Carbs make me binge

romping
romping Posts: 64 Member
edited September 21 in Health and Weight Loss
I guess this whole process is a learning one. I spent two weeks on a low carb SBD diet. I ate lots of proteins and vegetables. I felt great and lost 8 pounds in the process. The next step was to reintroduce good carbs into my diet. I started with some whole wheat tortillas and all bran cereal. Man alive!!! I got the munchies. I ate and ate and ate all I could get my hands on.

My lesson is that I have no self control and that a low carb diet actually removes my urge to binge. Hmmmm. Now what? I hate eating low carb. I don´t think it is sustainable. Any thoughts?

Replies

  • SP0472
    SP0472 Posts: 193 Member
    I'm starting low carb tomorrow [have to grocery shop tonight] and I know how you feel. I worry that I may not be able to do this long term but I know I HAVE to. Carbs [grains] not only make me binge, but they make both my Colitis and Fibromyalgia flare up and I can't afford to be on Disability my entire life because of the food choices I make.

    I'm not too familiar with SBD so I don't know about re-introducing foods on that plan. I'll be starting Atkins - it's easier for me to follow because grains don't come into play for a LONG time on that plan.
  • elmct57
    elmct57 Posts: 594 Member
    i do low carb and low glycemic--regular carbs and i will always be enemies as far as weight loss and maintenance goes. have you checked out sites like netrition. they offer products others have rated. i also switched to almond meal/flour instead of regular. there are used low carb cook books on amazon too. most groceries carry Bob's red mill products now too. it can be done without giving up flavor and you can make enjoyable meals. this is a site for one lady who had major weight loss success: http://genaw.com/lowcarb/
  • nalia08
    nalia08 Posts: 252
    I have done several versions of a low carb diet. All have not been 100% successfull. Unless you make low carb a lifestyle, it will never be successfull. I did an all protein for 4 weeks, lost 20 lbs, gained 17 back. Right now, I am doing a low carb, but I still have my treats. For example, I will eat balsamic dressing when I have a salad, but now and a gain I treat myself to ranch. I restrict breads and past, but will have a cheat day where I eat it. It's all about self control and portion control, which takes a while to break the old habit from. You can do it. You just have to modify it and decided what you just truely can not give up. For me, it was cheese! Then, just eat what you like in moderation.

    I hope this helps.
  • sjcply
    sjcply Posts: 817 Member
    I too have this problem! The more carbs I eat the more I want!:sad: After many years of trial and error (although I do struggle with this on weekends) if I eat carbs (good carbs) I do it at lunch. I make sure my breakfast is high protein, and for dinner I will eat protein/veggies. Drink lots of water, and I feel great.....oh yea and get in a good run too!

    I can not function without carbs, so I just make sure my protein intake is equal to or higher than my carb intake!
    40% protein, 30% carb, and 30% fat.......

    Good Luck to you!
  • stringcheeze
    stringcheeze Posts: 286
    My lesson is that I have no self control and that a low carb diet actually removes my urge to binge. Hmmmm. Now what? I hate eating low carb. I don´t think it is sustainable. Any thoughts?

    Its only unsustainable if you don't like eating low carb foods (fruits and veg with less than 10carbs per serving, protein, fat, etc) - what part of eating low carb don't you like? Can you adjust your favorite recipes to be low carb? I've recently discovered coconut flour and now can make typically high carb desserts into much lower carb cousins that are just as tasty.

    Some are just super intolerant of carbs and the sugars from the digestion of them signal "give me more!" from the body. I know I'm that way -- give me a 1/4 cup of rice and I'm starving in 15min and wanting more. Give me the same calorie amount in protein and I'm a happy camper for a good while.
  • jefskott99
    jefskott99 Posts: 4
    I've had the same problem. Trust me, I could eat fistful after fistful of potato chips, cookies, etc. There are lots of good things to eat out there, unfortunately, just not for those of us who tend to be less carb-tolerant. So, the South Beach approach is your ongoing day-to-day diet. Don't try to veer from that, but allow yourself to have a holiday every now and then.

    I've been doing SBD for the last eight weeks or so. I've lost 38 pounds at this point. Two years ago, I did the same thing dropping down to 213 pounds (I'm currently at 217) before going on a "normal" eating spree over the next year that cost me most of the weight loss I strived so hard for in 2008 (I dropped from 265 to 213 and bounced back up to 255).

    So, lesson learned...I don't get to re-introduce good carbs in any large amount. I get to eat a half a cup of rice, or a half whole-grain tortilla...I have pretty much a total ban on bread, and had my first bowl of cereal in weeks last night (I felt majorly guilty)...

    In the end, the carbs don't kill us...it's the fact that we binge on those carbs that does...if you are using My Fitness Pal every day to measure your calories, even on binge days, look at your calorie count...your binge days are through the roof. Your SBD-good days are probably 1200 calories or less (that may be high for you, I don't know...my daily goal is 1610)...my daily average when I'm "good" is 75% of my goal calories, and this isn't exactly Atkins-strict since I still manage 80 carbs in there (apples are a killer, so is rice, but they can both be good for you).

    Hang in there. If you want to binge, make it a good binge and a diet holiday. Remember that diet is no longer a two-week thing, it's your "diet" as in the way you eat from now on. Most of the time stick to SBD, dress the veggies and fruits up if you have to with low-carb, fattening (not too) dressings, sauces, etc. Bananas have become my new candy, and let's face it fresh strawberries, when you don't have a cookie jar or candy bar to go to, taste pretty darn wonderful. It is amazing when I have changed my perspective of what is yummy food how the fruits and veggies (like squash) seem to all of a sudden come to mind.

    Good luck with everything...

    Jeff
  • romping
    romping Posts: 64 Member
    Great replies and thank you all! I do believe that the low carb approach works for me. Looking down at those dang eggs with brocolli every morning is not easy. I live in South America and the low carb type prepackaged food isn´t available. What is available is a vast array of fresh fruits and vegetables of all sorts. The diet here is very high in carbs but I have a maid that can cook my stuff. I have no excuses. Keep up the support. I already feel better!
  • romping
    romping Posts: 64 Member
    You right Jeff. I don´t think I get to introduce too many carbs either. I´m going to keep at the SBD approach and try to do some fruit. The grains seem to really throw me for a loop. I went from a cup of all bran to oreos in no time flat. The kids junk food stash is too close for confort. When I was doing the protein and veggie phase, I had zero urge to even look at that stuff.
  • saverys_gal
    saverys_gal Posts: 808 Member
    Speaking as someone that eats low carb: you need to make it a lifestyle to to be able to do it constantly. You can NOT do it to lose the weight and then reintroduce all carbs and expect to keep the weight off.
    SBD and Atkins are a bit different in how they are set up-with Atkins you don't reintroduce grains until you're very close to your goal weight and I think that helps a lot with keeping the carb binges at bay. You really have to reintroduce the good carbs back in slowly and in small doses to keep yourself from going overboard.
    And you're much better off with making your own low carb foods and meals as opposed to buying anything prepackaged! You can do this! There are so many of us out there that are living proof that living low carb is a wonderful lifestyle and totally sustainable! I'm only 4lbs. away from my goal and it was done by eating low carb. :smile:
  • tmaksparkie
    tmaksparkie Posts: 279
    I have been on a low carb diet( medifast) for the last 10 months and lost 120 lbs it is a great lifestyle although for some people if you carb count is to low for long periods of time it can cause depression symptoms this being the reason I am transitioning off of low carb. I have learned a lot about carbs and nutrition along the way and I may not ever have a slice of bread or eat pasta anymore but it is all about eating the good complex carbs not the bad like cakes and white sugar products. This week I get to add in 1 cup fruit and wow did that apple taste good fate 10 months without. I used to be a big binger on white sugar products, loved cakes, cookies anything like that. Now the only thing I find that is a trigger food for me is granola. Low carb works just need to do it right. Good luck.
  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
    It may be the TYPE of carbs you hit first that caused the binge. I know my trigger is wheat. I can have most any other grain, vegie or fruit and be happy. I try to keep a balance of carbs and protein on a daily basis.
  • Nikiki
    Nikiki Posts: 993
    for me, I dont want to live without carbs forever so right now I'm eating low carb and each week introducing a little more carbs back in. I never took carbs completely out, week one still had fruit & a 100 calorie bag of popcorn in the afternoon, week 2 I added in oatmeal for breakfast and, last weekend I had waffles for breakfast, I'm in week 3 and most days I have the oatmeal at breakfast and a potato or sweet potato at dinner in the next couple of weeks I'm going to change my lunch from lettuce wraps to a pita or sandwhich (whole grain of course!) To help with the crazy cravings during weeks 1 and 2 I carried around a bag of veggies with me EVERYWHERE. it did NOT make the cravings go away, but at least I had something to chew on and it kept me from stealing my coworkers lunches and hitting up panera on the way home ;)

    whichever way you choose to go, good luck, but keep in mind at some point if you completely (or mostly) cut carbs out there will be a time when you decide to have "just one" like going to Olive Garden for dinner or at a party (remember the holidays are coming!) and if you've been denying yourself all this time and havent retrained your body to not want them constantly you wont be able to resist. for example I once worked at a hotel that hosted flight crews from the local airport. About 2 months in we got a new crew and this pilot came up to the front desk to get his key and introduce himself and went on and on about how he'd been doing Atkins, lost 75 lbs, hadnt had a carb in 2 years. Then he smelled out fresh baked cookies. That was his breaking point, he ate ever single cookie we had out (at least a dozen) over the course of the next month our shuttle driver would call me from the airport to warn me if that pilot was one of the ones being picked up so I could hide the cookies. over the next 3 years that I worked there he must have gained at least 50lbs!

    I know that there are people with the will power to continue an Atkins or SBD lifestyle indefinitly, but I know my limits and I would never be able to do that, at some point I'd find my version of the fresh baked cookies and lose all the hard work I had done.
  • saverys_gal
    saverys_gal Posts: 808 Member
    for me, I dont want to live without carbs forever so right now I'm eating low carb and each week introducing a little more carbs back in. I never took carbs completely out, week one still had fruit & a 100 calorie bag of popcorn in the afternoon, week 2 I added in oatmeal for breakfast and, last weekend I had waffles for breakfast, I'm in week 3 and most days I have the oatmeal at breakfast and a potato or sweet potato at dinner in the next couple of weeks I'm going to change my lunch from lettuce wraps to a pita or sandwhich (whole grain of course!) To help with the crazy cravings during weeks 1 and 2 I carried around a bag of veggies with me EVERYWHERE. it did NOT make the cravings go away, but at least I had something to chew on and it kept me from stealing my coworkers lunches and hitting up panera on the way home ;)

    whichever way you choose to go, good luck, but keep in mind at some point if you completely (or mostly) cut carbs out there will be a time when you decide to have "just one" like going to Olive Garden for dinner or at a party (remember the holidays are coming!) and if you've been denying yourself all this time and havent retrained your body to not want them constantly you wont be able to resist. for example I once worked at a hotel that hosted flight crews from the local airport. About 2 months in we got a new crew and this pilot came up to the front desk to get his key and introduce himself and went on and on about how he'd been doing Atkins, lost 75 lbs, hadnt had a carb in 2 years. Then he smelled out fresh baked cookies. That was his breaking point, he ate ever single cookie we had out (at least a dozen) over the course of the next month our shuttle driver would call me from the airport to warn me if that pilot was one of the ones being picked up so I could hide the cookies. over the next 3 years that I worked there he must have gained at least 50lbs!

    I know that there are people with the will power to continue an Atkins or SBD lifestyle indefinitly, but I know my limits and I would never be able to do that, at some point I'd find my version of the fresh baked cookies and lose all the hard work I had done.

    @ Nikki: this pilot was NOT doing Atkins properly. Atkins is not a no carb plan, it is LOW carb. I just want to make that distinction for anyone else reading this so they don't get misinformation.
  • romping
    romping Posts: 64 Member
    I checked out Linda´s Low carb website. Very cool. Lot´s of what appear easy recipes. Thanks for the tip!
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
    No carb never works if your a carb lover to begin with.
    there are many low carb bread's, pita's, tortilla's and pasta's
    The trick is to eat well balanced good carbs fresh fruits, vegies and whole grains, along with portion control!
  • baker_c
    baker_c Posts: 251 Member
    I have a hard time with Carbs too! Sweets are the worst. If I eat one, they will call me all night long. So, I try to not even eat the one - it's easier that way.

    :ohwell: :ohwell:
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