I’ve been trying to talk less about myself in the last few days since I read Jason Calacanis’ post about not blogging about yourself and what you are promoting. But, this post will be at least a little about me.

I crossed over the 220 lbs mark right before SXSW. I’ve known for a while I’ve gotten fat, but kept waiting for that little threshold to trigger and give me the motivation to do something about it. I guess 220 was the magic number. I actually lost some weight at SXSW because there was just no time to eat.

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Then I read an article on Tom Ferris’ blog titled “The Science of Fat-Loss: Why a Calorie Isn’t Always a Calorie“. Most of it was written by Dr. Michael Eades, who along with his MD wife, wrote [amazonify]0553380788::text::::Protein Power[/amazonify]. The article must have triggered something in me, because I almost immediately decided that was the diet I was going to do. I didn’t want to wade through page after page of why low carb works and it’s good, so I bought [amazonify]047145415X::text::::The 30-Day Low-Carb Diet Solution[/amazonify]. I’ve been on the diet since Sunday. I’ve done South Beach and Atkins in the past and so far I like this one better.

There are a couple misconceptions about low carb diets I want to address.

Low carb diets are high in fat

Not necessarily. South Beach is pretty low fat. Atikins, not so much. Protein Power doesn’t really worry about it, so I guess it can be if you want. For me Protein Power has been higher in fat, I don’t worry about how much or what kind of fat I have in my food. At least not at this point. Right now I’m focused on getting over sugar cravings. Which leads to…

Low carb diets are easier because you can eat what you want.

People who say this really generally mean since you can eat all the fat you want you get to eat things they, on a low fat diet, can’t. But trust me, I’ve never had a fat craving on a low fat diet, but I have to fight the desire for sugar.

There is a phenomenon I call “mouth hunger”. This is what happens when you fill hungry and full at the same time. You don’t need food, but you want it. And what you want is carbs, or more specifically sugar. You’re addicted to the stuff.

Even without the carb cravings, which will probably go away in a few days, the same way they would on a fast, low carb isn’t easy. I quit Atkins after 3 weeks. Why? The food choices sucked. You get tired of meat and cheese all the time. Protein Power has a lot more carb choices added into it.

So the Mrs and I are on the diet and so far, so good. I learned some new cooking stuff which I plan to blog. Including YouTube videos that have some cool recipes.

One thing I do worry about though. Other than the Tim Ferris, all the low carb dieters I’ve seen – mostly on YouTube – don’t look fit, hard, and healthy. Just because you lose weight, doesn’t mean you are in shape, or have muscle. I hope having muscle isn’t a problem on Protein Power, but I don’t see how it could be eating that much protein.