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[fischy]

July 24, 2010 - Day 4
272lb - Goal is 180
5'10"
43yo
Male
4T Bertolli ELOO (at wake and mid-afternoon)

I have been husky for most of my life.  For the last five years I have been downright fat.  Read the book (Found the site and browsed the forums before I bought the book from Amazon along with the ELOO) and started the plan a few days ago.  I did 1T the first day and didn't notice much.  Second day I did 1T twice, morning and night and didn't notice much (other than some bowel issues that were forewarned in the book).  Decided to jump to 4T all at once the next day and was ravenously hungry by late afternoon.  I pigged out all day long and was craving sweets.  Also, the big glob of oil in my gut wasn't a good feeling.  I began to doubt the plan but I remembered some of the anecdotes and figured I'll give it a month.

Day 4, today, I did 2T in the morning and had a banana for breakfast (90min later) went to lunch with some friends at a place where you prepare your own plate of meat and veggies and the cooks grill it for you.  We all prepared veritable mountains of food and even had a contest about who could pile the most food onto their plate. 

I enjoyed every delicious bite as I chatted with my lunch companions.  Then something weird happened.  In my head I thought I had cleared my plate but when I looked down it was barely half eaten.  I stared at my fork for a few seconds debating in my head whether to put it in my mouth.  I looked at my friends.  They weren't fat like me but they were clearing their plates. Their hunger wasn't satiated.   I put down my fork and asked for a container. 

About 3hrs later I took another 2T of ELOO.  That was 3 hours ago.  Here I am, 6 hours after asking for a doggy bag, feeling very full with ZERO desire to polish off my lunch.  If I hadn't read the book, I would almost think I was sick because this has never happened to me.

I am ready for this adventure.

[karky]

Welcome
and good luck!

[Sanchiaza]

Welcome 

Awesome boards, lots of support here, I have no doubt you'll reach your goal 

[goblyn]

Welcome, glad to hear you're getting good AS already.  I think its great that you found out that too much oil can be just as bad for AS as too little oil.

[fischy]

I'm about 2.5 months in, and 23lbs down, and wanted to give an update!

249lb - Goal is 180
5'10"
43yo
Male
4T Bertolli ELOO (at wake and mid-afternoon)

1) Food tastes much better to me. 
    a) Vegetables are really enjoyable instead of a necessary evil to be covered up with dressing. 
        I have been actively avoiding dressing for over a month now.  The thought of putting
        dressing on a salad is actually turning my stomach.
    b) Strong smells like pizza, baking bread or cooking meat are attractive but I don't feel
        compelled to eat them.
    c) I am usually satisfied with a taste rather than a helping, but not always.  On family pizza
        night I can have a slice or two, as opposed to half.
    d) Heavy sauces, particularly cream-based, are much too strong for me.
    e) Soups are wonderful.
    f) As a former Atkins dieter I had a proclivity for butter and creams.  Not anymore.

2) I was never much for fast foods, but I have zero desire now.

3) I have been also adhering to a goal of an daily average net calorie intake of between -1500 to -2000.
     a) Eating far more raw/naked vegetables and fruits
     b) avoiding dairy in general - not too difficult
     c) avoiding daily meat intake - much easier than I expected
     d) light to moderate exercise - this is normal for me

4) Taking oil after eating provides much more AS than prior.

5) I project that I will be in the 220lb range by EOY.  It's been almost 15 years since I was that thin.

6) I seem to require much more water than before.  I wonder if I'm dehydrated as a side effect?
    a) Does my body require add'l water intake to process the fats of the oil?
    b) I sweat considerably less than before.  Even when I weighed less I would sweat much more than now.
    c) I'm often finding a dry mouth.

7) I have eczema and find that outbreaks are less destructive to my skin and clear up quickly with
    minimal steroidal cream.

Certainly the reduced calorie intake is the reason for the weight loss BUT I was only able to achieve that ratio with Shangri La.  To maintain my weight I used to work out like crazy but I also consumed a tremendous amount of calories.  I now exercise for relaxation and eat sensibly.  I don't think I could have gotten here without Shangri La.

[TalkingRat]

Fischy,  you are doing very well!  Keep up the good work!   

I was more thirsty when I was getting used to digesting the oil, but it didn't last long.  But whenever I start losing weight at a faster pace than usual, I want more water.  I think the water helps flush out fat. 

[fischy]

@Talking Rat - And the water definitely helps the process along. I'm finding that I lose more weight on days when I drink an adequate amount of water.  Maybe that's another factor to consider with SLD?

[goblyn]

YES!  Drinking lots of water helps with weight loss with SLD.  Whenever I drink lots of water during the day I usually lose for some reason!

[karky]

Whenever I am very thirsty and drink a lot during the day, that tells me a loss is coming.

[fischy]

I'm at 3 months and am at 241, down over 31lbs.  Much of what I wrote previously is holding true.  I still am getting very thirsty, eating raw veggies and fruits, sticking to <2000 daily net calories and feeling much better overall.  I do have some additional observations...

I'm using fatsecret.com to track all my stats.  Love their android app and it has made calorie counting super easy.

I seem to be having irregular bowel movements.  I'm not really feeling constipated but just not pooping.  Maybe every 2-3 days?  Considering how much fiber I am taking in it's a little weird.  When I do BM it's not labored or painful.  I'm not sure what to make of this situation.  I have seen a few other SLD folks having a similar situation.

My sleep apnea is doing better and had the PSI reduced on my CPAP.  I know this is a lifelong problem but it was nice to see some improvement.

My wife is on board with SLD and is down 7lbs so far.

[shovelqueen]

If you're not having hard, difficult to pass stools, it doesn't count as constipation, just less frequent movements.  If your total food volume is less, it stands to reason that it takes longer to fill the rectum with food waste, to the point where "move me" signals are stimulated.  My daily habit became a little less frequent too when my food intake was low enough for weight loss.  It's an entirely different feeling than what I get when I've eaten too much white bread and am actually experiencing "constipation".

And congrats on the 31 lbs.  That's awesome!!

[goblyn]

Yeah, I distinctly recall being quite put off when I stopped going as frequently as I seemed to think I should be once I really got into the swing of things with weight loss....

[fischy]

So I think I might have figured this out.  Somewhat coincidentally, as in I did it in alignment with an overall health plan and not specifically tied to weight loss, I stopped drinking my daily fix of breakfast tea, which is fairly high in caffeine.  With my new weight loss my BP is under much better control so I decided to bring back my daily bit o' heaven.  Lo and behold I am now having regular BM.

I'm losing weight, feeling good and downright perky!

As an add'l note Mrs. Fischy has dropped 10lbs in about 6wks and is really getting in the swing of SLD.

[TalkingRat]

Congratulations for finding the solution, Fischy.   And to Mrs. Fischy for her success, too.   

I am happy I didn't have to give up caffeine. 

When I had the stopped up effect, I used to have an SLD dose of hot sugarwater, using 2T sugar.  That gets a sluggish colon moving, very mild effect.  But I think you will be happier with your tea, lol.