Thursday Catchup
Posted by Simon
Over this week, I’ve been busy and lost the impetuous to count ‘n’ post. But looking back, I’m pretty certain I was around 2000-2300 calories a day.
But, as a result I’ve been tired, and hungry, and I’m thinking, actually, 2000 is fine when one is not doing anything active, but when I’m exercising or working at something physically demanding, it’s not enough.
As a result, I’m going to up my calorie intake a bit here and there, especially my protein, which was noticeably down. I’ve picked up some protein shake, so I’ll supplement with that from time to time – 100 cals and 20g protein per serving.
Let’s get back to today.
Breakfast 400
Snacks / Elevenses 230 + 180 + 200
Lunch 600
Shake 150
Dinner & dessert 800
Total 2550
Not eaten that much for a while! I feel as if I was catching up a bit.
Pasta is incredibly calorific, I can’t believe how much I used to eat of it, I reckon my love handles should be renamed linguini handles.
Anna said,
17 April 2008 at 11:23 pm
I read somewhere that one of the reasons the Atkins diet worked is that it was really high in protein. And apparently proteins switch off our hunger for longer, so people end up eating smaller portions and leaving it longer between meals. Add the ketosis effect and wham!
So perhaps rather than upping your calorific intake, you might consider how you can increase your protein intake in place of something else.
I also read somewhere that often when we feel hungry, we’re actually thirsty, so I’ve taken to drinking more water/liquids.
Becky said,
18 April 2008 at 6:08 am
I had a really bad experience doing the Atkins diet a couple of years ago. Ian and I went the whole hog (sorry, bad pun) and decided to really go for it with the meat eating. We had huge cooked breakfasts with sausages, bacon, eggs etc. For lunch we had roast chicken and red wine and for dinner something equally huge and ordinarily sinful. After a week of this I had lost seven pounds. I had bad breath and I was obsessing about pasta and pizza, but seven pounds! I then started to worry that it wasn’t natural (natural in my mind being the way that I was taught to eat with the food pyramid) and I got worried that seven pounds was too much to lose in one week. I also worried because someone told me that with Atkins you start to lose muscle from your vital organs. Now, I’m not a nutritionist but this scared me. Also, when I came off the diet, I gained back the seven pounds I had lost and put on three more!
Anna said,
18 April 2008 at 7:35 am
The Atkins worked for some and not for others. I’m not advocating Simon should try it, but some of the research that came out of it makes interesting reading (if you’re dieting, at least!).
The protein thing makes a lot of sense. Yesterday lunchtime I had chicken and veggies and only a very small amount of carbohydrate. In the afternoon I was really alert and didn’t get my usual mid-afternoon pang. In fact, I still didn’t feel hungry when I got home, hence my light meal.
Sylvia said,
20 April 2008 at 2:03 pm
Hmm – that’s a really faddy version of Atkins that you did, Becky. You should have no alcohol and tons of veg – it seems like you went full protein which will be what caused the bad breath and can cause problems. Seven pounds in a week is too much in my opinion too.
Funnily enough, was talking to someone else who was promoting quite an extreme diet and she said at the end you should expect to put three pounds on – it struck me that that was exactly the additional you ended up with. From your description, though, I’m wondering how much of your weight loss was dehydration.