30 Days Without Sugar

For the past month, I've done something similar, just following Atkins. I've monitored my calories using myfitness.com so I know my daily caloric intake has varied between 900 and 1400 calories. I've monitored whether I am in ketogenesis with some nice pee strips.

Following Atkins first phase, I am maintaining about 20 carbs per day, mostly from interesting salad elements and some yummy cheeses. I've been drinking 0 calorie flavored seltzer water and regular water and coffee (with cream.)

And mostly cooking/reheating Costco and Trader Joe like foods that are about 50/50 fat/protein with zero or few carbohydrates. (Burgers, steak, pot roast, shredded beef, chicken with skin.)

There are definitely some days I am hungrier than others, no big deal, I eat what I want. But many days after 15 - 18 hours I am pretty full at 1200 calories.

I have noticed that on days when I eat very little, even though I was not hungry that day, I get a pretty nasty headache the next day -- so I try to ensure I get at least 1000 - 1200 calories each day.

Saw my MD last week, and got my blood tests back today, and I'm doing just fine. Before doing any diet, or shortly into that diet, you probably should see your doctor.

So I'm 5'8" and lost 14 pounds in 30 days -- would like to lose another 20 -- that would be great.

Cutting out Diet Coke (and artificial sweeteners) has been key for me. I feel much healthier, and my head is clearer. Sugar is next.

One other body hack: my knuckles were starting to ache like I had arthritis. At first I thought it was from programming too much, but then I discovered that peanuts can cause inflammation -- I was eating peanuts all the time as my go-to snack -- I eliminated those and my arthritis symptoms went away within a few days.

If you'd like to try a 30-day challenge with your diet, I heartily recommend Whole30: http://whole9life.com/2012/01/whole-30-v2012/

In short, you remove:

  * Grains/legumes
  * Dairy
  * Sugar
  * Alcohol
  * Weird additives (sulfates/MSG/etc)

If you eat the standard American diet, this is probably a lot of your food! Which begs the question--what can you eat? The guy who runs my gym also runs The Foodee Project, a recipe collection site. Here's the Whole30 tag: http://www.thefoodee.com/tag/whole30/

P.S. And if you're too busy/lazy to do a Whole30, the best thing you can possibly do with your diet is cut sugar. Not reduce; cut. Remove it, 100%, no fucking around. Sugar is a really easy-to-use energy source for your body, which actually screws you up if you constantly intake it. More info here: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-fat-a...

We're back - thanks!

Assuming you aren't a nutritional expert (or doctor or biologist), did you bother to do _any_ research? I'm no expect, so I looked up "starvation diet". It brought me to the main wiki pain on dieting. This is what it says about "Very low-calorie diets":

"They subject the body to starvation and produce an average weekly weight loss of 3.3–5.5 lb."

If 5.5lb a week is the result of starvation, what might 7lbs/week be? It continues by cautioning about the dangers of such diets.

Just because you eat, doesn't mean you can't starve. Consider protein poisoning (aka, rabbit starvation).