Any long-term success with low carb lifestyle, like Atkins?

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billsrule2015
billsrule2015 Posts: 46 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am contemplating starting a low carb lifestyle on January 1st. I had lost 80lbs on Atkins back in 2005, only to gain it all back upon resuming an unhealthy high carb way of eating. My question is can this be a sustainable lifestyle, and not be bored of eating meat, cheese, salad, etc. for the remainder of your life? Any suggestions/insight would be greatly appreciated.

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  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    I've been LCHF for about a year and a half. It feels pretty permanent to me. The only foods I try to avoid are sugar based foods like candy and soda, as well as foods made with grains and flour like bread, muffins, corn and rice. I eat almost all veggies and many fruits, lots of seeds and nuts, and meat and seafood. I am not missing much. I make veggies with good sauces... There is a lot of flavour.

    Try some LCHF cookbooks. Primal and paleo is pretty complimentary too.

    I'm used to this woe now. To be honest, the idea of eating most meals with the same grain, like wheat flour, seems very boring. ;)
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    billsrule2015 wrote: »
    I am contemplating starting a low carb lifestyle on January 1st. I had lost 80lbs on Atkins back in 2005, only to gain it all back upon resuming an unhealthy high carb way of eating. My question is can this be a sustainable lifestyle, and not be bored of eating meat, cheese, salad, etc. for the remainder of your life? Any suggestions/insight would be greatly appreciated.

    I think the bigger question is can YOU sustain it, and not be bored with it? Some people can keep it up forever. Others can't. Only you can answer if this is right for you. Low carb certainly wasn't right for me, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be right for you.

    The great news is that, even if you can't sustain low carb forever, you can lose weight anyway. You just need to find a strategy that works for you. I just track calories and plan my meals in advance.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    I've been doing it since 2010. Still 56 lb off where I started.

    Depends on your imagination and preferences. I spend a lot less time eating and have fewer meals. So I gain time for other things.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    billsrule2015 wrote: »
    I am contemplating starting a low carb lifestyle on January 1st. I had lost 80lbs on Atkins back in 2005, only to gain it all back upon resuming an unhealthy high carb way of eating. My question is can this be a sustainable lifestyle, and not be bored of eating meat, cheese, salad, etc. for the remainder of your life? Any suggestions/insight would be greatly appreciated.

    Can YOU stick to it for life

    Your history would say otherwise, what would be different this time that would mean you didn't fall off the wagon

    Most are highly successful in weight loss over the short term, some are highly successful in maintenance ..

    That's kind of true of all weight loss programmes TBH but I found low carb to be at the more extreme end of bounce back because of the water weight manipulation in the early stages coming back so rapidly when one falls off,

    So yes it can be sustainable if you can sustain it ...modern lifestyles make that an long term exercise of commitment and motivation
  • rks581
    rks581 Posts: 99 Member
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    I agree with the above, if it didn't work for you then it may not work long-term. I have a friend who lost some weight (no idea how much) on Atkins. He was on CPAP for sleep apnea and decided to lose weight. He followed Atkins until his sleep doctor took him off CPAP (a rare occurrence). Then he switched to tracking calories.

    I followed Atkins with this friend while visiting for a couple weeks. I didn't want to discourage him by eating different food. What I found was that the dishes were quite flavorful but the portions were small. And we needed all sorts of ingredients, some difficult to find. The prep time was astonishingly long. Of course not everyone on Atkins makes the food themselves, but for those who do, the extra time spent cooking and shopping vs. watching TV probably contribute to the result!
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    edited December 2016
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    billsrule2015 wrote: »
    I am contemplating starting a low carb lifestyle on January 1st. I had lost 80lbs on Atkins back in 2005, only to gain it all back upon resuming an unhealthy high carb way of eating. My question is can this be a sustainable lifestyle, and not be bored of eating meat, cheese, salad, etc. for the remainder of your life? Any suggestions/insight would be greatly appreciated.

    Looks like you've answered your own question-for you it wasn't sustainable.
  • Jen_Jennings
    Jen_Jennings Posts: 124 Member
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    Ive been eating low carb and clean since 2013. The longer you do it, you'll find that your body no longer processes wheat and sugar the same. My body can no longer tolerate bread/pasta, and sugar makes me sick. Ive lost 120+ pounds, and am 10 pounds away from my final goal weight.

    What I've found for this way of eating to have staying power, is to stay far away from physically addicitve foods like wheat and refined sugar. When I had cheat meals my body kept tolerating carby fake foods. Once I stopped cheat meals, my body stopped craving fake processed foods.

    In addition to going low carb/clean eaiting, my hair that had thinned out many yrs ago grew back in, blood pressure dropped to a low number, thyroid med decreased twice, cholesterol dropped to normal, blood sugar too.

  • alyssa0061
    alyssa0061 Posts: 652 Member
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    In 2010 I lost 100 pounds following a raw food diet. After 8 months, I "went off" the diet. Over the next five years I gained back the 100 I lost plus 20 more. I may have lost weight, but it didn't work for me. I now have lost over 130 pounds by simply counting calories. There's nothing to go off of. No wagon. Just life.
  • billsrule2015
    billsrule2015 Posts: 46 Member
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    Jen_Jennings wrote: »
    Ive been eating low carb and clean since 2013. The longer you do it, you'll find that your body no longer processes wheat and sugar the same. My body can no longer tolerate bread/pasta, and sugar makes me sick. Ive lost 120+ pounds, and am 10 pounds away from my final goal weight.

    What I've found for this way of eating to have staying power, is to stay far away from physically addicitve foods like wheat and refined sugar. When I had cheat meals my body kept tolerating carby fake foods. Once I stopped cheat meals, my body stopped craving fake processed foods.

    In addition to going low carb/clean eaiting, my hair that had thinned out many yrs ago grew back in, blood pressure dropped to a low number, thyroid med decreased twice, cholesterol dropped to normal, blood sugar too.
    Did you count carbs/ calories per day? If so, which and how many? What would/is a typical
    Day consist of for you in terms of food?

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