I have been doing the slow carb diet faithfully since July 30 with the hope of losing 10 pounds.<\/p>\n
The first week I lost 3 pounds and was so motivated. That is all I have lost!! I made the mistake of not taking my measurements, but my clothes are not fitting much better, and I usually use my pants as my marker.<\/p>\n
I have been working out three days a week with a personal trainer for over 6 years and run three days a week. I am a very physically active person. I am a 57 year old female who takes bio identical progesterone cream and testosterone cream to help with post-menopausal symptoms. Could the hormones be a stumbling block for me?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is a great question and I feel it best to answer it here:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
As many of you may or may not know I have been using a version of the slow carb diet among my patient population since February of 2011. I have put literally hundreds of patients on this diet.<\/p>\n
This has been a real learning experience.<\/p>\n
Some people begin the slow carb diet and lose a tremendous amount of weight right from the start. It is amazing. Even they can’t believe it.<\/p>\n
I have had patients stop mid way through and complain how family members have made comments that they are looking “sickly” and are concerned about their rapid weight loss. This is never because they actually look “sickly” it is just a testament to the amount of weight they lose and the speed at which many can lose it.<\/p>\n
There is a middle group, which often loses 5-15 pounds pretty quickly and then starts to wax and wane. Some go on to maintain this weight loss, in fact among this group most do. Some gain the weight back but have an easy time losing it again, empowered with the working knowledge of the foods that are the biggest culprits to their weight gain.<\/p>\n
The last group is like my friendly commenter above. They are highly motivated, do everything right, lose a bit of weight and then stall out completely. It is demoralizing and frustrating.<\/p>\n
So lets look at Diane’s case specifically.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
She is a 57 year old postmenopausal female who is taking bioidentical progesterone and testosterone cream (maybe I will talk more about biodentical creams in a future blog post).<\/p>\n
She started the slow carb diet approximately 60 days (8 weeks) ago with a goal of losing 10 lbs.<\/p>\n
She lost 3 pounds in one week, kept those 3 pounds off and has not last any more weight since the first week. This means she has had an average weight loss of 1.5 lbs per month. Which in all actuality isn’t that bad!<\/p>\n
Should she give up? <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
First of all there are too many variables here.<\/p>\n
The 3 pounds sounds like very little but this is where weight alone can be a deceiving metric.<\/p>\n
It’s better to look at this 3 pounds as a percentage of total body weight, or better yet: body fat. Diane mentions she felt little change in the way her clothes fit. It takes roughly 10 pounds of weight loss to drop a dress or pant size. Three pounds may be a significant percentage of her total body weight, but I know from personal experience fluctuations in 1-5 pounds offer little noticeable benefit in the way clothes fit.<\/p>\n
It may be reasonable to do body fat measurements but in Diane’s case depending on her goals this may not be necessary. It is important to remember that body weight measurements fluctuate about 5 pounds from the morning to the night regardless. And of course much of this depends on other factors like hydration status, menstrual cycles, dietary salt intake and weather or not you have had a bowel movement.<\/p>\n
The other factor to consider is ones baseline dietary regimen before beginning the slow carb diet.<\/strong><\/p>\n
My patients in the first group, the ones who at times would lose 20 lbs. in the first month were often extremely insulin resistant, had a horrible diet to begin with, and had a lot of weight to lose.<\/p>\n
One of the most important determinants of success in a slow carb diet is the degree of insulin resistance and systemic inflammation at the start. I may be wrong but it sounds like Diane probably had a pretty good diet to start with. Changing to a slow carb diet therefore does not always solve the problem, especially if you already have a fairly well balanced lifestyle that is not too high in carbs, liquid sweet stuffs and processed foods. And like Diane, high in physical activity.<\/p>\n
Also, some people benefit from carbohydrate restriction more than others. Could this be genetic?<\/p>\n
CURBING INFLAMMATION<\/h3>\n
I just finished Loren Cordain’s book “The Paleo Diet<\/a>” and I think there are some important points to consider here.<\/p>\n
First of all he makes a good point for the elimination of legumes and the addition of fruit.<\/p>\n
I do think that conditions such as “leaky gut” which are addressed a bit in his book are of notable consideration and I suspect that some people are more susceptible to this than others.<\/p>\n
I don’t think though it is the end-all-be-all of all of dietary problems. The Paleo diet is quite hard to follow and is quite restrictive. But, I am beginning to believe this may be a good choice for many struggling with the 4 Hour Body diet, or for those in shape who are trying to lose that last 10 lbs.<\/p>\n
The elimination of legumes and the adoption of other recommendations from a Paleo diet have taken many of may patients who have been having good results on 4 Hour Body, over the edge into the great result territory.<\/p>\n
GOING ALL IN: ORGANIC AND GRASS FED<\/h3>\n
Organic and grass fed… This also seems to help some people more than others.<\/p>\n
Again, some people likely have a strong systemic inflammatory response as a byproduct of modern agricultural practices and food processing. Making the change to organic fruits and vegetables, grass feed beef, free range chickens, Omega 3 eggs, and eliminating most dairy, grains and legumes can be a turning point for many people struggling on the 4 Hour Body diet.<\/p>\n
HOW ABOUT BIOIDENTICAL HORMONES?<\/h3>\n
Is bio-identical progesterone and testosterone a\u00a0hindrance\u00a0in this case?<\/p>\n
I certainly don’t think so. In fact using a bio-identical hormone such as progesterone helps curb the natural progression to estrogen dominance that happens in pre and post menopausal women.<\/p>\n
It is a much better option than many standard hormone replacement therapies.<\/p>\n
At perimenopause most women have just 5% of their pre-menopoausal levels of progesterone, and their estrogen levels may be at 50% or less. I don’t think this is our commenter’s problem. In fact she may need to make sure she is dosing sufficiently.<\/p>\n
I don’t have much experience with bio-identical testosterone supplementation in this case, so I really can’t comment. But my hunch is this is not the problem.<\/p>\n
ADDING SUPPLEMENTS?<\/h3>\n
I don’t know if supplements are truly necessary in this case.<\/p>\n
It is a fact that our bodies crave homeostasis. Eat a lot of fresh fish and you can forget about fish oil supplements, get enough sun and you can forget the vitamin D3 tabs.<\/p>\n
These are 2 supplements I do take, just because when I take them I feel better. I don’t eat enough fish, and the jury on Omega 3’s is still out. But for now these are two supplements I do use: \u00a0Vitamin D3 2000-5000 IU<\/a> per day and two\u00a0Nordic Natural Pro Omega<\/a> tabs daily. Many purists will argue against my choice of fish oil, but I find Nordic Naturals fish oil to be of high quality and they are very palatable.<\/p>\n
TIME FOR AN OIL CHANGE?<\/h3>\n
Make olive oil your best friend. Costco makes a great inexpensive virgin olive oil. The garlic one is amazing. There are others but olive oil is cheap, abundant and a good place to start. Coconut oil is also a very good (yet often harder to find) alternative.<\/p>\n
THE MEDICATION OPTION<\/h3>\n
I have used Phentermine at a dose of 15-37.5 mg daily quite successfully in many patients.<\/p>\n
I am not a big fan of these medications as many people gain weight back at a rapid rate after discontinuing them.<\/p>\n
But, I have seen them work and I have had patients go on to lose 100 pounds and keep it off successfully. Even despite my reservations, I have been proven wrong many a time with Phentermine.<\/p>\n
SLEEP , SEX, HAPPINESS, SOCIETY, JOB and ROUTINE oh my!<\/h3>\n
What you feel inside will make a big difference on how you look and feel on the outside. If you are struggling with depression, a stressful job or home life, lack of sleep etc. etc. This can weigh heavily on a person –\u00a0\u00a0both figuratively and literally!<\/p>\n
If you are in a relationship (or not), add some date nights, try to have more sex, it is good for weight loss<\/a> (and happiness<\/a>), try the 15 minute orgasm section from the 4 Hour Body, this will definitely add to your repertoire and stimulate those Dopamine centers in your brain for sure.<\/p>\n
If you have an old workout routine add something new into your day.<\/p>\n
Try a tap dancing class, take a soccer or tennis course at the community college, buy a new bicycle, go for hikes or take scuba lessons. Get your GROUP-ON<\/a>!<\/p>\n
Diane is a runner. I would suggest she take a fresh look at her routine.<\/p>\n
If you haven’t already, consider adding high intensity interval training (“seconds<\/a>” is a wonderful free iPhone app), try trail running, decrease the length of your long runs, add in hills, join a running group, sign up for an event. Make your goals into a social habit with an easy to use app such as Lift<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Mixing up running with swimming or biking is another great thing to consider. Maybe sign up for a sprint triathlon.<\/p>\n
Running is an excellent sport, it is not great for losing weight but can be wonderful for maintaining weight and also ones sanity. I have been able to lose weight with running only by making changes to my routine. Let change be your friend!<\/p>\n
DON”T GIVE UP!<\/h3>\n
The struggle to lose weight can be one of life’s greatest challenges. It can be frustrating, and down right demoralizing at times. The truth is that it is possible! It is always possible.<\/p>\n
In 9 years of clinical practice I have seen how demoralizing it can be. People reach their goals in all sorts of ways. Sometimes it is as simple as the reduction of complex carbohydrates, at other times it can be as drastic as gastric bypass.<\/p>\n
If anybody says it is easy, they are lying.<\/p>\n
The path to weight loss has no simple and\/or singular answer. It is a process of testing theories, refining them and then a lot of hard work. As the percentage of weight lost goes up it is inversely proportional to the amount of weight and the ease of losing it.<\/strong><\/p>\n
But the essential ingredients are always the same: A mix of determination, and a burning desire to reach a well defined goal.<\/p>\n
\n*photo a 4 hour life adaptation of the original<\/a><\/p>\n