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For me LCHF has been pretty darn miraculous. Not in the amount of weight I'm losing (I lost just as much counting calories and following the typical healthy whole grain type of diet they push on everyone) but I'm not hungry all the time or obsessed with food anymore. My appetite is normal for the first time in years i.e. I get hungry, I eat and I'm satisfied. I no longer have incidents of hypoglycemia no matter how long I go without eating. Leg pains at night, acid reflux, fatigue, and swollen/bleeding gums are all gone and that's all from either cutting out wheat, eating LCHF or some combination of the two.
I can't be sure exactly what fixed all of those things but four months of eating lean meats, healthy whole grains and lots of fruits and vegetables, getting daily exercise and losing 42 pounds on top of the good nutrition and exercise didn't improve any of it. Every. Single. Day was a struggle because it's seemed like I was hungry ALL the freaking time and obsessed with food and planning snacks and counting the minutes until I could eat again. I felt better than I did before eating all the junk food though and was thrilled with the weight loss but just thought I would have to count calories and obsessively plan my food for the rest of my life.
So needless to say, I'm a total LCHF fangirl but this diet isn't for everyone. Peter Attia has a great blog post on a recent study where a low carb, high fat diet was shown to be more effective then the other diets. But even in that study he notes that one person in the study seemed to benefit the most from a low fat diet.
"There is enormous variation between subjects by diet type. For example, at least one subject saw a dramatic increase in TEE on the low GI diet versus the other two, while another saw the greatest TEE on the low fat diet. This speaks to a theme I iterate on this blog: be willing to self-experiment until you find what works for you."
http://eatingacademy.com/books-and-articles/good-science-bad-interpretation
I mention this because you said you did really well on a low fat diet before. By all means please stick with low carb for at least another month and see how you do but don't be afraid to switch it up if it's not working for you. No one diet is right for everyone and I don't just mean personal preference. Our bodies really are different no matter that the "special snowflake" camp seems to claim that everyone just has to "eat less and move more" and nothing else matters. Good luck finding what works for you.
P.S.
This is the diet I'm following if you're interested:
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf0 -
I ate traditionally healthy, ran 20+km a week.. Upped my calories, decreased them, was constantly hungry. Was a paramedic student working out hard and lifting hard in the gym multiple times a week. 2nd year in the program at Christmas (last year) I topped out at my heaviest weight, 180.
I was depressed at how hard I was working out, and my clothes just kept fitting worse. A larger friend had found the keto subreddit and had been on it two months with positive results. I was willing to try anything. January to May I lost 32 pounds and felt the best I have. Keto flu kicked my *kitten*, took months to get fully over it actually even with sodium, magnesium and potassium added to my diet. I was on rideouts and couldn't take time off exercising.
Sadly i fell off the keto train this summer, and hit 165, but have been back on for a few weeks. Found this time 0 alcohol. If I have any, I stop anything productive for at least a week.. and it's not worth it. And I need to keep my calories below 1300. It's easy to eat more even when I am not actually hungry. Hit 158 and a bit today after having a few weeks of up and down weights. there were times the last time i was keto that measurements kept going down though the scale didn't move for a good long while.0 -
I had a "stall" that lasted for like 5 weeks (fluctuated on the same 2-3 pounds)....... of course I was disappointed when the scale wasn't moving, but my clothes were fitting better so I kept plugging away. Ultimately, this week I finally broke through my stall
Simply keep the faith and plug away at it unless there is some valid medical reason you can't - you should start seeing results! 0 -
I will tell you what I have noticed with doing lower carb. I will have a nice drop and then nothing for about 1 1/2 weeks following. It is almost like my body needs time to catch up. Then I will have another nice drop...rinse and repeat. I was involved in another low carb forum and this seemed to happen to alot of us...we would say it was the weight loss fairy visiting :happy: Keep it up...you are doing great!
edited to add: I know my MFP starting date makes it look like I am new to low carb, but I didn't start MFP until I was 296. My original starting weight was 320. 8 1/2 years ago I also did low carb to get my PCOS under control so I could get pregnant with my now 7yr. old twins
This is ME!!!!0 -
Huge weight losses when you first start most any weight loss program are because you have less food moving through your system. Loss of hydration also has as large impact. Low carb definitely works, but it is not magic. Eating low carb helps you be in control of what you eat and you tend to eat less calories, even though you're eating more calorie rich (containing fat) foods.
I sometimes worry that new low carbers eat too few carbs, and the carbs they do eat aren't the right kind. Too low carb eating (under 20g) can cause gout and other health problems! Because low carb is good, it does NOT mean even lower is better! Try to eat a large salad (maybe with steak or chicken on top) and a generous side of veggies (steamed fresh broccoli with melted cheese on top) every day. Eat lots of foods with one ingredient, and skip the junk. You'll get the carbs your body needs and get the full benefit of the low carb diet.
Ketosis is not an absolute requirement either. You can cut your carbs not as drastically and still follow a moderate carb intake (50-100) and still glean many of the benefits of low carb eating.
Don't get frustrated! The body is complex but low carb has been shown to be the most foolproof means of weight loss. Get some exercise. Be patient. And watch the pounds and inches fall off.
I agree with this. My doctor told me to stay under 100 grams per day and this gives you lots more flexibility. I keep my carbs down & eat the calories set by MFP and have lost 22lbs with a goal of 33lbs. I started in August. I am also 57 with a thyroid problem and still losing with low carb. Don't give up, it will work for you.0
