The "arckins" Plan

This is an eating plan that I came up with after studying several different plans, based on what has worked for me in the past and knowing how I react mentally to dieting. This was originally posted on a new thread on the Meat and Eggers for Life support forum. There has been some interest elsewhere, so I made this web page so people could see what I am doing without having to join the forum. There is a pretty long thread going to support this original post, so if someone is interested, it may be worth it to check it out.

Forum: http://meatandeggersforlife.myfreeforum.org/index.php

Thread: http://meatandeggersforlife.myfreeforum.org/about1204.html

The "arckins" name is strictly tongue in cheek and has no affiliation with Atkins, Atkins Nutritional, or Kimkins, or anyone else.

Here is the original post. The plan has actually morphed a little since then, so pay attention to the EDITs:

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Some posts on a support forum concerning maintenance have motivated me to really try to study the issue and to really do some soul searching about what would work for me. I have sort of been through this before. I lost almost 50 pounds doing a program called Weigh Down (WD) nine years ago and maintained that weight for almost five years. The weight began to creep back on after that point and it became very difficult to keep on plan. As it turns out, it was because I was starving myself of protein, which shows that I need to keep track of nutrition in whatever I choose for my WOL (way of life).

Another thing that I learned from WD is that I can easily deny myself for a time if need be as long as I know that I can eat what I want at some point in the future. Looking at nothing but meat and egg or VLC (very low carb)  far into the future sends me screaming for the ice cream. I think this is the famine brain that Martha Beck talks about in “The Four Day Win”.

Finally, WD also taught me what true physical hunger was and that it wasn’t going to kill me to be hungry occasionally. Also, it taught me what hunger wasn’t. Every little tummy rumble or weird feeling doesn’t send me to the fridge for something to eat. I’m not saying that I want to be hungry or that it is necessary to be hungry – just that I need/want to listen to my body on this plan.

I also just finished an excellent book by Dr. Mike Eades called “Thin So Fast” (TSF). The first part of the book details a plan to safely lose weight quickly but the strength of the book is it’s treatment of maintenance and actually living this way. I haven’t read any other book that deals with it as frankly as TSF, including his later “Protein Power” books.

He is pretty frank about how people will eat. He writes about how it is unrealistic to expect people to be saints in their eating for the rest of their lives. He writes about taking off plan “vacations” occasionally to get it out of your system, while admitting that you will probably feel like crap for a while afterwards. He gives a plan for getting back on track and losing the water gain from these vacations. He also has a chapter on discipline that is very good. Even though some of the medical info is out of date (it was written in the ‘80s), I think it is one of the best “diet” books that have been written. Most of my plan will be based on it.

Someone also posted some info about the Carbohydrates Addict’s Diet recently and I picked up that book, too. This book also hit me as it dovetailed nicely into other plans that I have tried. The reward meals gives me a chance to eat “normal” food occasionally, which, as mentioned before, is important to me. I have been eating this way for the last week and really like it and have even dropped several pounds, including a pound over the weekend which basically never happens. It also follows the “no snacks or seconds” part of the “No S” plan I was following, which is useful for portion control.

However, I don’t think it will allow me to drop to where I want to go. I think CAD/No S is very helpful for true maintenance (no more weight to lose).

Basically, my plan will have three phases – weight loss, transition and maintenance (how original, right?). I am calling it Arc’s P&P Plan, as I Pillaged and Plundered from all sorts of different plans along with my own experience. I have no idea how well it will work but I have a good feeling about it and it is setting just right with me.

EDIT - I changed it to arckins after joking about it.

The weight loss plan is based solely on the plan in TSF. It is a Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF) plan. This allows a rapid fat loss without removing muscle as a typical low calorie plan would. It is essentially four protein shakes and a dinner made up of 6-8 ounces of meat and a large salad or 2 cups of low carb veggies. The shakes are custom made and Dr. Mike stresses over and over that they need to be taken as is. So, of course, I modified it.

Original recipe:

1 envelope of powdered skim milk (enough to make one quart)
4 tablespoons high quality protein powder (no added sugar)
1 tsp of salt substitute
1 tsp of fructose

Split four ways for a day’s worth of shakes.


This recipe plus the dinner makes for about 65 grams of protein, which is good for an average sized woman. I need about twice that. I also take a good quality calcium supplement, so I don’t need as much of the milk. My modified recipe is:

½ envelope of powdered skim milk (enough to make one quart)
8 tablespoons high quality protein powder (no added sugar)
1 tsp of salt substitute
1 tsp of one to one Splenda

Split four ways for a day’s worth of shakes.

EDIT - It turns out that the powdered milk isn't necessary. You can use straight protein powder.

You can use any non-caloric fluid (8-10 ounces) to make the shakes with - diet root beer, coffee, water, etc. You also need to drink tons of water while in this stage.

With dinner, it’s about 120 grams of protein a day with a few less carbs. I am not sure of the calories, but the original plan called for 1000 a day. I would keel over at that amount so am shooting at about 1500. I also replaced the fructose, as the info that has come out in the last decade doesn’t paint a pretty picture of it. The maltodextrin in the Splenda will takes it’s place (the carbs in this are just enough that you don’t have to use your protein for blood glucose). The salt substitute is to make sure you have enough potassium as this diet makes you pee a lot, which can upset the electrolyte balance.

EDIT - I don't add the Splenda anymore. It wasn't necessary unless someone likes the shakes sweeter.

The other part that I am adding is my two mugs of coffee with two tablespoons of half and half in each. It will slow things down a little, but, hey – it’s coffee.

I stay with the PSMF stage until I get close to a body fat percentage that is comfortable to me. At that point, I move into the transition stage.

The transition stage is also from TSF. It is basically meat and egg or Atkin’s induction. Three meals a day at 20 g of carbs or less for the day. It is actually lower carb than the weight loss stage but higher calorie. This stage is to get you eating real food again, instead of the shakes. The arckins method will be to have breakfast and lunch be very low carb, less than 5 grams and a little higher carb dinner.

Once I am comfortably at goal, I will move into maintenance. Here is where I veer off of TSF. In TSF, Dr. Mike recommends adding carbs back gradually until weight gain starts and then backing off of there, at roughly 60 – 100 grams of carbs a day. I don’t plan on counting much of anything except for occasional reality checks, so I am gradually going to CAD/No S for maintenance.

This will be two very low carb meals (less than 5g of carbs each) with a “eat pretty much whatever I want within one hour” dinner, keeping an eye to health, or course. It isn’t an hour long carb binge-fest. There are no snacks and the portions are one plate’s worth (no seconds).

Being able to have some rice with a stir-fry or a few chips with guacamole occasionally will keep me sane. As I mentioned above, I have been doing this for the past week and it is working very well.

At this point it is also very important to get adequate protein as shorting yourself can lead to cravings as the body tried to compensate. For a semi-active person, you should have .6 grams of protein per pound of lean tissue. You can estimate the amount of lean tissue by using this calculator:

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

Dr. Mike’s plan for recovering from “vacations” or occasionally falling off of the wagon is to simply move back to the beginning of the transition stage right away. Most of the weight gain from a binge or carb-fest is water retention caused by high insulin levels. Getting the insulin levels under control by using the transition stage is critical. This will dump the excess water and get the cravings under control.

I wanted to do a challenge thread about this because I am an attention whore and no one reads my journal . I am actually posting it because it helps get all of this swirling info in my head straight and gives me a clear plan to follow. Publicly posting also gives me motivation at the beginning (I am hoping that it is self sustaining – but who knows).

My plan is developed based on what works for me. If someone wants to join me – that’s great. However, what works for me may not work for someone else and I don’t emotionally eat, so I have no provisions for that. Also, standard medical disclaimer – I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV and I haven’t stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in more than 10 years. If you try this without checking with a doctor and keel over and die, you can’t sue me. If you do check with a doctor and try this and keel over and die – sue the doctor. Yada yada yada.

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Here is a follow-up post with information from Dr. Eades, from his blog:

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Okay - straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak:

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This plan is based on info from Dr. Eades' Thin So Fast and Protein Power books, Martha Beck's The Four Day Win, The Drs. Heller's Carbohydrate Addict's Diet and the No S Diet http://www.nosdiet.com/