Overcoming carb fear, eating more carbs.. and losing weight

I have hypothyroid and tried to low carb for ages and just yo-yo'd. I've gone back onto carbs in the past month- although only GOOD carbs e.g oatmeal, fruit, yoghurt, some cereals (not overly sugary ones!) and I'm losing weight sustainably and quicker than I ever have when trying to low carb. I've lost 6lbs in 5 weeks after being pretty much the same weight give or take a couple of pounds for months!

For life in general you need carbs physically and socially and to stop yourself from losing your mind. I think only a handful of people go true low carb and stay on it for the rest of their lives.

I used to be TERRIFIED of going over 50g of carbs a day and would only eat vegetables towards my carb allowance. At the moment, I am not counting my macros and end up eating around 150g-200g of carbs a day and as I said the weight is coming off, and my thyroid hormones up until about a month ago were rock bottom.

I think people do low carb to get the scale moving and it will because of the water loss associated with glycogen depletion. I think eveyone considering a low or very low carb diet should ask themselves if they truly think they can do it FOREVER. Because resuming normal eating will quickly regain the weight loss. Also I think it is just so important to find a way to lose weight with carbs in your diet to prevent yo-yo. If you stick to consistent macro ratios it's like another thing your body can learn to trust is a constant. Messing around with these essential macros too much confuses your body. Focus on calories and good foods and the scale will move.

My point overall is, don't deprive yourself of an essential macro if ultimately you are going to go back to it. If you could commit to low carb forever it might be a different story.

The only reason I'm so strong on this is because I got infatuated with low carbs and become to fear carbs. All it did was drain me, make me socially awkward and I never learnt how to naturally lose true weight. I think it exacerbated my hypothyroidism and led to carb binges which obviously don't help. I now eat 200g of carbs a day predominantly from healthy sources. I feel happier stable and I know when the scales drop it is fat and not pseudo weight loss due to water release.

Don't get frustrated with plateaus that turn to extremes. It's at plateau points that define a weight loss journey. If you are really patient the scales start moving again and you manage to reach goal sustainably. Most people are impatient though and I believe this is the root cause of dieting failure, the impatience leads to something faddy unrealistic and hard to sustain in normal daily life and when people don't stick to these new miracle rules they fall off and regain weight. I have started to see plateaus as not an opportunity/excuse to try something different or take a new supplement or buy a new diet book but as a sign that my body needs a bit of time and it will start resuming loss when it's ready. The only reason I'm ok with this is because I know how accurate my logging is so I know the plateau isn't due to uncertainties there.

I do think low carb is good for people in some circumstances- with blood sugar issues or if they are trying to cut for modelling or whatever- but i think for the average girl trying to lose a couple of stone in a normal lifestyle it's good to include carbs and most importantly enjoy them and don't demonise them.

All of this is totally my opinion and i'm open to criticism. Also what works for my body and mind may not work for someone else, I just thought I would share my experience so that even if it helps one person and makes sense to one person I feel it is worth it.