VERY low carb diet?!

I just got over a 4 day binge.. Feeling discouraged because I have been sitting at the same weight for the past two months or so..and two weeks ago I finally got over my plateau and now I'm back where I started!

Anyway, I am going to Cuba in 17 days. I weigh 138 right now (or so) and want to be 130 by the time I go to Cuba. I am starting a very low carb diet today. Only going to eat carbs from veggies. No pasta, rice, bread. I was just wondering if any of you have had success with this and/or have any advice? :)

Replies

  • BombshellPhoenix
    BombshellPhoenix Posts: 1,693 Member
    I love how crash diets always have to happen for an event that's happening in like a week or two.

    Do you really think you're going to be magically transformed in two weeks? Most of your loss will be water weight and will return when you eat normally again.

    The best way to recover from binging is to teach yourself sustainable habits by accepting that it happened and moving on. Logging accurate and picking a sustainable deficit will set you up to lose weight slowly and retaining muscle, leaving you leaner at goal and the perk....you'll learn habits to keep the weight off!

    Or continue the yo yo. Which ever
  • waltcote
    waltcote Posts: 372 Member
    That sounds good to me. I try to avoid white carbs. If I do rice it is brown rice. Potatoes I do sweet potatoes. But veggies are definitely good carbs. Have a fun trip!
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    Find an eating style you can stick with long term, and do that. Very restrictive eating that you cannot maintain long term sets you up for binges. The majority of your weight loss from going low carb would be water weight which would come right back on as soon as you went back to your normal level of carbs, which means it'll happen during your vacation as you're sampling the local cuisine.
  • eh_its_sarah
    eh_its_sarah Posts: 61 Member
    I love how crash diets always have to happen for an event that's happening in like a week or two.

    Do you really think you're going to be magically transformed in two weeks? Most of your loss will be water weight and will return when you eat normally again.

    The best way to recover from binging is to teach yourself sustainable habits by accepting that it happened and moving on. Logging accurate and picking a sustainable deficit will set you up to lose weight slowly and retaining muscle, leaving you leaner at goal and the perk....you'll learn habits to keep the weight off!

    Or continue the yo yo. Which ever


    Um, Okay. I have lost all together 60 pounds in a year. I HAVE changed my habits and completely changed my lifestyle. It was this past weekend where I messed up.. and I want to lose 8 pounds before Cuba. I am aware it will be some water weight, But I don't want to go there bloated so I was assuming low carb was the best option. I am not yo-yo dieting so don't assume.
  • BombshellPhoenix
    BombshellPhoenix Posts: 1,693 Member
    I love how crash diets always have to happen for an event that's happening in like a week or two.

    Do you really think you're going to be magically transformed in two weeks? Most of your loss will be water weight and will return when you eat normally again.

    The best way to recover from binging is to teach yourself sustainable habits by accepting that it happened and moving on. Logging accurate and picking a sustainable deficit will set you up to lose weight slowly and retaining muscle, leaving you leaner at goal and the perk....you'll learn habits to keep the weight off!

    Or continue the yo yo. Which ever


    Um, Okay. I have lost all together 60 pounds in a year. I HAVE changed my habits and completely changed my lifestyle. It was this past weekend where I messed up.. and I want to lose 8 pounds before Cuba. I am aware it will be some water weight, But I don't want to go there bloated so I was assuming low carb was the best option. I am not yo-yo dieting so don't assume.

    You gained 8 lbs in a weekend? Highly unlikely. You're probably just retaining water and may have gained a pound or two at best. So, there's that

    It is yo yoing if you're willing to go to drastic measures just for some feeble scale weight. Scale weight is meaningless in the end.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    You just had a 4 day binge, which means you can't stick to your regular diet as it is, yet you want to be even more restrictive? I don't really get it.

    But by all means, if you want to try it, do it. I know there's no way I could stick to it, personally. And I'm assuming you will go back to eating normally for your vacation, so expect a 10 pound weight gain from it...
  • pander101
    pander101 Posts: 677 Member
    I've done low carb and had initial success, but I was JUST starting out on weight lost so I had weight to lose. But you might just stress yourself out if you don't end up dropping that weight. It was only 4 days and you've lost nearly 60lbs. To me, that doesn't sound like a huge deal and an 8lbs difference doesn't seem like a thing to stress out over. Cutting out refined carbs is a great thing all together, which is generally what people mean when they talk about a low carb diet, so that's healthy. So do what you will, but just don't worry about it too much if you don't quite reach those last few pounds before the trip, that's asking for a bit of weight to come off in 17 days. You looked like you have come so far already and that's fantastic! I've heard those last 5-10lbs are always a pain to get rid of. Good luck and have fun in Cuba!
  • eh_its_sarah
    eh_its_sarah Posts: 61 Member
    I love how crash diets always have to happen for an event that's happening in like a week or two.

    Do you really think you're going to be magically transformed in two weeks? Most of your loss will be water weight and will return when you eat normally again.

    The best way to recover from binging is to teach yourself sustainable habits by accepting that it happened and moving on. Logging accurate and picking a sustainable deficit will set you up to lose weight slowly and retaining muscle, leaving you leaner at goal and the perk....you'll learn habits to keep the weight off!

    Or continue the yo yo. Which ever


    Um, Okay. I have lost all together 60 pounds in a year. I HAVE changed my habits and completely changed my lifestyle. It was this past weekend where I messed up.. and I want to lose 8 pounds before Cuba. I am aware it will be some water weight, But I don't want to go there bloated so I was assuming low carb was the best option. I am not yo-yo dieting so don't assume.

    You gained 8 lbs in a weekend? Highly unlikely. You're probably just retaining water and may have gained a pound or two at best. So, there's that

    It is yo yoing if you're willing to go to drastic measures just for some feeble scale weight. Scale weight is meaningless in the end.


    No. I did not gain 8 pounds in a weekend. I said that two weeks ago I got over my plateau. I was able to get down to 134. Now I am back up to 138. So that's 4 pounds. Which I am aware is probably water retention. And I don't consider not eating carbs such as pasta, rice and bread as drastic. I was simply asking if it worked for anyone. That's it.
  • 6ftamazon
    6ftamazon Posts: 340 Member
    Low carb is good if you want to lose water weight since carbs retain the most water. I'm actually doing a keto diet right now, purely for health reasons. You pee like crazy on low carb though.

    I'm just going to say, I doubt anyone is going to notice your 2 lb weight gain. (Because realistically, you didn't gain 8 lbs of fat), but whatever floats your boat.
  • eh_its_sarah
    eh_its_sarah Posts: 61 Member
    Low carb is good if you want to lose water weight since carbs retain the most water. I'm actually doing a keto diet right now, purely for health reasons. You pee like crazy on low carb though.

    I'm just going to say, I doubt anyone is going to notice your 2 lb weight gain. (Because realistically, you didn't gain 8 lbs of fat), but whatever floats your boat.

    I'm not doing it for anyone else. I am doing it for myself. But thank you
  • eh_its_sarah
    eh_its_sarah Posts: 61 Member
    I've done low carb and had initial success, but I was JUST starting out on weight lost so I had weight to lose. But you might just stress yourself out if you don't end up dropping that weight. It was only 4 days and you've lost nearly 60lbs. To me, that doesn't sound like a huge deal and an 8lbs difference doesn't seem like a thing to stress out over. Cutting out refined carbs is a great thing all together, which is generally what people mean when they talk about a low carb diet, so that's healthy. So do what you will, but just don't worry about it too much if you don't quite reach those last few pounds before the trip, that's asking for a bit of weight to come off in 17 days. You looked like you have come so far already and that's fantastic! I've heard those last 5-10lbs are always a pain to get rid of. Good luck and have fun in Cuba!

    Thank you! I am very excited. Never been to Cuba before. But yes, the last 5-10 is hard.
  • BombshellPhoenix
    BombshellPhoenix Posts: 1,693 Member
    I love how crash diets always have to happen for an event that's happening in like a week or two.

    Do you really think you're going to be magically transformed in two weeks? Most of your loss will be water weight and will return when you eat normally again.

    The best way to recover from binging is to teach yourself sustainable habits by accepting that it happened and moving on. Logging accurate and picking a sustainable deficit will set you up to lose weight slowly and retaining muscle, leaving you leaner at goal and the perk....you'll learn habits to keep the weight off!

    Or continue the yo yo. Which ever


    Um, Okay. I have lost all together 60 pounds in a year. I HAVE changed my habits and completely changed my lifestyle. It was this past weekend where I messed up.. and I want to lose 8 pounds before Cuba. I am aware it will be some water weight, But I don't want to go there bloated so I was assuming low carb was the best option. I am not yo-yo dieting so don't assume.

    You gained 8 lbs in a weekend? Highly unlikely. You're probably just retaining water and may have gained a pound or two at best. So, there's that

    It is yo yoing if you're willing to go to drastic measures just for some feeble scale weight. Scale weight is meaningless in the end.


    No. I did not gain 8 pounds in a weekend. I said that two weeks ago I got over my plateau. I was able to get down to 134. Now I am back up to 138. So that's 4 pounds. Which I am aware is probably water retention. And I don't consider not eating carbs such as pasta, rice and bread as drastic. I was simply asking if it worked for anyone. That's it.

    Low carb or high carb. Calorie deficit rules weight loss. For the record.

    And btw, I think you look fine the way you are. If this is a self image issue, you need to dig deeper than what a lousy scale has to say. It does not define you.
  • sljohnson1207
    sljohnson1207 Posts: 818 Member
    I am going to assume that the photo in your avatar is you. In which case, I think you look absolutely beautiful, healthy and gorgeous. If you're sure the 4 lbs is just water weight, watch your sodium and increase your water for a few days, and watch it come right back off. Now, about the other 4 lbs.....in my humble opinion, you don't need to lose them, but if you insist on meeting that number goal, I know that a colleague of mine (a man) who had a lot of weight to lose has done extremely well by cutting out starchy "white" carbs. He cut out white breads, white pastas, white potatoes, and sugar.

    Keep in mind, he had quite a bit of pounds to lose. You don't look overweight at all. I think it would be very difficult for you to lose those 4 lbs in that short period of time with that strategy and it be healthy weight loss (meaning muscle sparing). However, I don't think it will hurt you if it's the only thing you cut from your diet. I personally think you'd do better just to cut sodium, drink lots of water, avoid carbonated beverages and alcohol, and just do your normal exercising. Even if you don't lose the 4 lbs, you'll still look and feel fabulous...and not bloated.

    As another poster indicated, you may just work so hard to get this weight off before vacation just to come home with it in tow again. And it will most likely be water weight, unless you really, really go overboard on vacation.

    ETA: I do very low carb diet with high fat and moderate protein because of medical conditions. It works well for me, but it isn't fast except in the first week.
  • Aitza43
    Aitza43 Posts: 1
    Go for it! You'll shed water weight and get to that weight that is going to make you feel great. So go for it. Obviously you must know something about being healthy and losing weight, so a low carb diet and some good exercise for a few days isn't going to suddenly make you rebound and gain another 50Lbs back. Enjoy yourself in Cuba.
  • ElliottTN
    ElliottTN Posts: 1,614 Member
    If you want that weight off for your trip then look-up the "3 day military diet"

    If you follow it once a week until your trip (really follow it) then I guarantee you will have that weight off and probably a few more by the time you go on your trip. Feel free to weight yourself every morning when you are doing it if you have doubts.

    Long term keeping it off = completely different story but in a tight situation like your in then it can be short term magic.
  • eh_its_sarah
    eh_its_sarah Posts: 61 Member
    I am going to assume that the photo in your avatar is you. In which case, I think you look absolutely beautiful, healthy and gorgeous. If you're sure the 4 lbs is just water weight, watch your sodium and increase your water for a few days, and watch it come right back off. Now, about the other 4 lbs.....in my humble opinion, you don't need to lose them, but if you insist on meeting that number goal, I know that a colleague of mine (a man) who had a lot of weight to lose has done extremely well by cutting out starchy "white" carbs. He cut out white breads, white pastas, white potatoes, and sugar.

    Keep in mind, he had quite a bit of pounds to lose. You don't look overweight at all. I think it would be very difficult for you to lose those 4 lbs in that short period of time with that strategy and it be healthy weight loss (meaning muscle sparing). However, I don't think it will hurt you if it's the only thing you cut from your diet. I personally think you'd do better just to cut sodium, drink lots of water, avoid carbonated beverages and alcohol, and just do your normal exercising. Even if you don't lose the 4 lbs, you'll still look and feel fabulous...and not bloated.

    As another poster indicated, you may just work so hard to get this weight off before vacation just to come home with it in tow again. And it will most likely be water weight, unless you really, really go overboard on vacation.

    ETA: I do very low carb diet with high fat and moderate protein because of medical conditions. It works well for me, but it isn't fast except in the first week.

    Thank you for the nice reply! Some people can be so damn rude. I am usually pretty good about drinking lots of water, watching my sodium and not having carbonated beverages. I do have to say, alcohol is my problem over the weekends. I am going to cut out alcohol until Cuba and I think that will make a substantial difference.
    I know I dont have much more weight to lose, I just want to lose a lot of bloating and what not before Cuba.

    Thank you for the advice and compliments.. you are beautiful as well. :)
  • BombshellPhoenix
    BombshellPhoenix Posts: 1,693 Member
    Rude/honest. .. it was the same information. And given the initial post was all I had to go on.

    I would just not stress yourself out over it and enjoy yourself. Sorry if I offended you. I've seen one too many people suffering from body image issues and wanting to starve themselves or go to extremes to be something they were all along. Perfection is madness. Love and acceptance is freedom. Js.

    I do wish you the best on your trip, btw