On Sun, 16 Jul 2000, matesz wrote:

> I respect Todd's views on things and have found many of his posts
> interesting; however, I doubt that his loss of 12 pounds in 1 week would be
> all or even mostly fat.  A lot of that could have been water, glycogen, etc.

I am inclined to agree, especially since my weight loss has since
slowed to a more normal level.

> It is common for people to lose 5-8 pounds in the first week of a low-carb
> diet.  It is possible that even with the potato and small amounts of fruit
> on the Anchell diet, that there was still a significant drop in carbs.  It
> is more likely that only a couple of pounds of that was actualfat.

The puzzling thing is that my diet prior to the Anchell diet was
already pretty low-carb.  I was not eating potatoes or rice,
after all, and I didn't eat much fruit either.  I did eat a lot
of salads, but you have to eat heroic amounts of salad stuff to
get the carb equivalent of a potato.  I used to eat plenty of
nuts, too, but they are also quite low-carb, when you subtract
out the fiber.

> I think Anchel's diet may work for so many people because it
> limits food selection drastically, cuts out salads (which people like to
> dress with oil), cuts out nuts (which are very calorie dense), and a lot of
> other foods.

I have wondered whether I am simply eating less, because meat
consumption tends to be self-limiting, and the non-meat foods are
sharply limited.  I seem to average about 12 ounces of meat per
meal, to feel satisfied.  That probably comes to about 2,500
calories from meat.  My calories from non-meat sources vary quite
a bit.  If I were just to have blueberries at all three meals,
that would only add another 180 calories or so.  Thow in a baked
potato with butter and that's another 300.

I think I'm coming in under 3,000 calories most days, but that
has been true all along.  On a typical Neanderthin day, when I
tried to track calories I was usually somewhere between 2,500 and
3,000, but I was slowly gaining weight.  True, I was eating nuts,
but I was consuming considerably less meat.  What remains to be
seen is whether substituting comparable (in terms of carbs and
calories) foods stops the weight loss, as Anchell insists.  I'm
betting it won't, but I haven't done the experiment yet.

> I don't recall whether it cuts out salt.

It doesn't.  Anchell gives that as an option for those who might
wish slightly quicker loss, precisely to shed a bit more water.

> But, a
> monotonous, bland diet can easily cut the amount of foods a typical person
> eats.

That may indeed be the trick of it.

Todd Moody
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