Saturday, May 05, 2007

Less chunky


My double chin is smaller. Woot!

For ages I've been meaning to get back into shape. When I left BYU I was pretty good at staying in decent shape--sometimes running 5 miles several times a week. For the first several months of medical school I rode my bike several miles every day and kept up with the weight lifting and what-not.

But... as often happens, winter came and ruined my life. I bought a car and it was downhill from there. Stress upon stress, no time, marriage, and finally this year the ultimate challenge: free food in the hospital cafeteria whenever I'm in the hospital. They have bacon and cheese covered fries, triple layer cakes, Edy's ice cream on tap... it's been a nightmare.

So, on Jan 1 I decided to go ahead and set my resolution, and what do you know? This time it stuck. For the last several months I've been trying to lose that flab I packed on over the last 5 years. My exercise plan has been varied but fairly persistent. My diet has been all over the map, but through some combination of starvation, weight loss pills, and an Atkins diet, I've lost 25 pounds. (Note: it is my medical advice to never buy, consume, or even touch weight loss pills of any variety.)

So, I'm less chunky but still fondly indulging in meaty chunks of various kinds as an Atkins staple (and much to Malcom's chagrin).

More important than my now-missing double chin is the fact that my BMI is back down in a low-risk range. Looking great for the paparazzi is nice, but the health benefits are the real reward. Or, so I tell patients. ;-) With any luck, in another couple months I'll be able to post about how I'm back down to my ideal weight.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. All this talk about food has inspired me to have an afternoon snack. How does Dr. Atkins feel about saltines with avocado and chocolate milk?

2. Have you noticed that Sam and Malcolm never post anything here? If they were contributors on my blog I'd have dumped them as dead weight long ago.

Coach said...

Actually, Ben, you just reminded me that I took a photo of a meal I had several nights ago and I forgot to put it in. I think I'll just add that in now.

Unfortunately, Dr Atkins frowns on saltines and chocolate milk. So, when I get the craving for that particular combo of foods (which happens every now and then), I'll go for the depicted substitutes. And, yes, this has made me lose weight.

Sam has been busy contributing work for our other blog (although I do most of the posting work). But, yeah, I've noticed Malcom hasn't been pulling his weight and he's gonna hear about it.

MMA Lady said...

Coach - great job! Buffalo Wings has lost about 38 pounds since Christmas. He's cutting calories and he exercises several days a week. I'm down by ten pounds at this point; not the famed 38 of my hubby, but I started later and understand that women lose less quickly. I might try not exactly the Atkins diet, but definitely cutting my carbs. I'm also exercising at least five days a week (see my posts on Leslie Sansone both on my blog and on My List). You're right - just feeling better and being healthier is a great benefit.
By the way, I like the new blog a lot. May I add it to my links on Tasty Tidbits?

Boss said...

I admit I'm glad that breastfeeding prohibits me from doing Coach's Atkin's style diet. I don't have his perseverance. But I sure am proud of my hunky (now less chunky) husband! He's hot stuff, believe me.

Tari-- Thanks for the heads up on Leslie Sansone. I'll have to check her out. And of course you can link to Coach & Sam's new blog!

Keith C said...

Glad to hear that your diet is working well. Personally, I think I would die if I did the Atkin's diet! My diet is pro-carb, not low carb: lots of bananas, bagels, oranges, apples, oatmeal, raisins, wheat bread, pasta, brown rice, fresh vegetables, Gatorade, Powerade, fruit juice, etc. I'm always trying to keep the glycogen stores up so that I can run 6 or 10 or 13 miles. I try to get 20 to 30 miles in each week. But in addition to all the carbs I make sure to get some protein each day from nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts), milk, peanut butter, chicken, tuna, lean beef, eggs, etc. I eat several times a day. My diet gives me plenty of energy and I like what I am eating. The combination of diet and exercise keeps my weight under control. In fact I weigh less now than I did in high school.

I had two friends who were on the Atkin's diet for a while and were pretty successful losing weight initially, but they complained about lack of energy and ended up switching to different diets. One of them decided to do Weight Watchers and was much happier and more compliant with the program. How is your energy level? Do you crave carbs all the time?

I have my carbohydrate staples as my main energy source, but I try to eat a variety of other foods to make sure that I get all the nutrients that I need.

Coach said...

I guess I should check back for comments more often. :-)

I definitely noticed less energy for 2 or 3 days after I started the Atkins diet. It was weird though, because despite feeling tired I could still run my 3 miles every day without ever feeling "at the end of my rope". The tiredness went away after a while.

As far as long term compliance goes, that's the weakness of the Atkins diet and I've known it all along. It gets lots of critics for that, but the trick is, you don't have to choose just one diet and ignore all the others. I'll do atkins to get to my target weight and then switch to weight watchers. That's the plan anyway.

And the reason I like that plan is that Atkins is actually easier than the other diets in terms of hunger and cravings. I want carb items while I'm on it, but I don't crave them. You just feel satisfied in terms of hunger. It's kind of a weird mix, actually.

I've been off the diet for a couple weeks now (my birthday... mother's day... it was bound to happen). So, I need to start back up again soon. Eh. Maybe tomorrow. ;-)