Thank you! I tried registering a few days ago, and tried again today. Not sure what's going on, but I like that board too. What does the "WOE" part mean?

there is a thread here you can join... ZIOH might be better for you after you have given it a go and decided if it is for you or not. But you are free to read as much as you want over there until then!!!

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=404456

there is another thread that got too big:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=401683

There are a few ZIOH members who post here too, me being one of them

I will have to disagree on this one. It's just not those individuals who eat mainly meat. I eat about 60-70% fat, 20-25% protein, and somehwere in the ball park of 10% carb. I also practice IF. I eat when I'm hungry--period. I have found that many times cravings are more pyschological than physical--eating out of boredom, anxiety, for comfort. It took awhile to recognize the triggers (it's not always food) and to deal with them in a non-food manner.

And yes--there are some things that I can keep eating until I bust, and meat isn't one of them. But popcorn.....I can eat popcorn like there's no tomorrow Funny, I went to see Avatar--the house was full with people muching away on popcorn---it didn't even phase me, in fact, I think the smell of the fak-o butter was making me nauseated

Lisa

I like Jimmy and feel bad that he is gaining weight when following what he feels is the right way to eat.I feel bad for him and for myself and all the people who plateau and sometimes gain back fat.

What I think he needs to do is monitor his calories.Face it we all lose weight at first when we cut calories.Then most of us slow to a crawl in the fatloss department.This is probably an area that isn't researched but should be.

"The speed at which metabolism slow down occurs seems to be different for all of us"

Now Jimmy says he ate the same thing that he always ate so why is his weight coming back.Well when your heavy you have a super fast metabolism as funny as that sounds.That is WHERE the appetite stems from.

I have suggested this on here and Jimmy's forum.We should try MON thru FRI of eating the amount of food we know has worked in past to lose fat.Then SAT and SUN one should gorge on whatever diet foods they eat during the week.Actually forcefeed themselves to double the amount of food or just at least maintenance calories for 2 days.

I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with, Lisa. I don't know what you thought I was saying. Maybe my post just wasn't clear.

Mark asked Margot how she deals with not being able to eat the carby foods she used to love. I guess I was attempting to answer that question framed in terms of being a Zero carber (as Margot is)-as in ZC takes away your cravings.

But I guess I shouldn't be speaking for Margot or all ZCers. I'm sure some still might have to deal with psychological cravings. I was just speaking from my personal experience and the experience of a lot of zero carbers whose posts I have read. A lot of people who have major problems with food have found it to be their saving grace.



It's just not those individuals who eat mainly meat...that what? Have their cravings solved? No, I am not saying that ZC is the only way to help fix cravings. I am not the type of person who would ever say that one way of anything is THE WAY or that other types of help besides diet aren't needed.

In a nutshell, all I was trying to do is explain how VLC/ZC takes away cravings for ME. I am a notorious stress eater-so I had major psychological cravings. I find this urge to eat very contained/non-existent with meat and 10 carbs or less, versus when I was eating over that amount in my first go round with Atkins.

Oh-One more thing that was interesting for me about going VLC/ZC: I naturally and spontaneously began to practice IF. I did not have my first meal today until almost 3:00 pm. It STILL freaks me out! Even the old me on Atkins was eating every 3-4 hours.

Svince--I'm sorry, that's what I thought you were saying...that those who eat mainly meat have their cravings solved and those who partake in CHO are doomed (well, not doomed) but will always be chasing their tails. Thanks for clarifying.




Funny--I have been IFing all my life and just never knew it. I am not a breakfast eater--it just makes me want to puke thinking about it. I like my first meal around 11-12 and then my next meal around 5-6:30. I have an espresso in the morning and might have a protein shake if I'm on call and know I might not get home at noon. People just can't wrap their heads around my eating schedule--you need breakfast, you need to eat every 3-4 hours or your metabolism will disappear, blah, blah, blah. When I stick to my own schedule, eat when hungry, eliminated all snacking in between meals somehow my weight slowly started to melt away. I'm hit 145 today--the lowest I've been since I was 33 (I'm 49). I'm not finding any struggle what-so-ever in terms of having to slash calories to non-existing for human life. My average for the month of December 1750 calories a day--with the below ratios. I'd die on a WW 1200 calorie a day plan. That would def make me crave--FOOD Yeah, IFing more than anything for me has resolved cravings and emotional eating--KNOCK ON WOOD

Lisa

My hubby is ZC 95% of the time, but he can eat 3 slices of banana bread one day and not think about it again.

I cannot even be in the car with someone eating a slice of banana bread. Jeebus, thinking about it makes me want some.

There are different degrees of sensitivity to be certain, but one has to really understand why they are even eating the stuff, if it serves no nutritional value (AS, diet sodas, bars, shakes, syrups etc.)

If one cannot go a day without (for whatever reason...) then what is it if it is not cravings?? LOL I like to tease hubby and say 'if it isn't cravings, it must be cockiness.'

Now if someone thought they were consuming it because they thought it was good for you, go for it!!! This means veggies and fruit and meat/dairy, I see nothing else that fits into that space, except for some who still eat grains (because they are good for you).

Diet sodas, syrupy desserts, LC cookies, chocolate shakes.. WHY??

This is the Number One symptom of Leptin Resistance. You might want to have a simple blood test done to see if you are. Any number over 10, and yep -- your brain is running your diet and how it handles all the food you eat, not you.

JM probably is too, and simply ate too many carbs. AS cannot make you fat or insulin resistant -- but leptin resistance sure can.

Lisa

It is not about AS making you fat, it is about the cravings for something sweet. (although some people think AS does produce an insulin response in some individuals, which would result in hypoglycemia, which for some is not a good place to be.... but I am not here to debate that)

When I eat something sweet, it makes me want more and more.. I cannot stop after one small piece of cheesecake no matter how low it is in carbs. If I started out my day with a diet Dr, Pepper, there is no way in h*ll I could get through the day without feeling miserable and wanting more and more sweet. I WOULD end up face down in a cheesecake.

When I go without sweet, I do not crave them and my life no longer revolves around trying to find LC substitutes for what it is that I miss and crave. But it does not happen over night, but it does get easier and occurs less often as the weeks and months go by. I still get cravings during TOM cycles, but they are less severe and easier to handle than they were when I was eating (just a few) carbs.

The only way I lost the last 45lbs was to remove all carbs, in any form. Because for me, it is not just the sweet, but carbs. Stabilizing my insulin levels was the best thing that ever happened to me, and the weight loss was just a bonus. I no longer think of, crave or want sweets most of the time.

JM refuses to admit that he is addicted to sweet, now that he has removed the diets sodas, he is not really missing them and feels great, but he refuses to admit it is the sweet and is giving credit to 'less fluid intake'.

I am only giving my perspective and I also know I speak for many others who are in the same boat as me. We all want to see JM succeed and are applauding him on the sidelines as he continues to reduce his frankenfood and diet soda intake.

I didn't remove carbs, in fact - I added a few more in (mostly all veggies). Thing is, I did ditch Diet Coke, and I have to say that this helped a great deal.

I'd read in Jonny Bowden's book, "Living the Low Carb Life" that sometimes the citric acid in Diet Coke could potentially be implicated in weight loss stalls. It was included in a chapter relating to potential culprits re: stalls. I don't have the book handy, or else I'd put in the exact quote.

In any case, I was drinking a lot of Diet Coke there for awhile. I switched to unsweetened iced tea, water, Pellegrino - that kind of thing, and I'm glad I did.

These days, I might have a Diet Coke once in awhile, but I don't buy it for the house. I can count on one hand the number of cans of Diet Coke I've had all year. Before, I was going through at least a case a week!

I want him to succeed too, but it's early days. It hasn't been long enough for his reward system to start the withdrawal screaming.

In the past, within a week or two, he brought back intense sweet, either in drinks or in desserts eaten alone as snacks, along with a feast-and-famine meal schedule. Both of those things soothe the upregulated reward system of food addiction. And he will say things like "low carb doesn't mean you have to give up treats you love" and "whatever helps you stay low carb, is helpful" .

A bit of a contradiction, if I dare point that out. When is processing food turning it into frankenfood and when is it making the food "okay"?

I'm with Dr. Harris on this topic, avoid food you have to neutralize to make it "okay".

I never got hypoglycemia from AS, and I do eat some carbs (veggies, nuts, some fruit). I still noticed a difference in belly fat comparing consuming diet coke vs not consuming diet coke. I seriously think that aspartame and maybe even more-so ace-k had a direct effect on that for me......I *think* that this didn't kick in until quite far in on my low-carb plan as well - I didn't notice it until actually my carbs were lower than usual but I was kicking back with the DC. I then quit it and lost about a half inch (carbs always more or less the same). I think that aspartame bloats me though, so it might not have been real fat. 1/2 inch is a lot for me as I'm not really overweight anyway - but still have abdominal fat.

I meant my belly got smaller! Not obvious - sorry about that.

Well, whole grains have anti-nutrients in them. Soaking them and/or fermenting them makes them more digestible. Frankenfood cannot be made naturally, imo. Plopping some ground wheat overnight in water with some salt is not, imo, making frankenfood.

It's the same way some people eat fermented dairy (yogurt, cheese) but not the other types.

I don't think minimal processing (mashing, peeling, fermenting, cooking) is harmful. I mean, look at tomatoes. Cooking them down really well allows us to utilize more of the nutrients than in raw form.

Ami