One-way ticket is fine. Anybody want to sublet a furnished apartment in Kingston?? Gorgeous view.

Plateaus are good, and necessary. Plateaus mean a levelling off. When you're climbing a mountain, a plateau is a welcome relief, and chance for the body to catch up. Weight loss plateaus should be viewed the same way. The body is just levelling off, giving the mind-set extra time to develop the new lowcarb habits. If we hit a plateau, and cheat or binge with carby foods, it's like going back down the mountain, and the climb back up to where we were is harder than ever.

Pretty much everything we do in life is filled with stops and starts, charging full-steam ahead and then stale periods of immobilization ... our relationships, education, careers ... as well as health issues. We have no way of knowing in advance how long or how often ... It's taken me many years to come to feel this way though ... didn't happen overnight that's for sure! But I guess it's all just part of life's journey.

I posted this elsewhere, but it holds true in this discussion as well ... "You CAN have it all -- you just can't have it all NOW."

Doreen

My experience has been that going without fast-acting carbs was not difficult once I really gave them up for a period of time and got them cleared out of my system. Until that was done, food and appetite controlled me. Once it was done, I was free.

Today my husband and I had to go to an ice cream social. We didn't eat or drink anything except water. We did do a lot of visiting. And we had a good time. I did not feel deprived nor tempted to eat.

We want to be healthy. And, for us, that meant giving up all "health bars", non-nutritive sweeteners, mayo, all processed foods, all fast-acting carb foods.

There is a reward that is sweeter than any food-reward and that is freedom. Freedom from the necessity to have to eat fast-acting carbs. And from that terrible appetite that rides your back as long as you're taking in even small amounts of fast-acting carbs and trigger foods. As long as I kept searching for those foods which would "satisfy" my fast-acting carb appetite -- I was never satisfied and always hungry. To have food running one's life is not fun.

Dandi

I had completely forgotten about this thread until Dandi posted a further commentary. Thank you Dandi!

It gave me an opportunity to again review all the various comments and reflect on my experience for the past (nearly) 12 months.

1. I have had a net gain of approximately 10 pounds, as a result of really losing control of my LC WOE.

2. In the past few months I have continued to fight back to gain control my of my low carb consumption.

3. I confess I have never stopped completely, eating toasted rye bread (mainly for breakfast), but i have managed to stop eating half the loaf like I use to do before going on this WOE. Does this mean that I am still addicted to Carbs?

I am wondering what the results have been for the past year to the other participants to this thread, namely:

Julia, Debbiedobson, Fiona, Lisa&Craig, Elihnig, and Otenn!!!!!!!

I know what Karen and Doreen have been up to because I have been religiously following their Journals. Still would be nice to hear from them again.

Dandi, I was curious why you found it necessary to completely eliminate "non-nutritive sweetners and mayo.

Regards
Joe

Hi Joe,
I had to eliminate those foods because when I ate them they did not satisfy hunger but instead they made me to want to eat more.
I am learning that whenever something I eat has that effect on me, it is not good for me.

If I continue eating it my appetite grows (literally) more and more and my hypoglycemic symptoms get worse.

Mayo and non-nutritive sweeteners are supposed to be okay but when I ate them I saw a pattern develope that they made me want to eat more. That appetite may seem "controlled" for a few days but gradually it increases. And then I find myself chomping away on the fast-acting carbs and gaining weight. Things like diet pop and diet gelatin and puddings and health bars were real traps for me.

I still generally eat a low carb meal or snack every three hours, about five times a day and I really enjoy the foods I eat. I eat as much as I want, don't count calories or carbs. Am losing weight and have good energy. Walked five miles this morning at a good stiff pace and felt good. And I slept good all night last night without having to eat in the evening or during the night like I used to have to do. But I'm also learning I have to be careful of the types and amounts of fruits that I eat or they set me up for trouble too. Difficulty sleeping well all night is often the first sign that I am not eating correctly.

I don't have to eat in the way I used to have to. If a meal time or snack time rolls around and I'm too busy to eat, it's okay. I may feel a bit empty but that's all. Food and appetite just doesn't controll me like they used to. And for me that is a delightful reward.

People are different. I could not eat one slice of any kind of bread without setting myself up for a return of that off-balance form of appetite. But a neighbor woman of mine eats fast-acting carbs when she wants and stays at a thin 129# with no trouble. That's why I believe so strongly in keeping a written record. There is so much guidance in it. If a person hits a plateau or gains, he or she can check back a few days and see what changed.

Hope these thoughts are helpful.

Dandi

Thank you Dandi for your useful thoughts.

I understand your reasoning fully. I have the same problem with chocolates... one leads to the whole box, and therefore I try not to have any lying around the house.

However 'toasted rye bread' can be controlled and therefore I do have the odd slice every couple of days.

I have never quite quit the L.C. Woe, however I have stretched the rules slightly during the winter period when I was exposed to all kinds of latin american delicious foods. I thusly gained over 10 pounds.

I know exactly why and how I gained this weight and have found it necessary to return to a more strict L.C. WOE. I also feel that calories plays a very important part of this WOE.

Regards
Joe

P.S. Did an Atken "Fat Fast" yesterday and dropped 3 lbs. on the scales this morning. However I will not change my chart on the side until the weight of 183 stays with me for at least a week.

Hi Joe,
I agree that calories do affect weight and weight-loss. But I don't want to have to count and figure them. Therefore, I'm happy to have found a way to eat that makes me lose weight without having to count calories. Once in a while I do sit down and figure up the amounts of calories and of proteins, carbs, fats and of vitamins and minerals that I am taking in. It is sort of a health retreat/examination time. www.fitday.com has been a big help with this. The results of this examination tell me if I'm off-track in some way, so that I can adjust as needed. But I don't want to have to go into that much detailed work very often.

Ten pounds isn't very much to have gained. And won't take you long to lose. It sounds like you've already started losing them. I have a friend who allows herself no more than a five pound gain and then she goes on a stricter WOE. That seems like a worthy WOL so I'm thinking of making that my rule too, after I lose these other 16 pounds.

It seems there are degrees of sensitiveness to fast-acting carbs. And each of us has to find out his/her own degree of reaction to them. That's why I do not think there is any one WOE that is just right for all people. Since I think health is a matter of balance, I also think that a person may follow one WOE for a while to get back into balance and then needs to adjust or perhaps even to go to a new WOE to maintain balance.

The paleo WOE seems perfect for me. The foods are natural and a person can move one way or the other, more protein or more vegetable, in order to restore and maintain balance for health. That seems to me the way we are meant to live. And this WOE works for me. That is the essential point -- it works. That's key for each of us -- to find the WOE and WOL that works.

Dandi

Hi all,
one thing to keep in mind also, is that going by weight lost can be deceiving... alot of people here actually go by inches lost... if you track this, you may be more accurate... the reason being... muscle weighs more than fat...
check out this pic: (the first post in this link)
Fat vs Muscle
as you get more toned and muscular.. you may actually be smaller, but heavier... see what I mean? Try tracking inches rather than weight.... sometimes you retain water more than others etc...

hope this helps,
jodi

Please don’t give up. Just as when we took a very dull class in school – we had to find a reason to like it, the same is true here also.
The reason to lose weight is critical. It doesn’t involve dieting; it involves a conscience understanding that you are killing yourself. Nothing will bring a person to their senses faster than being diagnosed as a diabetic. Even that may seem minor and there could be wonder as to why the doctor is so concerned. You are referred to a foot Dr. and other Drs. Slowly you sense that they are looking at YOU seriously. You do some Google research and begin to see for yourself that this diabetes thing can affect most parts of your body without any “timely” warnings. That is the reason to not diet but to change your lifestyle. Controlling carbohydrates and fats AND calories is imperative.
Diets seem, to define to us, giving up some foods for a while. That is not common sense. We had poor eating habits that got us overweight and if we keep our old eating ‘mentality’, we will return to the “scene of the crime”. There are a huge number of quality food choices to help us enjoy the changes that are necessary to achieve and remain at a lower weight. They are usually around the edge of the super market, not in the middle where the convenient processed foods are. Processed foods are foods that are too convenient and release their energy (converted to glucose) faster. Even Healthy Choice isn’t a healthy choice. What food manufacturers do to us should be criminal. You have to READ the entire label, including the ingredients and their order. And what “Diet Gurus” do to us is equally defeating. The various diets provide information about what we should and should not be eating BUT they are distracting us from the real issue; life change! Popular diets keep you focused on ‘the rules’ instead of allowing you to use common sense to “see” what is more correct or less correct to eat. I think that seeing the ‘personal mental changes’ that you need to make are more difficult when you are distracted by narrow ‘diet’ rules. Grasp the common sense concept and enjoy the new challenges of developing new combinations of good food choices that keep you on track. I did and I have lost thirty pounds in 2 months. I’m now starting another drive to lose 20 pounds. I’m embarrassed that I am heavier than my friends. How could I possibly have less control of my life than they do over theirs? More so, the longer I stay heavy, the closer to death I trudge. Sorry, I didn’t intend this to be a sermon. Sermon is now over.

Martin

Hello Martin:

Thanks for your comments.

It has been nearly two years since I first started this thread, (June 24/01).

I had just started the Dr. A. diet in March of that year and I was full of new enthusiasm for the possibility of possibly losing 50 pounds and maybe being able to stop taking the various medications for my high blood pressure and my heart.

Well it is now two years later, my weight is at it's maximum of 198 pounds; I am now taking three medications instead of two; and Dr. A is sadly dead.

Who is to be our new leader? Who is going to give us are inspiration to fight fat? Maybe our group will be able to continue to encourage each other, just as it has in the past, when everybody was saying that this diet is to dangerous. We were able to persevere thoughout that period and continue our low carb battle. Now it seems that low carb is in the main stream of diets. I just read in this mornings Miami Herald that the liquor companies are considering put the diet details on their labels to ride the current diet rage.

What a diference two years make. We have over 40,000 members, and I feel that we have lost that "homey touch".

But Martin, thanks anyways for bringing me out of my doldrums for a short period. Which leader do we follow now?

Regards

Joe

P.S. Will be heading back to Mississauga in less than a month. Meanwhile I will correct my identity and weight.

Hi, I'm new to the forum and this is just my second post. I know the thread is old but I thought I'd share why I wanted to quit LC and explain now why I'm back.

I was just on a severly restricted low carb diet (basically 90% meat, breakfast, lunch and dinner) for a month and thought I'd have to make some kind of changes because of bad breath, body odor, and pardon me for saying, extremely foul smelling BM. I was feeling good, rarely hungry, and had plenty of energy for 6 days a week vigorous exercise but the odors were becoming a problem. I added what I thought were healthy carbs at regular intervals, you know - fruit, whole grains and veggies, and that took care of the odor problem. But before I knew what happened I was guzzling pepsi and chowing down on extra large bags of Doritos sitting in front of the tube. I lost the energy to exercise (I was sometimes doing 2 a days and then couldn't do one session for two days in a row) and was feeling moody, tired, and constantly hungry.

I was explaining this to a family member and later that day happened across the Heller's Carb Addict book. Yes, I"d heard of them before but wrote them off without reading because I thought its theory was an excuse for a lack of willpower. Til I had my own episodes of uncontrolled carb eating that is. :-)

So now I"m headed back to LC but I'm debating going back to my very strict regimen, the CAD, or a paleo version of the Warrior Diet.

Hope this isn't too old a thread to bring this up again. I did enjoy writing about my experience though! Thanks for reading.
AL