h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Any rubber bands? Sitting on the floor pulling the bands back will still give you the arm-back-stomache exercise, but not the legs - and I've found that you actually tighten not only your back muscles but also your stomache muscles when leaning backwards

There are also other things to do than just regular crunches, like the second exercise on Tuesday here:
http://www.jorgecruise.com/HTML/weightloss/onlinetraining.html

That's a really good site! Thanks!

I've passed it on to my office colleague who's also trying out cutting down the carbs for a while.


Oh, and I do hope you don't take offence at anything I've said on the "What's Wrong With.." thread - you know it's all complete cobblers

Offence? At the luna... ooops - wrong thread!

Did my '8 Minutes of Exercise' this morning! It was really easy and woke me up too! Thanks ever so much for that Titania - one of the most useful links I've had in ages!

Yes, I hope I'll be able to keep it up myself, because it is really simple and takes so little time - I usually do it after my morning 'medley' round while I cool down before stepping into the shower

Well, am part way through day 5 of Atkins diet, where is this surge of energy I was promised? Can't weigh myself until sunday so I don't know what it is doing to my weight but so far the primary result appears to be a raging thirst, and accompanying dehydration headache. I am guessing that this is due to the fact that previously, as well as drinking lots of water I ate lots of 'wet' foods, like friut (god I miss fruit). Now I am getting much much less water in my diet. Have increased the amount I am drinking but I can only drink so many gallons a day!

Am also very um bunged up Haven't been since Monday Am really not convinced this diet is good for - will have to see if I get a result on the scales before I decide to carry it on next week...

Anyone finding the same, or is this just me?

I'm 2 days into my second week of Atkins, but I slipped a fair bit over the weekend and had a bag of chocolate buttons yesterday - but that was for time of the month medical reasons

I feel lighter now than I did on Wednesday, have been drinking more water, but it's hot too. I haven't noticed much in the way of headaches, but I don't remember having much last time I was on it. My brain feels more perky, and I'm more hungry now but at longer intervals - I'm not so 'snacky' type hungry.

I have been a bit bunged up, but I think that's more due to the above mentioned monthlies. I had warned HELP_I'M_LOST about more erm, fudgy poo. Which I remembered from last year. I have been more tired, but that may be due to having a cold and working a lot recently, setting my alarm for half an hour later has helped an awful lot, or going to bed a bit earlier.

I'm gonna stick it out for a bit more, because I don't seem to have major side effects. As I've said before, everybody's different. Atkins is one of the more extreme diets (i.e. Slimfast), so it may not suit some people. If it makes you feel really crappy, find a diet that doesn't.

I'm gonna be damn good till next Wednesday! Good luck kelli!

Hum. Seem to have lost about 5 lb of my Rome-induced gain since monday on this Atkins thing - although I feel quite dehydrated so I guess some of that is water. I think I'll stick with it for another week to see if I can break that illusive 70 lb barrier but I'm going to HAVE to obtain a source of fibre. Also, wasn't able to do any exercise this week, so maybe I can lose even more when I am burning up some of this lard I am consuming.

I actually cannot believe I have lost weight this week given that I have been eating cheese (previously my most missed foodstuff) with wanton abandon.

It is the boyf's b'day this weekend and we are going out for dinner. Somebody tell me that a bottle of white wine isn't going to ruin everything...?

There was a segment on A Current Affair (Aussis version) last week on comparing those kinds of diets. There was a general feeling that the Atkins diet was not relaly good for you. I can't remember what they said the side effects would be, but if you are bunged up, it can't be much good...

If you want to take a look at the transcript, go to http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/stories/1377.asp

Anyway, I lost 1.2 kgs last week. Add that to the 3 I lost previously, I have now broken the 15kg barrier (again). I am aimimg for a loss of aroudn 1kg next week, to get closer to breaking my elusive 80kg mark!

Well done Tashalls!

Being bunged up on the Atkins diet sounds a bit odd to me since you're allowed quite a lot of fat which often act as a sort of lubricant (but I might be wrong, don't know much about Atkins really)

Dried prunes always works for me (long travels sitting still for a long time is what causes me trouble) - or prune purée in those little glass jars of baby food

I think the bunged effect is due to the sudden drop in the amount of fibre I'm getting, due to not eating the mountain of fruit and veg I usually get through each day. Happily I have discovered that celery is truely the king of diet foods - it doesn't matter what kind of diet you are on, you can still eat unlimited amounts of celery - it has practically no nutritional value at all! No carbs, no fat, no protein, just water and fibre. Yay! My problem is solved. It helps that I really love celery too - it is helping with my fruit cravings as it has the same kind of satisfying mouthfeel as fruit.

I'm definitely not going to do this atkins thing long term as I don't really think it is terribly healthy, but if I keep losing weight at this rate I can do it for a short time just for a change from the old routine that wasn't going terribly well. It actually fits with my life at the moment - I wish I had started this before I went to Rome because it would have made things much easier for me there. Once I've shifted a few more pounds I think I'll switch back to my previous sensible diet. We'll see how things go. If I start to feel really bad on this then obviously I'll stop...

BTW well done Tashalls It is good to get through one of those round number barriers - makes you feel very pleased with yourself, as you should be!

Keep up the good work

Thanks!



By the way, are you from Slough? Isn't that where The Office is set? We've only just got those over here, and they're hilarious, if a bit uncomfortable to watch (only because you can identify the characters so much!)

Is Slough really like that?

I'd never say Atkins was a lifestyle choice, but it's good to shift a few if you're getting bored with your current regime.

Also, don't forget that changes with your bowels is also because you're body is adapting to a new diet, I've got more spots too. But the same thing happened when I switched to Slimming World, for the first few weeks I had lots of spots and the most terrible wind!

Well done folks, you're all doing really well Must be that good time sunshine feeling!

Just remembered what I originally came to say

White wine is fine on Atkins , and spirits , but not beer. All beers, lagers and ales are out Though I felt very sophisticated out drinking at the weekend with my glass of wine instead of my usual pint of

Weigh-in today: -0.6 kg! It's a bit slow, but it's in the right direction!

Hey, that is a pound lost so don't knock it! Well done

Not sunshiny here

winter, cold and cloudy. But then again, I've visited the UK in the winter, and we can't really call ours terrible. (7 hours of daylight...)

Well done Titania - a pound lost is a pound in the right direction!

You'll get your sunshine Tash

Another point to Atkins from that link that you gave - the doc warns about our intake of saturated fats. People will go nuts on Atkins and eat anything fatty, but that's they're own daft fault If you're serious, you'll read up properly and not eat the first block of lard you come across I still tend to go for the low fat option with things like mayonnaise, cuz I won't lose the fat if I'm eating loads of it.
That may not make a great deal of sense, it's a bit early in the morning for me

Weigh-in tomorrow, I'm feeling good about it. Have been doing 8 Minutes of Exercise, and incorporate sit-ups this morning. Started walking again. My body shape has definitely changed , probably due to losing water retention, everything's a lot smoother!