A New Whey Of Life

So I've been on the protein fast (or arckins as arc has now dubbed it!) for one week and one day now, and I thought I'd update you on my progress.

After my initial big whoosh, I haven't seen any more weight loss. Apparently it's normal to see the water weight drop away and then the fat burning begins and the rate of loss slows down. This, of course, depends how close you are to goal, and the closer you are, the slower the loss. I personally have between 7-12lbs to lose, so I'm not getting all worked up about a slow crawl downwards.

I've stuck with the fast for several reasons:

1) Cost
I'm finding it a lot cheaper to eat (or, more accurately, drink) this way. My big purple tub of protein powder, Ultimate Nutrition Bioactive Whey Protein Whey Sensation 81, in yummy Chocolate Truffle flavor, cost me $28 USD, and lasted me eight days with three or four shakes a day depending on hunger. That's $3.50 a day to replace two meals, plus an extra thirty cents on the calcium supplements I've added. I've blogged about low carbing on a budget before, because buying the high quality items like meat and fish and cheese tends to add up, so this is a good solution for anyone finding the purse strings a little tight.

2) Time
I'm spending a lot less time in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I love to cook. But I don't enjoy it as much in the summer, when I'd much rather be outside, and cooking four or five meals a day for both Simon and I takes its toll. With the shakes, I make two in the morning and then chill a pitcher of coffee to make two in the afternoon. Prep time is under two minutes, and no pans to wash either!

3) Simplicity
I don't have to wonder what I'll eat, how I'll schedule grocery shopping and cooking, what my protein count or calorie count is for the day, whether I should or shouldn't snack... I just down the shakes every couple of hours and then enjoy a really good meal in the evening or late afternoon.

4) No Hunger
On approximately 1100-1300 calories a day, I would expect to be a ravenous beast. I did have one day when I felt tired and out of it, kind of like the infamous Atkins flu, but aside from that I've felt great. I have a shake around 10am, 12noon, 2pm and 4pm and then eat dinner around 6:30pm.

5) Energy
I've had a lot of energy this week, more so than usual, even with a bit of a messed up sleep schedule due to the amazing Keane concert we went to on Tuesday night. I've worked out a couple of times, one weight session and one cardio, and I plan on another cardio workout tomorrow morning. I've also walked around a lot (the transit workers in Montreal are currently on strike) and been alert and productive at work.

The most obvious downfall I can see of this plan is boredom. So far, I haven't felt that way but I am on the lookout for Famine Brain...those intense cravings your brain produces when you get super strict on a diet for too long. But I can see how people would get sick of shakes for two meals a day, every day, and I know that's a big reason a lot of dieters get bored with SlimFast fairly quickly.

I think I'm going to give this another week, with probably just a normal very low carb day on Saturday as we are attending various events. I will see where I'm at then, and of course post any and all progress here.

Comments

[Anna]

But how are you going to go back to "chewing" food without gaining back the recently lost weight? Seems like the eternal problem with any weight loss diet, it only works long term if you can continue it long term.

Don't get me wrong, I am very positive about low carb diets. But like anything else, they only work as long as one sticks with it, in most cases, lifelong.

[Sue]

I think there may be a little weight gain when more food is resumed. On the PSMF there is one meal a day of eating real food.

[Kate Welch]

Alright, after a weekend of much chewing (smoked meat, roast beef, rack of lamb, German sausages, and Black Forest bacon), I can happily report a further loss of 1/2 a lb. Anna, I totally expected to see a bit of a jump too, but it didn't happen this time at least.

arc's thoughts on transitioning: "The transition stage is...basically meat and egg or Atkins Induction. Three meals a day at 20 g of carbs or less for the day. It is actually lower carb than the weight loss stage but higher calorie. This stage is to get you eating real food again, instead of the shakes. The arckins method will be to have breakfast and lunch be very low carb, less than 5 grams and a little higher carb dinner.

Once I am comfortably at goal, I will move into maintenance."

More of his thoughts on the plan can be found here: http://homepage.plix.com/barj/Miller/index.htm

Personally, I am seeing this as a weight loss plan like Atkins Induction. You're not going to stay on Induction forever either, but it works to drop the weight and then you move into Ongoing Weight Loss transitional stages, and finally maintenance.

Trust me...I'm not a two-shakes-a-day-for-life kinda gal!