Snooozie wrote: »

I tend to stick to more berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries) if i want fruit personally; but still have an apple and a banana occasionally if I feel like one. I haven't eliminated any fruits really; I just consider bananas and pineapple and those types a treat as opposed to a staple

This is me too. And I cut back on bread a bit more, and make sure it's really hearty, high quality, high fiber bread.
I still eat fruit. Some apples, but more berries. Bananas are a treat.

I eat apples all year, usually every day. I eat other berries in season.

I've cut way back on fruit to keep my carbs low. Vegetables are more of a priority for me.

JAGgirl47 wrote: »

Has anyone noticed that they did lose weight more easily since lowering carbs? What about sugar, natural or "added"?

I lost 24 pounds in about 7 months and now in a very healthy weight range (though I may eventually lose 5 more vanity pounds, I'm not stressing about it). I don't eat bread any more (or rarely, maybe some wheat toast once a month if that). I eat just a very small amount of mashed potatoes and rice once a week. My carbs come from veggies and a little bit of fruit. I use stevia in my coffee and avoid sweets. Almost never eat sweets any more. I have found some low carb alternatives as desserts.

10 years ago, before perimenopause for sure, I did the low glycemic diet. I cut virtually all highly processed carbs. I did eat whole grain breads, whole wheat pasta, and brown rice, and I ate plenty of fruit. Sugar (in pastries, etc) was a special occasion treat only. I dropped like 25 lbs in two months. But I felt like I was working myself to death because I was cooking almost all my family's food from scratch, I had two young children and I was working two part time jobs. I was exhausted. And I couldn't eat anywhere but in my own home. No dinner parties, no church socials, no restaurants, take my food with me when visiting family, etc. It was no way to live! And as my kids got older, it became even more difficult to manage, as I was ending up at fast food establishments between school/kids sport practice/church/work/ball games, etc out of necessity (yes, I could have packed food for three meals EVERY DAY, etc, but I am not super woman!). Anyway, the weight flew back on.

So, at least before the hormones hit, I can definitely say that controlling carbs works.

I've not tried it since then, since family life continued to get even more hectic. I went back to work almost full time, kids schedules got heavier, and now the budget demands my using carbs to stretch my meat enough to afford to feed to nearly grown, really large and fit, active sons. So before perimenopause hit I managed to lose by just counting calories.

But that no longer seems to work.

Now I am very conscious of keeping my carbs to a moderate level, while keeping protein high. I also have eliminated most sugary treats, except for special occasions. But I would not consider myself low carb.

I am still having great difficulty losing. I just started a cut after sitting at maintenance for nearly four months. (I had to have a mental break after hitting a brick wall for so long--not months but years). I managed to "cut" nearly 3000 calories last week. Which should be nearly a pound. But I'm sitting right where I was. I'm hoping it will show up next week, since sometimes it seems to take a little longer to show up on the scale.

I guess if keeping a decent deficit doesn't work this time, I will just give up and try to not gain. Maybe I could go low carb, or low glycemic once the kids are out of the house. But hubby has a "delicate" digestive system, and all the whole grains of the low glycemic stuff are awful for him. (I think he has irritable bowel, but he has denied it for years and years and years.). So it is like his system can only handle the processed stuff.

Although I'm seeing some nice body changes and fitness gains from working out, I'm still pretty discouraged about the whole weight loss thing. I'm certainly following all this with interest.

lol sabine... luck being sent! I'm on the road to losing the 25lbs I regained in the year after I hit my goal weight, and the jump start for me was the same thing - I couldn't fit into any of the clothes I bought when I hit my goal weight.... they are all hanging in my closet and im reduced to pretty much one pair of old jeans right now!1 I refuse to buy new stuff at this weight, and hopefully have learned my lesson with flunking maintenance the first time!! I deleted all my old entries for the initial 60 lbs lost and have reset everything to 0 to start fresh... down 5 lbs since I started about 6 weeks ago... but feel more in control at the moment getting back to the basics which helped me succeed originally. but I wont give up me wine LOL. ever

I have no doubt you'll ditch those couple of pounds in no time and be rocking those outfits!

Lol - loved that line about would have gone nuts back at the start and now...sooooo true !! Lived by that damn square piece of plastic and its beady eyes needle (aka the scale) now it's just about getting back to a weight where I feel good and healthy and happy with me, whatever number that turns out to be. And that includes getting back into my clothes lol.

I eat berries almost every day and haven't had a problem. I think it's a personal trial and error thing.