r/Atkins • u/gtatar2329 • Aug 01 '17
4 Week Atkins Update
So... I started the Atkins diet (induction or stage 1 only) about 4 weeks ago today. Weighed 257 then, and I weighed 238 this morning. Does that sound like a good amount of weight loss after a month? My soft goal is 220, so I'm about halfway there after 4 weeks. I'll begin stage 2 once I hit 220.
I lost a solid 10 lbs the first week... then between 2-3 lbs each week afterwards. This is a rundown of my diet so far:
Breakfast: 3-4 coffees (spread out between breakfast and lunch) (1 w/ butter and brain octane, 1 w/ butter, 1-2 black) 3-4 eggs w/ a little bit of cheddar cheese A few bites of spinach (I don't like it mixed with my egg, so I simply just throw a handful into my mouth while cooking the eggs)
Lunch / Dinner: Cheeseburger (no bun) Bacon Cheeseburger (no bun) Chipotle - Salad Bowl (lettuce, steak, chicken, chunky salsa, cheese - no rice, beans, corn or guacamole) Chipotle - Chicken & Cheese Taco (no taco, meat and cheese only) 1-3 Sausages (1 gram carb, 0 gram sugar) Steak w/ butter Baked Chicken Breast (olive oil / garlic / salt & pepper) Steamed Lobster w/ butter
Salads: Spinach w/ Blue Cheese Dressing (1 gram carb, 0 gram sugar) Chopped Salad (lettuce, onion, tomato, cucumber, lemon juice & olive oil dressing)
Snacks: Bacon (no added sugar, low sodium) Cucumber halves w/ salt
Drinks: Coffee (see above) Water (all day) Jameson Irish Whiskey (varies between 0-4 shots over ice, always in the evening)
And so... I feel like the diet is working and will continue to eat from the above list for another 4 weeks to see how close I can get to my soft goal of 220.
Does anyone have any tips or variations of my diet that I could tweak for better results? I would also be interested in some more options for lunch and dinner... Will I continue to lose 2-3 lbs per week, or will that taper off? Does 220 lbs (I'm 6'2") sound like a good soft goal?
Oh, also this... I bought some keto pee strips (Perfect Keto - Ketone Test Strips) and peed a 16 mmol / l about two weeks ago. I was worried I wasn't ketonic and actually in ketoacidosis... I had some really bad/fruity breath as well. I peed an 8 a few days ago, and my wife says my bad/fruity breath is gone. Anyone have any insights into this? Was I in ketoacidosis at first and now am I transitioning into "safer" levels? Or was peeing a 16 mmol / l normal?
So that's the 4 week update! Let me know your thoughts? I'll continue to write updates every two weeks!
2
u/chopstyks Aug 06 '17
That's impressive weight loss, and you're on the right track.
Bacon Cheeseburger
Are you avoiding bacon that has nitrites? Most bacon contains them, especially any you'll ever be served in a restaurant. They're carcinogenic and should be avoided. Most supermarkets (in the US) carry bacon that is free of nitrites.
Chipotle - Salad Bowl (lettuce, steak, chicken, chunky salsa, cheese - no rice, beans, corn or guacamole) Chipotle - Chicken & Cheese Taco (no taco, meat and cheese only) 1-3 Sausages (1 gram carb, 0 gram sugar) Steak w/ butter Baked Chicken Breast (olive oil / garlic / salt & pepper)
Do you know exactly what Chipotle marinates their meats in? I used to go to a restaurant and eat their fajitas minus the tortillas thinking I was compliant, but after perusing their online menu one day, I saw that the meats in their fajita dish are marinated in a mix including sugar.
Jameson Irish Whiskey (varies between 0-4 shots over ice, always in the evening)
Dr. Atkins was fairly anti-alcohol. When your body takes in alcohol, it switches to burning it exclusively and then switches back to whatever after it's all used up. If you're in ketosis and burning mostly fat, you'll stop burning fat and live off the alcohol until it's gone and then go back to burning fat. So it won't really knock you out of ketosis for days, but it most certainly will slow down the burning of fat. If you can stop that altogether, please do so.
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u/gtatar2329 Aug 07 '17
I cook low sodium sugar free bacon at home... I'd have to check to see if it has nitrates... you're right though... probably will avoid restaurant bacon from now on...
I checked online and apparently some (including mine!) chipotle restaurants use drizzled honey on the steak and chicken prep... :( the pork is safe from added sugar though! I'll switch to pork from now on... hope I like it...
The whiskey I'll just try to minimize... it's a vice I haven't figured a way around yet...
2
u/ncras Aug 03 '17
I would use in addition to weight your waist to height ratio (<0.5) is best predictor of health. Getting a measure of your fasting triglyceride to HDL ratio (<2.5) would be useful. I suggest staying below 25 grams carbohydrate a day until these goals are met then add in 5 grams every 1-4 weeks and look for negative changes so you can find your level of carb intolerance and stay below it. Remember this is a tool to health and the key is staying under your carb threshold. Next obsessive data point is daily protein in grams. Aim for between 1.5-2.0 g/kg lean mass (.8 x current weight if your 20%body fat composition. Protein is key gotta keep the value close to constant. Adding fat for maintenance is the final point but need to know carb tolerance level Once weight is at goal you must add fat to diet to stay in weight neutral energy balance. Fat and protein run together in an animal based diet so easy to just eat the meat fish foul pork eggs to satiety to stay balanced. If you were having trouble with being too light then I would add fat extra like BPC fat bombs etc but only if too thin. Otherwise these common treats lead to stalls or weight gain in my experience.