First Thank you for the most helpful website I have found on the Net. In a nutshell I needed to lose weight because to put it bluntly I was eating very badly. Daily trips to Mickydees.
I hurt my feet in Tae Kwon Do and was letting them heal. (I should have warmed up.) I started to eat at the fast food joints more than I should and was enjoying too many candy treats with the old favorites, pretzels and chips. So I went from a lean 200 to 270 in about 2 years. It kind of slips up on you! Well I finally started to notice the weight especially when I made my way back to Tae Kwon Do. It was awful. I was big rolly polly slow and had no endurance. I was not sleeping as well as I did before the weight and I noticed I was breathing harder.
I took action because I did not want to stroke out anytime soon and I am a scout leader. The boys would come up and say wow Mr. Bill you are fat. (Kids are brutal, but honest.)
I asked around and I heard about a doctor. who just did this sort of thing. Supposedly he is a weight loss doctor. I took the plunge and went to the class and saw the doctor. Basically, I was told I was insulin resistant and I had to cut the carbs out then I would lose weight fast. He asked me if I would like to have drugs to help with the hunger. I said yes, but I did say I wanted something safe. I have never been into taking drugs for anything. He gave me phentermine 30 milligrams and phendimetrazine (?) 35 milligrams and 3 colorful amino acids supplements plus I am taking a multivitamin. I feel like a pill junkie. I started to get a bad feeling about this guy when he started to push his products, but I was in a hurry to get back down to my weight.
Well I followed his diet plan. I had pain in my stomach right before I had to go the bathroom and then it was like water. It came 3 or 4 times a day and right at the end of the first week I was feeling very bad. I felt weak and it was hard to think like I hit the wall.
I got some carbs into my system right them and I started to recover. I got a piece of fruit and ate it and felt 100% better. I came home after my shift and found your site. I was mad at my doctor so I copied my calculator results and went to one of the helpers who the doctors used to push the diet and confronted him about this. He said was I eating the 75 carbs the doctors said to eat. I told him I was never told to eat 75 carbs and was encouraged to eat very little carbs, even though 75 carbs are too little anyway.
I went to 150 carbs (Mind you I gave up fast food, sugared sodas, chips, candy etc.) I felt better when my total calorie intake was 1200 to 1400 which concerned me as being a little low. I went for the check up and lost 15 pounds. The doctor encouraged me to go back on the low carb diet again. So, I did. Well It started again with the stomach so I decided to get off this diet roller coaster and just eat well.
I have slowly gained 5 pounds, but I think that was replacing the lost fluids in the muscle. One of the things that bothered me from the start was the amount of meat, cheese and fat that doctor was saying for me to eat. I am not much of a meat eater. I like bread, grains and veggies. It was so hard for me to eat that amount of meat and not to mention the $50 every 2 weeks in medicine, amino acid supplements and other pills.
I am making an appointment with a dietitian and have her help me plan my meals and help me take control over my eating the safe way. I am going to get off these pills and just eat right !!
Well I am sorry about the long letter, but you opened my eyes to this. One more thing just in passing. The heart is a muscle and when the body is starving for glucose it gets it from the lean muscles. Yikes almost makes me want a big tall glass of orange juice.
