Thread: big welcome for Nigeepoo

welcome!

Welcome to IM

Shucks. What a welcome!
I'm a 47 year old electronic engineer who's "suffered" with insulin resistance all my life, until I read a pamphlet from Dr. Robert C Atkins 5.5 years ago.

You can read all about it on my site. I've spent years searching the internet for information as low-carb, high-protein and fat diets contradict everything we're told in the media today.

So you're saying you're not IR anymore since you started eating low carbs?

Not as much as I used to be as I lost 2 stones in weight going low-carb. But if I eat too many carbs, I still get sleepy and put on weight very easily, so I keep them to a minimum. Before Atkins, I used to fall asleep regularly after meals (low-fat, high-carb) without knowing why.

My consultant may prescribe me Metformin soon to help reduce my IR further.

Did you still get sleepy easily if you ate protein and carbs in the same meal? Or did you not structure your meals like that?

And i'm sure you realise the weight fluctuations that can come from going low-carb and going back on carbs.

You can drop an ass-load of weight from water weight alone by low-carbing for a few days. And it's weight that is put back on if you recarb for long enough. It's not actual fat weight.

Carb diets also tend to have more faecal residue that low-carb diets so you tend to with hold more weight at any one time (although i'm sure there are acceptions), so when you go on a low-carb diet, you drop food/waste retention weight.

But two stones is grand, well done.

Are you doing full-blown atkins without any periodical carb loads?

I have a stupid question.....how many pounds is a stone????

14.

The guy dropped 28lbs. Very impressive.

Originally posted by The_Chicken_Daddy
Did you still get sleepy easily if you ate protein and carbs in the same meal? Or did you not structure your meals like that?

And i'm sure you realise the weight fluctuations that can come from going low-carb and going back on carbs.

You can drop an ass-load of weight from water weight alone by low-carbing for a few days. And it's weight that is put back on if you recarb for long enough. It's not actual fat weight.

Carb diets also tend to have more faecal residue that low-carb diets so you tend to with hold more weight at any one time (although i'm sure there are acceptions), so when you go on a low-carb diet, you drop food/waste retention weight.

But two stones is grand, well done.

Are you doing full-blown atkins without any periodical carb loads?

I don't recall exactly what I used to eat when I was falling asleep. I didn't do induction phase, I just stopped eating bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, most fruits etc. I felt so much better that there was no way I was going back to eating carbs. As my diet is varied, my carb intake varies from day to day but I don't have "carb-up" days.

The story now gets more complicated. In October 2001, I noticed that I was becoming more physically and mentally sluggish and was gaining weight despite no change in my diet. I had blood tests done and was found to have low TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone, secreted by the pituitary) and borderline low FT4 (free thyroxine). I also had mild hypertension. Unfortunately, nothing was done about it other than prescribing Prozac and anti-hypertensives. After putting up with deteriorating physical and mental function for most of 2002, I went private and got a TRH (thyrotropin releasing hormone) test done. The result showed that my pituitary was totally shagged, thyroid-wise. I was prescribed thyroxine which I have been on since 4th December 2002 and I'm awaiting a brain scan. I'm feeling better already and am starting to lose the weight I gained. But I'm still over 16 stones at the moment. It'll take time to get back to where I was in 1998.

I'm no doctor, but iwouldn't thinka low carb diet would be ideal if you have thyroid issues.

Does your Doc know you're on the Atkins plan?

Maybe DP can chime in. He knows more about the thyroid stuff than me.