So here’s my 6 months review:

• It works!
• Weight loss to date is 12.5kg / 27 pounds
• My cholesterol is sky high! (7.7)
• My waist measurement is 104cm (<94cm is optimal)

Mentally my outlook has drastically changed.  At my age (36) and height (6’2″) I should be aiming for about 90kg.  Never before have I felt so confident that I will hit that.

Physically I have so much more energy.  Not in the “I’m going to go to the gym for the 9th time this week”.  It is more in the little things.  For example, I used to leave the dirty dishes in the sink and clean them the next day.  Now I see it has something that I can do in 5 minutes.

The only downside I’ve found is sugar.  I’ve been following Season 2 of Masterchef.  Some of the deserts look fantastic!  But from a weight loss point of view they are very expensive!

Take for example a Neenish Tart.  I would often have one of these with a coffee (~ 1 per week).  Now I know they aren’t good for you and that I shouldn’t have them, but just how bad are they?

(I’m not going to promote one low carb vs another.  I had great results with Michael Eades’, your results may vary).  The Wikipedia article couldn’t clearly define what is and isn’t low carbs.  So for arguments sake, lets say you are eating 20 – 30 grams per day.

What is in a Neenish Tart?

In my experience, going off the rails like this isn’t the end of the world, but it can be a setback.

What’s your experience been like?

At the moment, I’ve lost a little over 8 kg / 17 pounds – my results are totally unexpected and I honestly can’t tell you how excited I am!

So I’ve been following the Michael Eades vs Anthony Colpo “smack down” (as he likes to call it).

My science is weak, so I have difficulty understanding either. But a few points jumped out:
Take advantage of the situation
(Playing devil’s advocate here) Let’s say Eades’ is wrong, Colpo is right. Anthony has a great opportunity to increase his readership (since Eades’ readers will visit his site), sell some books etc. etc.

Anthony’s opening salvo:

Note: This article contains strong language. Please close this page immediately if you are a minor or easily offended

What??? Immediately I am on edge. Not because I get easily offended, but because it is not necessary. I don’t know why Low Carb works (but it does work for me!) First thing I see is a warning. Anthony if you really are right, and Eade’s is wrong, why do you need to use strong language. The only thing I am looking for is strong science!

-1 to Anthony

Leave out the emotion
Anthony’s next sentence:

Poor Dr. Michael Eades. He’s a hyperbolic book author with an overblown ego and a penchant for belittling others, but when I gave him a taste of his own medicine a couple of years ago, he was rattled to his core.

What?? Where’s the science? Where is Eade’s wrong?

If you really believe you are right and have you think you have the evidence to back yourself, then you don’t need emotion. Your facts will speak for themselves.

Be specific
Next paragraph:

Up until mid-2008, Eades had made a habit of regularly attacking me with a pathetic mix of defamatory lies and easily disrobed references to ‘science’. But after the online whipping I gave him here

Really? Where’s the link(s) Anthony??? A “pathetic mix of defamtory lies and easily disrobed references to science” If it is that obvious, then show me!

The only thing obvious to me: -1 Anthony

If you are going to quote, then quote!
I quite like this one:

Eades writes:

“Even AC agrees – based on the literature – that low-carb diets result in less lean muscle loss and greater fat loss than low-fat, high-carb diets”

Utter rubbish.

I have stated ad nauseum that in numerous studies protein – not low-carb intakes but protein – causes a slight increase in muscle retention at the expense of fat.

Really? Ad nauseum? No link though Anthony. Not even one…
-1

Keep it short, keep it focused
Both fail on this one. I think it would be difficult for Eade’s to ignore Anthony, so he has to respond. But both just go on and on and on…

-1 Anthony. -1 Eade

Honestly, who cares?
“The Straight Facts, Whether You Like It Or Not” – is Anthony’s blog by-line. Obviously he can dish it out but he can’t take it.

[Update] I’ll add one more:

Allowing comments

To his credit, Eades’ allows comments on his blog.  He allows links to his article (including this one).  He also quickly responds to questions others have posted.

Anthony does not.

Why is this important?  Eades’ has both positive and negative comments on his article.  From the looks of it, Anthony is a one trick pony.  Nothing of real value to add

+1 Eades  -1 Anthony

Picking an online fight is funny when your 14.  But what’s the point?  I would be interested in a few facts:

• Anthony, how many subscribes do you have with your blog?
• How many did you gain / lose after this article?
• What was your daily traffic a week before and after the Eades’ response?

Anthony, if you are really into straight facts, then please answer the above.

A friend of mine reminded me of the quote:  Don’t pick a fight with a troll.  They will bring you down to their level and beat you on experience.

Reading his article, I don’t know how you could say Anthony isn’t a troll.

So all I can say is that Anthony, clean your act up!  You’re better than that and your readers certainly deserve it.

Rock on!

Here’s what I have learnt:

• Use good scales!  My old one was giving inconsistent results.  If you weigh yourself several times and get a different result, its time to buy some new ones!
• Reading the the 30 day low carb diet, one of the arguments against low carb is that you are loosing water (not fat), also last week I was getting some really odd results.  (I was consistently loosing about 200g per day, but there was a period where I gained half a kg).  So I started tracking my BMI.  I know BMI isn’t the best way to measure, but neither is just weight!  Also BMI allows me to get a much better idea of what is going on.
• If you are interested in the details, I have been tracking my results every day or so here.

Again, to say this is beyond my expectations is an understatement.  I still have the side effects (dry mouth and drinking a LOT of water) but if that’s the worst I have to put up with, then I am happy!

Now I’ve floated between 113.5 – 115 kg (250 – 253 pounds).  I added the 0.5 because it seemed an odd barrier.  (For what it’s worth, I’m 189 cm or 6’2″.)

Those of you with an NLP or similar background could say “the 250 pounds is your barrier!  What would it mean being 249?”  But I think you’re wrong.  Australia uses metric!  And my digital scales just would not go below 113.5!

I can honestly say I have tried it all!  I did Jenny Craig, Weight Watches, Light n’ Easy, no carb diet and just plain old gym work.

The funny thing was that (during the past 2 years in particular!) it wouldn’t matter what I did.  I could eat crap, I could eat good, but I just couldn’t go below 113.5

That was until I sent Missy an email!  She introduced me to Michael Eades and suggested I read Protein Power.

Personally, I wasn’t going to be convinced by the science.  (Not that I am a non believer, it’s just that you can twist science either way you like)

So show me either your own personal experience or I’ll look at your anecdotal evidence and we’ll go from there.  To cut to the chase, I brought the 30 day low-carb diet solution.

How is it going?  I’ve been on this for just over a week and I must say I am very very surprised!  If you read the book, one thing that really stuck in my mind was:

If Food is the Problem, then Food is the Solution.

This morning I weighed in at 112.8 kg (248 pounds).  I broke through the forbidden 113.5 on the second day!

To say that I am surprised / impressed / convinced etc would be an understatement!!!

I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Rock on!