Why I DITCHED Medi Weightloss Clinic and Embraced the Low Carb High Fat Lifestyle

The first 12 weeks of Medi Weightloss were GREAT... the appetite suppressant worked great, my energy was high, I had no temptation.  I stayed on past the 12 weeks although the drug was then Topomax, which made anything carbonated taste flat and bitter and it killed my energy.

From eHow.com

Topamax is the brand name for the oral drug topiramate, an anticonvulsant medicine used in the treatment of epilepsy. It is also commonly prescribed to prevent migraine headaches in adults. A common side effect of taking Topamax is weight loss, induced by the drug's tendency to suppress the appetite. According to Bruce Goldfarb in the January 2005 edition of the American Diabetes Association's journal Doc News, clinical studies show that nearly three-quarters of the drug's users experienced weight loss, anywhere from 4 to 16 percent of their starting weight. There are, however, a number of adverse side effects associated with Topamax, including memory problems, insomnia, anxiety, dizziness, fatigue, tingling sensations and taste distortion, all of which must be carefully considered before choosing this drug as a weight loss aid

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_5388002_topamax-weight-loss.html

I did not stay on it very long, probably 6 weeks.... then went off and felt MUCH better ... and to think I was PAYING  Medi Weightloss $100 a week to feel bad.

I was able to maintain for about 6 months... then my dad had a lot of health problems, lots of time spent in hospitals and nursing homes, and eating on the run and the weight came back on FAST.

Weight Watchers was not an option for me since I am insulin resistant and that is not a good diet for me, too many carbs..........Medi Weightloss does work...... but they also know that most people only stay on it for 12 weeks then come back and do it again...........and again.

So, knowing that low carb high fat eliminates much of my hunger and a lot of the cravings since I've content, had something tasty, ate REAL  healthy food.... I decided it was what I was going to do without paying them to make me accountable ( money I could spend on new clothes when I got thinner).

And, I had a long talk with myself about this  - it is the LAST time I'm going to do this...........it's my weigh loss plan but it's so much more than that......it's my lifestyle for life.  I'm learning that one meal out that is off plan is not going off my diet.... it's one hour of eating that may or may not throw me out of ketosis. I don't beat myself up. I get back on plan. ( Added benefits:  less constipation and  often it jump starts me to lose more weight that coming week!)

AND - it also helps me to make good choices while eating out since I really hate it if it throws me out of Ketosis (when my body is burning stored fat for energy).

Try it.

LEPTIN - Is Your Friend

When you eat is as important as what you eat - and SNACKING will

SLOW or STOP the Fat  Burning

 

LEPTIN DIET RULE

These are not my rules, I found them on various sources on the web

 

• Never Snack Never eat after dinner
• Allow 5 - 6 hours between meals
• Allow 11 - 12 hours from the time to stop eating dinner to the time you eat breakfast
• Snacking - despite how few calories you eat, stops the fat burning
• Do not eat large meals, finish a meal before you feel full - consistently eating large meals will turn off the leptin burning
• Eat a breakfast containing protein...and make it very low carb - it will be the equivalent of a 2 -3 mile jog
• If you are unable to make it 5 hours until lunch ... you had a bad breakfast - the good breakfast keeps you stable during the day.
• If you snack, you will find yourself circling the refrigerator and will start looking for carbs like a wild animal
• 50 -50 technique - 4 - 6 oz of protein for women and  never more the same amount of calories in carbs
• If you feel you need more food, take fiber before you eat

What Happens To Fat Cells When You Lose Weight?

This scanning electron micrograph image shows part of a lobule of adipose tissue (body fat).

 Adipose tissue is specialised connective tissue that functions as the major storage site for fat. Its main role is to store energy, although it also protects and insulates. Fat cells by David Gregory & Debbie Marshall / Wellcome Images is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

So...now that I find myself losing weight, I kept searching the web to find out what happens to the fat we are losing,are they destroyed or emptied?

Sadly, they are emptied.

That's one of the reasons people lose weight only to gain it quickly.... the fat cells are still there, waiting to be filled... unlike a thin person, someone who's been overweight has a LOT more fat cells. Sigh.

From the web.... When you "lose" body fat, the fat cell (also called an adipocyte) does not go anywhere or "move into the muscle cell to be burned. The fat cell itself, (unfortunately) stays right where it was - under the skin in your thighs, stomach, hips, arms, etc., and on top of the muscles - which is why you can't see muscle "definition" when your body fat is high. Fat is stored inside the fat cell in the form of triaglycerol. The fat is not burned right there in the fat cell, it must be liberated from the fat cell through somewhat complex hormonal/enzymatic pathways. When stimulated to do so, the fat cell simply releases its contents (triaglycerol) into the bloodstream as free fatty acids (FFA's), and they are transported through the blood to the tissues where the energy is needed. More ( very interesting reading )

How Low Carb High Fat Causes Weight Loss

As you now know, the low carb diet  plan, such as Atkins,  begins by restricting carbohydrates. When your body is not given fuel in the form of carbohydrates, it finds fuel from other sources. So, let's say you've just started following a low carb plan and are consuming a modest 28 grams of carbohydrates or less. Here is what's happening inside your body:

The liver stores glucose by converting it to glycogen. It holds perhaps a 12-hour supply of glucose in its glycogen.

Once you finish digesting all of the carbohydrates that you last ate, the liver starts converting its stored glycogen back into glucose and releases it to maintain glucose in the blood.

Lipolysis  starts  - this is the breaking down of fat in the fat cells - and the releasing of fatty acids into the bloodstream.

Tissues that do not need to use glucose for energy (for example, muscle cells) start burning the fatty acids. This reduces the glucose demand so that nerve cells get the glucose.

Once the liver runs out of glycogen, the liver converts to a process called gluconeogenesis. Gluconeogenesis turns amino acids into glucose. The liver then begins producing ketone bodies from fatty acids being made available in the blood by lipolysis. Brain and nerve cells convert over from being pure consumers of glucose to partial consumers of ketone bodies for energy. This process is called ketosis -- which is why the Atkins plan is also known as a ketogenic diet.

So, what does this mean in simple terms?

How the Atkins Diet Facilitates Weight Loss

FACEBOOK ANYONE?

If there is enough interest, I will start a Facebook Group for This Chick is Losing It.  It will be a CLOSED group, people can find the group and see who is in the group but NOT see the posts unless they join. 

If interested in being part of a Facebook group to go with the blog, please email me at
SheLovesWellness -  followed by yahoo and of course, dot com.

Who Can Relate to This?

I lost it two years ago only to regain it............... and am still kicking myself about that.

Motivation for YOU

Today's Motivation

Need Some Motivation? I've got that for you!

Reducing Weight with Essential Oils

 

http://www.wellbeing.com.au/blog/reducing-weight-with-essential-oils/

Weight loss is just ONE advantage of essential oils.  I used to be a huge skeptic... now I am a huge believer!

Being a research fanatic, I looked at many different companies before deciding that Young Living Essential Oils is the best company out there to meet my needs.  Your mileage may vary, and that's fine too.

Any oils I discuss will be based on Young Living Essential Oils, since they are the oils I am most familiar with.

It does not mean I think they are the only good essential oils.... for my needs, they are the company I embraced for many reasons. They've been around over 20 years and for the most part they grow their own plants, distill them onsite and bottle them immediately. They offer a Seed to Seal promise that works for me.

OK ... Let's get serious and get the flab off - Something NEW worked for me and Might Work for YOU!

And it worked BIG TIME!  

Another holiday season over prompted me to clean out closets, drawers, etc.... and I decided that my "skinny clothes" from a couple years ago were taking up too much room in my closets and drawers so I put them in the rubber totes to, umm, you know, "store them until I get back into them". Sigh. It was sooooo depressing to see 3 tubs of pretty clothing I could no longer wear.

New Year's Eve I decided I'd eat whatever I wanted to on the New Year's Day and then the next day the great diet effort of 2015 would begin. I ate chips, peanuts, fruit, chocolate, pizza.... all the things that I would not taste until late spring... summer...?

I spent most of the day researching essential oils for weight loss since I've become a firm believer in essential oils. I once was a HUGE skeptic but since I've embraced them they've changed my life in many ways.

Until I started using them I was a hopeless insomniac -  now I go to sleep with the help essential oils.

I used to have bottles of TUMS close by at all times.... since I used DiGize Essential oil, which eliminated the pain within minutes,  I don't use TUMS at all .... and my heartburn episodes have greatly decreased.

I store my stress in my neck and upper back........ painful. Using essential oils to eliminate that has been a God-send.

I just completed a week long egg fast and lost an incredible amount of weight (unless I turn out to be a diabetic - another week will tell the tale) with the help of essential oils.

I love them because THEY WORK.  All bodies are different so what works for me may not work for you but once you find one that is a solution for what ails you, you will be hooked.

I diffuse them to purify the air... I use them in spa type products and homemade soap, for cooking, and for cleaning products.

I just did an Egg Fast - there are no hard and fast rules, it's basically set up to follow what a man did to lose a large chunk of weight after being stalled on a Low Carb High fat diet. In a nutshell,  3 - 7 days of  high fat, low carb, mainly eggs.  For every egg you have one TBSP butter ( or cheese) up to 9 eggs a day. If you don't eat all your butter you can have one ounce of cheese  in place of one ounce of butter.  In addition to that I used essential oils that work for weight loss on many people and had a huge weight loss.  I posted that to a weight loss blog and got kicked off because the moderator said essential oils don't work. Ahem. I beg to differ with her and I have the medical and scientific links to prove it.

So, do your own thing with those guidelines.... the video on this blog from the doctor who manages the program at Duke talks about the same thing, how fat is good for the body when you're dieting. If you have not watched those yet, you really should.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmazingEggFast/  Come join us!

I started a Facebook group with all this information  on it, including the protocol I used.

If you don't know about Essential Oils, it's a good time to learn... if you are interested in getting into them, I'm happy to help.... if you just want to do the egg diet and get recipes that's fine too. I'll be adding more recipes soon... please bare with me.

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How about a little JERKY?

 I realize this is not for everyone...especially if you have high blood pressure or need to restrict your sodium but it's perfect for me.  I have low blood pressure that falls  below 100/60  if I don't have enough salt.    I love the jerky... feels like I'm cheating but so full of flavor and SALT!  I buy it at Walmart.

I'm picky about the brands I like... this one is my favorite.  You might be lucky enough to have a local meat market that  makes it.

CARBmaster Yogurt (Kroger's brand)

Have I mentioned that I LOVE it?  Not every flavor... but most of them!

Only 60 calories and  4 carbs - 9 gm protein

Blackberry is my favorite... a few of the flavors I think are really nasty but for the most part, I LOVE these... more than Yoplait or Dannon.

Carbmaster yogurt is what is called a 'dair' blend, a cultured dairy blend. This is a blend that looks like yogurt, tastes like yogurt, but doesn't meet Food and Drug Administration guidelines for what yogurt should contain, specifically the types of bacteria cultures.

Like normal plain yogurt, Carbmaster yogurt blends contain live and active cultures L. Acidophilus and B. Bifidum, bacteria that aid digestion, especially in people who may be lactose intolerant. L. Acidophilus also helps prevent yeast infections and aids in the body's ability to process vitamin K a chief agent of the body's blood clotting ability. The other bacterium, B. Bifidum has been linked to lower risk of allergies and is sometimes said to prevent growth in some tumors.

Video - Low-Carb High Fat New Atkins Diet - It works!

Better than Medi Fast - the LCHF Diet

LCHF - Low Carb  High Fat Diet  (Also known as the New Atkins Diet) - You will lose weight without having to exercise.

Did I really say without having to exercise?  YES!

Many of us who have a weight problem have been told for years.. you need to exercise to lose weight... how did that work for you?  Chances are it didn't.

Most of us cannot exercise off our excess weight BUT.. we can change our way of eating - where we force our body to burn fat.  When we eat carbs, they are changed to a sugars and stored as fat.  We don't burn that stored fat until we require our bodies to burn it's own fat. We do that by cutting out the carbs and eating a low carb, high fat diet.

REALLY.  It works and it works well. Real Food, real fats... butter, bacon, fat on meat, etc

And we can have salt.

LCHF for Beginners

Do you want to eat real food (as much as you like) and improve your health and weight? It may sound too good to be true, but LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat) is a method that has been used for 150 years. Now, modern science backs it up with proof that it works.

There is no weighing your food, no counting, no bizarre “meal replacements,” no pills. There is just real food and common sense. And all the advice here is 100 percent free.

In 2013, Dr. Westman decided to release a 24-page pamphlet on Amazon outlining the basic tenets of the dietary program he uses with his patients called A Low Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet Manual: No Sugar, No Starch Diet. For about $5, you get the basics of his “No Sugar, No Starch” diet complete with tips and strategies for making this work. This little book just barely scratches the surface of explaining all the ins and outs of low-carb, high-fat, ketogenic diet.

  Dr. Westman my next book slated for an August 5, 2014 release entitled Keto Clarity: Unleash The Health Benefits Of A Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet that will go into great detail about Dr. Westman’s story about learning about low-carb from his patients as a traditionally-trained medical doctor, why being in a state of ketosis is so important, how to best make a ketogenic diet happen for you, the health benefits you can expect to experience, meal plans and recipes, and a whole lot more! We’re currently writing this book and can’t wait to get it in the hands of those who are sincerely interested in it (which apparently is a lot considering it was the #5 most searched diet term on Google in 2013).

Zucchini Patties

ServingCook time: 10 minutes

Ready in: 25 minutes

   

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1/2 cup grass-fed raw milk Parmesan cheese,
•  grated (recommended: Organic Valley)
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 roasted red bell peppers, finely diced
• 3/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Note: For strict Paleo version, omit cheese
Directions

1. Combine all ingredients (except the olive oil) in a bowl.
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. 
3. Drop zucchini mixture by tablespoon and brown
4.  for 3 minutes on each side.
5. Drain on paper towels, cool and serve.

A good blog with lots of low carb, gluten free recipes

http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/

So.... am I in Ketosis?

Am I in ketosis?

One of the questions people who are new to the LCHF (keto/ketogenic/low carb) diet frequently ask me is:how do I know if I’m in ketosis?

Everyone’s different and while some may experience all of the symptoms of ketosis, some might only feel a couple of them or none at all. There are basic signs and symptoms that indicate that you’re in ketosis, but please note that I’m differentiating between the signs of keto flu (covered in the post I’m linking to) that many experience in the first days of a ketogenic diet, and the feeling of being in ketosis when the flu has subsided:

So, am I in ketosis?

• Dry mouth (eat more salt and drink more water to alleviate this).
• Metallic taste in your mouth or a strange taste in the back of your throat, some describe it as fruity or a little sweet.
• A kind of “buzzing” feeling that’s hard to describe, almost euphoric at times.
• Different kind of urine smell, stronger too!
• “Ketosis breath” – It can range from being a little sweet to being almost like you’ve had a drink of alcohol.
• Less appetite. You can go for hours without eating and don’t feel very hungry.
• Increased energy. If you don’t experience it try to eat more fat, drink more water and watch your electrolytes.
• A ketone strip you pee on shows a positive result. There are also blood ketone metersthat give a more specific result. (Pro-tip: If you get the pee strips, cut them in half  ) But do note that even with a positive pee strip it’s not 100% certain that you’re in ketosis and that a very dark positive result may only indicate that you’re dehydrated.

Pumpkin Coconut Flour Pancakes

Pumpkin Coconut Flour Pancakes – Low Carb and Gluten-Free

Yield: 12 pancakes

Serving Size: 2 pancakes

Delicious pumpkin pancakes made with coconut flour and coconut oil. Low carb, gluten-free and dairy-free.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup vanilla hemp protein powder (or whey protein powder)
• 1/4 cup Swerve Sweetener (or honey or maple syrup for a paleo version)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 tbsp Kelapo coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk or almond milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Coconut oil for the pan

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together coconut flour, protein powder, sweetener, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and cloves.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin puree, melted coconut oil, 1/2 cup almond milk and vanilla extract.
4. Add the egg mixture to the coconut flour mixture and stir well to combine. Add more almond milk if batter is very thick. It should not be runny.
5. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and add a little coconut oil. Once oil is melted, scoop two heaping tablespoons of batter onto skillet and spread into a 4 inch circle. Repeat until you can't fit any more pancakes into the skillet (you should be able to get 3 or 4 in).
6. Cook until bottom is golden brown and top is set around the edges. Flip carefully and continue to cook until second side is golden brown. Remove from pan and keep warm on plate or baking sheet in oven, while repeating with remaining batter.

Notes

Serves 6. Each serving has 14 g of carbs and 8 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 6 g.

283 Calories; 20g Fat (62.1% calories from fat); 13g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; 8g Dietary Fiber; 221mg Cholesterol; 404mg Sodium.

Read more: http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2013/11/pumpkin-coconut-flour-pancakes-low-carb-and-gluten-free.html#ixzz3AnNE3Mw3
Read more at http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2013/11/pumpkin-coconut-flour-pancakes-low-carb-and-gluten-free.html#hmy8AqTJk6dYKAGl.99

Bacon Deviled Eggs

6 Boiled Eggs
2 slices Bacon fried
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 tbsp Sweet Pickle Relish
1 tsp Mustard
Salt and pepper, for taste
Paprika to sprinkle as garnish

DIRECTIONS
Cut fried bacon into 12 small pieces.
Cut eggs in half lengthwise.
Remove yolks and place in a bowl.
Mash yolks with a fork and stir in mayonnaise, pickle relish, and mustard.
Salt and pepper, to taste.
Mix until consistency is smooth.
Transfer mixture to zippered bag and clip corner for piping.
Pipe mixture into cooked egg whites evenly.