Phase II, Day 8

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Weight/Measurements:

Weight: 130 pounds
Bodyfat: 28.0%
Waist, holding in stomach like I normally do: 28 inches
Waist, letting it all hang out: 29
Waist around my belly button, holding in stomach like I normally do: 31.5
Waist around my belly button, letting it all hang out: 32.5
Hips: 37
Chest: 31
Bust: 37
Thighs: R22, L21

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Weight: 134 131 129 130
Bodyfat: 29% 29% 27% 28%
Waist, sucking in: 28.5 28.5 28.5 28
Waist, hanging out: 30 29.5 29 29
Belly, sucking in: 32 31.5 31.5 31.5
Belly, hanging out : 34 33.5 33 33.5
Hips: 38 37 37 37
Chest: 32 31 31 31
Bust: 38.5 38 37 37
Thighs: R22/L21 R22/L21 R21.5/L21 R22/L21

So my guess is that I lost a pound of fat (as my calories would indicate), but gained back those mystery two pounds I had lost in the first two weeks--meaning they were, in fact, water after all. This leaves me with a net "gain" of 1 fake pound. The measurements are more consistent with a one pound fat loss than a one pound gain; that is, a tiny shred off my waist. (Of course, I also added a shred to my belly, but I'm going with measurement error, probably from last week, on that one. Also, my right thigh is back to its freakish disproportion. How will I hold my head up in public?)

Over the course of three weeks, I have eaten about 26,000 calories. My maintenance calories for this time period, at a generous allowance of 14,000 calories a week (or 2000 a day) would have been 42,000 calories, leaving a deficit of about 16,000 calories. This translates to about 4.5 pounds of fat. It's also possible that I'm being too generous with the maintenance calories, and 1900 a day is more like it. If so, my loss should have been more like 4 pounds, not 4-and-a-half. Either way, this is pretty well reflected on my scale.

Why does Dr. Agatson, the author of the SBD, tell people they will lose 8-13 pounds in the first two weeks? It's true that some people, particularly obese people, might normally eat somewhere on the order of 3000 calories a day. A 200 pound woman, for instance, would need about 3000 calories a day just to maintain her weight. For them, the first two weeks of this diet, where they're eating about 1000-1200 calories a day (and I've seen dozens of people's Phase I daily menus that reflect just this), they will indeed lose 8 pounds. They will probably also lose about 5 pounds of water, if my experience is typical. At my body weight of about 134 pounds, I lost about 2-2.5 pounds of water. Someone double my body weight would likely lose double the water. Even someone much less heavy than that, but whose diet is largely comprised of carbs, will lose 5 pounds of water weight from the purging of glycogen from the tissues in the first two weeks on the diet. I'm sure this is where Dr. Agatson gets his 8-13 pound figure, a number he does not explain.

He then says that in Phase II of the diet, you will lose more like 1 to 2 pounds a week. Again, this is consistent with the calorie recommendations of the diet. Starting in Phase II, you are adding back in carbs, and calories. Instead of eating 1000 calories a day, an obese person will probably go back to eating 2000. (And again, this is consistent with the meal plans I see real people describing online). This means your weight loss, from calories alone, will drop to about 2 pounds a week (if you don't "cheat"): 1000 calories deficit a day = 7000 calories or 2 pounds of fat a week.

But what about all that water? As you add back in carbs, your body will start storing glycogen again. Dr. Agatson says that typically, people "plateau" in the first week or two of Phase II. This is real smoke-and-mirrors: you should be gaining back a couple of pounds of water as you add more carbs back in (like I did), but still be losing a couple of pounds of fat. Thus, what looks like a "plateau" is merely the water gain netting out the fat loss. So why describe it as a plateau? Because it enables him to tell people they can "lose" 13 pounds (implying, "of fat") in the first two weeks.

Is this a disservice to people? Yes and no. I saw one woman on one of the SBD boards I frequent who was ecstatic to have lost 10 pounds in a week, and then literally despondent when she quickly gained back 5. So despondent, in fact, that she went nuts with girl scout cookies, cried uncontrollably, and had to have her medications increased by her doctor. She is obviously an extreme example, but I read all the time about people on this diet who spazz out about "gaining" a pound or two. It can be extremely demotivating if you don't know it's just an illusion. I regularly read about these surprise gains leading people to food binges and depression.

On the other hand, this diet is a very good, healthy way of eating. It *does* result in weight loss, slowly, but the loss is impressively painless. How many people would never try it at all if Dr. Agatson marketed it by saying, "You will lose 1-2 pounds a week just like every other restricted calorie diet in the world, but I promise you you'll be healthier and not hungry and your cardiac profile will dramatically improve." It's not nearly as sexy. In fact, *I* would not have done it without the miracle promise of 8-13 pounds, even though I didn't believe it. But I thought, "Hey, what if? How bad can it be for two weeks, and what if a miracle occurs and I achieve my goal weight in just that short time period?" The payoff was worth the low odds of it actually occurring, and in the meantime, I learned through doing that unlike with other restricted calorie diets, I could easily maintain this one for the full two months or so that it will take to lose my 15 pounds.

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Breakfast: 1/2 multigrain bagel with almond butter

Snack: cucumber slices with black-eyed pea spread

Lunch: Gardenburger flame-grilled hamburger patty (better than the other kind I was eating!) on 1/2 multigrain bagel, with veganaisse and hot mustard

Afternoon snack: 1/2 c hot coffee; field green salad with cucumbers, red and yellow bell peppers, hemp oil and balsamic vinegar

Dinner: 3 oz Thai smoked tofu from Trader Joe's; 6 papadum; V-8

Exercise: none

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My skin has been so dry lately, that I've decided to start adding in vegan sources of Omega-3 fatty acids, after someone on an SBD board I visit reminded me that they are very good for the skin. There are basically two vegan sources: flax seed, and hemp seed. The flax seed oil is richer in Omega-3s than hemp, but isn't as tasty. I figure I'll use the hemp oil in place of olive oil wherever I can, and add ground flax meal wherever I think I can get away with not actually tasting it. I wonder if my skin is dry because of *this* diet, or would it be dry for *any* diet? I don't diet all that often, so I can't remember if this is a feature of reducing calories generally. Of course, it could also just be the radiators, but I don't really think so. I'm pretty sure the timing of the problem tracks to my starting the SBD. I was moved to do something about it when my boyfriend said something about it while touching the skin on my back. Gack!