What was I thinking?!
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I just started LCHF yesterday. My blood sugar is the best it's been in a long while. I have to say.. it's hard to wrap my head around this concept (especially the high fat part) but I am doing it anyways. Wish me luck!
What propelled you in this direction? (For many of us
, it was dumb luck.)
I can say, I accidently found keto, and started it on a whim...AND IT WORKED:)
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I think my mistake was that fat seemed the easiest way to keep calories low, so they went out, and loving my bread and fruit, I just didn't really know how or learn how to add in the veg and healthy fats instead.
So bottom line was that even at a very minimal calorie deficit I was so hungry!
I had tried atkins and couldn't make it work for me in the past. If I keep carbs under 100, its working well and those fat calories are so important to feeling well. I'm in maintenance now so what I added the most were more healthy fat calories, not bread and fruit.
Some of the nutritionist stories on mfp are really scary!2 -
Not sure I've got a lot to contribute to this discussion but what's really obvious to me know is that my metabolism and the ability to 'use' carbs has changed over time. IN my 30's and early 40's I could lose any excess with a no calorie counting vege/no diary/no gluten detox for 3 weeks, and maintain by eating that way for about 60% of the time. My vege & legume based carbs were really high. However - 5 years ago that started to change, it just didn't work any more. Now, LCHF is the only thing that will shift the lbs.6
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Not sure I've got a lot to contribute to this discussion but what's really obvious to me know is that my metabolism and the ability to 'use' carbs has changed over time. IN my 30's and early 40's I could lose any excess with a no calorie counting vege/no diary/no gluten detox for 3 weeks, and maintain by eating that way for about 60% of the time. My vege & legume based carbs were really high. However - 5 years ago that started to change, it just didn't work any more. Now, LCHF is the only thing that will shift the lbs.
Good for you!
That's a perfect example of everyone being their very own science project. Not only are you different from others in your family, you're even different from yourself!4 -
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That's a perfect example of everyone being their very own science project.[/quote]
I love the idea of being my very own science project. So much of what we read on MFP (and in nutrition writing!) is based on the idea of SHOULD and MUST, RIGHT and WRONG, GOOD and BAD. But I think discovering what works for you is trial and error--a true experimentation. You test different hypothesis and study outcomes. That is so much more freeing than believing that if something DOESN'T work for you, you're just doing it wrong. Maybe my right is your wrong and vice versa.
All that said, I am so happy that I stumbled into this WOE, because I do believe that I have finally had my "eureka!" moment and discovered, through all of you, what works for me!
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I sure resonate with this. My mom raised me as a single mom, and when I left home for college, I remember talking to her on the phone once about food costs... I was a 6'3" university student who was also a competitive athlete.cstehansen wrote: »This is not all positive. My food bill is hard to keep under control. When I moved out to go to college, my mom realized that 2/3 of the food bill had been me. That was with two siblings and both parents still at home. My inability to sit still and need to work out just to wear myself out enough to make it through the day cause me to burn a ton of calories. That led to the crappy diet I had for so many years because my choices for eating out were always whatever has the most food for the lowest price - in other words, lots of buffets. I will refrain from grossing you out with how much pizza I would consume in one sitting. I will just say it was more than most medium sized families would eat combined and caused people to frequently stare at me since I was "normal" sized eating that way.
It was my 2nd semester of university, and I was 17. I think I remember saying something along the lines of "Mom, you have no idea how much it costs to feed a guy my size ..."
To her credit, there was silence on the other end of the phone. After a second or two, I said "Oh." when I realized how stupid my statement was. She confessed she couldn't believe she had money left-over at every month ... and not a little bit.
I hear you on the pizza and buffets... We had a place near the University that delivered an 18" pizza guaranteed to have "no less than 5lbs of toppings". I ate one once. By myself. I also used to frequent a KFC that had 'all you can eat' chicken, mashed potato and gravy on Wednesday for $2.99. (Yeah, I'm old).
I did the math back then and there were days I consumed 13,000 calories. 5k+ was the norm.
Amazingly, between a youthful metabolism and serious training, I didn't get fat and maintained a 32-33" waist through university. I think I thought I'd maintain that forever. Once the schooling was done (too long), I got married, and the cycling lessened considerably ... it started creeping on.1 -
@albertabeefy - I am only a few years behind you in age. Through college, the standard pizza buffet price was 2.99 ($3.24 with tax). I always just got water to drink. For a while in the mid to late 90's, there was a Long John Silvers here that had an all you could eat chicken and fish. Even back then, I would skip the fries and hush puppies and just eat the chicken and fish - lots of it. Of course with the batter, it wasn't exactly low carb, but even then I saw the sides as just taking up space that could be better used for meat. It was more expensive, like 5.99, but I was out of college and had a decent job by then. I think we were definitely in the minority at regularly breaking the 10,000 calorie mark.0
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Maybe we could get UA to underwrite a Flashback Weekend for you two in some college town.....0
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Maybe we could get UA to underwrite a Flashback Weekend for you two in some college town.....
If I ate like that now, I could easily be up to 300 lbs within a couple months.
One irritating thing is all these eating challenges didn't exist back in the days where I could have actually done them successfully. I think there was one steak challenge, but it was 2 hours away and I couldn't afford the gas back then (not to mention I wouldn't have trusted my car to make it there and back).0 -
cstehansen wrote: »Maybe we could get UA to underwrite a Flashback Weekend for you two in some college town.....
If I ate like that now, I could easily be up to 300 lbs within a couple months.
One irritating thing is all these eating challenges didn't exist back in the days where I could have actually done them successfully. I think there was one steak challenge, but it was 2 hours away and I couldn't afford the gas back then (not to mention I wouldn't have trusted my car to make it there and back).
There is nothing as soothing to your wallet or as challenging to your waistline, etc., as getting a job. I didn't have a car for the longest time. It was often annoying (like getting from the highway into town at night when hitchhiking), but I did manage to get a heck of a lot more exercise.1 -
I think my mistake was that fat seemed the easiest way to keep calories low, so they went out.........
I sometimes think this is where the whole 'low fat diet' fad actually came from. I've read all sorts of theories on the sugar industry/politics/economy manipulation but I think I could really all come down to simple maths. Carbs (on average) have fewer calories per gram than fat. Cut out fewer grams of fat to save on more calories.
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dancing_daisy wrote: »I think my mistake was that fat seemed the easiest way to keep calories low, so they went out.........
I sometimes think this is where the whole 'low fat diet' fad actually came from. I've read all sorts of theories on the sugar industry/politics/economy manipulation but I think I could really all come down to simple maths. Carbs (on average) have fewer calories per gram than fat. Cut out fewer grams of fat to save on more calories.
But they have the same number of calories per... calorie.
I remember this exact reasoning in connection with one of Ornish's early books. It made sense to me, as I embarked on a protracted and valiant (but misguided
), effort to improve my health and reduce my chronic disease risk.
I don't think Ornish was a pawn of agribusiness and certainly not the pharmaceutical industry, so it's hard to say exactly why he issued advice that proved to be wrong for so many of us over the long haul.
Phinney suggests than the wholesome LFHC diets of Ornish, McDougall, etc., work well for a significant minority of people, but that the mistakes in their approaches are in generalizing them to the entire population and mixing ideology into their recipes.0 -
dancing_daisy wrote: »I think my mistake was that fat seemed the easiest way to keep calories low, so they went out.........
I sometimes think this is where the whole 'low fat diet' fad actually came from. I've read all sorts of theories on the sugar industry/politics/economy manipulation but I think I could really all come down to simple maths. Carbs (on average) have fewer calories per gram than fat. Cut out fewer grams of fat to save on more calories.
That's exactly why I ate low fat for years! I could eat a whole lot of gummy bears if I didn't put butter on my toast. The sad thing is, at 17, you can watch the weight drop off eating shite food just by keeping the calories down, but you're not yet wise to how completely unsustainable that lifestyle is. If only I could go back and enlighten younger me! Oh well, at least I can enjoy butter on my steak now
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PaleoInScotland wrote: »dancing_daisy wrote: »I think my mistake was that fat seemed the easiest way to keep calories low, so they went out.........
I sometimes think this is where the whole 'low fat diet' fad actually came from. I've read all sorts of theories on the sugar industry/politics/economy manipulation but I think I could really all come down to simple maths. Carbs (on average) have fewer calories per gram than fat. Cut out fewer grams of fat to save on more calories.
That's exactly why I ate low fat for years! I could eat a whole lot of gummy bears if I didn't put butter on my toast. The sad thing is, at 17, you can watch the weight drop off eating shite food just by keeping the calories down, but you're not yet wise to how completely unsustainable that lifestyle is. If only I could go back and enlighten younger me! Oh well, at least I can enjoy butter on my steak now
Right?!??
I wish I could turn back time and do things differently.
Trying to influence my 22, 18 and 14 year olds is.... not exactly easy. Lol
So even when the knowledge is made available, it's still not seriously considered.
The 22 and 18, do believe what I say is true about to be healthy long term. But being young comes with a certain level of perceived immortality. Lol
My 14 year old and husband, think my ideas are half baked and my husband always says "did you learn that on butter.com"? He thinks I just read "stuff on the internets" and believe everything I read. Though, it's funny he will regularly eat bunless burgers..
I like to think my younger self would've made the changes.2 -
dancing_daisy wrote: »I think my mistake was that fat seemed the easiest way to keep calories low, so they went out.........
I sometimes think this is where the whole 'low fat diet' fad actually came from. I've read all sorts of theories on the sugar industry/politics/economy manipulation but I think I could really all come down to simple maths. Carbs (on average) have fewer calories per gram than fat. Cut out fewer grams of fat to save on more calories.
But they have the same number of calories per... calorie.
I remember this exact reasoning in connection with one of Ornish's early books. It made sense to me, as I embarked on a protracted and valiant (but misguided ), effort to improve my health and reduce my chronic disease risk.
I don't think Ornish was a pawn of agribusiness and certainly not the pharmaceutical industry, so it's hard to say exactly why he issued advice that proved to be wrong for so many of us over the long haul.
Phinney suggests than the wholesome LFHC diets of Ornish, McDougall, etc., work well for a significant minority of people, but that the mistakes in their approaches are in generalizing them to the entire population and mixing ideology into their recipes.
I think it is very easy to see why Ornish pushes what he pushes. He is a hard core believer that a cow is as valuable as a human and eating meat is essentially the same as being a cannibal from a moral standpoint.
One of my brothers is now a vegan. Funny part about that is he is the one who taught me how to make a bacon explosion on my smoker. He switched for health reasons. It seems to be working for him so far, but as Chris Kresser has pointed out, many of the nutrient deficiencies (especially B vitamins) don't really start having negative impacts for several years. At that time, people are much less likely to attribute the issues with diet because they have been "eating like this for years without any problems."
At least we have a good relationship with no preaching. Family dinners are a challenge and typically end up at my parents' house since it is difficult to find restaurants where we can all eat.2 -
My husband and I just watched Fed Up, and it brought me to tears seeing these young people struggling with CICO. The self loathing and misery was really hard to watch. Society says work harder, exercise, put the fat down... and these kids and their families are TRYING to do the right thing.
A 15 year old kid should not have to have gastric bypass. A 12 year old should not worry about every calorie, and her mom buys what she thinks are healthy foods because they are "low fat". Cereals, pasta, snack bars.
It makes me infuriated and incredibly sad.0 -
Health is like family. You'll miss it when it's gone.
I wish I would have done right ages ago, too. I grew up in a house where my parents experimented with meals and also kept up family traditions, and some of it was healthy and some of it was not, though, thank goodness to them, I appreciated vegetables, meats, and cheeses from an early age. From 19-25, I was busy living life and partying on the side of my full time work. From 26 on, I was focused with laser-like precision, on career. Good food was something that I didn't place that much value on
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