Success on a Low Carb Diet?

just make sure you drink "tons" of water if you plan to lower your carbs and raise ur protein so your kidneys stay healthy. im trying it for about 2 weeks . ill let you know how it goes

"Uhh, you can eat as many darned vegetables as you want on a ketogenic diet"

That's probably true. But I reset myself by going back to the original recommendation - 2 cups of greens, 1 cup of other vegetables, every day. Since I used to hate vegetables, this is a significant change.

It has worked for me (2 years and counting). I prefer the term "lifestyle" rather than diet. I will make changes when it stops working -- no big deal.

The best way to lose weight is to stay away from diets. Everytime I do I end up falling off the band wagon or gaining it all back instantly!

If you go back to eating the same way you did when you got fat, you'll gain back, no matter what "diet" you went on.

Your body NEEDS carbs for energy.

False. Your body needs glucose, which it can make via gluconeogenesis - from other sources besides dietary carbs.

Eating lower carb (how low depends on my activity level and goals) and no grains has been much more sustainable for me (will be 2 years in August), and has enabled me to stop taking a lot of medications (no more acid reflux medicine after 7 years, no more bc pills since I have a regular period now, etc) and allieved other ailments (allergy symptoms, eczema, IBS symptoms, etc lessened to gone). So for rme, it's not just been for weight loss/maintenance, it's for overall health.

Yes, there were a couple times in that 21 months that I fell off the wagon; one being the first holiday season in 2011 when I went back to eating what I wanted without the exercise I had been doing - and gained back with a vengeance. I learned my lesson, and actually lost weight over the 2012 holidays (10lbs in December 2012, versus gaining that much the previous year). If I can sustain and even LOSE during the holidays, I say I can do this for life.

@ martinah
Looks like you're doing great! 40 lbs loss is nothing to scoff about. Keep up the amazing work!!

I've been eating this way (low carb for me = about 20 net carbs a day) for about 3 years and feel great. But, according to a lot of people on this site, I shouldn't feel great, I should be having a hard time maintaining, and I should have put all of the weight back on and then some. I should feel sluggish and lethargic.
The truth is that I have more energy than I've ever had. I don't feel the need to take an afternoon nap every day. I am never hungry, I don't have cravings....on and on!
I just wanted to know if anyone else is having these same results.

When I look at your ticker it doesn't seem to jibe with this glowing success story:

Nope, it doesn't. I lost 67 pounds, got preggers, hormones went crazy, I ate every bad thing I could get my hands on, miscarried a few months later, went into a depression, didn't give a crap about my body for a year, gained some weight back, and half-assed maintained for over a year. Now I'm getting serious about weight loss again. Since I got serious about weight loss again in March I've lost 10 pounds. Thanks for bringing up a painful subject.

I had lost weight before I even joined MFP, so the ticker isn't all that accurate.

You shouldn't have to explain yourself to all the negative people. Good for you bouncing back from a horrible situation in life. Some people just cant't help but be negative.
If it works for you then do it. I lost 4stone a few years back by cutting carbs and have kept it off. I have gained a little after my wedding last year which i am now working on but for the most part have kept it off and it suits me

My opinion on low carb dieting, as a former low carb dieter that lost 80 pounds doing it and kept it off for several years.

Low carb can work but the laws of energy balance still apply. Low carb tends to advertise that the insulin effects and such are what is causing the weight loss so you can eat how ever much you want. When pressed into a corner they will admit that calorie balance still applies.

People tend to have success for these main reasons

1. It restricts the macro that makes up the largest portion of the average person's diet
2. It automatically eliminates the majority of foods that people tend to overreat (bread, pasta, pizza, cookes, cake, ice cream, candy etc.)

By effect, people tend to snack and eat less and automatically create a calorie deficit. They just don't know they are creating a calorie deficit.

When people struggle, that is why the first recommendation is to eliminate cheeses and nuts, the two low carb snack foods high in calories that is easy for people to overreat.

I also think, people tend to attribute some of the benefits of a low carb diet (increased energy, better health markers, etc.) is not the low carb diet per se but rather the effects of a reduced calorie diet, not overreating and losing weight.

For me, i was never a binger until I started low carb dieting. Because of my belief that eating carbs put me into fat storage mode, I would start saying to myself, well if I'm ruining my day I better make it count.

Controlling overall intake tends to help that tendency much better than low carb. And once you realize it's the calories that are causing weight loss instead of the low carb, it makes sense to add in some foods you enjoy with carbs in moderation.

how do you maintain your weight? how did you reintroduce carbs back into your diet without gaining weight? I just finished a very low carb diet and am trying to maintain weight and slowly adding carbs back in