In a diet cycle nightmare

douglernerold

I've tried everything, and am really stuck as to what to do at this point.

Atkins has never worked for me. With low calorie diets, I've been able to lose over a hundred pounds several times - but regrettably end up rebounding each time.

I've tried Atkins several times, but have never had success with it. You can search my name in the Atkins forums here and see all my posts over the years. People there also have been extremely friendly and supportive and have analyzed what I've been eating, but it plain just doesn't work. I'm sure it's simply because I end up eating too many calories.

The last time I tried very hard for 7 weeks with no net weight loss. At the end people were suggesting increasing my vegetable carbs a bit. So I added a tomato a day and still ended up up gaining weight. Colette, the main nutritionist at Atkins, then dropped in and said the tomato might be the cause because it was a "nightshade vegetable."

At that point I got frustrated and gave up. Common sense tells me that a single 24 calorie tomato isn't going to wreck a diet! It was all starting to sound a bit like voodoo, to be honest.

I don't know what to do, but I would desperately like to lose weight again. I'm trying low calorie, but can't stick with it. And Atkins doesn't seem to work.

I don't know what to do anymore. On 1/1/2010 I started a low-calorie diet starting at 124.6 kg. By mid summer I got down to about 114 kg, a loss of over 10 kg (22 lb). Plus all my blood values, A1C, cholesterol, etc., returned to completely normal range without medication. This was simple calorie counting.

But then I started rebounding. Before my summer trip to the U.S. I was back to 119 kg. By the time I got back to Japan I was up to 127 kg.

About 6 weeks ago, when the scale hit 130 kg, I recommitted myself to low-calorie dieting and joined the myfitnesspal.com low-calorie support site. My weight hovered between 130 and 128 kg since then. I'm scared to even check my blood sugar.

Mind you, I'm not blaming the calories. I believe a calorie is a calorie and my rebound is simply because I'm eating too many of them.

This week I decided to try vegan, nothing deep fried, and I've felt just awful. My energy has dropped to like nothing, I feel bloated and my weight has crept up to 131 kg!

During all this time, whenever my weight got up to 130+ kg again I would fall back on Atkins for a bit, because I know (maybe because of the diuretic effect) at least my weight quickly drops a couple of kg to about 128 and I stop thinking of food all the time. But I never make continued progress after that, so get frustrated, bored with the limited variety of food allowed, and start bouncing around again on different diets.

If you read the current Atkins Phase 1 FAQ it clearly says calories DO count and if you aren't losing weight you probably are eating too many calories. While everybody at the Atkins site are very friendly and supportive, I think that's the bottom line and many people there tend to understate the importance of keeping calorie intake under control, even on Atkins.

Atkins helps with appetite, but for me at least, it doesn't help ENOUGH to let me lose weight. I'm sure it's not just a matter of controlling carbs but rather that limiting carbs help control appetite. The problem is for me, at least, it doesn't control my appetite enough.

Also, despite their denials to the contrary, Atkins really is the most limiting diet, as far as variety goes. Even 1 tsp of garlic powder has almost 2 gm of net carbs! I think you have to reserve about 5 carbs/day just for "miscellaneous missed carbs" like added spices to your meals.

Calorie-counting lets you have the most variety because no particular food is off-limits. But I am finding it impossible to stick with calorie counting right now.

To add to the problem, all artificial sweeteners make me very ill. I tried a couple of Atkins snack bars this summer (part of a free offer) and I was sick all afternoon from them. I'll not go into details. All artificially sweetened snacks have the same effect on me, even sugar-free chewing gum.

I'm pretty much despairing of what to do anymore. This morning I was 131.6 kg. I know that simple low-calorie eating does work. But I just find it impossible, for some reason, to stick to it anymore, despite past successes with it. And even if I can stick to it for two years and lose 100+ pounds, I end up rebounding like I have 5 or 6 times already.

So I'm posting here and there trying to figure out what to do. I don't know anymore. I stocked up on low-carb simple foods today, just to get my appetite under control yet again while figuring out what to do next.

Posting in good faith,

doug