Originally Posted by tarwheel

I think you are setting yourself up for health issues long term and possibly short term. Kidney stones are documented risk from low carb/ high protein diets. I didn't realize this when I went on the Atkins diet a few years back. I lost weight but got kidney stones, which is not a good tradeoff in my book. I am the only person in my family (with 8 kids) who developed kidney stones, and I am reasonably certain the diet was a big contributor. High protein diets put a lot of strain on your kidneys. If you do follow such a diet, you need to drink a lot of extra water to flush out extra protein-related wastes from your body (something I was not aware of at the time). It is hard enough drinking enough water on long bike rides as it is, so combining a long tour with a high protein diet is just asking for trouble, IMHO.

I quit the Atkins diet after my experience and gained back the weight I lost. However, I started a new diet about 3-1/2 years ago following the simple calories-in/calories-out method and succeeded in losing 30 lbs -- more than double the weight loss from the low carb diet. On top of that, I have managed to keep the weight off for 3+ years while eating a healthy, well balanced diet. When you exercise a lot, your body craves carbs. There's a reason for that.