Puck’s Blog

Jess was ranting about Atkins on her blog and my comment became so long I decided to post it here instead.

As much as I agree that Atkins is a fad diet, and that you certainly cannot maintain it over long periods, tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people are successfully shedding a lot of weight on it, so there must be something to it.

Atkins is a “running-start” diet for the typical American fatty — they’re fat because they eat carbs constantly. Look at the typical American diet: Sugar, french fries, sugar, white bread, sugar, a bit of meat. What Atkins does is slap the fatty in the face and point out the major problem in their diet. No, not the only one, but the major one. And because it’s so strict with restricting the intake of it, it drives the point home, just as Body For Life drove home a good (but balanced) diet to me.

And it’s an easy diet for the fatty to go on.

Is Atkins perfect? Hell no. Everyone should do Body For Life because it’s healthier, works better, and can be sustained. But if the choice is between Atkins or some other ridiculous fad diet that *doesn’t* work (”shed pounds on the pickles and cola diet!”), I’ll gladly applaud anyone choosing Atkins to lose weight. But after you lose that weight and gain some discipline, I definitely recommend moving on to an even healthier lifestyle.

Today was our first day of upper body training. Though I’ve kept myself fairly active lately (compared to before my first BFL program anyway) I haven’t done a lot of resistance training. Wow, am I sore. I hope I can hold my hockey stick tomorrow.

Two years ago I started the Body For Life workout/diet program. I did it for the full twelve weeks and afterwards I kept up the good eating habits I’d learned and exercised when I could. I lost a total of 20 lbs and gained a lot of muscle mass, though I didn’t do any body-fat measurements before or after. Suffice to say it made a huge impact on me, and most definitely saved me from turning into a total fatass. Here’s my before and after:

I had been on a downward slide, and had never learned good nutrition and had very little discipline when it came to getting exercise.

So now, two years later I’m only a few pounds heavier than when I finished the program, but my belly is still too big, so I’m starting again. This time I’m joined by my wife and my friend Dave Schneider. Last night we went to the Chilliwack Landing Leisure Centre (Leisure! Hah!) and got our three month passes. I’ve got my own weight set and a good exercise bike, but they’re not up to par with the gym (and pool!) available there, and we’d have to take turns. With a definite place to go, and the three of us keeping the rest on track it should be easy to maintain.

Body For Life is an intense regimin of diet and exercise. You eat the equivalent of six small meals per day to train your body that it’ll get energy whenever it needs it (so it doesn’t store excess as fat) and work out intensely for short periods every day, alternating between cardiovascular and weight resistance training. So while you’re losing fat, you’re gaining muscle which in turn helps you burn more energy when you work out.

As with most changes, the first step is intimidating. I’m a big believer in “you know it’s what you have to do, just shut up and do it”, but that doesn’t make me any less anxious about the upcoming few weeks of workouts. The diet doesn’t bother me, as I’ve been eating right the last two years anyway, and feel guilty when I don’t. The workouts, however, will be causing pain in muscles I’d forgotten about, and that’s scary.

Screw fear. I’m doing it.