Synopsis: I'm a vegan considering going Atkins for a short time in order to lose the last bit of very, very stubborn weight. About 50lbs of it.
Confession: I've been fat all my life. Most of it I've not just been fat, but obese. in 7th grade I hit 220lbs. In high school I was at 285lbs. 5 years ago I hit 320lbs.
Of course, the progression hasn't been that linear. During college I once dropped to 240, and after that spent my time bouncing between 260 and 285. After suffering through a job I didn't like, I hit 324lbs. Through work, will power, and serendipity, I've since been able to drop to 230lbs.
And now I'm stuck.
For the past year I've been bouncing between 226 and 240 lbs, and no matter what I do I can't seem to escape this.
Currently, I'm a vegan. A low-fat vegan. No meat. No dairy (I'm lactose intolerant anyway). No eggs. And fat intake at about 12% of my total calories. Sugars come mostly from fruits. This actually helped me lose some weight at first (10 lbs total), as well as drop my blood pressure and (already low) cholesterol, but I still hit my wall. I also walk/run at least 15 miles a week, though usually I hit over 20, plus regular weight lifting. By my favorite, by far, is walking and hiking.
A short while back--before I went vegan, and after gaining 20 lbs in 2 months, going from 226lbs to 246lbs--I considered medical weight loss. There I was told that I could, at most, expect to drop to 200. (My body fat percentage was about 26.6% then.) My goal was 180, but no matter: all I want is to be healthier. Besides, I already have this not-so-nifty skin hanging around which may need to be snipped.
Anyway, their plan included hunger suppression medication (surprisingly, that's not a huge issue for me. I currently eat between 1800-2000 calories per day, tracked) and going on a very strict Atkins diet for a few weeks to induce ketosis. During their tests, however, they discovered I had a right bundle branch block (heart disease), so I didn't go through with it, mostly because the meds mess around with your heart. Well, turns out my RBBB is a "normal variant" and nothing to concern myself over. Still, this is when I decided to go vegan, which worked great until I stopped losing weight, no matter what I did. (As a side note, I used to have some chest pain when running. I was told it might be heartburn, but it went away when I went vegan)
I love being a vegan. I usually feel pretty great eating like this (unless I'm eating all grains, then I just feel all heartburny). However, I need to lose weight: I'm a flat-line hypoglycemic with a very strong family history of diabetes. My biggest enemy is tummy fat. So here's my plan:
Do the Atkins diet WITHOUT medical weight loss supplements (except maybe Alli) until I've lost the necessary weight (32 lbs), then switch back to vegan at that point. Yes, it does go against my ethical considerations to eat animal meat, and yes, I realize the almost absurdity of going to such extremes, but this belly fat is costing me life and putting me at risk of too many conditions, so I need to rid myself of it. In college I did Atkins successfully, dropping from almost 300 to 240. True, I did gain it all back, but unlike then, now I'm not so quick to run back to pizzas and fried chicken wings. I actually appreciate the texture and taste of a great salad.
I'm wondering if I could get someone's opinion on this plan, or my situation overall. Yes, I know I've come a long way, but not nearly long enough. The last time I wasn't considered "fat" was when I was 4. I'm now 31. I'm tired of it.
Current stats:
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Weight: 232lbs
Height: 6'1
Sex: Male
Background: Hispanic
Fasting blood sugar: 79 (GTT showed no rise above 81, and a drop to 71 after 2 hours, before normalization)
Triglycerides: 50
Cholesterol: 113 total (HDL 42, LDL 65) (This was pre-vegan. Increasing anxiety for a short time was a sign that the total cholesterol was dropping, likely the LDL)
Medical history:
-> Right Bundle Branch Block (idiopathic)
-> Gastroparesis (idiopathic, intermittent now)
-> GERD (which gets worse with increasing weight)
-> General Anxiety Disorder (It's gotten better)
-> No gallbladder (removed in 2009)
Thanks in advance.