1:30PM
1 cup salad greens with tomato and Ranch dressing
2 baked bacon cheeseburger with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and cheddar cheese
Diet Coke with lime
Sugar-free Philly Swirl ice pops
8:00PM
Beef meatballs with provolone cheese and tomato sauce
2 Carb One garlic toast topped with butter and Colby Jack cheese
Coke Zero
Sugar-free Philly Swirl ice pops
NOTE: You know, it's a good thing I wasn't blogging in the midst of my 180-pound weight loss success in 2004 because the mixed messages that you receive on a daily basis online are stark. Here are just a few of the suggestions people have made about the way I should be eating in just the past couple days here at my menus blog:
"eat more often"
"eat less often"
"you're eating too much food"
"you're not eating enough food"
"eat less 'sweet' in your diet"
"cut out the diet sodas"
"keep losing weight because you're still obese"
"eat only real whole foods all the time"
"use alternative sweeteners"
"avoid any and all sweeteners"
"your eating is dysfunctional"
"go Paleo with your way of eating"
"get off low-carb and eat raw vegetarian instead"
"you must stick with all of your resolutions"
"your lab reports of excellent health are irrelevant"
"you have psychological issues with the way you eat"
"you're an example, so you should eat better than you do"
WHEW! Could you imagine being a newbie low-carber and getting bombarded by such perplexing comments coming at you from all angles? I don't know if I ever would have been successful at losing that 180 pounds if I tried to listen to what everybody was saying five years ago. Thankfully I've been doing this as a lifestyle long enough that I already know what works for me and I'm doing it. While I appreciate the suggestions from people, most of them are not going to change the way I live my life because I'm doing just fine for me. Others may not feel my particular diet is right for them and that's okay too. That's why this is a journey to find what will work for YOU...and then DO IT!
An interesting topic of debate that has emerged this week centers around the following subject: Is it better to have excellent health markers with a few extra pounds on your body or is being thin the ultimate goal?
It's a great question to bounce around for discussion and I'm sure people will have varying opinions about what they believe. I have long held the notion that weight loss is merely a side effect of a quality nutritional approach and that the first and foremost reason for healthy low-carb eating is to prevent disease and preserve health. Livin' la vida low-carb has kept me very healthy compared to the way I ate prior to my 2004 transformation.
Here's what my healthy low-carb menus have done for me since January 1, 2004: I very rarely get sick with colds anymore, I'm more active playing competitive sports at 37 than I was in my teens and 20s, my HDL cholesterol has been well above 50 for the past five years, my triglycerides have remained below 100 over that same time period, my 2008 NMR Lipoprofile test of the dangerous, small, dense LDL particle size showed results of less than 2% in my body, I came completely off of cholesterol-lowering statins, blood pressure medicine, and breathing prescriptions, and I've kept off 83% of my original weight loss for the past five years and counting! Not too shabby results for a diet that so many people have bemoaned, eh?
Of course, then there's the argument that even those few extra pounds can add years to your life according to a new study out of Canada just this week. This research, which reaffirms a 2005 JAMA study, actually shows that people who are slightly overweight really do live longer than normal weight people. Well, shazam! Imagine that. Could it be all those people who obsess over getting skinny are actually doing MORE harm to their health trying to look a certain way which causes them to die sooner than those of us who might be slightly overweight? Sure seems that way.
Plus, let's not forget all the metabolically-obese thin people who are walking around out there right now. Yes, they are skinny, but their HDL is woefully low, their triglycerides are in the high triple-digits, their blood pressure is off the charts, the LDL cholesterol is mostly the small, dense, dangerous kind, and they're on their way to a heart attack, stroke, or death despite the fact they look "healthy" on the outside. Simply labeling someone thin as being at optimal health is actually doing those people a disservice. The only way to know if they are truly healthy or not is to run blood tests on the key cardiovascular markers to see. The same goes for the overweight and obese.
Aesthetically, we all would like to be thin and show off six-pack abs walking shirtless or in a bikini on the beach. But that's not the reality for the vast majority of people who are not already genetically predisposed for that. I'm not saying you should strive for that if looking good is the reason for your existence. But the longer I've been following low-carb, the more I've become convinced it is MUCH better to be eating this way for the sake of your health and longevity and to stop obsessing over weight. If you're eating well and enjoying the low-carb choices you are putting in your mouth while experiencing stellar health, then why change anything? It doesn't make logical sense to try to force the issue.
Okay, I've opened up a huge can of worms here and look forward to your responses. THANKS for reading!
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31 comments:
I liked the Philly Swirl ice pops, too. In your grocer's freezer. Yum!
Hi Jimmy,
I agree with what you say here. A possible fly in the ointment occurs in a person’s second half of life (say >40) with the reduced agility that comes with extra weight. I admire Dr Atkins as much as you do but wonder if he could have avoided the serious injury from his fall if he weighed 30 lbs less. Overweight is often listed as a marker for metabolic syndrome independent of the other markers. Over time, it may promote hypoglycemia and eventually diabetes even with a LC diet? Have you ever checked your homocysteine levels?
Fascinating theory about Dr. Atkins, Coyote. Perhaps it's true, although the man was in his 70s when he died. The question about hypoglycemia is one I've asked at my blog before about being a "hidden" side effect of low-carb living. As for homocysteine levels, I had mine checked last year by Dr. Westman and they came back completely normal. Here's an interesting column about the homocysteine debate.
The problem is that everyone thinks thier diet is the right one. Its kind of like religion. What we have to realize is that whatever works works. No matter what our faith in diets is if it works and we feel good thats all that matters.
In all due respect to your brother Jimmy, I do believe you could have been headed where he is at. If you did not choose low carb and stick with it. Im proud to know you.
Oh, I have no doubt Paul.
So now I'm wondering, are overweight individuals clumsier that thin ones? Are they more accident prone or likely to fall? Dr. Atkins was six feet tall and weighed 195 lbs. He was active enough to be walking to work and probably hit that ice going at a pretty fast clip. I don't see how weighing 165 lbs. would have prevented him from slipping and hitting his head; it can happen in a nanosecond whether a person is young or old, thin or overweight.
LOL Jimmy, I never told you to go raw vegetarian. I simply said that's what I do. After years of trying low carb and having major health problems because of it, I had to find another solution.
Anyway, if you are still technically obese, what you are doing ISN'T working. That's what a lot of people are trying to get through your head. :-) Having a waist of over 35 inches (which you do) is downright dangerous to your health.
You probably know this and I'm waisting (haha) my time and yours. BUT you keep saying you "found something that works".
No - you haven't - and now you are trying to placate yourself and others by saying it's OK that you are overweight and have a larger than 35-inch waist. That's a dangerous message to be sending, isn't it?
I don't like hurting anyone's feelings, but I've only recently learned that sugar-coating and beating around the bush doesn't help people. Only a straight-out honest (but kind) approach works.
You know it is true what you said about how glad you were not getting the comments years ago that you get today. Knowing what you know now, helps you stay on track and I totally get that! I have since found that I don't "share" that I do Atkins openly anymore because of all the negative side crap that thrown in, even from family. BUT... yet, they all want to know how I done it. HOw I lost 70 pounds and have kept it off for six months. I still have 12 more to go, because I am determined to have my BMI say "normal", and all I here is why? You don't need to lose more.
My point is this: if we want to be successful in any part of our life, we have to do continue to do what we know in our hearts to be right. It may not be "right" for someone else, but if it works for us ~ keep on keepin on my man!
Those meatballs and cheese look awesome!!
I agree that we have to think more in terms of HEALTH than LOOKS. You seem to be healthier than at any other time in your life, why change that? There are a lot of terribly unhealthy thin gorgeous people out there. I also heard the Canadian report about a little bit of extra weight in old age helps, I think it makes sense. Not a lot overweight, but a little. Even at my goal weight of 150 I would be considered obese (according to my BMI), which to me is ridiculous! I also have great doctor's reports, my doctor kept saying "perfect. . .perfect. . .awesome. . .'! You can check out my blog if you like at http://www.lindart-myjourney.blogspot.com
It's mostly menus.
Jimmy, there's nothing wrong with your perspective. There never was. You made lots of valid points in this post. You can be whatever size you choose and eat what you wish. Who's anyone to judge?
Oh, and you forgot one item on your list of suggestions: :-)
"you should record your weight more often than once a month so your readers will know the real-time impacts of your menus on your weight"
There's a lot hidden in those weights. You won't admit it, but there is.
Despite what you're saying in this post, you DO make efforts to adjust your diet for weight loss purposes. You definitely don't want to have your weight in the 250s on Wednesday, as you have already posted weight gains 4 months in a row. In that case, even your less critical readers will have to conclude your WOE is not doing a good job of controlling your weight.
Or, maybe I misread your post? You focused on health and not at all on weight loss or maintenance. So, I guess you're cool with continued weight gain so long as your health markers remain good?
In all, this is a nuanced issue. When your weight becomes an issue and what you do about it really is up to you. But I'm curious. Would you mind sharing your thoughts on this?
Something that's often missing in conversations about what I do here at my menus blog is that I'm a real person with all the same feelings and psychological dealings that others have. When I used to post my weight everyday, it was as if I had a judge, jury and executioner analyzing every little minutia of movement up or down in my weight.
As interesting as that may be to others, I'll admit I can't take that kind of scrutiny. And it is unprecedented anywhere else online--who else posts all their menus, exercise, current weight, etc. online? Anyone? It just doesn't happen, so I consider what I do here at my menus blog a service. The original intent was simply to show what I eat and nothing more. I have a good mind to just scrap posting my weight because that was never supposed to be the focus at all.
Again, the focus on weight loss alone misses the point of this conversation--HEALTH! I have it right now and better than I could have ever imagined before. Obviously I'd love to weigh less than I do, but it's not the end of the world to weigh what I do right now and yet still have my health markers intact. That's the bottom line message.
Rian, I missed your comments until now. THANKS for sharing. I'm glad you found a solution that works for you to bring about the improvements in health you desired.
But you still miss the point about why I am livin' la vida low-carb--I'm HEALTHIER than I've ever been. It's not low-carb that has made me obese, but I'm certainly a lot better off now than I was at 410. Low-carb got my health in excellent shape where it is today. What's the point of pursuing thin when healthy is the ultimate goal?
Please explain how with all my health markers in outstanding positions that what I'm doing is "downright dangerous" to my health? By what are you measuring anyone's health status other than waist size and weight? This gets to the root of my original question in this post.
As for my feelings, you haven't hurt 'em a bit. I believe in tough love talk, too, as long as it is based on something besides simple conjecture.
Jimmy: there are a couple of blogs I read that post their weight and breakdown of food eaten. Loads of forums have food diaries and those people usually have a weight ticker strip at the bottom. So loads of people are doing it.
Your web site and your book both announce proudly about your great weight loss. So your selling yourself on your weight loss. Maybe if you don't want people to ask if your loosing more or keeping it off you could change the title? After all your first book claims you have gone to 'sensationally skinny'. Even before you regained a little you were never skinny. So if you don't want people to ask about your weight then you could change the info on your web site.
But I think the thing is most people regain. So people want to know how things are going long term. Most people can loose weight and keep it off for a few years. But 5 years later and most have put it all back on, plus some.
But I don't get this. This is your job. You have access to info and people (and time) to be as fit and healthy and slim as anyone. Most people are stuck in an office 9-5, commuting, stuck in the drudgery of life. This is your full time job. Just like a personal trainer. You expect a personal trainer to look buff. Why not someone who is a 'leader' of the low carb community. The low fatters have Rosemary Connelly, Jane Fonda, the lady who started weight watchers etc. So why are we settling for less? Your selling products and a way of life. You should expect people to be asking questions - like how is it going etc. You don't buy a TV and not ask what features its got. So flogging low carb food to people you cannot expect them to not want to know how its effecting you weight wise.
http://www.obesityscam.com/myth4.1.htm
Compared to where I was before, Amber, I am now "sensationally skinny." And I'll admit when I first started blogging the focus was on weight loss. But the more I've been researching and interviewing people about this amazing way of eating, the more convinced I have become that it is the health benefits that are what makes low-carb living so wonderfully amazing. Thus, the emphasis and why I've decided to write a new book highlighting these benefits of livin' la vida low-carb.
I don't mind being asked about my weight at all, but to say that all of my low-carb efforts are for naught simply because a few pounds have come back on after my initial weight loss is absolutely preposterous. Like I said in this post, I've kept off 83% of my original 180-pound weight loss for five years and counting. Keep in mind that I've grown muscle during that time, too, so not all of the slight gain on the scale is fat.
Well, it's five years after my weight loss and I didn't "gain it all back and then some." I've maintained quite well despite some difficult circumstances that have happened in my life losing my brother, trying to have a baby through an IVF cycle and it failed, and other personal issues that are not appropriate for discussion here.
I've never claimed to be a "leader of the low-carb community." I'm simply someone who blogs his experiences following the healthy low-carb lifestyle and have been for many years. If people are motivated and inspired to start this way of eating for themselves as a result, then that's great. But that's not a responsibility I have taken on now or ever.
As for the "products" I am supposedly "selling," what would those be aside from my books? Everything else that I offer is 100% free--researched and detailed daily blog posts, professionally-recorded expert podcast interviews twice a week, YouTube videos, a support forum, and everything else that goes into informing the public about what the low-carb lifestyle can do for them.
Contrary to what you may have "heard" about Jimmy Moore, I am a man who sincerely cares about the people he comes into contact with and I invest many hours of my day to personally acknowledge and answer the many questions people have for me via e-mails and telephone calls where I never ask for a single dime from anyone. If you choose to support me through clicking on a sponsor ad or giving a donation, then I certainly appreciate it. But it is NEVER required as a prerequisite for accessing the information I make available.
If you don't like what I'm offering, then why would you stick around any longer?
Jimmy: you described yourself as a leader: 'You’ll get to hear all about what life has been like behind-the-scenes over these past few years as a leader in the low-carb community and the many lessons I’ve learned along the way.' In the info on this site for your phone class thing you did this month.
If this site and your books/referrals of products are how you earn your money then you are selling to people. Maybe not directly like an advert on TV but you are. You have an interested in these products and so your blog is not like someone spending their spare time on it, this is your job. That is fine. But some people may not realise it. Just as I would ask who gives the money for researching a scientific study, I want to know if the blogs I read are unbiased.
I have no problem with the above. If thats how you make your money that is fine. What I have a problem with is the fact that you have your health and living tied together. If (and I say if here I am not making a judgement) low carb products were effecting your health the problem is to 'eat clean' (sorry only way to describe without low carb products) would be a problem. As you earn your money from them. So anyone in your position would have a dilemma. I am NOT saying that there is a problem or that you should change. BUT the problem is your acting like your not happy. The failed challenges, the boot camp etc. For a while you seemed to try to loose weight. Now your 'happy' and its the blood work that matters. And you know what if your happy with that thats cool. But your act like your not.
I also think its kinda sad, that your basically saying that some people who have 50%+ of their weight to loose will never get to a normal BMI. The weight range for you is 55lbs (147-202lb) I just cannot see why you cannot get to it, especially with the access to experts that you have had. If this is really the case then maybe you should do a piece on a more reasonable range of weight that people should aim for.
Didirina ... your turn to come in an defend Jimmy now....
"I've kept off 83% of my original weight loss for the past five years and counting!"
So you weigh 260 pounds now, Jimmy?
Amber, I've never hidden the fact that I do this for a living and have been for nearly three years. Like I said previously, I work VERY hard to provide quality information for people about low-carb without asking them to pay me anything for it. If they choose to, then that's great. But I'm not forcing anyone to pay me to access my content.
Nothing about what I do is changed simply because I have sponsors who decide to support it. As I state very clearly in my disclaimer:
This blog is, in part, sponsored by companies who recognize the value of low-carbohydrate diets and respect the dietary choices of my readers. It is the policy of this blog that only sponsors and affiliates with whom I believe offer quality products or services along with good customer service and responsiveness to needs of my readers will be accepted. Whenever a sponsor’s product or service is mentioned, it is my opinion about the product or service and I have not been compelled by a contractual obligation to promote the product or service to my readers within the text content of my blog nor will I enter into such contracts in the future. The only exception to this is any promotion or giveaway where no purchase is required. But you are still under no obligation to participate or enter. In posts such as this, I will clearly state the nature of my relationship in the promotion.
Nobody is forced to eat anything they don't want to eat, Amber. And I've told people often that they don't have to consume any low-carb product to be successful on their healthy low-carb lifestyle. But those things are available to the people who do. That's all.
Incidentally, why are you so intimately interested in how I make a living? I'm not going around asking about your job, what your financial situation is like, how you decide to take the direction of your career. Quite frankly, none of that is my business and I wouldn't dare try to tell anybody how they need to be living to take care of their family. And neither should you about me or anyone else. With all due respect, mind your own business. I'll say it again--why stick around if you don't like what I'm offering to people?
Not sure where you got the idea that I said "some people who have 50%+ of their weight to lose will never get to a normal BMI" but I've never made any such claim. I do think low-carb can get people in a lot better position with their health and the weight loss will come as a side effect of that healthy eating.
Since you're interested in full disclosure, Amber, why don't you admit you are a part of the bash Jimmy Moore thread at that other forum? It certainly would put your comments in perspective for the people who read here.
I'll be posting my weight and waist size on Wednesday.
Jimmy, you said:
"Something that's often missing in conversations about what I do here at my menus blog is that I'm a real person with all the same feelings and psychological dealings that others have. When I used to post my weight everyday, it was as if I had a judge, jury and executioner analyzing every little minutia of movement up or down in my weight.
"As interesting as that may be to others, I'll admit I can't take that kind of scrutiny."
I totally get that you are a real person, and that we are discussing your real life. Actually, I thought you handled the scrutiny quite well!
I have to tip my hat to you b/c you have, in fact, done a much better job than me of maintaining loss. And undoubtedly, good health markers is a wonderful benefit to LCing. But the reality is that most of the visitors to your sites want more information about weight loss, and the subject of your weight will always be of interest to your readers.
THANKS OnPoint! Oh, let me be clear, I don't mind talking about weight loss. But far too often the conversation about low-carb diets is so DOMINATED by weight alone that the health benefits are all but ignored completely. That to me is a travesty because low-carb living is being shown in study after study to give people optimal health with a neat little side effect called weight loss.
Plus, there are other factors involved with weight other than diet and exercise, so it's difficult to lay the blame solely on these things as reasons for gains that may happen. That's something else people conveniently forget about, too.
THANKS for your comments! :)
Amber, you claim that "loads of people" are blogging their daily menus along with the weight changes that happen on a daily basis. Can you provide URL links to these bloggers? I think you are overstating the precedence of what I do here, especially for low-carb bloggers.
Jimmy I said 'Jimmy: there are a couple of blogs I read that post their weight and breakdown of food eaten. Loads of forums have food diaries and those people usually have a weight ticker strip at the bottom. So loads of people are doing it.'
A COUPLE of blogs and LOADS of forums have food diaries. I don't think I said anything about frequency.
Most of the weight loss sites people have a bar at the bottom of their sig with their weight in. Quite a few have a weight of start/current/goal in their profile. And quite a few of them have a diary section where people either journal in general or put what they are eating. Anyhow weight doesn't matter, and I don't know anywhere that puts regular blood work up.
So that would mean that what I do here at my menus blog posting my menus consistently on a daily basis with regular updates is pretty unique in the diet and health blogging world, right? That's all I was saying.
Pass, I don't read that many blogs or forums. I have just seen them about. They are out there, if you have nothing better to do with your time than read someones list of food each day. Most are very dull, some do have a car crash syndrome about them.
@didirina:
That Obesity Myth link was interesting. I believe the research supporting the conclusion that being overweight in and of itself does not shorten lifespan. The linked page quoted from many sources. I wonder how obesity was determined in the various studies. If BMI was used, then we know that BMI is not a good indicator of body fat percentage. A fit, obese person is probably more muscular than fat. Do you have links to any studies comparing health and longevity of fit people who are of normal weight, overweight, and obese? I'm also interested in any studies comparing the fitness levels of people who are of normal weight, overweight, and obese, i.e., how likely is that a person of normal weight is fit versus a person who is overweight or obese? Carrying around extra weight isn't the death sentence that the media makes it out to be, but it would make vigorous physical activity more challenging.
Fit is more important than fat:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/329/7467/644-b?ecoll=
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/298/21/2507
Now are we going to start a debate on what being fit means? Those two articles used levels of activity/max exercise tests.
I think you can be overweight and fit just as you can be healthy and fit. But obviously the higher your weight, the more susceptible you are to being unfit and unhealthy.
@Didirina:
I wasn't questioning whether fit was more important than fat. I was wondering whether some of the "fat yet fit" people in these studies were classified as fat according to BMI, which does not distinguish muscle and fat. I checked out the two links. The first does not allow full-text reading for non-members, so I wasn't able to see how people were classified by weight. The second listed BMI, waist circumference, and fat percentage as the means of classifying. The second study concluded that fitness is the primary indicator of longevity but that waist circumference also predicted mortality.
@Amber:
I wasn't questioning the definition of fitness but of fatness, i.e., how were participants in the studies determined to be of normal weight, overweight, or obese.
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