The Diet - a Mid-way report

Its almost 3 months since my last post here and I thought it would be a good idea to update my periodic readers on progress regarding resolving my SAD/Seasonal Affective Disorder/Depession or call it what you will.

I mentioned in my last post that I was doing the low carbohydrate Atkins Diet, the reason being that (a) I have been overweight for some time and it had been getting worse (b) the doctor had detected high blood sugar levels and was making warning noises about diabetes and losing weight, and (c) I recalled that the last time I lost a significant amount of weight using Atkins my so-called depression vanished. So I am kind of wondering if by losing weight again I can shed myself of the depression and sleep-disorder problem again. If it works I will aim to keep my weight and blood sugar levels under control.

Well I started this diet in September at which time I tipped the scales at about 96 kilos (211 pounds for my North American readers or just over 15 stone if you are from the British Isles). As a male of 5ft 10ins my NORMAL weight range according to the Met Life tables should be between 158 and 180 pounds. If I take somewhere in the mid-point as my target, I should be aiming for about 172 pounds / 78 Kilos / or about 12 stone 4 lb. I believe that in 2001 when I had my wonder year (no problems and very good mental fitness, my weight had dropped to within a few pounds of this target. So now I am really keen to get back to this level again.

Just before Christmas I stopped the Atkins diet for a couple of weeks because I just new that I would not enjoy Christmas without all my favourite foods. That cost me 2 weeks off the diet and another 2 weeks to get back into ketosis., so about 4 weeks in total.. but I think it was worth it. I needed to have some dietary variety again.

Here is the result



09/2005 96 Kg (= 211 pounds or 15 stone 1 pound)

12/2005 89 Kg (= 196 pounds or 14 stone exactly)

02/2006 86 Kg (= 189 pounds or 13 and a half stone)

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Lost so far 10 Kg (= 22 pounds)
still to lose 8 Kg (= 17 pounds)

which I am really pleased about because I am more than half-way there. What is more, this winter I have mostly avoided the deep depression that I fell into last winter (which lasted about a month). I have noticed that my skin condition stayed mostly good (although the yeast infection on my eyebrows returned during the Christmas period when I stopped the diet). But all in all, it has gone very well. I am already out of the ´gigantic sizes of jeans that I had to buy a couple of years back and am into some better fitting ones. I will even have to buy some new belts soon because the old ones are now too big.

I did get my body-clock completely screwed up after sitting up until almost 6am with friends on Christmas Day. That was a really stupid thing to do because I knew that getting the right sleep rhythm back was going to be dificult.

The worst thing is that when I get home from my course I usually eat at about 4 or 5 pm. Within an hour or two the food has gone from my gut and is starting to hit my bloodstream. I know this because I get really sleepy, and if I am not careful, I will sleep for a good 1 or 2 hours. When I wake up I feel a surge running through my veins which I take to be a hormone of some kind kicking in (Adrenalin? Cortisone?). Its a weird feeling...like a tingling sensation and I can feel it travel through my body from top to bottom. After this surge I get me mental peak. Anyhow, I realize now that my body realizes that it is running on a low energy input right now and it takes an instant decision what to do with the energy that I have just consumed. It is trying to save it and so sends me to sleep, perhaps for just as long as to tuck away that energy somehow. I figure that saving energy requires you not to be spending it. To counter this, I now try to do some moderate exercise after eating. A brisk walk is enough, or a gentle swim and sauna session will get the heart pumping.

I reckon the remaining weight will take another 6 months to lose. It is bound to be harder to lose as I get close to target. I will try and do some more gym work. Before Christmas I was regularly swimming 1000 metres evey other day and I think that helped a lot. I also bought some Nordic walking poles which are also really good for exercise and are immensely popular here in Finland.

If as I lose the remaining weight I notice my metabolism and mental condition improving I think I will find that to be convincing evidence that my over-weight condition and the depression/SAD are somehow linked. And if not, well losing that spare tyre (or what seemed more like an air-bag!) under my shirt cannot be a bad thing. And if I am right, I will be kicking myself that I did not solve my weight problem much sooner.