protein enzyme (Sorry, I can’t recall the names of either of these right now. I read about this in the Protein Power book). While this change is taking place it is normal to feel tired, cranky and basically not well. It is important to keep it up and get through this. Once you come out the other side, the energy level is outstanding. Read this and this for tips on the fastest and easiest way to get through this period.
The appeal to her overalll health, energy levels, losing weight and best of all, doing it with you might do it.
Well acquainted with all that. I watched Fathead when it first showed up on Netflix and have a gym membership. I do mostly bodyweight stuff at home. She won’t go with me, even if I ask. Tried that.
As for going lower, my diet is a bit higher since I’m getting the results I like at 130g, which is mostly fruit, veg, dairy, and very little grain. I have already experimented with hitting 50 or 100, but I am at the point where I only need to drop a few more BF% to be where I want which translates to about 7 pounds (I am 5’10” 162, 42/32).
OTC,
I was afraid of that. OK. I know some agree with this and some don’t. I happen to agree with it when used appropriately. The manosphere likes to call it using Dread and I am sure you’re familiar with it. Only, it doesn’t have to be an active thing in that the man seeks out women to flirt with (therefore causing actual dread). A wife simply knowing that her husband is desirable to other women is enough and he can do that without seeking women to flirt with. Looking his best and her observing other women looking is often all it takes. Women like to know they are married to men who are desired, but it also triggers this feeling of, if I don’t step it up and look my best for him, he will not desire me any more. It triggers female competition again that was there before the wedding. Female competition is most seen in how women present themselves in the way they look, so she would want to look her best for you again.
For some women, this triggers a great deal of fear and they may regress even further. For others, they simply start to work on looking their best. If your wife falls into the former camp, you are going to have to do some reassuring for her that you still very much love her, while maintaining that you want her to be more healthy and look her best.
Is this like the South Beach diet, Stingray? When everyone is rested and well again, could you give some short examples of things you don’t eat and things you eat more of now?
Two things regarding diet that happened by accident and have had a good effect on me are 1) the light in my refridgerator burned out and 2) my toaster broke. Having a dark fridge when you look in there at night doesn’t make anything look very good, so its helpful for getting out of the evening snack thingy. And, being the toast hound I’ve always been, not having a toaster cuts back on eating bread. I’ll often pack a bag of peanuts in my lunch instead of a sandwich. Sometimes I do make toast on the weekends; I just have to do it in the broiler. Anything that makes food more of an effort is good and why fast food is so tempting and harmful.
Kate,
I only know a bit about the South Beach Diet, but I think it is quite similar, especially the first phase of the diet.
I don’t eat bread, pasta, anything with sugar, potatoes, cereal, etc. I eat a whole lot of meat (bacon, sausage, eggs, an absurd amount of chicken and lean pork, some steak, fish . . .) and lots and lots of vegetables. Where I think I don’t adhere to pure paleo is that I eat dairy products (mostly cheese) and I eat some nuts. As far as we went, I was unwilling to give up cheese. I enjoy it too much.
That’s not to say I don’t cheat every once in a while. However, unlike Weight Watchers where they say to cheat once a week, I will cheat every few months. Cheating makes me feel awful, as in I have even thrown up from it. I get terribly bloated and the cravings come back en force for a couple of days. This makes me only want to cheat on utterly delicious things.
If you want a sandwich, try these. Now, I know they look gross. But they truly are not. As a substitute for bread, they are quite amazing and even a quite a bit of protein to your day. I don’t add the splenda as I prefer mine to be savory. Also sprinkling on some asiago or romano cheese on top make them EXCELLENT.
If you want to know more, I encourage you to read the Protein Power book by the doctors Eades. It is an easy and interesting read (not that you need easy with your background, but he makes the science fun to read) and it really sends everything home in a profound way (at least it did for me).
Thanks!!! 🙂
marksdailyapple.com
Twelve months on and very happy.
Yeah. That doesn’t work either, of which I am sure.
OTC,
I have a feeling that you are well aware of of all the game tips I could give you. Any idea why she is resistant to it? Would upping the dread work or would it make it worse? Some woman would go the exact opposite route with dread and simply give up or get so angry that they would not improve their weight out of spite (I’m not saying your wife is like this). It’s hard to say what other route to take without knowing the personality of your wife. I assume you have tried straight out asking/telling her to lose the weight or to change her diet?
Thank Observer. I have gone there a couple of times but I need to spend more time in his archives.
Otc,
19%? For a male?
All that fruit is not helping. Lots of simple sugars. Ugggh.
Paleo and primal does not suggest a lot of fruit. A friend of mine eats as you describe and cannot lose weight after twelve months.
Observer,
I wasn’t looking for criticism on my own diet, but since you insist:
1. 19% “for a man” is good enough for USMC for someone my age. I am not an athlete, bodybuilder, or Marine, so I am happy with my continued progress.
2. I’m still losing fat at a decent, slow rate, and it’s stayed off, despite eating a whopping 18 grams of fruit carbs today. Your friend isn’t me.
3. My buddy lost 260 pounds, is somewhere around 15%, and could probably leg press a Yugo… eating similarly.
Strict paleo is great for some, and I definitely do limit my carbs, but it’s not the only way.
Otc,
Relax, man. Its not a personal attack.
I have been as high as 24% and low as 10% and have experienced how difficult it can be.
Peace.
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