giving up carbs and sugar..

RockstarWilson

I do want to reiterate a prime focal point of this particular diet:

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> You basically get to eat all the bacon you want, every day! <

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Yeah, yeah, can't eat all saturated fats, I know. But all those "healthy" fats aint all cracked up to be what they are... eat an avocado or two to keep a balance, if you feel the need.

chadya07

i cant tell you what will work for you but for me... that sounds miserable.

i did low carb once. i made it two weeks or so but i was soooo bored and missed everything i love.

for me, the calories in/ calories out way is what works, but if you can do it, more power to you. it works for some.

RockstarWilson

Giving up carbs and sugar? Is it necessary, effective? You should ask this to so many of the people here with success stories. Listen to what they have to say. Ask people who have lost weight and kept it off for some time, that will give you a better perspective.

So far, most success stories have come from people who chose a sustainable dieting plan, a lifestyle change. If you see yourself going the low carb way for life, then go for it.

Basing your diet or exercise routine off of someone else's anecdotal observations is a fundamental principle of broscience. You're going to get more meaningful information if you look at studies that examine groups of people, preferably in controlled environments, rather than just asking your bro how he prefers to do it. The same goes for the gym - odds are you're going to get better results using a proven system that thousands of athletes have used successfully, rather than just asking your bro what split he followed to get to benching 3 plates.

And that's not to say giving up carbs and sugar is somehow superior - only that basing your routine off MFP success stories is likely not the optimal way to go about it.

Agreed. You have neither knowledge nor control over the sample on here, as they may be of different health groups, different body types, different ethnicities, vastly different habits, different locations, etc.....and and all legit studies on this matter will have controls with VERY little deviations and variations. Usually, there is a control. Look out for that, and make sure the site is neutral.

Just as a general opinion, though, I do think where people go wrong is when they combine fat and carbs all at once, like that big mac everyone loves so much (and yes, the cheese isn't real cheese, so it is all carbs), or when they carb up and don't use them efficiently, such as they drink a monster to work a desk job as opposed to construction. Most general construction guys that I see are pretty athletic except when it comes to the gut. It is also pretty common knowledge that construction guys are also heavy beer drinkers, so when they go home and drink themselves stupid.....a beer belly occurs! Okay, went off on a tangent, but you get the gist, I hope.

SandyBVTN

Low carb/no added sugar certainly has worked for me in the past for weight loss. I felt pretty good too, but I couldn't sustain the lifestyle in the long term. I found that the way I wanted to do it was too expensive, involved too much food prep/cooking and that it was difficult to eat while out. I always quickly gained the weight back after going back to "normal" (for me) eating.

Now it's all about calorie counting and teaching my body how much energy it really needs to be healthy. For me, it's much more sustainable long term, because I can fit any food that I like into my day and have an easier stash of grab and go items, as well as easy/fast to prepare meals.

baconslave

I do want to reiterate a prime focal point of this particular diet:

---

> You basically get to eat all the bacon you want, every day! <

---

Yeah, yeah, can't eat all saturated fats, I know. But all those "healthy" fats aint all cracked up to be what they are... eat an avocado or two to keep a balance, if you feel the need.

Bacon!
But of course I would say that. :laugh:

Low-carb is the best diet ever and everyone in the world should be on this way of eating CUZ...BACON! Kidding.

Avocados are high in potassium, too. Good on fiber, too. So they are a "healthy" fat win.

baconslave

I never called low carb a fad. I suggested the OP would be doing this as a fad. There is a difference.. the context is different. I could easily say the same thing about any approach. In fact, I even noted there are advantages to both lifestyles

I am just amazed at how fast people get upset when you suggest educating yourself prior to taking on a specific diet approach (as demonstrated by many low carb'ers). I understand it, you feel very strongly about your lifestyle, which is good because passion will help you succeed long term.

I think it's a mix between people are overly passionate about their own preferred diet (sometimes to the point of zealotry) and people being on the defensive about their preferred diet because other people who are overly passionate about a different diet love to bash their diet. And then you have the clueless newbies, whose bro told them X diet was the way to go and they just repeat that to other people because bro science. It's just not a mix that admits of good, rational discussion a lot of the time, although the occasional thread has a happy ending.

I agree that OP would be doing it as a fad, you were right about that, Lemon.( IMO, of course)


I don't ever bother to get emotional over my way of eating being tarred as a fad though. But I do shake my head over it. It is frustrating, yes, to constantly have it maligned by people who aren't educated about it. Many people just spout off whatever inaccurate rumor they have heard parroted by all the others who don't really know anything about it either. It is what it is. That said, there are people who do any way of eating as a fad, even if it's majority sanctioned. Edify thyself, people. I don't understand why some people don't, but everyone if different. What is wrong with educating yourself? Or people politely suggesting you might need more information? Polite is the key word here.

My decision was well researched, based on studies and adapting diabetic diets formulated by doctors. Atkins has been around since the 70s. (No he didn't die of a heart attack. It was a head injury. Rumors...tsk tsk.) Many, many have used it and maintained for decades. Doctors and nutritionists prescribe low-carb diets, though not necessarily with as low carb levels as Atkins begins in induction (which consequently increases as you go), to people with insulin resistance and diabetes. Most low-carb diets have a maintenance plan. It's not a fad.

But if you just pick-up on it and try it based on your buddy or some media person telling you to, without being fully read-up on the subject, and never thinking about the end-game, it's not going to be successful for you. And even if you become an amateur expert on low-carb, it still may not be the right thing for you. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

It's obvious that many low-carb threads get pounced on. Even though, the prevailing idea is supposed to be "whatever is working for you," that seems to not apply to the low-carb diets for some reason. Sometimes we get tired of it. I make an effort to remain civilized while defending it. If I just let it go though and say nothing, the people dumping on it will misrepresent it to others who are uninformed. It passes ignorance and moral judgments on those who must use that eating plan, or choose to. I've been called stupid before because I low-carb. Here, on this forum. I apparently low-carb because I'm not smart enough not to. Which is obvious nonsense. I'm confident enough to recognize the ad hominem fallacy for what it is. The person was trying to provoke me. What about someone else with a thinner skin? Who wouldn't be defensive if the accepted POV of the forum is that people who are low-carb are stupid, crazy, fad-followers? Of course everyone doesn't do it, but those sour, maligning responses do stick with you for awhile. If it happens enough, it seems like everyone is against you.

Many forms of low-carb diets can be quite balanced. But you do have to budget your carbs. All low-carb diets are not equal, so jumping in and badmouthing them all just because some blogger or talking-head, or bro said so, is silly. This goes both ways. Jumping in guns blazing and dumping on things in a judgmental manner is a bad idea, regardless of what you are addressing.

Nothing said in here (this forum) is so crucial that it's going to set the entire world on it's ear, but we can at least treat others with respect.

I say that is my "two cents" on the whole "defensive" discussion, but it's so long I'd say it's more "87 and a half cents." Go big or go home, right? :laugh: Read it all and strain your poor eyeballs or don't. Not going to hurt my feelings, because ultimately, as I see it, what does it matter, in the grand scheme of things, that some person on the interwebs thinks you are an ignoramus? Their words have no power to hurt you if you don't let them. But make sure yours don't do harm either.

RockstarWilson

Well said, my friend.

I would like to add, that this is more than just a "fad" diet. it might enlighten people to know that this way of eating has been around since the 1920s, designed in a not-for-profit research hospital, in order to try and prevent uncontrollable seizures in children when nothing else would work. This diet is definitely not mainstream, even though people see just the term "low-carb" and attach it to the cover page of whatever womans tabloid mag is on the stand at checkout (along with "101 ways to a flat stomach"). The ketogenic diet is more than that. There are many health benefits that have been proven when people put themselves into ketosis.

So to keep it short, this diet has been around for longer than most your grandparents have been alive. Fad? I think not. Read about it: http://www.charliefoundation.org/explore-ketogenic-diet/explore-1/introducing-the-diet

Definitions for understanding:
ketogenesis:

keto-short for ketones, which are what your body creates from stored fat in order to use its stored energy, as fat in raw form is not usable

gen- create, or produce

esis- state of being

So, when you are in Ketosis, the body is mostly (>95% of the time) using ketones for energy. Your body is in ketosis when your liver is producing ketones at optimum level, which means it (the liver) is in ketogenesis.