I believe in science. I believe in being reasonable (except during PMS), rational (cough PMS again) and following evidence while making decisions. I love chemistry and biology. That being said there is one area in my life where I am completely willing to believe almost any claim put forward. Diets. I have never really liked my body and have pretty much been on a diet from the time I was 17. I have tried almost everything that seemed in the realm of reason to help. I do exercise at least 3-4 times a week and take a nightly walk, except when it is too cold, see previous posts on how I feel about the (shudder) cold.
I hope that someone somewhere can benefit from all my diet experience. Also, because I am tired of all the crap propaganda that preys on people like me who will drink the latest snake oil in the hope of loosing five pounds.Really I want to loose 15-20 but I will take five and be glad.
Diets I have tried:
Wheat free, dairy free:
I lost weight on this one, for a time. I also worked out five days a week and ate nothing including crap like puffed millet. Really who enjoys that crap. My bird likes to eat it but he also eats his own poop so I am not sure he is a ringing endorsement. I did get pretty thin but people said I looked like crap. My skin was pale and I was definetly deficient in nutrients. I did this when I was 20 so I think if I did it now I would do better but honestly, I love carbs. Way way too much to give them up.
Atkins: holy horror. This one started out good. Then I hit a week and a half and started feeling horrible. I ended up doing things in a bathroom you don't want to hear about and that were not repeated until I was pregnant with my son. I gave up pretty quick and put back on all the weight. Woo hoo...go me.
Zymax: http://www.diet-pills-compared.com/Zymax-Diet-Pills.html
So I thought my sister was insane when she went on ephedrine based pills only to realize during this post that I did the same thing. Oops. So much for research when you are 24. I actually got compliments on this one. I lost about 7 pounds and people said I glowed in that non pregnant way. Then I started having heart palpitations and shaking so I decided to stop and guess what...I gained back the seven pounds.
Meal Replacement:
So one of my friends lost a lot of weight using a meal replacment so I thought I would try it. Hers was way too expensive so I found one on Amazon. Called Garden of Life Raw Meal Replacement. After reading all the good things in it I was pretty damn excited. This was totally going to work.
http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Life-RAW-Meal-2-6lb/dp/B0031JK95S/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1301920965&sr=8-6
I lost five pounds while on it and still take it from time to time but my FIL, who has a PHd in Chemistry told me there was a whole crap load of chemicals so it cooled my adore a bit. Also a draw back was the TASTE. If you can imagine licking dirt, grass, maybe manure off a spoon and follow it up with an aftertaste of the flavor brownish green (if brownish green had a flavor). It is vile. To take it I use very cold water, half apple juice, plug my nose, chase with water and sometimes I still gag. I think I lost weight in the beginning because it literally killed my appetite. You can't eat anything without this taste following you around.
I am trying to build muscle so maybe next time I will just try whey protein.
South Beach:
I actually do a modified diet on this one. I am still trying to use the 40-30-30 diet. It worked ok but I couldn't find anything in the book I would actually consider eating. I have a small problem with being a picky eater. Ok, not so picky because I could eat crap all day long. If Little Debbie made it it probably added at least 5 pounds to my thighs. I like artificial flavors better than regular ones. I have no idea why. My palate has improved with age. It used to be that of a 4 year old and maybe now has made it to the sophisticated age of a 15 year old boy. But really, why can't they make a diet book with things that you actually want to eat instead of stuff that sounds like something someone would feed prisoners as a torture device?
Thyroid Diet:
As seen in previous posts I do have a thyroid problem, which doesn't help my weight issues. So I do adhere to some of the recommendations of this diet but I love the brassica family so I do cheat.
Drinking ice water:
Supposedly you can burn 100 calories a day if you change from drinking tepid to ice water. I did that for a long time but not much results. My husband did the math and it seems sound but who wants to drink ice water in the winter.
Green tea:
My sister sent me a study that showed people who drank 4 cups of green tea were 5 pounds skinner at the end of two months than those that didn't. Guess what I have two cups a day of?
40-30-30
I am still doing this one. It seems to really help with my insulin issues. It is hard for me to get that much protein so I usually have a tablespoon of cottage cheese with every meal. Weight loss, not so much but I feel pretty good.
Tonsillectomy: really effective. I lost eight pounds. To illustrate how craptastic my body is most people loose 15-30. But not me. After two weeks taking an hour to eat a pudding cup I lost 8 pounds. But I will take that. It was horribly painful and I didn't get it done for weight loss. Insurance wouldn't have covered it. My tonsils were unusually large. After extraction they found they were 3 and 5 times the size of average tonsils. It took a long time to gain the wight back. Mostly I gained it from getting mono about 8 months later. Bonus, I found that with a proper airway I could exercise better and not cramp up all the time. I also stopped snoring. Bonus for DH.
3 day detox.
Sigh, I am starting this one in a few days. I will let you know how it goes...hey, it could work. ;) Shakeology is what my friend lost a lot of weight on but she also does PX90 and a bunch of other work outs. Plus, she was always skinny to begin with and the excess weight was from two pregnancies with three kids.
Hers is a three day regimen but they don't have that here. Hopefully I will loose the coveted 5 pounds again. Anyway, keep you posted.
Other crap I have used:
Come on you know you tried it too.
That crazy ab contraption similar to thisAb Rocket Abdominal Trainer
My other friend lost a lot of weight by gaining a bunch of muscle. I am trying that one next.
I hope that someone somewhere can benefit from all my diet experience. Also, because I am tired of all the crap propaganda that preys on people like me who will drink the latest snake oil in the hope of loosing five pounds.Really I want to loose 15-20 but I will take five and be glad.
Diets I have tried:
Wheat free, dairy free:
I lost weight on this one, for a time. I also worked out five days a week and ate nothing including crap like puffed millet. Really who enjoys that crap. My bird likes to eat it but he also eats his own poop so I am not sure he is a ringing endorsement. I did get pretty thin but people said I looked like crap. My skin was pale and I was definetly deficient in nutrients. I did this when I was 20 so I think if I did it now I would do better but honestly, I love carbs. Way way too much to give them up.
Atkins: holy horror. This one started out good. Then I hit a week and a half and started feeling horrible. I ended up doing things in a bathroom you don't want to hear about and that were not repeated until I was pregnant with my son. I gave up pretty quick and put back on all the weight. Woo hoo...go me.
Zymax: http://www.diet-pills-compared.com/Zymax-Diet-Pills.html
So I thought my sister was insane when she went on ephedrine based pills only to realize during this post that I did the same thing. Oops. So much for research when you are 24. I actually got compliments on this one. I lost about 7 pounds and people said I glowed in that non pregnant way. Then I started having heart palpitations and shaking so I decided to stop and guess what...I gained back the seven pounds.
Meal Replacement:
So one of my friends lost a lot of weight using a meal replacment so I thought I would try it. Hers was way too expensive so I found one on Amazon. Called Garden of Life Raw Meal Replacement. After reading all the good things in it I was pretty damn excited. This was totally going to work.
http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Life-RAW-Meal-2-6lb/dp/B0031JK95S/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1301920965&sr=8-6
I lost five pounds while on it and still take it from time to time but my FIL, who has a PHd in Chemistry told me there was a whole crap load of chemicals so it cooled my adore a bit. Also a draw back was the TASTE. If you can imagine licking dirt, grass, maybe manure off a spoon and follow it up with an aftertaste of the flavor brownish green (if brownish green had a flavor). It is vile. To take it I use very cold water, half apple juice, plug my nose, chase with water and sometimes I still gag. I think I lost weight in the beginning because it literally killed my appetite. You can't eat anything without this taste following you around.
I am trying to build muscle so maybe next time I will just try whey protein.
South Beach:
I actually do a modified diet on this one. I am still trying to use the 40-30-30 diet. It worked ok but I couldn't find anything in the book I would actually consider eating. I have a small problem with being a picky eater. Ok, not so picky because I could eat crap all day long. If Little Debbie made it it probably added at least 5 pounds to my thighs. I like artificial flavors better than regular ones. I have no idea why. My palate has improved with age. It used to be that of a 4 year old and maybe now has made it to the sophisticated age of a 15 year old boy. But really, why can't they make a diet book with things that you actually want to eat instead of stuff that sounds like something someone would feed prisoners as a torture device?
Thyroid Diet:
As seen in previous posts I do have a thyroid problem, which doesn't help my weight issues. So I do adhere to some of the recommendations of this diet but I love the brassica family so I do cheat.
Drinking ice water:
Supposedly you can burn 100 calories a day if you change from drinking tepid to ice water. I did that for a long time but not much results. My husband did the math and it seems sound but who wants to drink ice water in the winter.
Green tea:
My sister sent me a study that showed people who drank 4 cups of green tea were 5 pounds skinner at the end of two months than those that didn't. Guess what I have two cups a day of?
40-30-30
I am still doing this one. It seems to really help with my insulin issues. It is hard for me to get that much protein so I usually have a tablespoon of cottage cheese with every meal. Weight loss, not so much but I feel pretty good.
Tonsillectomy: really effective. I lost eight pounds. To illustrate how craptastic my body is most people loose 15-30. But not me. After two weeks taking an hour to eat a pudding cup I lost 8 pounds. But I will take that. It was horribly painful and I didn't get it done for weight loss. Insurance wouldn't have covered it. My tonsils were unusually large. After extraction they found they were 3 and 5 times the size of average tonsils. It took a long time to gain the wight back. Mostly I gained it from getting mono about 8 months later. Bonus, I found that with a proper airway I could exercise better and not cramp up all the time. I also stopped snoring. Bonus for DH.
3 day detox.
Sigh, I am starting this one in a few days. I will let you know how it goes...hey, it could work. ;) Shakeology is what my friend lost a lot of weight on but she also does PX90 and a bunch of other work outs. Plus, she was always skinny to begin with and the excess weight was from two pregnancies with three kids.
Hers is a three day regimen but they don't have that here. Hopefully I will loose the coveted 5 pounds again. Anyway, keep you posted.
Other crap I have used:
Come on you know you tried it too.
That crazy ab contraption similar to thisAb Rocket Abdominal Trainer
My other friend lost a lot of weight by gaining a bunch of muscle. I am trying that one next.
Wondering how your garden is doing this summer!! Keep writing!
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