Everyday Systems

Hi, everybody. I'm still NoS-ing, even though I'm terrible about posting. I thought I should check in because I realized this morning that, since starting NoS three months ago, I'm down a total of 9 pounds. (At one point I was four pounds lighter than I am now, but that was when I went back to lowcarb for awhile and that weight came back almost immediately.)

Slow and steady...weird.

Great job! Congrats.

Wow! I've been wondering about you Tuna! Congratulations - 9 pounds - woo hoo!! Let us know periodically of your progress!

Mimi

Huge congratulations!

Nine pounds - wow!
You are obviously transitioning well from a low carb diet. How do you feel?
I am interested because I am starting to include more carbs myself. Had pasta for the first time in 2-3 years today.....really enjoyed it.

Tell us more!

Masher

That's great news! Thanks for checking in. It's always encouraging to hear from people who are sticking with it and doing well.

Reinhard

Wonderful!

Great job on those 9 pounds! Well done.

Just the mention of pasta in this thread has me thinking about dinner tonight which is going to be Spaghetti Bolognese. Mmmmm yum! I don't know how the paleo diet crowd survive long term, I really don't. Perhaps they don’t? I suspect they don't. I’ve yet to meet one who has been on that diet longer than 6 months.

Good work, Big Tuna !

Hey, I bought some tuna today at the grocery store too, coincidence ?? Tuna with water in the tin, not oil of course ...

Personally I don't really believe in this low carbs no carbs high carbs ban carbs Atkins Diet mumbo jumbo ... what matters in the end is the number of calories you have each day, you could lose weight eating chocolate candy bars daily if you wanted to, as long as you would spend more energy and calories in the end, that's what matters, the calorie deficit.

Just make sure you keep moving to burn those calories and enjoy those carbs, Big Tuna. I don't even want you to say/write the word "carbs" ever again actually, lol ! Bread, pasta, rice, mmmmmmmmmmm !

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds
07/27/2009 : 201.0 pounds
( 8 months 27 days / -79.0 pounds )
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Goal : 11/01/2009 : 190.0 pounds ( 1 year / -90.0 pounds )

Hi Tuna,

Great news on your weight loss! It really seems to be working well for you...

As for the no-carbs / low-carbs thing, it depends on the person. I think for some people it's true that the total amounts of calories going in & out is what makes the difference. But for others- particularly PCOS sufferers, like me- a big amount of carbs is really not recommended & a low-carb diet is a better idea. At least that's what my (limited) experience is telling me. I followed straight NoS for 3 months: no weight loss. I'm now on NoS plus a low-carb diet for the last 2 weeks. Bingo. 2 kilos lost.

The important thing for anyone is to find the right balance of what foods to eat & how much of them in order to gradually lose weight. Unfortunately, this balance is not the same for everyone...

Hey, guys...it's great to hear from all of you again! Marc, you crack me up.

As far as the carbs go, it's tough. I've been on and off low carb for years - mostly off, lol. What happens is, I feel great, drop a lot of weight quickly, and then slowly go back to feeling normal and start missing all the delicious foods I "can't" have anymore. I honestly think there's something about the switch from glucose to ketones in my brain that makes me feel amazing and that's why I keep going back to it. My brain sort of wakes up and I feel focused and energized. But it only lasts for a few days. Maybe my body (or my brain) gets accustomed to ketosis and goes back to normal. I don't know. Whatever it is, I just know I hate thinking about food all the time.

Tuna, what you say is very interesting... It's true that for the last 2 weeks (with me doing low-carb) I've felt wonderful. That said, unfortunately I end up thinking about food far more than I would otherwise. Which, like you, I hate, and this is the one thing in NoS that has appealed to me hugely.

...But there does seem to be something in low-carb diets, the question is what the limit is, how low-carb can fit in gradually with a normal life, & more importantly, what is the way to gradually re-introduce carbs (because I for one am not prepared to go very low-carb all my life!)

But in any case, it's so great that you're losing weight, it must feel wonderful.

TunaFishKid wrote:I honestly think there's something about the switch from glucose to ketones in my brain that makes me feel amazing and that's why I keep going back to it. My brain sort of wakes up and I feel focused and energized. But it only lasts for a few days

It's probably more due to that it's slowly destroying your brain. Fasting is often noted as having the same "feel great and focused†effect too, but it becomes starving if you continue it long enough.

This whole low carbs mentality is folly and I actually object to most people's definition of it nowadays. What we consider low carbs is probably closer to how most of the long lived cultures actually eat. They have their bread, pasta, rice, potato, etc, but they don't quaff it down in the portions we do in Western societies. Having a reasonable serve of rice or bread or whatever each day isn't bad at all. Eating starches for the main portion of every meal though is asking for trouble in my opinion.

In short, I think what we call low carbs is actually more akin to normal carbs and I do agree with that kind of sensible eating.

No carbs on the other hand is technically impossible unless you are willing to go deficient in a billion minerals and elements and slowly kill yourself. You would have to cut out even most vegetables to achieve no carbs. You may be able to pull it off if you consume a lot of offal and organ meats, but would you? Most people couldn't get close to enough of those to make up the deficits they lost from cutting vegetables.

Bushranger wrote:Having a reasonable serve of rice or bread or whatever each day isn't bad at all. Eating starches for the main portion of every meal though is asking for trouble in my opinion.

I agree with you on this.

No carbs on the other hand is technically impossible unless you are willing to go deficient in a billion minerals and elements and slowly kill yourself. You would have to cut out even most vegetables to achieve no carbs. You may be able to pull it off if you consume a lot of offal and organ meats, but would you? Most people couldn't get close to enough of those to make up the deficits they lost from cutting vegetables.

Here we disagree. I can't get into a debate about it, since I'm packing for vacation (YAY!). As Casey Stengel used to say, "You could look it up". Here's a good place to start - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilhjalmur_Stefansson
http://blog.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff. ... ts-scurvy/

Well done! Slowly is the key- your body will adjust and find its new set point. I find that a life without carbs is a miserable one- I#m just trying to lay off too many refined ones.
Nine pounds in three months is pretty good actually!
D x

TunaFishKid wrote:

No carbs on the other hand is technically impossible unless you are willing to go deficient in a billion minerals and elements and slowly kill yourself. You would have to cut out even most vegetables to achieve no carbs. You may be able to pull it off if you consume a lot of offal and organ meats, but would you? Most people couldn't get close to enough of those to make up the deficits they lost from cutting vegetables.

Here we disagree. I can't get into a debate about it, since I'm packing for vacation (YAY!). As Casey Stengel used to say, "You could look it up". Here's a good place to start - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilhjalmur_Stefansson
http://blog.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff. ... ts-scurvy/

Did you even read my post before you replied? The second article you linked supports my point about the organ meats and offal being required for removal of vegetables from the diet to be viable, which is obvious since those are the cuts where most of the minerals and nutrients are from. It's also apparent, to me at least, that most people today would have a hard time eating that much organ meat as they simply don't like it and have been spoilt on choice cuts of meat. The fact that most of these organ meats should be eaten raw for maximum benefit is another reason it's unlikely to be done correctly by most people. I didn't say it can't be done, simply that most people would never be able to do it properly. Most of the people who try these diets eat too much muscle meat and nowhere near enough of the offal and organ meats that they need for it to be healthy and viable. I apologise if my original post wasn't clear.