Ruby Weight Loss

December 16, 2010

Low Carb Diet in College Tips?

Filed under: diet tips — Tags: , , , , , — Ruby @ 7:01 am

I just love answering these diet tips questions. Here’s another:

Question: I hate the cafeteria/dining hall options, how can I do an inexpensive low carb diet in college. I don’t eat beans or other legumes and I hate canned food (it taste like slimy sawdust seasoned with metal)
Answer: You need to be really inventive. This is what I did in campus and I lost 23 pounds within 2 weeks.

1. Eat burgers but throw away buns
2. Order meat-lovers pizza but eat only toppings and throw away the crust
3. Eat peanuts in shells. You can buy a big bag and keep it nearby if you get hungry
4. Chicken or any poultry is OK.
5. Any kind of cheese is OK.
6. Switch to half-n-half instead of milk. Milk contains excessive carbs.
7. You can drink diet coke but it causes blood imbalance. Drink water but squeeze lemon in it for taste.
8. If you want something sweet, use Splenda instead of sugar.

I am absolutely positive that if you manage to stay off carbs for at least 2 weeks you will lose about 20 pounds in this short time.

November 20, 2010

What Are Some Tips to Stick to a Low-carb Diet?

Filed under: diet tips — Tags: , , , — Ruby @ 7:01 am

A diet tips question that should definitely interest you all this week

Question: I have previously been on a low carb diet and lost 4 kilos in the first 2 weeks, but after i noticed that i wasn’t losing any more weight, so i ended up quitting the diet and went back to my regular diet. I’m planning on starting the atkins diet again but am worried that i won’t lose more than 4 kilos again. I was consuming 30g of carbs a day, with plenty of water. Have i done something wrong? How can i maintain my weight loss on the atkins diet?
Answer: The body loses weight very easily the first 6 weeks on Atkins program. The body readjusts for up to 2 weeks at this point, which freaks a lot of people out. They make the mistake of cutting calories (which slows metabolism) or quitting. I assumed my body had lost all it was going to lose. (I never thought I could lose weight & wasn’t even trying, I just had to quit gaining weight. I was scared of low calories so forced an extra 1000 calories a day & still lost massive amounts of weight.) So I increased my calories & carbs another 5g and a few days later "poof" I lost 10# overnight. I didn’t think that was even physically possible, but the weight lost continued albeit, much slower thereafter.

Lowering calories has the body in full conversion mode to slow metabolic process & preserve the fat stores while "releasing" lean tissues (which become extraneous). Low carb works by "releasing" excess fat stores, while low calorie works by catabolizing the body’s lean tissues & fat stores. So the body adjusts occasionally, makes sure there is plenty of food & sees there is no reason to continue holding onto excess fat stores. People think low carb is for weight loss, when in fact it is for normalizing a body & excess fat stores are not normal. Carbs force fat storage with a high carb diet & that is not normal either.

It takes the body a full 6 weeks to become fat adapted. The brain uses glucose & it takes 6 weeks for it to fully convert from being fueled by glucose to being fueled by fats. So during this (I believe, once in a lifetime) period your body is using glucose & converting excess protein to glucose. After the conversion, the body has a choice to either lower metabolic functions or release excess fat stores & your diet dictates which direction the body will go.

I lost lots of weight the first few month & then weight loss stopped. It didn’t matter what I did, the body wouldn’t release any more fat stores. Since I never planned to lose weight in the first place, I was glad to just maintain this weight loss. I continued on with low carbing for the health benefits for several years with no change in weight. I finally quit weighing altogether. I started on thyroid meds & was shocked to find that I lost 60# in the next 2 years. I didn’t even notice til someone I hadn’t seen in a year mentioned that I had lost so much weight. I didn’t think it was possible with what I thought was maintenance level carbs (& quite a few cheats).

It’s been almost 7 years now & every year I’m smaller than I was the year before & much smaller than I was 20 years ago.

Low carb is different but what it’s done to my health has been miraculous, the weight loss was just a nice bonus. It takes awhile to discover different foods but I can have (low carb versions of) pizza, ice cream & cheesecake & still lose weight. High carbs are so seriously detrimental to health, I guess with my health problems, I have a greater incentive to stay on plan.

The greatest tip I can share is to increase your carb levels 5g net carbs every week after induction til you reach a comfortable level that you have foods you enjoy & still lose weight & not worry about weight loss. It may not happen as quickly, but you create a lifeplan.

Visit the low carb forums, learn new recipes & foods. Before low carb, I hadn’t tried 90% of the vegetables at the grocery store. Vegetables, seeds & nuts are the bulk of my diet now.

I highly recommend chia seeds (getchia.com), ground flax seeds & shirataki noodles to greatly expand the diet.

Check out the recipe sites posted below -

Thin and Crispy Pizza Crust

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/recipe-forum-sticky-threads/549376-thin-crispy-pizza-crust-easiest-ever-pics-included.html

Chilidog Casserole

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/recipereview/showproduct.php/product/3399/sort/8/cat/all/page/1

Easy flax bread with pics -

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breads/r/flaxbasicfoc.htm

Cheesecake -

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/recipereview/showproduct.php/item/3571_cheri%20A%20Cheesecake%20Factory%20Cheesecake%20%28converted%20to%20lowcarb%29

Pumpkin soup & others

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/lowcarb-recipe-help-suggestions/608599-low-carb-soups.html

http://www.atkins.com/Program/Phase1/WhatYouCanEatinthisPhase.aspx
low carb recipe websites -
http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=2
http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/low-carb-recipes-menus/
http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html

November 7, 2010

I Need Low Carb Diet Tips Please!! :)?

Filed under: diet tips — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Ruby @ 7:01 am

A tough diet tips question this week. Let’s dive straight in

Question: So, I am going into a low carb diet and I need a few tips.
1. What are the things I should eat? (I know meats and eggs, but I’ve also heard you need to eat fats? I don’t think so…)
2. What don’t I at?
3. On the first couple weeks I know I am supposed t stick to a specific diet, but what is that diet?
4. What is a serving size? How much do I eat?
5. Why can I at Veggies but not Fruits?
6. What drinks can I drink?
7. Am I allowed to eat any type of dairy?
8. How long will it take me to loose about 20 pounds?
9. What is a good meal menu for breakfasts, lunch, and dinner everyday?
10. Can I chew gum?
11. Do I need to do any extra exercise?

Thanks you guys for all the help!

Answer: I will answer in order for you.

1 ) Yes, you can eat fats, this is a low carb diet, not a low fat diet. It has been shown that carbs are more of a culprit for obesity than fats. Eat Lean meats, vegetables, nuts and drink water.

2) Avoid, enriched flours, sugar and pasta.

(you can have wheat products and fruit in moderation)

3) The first few weeks of a low carb diet is usually very restrictive with the carbs. For the first few weeks, eat very VERY few carbs.

4) A serving size is what the caloric and nutritional info is based on. A good rule of thumb is, something about the size of a balled up fist is a single serving. Most products will list what a serving size is.

5) Fruits should be eaten in moderation because of the high sugar in fruit. Even though fruit sugar is natural, it is still sugar, and sugar is a carb. The only carbs you should not worry about is fiber (because it just passes through the system).

6) What can you drink? Tea, water, flavored water like Propel or Crystal light will be fine if you need something with taste. Avoid soda and limit fruit juices.

7) Dairy in moderation, milk and cheese have much more carbs than you think, besides, the main benefit to dairy is the calcium, which can be found in brocolli.

8) Weight loss will be dependent upon exercise and how strictly you can keep to the diet. Under optimal conditions, you could lose that weight in 2 months, though I would expect 3-4 months to be more likely.

9) Just stay within the above quidlines and keep your calories low (1000-1500 again, dependent upon your current height / weight).

10) Yes, you can chew gum.

11) Yes, exercising will only speed the process up.

June 2, 2010

Diet and Diet Tips for a Thirteen Year Old?

Filed under: diet tips — Tags: , , , — Ruby @ 7:01 am

A diet tips question that should definitely interest you all this week

Question: i know thirteen might be ‘too young’ to start a diet but that’s what i wanna do. nothing drastic. just a healthy diet. i was thinking of doing a low-carb diet. and i just need guidelines on what to do. i know an important factor in that diet is to *not eat rice. i am filipino, spanish, and chinese. mostly filipino. and rice is what my family and i eat everyday. with every meal. i am willing to not eat rice. it’s not hard. tips would help tooo.
please&thank youuu! :)
Answer: Cut out all sugars & starches. No sodas, juices, cookies, candy, cakes, etc. As healthy as fruit may be, it’s natural sugars do not only not promote fat loss, they actually promote fat storage (fructose is the most lipogenic carb).

Make sure half your meals are green non starchy vegs & eat lots of protein & good fats, limit your complex carb portions to no more than your protein portion.

I am adamantly opposed to low calorie dieting because most people lose a good portion of lean tissue (including vital organs like the heart) along with fat stores. There is no nutrition in fat stores, only energy. Most people get impatient and lower their calories and increase their exercise to a point where they lose so much lean tissue that when they return to what was maintenance level eating they are now accumulating more fat stores because their caloric needs have dropped due to the loss of this tissue as well as their metabolism slowing down to work more efficiently on fewer calories & it becomes a vicious cycle of dieting and more loss (including vital organs like the heart). This stress to the vital organs cannot be healthy.

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