I have decided to try a new diet that I just heard about. It's been around for over 10 years, but my husband was just reading Freakonomics for the first time, and there was a bit about Dr. Seth Roberts and his self-experimentation that led to the discovery of how the human body interacts with food. I'm intrigued. I'm going to give it a go!
Last known weight: 415 lbs
This is the number I'm going to use as my starting weight.
I'm not able to weigh myself frequently as you might imagine. The last time I got a proper weight check was when I visited my Doctor. It's been a few months, but the last known weight measure was 415 lbs. I have ordered a scale from Amazon that weighs up to 440 lbs; perhaps it will give me a more accurate reading. I need to wait a few days to get it.
My first short-term goal will be to get into the 300s. I haven't seen my weight in the 300s since I was in Middle School -- 6th through 8th grades. In high school I hit 425 lbs. That is my highest known weight. I don't know whether I ever got above that number. You may not be able to tell by the picture, but I'm very heavy there. Most of my weight is carried in my midsection and thighs. I also had more muscle mass because I was in Show Choir and spent a lot of time dancing.
My long-term goal -- 145 lbs. That's a whopping 270 lbs I'd need to drop. Can it be done? We'll see. I'm 5'8" give or take (take, actually. I'm, like, 5'7-and-three-quarters".)
So why do I weigh so much? I'm not entirely sure, but I'm thinking it may have a lot to do with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). I have an extreme case of this. Back when I was 10 and started ballooning up for no good reason, this was not a known condition. Basically, I get to be fat, and I can never have children -- these are the two side-effects that hit me the hardest. There are others. For example, I'm losing my hair. Fun.
The no-children thing was the worst. I found all of this out when I was 19, and my dream of the future consisted of becoming a teacher, getting married (to someone who could look past the weight) and having two children. I thought I'd be the best mom ever! I was already joining the PTA in my head. Finding out that I can't even have miracle babies using drugs, therapy, and other fertility assistance, and that motherhood by natural means was never going to happen for me was devastating. It derailed my whole plan. I was depressed for a very long time. And it seemed that I kept gaining weight by simply looking sideways at anything that could remotely be construed as food.
Things have changed since then, though. Seeing as I'm about to be 40 in April of next year, I've come to terms with having no children. I'm at peace with that. I have decided to spoil other people's children instead. That works. The weight, though, the weight is another story.
Today was the very first day of trying the Shangri-La Diet by Dr. Seth Roberts. As Wikipedia says, the diet basically entails "... consuming 100–400 calories per day in a flavorless food such as extra light olive oil [ELOO] one hour outside of mealtimes as a method of appetite suppression leading to weight loss." That's not the whole story.
The diet also has an alternative flavorless option in sugar water. I'm trying the ELOO first as with PCOS, I'm cognizant of my sugar intake; I fear the sweet white stuff with good reason. No one wants diabetes.
I have to say, ELOO is disgusting! :)
I got a bottle of it, and it sat on my cupboard shelf for a few days while I researched the diet. It truly is as simple as just downing a tablespoon or four of ELOO and waiting an hour before eating anything. The flavorless calories trick your body, essentially.
From what I've read and researched, everyone seems to point to the appetite suppression and lower-calorie intake as a result of the appetite suppression as to why this diet works. That's not the whole story, though. What Roberts discovered through self-experimentation is the "set-point." Your body, essentially, wants to be a certain weight. This weight is not dictated by genetics or some unknown factor we can't influence. In fact, we directly influence it with our food intake.
I'll try to sum up the giant idea, but it's much better to read the whole book and then do follow-up research.
Back when we were primitives, our bodies had (and still have) an ingenious mechanism to keep us alive. In times of plenty, we would be hungrier. This would make us bulk up in anticipation of the times of famine we knew would be coming. Our bodies would pack on pounds of fat and store this for later use. When the famine eventually hit, food was scarce. Our bodies would lower the hunger response so that we didn't feel the need to eat as often, and it would use the fat stores when energy was needed. Brilliant then! Not so brilliant now.
We have plenty. We are getting fat because we have plenty. There is lots of really delicious flavorful foods at our disposal, and we are hungrier than ever! Now, this is not my problem. I eat regular amounts of food. But the issue of storing the intake as fat, that's my problem! The foods we consume also have a set-point value. The "ditto" foods -- flavors we know and love -- flavors we can taste by simply thinking of the food -- comfort food -- these cause the set-point to go up. New flavors and flavorless foods cause it to go down. The set-point is the weight your body is attempting to maintain. If you lower the set-point, you stop getting hungry when you're above the set-point number. If you are below your set-point, your body feels the need to feed to gain more weight to hit that goal.
Roberts' Shangri-La Diet tricks your body into thinking it's a time of famine when you consume flavor-free calories. Then, any foods you consume after that reset your set-point. Clearly my set-point is, like, 415 lbs. That needs to change NOW! As I understand it, low set-point foods are ones that we are unfamiliar with flavor-wise and have a low glycemic index. Higher set-point foods are more flavorful, have a higher glycemic index, and are "comfort foods' -- foods we can taste just by thinking about them.
With all of this information in mind, I have a plan.
2 Tbsp ELOO before work at around 6:30 to 6:45 PM
2 Tbsp ELOO after work when I get home at around 5:00 AM
Attempt to keep this schedule on weekends, too.
Eat whatever I feel like eating, whenever I feel like eating.
This seems to be the long and short of the plan everyone else who has tried this diet uses. The difference is that I'm trying higher doses of ELOO to begin with because I'm so heavy.
I tried this today. ELOO is disgusting! LOL. I shot the first Tbsp of it, and I almost gagged. I got it down. I took several swigs of water with it. Egad! The 2nd Tbsp, I sipped a bit of ELOO and took a swig of water, sipped, swigged, sipped, swigged, repeated until ELOO was gone.
I think I will wait to check my weight until I've done this for, like, 2 weeks. I don't really see the point in checking now. As soon as my scale gets here, though, I will weigh in for a correct initial number.
I'm going to graph my progress. Here is the graph for Day 1:
So much progress!
This is the number I'm going to use as my starting weight.
I'm not able to weigh myself frequently as you might imagine. The last time I got a proper weight check was when I visited my Doctor. It's been a few months, but the last known weight measure was 415 lbs. I have ordered a scale from Amazon that weighs up to 440 lbs; perhaps it will give me a more accurate reading. I need to wait a few days to get it.
 |
| High school sophomore, 1994 |
My long-term goal -- 145 lbs. That's a whopping 270 lbs I'd need to drop. Can it be done? We'll see. I'm 5'8" give or take (take, actually. I'm, like, 5'7-and-three-quarters".)
So why do I weigh so much? I'm not entirely sure, but I'm thinking it may have a lot to do with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). I have an extreme case of this. Back when I was 10 and started ballooning up for no good reason, this was not a known condition. Basically, I get to be fat, and I can never have children -- these are the two side-effects that hit me the hardest. There are others. For example, I'm losing my hair. Fun.
The no-children thing was the worst. I found all of this out when I was 19, and my dream of the future consisted of becoming a teacher, getting married (to someone who could look past the weight) and having two children. I thought I'd be the best mom ever! I was already joining the PTA in my head. Finding out that I can't even have miracle babies using drugs, therapy, and other fertility assistance, and that motherhood by natural means was never going to happen for me was devastating. It derailed my whole plan. I was depressed for a very long time. And it seemed that I kept gaining weight by simply looking sideways at anything that could remotely be construed as food.
Things have changed since then, though. Seeing as I'm about to be 40 in April of next year, I've come to terms with having no children. I'm at peace with that. I have decided to spoil other people's children instead. That works. The weight, though, the weight is another story.
Today was the very first day of trying the Shangri-La Diet by Dr. Seth Roberts. As Wikipedia says, the diet basically entails "... consuming 100–400 calories per day in a flavorless food such as extra light olive oil [ELOO] one hour outside of mealtimes as a method of appetite suppression leading to weight loss." That's not the whole story.The diet also has an alternative flavorless option in sugar water. I'm trying the ELOO first as with PCOS, I'm cognizant of my sugar intake; I fear the sweet white stuff with good reason. No one wants diabetes.
I have to say, ELOO is disgusting! :)
I got a bottle of it, and it sat on my cupboard shelf for a few days while I researched the diet. It truly is as simple as just downing a tablespoon or four of ELOO and waiting an hour before eating anything. The flavorless calories trick your body, essentially.
From what I've read and researched, everyone seems to point to the appetite suppression and lower-calorie intake as a result of the appetite suppression as to why this diet works. That's not the whole story, though. What Roberts discovered through self-experimentation is the "set-point." Your body, essentially, wants to be a certain weight. This weight is not dictated by genetics or some unknown factor we can't influence. In fact, we directly influence it with our food intake.
I'll try to sum up the giant idea, but it's much better to read the whole book and then do follow-up research.
Back when we were primitives, our bodies had (and still have) an ingenious mechanism to keep us alive. In times of plenty, we would be hungrier. This would make us bulk up in anticipation of the times of famine we knew would be coming. Our bodies would pack on pounds of fat and store this for later use. When the famine eventually hit, food was scarce. Our bodies would lower the hunger response so that we didn't feel the need to eat as often, and it would use the fat stores when energy was needed. Brilliant then! Not so brilliant now.
We have plenty. We are getting fat because we have plenty. There is lots of really delicious flavorful foods at our disposal, and we are hungrier than ever! Now, this is not my problem. I eat regular amounts of food. But the issue of storing the intake as fat, that's my problem! The foods we consume also have a set-point value. The "ditto" foods -- flavors we know and love -- flavors we can taste by simply thinking of the food -- comfort food -- these cause the set-point to go up. New flavors and flavorless foods cause it to go down. The set-point is the weight your body is attempting to maintain. If you lower the set-point, you stop getting hungry when you're above the set-point number. If you are below your set-point, your body feels the need to feed to gain more weight to hit that goal.
Roberts' Shangri-La Diet tricks your body into thinking it's a time of famine when you consume flavor-free calories. Then, any foods you consume after that reset your set-point. Clearly my set-point is, like, 415 lbs. That needs to change NOW! As I understand it, low set-point foods are ones that we are unfamiliar with flavor-wise and have a low glycemic index. Higher set-point foods are more flavorful, have a higher glycemic index, and are "comfort foods' -- foods we can taste just by thinking about them.
With all of this information in mind, I have a plan.
2 Tbsp ELOO before work at around 6:30 to 6:45 PM
2 Tbsp ELOO after work when I get home at around 5:00 AM
Attempt to keep this schedule on weekends, too.
Eat whatever I feel like eating, whenever I feel like eating.
This seems to be the long and short of the plan everyone else who has tried this diet uses. The difference is that I'm trying higher doses of ELOO to begin with because I'm so heavy.
I tried this today. ELOO is disgusting! LOL. I shot the first Tbsp of it, and I almost gagged. I got it down. I took several swigs of water with it. Egad! The 2nd Tbsp, I sipped a bit of ELOO and took a swig of water, sipped, swigged, sipped, swigged, repeated until ELOO was gone.
I think I will wait to check my weight until I've done this for, like, 2 weeks. I don't really see the point in checking now. As soon as my scale gets here, though, I will weigh in for a correct initial number.
I'm going to graph my progress. Here is the graph for Day 1:
Comments
Post a Comment