Xcellent summation Book Guy you nailed em all right on the head...

I've been inspired and am doing better in the excercise / diet department..

Thanks to all who've contributed.. It makes it a lot easier when you feel like your part of a group than going it alone..

A lot of it is just remembering to eat right & excercise. Once you fall off the wagon (program) it's hard to get back on and slouching sets in..

So we don't have to make pigs of ourselves this holiday season, eating candy from every stop we make.. Just say no & remember the goal..

My neighbor just gave me a bunch of Xmas candy which I plan to take to TJ and give away.. They will enjoy & appreciate it much more than I (and my tight pants)..

It has been revealed and proven in recent supreme court cases that the FDA is nothing more than a gestapo/enforcemeent agent in colusion with the drug companies.

The result no change.

One of my best decisions in terms of weight loss was to make exercise an integral part of my day. I live in north SD County and work in Irvine, so I started taking the Metrolink train from Oceanside up to Irvine, and then biking 10 miles (each way) to my office.

I coupled that with eating more reasonably. Breakfast was not stopping on the drive to work for an Egg McMuffin or a Sausage Croissant, but instead eating an energy bar on the train for the bike ride in, and toting some yogurt and fruit in to eat at my desk. I got one of those lunch bags that velcros onto my backpack, and promised myself that what could fit in that bag would be my breakfast and lunch for the day. Yogurt, carrot sticks & other veggies, fruits, a sandwich for midday when I need to get away from my desk for a while.

I spread out my eating into several smaller portions over the course of the day (I had heard that the ideal size of "one meal" is what would fit in your hands cupped into a bowl.) Dinner was no longer a stop at Del Taco or Jack in the Box, but a quick salad thrown together from those "salad in a bag" packages, or ramen mixed with canned tuna or chicken.

End result -- I comfortably dropped 20 pounds in 4 months, and actually feel like I've got more energy, stamina, and health. And in terms of time, I only added an additional hour to my commute each way, which I make good use of on the train by studying spanish or reading a book instead of having to pay attention to traffic! Overall, there's almost no net loss of "productive time" in the day.

I've started driving again now that the weather is too damn cold in the mornings, but I really do feel guilty about it! I am planning to get some warmer biking clothes in the new year and start up again. Great thing is, my weight hasn't ballooned up now that I stopped biking; it's still plateaued at the same level it was when I stopped. Which proved to me, at any rate, that if you lose weight by diet and exercise instead of just diet, you're more likely to KEEP it off! Especially since I have maintained my eating habits since I've stopped biking. I think the folks at the local fast food restaurants are wondering what happened to their monthly profit statements!

Oh, and additional bonuses for biking and taking the train to work -- no more sitting in traffic jams, less pollution in the air, less wear on your car (and it's estimated that if everyone in the country commuted to work by train or bike 3 days a week, we would eliminate our dependence on foreign oil). In many areas there are also sponsorships by local organisations or governments that give you kudos for not driving to work -- I get mailings from the "San Diego Clean Air Club" that give me discounts at various local merchants, all for using my car less!

^C

Wow! Pick a good topic and everybody comes together. After reading this posts it is obvious that our bodies react differently to different diets.

Over the past year, I have gain about 15lbs. eventhough I started going back to the gym. My down fall is carbohydrates, PINCHE PAN DULCE. And a combination of weight-lifting instead of focusing on the cardio workout.

My brother in-law was about 20#'s heavier than me, and has never pick up a pair of workout shoes in his life, but now he is 35lbs lighter than me. This guy drinks two gallons of water a day, and eats as much as he wants. I am not much of a water drinker, but I think is time i start drinking water.

Cityog,
" Over the past year, I have gained about 15lb."
I think thats an understatement. You mean more like 35 pounds.

Valentino

Once again refer to sites that discuss ayurvedic body types and the corresponding diets, really
its quite scientific and been around longer than anything else 5000 years give or take.

Hard to believe, it may be, but, people actually pay me to lay out personalized diet and nutrition on a daily basis.

Found this fabulous page of general know-it-all info on health and fitness. It's from the weight-loss perspective but has all aspects of lifestyle worked in together with scientific specifics -- diet, varieties of anaerobic exercise, goal-setting, aerobics, the adenosine trap, glycogenic nutrients, metabolism rates, blah blah blah. (I note, Mr. Dazed, that it does not mention ayurvedic body types, so I'd like your comments on this page in specific ... maybe you could supplement it with a link to a small page or paragraph on that topic?)

Anyway, here it is:

http://www.hussman.com/eas/

It's based on the "Body for Life" commercial program, but is not dependent on it, and does not in any way require money. It's all free info from an M.D.

Look who's talking! Pinche GORDA!

Dazed, you never answered the last question I put to you, but I'll try a new one. Any specific sites you recommend? I studied up a little on ayurvedic medicine about ten years ago, but that was well before my Internet days, obviously.

CityOG and Valentino you fucking animals! If you spent half as much time pounding chicas as you did pounding tequilla, you'd be LEAN MEAN PORKING MACHINES.

As you know, I dropped about thirty pounds last year. My greatest comliment was Tanya asking me "Deed yor deek get beeger?!?!"

Hippie,

Sorry I missed your last question. What was it?
As far as individual sites go I can't say. I haven't surfed them in a while.

It will take a little research but it shouldn't be to bad. Try typing in ayurvedic body types or ayurvedic doshas. Ther eare too many sites to mention these days.

Let me know what you come up with. Good luck.

My previous question was: How would Chromium picolinate interact with a low carbohydrate diet, where the main goal is already to regulate insulin production? I have mild hypoglycemia, so I am particularly interested.

It's been mentioned, but I'll repeat to stress it.

Most of what I've read says drinking lots of water is a key part of losing weight.

I know I've had the best results when I cut off all the soda and juice and just drank water.

Hippie,

CP is a fine compliment to a low card diet,200 mcgs per day. It regulates the activity of the Islet of Langerhans in the pancrease and gradualy aids to add lean muscle mass.

Body builders use very high dosages but there is the possibility of toxicity.

I prescribe it for some of my patients and some have been able to reduce their insulin
or glocophage intake substantially.

I've had a couple of are cases where patients were able to stop taking insulin regulating drugs.

If you have hypogycemia to any degree it's a must.
It's inexpesive and I reccomend Trader Joe's or Henry's. If you have hypoglycemia and high lipids
chromium nicotiate ( bound to niacin is better), same dose. Hope that helps... Happy Holidays!!!

Hey, nobody has mentioned the SUBWAY diet, hehehe.. What was it? 2 6" sandwiches a day and excercise... Add lot's of water and BAM!

No gut? Do we get our money back from SUBWAY if it doesn't work?

Just kidding.. Truth is though, they do have some low fat, low cal sandwiches when compared to burgers at the other fast food places.. Only thing is all the bread racks up the carbs..

From what little I saw of the Subway diet, it is just your basic, reasonably balanced low fat diet with a merchandising twist. No reason it should not work for most people. A low carb diet works better for me, for both general health and weight loss. However, the last time I got really overweight, in 1990, I lost 53 pounds in less than 6 months on a very low fat diet with very limited exercise due to working 60 - 85 hours a week. If I would stay on my low carb diet as well as I stayed on that one, I could lose the same amount of weight in under three months, based on the results I have seen so far.

Well guys, I know I'm going to get hammered but it works for me. I am 5'7 about 170 and in pretty good shape for an ole man of 50. Wanted to get down to about 155. Started on Me Trim Night which claims to be better than Body Solutions.

Started November 19 at 170.5 lbs. Faithfully taken "Me Trim Night" everyday since then. Haven't eaten anything 3 hours before sleep.

Today got on scale and was 162. This is even before I've taken a shit.

I don't know if its the not eating 3 hours before sleep cause i normally don't but what the fuck...i am 8 lbs lighter and need to lose another 5 more.

if interested on where to order let me know.

Ok guys you can start hammering me.

Pecs

Question:are you really concerned about the weight/pounds...or were you more interested in losing some size/inches (maybe around the waist)?

Pecs,

Elementry old boy, you are full of shit...LOL
Sorry I couldn't resist. Happy Holidays!!!

Pecs, what is your new email address? Or, is there a net address where we can check out the ingredients of "Me Trim Night"?

Does this mean I wouldn't be able to eat my usual large bowl of "cookies n cream" just before bedtime? (just kidding)

Bigbadbldwolf, for myself, I'm only needing to lose a couple of inches around the waist.. At the same time I could add some size in the shoulders & arms, weight could remain the same or even increase up to 10 lbs..

Why do you ask?

Hey Dazed
Fuck you...I knew there had to someone to nail me...and ur right it was probably shit... lol

I bought it at www.tmiller.com

I am buffed out enough and wanted to lose fat and weight...so i would look more cut. Starting to show more cut now

Regarding the act of drinking lots of water:

I think this works in multiple ways. The average North American spends his life marginally dehydrated, so stoking up on water is just a good thing for your body in the first place. Also, it helps to fill up your stomach in a quick cheap easy calorie-free no-carb manner -- kind of like eating styrofoam packing peanuts to kill the hunger pangs. Also, it helps prevent you from drinking sugary sodas, juices, or alcohol, which are two of the body's three fuels (carbo/protein/alcohol, the only things a human can burn; cows can burn cellulose) and hence two of the body's three sources of fuel-storage (aka fat), so if you're used to drinking lots of water you tend to stop drinking lots of bad stuff. I think water works as much because of what it replaces, as because of what it actually does. Which is, to transport electrolytes to muscles, transport impurities to the kidneys, thin the blood, etc. etc.. Water's useful to a body, of course ... and "more water" added to the average North American diet has many "logistical" as well as biological benefits.

Another point: journal!

I suspect the biggest hurdle to losing weight for most Club Hombre people will be alcohol ... probably in binge form ... but that's an obvious thing. You know when you're breaking your regimen if you do it. The next biggest hurdle, will be when you DON'T know you're breaking your regimen, because you don't know what you're really doing. So, keep a journal.

Nearly every study of failed weight-loss programs demonstrated in some way or other that people guess wrong by radical degrees. One thing I saw somewhere, said that the average North American overestimates the amount he exercised today by 45%, and underestimates the amount he ate today by 51%. That's fully HALF your exercise and eating: too little of the wrong one, too much of the wrong one. Wow, HALF!

So, to beat this problem, write down what you eat. Write down what kind of workout you did. If you go to the weight room, write down how many reps on what exercises at what weight; etc. etc.. You probably won't need to refer to these journals very often -- just yesterday's entry, to compare to tomorrow's plan -- but it will keep ya honest. They'll sit there, little scrawled messages to yourself that you can forget about. It's nice to have things "down pat" rather than roaming around in your head somewhere, too. And of course, write down your accomplishments -- belt size, new max for bench press, morning weight each Saturday, whatever.

My favorite form of journal, is to take a checkbook register and a checkbook-cover (free! from your bank) and use it vertically rather than horizontally. I have a green one for food and a black one for workouts, and sometimes I tuck two journals (two registers) inside one cover. (Oo-ee radical hunh?) Then, in my daytimer, I write down something like "worked out; see black checkbook; good abs, weak on pecs today, gotta do run tomorrow" and "too much pasta, but it was good; see green checkbook", at the end of the day. Also, "Didn't meet any hot chicks today." But that's a different issue.

Book Guy, sounds like you've got a good disciplined "inner coach".. I agree about the water and documentation, though I document in my mind when it comes to excercise and food. Maybe I do fudge a bit ;o)

I just write down NHCAT.

Every day (or so it seems).

(No Hot Chicks Again Today)



The journal has helped me a lot, but I do just the bare bones, and use it mostly to track what I eat.

No shit guys.

While you're losing your gut. Lie on your back. Put your arms down straight down your sides so that your palms are resting down along side your hips. Then stick your thumbs underneath your ass cheeks (this will keep your hips in place while you do the excersise).

Now keep your ankles and knees together. Keep your legs straight and lift your feet above your gut as many times as you can (until it REALLY hurts!). Count how many times you can do it. Then rest and repeat.

Add five reps every other day.

Your lower pelvic muscles will strengthen AND CONTRACT! This adds INCHES TO YOUR DICK! No shit! You also have greater strength and stamina for the really wild nooky we really want.

Most of you think I'm full of shit. But a few of you know I speak the truth.

Well since I've already had the hernias repaired on both sides, what have I got to lose (but the gut).. hehehe

No shit, if anyone has a genetic weakness in that area.. Well let's just say it's a good test to see if you are prone to certain types of hernias...

Another one I like is laying on the back knees in the air moving as if you are peddleing a bike.. At the same time do very short crunches so you feel the abs.. Heard somewhere this was one of the best ab excercises..

An ab crunch related to AG's that might prove simpler to get started with is:

Lie on your back, place the lower legs on a bench or chair, so that they are parralel to the floor. Now do slow ab crunches. Focus on raising the upper body without tensing the neck region. I touch the fingers to the temples, in order to keep the arms out of it. Try and bring your chest as far forward as possible without bending the neck. Keep the upper body in one plane. After a few weeks, add in never returning the upper body completely to the floor. Stop mms short.

Regular old situps on an inclined plane have been a part of my daily schedule for years. I grew into that one. Be careful with the neck.

While we are at it, we neeed to do something about the obliques so that they form well with these washboard abs. Turning excersices work well here. Careful with the knees. The machines in the gym where you turn the upper body work best IMNSHO.

Regarding water as "filling the stomach" -- recent studies showed that water itself won't do that. But water along with food will fill up more than the same amount of food alone.

Specifically, the study found that a given amount of food would not fill a person up as much as if you replaced half the food with water.

So soup is good for filling your stomach!

^C

Water is also especially important on a low carb diet for flushing your system out and preventing kidney damage.

Shadow, what if we thaink you speak the truth AND you are full of shit? ;^)

AG, I had a hernia operation maybe 5 years ago. Never ever again. For two days afterwards I was in utter pain beyond belief every time I moved my stomach muscles which turned out to be pretty much any time I moved. The pain pills I got didn't do squat. Peeing was excruciating because it hurt so much to squeeze.

The real kicker was three days later when I noticed that my balls were touching my knees and they were jet black and blue. My dick swelled up and looked like a rotting saugage. I freaked out big time and inched my way (screaming constantly) to the phone and called the doctor. The nurse cracked up and starting laughing. Her comment was that what I had was normal (thanks for not telling me beforehand) and that they had done some major yanking around with me while I was knocked out.

My only comment was that the hernia was off to the side of my dick and what exactly were they yanking on then?

Regular sit ups are a pretty boring exercise ... even incline sit ups. Once you have been doing them for a month or so you can do 100's if you so choose. I suppose they are good for cardio.

If you want to step to the next level you should do sit-ups Superman style .... hang upside down from your chin-up bar and curl all the way up, using your stomach muscles and not the thighs. Two sets of 12 is all you need to rip your stomach ... rock-hard stomach muscles benefit the rest of your body as well ... especially in stabilizing your back ... which is important when doing curls ... etc., etc. Core body strength begins with a strong back and stomach.

-Superman-

Hippie, My Bro!

"Shadow, what if we thaink you speak the truth AND you are full of shit? ;^)"

How about a celebratey indorsement? Tanya was sure my dick grew!

Gitano - It's true that the crunches you describe are probably better for one's overall appearance and health. I do them all the time along with several others. But the leg lifts cinch up the specific muscles that can get loose and "cover up" a good chunk of your dick. And it's that last inch that makes 'em squeel!

Altogirongo's bicycle is the best overall excersise, if your just going to do one for the gut. The slower and lower to the floor the better here.

I've got to try Superman Style sit ups.

Shadow,

...While you're losing your gut. Lie on your back. Put your arms down straight down your sides so that your palms are resting down along side
your hips. Then stick your thumbs underneath your ass cheeks (this will keep your hips in place while you do the excersise)......

Question, palms flat on the floor? I'd like to add these into my exercise program, but I'm not quite sure of the position.

Hey, anything that will add inches to my already incredibly large member is certainly worth a try. LOL

Actually, being in the process of losing ALOT of weight, it's amazing but true, your dick does get longer due to losing the fat in your lower pelvic region. This layer of fat does seem to hide some of the length of your member. Anything that may target this area should help.

My Doctor told me that for every 30 pounds I lost I would gain an inch in length.

I figure by the time I lose all the weight I want to it'll be dragging on the floor....

Yeah, maybe you should ask your doctor why he wants you to have such a big dick ...

Seriously. Here's another situp-type exercise. I call 'em suck-tucks, and they're wonderful for posture and for lower-back ailments.

Lie down on your back, knees bent, feet up near to under yer butt, hands at yer side, standard pose.

Pull in your abdominal strap. Hard. Hold for an 8-count. Release. Repeat. Do some more.

When you pull on your abdominal strap muscles, make sure you're using the section of muscles way down low, just above your pelvic bone, and not the higher group up nearer the rib-cage. The lower you can get, the better. Suck inward, moving your navel towards your spine. If the muscles are sufficiently strong, you'll feel a relation to the muscles that rotate your pelvis forward (the dick-thrust we are all so enamored of) and also to the muscles that block the flow of urine. Try to do the sucking without any change in your breathing -- the diaphragm, which moves air in and out of your lungs, is NOT part of this exercise. Suck-tucks move a different muscle altogether, so if you find you have to exhale sharply or something like that, then you're doing it wrong.

The premise behind the suck-tuck is, that if your spine is like a stack of loose coins, then your strap is like the wrapper that keeps them together. Tight wrapper means tall straight column of coins; weak wrapper means coins all over the place. SUCK and TUCK and SUCK and ...

Billfromreading

"Question, palms flat on the floor?"

Yep, your thumbs right in front of your ball joints. This will pinpoint the muscles, but you've still got to WORK them! Lotsa reps!

I had an amazing experience with an "all pro" fav of mine a few months back. When she got into the full-on nasty cowgirl ride, I was able to come back with the hardened Brahma stride.

Thank God for conditioning!

Well we covered a lot of ground fast on this subject in 2001.. Perhaps there isn't much to add but I wanted to say that I appreciate all those contributing..

It has really helped me stick to the program knowing there are others out there putting out the effort to keep trim and stay healthy.. Of course like many of you, I fell off the wagon a few times over the holidays and feel like it's time to knuckle down and get back on the program..

So fellow soldiers, it's time for us to return to the battle of the gut.. The war may never end (without lipo suction, ;o) but it's up to each of us to keep our physical vehicles running smoothly and looking good. Most of us (without perfect gentics) do not have maintenance free bodies so...

If we can't just yank the spare tire off, we best start letting the air out of it, LOL!

Happy New Year soldiers!

By process of elimination, it looks like I'm going to be the Guinea pig for a weight loss attempt heeding this forum's advice as well as that from my Doctor, siding on his advice upon conflict (sorry guys).

I am 6'9'', and as a semi-pro football player I topped out at 335 lbs. in 1985 (I will be 36 this year). Like many athletes, when I got out of exercising like a freak daily, I kept the he-man diet and the results are definitive. Currently, I am at 310 fully clothed, looking stocky but well-built when clothed, but disappointing when not. My build is quite stocky, my normal eating habits are light in sweets, fruits and veggies, heavy in carbos and proteins. My metabolism is low.

According to the pros, my ideal weight is 211. I look at myself now and think "100 pounds off?" I'm giving myself a year with moderate & daily exercise, diet control and copius water consumption to see what body I have after 12 months.

After, I intend to keep reasonable exercise habits 5x/week and modify my diet to maintenance. I will use Atkins, with additional recipes from a Suzanne Somers' diet. I am supplementing my diet with a standard multivitamin, PS Chromium Picolinate, Glucosamine and MSN. Lastly, I am giving up fast food (normally 1x/day) and soda for the period. This is as complex as I can handle to stick with it.

The big "why" is, as many of you have aptly titled it, "the battle of the gut." The smaller "why"s include energy level and sexual stamina, not to mention the bonus of a longer dick (yay).

I am posting this here to serve as additional fire under my own oversized ass to just do it. My word is golden to those who know me, and holding my own feet to the fire will help my efforts. I need to pick myself up after a recent divorce and life standard change, and I am told exercise does wonders for depression. No, I am not taking any related medications.

I enjoy reading real-life success (and not so successful) accounts from people like you who are not "compensated for their endorsement." Keep up the good writing, gentlemen and fellow mongers.

good luck, i hope you hit your target weight sooner than you expect. I do wonder about the height/weight thing though - 6'9" 211 ??? i gotta figure the height was a misprint. I'd personally take 5'9" , maybe in my next life

as for "moderate 5x a week" exercise, that would put you in pretty rare company. 3x a week of cardio and weights seems to be enough to maintain a good physical state, 4x is probably ideal.

I have been on the ATKINS program since since January 1. I am 6'6" and was 310 lbs.

Since starting ATKINS, I have taken just a multi-vitamin supplement. It became apparent to me after 1 week, that I must have been a carb addict and that the impact of carbs on my body caused my energy level to be low.

My modification to the new ATKINS, was that after the induction period (2 weeks), I continued to watch carbs and calories (except protein which i let myself eat enough of to get full), however, I give myself one free day per week. I do not eat a lot of junk on that day, but if I want a piece of cake, I eat it.

Funny, how after 3 weeks of being on ATKINS, I began to crave protein, when I used to crave carbs.

I am down 20lbs in 1 month and from a 46 pant to a 44 pant. My goal is to get to a 38-40 pant. My energy levels are higher, I can go longer without food (though you do not need to on ATKINS if you follow the 6 hour schedule), and believe this is one program I can stay on forever. Love the protein part.

I have only recently introduced light aerobic. My research said I needed to get through induction first. Then move into aerobics. The only weight training I am doing is light weight high rep. I believe my large frame will do better with low carb, high aerobic, moderate high rep weight lifting. My food diet is very high protein and vegetables low in carb. Found a replacement for pasta - spaghetti squash - which was my downfall for years.

I had bulked up before lifting massive weights and actually got to 323.

Good luck on your program!

For those of you on the Atkins diet who would like to know more about the science behind a low carb diet, get the book "Protein Power" by Michael and Mary Eades. Also, make sure you are using the newest edition of Atkins' book. There are some newsgroups which specialize in low carb diet advice and motivation, as well, although I did not care for them. Beer is a real killer for a low carb diet, especially in TJ where it is really hard to find light beer. Good luck guys. The diet works really well, IF YOU STAY ON IT. I wish I had "discovered" TJ about 4 months later than I did. I was doing great on my diet, averaging a loss of 4 - 5 pounds a week, until I started going every week. And remember, drink lots of water on this diet. Kidney damage is no fun.

Atkins fitness bar, like many others, has a misleading label. Just heard it on CNN this morning, there's a new study out by some consumer advocacy group (I missed the website, sorry) that says, basically, lots of fitness bars exclude Glycerol (sp?) from their carbohydrate count despite the fact that the FDA suggests it be included. It is a sweet, highly combustible substance, but whether it's technically a carbo or not is a matter for scientists to debate. Nevertheless, it's high in calories, and as far as loose understanding of limiting your carbo's goes, you should avoid it. So it's all the more ironic that it's the Atkins bars which have an excess of it. Lots of fitness bars tested as "misleadingly labelled" according to the study, generally by really lowering their carbo counts. Anyone else get the web address, or more details?

I would be very interested in hearing more about this if anyone has more info. There is nothing on the CNN website about as of now.

I tried the Atkins diet for about 5 days a year ago. New Year Resolution 2001. Apparently I am one of the types that he discusses who must have a really screwed up glucose condition. To say I spent several hellish days would be an understandment.

I had huge breakfasts (ham and cheese omlettes) compared to my usual juice, milk, and toast. Lunch and dinner were scads of protein and a few measley vegtables. No breads of any kind. Not even my usual daily box of Wheat Thins. In fact my carbo intake was double what he wanted for the first level where you are suppose to force into action some word that I have forgotten but it begins with K. I just HAD to have some more vegies because the two spoonfuls weren't cutting it.

Well, all that happened was I went into hours and hours of feeling like I was on speed. Better yet, take every single symptom of hypoglycimia and triple it. Nervousness, tunnel vision, weird reactions to sound and light, and more nervousness. I lasted two days on this stage and called it quits. It wasn't that I was hungry per se. I just felt so fucked that I couldn't function.

Atkins says for the very few like me who might have a bit of a problem (haha) we can take vegetable gylcerine and some mineral supliments. Well, I was chugging the gylcerine (imagine very sweet and thick syrup) and popping the pills like they were going out of style. They would calm me down for about 30 minutes or so and then I was back to "wish I was dead cause I feel like I'm going crazy".

The day I called it quits I made a bunch of pasta with meat sauce along with a heaping pile of steamed vegies. Lots of parmesan cheese too. I felt so good afterwards. Better than sex cause the high lasted longer.

If I may go off on a tangent, there was an "investigative report" on a local LA station a few days ago examining the claims of "Body Solutions"...actually, I think the FDA and possibly other regulators are finally investigating the company's widespread BS.

Normally I wouldn't give too much credence to the original reporting of any local L.A. TV news outlet because the quality and sincerity borders on horrendous more often than not. But since they got an on-screen interview from the actual creator of Body Solutions, I figured it might mean something if he shot himself in the face. He did!

When they asked him about the research, he confirmed that HIS OWN studies demonstrated that 2 out of 28 test subjects lost up to 3 lbs per week using these products. The remainder had no success using Body Solutions. When the reporter incredulously repeated "2 out of 28" back to him, his response, "Well...almost 2"!

Some other studies cited indicated that long term use of Body Solutions used as advertised...without watching your diet or exercising, resulted in weight gains. Duh!

In the midst of the most techno conscious era ever, we are having a renaissance of snake oil salesmen...and apparently plenty of willing consumers.

Next week, those penis enlargement pills...Hey, are they available at the Farmacias yet?

And I'm close to perfecting an HIV vaccine that I'll make available at a very special discount to all Club Hombre members.

Tight Fit: the word is "ketosis." It means, you feel like you're on speed and you have tunnel vision and ... no, umm, sorry, heh; it means, you're burning fat instead of carbo's. You got into it; but your body didn't like it for OTHER reasons. That's too bad. I suspect the Atkins theory is right, about your personal type, and I'm willing to bet that some sports physician is just barely ahead of the curve somewhere in Scandinavia or something. They'll figger it out eventually.

For now, though, it's too bad for any plans for weight-loss you might have had via his methods. Knowledge would have been power, if the human race had had the knowledge. Heh.

Most people don't experience ketosis / change-over with such extreme side-effects. I am experiencing a bit of "hot face" symptoms, and expect some more, but can't actually distinguish it from the typical feelings of mild wind-burn after a day on the sailboat. I'll let ya know how it goes once I'm radically under-weigh in March. Until then, my schedule is so screwed up that I don't think I can try starting proprerly.

For what it is worth, I have mild hypoglycemia, but never experienced any problems on a low carb diet. As I have harped on here, I was very careful to drink a lot of water, which may ot may not have had anything to do with anything. My mom did have problems, describing the sensation as what she thought a drug addict must feel like. Her problem was cleared up by taking potassium supplements. I tried those as well, just as a preventative measure, but found no benefit.

Gentlemen,

What should a dieting monger do in the land of smiles? Those buffets have all the good (bad) stuff that are now off-limits within the framework of Atkins. Also, I'm not a big veggie eater.

Is the answer simply 1) make it hard on myself during my vacation or 2) just enjoy myself and start the diet upon return to USA? Help!!!