is low carbing forever?

alexsondra34

Hi guys, i have just joined the group, i have been on a low carb diet 3 weeks now entering my fourth and i'm amazed at the improvements on my health and mood in such a short time ( i wasn't eating that much carbohydrates to start with anyway).

My question is for the people who have been doing this for a very long time to lose weight, did you go back to eating carbs after you reached your goal? and if you did, did it have any adverse effects after being on keto for so long? i.e. pile on the weight, feeling bad...Etc.

I'm not saying stuffing yourself with sugar and white pasta, bread and rice, that's bad for everyone, i'm talking about wholegrain rice, potatoes, carrots... you know, healthy but carby.

Thanks in advance for any help, i just want to know what happens long term.

SlimBride2Be

I lost about 14lbs with LC a year ago and went back to carbs. It was not a disaster but I did put most of the weight back on over 9-12 months. I wasn't happy so I went back to LC. I'll be sticking with it this time though.

professionalHobbyist

Moderate carb is a sensible way to eat for me

I find no redeeming qualities in a sugary diet. So it is the rare bite or two of brownie and then normal food for me.

I have never been healthier.

127 cholesterol .... Crazy good.

And it is easier to maintain an extra 20 lbs of muscle.

All at over 50.

Nah.... I'm staying on this.

wabmester

You'll find a lot of difference of opinion.

Some people equate carbs with poison or cigarettes -- if that's your mindset, then moderation doesn't make sense. The closer to zero, the better.

Others see carbs as a perfectly useful fuel for muscle and even the brain. In that case, moderation makes sense. Your body doesn't really consider glucose to be in "excess" until you hit about 200g per day.

I'm kind of in the middle. At around 100g per day, I don't eat enough carbs to fully fuel my brain, so I have to make ketones to fill the gap. That means there's never an "excess." I've lost over 30lbs at that level, and now that I'm in "maintenance," I'm still at that level. 100g is a pretty big carb budget. No breads, no cookies, etc., but I can eat all the veggies and berries I want. Even chocolate and occasionally sushi (but not at the same time).

SlimBride2Be

Oh for reference I am around 50 carbs a day. That's probably average. Sometimes 30 sometimes 70. I intend to get less strict at maintenance and allow up to 100.

GaleHawkins

I needed to lose weight but I went LCHF for pain management. Within 30 days eating less 50 grams of carbs daily my pain level dropped from 7-8 most days to 2-3. As long as I have my wits about me I will never go to living on carbs. I did eat about 12 cherries the other day.

The doctors wanted me to start Enbrel injections for pain management but I did not want the cancer, etc risks associated with Enbrel. 30 days before my appoint where I was to start Enbrel I when off carbs cold turkey. The first two weeks were hellish due to withdrawal but when the pain reduction kicked in plus 40 years of IBS, etc started clearing up I knew I had hit the lottery jack pop for life. Nine months into daily ketosis I plan to do it for life.

Will be running by the Huddle House soon for 5 eggs over easy, 6 strips of bacon, four cups of coffee with a ton of half and half.

Days that I do not eat after 5 PM I tend to lose a small amount of weight. If I eat again close to bedtime I can maintain my 50 pound weight loss. Breakfast is coconut flakes and almonds plus a 800 calorie cup of coffee for a total of about 1300 calories to start the day.

Being 64 my time to start my health recovery is short so leaving off the carbs is about my only hope. Since it is working so well I do plan to stay with LCHF for life. In a few weeks I will get the first new blood work since a year ago.

Welcome to the forum. Keep in mind it took me the better part of six months to get the hang of LCHF and still am learning. Take your time as you dig deeper.

Queenmunchy

If I'm trying to lose, I stay in the 50 carb or under range, but in the 8 years I've been eating this way, I definitely eat carbs occasionally!

Sharbysyd

I've been doing low carb for a little over 2 years. I've felt such freedom from this way of eating that I never want to go back.

I guess you could say I had a bit of a slip last fall when I was eating things that were a little more carby (like a fast food sandwich without the bread but still had a carb coating) and even started to get back into the fast food sides, but I started to feel sick and ended up going back to what I normally do which is pretty much no grains, no fruit, no potatoes or carrots.

I have personally come to view all grains as unhealthy although in my book, rice would be one of the healthier ones. I probably would eat some rice if my body allowed me too but I probably won't go back to it.

sweetteadrinker2

Depends how you see this thing called low carb or keto. For some (me included) it's a woe/wol (way of eating/way of life), for others it's a diet. So for some of us it's for life, others until maintenance.

CoconuttyMummy

Is low-carbing forever? For me it's sensible to suppose so. I figure if higher carbs made me gain weight before they can/will do it again. That's not a risk I plan to take. I don't see my goals as something to be fleetingly achieved and subsequently lost.. I want to sustain my goals - even continue to improve upon them - so I figure that requires me to sustain whatever methods get me there.

Plus, I like this WOE.

FIT_Goat

wabmester wrote: »

Some people equate carbs with poison or cigarettes -- if that's your mindset, then moderation doesn't make sense. The closer to zero, the better.

This is my opinion. When I ate carbs I was sick and fat. Why would I go back to eating them again?

Other go back to various degrees. Some people even go back to the standard diet and just watch calories. Whatever your goals are.

greenautumn17

It's forever for me. I have lost weight on LC before,but I did not have diabetes or High BP or cholesterol at the time. When I went back to eating carbs, my weight went way up and I got all those conditions. It just seems like suicide to go back to eating the way that got me sick in the first place! When I reach my goals I may permit myself birthday cake or what have you on occasion, but my main WOE will be LCHF.

KeithF6250

I'm 68. Last year I was 70 pounds heavier than today's weigh-in. Last year I could barely climb a flight of stairs and my knees complained at every step. Today I stressed my back carrying an air conditioner up-stairs. Last year my doctor gave me 90 days to get my stuff together or diabetes meds. This year he said, "Just keep doing what you're doing." What was the question again?

KeithF6250

Addendum: Last year I would have had Cheerios and a banana for breakfast, tomorrow I will have bacon and eggs.

pennell12

KeithF6250 wrote: »

I'm 68. Last year I was 70 pounds heavier than today's weigh-in. Last year I could barely climb a flight of stairs and my knees complained at every step. Today I stressed my back carrying an air conditioner up-stairs. Last year my doctor gave me 90 days to get my stuff together or diabetes meds. This year he said, "Just keep doing what you're doing." What was the question again?

Great Job!

pennell12

I am reading a book called The Glycemic Load Diet. It is connecting a lot of dots for me. The author, Dr. Rob Thompson is down to earth but very factual. His theory is that it is not all carbs that are bad for us but STARCH i.e all white stuff- Wheat/flour/grains; rice; breads; sugar. He also talks about Glycemic Load versus Index. Good read. Highly recommend it.

Week #2 Moderate low carb

glossbones

I have no plans to go back. I have no true "cheat" days (a cheatie day, for me, is 25g of carbs or more, still of Keto-friendly food). I had tried Low Carb before but never went low enough to beat the cravings. So, like the OP seems to be, I was always looking forward to eating carbage again, whenever I thought I could. That's how I got to the heaviest weight I'd ever been.

Now I'm losing slower than I did when I ate ~120g/day, but putting on so much muscle mass there's really little point to me stepping on the scale and basing my mood on that (I do weigh in pretty much daily, just to collect the data and observe the trends).

I don't ever want to go back to scarfing down doughnuts, ben & jerry's, or pizza (topped with chili, liquid cheese, and tater tots of course). I'd rather eat this way than that! Bacon! Steak! Hollandaise! Heavy Cream! Cheeeese. All that sugary crap you'd have thought I miss just smells like chemical soup to me now, anyway. Why go back to where eating THAT is normal?

inspirationstation

It is a forever choice for me. I am 43 years old and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at the end of 2014. My A1C is now in non-diabetic range and my lipid panel is excellent, but I know that if I return to my previous way of eating, I will be looking at a lifetime of health issues and complications...eventually.

I have three kids 10 years old and under. I need to be healthy for me, healthy for them, and healthy for my husband.

This WOE makes sense. My body responds to it and I feel the best if I eat low carb.

GaleHawkins

@glossbones and @inspirationstation thank you for posting on this subject. I wish more younger people would see the light as you have. I was 63 before I got serious about eating for life vs death but I am glad I finally realized it was my diet causing the arthritis to fuse my joints solid and high levels of pain from the inflammation.

The kids turn 18 in two months and after watching my improvements since Oct 2014 they now have an example should they develop arthritis, etc how leaving off the Carbs can limit the damage.

Hopefully more and more will get serious about going low carb so they can fully taste the benefits. I really do not see how I could ever go back to the life I had before Low Carb High Fat became a way of life for me.

slimzandra

This is my first time at the rodeo. I pledged to do a 90 day experiment and go all in to see what might kick start my weight loss and what HFLC was all about. I have two more weeks to go, until I reach 90 days. I've done WW, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, and a host of others. By far! this woe has been the most satisfying, sustainable and easiest in so many ways. I don't need to purchase special "diet" foods, I eat yummy things that make be feel full, I'm not shaky, or miserable. I'm not doing anything really unusual, so I can still eat with friends and family. I have been unbelievably surprised at what I've learned about sugars, fats, carbs and how my body reacts. I've lost weight at a good rate, whereas I struggled in previous attempts. What I've learned from my new knowledge about food, macros has been life changing, so I can't really "go back" to what I knew about diets before. I haven't reached my weight loss goal yet- 40 more lbs. to go. Once do I reach my weight goals, will I ever eat a donut, rice, pizza, and bread again? Probably at some point, I would like to eat some of the things I've given up for now, during this weight loss journey. However, I have so more information now about how to manage macros, fats, sugars, proteins, and carbs. I might add some carbs back in, but I don't think I could ever truly 'go back' to where I was.

AlabasterVerve

Low carb is absolutely forever for me. I don't eat from a low carb list though and do incorporate healthy carby things as long as they fit (carrots, tomatoes, watermelon, black beans etc).

My goal isn't to eat as few carbs as possible but to eat as many as I can and still get the benefits of low carb. For me, that's not going too much higher than 50g total too often but I'm not committed to that number -- if at a later date I can tolerate more carbs I'll happily eat more fruit and starchy vegetables than I can right now. But if I never can it's not a hardship either. I've already made all of the adjustments I needed to make this way of eating sustainable for me and I'm very happy with my diet.

Twibbly

I'm 33, and I scare my mother because I'm in much worse shape than she was at this age, yet she's now undergoing tons of testing to determine why she has peripheral neuropathy, loss of muscle tone, brain lesions, etc.

I *should* be eating low carb. After almost a month, my wrists quit hurting, my ears quit ringing, my energy was a lot higher, my sinuses were a lot happier, and my depression was lifting.

But I'm off the wagon again, so guess what? My joints hate me, my ears feel stuffy to the point where they're messing with my balance, my allergies and sinuses are flaring, and I'm freakin' depressed again. Oh, and I'm back up 5 of the 15 pounds I'd lost. Initially, everything feels good when I start eating carbs again, but it doesn't last.

So, guess what I'm doing Monday (out of town until then)? Jumping back in with both feet, and using what I've learned this far too stick with it longer this time.

KarlaYP

I'm in for life! Won't be going back to the old woe. After almost three months at 20g, or less, the benefits are too great to return to the way I used to eat. Don't miss it, at all!

Welcome to the group!

professionalHobbyist

Low carb is life changing

I'm in the best shape of my life and my Dr says I get younger every time I see him

I can fit back into my crackerjacks from when I graduated boot camp

Turning my back on lower carb eating would be insanity

Sunny_Bunny_

inspirationstation wrote: »

It is a forever choice for me. I am 43 years old and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at the end of 2014. My A1C is now in non-diabetic range and my lipid panel is excellent, but I know that if I return to my previous way of eating, I will be looking at a lifetime of health issues and complications...eventually.

I have three kids 10 years old and under. I need to be healthy for me, healthy for them, and healthy for my husband.

This WOE makes sense. My body responds to it and I feel the best if I eat low carb.

I'm so happy you have gained control of your health for yourself and your family. As someone that lost their mother as a teen, though not by anything she could have prevented, it's devastating! Your health is truly an amazing and selfless gift to your family so much more than you can imagine.

jennybird99

Can I ask... Does anyone else miss beer??

Sunny_Bunny_

I kind of think of it like some people have food allergies that could be immediately deadly... They can't have those things even in moderation and you will never see them hanging their head in sadness for missing out on all the yummy peanuts or shellfish or strawberries or whatever... They just aren't an option and not even on the food radar. So I don't care that breads, pasta, rice, sugar, etc aren't on my radar either.

m_puppy

I plan on taking everything I've learned and using it for life. However, I don't plan on being in ketosis for life. I look forward to incorporating fruits and a variety of vegetables again. I don't plan on incorporating grains regularly. However, I imagine once I hit goal that I'll feel less guilt over the times I do cheat. Now that I know how to control myself, I know it will be different. I still can't control myself once I have a bite of something delicious. But I can control what I do afterward. I no longer let the binge carry forward beyond that moment. I understand my body more. We'll see how it goes. If I gain a little, then I'll edit. I don't plan on going back to my old lifestyle. But dang, a woman needs sushi!

chaoticdreams

My hubby and I both agreed we'd stay 20g or less until we'd lost most of what we wanted to lose, then up the carbs a bit to start prepping for maintenance. Maintenance for us will be 100g a day or less, with the occasional piece of birthday cake and holiday fare, or in my case beer LOL. I won't say never, because that usually jinks me, but I will say we have no plans to go back to potatoes nightly and pasta/white rice every other night with chocolate cake for desert at least once a week.

I'm quite content on my current WOE honestly and may not even up carbs for maintenance. He's lost 35 lbs in 4 weeks (he has about 150 to lose total so I figure that's why he's doing extremely well) and I've only lost 7 despite the fact I want to lose around 80. However I no longer have the afternoon blood sugar crash, and while I am still tired all the time (I have really horrid insomnia), I just generally feel better. That to me is just as important as the number on the scale.

ambergem1969

I'm in the same camp as others - increasing my carbs would be a slippery slope to weight gain if the past is any indication of the future!

KnitOrMiss

jennybird99 wrote: »

Can I ask... Does anyone else miss beer??

Seeing as I never liked beer, no, I don't miss it. Do I miss the IDEA of having a hot toddy when winter weather takes over Oklahoma (it includes a good portion of honey)? ABSOLUTELY. But I'm sure I will find a way to work around that. But I don't drink regularly, so I don't miss beer as part of a weekend or relaxing routine. Maybe you can use a teensy bit of yoga or something to do that wind down/relax/fun bit of your evening/weekend? Start game night? Something else of a tradition to replace the beer and what it represented? Since I'm not sure where all you miss beer in your life I can't give a more specific suggestion.