Have you had Low-Carb success?

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"LOL! I've been between 20-25 net carbs for almost a year. I eat a good amount of veggies, but I eat a normal amount of protein and good fats. I stay away from anything made from flour, anything processed, anything starchy. Never feel full, never have cravings. There are plenty of ways to satisfy a sweet tooth, that keep you in the low-carb range!
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You are able to only have 20-25 carbs while your pregnant?
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I'm going to try and send you a private message.

I'd say low carb is under 100g a day.
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...I agree. 100g or less is considered low carb in my book.

"calories in < calories out" is NOT the key to weight loss. It is equivalent to saying that the key to running a marathon is to run 26.2 miles. DUH. Its the end result, not the means to get there.

You can't just say the key to weight loss is to "eat less and move more" because eating less could cause you to move less even if you don't realize it.

The key of couse IS calories in < calories out. Everything else we talk about here, everything written in countless books and everything the huge diet industry throws at us is just an attempt to either refine that basic principle for greater sustained loss or to make the whole process less difficult.

Except this is a terrible way to think of health is in terms of calories IN < calories OUT. That implies counting and restricting calories for the rest of your life. Sure some people can't tolerate giving up horribly unhealthy processed foods, but I find that to be the lesser of the two evils. Also it seems odd that some people are always in caloric balance no matter what they eat and others are always in a caloric surplus unless they starve themselves. Sounds to me like there is much more at play than just someone's ability to manually manipulate both their caloric intake and expenditure. Maybe hormone management is the key to weight loss.

@grinch, yes I believe less in Caloric balance than I do in the fact that our hormones regulate our weight loss.
I think I read in a book (Gary Taubes) about how if you go over just 2 calories a day, over the course of a year, that's 730 extra calories. Impossible to eat precisely the correct amount of calories every single day.

Also, even mainstream science recognizes that weight loss is only partially due to exercise.

Except this is a terrible way to think of health is in terms of calories IN < calories OUT. That implies counting and restricting calories for the rest of your life. Sure some people can't tolerate giving up horribly unhealthy processed foods, but I find that to be the lesser of the two evils. Also it seems odd that some people are always in caloric balance no matter what they eat and others are always in a caloric surplus unless they starve themselves. Sounds to me like there is much more at play than just someone's ability to manually manipulate both their caloric intake and expenditure. Maybe hormone management is the key to weight loss.

Of course it doesn't. It doesn't *imply* anything. It simply states a truth about fat loss. Who is going to spend the rest of their life in calorie deficit?

Without doubt there are outliers out there with physiological conditions that preclude the simple calorie in < calorie out approach but these are surely rare, rare cases - with everyone else jumping on the bandwagon to explain their own lack of discipline, poor approach, poor understanding etc.

I think everything in moderation. I always feel a bit heavy and lethargic if I eat too many carbs, so I stick to wholegrains and eat them in moderation, which I find is better. I don't eat much bread now - I'll have a tortilla wrap instead, as bread was a real weakness of mine and seriously made me feel like crap.

If you're gunna try low carbs, then to make sure you eat enough calories and make sure you're getting enough nutrients

x

@grinch, yes I believe less in Caloric balance than I do in the fact that our hormones regulate our weight loss.
I think I read in a book (Gary Taubes) about how if you go over just 2 calories a day, over the course of a year, that's 730 extra calories. Impossible to eat precisely the correct amount of calories every single day.

Not that caloric balance doesn't apply, its just that attempting to artifically create caloric balance is the wrong approach to permanent weight loss. There must be a reason why certain people gravitate towards being in a perpetual caloric surplus and others don't.

Not that caloric balance doesn't apply, its just that attempting to artifically create caloric balance is the wrong approach to permanent weight loss. There must be a reason why certain people gravitate towards being in a perpetual caloric surplus and others don't.

For a while I believed that those that don't have a built in natural "off" switch. That the feedback mechanism between tummy and brain was calibrated perfectly and fed back the message "that's enough, stop eating" at the right time. Other people had their switch slightly off calibration and more still had it way way off and so the message to the brain to "stop, I'm full now" was way late.

This could indeed be a hormonal trigger.

However when you scale up to looking at populations that theory doesn't seem to hold water since we are seeing the % of the population with weight issues in many western nations increase and increase. That shouldn't be the case.

BUMP

I have lost weight several times doing the Atkins diet. The weight has always come off so fast; I have seriously lost 20lbs in one month, and then gone on to lose 13lbs a month eating like a horse (minus the apples and grains..heh).

But then, I would tire of always being stuck at school or at work with no options for my diet, no options at the restaurant, etc. Yes, I did ask for bunless burgers and yes, I did pick the tortilla chips out of my santa fe salad, but I couldn't even have a freaking sandwich...it got REALLY TIRING. I have children and I couldn't even bake cookies. In order to have all the special low-carb food, I would have to order it online at great expense.

Eventually, I would start slipping here and there. Every time I slipped once, I wouldn't lose for days, sometimes a week. Who doesn't want to have lasagne ever again? Might be great for some, but not me, mister. So, I would go off the diet and gain it all back, totally frustrated and convinced that this diet was the only way I would ever succeed...except...I never really did. The last time I did Atkins, I lost 47lbs in 3 months and then gained it back plus 10 more within a year.

Right now, I'm doing low cal. I've lost 23lbs in the last 2 months and I seriously can eat anything I want. I don't feel deprived or frustrated that I can't find MY food, because nothing is off limits. I'm so happy here, and I really feel like I can eat like this for life.
If a person can stay on Atkins for life or needs low carb to get over insulin resistance, etc, good for them. I am just proof that it doesn't work for everyone.

Low Carb success for me!!!!! WHOLE NEW PERSON!!!
I LOVE eating this way and feel A MILLION TIMES BETTER!

40 pounds LOST (30 since going low carb in sept)
8 inches lost from my waist!
ENERGY
depression lifted!
WAHHHOOOOOOOOO I don't care what the low carb haters say!! A calorie is NOT a calorie for me!!! I tried weight watchers for years.

Is there any specific diet you're following? How many carbs do you aim for on any given day? I have PCOS so restricting calories simply does not work for me. I've been trying to limit my carbs but still find myself consuming around 100 day. Ideally, I would like to see that number in the 50's but it's been very challenging. I'm so lost!

I've been doing Atkins. Can I help you with anything?

I have lost weight several times doing the Atkins diet. The weight has always come off so fast; I have seriously lost 20lbs in one month, and then gone on to lose 13lbs a month eating like a horse (minus the apples and grains..heh).

But then, I would tire of always being stuck at school or at work with no options for my diet, no options at the restaurant, etc. Yes, I did ask for bunless burgers and yes, I did pick the tortilla chips out of my santa fe salad, but I couldn't even have a freaking sandwich...it got REALLY TIRING. I have children and I couldn't even bake cookies. In order to have all the special low-carb food, I would have to order it online at great expense.

Eventually, I would start slipping here and there. Every time I slipped once, I wouldn't lose for days, sometimes a week. Who doesn't want to have lasagne ever again? Might be great for some, but not me, mister. So, I would go off the diet and gain it all back, totally frustrated and convinced that this diet was the only way I would ever succeed...except...I never really did. The last time I did Atkins, I lost 47lbs in 3 months and then gained it back plus 10 more within a year.

Right now, I'm doing low cal. I've lost 23lbs in the last 2 months and I seriously can eat anything I want. I don't feel deprived or frustrated that I can't find MY food, because nothing is off limits. I'm so happy here, and I really feel like I can eat like this for life.
If a person can stay on Atkins for life or needs low carb to get over insulin resistance, etc, good for them. I am just proof that it doesn't work for everyone.

You're right, it doesn't work for everyone. I strongly believe that my success with low-carb is due to my willpower, and due to the fact that my husband, who is the main cook and meal planner, has gone out of his way to find different and original ways to prepare my foods. Not everyone is that lucky! There are a ton of foods that can be eaten, and we've played around with recipes and seasoning's and spices for me! I have a huge variety of foods to eat.

I strongly believe that I abused my body with carbs and process food for so long, that I built up an insulin resistance. I believe that I can no longer eat highly processed carbs because my body won't tolerate them. I believe this is the reason why I fail at diets like Weight Watchers.

I still eat a high-carbage snack occasionally, but I don't go crazy on them every day, like I did in the past. I had a piece of cake for my birthday last week, and I will have chinese food on Wednesday night with my MIL.

Believe me you aren't alone. The non-believers have *almost* convinced me that the reason I overeat on a high-carb diet was because I didn't eat enough protein, which is much more satiating. Now that I am high-protein (150-200g per day), I actually have 1-2 days a week where I eat high carbs to fuel my running, and whenever I introduce lots of carbs back into my meals, I eat uncontrollably, even on adequate amounts of protein. Its like a trigger is pulled every time I start eating carbs and it takes a day or so to reset my cravings again.

No, it doesn't work for everyone. You may have to just try it to see how you do on it. My brother thrives on low-carb and drops weight like sheets at a Macy's white sale. I feel so sick, I can't make it past two weeks on low-carb Atkins.

Hopefully, I don't cheese off too many people by adding that I once had PCOS. However, I lost a ton of weight without any trouble until I had stage 3 endometriosis. Three surgeries and a long recovery later, I have neither endo or PCOS, but I find losing weight to be difficult beyond reason.

I'll have to fight for it this time around.

Bump for later. Mu husband is trying this out and I need all the tips I can get to help him.