Low Carb... Slow Carb?

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Hello everyone! I've been on the low-carb diet for the past 4 months (as assigned by my primary care physician) and have lost almost 30 lbs. I've recently found a 'Slow-Carb' diet on YouTube that I have been following for the past 2-3 weeks. Within the Slow-Carb camp, they allow you one 'cheat day' in which you can eat anything you want, including carb loaded sweets, potatoes, rice, pasta, etc... I was quite skeptical at first, especially when I weighed myself after my first cheat day and had gained 3.4 lbs. back, however, only after 2 days of being back on my low-carbs, I dropped 4.3 lbs (that's a gain-loss of almost 1 lb).

My reason for posting is two-fold: First, to share this 'Slow-Carb' thought with others, and second, to see if anyone else has experienced the positive (or negative) effects of choosing this over the low-carb (aka Adkins).

I look forward to your replies...
Thanks and great luck to everyone!
Marshall

Replies

  • JustMaxine55
    JustMaxine55 Posts: 29 Member
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    I had never heard of the Slow Carb method. However, my weigh in day is Friday morning and I would have a "cheat meal" on Friday night. If I weighed myself the following morning, I would find a 2-3 lb gain, but by the next Friday, I would be back in the negative and show a 1-2 lb drop from my last weigh in.

    Having said all of that, I found the cheat meals always made me feel like crap so I quit doing it so often. Now I only do it for special occasions. Can't imagine having an entire day to eat what I want!
  • celebrity328
    celebrity328 Posts: 377 Member
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    I dont allow myself cheat meals because I have proven in the past I cant control myself :)!

    When I get down to my goal weight I might allow myself a meal or a holiday but I plan for those. On the 4th I did awesome even being tempted with all those deserts! Because I knew its over once I get the first bite :( lol!
  • mstorvik
    mstorvik Posts: 356 Member
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    Oh man... I cheated on Sunday and I PAID for it. I ate some cake stuff, then pigged out on nachos and a candy bar. For TWO DAYS I felt like crap. Irritable, bloated... gross. I just got back into ketosis - three days after the cheat. I think form now on a "cheat" day for me will be more calories, not really a boatload of carbs.

    Like, I would love to eat a lot of peanut butter - which is carby - but do something like hat to cheat instead of eating chips or sugar...
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
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    I am open to the possibility of some kind of 'metabolic reset' occasionally, I can see the logic of revving up the system with some carbs and mixing it up a bit.

    I think if I were to do it then it would be carb-heavy early in the day and I'd be planning to be exercising through the rest of the day to help manage the insulin response.

    The question of what I would eat is interesting, carb-heavy stuff just doesn't hold the appeal that it used to for me. I suspect it would be a pile of salty, vinegary chunky chip-shop chips, some battered fish and a lot of ketchup ... Mmmmm.
  • ZipperJJ
    ZipperJJ Posts: 209 Member
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    Yeah I don't think I could come up with something that's worth eating every week. Plus you'd have to go buy it - or worse, keep it in your house. It sounds too stressful.

    I was off for a week last week and by the end of it I just couldn't find anything more I wanted to eat. I had some pizza, some cookies...I was ready to get back in to a groove and eating the foods in my house instead of foraging around.

    If you're going to be low carb for life, it would probably be hard to sit around and wait for every weekend to roll around so you could eat some junk. Meh.
  • kimmbird
    kimmbird Posts: 55
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    I love the idea of a cheat day, however I know it would become a daily thing. I love th idea of special occasions. For me that use to mean chocolate cake, not it means a big bowl of cherries or berries w whip cream! Chocolate cake makes me feel yukky! That's not cheating, it is down right crazy for me. I will OD on sweets, but not yummy fruit...even with saying that, I know what will happen the next day, I will start to hv food craving all over again..so how to hv a cheat day wo paying the price? Ian that the million dollar question?
  • LowcarbNY
    LowcarbNY Posts: 546 Member
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    I'm not interested in a weekly cheat. If your 1 day cheat takes 2 days to recover from that's almost 1/2 your time being spend each week in the round trip to neutral. I'd like to think (or pretend ) that I'm making some progress every day, not just 1/2 of the week.

    I don't need a weekly cheat, but if I do have a cheat I'm going to go to a great sushi bar and have some tuna and salmon rolls and at lest for mini bottles of sake.
  • naomiwillman
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    I am going to try the slow carb plan over the next couple of week...just to see how it goes. It's basically no white carbs, no fruits, a lot of protein, beans (lentils, black, pinto...) and mostly dark green veggies.

    I've had a cheat day every week for the last 5 months and it really works for me. I don't weigh myself every day, so I don't worry about gaining anything after a cheat day-especially if the weight is not there on my weekly weigh ins. I know some people may not have the control if they do cheat days; I feel like I would be a ticking time bomb if I didn't do cheat days. It helps me skip the treats at work when people bring them in. I just make a mental list throughout the week of things I would like to eat. I DON'T make it a day of binge eating. I eat a normal low carb/high protein breakfast. Lunch I usually have a sandwich (miss bread during the week) and chips (miss those too). And for dinner my husband and I go out to eat-pizza, Mexican, burgers...whatever I'm feeling that week. My calories are usually not too high...and I almost always lose.
  • mstorvik
    mstorvik Posts: 356 Member
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    I've had a cheat day every week for the last 5 months and it really works for me.

    But you didn't do this with low-carb really do you? When I did low-fat or low calories in the past and cheated, my body felt ok. With low carb, I seriously felt like pure crap. I think that is the difference.

    BTW, I will vouch for Naomi - she does do cheat days and it works for her.

    One thing I will point out is when I did low carb for three weeks I stopped wanting all that junk, too. I think the cheat day just keeps you wanting it... at least for me. I know everyone is different, but I am interested to hear how it goes Naomi! :)
  • naomiwillman
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    I've been doing lower carbs the last month or so...I always do a cheat day, never skipped one. And keep in mind, you're eating way lower carbs than I am. I'm usually around 50 g.
  • volume77
    volume77 Posts: 670 Member
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    For me there is no point in having a cheat day. I will often have days that are higher in carbs than others or higher in calories but not nessisarily purposefully. I don't do cheat days for the purpose of my sanity but everyone is different and I always say u have to find what works for you:) good luck