Low-Carb?

I think many people going on a low-carb plan make a few key mistakes which greatly over-complicate things.

#1. You only stay very low carb (20 grams/day) for two weeks. That's it. Then you add in 5 grams/day for a week, then another 5 grams, etc., until you find the sweet spot where you still lose weight without feeling deprived. Everybody will find a different level that works for them. For many of us, we can get up to a fairly decent carb level without a problem which makes it much easier to eat out and eat foods that were previously off-limits. Especially if they do #2.

#2. Exercise. So many people have the impression that they can do Atkins without exercising. Not so. It's specifically required in the Atkins books I have read (although I haven't read any of the versions since his passing so they may have changed that). But, look, if your body has problems with carbs, exercise if the most important thing you can do to help your body process carbs better. Not to mention all the other things that exercise does for you.





#3. Once you reach your goal weight, you move even further up the carb ladder by, again, adding in 5 grams/carb for a week, see how that goes and, if you don't gain, add in another 5 grams/day that week, and so on.

I currently like to keep my carbs in the 80-100/day range because I feel best that way and can continue to lose. But if I plan it right and eat the carbs right before or after a very intense workout session, I can easily eat that much in a single meal without any long-term negative impact. I don't do this every day but I do it at least once a week. Yes, I eat pizza or lasagna or cinnamon rolls or whatever at least once a week and then I just hop right on the lower-carb train and ride it for another week or so. I sometimes do this more than once a week if I'm in a situation where lower-carb foods are difficult to find but I do think it's better to keep it to once a week.

This is the way you make lower-carb eating a sustainable lifestyle choice without feeling deprived. And without feeling a need to gorge yourself on carbs once you have a taste of them.

Sure, my weight loss is slower than some folks who keep more strictly to low-carb but this isn't a race, it's a lifestyle change and I'm confident that I'll keep my weight off because I really can't imagine eating any differently than I am now when I'm at goal.

I should add that, in the past, I did try to stay at induction levels and I felt very deprived and would gorge on higher-carb foods once in awhile and make myself feel like crap. Once I got it into my head that this was not following the Atkin's plan as he designed it, and that perfection is not required, I began to really enjoy this way of eating and my occasionally splurges without any guilt or bad effects.

Hope this helps a bit.

[* Thank you- I believe this is very reasonable info. I do have a question though. I think that MFP adds more carb to you goal when you add excercise. Am I seeing that right and if so, do you increase the carb or remain at you carb goal, no matter how much calories you burn?

Either way, depends on the day, how I feel, what foods are available or that I feel like preparing. Sometimes I choose to use those extra carbs/calories to also get in a treat like ice cream or a couple of cookies and such. Sometimes I use them to make more healthy choices eating a small portion of a higher-carb, nutritious food. And sometimes I'll just ignore the increased carbs and eat more protein/vegetables/healthy fats/nuts or other lower-carb option.

I've been doing this long enough where I seem to have a good feel for whether or not my body is in a state where it can process those extra carbs well or not and I just try to listen to it. Last night, for example, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go straight back to sleep. And my stomach was growling. I try not to ever be that hungry. After looking around in the kitchen, I realized that the only thing that sounded good and just right like it would hit the spot was a slice of whole-grain toast with a fairly generous amount of butter and a cup of tea. So I ate it, guilt-free, and was able to go back to sleep. It's logged in for today and I'll just adjust around it.

I do better when I look at all these numbers (calories, carbs, protein, fat, etc.) as optimal targets and don't sweat if I'm a bit over or under as long as I'm not too-too far off on a consistent basis. If I focus too much on getting them just right, it triggers my all-or-nothing, right vs. wrong thinking that got me obese in the first place.

I think many people going on a low-carb plan make a few key mistakes which greatly over-complicate things.

#1. You only stay very low carb (20 grams/day) for two weeks. That's it. Then you add in 5 grams/day for a week, then another 5 grams, etc., until you find the sweet spot where you still lose weight without feeling deprived. Everybody will find a different level that works for them. For many of us, we can get up to a fairly decent carb level without a problem which makes it much easier to eat out and eat foods that were previously off-limits. Especially if they do #2.

#2. Exercise. So many people have the impression that they can do Atkins without exercising. Not so. It's specifically required in the Atkins books I have read (although I haven't read any of the versions since his passing so they may have changed that). But, look, if your body has problems with carbs, exercise if the most important thing you can do to help your body process carbs better. Not to mention all the other things that exercise does for you.

#3. Once you reach your goal weight, you move even further up the carb ladder by, again, adding in 5 grams/carb for a week, see how that goes and, if you don't gain, add in another 5 grams/day that week, and so on.

I currently like to keep my carbs in the 80-100/day range because I feel best that way and can continue to lose. But if I plan it right and eat the carbs right before or after a very intense workout session, I can easily eat that much in a single meal without any long-term negative impact. I don't do this every day but I do it at least once a week. Yes, I eat pizza or lasagna or cinnamon rolls or whatever at least once a week and then I just hop right on the lower-carb train and ride it for another week or so. I sometimes do this more than once a week if I'm in a situation where lower-carb foods are difficult to find but I do think it's better to keep it to once a week.

This is the way you make lower-carb eating a sustainable lifestyle choice without feeling deprived. And without feeling a need to gorge yourself on carbs once you have a taste of them.

Sure, my weight loss is slower than some folks who keep more strictly to low-carb but this isn't a race, it's a lifestyle change and I'm confident that I'll keep my weight off because I really can't imagine eating any differently than I am now when I'm at goal.

I should add that, in the past, I did try to stay at induction levels and I felt very deprived and would gorge on higher-carb foods once in awhile and make myself feel like crap. Once I got it into my head that this was not following the Atkin's plan as he designed it, and that perfection is not required, I began to really enjoy this way of eating and my occasionally splurges without any guilt or bad effects.

Hope this helps a bit.

That sounds like a really healthy attitude, LIKE.