SUCCESS STORIES:LOW CARB ATKINS OR SOUTH BEACH!

bookyeti

Caloric deficit = weight loss.

Unfortunately the equation is a bit more complex for those of us with metabolic disorders (ie. diabetes, insulin resistance, PCOS, etc.). I counted calories STRICTLY, ate at a 20% deficit of my TDEE, and exercised for hours at a time... did this for years, with no weight loss to speak of. Then I found out from my Endocrinologist that I had PCOS and insulin resistance, and that I could count calories until the cows came home but it wouldn't make the scale or inches budge, until I started lowering my carb macros (below 100g). Please keep in mind that limiting carbs is a necessity for some of us.

MissyAZjourney

Back to the Low Carb Success Stories...as the OP asked for. Please keep them coming.

geesh...dont see low carbers trolling anyone else's success story requests...People are so self righteous.

stick with what works...stick with what you can maintain...

shst07

I lost weight with low carb, South Beach, and Atkins. And gained it back again (and then some) when I missed 'real food'. It does work, but I figure life is short.......so now I count calories, aim to eat 1g of protein per lean body weight, lift heavy and have a dark beer and ice cream practically every day and it's great! Am I losing weight at the rate I was when doing low carb, Atkins, South Beach? No. But, I still am losing AND am so much happier! Best of luck on your journey, kiddo!

22dream

Thanks everyone

Cat_Lifts

Back to the Low Carb Success Stories...as the OP asked for. Please keep them coming.

geesh...dont see low carbers trolling anyone else's success story requests...People are so self righteous.

stick with what works...stick with what you can maintain...

Pretty sure there's been no trolling, at all actually. Perhaps googling the term to relearn it's proper usage would be a good start.

And in terms of sticking with what works, no low-carb can work as well (unless, as previously stated, there's issues with diabetes/PCOS/etc. that may affect the success).

fufi04

I don't care what anyone says...100 calories of chips will never be healthier than 100 calories of carrots...even IIFYM!! Common sense. The end.

Ok, back to the success stories lol

Dauntlessness

IF YOU HAVE HAD SUCCESS WITH LOW CARB , ATKINS, OR SOUTH BEACH PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY OR AND PICTURES NEVER REALIZED HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE ON MFP LOOKING FOR THAT PUSH THATS NOT JUST ABOUT CALORIES!!!!! PLEASE SHARE AND HELP GIVE SOMEONE THAT PUSH!!

Adkins is a fad diet. Just saying.

pyrowill

I could literally supply hundreds, but you wouldn't accept them as credible. Look, nobody wants to buy your product; it is time to pack up and call it a day.

I think you need to stop sounding so foolish and recognise what AJ_G was trying to do. I'd rather buy the 'product' from someone accurately stating facts and backing it up with cited & credible sources.


22dream, There have been plenty of success stories with low carb diets, you can't ignore the science. Just like you can't ignore the science of calorie control. I've done both and found that low carb didn't really help me with my healthy eating since I just ended up eating lots of bacon and things, it just wasn't for me. Find something that you can realistically stick to. If it's low carb, then great, if its low cal, or South Beach or whatever, do it. The most widely accepted one is calorie control, thats what most users here do, and what MFP is mostly built around, so I think you'd get more support from that, but your choices are your own. Just make a commitment and stick with it.

And please go easy with the CAPS. , and less easy with the full stops/commas.

texanintokyo

I'm taking in around 100 - 120 grams of carbs a day but none of them come from grains, breads and such. They all come from fruits and veggies. Am I facing the same issues? :-/

pcastagner

I was reminded of and had to laugh at the comment about western culture being "high carb" today.

Because I'm in Japan. And for the first time in my life, I saw a NOODLE SANDWICH.

texanintokyo

I'm in Japan to and everything here is noodles and bread, pastries and breaded fried things or things wrapped in a dumpling type outer shell.

SArnol007

I had done a low carb diet. I kept my carbs under 50g per day, sometimes less than 25g. I did P90x alongside and dropped from 167 to 138 in about 1 month. Well when the semester started I stopped working out and didn't do the low carb diet and in about 4 months I was 186 pounds.

Last week Monday I was 207 and now im 196 pounds. Well now Im back on the low carb diet but decided to make a lifestyle change, after low carbing for a month, I plan to keep my carbs under 100g FORVER(well at least try) and never stop working out. O I also do Herbalife, and P90x on this I am roughly about 50g of carbs a day. So far so good, but still to soon to tell

pcastagner

I'm in Japan to and everything here is noodles and bread, pastries and breaded fried things or things wrapped in a dumpling type outer shell.

There are only two crappy things about Japan.

1)hard to keep protein up
2) I have to leave at the end of the month

Factory_Reset

IN

for pics of bacon

mrmagee3

I did South Beach several years ago and lost 20 lbs in around a month, then promptly gained it back over the next 6 months. I was always drained and my wife says I was irritable. If you make the switch to low carb, it really has to be a lifestyle thing. The principals are Ok, but it will be really tough if you are exercising (South Beach Diet even says that if you are in an exercise program that you need carbs, but doesn't really elaborate). Some of the principals are the same in the Men's Health Abs Diet, but I like it much better.

The problem with ketogenic diets or very low carb diets is that if you do any type of strength training or a significant amount of exercise, then unless you do periodic carb refeeds where you eat a massive amount of carbs on a single day, your body cannot replenish liver glycogen and muscle glycogen and your fitness oriented goals will not be met. Also when your body switches from carbs to ketones from fat as the main fuel for energy, one often becomes irritable, weak, tired, and overall can feel terrible. This does pass, but the lack of stored glycogen for muscle energy will remain a problem.

I think some studies have shown that the main impact of ketogenic diets on athletic performance comes at the explosive points -- sprinting, weight lifting, etc., where endurance atheletes (marathoners, bicyclists, etc.) tend to see less negative impact.

Though most people, I think, if they were serious about athletic performance and keto together, would likely switch to CKD or TKD in any case.

mrmagee3

Nobody said low carb is unsustainable

Several people did, in fact, say that.

Nobody said that you should not practice low carb if you prefer it

This was also said.

AJ_G

I don't care what anyone says...100 calories of chips will never be healthier than 100 calories of carrots...even IIFYM!! Common sense. The end.

Ok, back to the success stories lol

A single food is not healthy or unhealthy by itself without context. Food is either healthy or unhealthy in the context of your daily intake. For example, if you have already hit your daily goals for all of your micronutrients, and you have 200 calories, 12g of fat, and 22 carbs remaining for the day, then a glazed doughnut from krispy kreme would be a healthy choice given the context of your intake that day. If you have already hit your macro, micro, and calorie goals for the day, then any fruit or vegetable you eat is going to be an unhealthy choice because it will cause you to exceed your calorie goal for the day. People who eat fast food a majority of the time are often very unhealthy. This is not because fast food is unhealthy, but instead because these people are over consuming in general. Yes fast food has a higher mass quantity of fat in it which makes most fast food very calorically dense, but if you're logging all your intake and not exceeding calorie goals, and hitting macro and micro goals, fast food can be a very healthy choice. You can't blame the food their eating, you have to blame the quantities they're eating.

You label foods as healthy or clean and other foods as unhealthy or unclean, and say that healthy foods make you healthy and unhealthy foods make you unhealthy because you have probably been told this your whole life. I personally know a lot of people who eat NOTHING but "clean", "healthy" foods, but they over consume and they are overweight, out of shape, and obese. Your view of nutrition is skewed. Do some research, don't just listen to what people tell you, always be questioning what you're told and seek the scientific truth for yourself.

AJ_G

I did South Beach several years ago and lost 20 lbs in around a month, then promptly gained it back over the next 6 months. I was always drained and my wife says I was irritable. If you make the switch to low carb, it really has to be a lifestyle thing. The principals are Ok, but it will be really tough if you are exercising (South Beach Diet even says that if you are in an exercise program that you need carbs, but doesn't really elaborate). Some of the principals are the same in the Men's Health Abs Diet, but I like it much better.

The problem with ketogenic diets or very low carb diets is that if you do any type of strength training or a significant amount of exercise, then unless you do periodic carb refeeds where you eat a massive amount of carbs on a single day, your body cannot replenish liver glycogen and muscle glycogen and your fitness oriented goals will not be met. Also when your body switches from carbs to ketones from fat as the main fuel for energy, one often becomes irritable, weak, tired, and overall can feel terrible. This does pass, but the lack of stored glycogen for muscle energy will remain a problem.

I think some studies have shown that the main impact of ketogenic diets on athletic performance comes at the explosive points -- sprinting, weight lifting, etc., where endurance atheletes (marathoners, bicyclists, etc.) tend to see less negative impact.

Though most people, I think, if they were serious about athletic performance and keto together, would likely switch to CKD or TKD in any case.

I definitely agree with this. any type of endurance exercise uses mainly slow twitch muscle fibers which do not exclusively require glycogen, or require large amounts of glycogen in general. High intensity exercise like heavy lifting, or HIIT cardio causes fast twitch muscle fiber recruitment for which glycogen is highly consumed, so you would see definite performance issues with high intensity exercise, but you might be completely fine with endurance exercise on Keto

mrmagee3

You label foods as healthy or clean and other foods as unhealthy or unclean, and say that healthy foods make you healthy and unhealthy foods make you unhealthy because you have probably been told this your whole life. I personally know a lot of people who eat NOTHING but "clean", "healthy" foods, but they over consume and they are overweight, out of shape, and obese. Your view of nutrition is skewed. Do some research, don't just listen to what people tell you, always be questioning what you're told and seek the scientific truth for yourself.

Their overconsumption of a food does not make the food healthy or unhealthy. I personally don't like the terms healthy or unhealthy, as I think it's more of a spectrum -- certain foods are more nutritive than others. 100 calories of broccoli contains more good nutrients than 100 calories of table sugar. I think it's fine to say that broccoli is more healthy than table sugar.

To argue this at the edges, your argument would devolve into "if 1800 calories is your target, then 1800 calories of donuts is just as healthy as eating 1800 calories of a balanced diet". That's patently absurd, and confuses "weight loss" with "healthfulness".

pcastagner

You label foods as healthy or clean and other foods as unhealthy or unclean, and say that healthy foods make you healthy and unhealthy foods make you unhealthy because you have probably been told this your whole life. I personally know a lot of people who eat NOTHING but "clean", "healthy" foods, but they over consume and they are overweight, out of shape, and obese. Your view of nutrition is skewed. Do some research, don't just listen to what people tell you, always be questioning what you're told and seek the scientific truth for yourself.

Their overconsumption of a food does not make the food healthy or unhealthy. I personally don't like the terms healthy or unhealthy, as I think it's more of a spectrum -- certain foods are more nutritive than others. 100 calories of broccoli contains more good nutrients than 100 calories of table sugar. I think it's fine to say that broccoli is more healthy than table sugar.

To argue this at the edges, your argument would devolve into "if 1800 calories is your target, then 1800 calories of donuts is just as healthy as eating 1800 calories of a balanced diet". That's patently absurd, and confuses "weight loss" with "healthfulness".

I think the point is more that 100 cals of broccoli and 100 cals of sugar is a not too shabby 200 calories.

See how that works?