In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...
Quoted message said:
Happy New Year, everyone.My first post here, while coincides with the 1st day of 2005, is simply
coincidental.
Welcome to the group, Steve! Kudos to you for not waiting for New
Year's Day to start!
Quoted message said:2 - Should I even care about the Ketone sticks not showing but a MAYBE
trace? Is it too early? Once they do show: does it matter to monitor, or
just enjoy the weight loss.?
You pretty much have it right. It's a great feeling to see it change
color at first, verifying that something is, indeed, happening, but it
gets old pretty fast and they aren't always accurate, especially if they
are exposed to humidity for a while. If this is your 3rd day, it might
not happen just yet, depending on how much glycogen you had stored in
your liver.
Quoted message said:3 - Zero Carb, or 20 daily? Heard it both ways. Zero is bad. Gotto have
"something" or things won't work. Should I just avoid it altogether, or do
use the 20 allowed for the system to be sound chemically?
Start out at 20. Zero carb is NOT low-carb, it's NO carb, and that's
NOT a good thing. It's also not a good thing to STAY at only 20 carbs.
It can be scary to move on from there, but as long as you are still in
ketosis, it doesn't matter if it's 20 or 30 or 40, so move up slowly and
see how it affects you. Ketosis is like pregnancy -- you are in it or
you aren't, and the degree doesn't really matter. Most of those 20
carbs should, of course, be in the form of vegetables.
Quoted message said:4 - I don't want to lose muscle. What exercise? Aerobic, like pound your
heart? Or Weight. Yoga? (I HATE exercise. I live in my head. I just visit
the physical world🙂
Start out slowly doing something you like (make it fun if you can) and
will be more likely to stick with. I can't go to a gym due to chemical
sensitivities (just the THOUGHT of all the freshly applied perfume,
cologne & soaps makes me go pale). I ride an exercise bike in front of
the TV with closed-captioning on, volume down and great biking music
blaring. I've found that I'm MUCH more likely to stay on the bike
longer if I'm watching a silly comedy. I get hot VERY easily, so I have
a large fan in front, a smaller one in back, an air-conditioner behind
the front fan and a squirt bottle with water to mist my face and other
parts, if necessary. In the summer, I dunk my hair in water before
starting and might even bring an ice pack to cool my face if it's a
REALLY hot day (I TOLD you I get hot easily). Now that it's winter and
I don't have regular heat (gas heat can make me sick), exercising is
MUCH more pleasant for me; I can forego the water portion (other than
drinking), the air-conditioner, the back fan and even sometimes the
front fan. The point, however, is that I do what I have to do to make
it work for ME. It may seem silly to someone ELSE who doesn't have my
considerations, but so what? *I'M* the one it has to work for. After
the bike, I use an Ab-Doer (strengthens my back and I don't have to get
down on the floor to use it), a Bun & Thigh Max and a Body-by-Jake
resistance machine. Now doesn't that make whatever YOU decide to do
sound simpler? :-)
Quoted message said:5 - Vitamins? Fish oil? Multi? Fiber? Flax seed? Psyllium? Absinthe? (That
one is a joke.)
A good multi-vitamin sounds good. I would also add an extra
potassium/magnesium supplement to avoid muscle cramping. Fiber just
depends on how much you are getting in your diet. Whatever you do, ease
yourself up on fiber at first -- don't just start taking a lot all of
the sudden. After Induction, a cereal of flaxmeal and ground nuts is
good to keep things moving (Google this group for "cereal" for ideas).
Quoted message said:6 - What behaviors to develop. How to monitor progress. And NOT to over
monitor.
Keep track of what you are eating. This is INVALUABLE. A good start is
to use Fitday.com. It's free and they don't spam. I make my own Excel
spreadsheet because it suits me.
Quoted message said:7 - I don't have a scale. Does it matter?
Depends on your personality, really. Some people (like me) weigh every
day and keep track of it. Other people react badly if they don't lose
as fast as they would like or if they actually GAIN (water weight can
fluctuate quite a bit from day to day), so they only weigh once a week
or even once a month.
--
Saffire
205/145/125 - 5'1.5"
Atkins since 6/14/03
Progress photo: http://photos.yahoo.com/saffire333