Hola...I am new here...hope to hear from you

Hello,

I found this group through the page of Tinakaye. I hope I will
receive and bring support to others in similar situation to me.

I decided to give the Atkins program a second chance. Last year I
tried it and I felt HORRIBLE during the first three days. However I
did lose 15 pounds during the two weeks that it lasted. (I went home
for Christmas and the diet stayed in my apartment

This time I took another approach. It took me almost week to begin
Induction. Let me explain... I started the week counting my carbs at
100 grams. Each day I reduced my carbohydrate intake by 20 grams
until I reached the 20 g per day that the Induction phase allow. So
far I feel great and have not experienced the stomach pains, cravings
and anxiety like last time.

Like a lot of people outhere I ate my way into morbid obesity. In my
high school days I was 150 lbs. By graduation I was 180. Two years
into college 200. College graduation 230. A year after that 240.
Now, in my second year as a graduate student I hit rock bottom, or
should I say, top-scale A whooping weight of 260.

It was time to take my life back. I think of myself as an active
person, but I love to eat too!! That's what I like about this
approach to weigth loss... we can eat!!

Well, I will visit frequently this place... I like it...I also plan to
include updates in my webpage plaza.ufl.edu/yazaira after a couple of
weeks...

@--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @---

"When you really want something to happen, the whole universe
conspires so that your wish comes true".

Paulo Coehlo, from The Alchemist

In article ,
says...
Hello,

I found this group through the page of Tinakaye. I hope I will
receive and bring support to others in similar situation to me.

Hi Yazaira, welcome to the group!

This time I took another approach. It took me almost week to begin
Induction. Let me explain... I started the week counting my carbs at
100 grams. Each day I reduced my carbohydrate intake by 20 grams
until I reached the 20 g per day that the Induction phase allow. So
far I feel great and have not experienced the stomach pains, cravings
and anxiety like last time.

I never thought of doing it that way. Sounds like it worked pretty well for you!

--
Saffire
205/185/125
Atkins since 6/14/03
Progress photo: http://photos.yahoo.com/saffire333

Welcome to the group Yazaira! Sounds like you are on your way to reclaiming
your life! You'll find wonderful helpful and supportive people here, and an
occasional snert... don't let them get you down!
Priscilla
332/310/175
8/27/03

Hi and welcome to the group
Sounds like you have found an approach that works for you.. that's
always a good thing.
Now keep up the good work,
Post and read here often.. It really is a great place.

Looking forward to hearing good things from you in the near future.

~Karen~

On 15 Oct 2003 18:42:20 -0700, (Yazaira) wrote:

Hello,

I found this group through the page of Tinakaye. I hope I will
receive and bring support to others in similar situation to me.

I decided to give the Atkins program a second chance. Last year I
tried it and I felt HORRIBLE during the first three days. However I
did lose 15 pounds during the two weeks that it lasted. (I went home
for Christmas and the diet stayed in my apartment

This time I took another approach. It took me almost week to begin
Induction. Let me explain... I started the week counting my carbs at
100 grams. Each day I reduced my carbohydrate intake by 20 grams
until I reached the 20 g per day that the Induction phase allow. So
far I feel great and have not experienced the stomach pains, cravings
and anxiety like last time.

Like a lot of people outhere I ate my way into morbid obesity. In my
high school days I was 150 lbs. By graduation I was 180. Two years
into college 200. College graduation 230. A year after that 240.
Now, in my second year as a graduate student I hit rock bottom, or
should I say, top-scale A whooping weight of 260.

It was time to take my life back. I think of myself as an active
person, but I love to eat too!! That's what I like about this
approach to weigth loss... we can eat!!

Well, I will visit frequently this place... I like it...I also plan to
include updates in my webpage plaza.ufl.edu/yazaira after a couple of
weeks...

@--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @---

"When you really want something to happen, the whole universe
conspires so that your wish comes true".

Paulo Coehlo, from The Alchemist

~Karen~
225/190/140ish
start Jan17/03
Started at the gym September/03

(Yazaira) wrote in message . com...

Hi Yazaira,

I am an (older) graduate student who has been on this diet for almost
two months. While I've seen wonderful health benefits so far -
stabilized blood sugar, better sleep, more energy, better overall
well-being that is hard to put into words, I have seen one negative
side-effect that I hope is temporary, namely more difficulty in
sustaining intense periods of thinking and fewer spurts of creativity.
Needless to say, concentrated thinking is very central to my life
right now as I am trying to finish my dissertation. I am noticing that
I am less "brilliant" right now. I think slower and with more
difficulty and I don't have as many original ideas. The effect of
low-carbohydrate lifestyle on my brain functioning reminds me of the
time many years ago when I was on a (tricyclic (sp?)) anti-depressant.
I felt then as I am feeling now more dull and less capable of
concentration, except that now I am not at all depressed. I want to
ask a fellow graduate student about your experiences in this area. Are
you noticing any effects on your thinking either negative or positive?
And could you elaborate?

Sad_Person wrote:

(Yazaira) wrote in message . com...

Hi Yazaira,

I am an (older) graduate student who has been on this diet for almost
two months. While I've seen wonderful health benefits so far -
stabilized blood sugar, better sleep, more energy, better overall
well-being that is hard to put into words, I have seen one negative
side-effect that I hope is temporary, namely more difficulty in
sustaining intense periods of thinking and fewer spurts of creativity.
Needless to say, concentrated thinking is very central to my life
right now as I am trying to finish my dissertation. I am noticing that
I am less "brilliant" right now. I think slower and with more
difficulty and I don't have as many original ideas. The effect of
low-carbohydrate lifestyle on my brain functioning reminds me of the
time many years ago when I was on a (tricyclic (sp?)) anti-depressant.
I felt then as I am feeling now more dull and less capable of
concentration, except that now I am not at all depressed. I want to
ask a fellow graduate student about your experiences in this area. Are
you noticing any effects on your thinking either negative or positive?
And could you elaborate?

It has been long years since my graduate school days, but I
still depend on creativity. I have noticed the symptoms you
report, but I have been able to eliminate them with
caffeine. More important, I notice that, although the
"creative spurts" don't happen as before, whenever I sit
down to work, the creative insights do come. It is just that
now the creativity comes when I concentrate on the subject,
as opposed to ideas just springing unbidden into my mind. I
find that the creative insights obtained this way are of
much better quality.

Pre-low-carb, most of my creative insights had to be
discarded. I think that is pretty typical, actually. I
attended Robert McKees writing seminar last spring, and he
reported that writers in the movie and tv industries
generally write 10 times the number of scenes that they need
for a piece, because only 10% of them are their best stuff.

I expect a pullet surprise soon.

martin

--
Clark for President
http://www.clark04.com/

Martin Smith

Sad_Person wrote:
(Yazaira) wrote in message . com...

Hi Yazaira,

I am an (older) graduate student who has been on this diet for almost
two months. While I've seen wonderful health benefits so far -
stabilized blood sugar, better sleep, more energy, better overall
well-being that is hard to put into words, I have seen one negative
side-effect that I hope is temporary, namely more difficulty in
sustaining intense periods of thinking and fewer spurts of creativity.
Needless to say, concentrated thinking is very central to my life
right now as I am trying to finish my dissertation. I am noticing that
I am less "brilliant" right now. I think slower and with more
difficulty and I don't have as many original ideas. The effect of
low-carbohydrate lifestyle on my brain functioning reminds me of the
time many years ago when I was on a (tricyclic (sp?)) anti-depressant.
I felt then as I am feeling now more dull and less capable of
concentration, except that now I am not at all depressed. I want to
ask a fellow graduate student about your experiences in this area. Are
you noticing any effects on your thinking either negative or positive?
And could you elaborate?

I don't know how much I could elaborate, but lowcarbing during grad
school (I'm 44 and got the masters last May) was easy for me. I never
felt the "fog" that some people have mentioned here over the past 3-4
years that I've posted to this NG - so don't feel like the Lone Ranger!
Others have experienced the same thing.

"M.W. Smith" wrote in message
...

I expect a pullet surprise soon.

LOL Lay a lot of eggs, do you?
http://tenderbytes.net/rhymeworld/fe...her/pullet.htm

revek

Dear Sad_Person:

So far I have not experience brain fatigue. And I am working with my
thesis this semestre plus teaching two classes. It is common
knowledge that our brain needs pure glucose to function. (Well, at
least to me... I work with stroke patients)

I think that if you eat more frequent but smaller meals you can keep a
constants suply of glucose to your cerebro. If you feel foggy please
add some "good carb" to your diet, even if you have to lose pound more
slowly. A great snack (and brain food) are nuts. The are allowed
after Induction but I do consume during this phase too... (Sorry, but
I need to) Make sure that you take a multivitamin because if you are
not choosing the right veggies you may be overlooking some vitamins or
minerals too.

I hope this message helps. Good luck.

Yazaira
265/259/140
Member since Oct 2003
http://plaza.ufl.edu/yazaira/dieta/

Thanks, guys, for your input. So I'm not the only one experiencing
this. Interesting... The prospective of getting "quality" creative
spurts in controlled environment sure sounds encouraging, but I still
miss the spontaneous ones that I had all the time.

A bizzarre thought comes to mind. Think about the significance of
man's entering the symbolic culture 30-40 years ago and the neolithic
period (the beginning of agriculture) starting about 10 thousand years
ago. These figures are not exactly the same, but they are of the same
magnitude. Anyway, they are not precise, and the discrepancy is
insignificant compared with the fact that man has existed in his
modern biological form for 1.6 million years and in his very modern
form = for 100-150 thousand years. WHAT IF ... the emergence of man as
a civilized and technological animal (as we know him now) is directly
related to his switch to a grain diet. As primitive men ate more
carbohydrates, they became sicker and sicker but also more brilliant
and creative???

What a scary thought! I hope I'm wrong about this. Would I rather be a
healthy and slim dullard or a serious thinker, albeit a sick and obese
one? What a choice!