going from low carb back to calorie counting

Options
Bearface115
Bearface115 Posts: 574 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone, i have been on an up and down rollercoaster with being on a low carb diet and i feel like my body is not focusing on responding to the realistic goals i want because I'll lose weight but then immediately gain it again if i eat wrong. My question is, is it to late to go back to calorie counting? Or did i mess my body up? I still want to lose 60 lbs.
«1

Replies

  • MammaC66
    MammaC66 Posts: 135 Member
    Options
    My daughter and son-in-law started out for a few months on a very low carb diet and then switched to MFP and they are doing great! I did Atkins a few years ago and lost 125 pounds, but gradually gained over half of it back. This time I am learning to eat right and feel confident I can keep it off. I just couldn't sustain a lc diet forever, and I know I can eat this way forever. I love it! Best of luck to you!
  • soulynyc
    soulynyc Posts: 302 Member
    Options
    i so know what you mean.. same here. i was losing nicely then began to eat carbs again and i can tell i've put on the inches .. i'm hoping the damage hasn't been too bad. waiting a few days before i weigh in. Anyway i think i'm going to go halfway.. between lower carbs and counting calories. meaning i will try to eliminate those carbs that make me feel ill and keep those that make me feel great like veggies and fruits. and be more mindful about the bad carbs cause lets face it those suckers are good. i think i'll limit it to under 100 grams a day. maybe cause i don't even know what iam doing really. now i'm babbling. take care
  • dusty_712001
    dusty_712001 Posts: 172 Member
    Options
    As long as you maintain a calorie deficit to lose or eat your maintainence calories to stay the same your fine. You may gain a few pounds in water weight at first, but the only reason you will gain the majority of weight back from adkins is the same reason you would gain your weight back from any diet.....regularly eating more calories than you burn.
  • Marquism123
    Marquism123 Posts: 152 Member
    Options
    Bump as am interested in responses
  • Lina4Lina
    Lina4Lina Posts: 712 Member
    Options
    No it is never too late, you will have to understand that you will gain weight the first week. It is not fat, it is water and your glycogen stores being restored.
  • vjrose
    vjrose Posts: 809 Member
    Options
    I would go slow returning to a diet that includes carbs, add them back in slowly and make sure they are healthy carbs, not white carbs like breads and pastas. If you go slow and stay on a healthy track you should be able to increase without a bunch of issues. You will need to log religiously though and watch your calories carefully. It is easy with calorie laden carbs to not realize you are going over really easily. I would say if you want something with carbs then pre log it and see what the calories are first, then adjust your intake correspondlingly.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,287 Member
    Options
    Hi, I joined mfp almost one month ago after doing Atkins induction for a month and I didn't lose anything! I transitioned over here..and did low carb/ counting 1200 calories a day. It is working for me..and I am learning that a calorie is a calorie and I'm eating carbs again. I also have seen the light..that I can have variety if I just learn how to fuel my body.

    However..I did maintain my weight on low carb...but don't know if I'll do that after I reach goal. I think all these years..I've tried "diets" that really are different versions of calorie restriction. I think for very overweight people, low carb works..just because they are really eating fewer calories than they were when they ate everything. I noticed on the low carb forum that most of them stall and hit plateaus and the same stuff you see here and on any other diet forum.
  • Ke22yB
    Ke22yB Posts: 969 Member
    Options
    I did every diet including being a vegan so Atkins Ornish Eades etc etc I dieted myself to 367 pounds then I stopped all the diets that I couldnt wait to be over and let me eat again and started changing my life Its never to late and dont think you have to get manic about doing this and that to be successful just go normal goals use your MFP numbers your profile says the exercise is in place already.
    The idea for me is to live a normal controled life something I can be forever so no more extremes and the weight is coming off the fitness is improving the goals keep changing for tne better
    Be normal eat in a controlled way work out
    BE HAPPY
  • getninshape56
    getninshape56 Posts: 42 Member
    Options
    I was successful 5 years ago losing 40 pounds on The South Beach Diet. I am insulin resistance and found it was a way to keep the blood sugars in check. I have since gained it all back, and then some. I find it very restrictive, although I have altered my eating ever since. No white anything and I am much more aware now of healthy oils etc, so it wasn't all for nothing.

    Hoping with MFP I will be able to lose while eating ALL types of foods. Interested in reading the other responses too.
  • taem
    taem Posts: 495 Member
    Options
    To me, after finishing a diet, any diet, the weight comes back if you do not exercise (implies more calories in than out). However, I do not think that counting calories is the best way to do this. Please let me explain.

    Have you seen (in the wild and not in captivity), a bird so fat it cannot fly? or any overweight, wild animal? I never have. Do they count calories? (this is from D. Lisle, Pleasure Trap) Do you think animals in the wild, when faced with a lot of food, overeats? No, they procreate, they do not overeat, their body tells them to move on. I thought that was very interesting.

    Why do humans overeat? I believe because, as Lisle puts it, we have concentrated artificial foods that are packed with macro-nutrients never found in the wild and that bang our pleasure circuits (sugar, fat, salt). e.g. french fries: a thin sliced potato that is saturated with fat and then salted and then ketchup that has sugar before you eat it. We must then, count calories.

    Lisle suggests that if you eat as natural as you can, your body has the ability to figure out when you have eaten enough for the meal/day.

    A non-food example is chronic fatigue: we have artificial light that robs us from sleeping, so we rely on alarm clocks to wake us up, coffee to pick us up, and we are constantly tired. This is not natural and we must learn to listen to our bodies.

    Now, I did count calories initially, but tried Lisle's approach. I am still on that journey!

    I think you have a wonderful opportunity now that you have lost the weight to listen to your body, it does take time for your body to adjust but I think it is worth it. PM me if you are interested in learning more.
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
    Options
    To me, after finishing a diet, any diet, the weight comes back if you do not exercise (implies more calories in than out). However, I do not think that counting calories is the best way to do this. Please let me explain.

    Have you seen (in the wild and not in captivity), a bird so fat it cannot fly? or any overweight, wild animal? I never have. Do they count calories? (this is from D. Lisle, Pleasure Trap) Do you think animals in the wild, when faced with a lot of food, overeats? No, they procreate, they do not overeat, their body tells them to move on. I thought that was very interesting.

    Why do humans overeat? I believe because, as Lisle puts it, we have concentrated artificial foods that are packed with macro-nutrients never found in the wild and that bang our pleasure circuits (sugar, fat, salt). e.g. french fries: a thin sliced potato that is saturated with fat and then salted and then ketchup that has sugar before you eat it. We must then, count calories.

    Lisle suggests that if you eat as natural as you can, your body has the ability to figure out when you have eaten enough for the meal/day.

    A non-food example is chronic fatigue: we have artificial light that robs us from sleeping, so we rely on alarm clocks to wake us up, coffee to pick us up, and we are constantly tired. This is not natural and we must learn to listen to our bodies.

    Now, I did count calories initially, but tried Lisle's approach. I am still on that journey!

    I think you have a wonderful opportunity now that you have lost the weight to listen to your body, it does take time for your body to adjust but I think it is worth it. PM me if you are interested in learning more.

    Bingo :)

    Just Eat Real Food.
  • afcgirl
    afcgirl Posts: 31 Member
    Options
    Low carbing does not make you gain weight back any faster when you go off then you would if you had been doing WW and then went off plan. So if that is the reason you are stopping low carbing, don't do it.

    I have personal experience with this, having been low carbing for years now. I have also done WW in the past.
  • msstuard
    msstuard Posts: 131 Member
    Options
    I would go slow returning to a diet that includes carbs, add them back in slowly and make sure they are healthy carbs, not white carbs like breads and pastas. If you go slow and stay on a healthy track you should be able to increase without a bunch of issues. You will need to log religiously though and watch your calories carefully. It is easy with calorie laden carbs to not realize you are going over really easily. I would say if you want something with carbs then pre log it and see what the calories are first, then adjust your intake correspondlingly.

    absolutely, I lost most of my weight on Atkins, now I'm on a whole foods high fiber life style. It all comes down to calories and activity. make your changes gradual and keep track. Good Luck
  • Hendrix7
    Hendrix7 Posts: 1,903 Member
    Options
    I don't get it, you should still have been counting calories even on a low carb diet.

    Just because you are low carb doesn't mean you can eat as little or as much as you want of other foods and expect results, despite what low-carbers would like you to believe.
  • wewon
    wewon Posts: 838 Member
    Options
    To me, after finishing a diet, any diet, the weight comes back if you do not exercise (implies more calories in than out). However, I do not think that counting calories is the best way to do this. Please let me explain.

    Have you seen (in the wild and not in captivity), a bird so fat it cannot fly? or any overweight, wild animal? I never have. Do they count calories? (this is from D. Lisle, Pleasure Trap) Do you think animals in the wild, when faced with a lot of food, overeats? No, they procreate, they do not overeat, their body tells them to move on. I thought that was very interesting.

    Why do humans overeat? I believe because, as Lisle puts it, we have concentrated artificial foods that are packed with macro-nutrients never found in the wild and that bang our pleasure circuits (sugar, fat, salt). e.g. french fries: a thin sliced potato that is saturated with fat and then salted and then ketchup that has sugar before you eat it. We must then, count calories.

    Lisle suggests that if you eat as natural as you can, your body has the ability to figure out when you have eaten enough for the meal/day.

    A non-food example is chronic fatigue: we have artificial light that robs us from sleeping, so we rely on alarm clocks to wake us up, coffee to pick us up, and we are constantly tired. This is not natural and we must learn to listen to our bodies.

    Now, I did count calories initially, but tried Lisle's approach. I am still on that journey!

    I think you have a wonderful opportunity now that you have lost the weight to listen to your body, it does take time for your body to adjust but I think it is worth it. PM me if you are interested in learning more.

    Exactly.

    Counting calories is one way to relate to food on a temporary basis but if you are managing your food with a scale and calculator its time to take a critical look as to why.

    When eating whole foods it almost become unneeded to manage these things. Your body naturally regulates you.
  • LowcarbNY
    LowcarbNY Posts: 546 Member
    Options
    Have you seen (in the wild and not in captivity), a bird so fat it cannot fly?
    A bird, so fat it can not fly will be eaten by the next predator who chances by. That is why you don't see fat sparrows.
  • vytamindi
    vytamindi Posts: 845 Member
    Options
    I don't get it, you should still have been counting calories even on a low carb diet.

    Just because you are low carb doesn't mean you can eat as little or as much as you want of other foods and expect results, despite what low-carbers would like you to believe.

    Those doing low carb tend to not count calories because they're eating such calorie dense foods, it's theoretically easy to maintain a deficit through a diet of foods that keep you satiated. Not me.

    I've been using MFP habitually since I've entered ketosis just so I could keep track of my carbs, but I quickly learned how useful it was to track my fat/protein/carb ratios. I don't think I'll ever go back to not logging now!

    To the OP: But that's what works for me! Sorry low carb didn't work for you, assuming everything was done right.
  • MaraDiaz
    MaraDiaz Posts: 4,604 Member
    Options
    I do both. The difference between losing, maintaining, and gaining is so small for me (1200 I lose slowly, 1300-1400 I seem to maintain, any higher and I gain) that I have to count calories even on very low carb.

    It works, just not as fast as my impatient self would like. Staying low carb keeps most of the cravings at bay so I plan to continue low carb at least until I start working out heavily in the Fall.
  • volume77
    volume77 Posts: 670 Member
    Options
    id like to know this answer
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,925 Member
    Options
    Calories still need to be accounted for, even in a low carb diet. Water weight generally mucks with the brain.

Categories