Dear Low Carb community!

I'd like to start with my current situation. I started LC in January 2013, lost 37 pounds in 5 months and then stalled - which is a common thing with my own metabolism. I've lost weight before LC by exercise and counting calories and know that my body always stalls after half-a-year of dieting. All I need to do is wait for spring, then my weight loss starts again. Has something to do with seasonal influences, I suppose.

I maintained a full-Keto diet over a month (15g carb per day, 80-85% fat, 12-15% protein) and after "full sclale reloading" my Ketosis I did a Carb Refeed with the intention to break through my remaining insulin resistance. I succeeded! My insulin sensitivity increased dramatically and fasting blood sugar dropped from 110mg/dl (January '13) to 103 mg/dl (October '13), which is exactly half the way I need to go. That matches my weight perfectly - I have to lose another 45 pounds to get rid of my excess weight.

Currently, I am not limiting my carb intake, I eat anything I want as much as I want. Only one thing is still completely absent in my lifestyle - Refined Carbohydrates! These are 100% banned from my table! Huge amounts of apples, pears, almonds, carrots and other natural fiber-rich LC-friendly foods replace them successfully. And of course I still maintain my high fat intake (100-120g coconut oil/olive oil/butter/bacon, etc. per day).

Now, you constantly hear that "Low Carb is a FAD", "you can't maintain weight loss" and "Low Carb Yo-Yo will make you gain weight again". And here's what happened to me after I stalled in July 2013 at 215 pounds.

- I allowed myself gradually more and more complex carbs from fruits and vegetables with a carb-fiber-ratio of max. 1:5
- july to August it was a mix of carb rich days and Keto weeks, amking sure I'm really stalled.
- September was all Ketogenic. No effect on weight.
- from the bginning of October "all you can eat"...
- always when I did a carb re-feed, I gained 5 pounds within 3 days, which is actually glycogen storage filling up again. 5 days of Keto and these 5 lbs are lost again.

So basically almost 5 months passed by when I stalled and gradually increased my fat and complex carb intake. In July '13, with my glycogen storage filled up, I weighed 221 pounds. According to conventional "Low Fat Wisdom" I have gained weight by now. Earlier Yo-Yo's I had got me 8-10 kg or 20 pounds in 6 months, so theoretically I should weigh 240 lbs at this very moment. Fat makes you fat, does it?! Right now, after my last stall and the following 5 months of Low Carb and 0% refined carb lifestyle, I still weigh 221 pounds! I did not gain a single pound of fat during all the High Fat lifestyle. NO YO-YO. My health is getting better and better, my physical condition is the best of my entire life and I excel at my job.

Basically it boils down to - I eat anything except refined carbs and literally can't get fat! I just don't. My food is literally swimming in fat while cooking. I lost weight on LC and I maintain it without exercise, low-fat-nonsense and giving up "all you can eat"-pleasures. For me, this is the best proof that Low Fat is a huge pile of hogwash and grain-lobbyist propaganda. I tried to get fat on FAT, I tried it really hard and I find it impossible. In my case - no weight gain without refined carbs, no matter how hard I try.

Now the CONTROVERSY...
My personal hypothesis about Low Carb Yo-Yo-effect is; people lose weight and think "well, it's OK now, I can try some donuts and sweets again". Keep in mind refined white flour and sugars are everywhere. They try a bit, get hooked again and eat even more, which leads to a full scale Refined Carb Relapse!. And those relapses - one might say the simple unwillingness to give up all the sweet carb drugs - makes them crash down and getting fat again. Most of them fail to recognise refined carbs as luxury/convenience and not essential nutrients. BTW pure carbs are actually propagated as an "essential nutrient", which they're clearly not, according to scientific literature.

Scientific literature, clinical studies and my own experience tell me that it is utterly possible to live a LC-lifestyle without Yo-Yo, keeping your weight under control and don't torture yourself with FAD low fat high carb diets and "burnin' carb only" exercise.

What does the LC-community think about?


Best wishes

ketogenium


PS: It's just plain weird, anyone's talking how fat makes you fat but I can't get weight on even 1/3 lbs of pure fat every day. I've seen so many Vegan websites and Veg Prophets onb YouTUbe tellig me that fat & meat is sooooo fattening, but no matter how I try I can't get fat and sick on fat. I asked some Vegs via Internet how I can get fat on fat, and after learning about my case they didn't know either. It appears that I am "the study of ONE" (© Dr. John McDougall), just like hundred thousands or maybe millions of other LC-ers around the world.

Fat doesn't make me fat either, but moderate amounts of "apples, pears, almonds, carrots and other natural fiber-rich, LC-friendly" foods do. I have to eat them in very small quantities. Glad you can eat them in huge amounts, and a bit envious because that's just not an option for this post-menopausal woman. Actually, neither is the concept of carb re-feeding days. For me it's very simple: carbs under 50 = weight loss, 50-100 = stall, over 100 = gain. My protein intake also needs to be moderate and fat intake needs to be adequate for satiation. Easy peasy. It seems all we have in common is the elimination of processed carbs and no fear of dietary fat.

Not seeing how your stated 'personal opinion', which is in fact "preaching to the choir", is controversial. In other words, it has been a widely known and shared "fact" since the boom in low carbohydrate eating in the early aught's and no one here views as a controversy.

It is not breaking news if you treat low carb eating as a diet in order to lose weight and return to your "real" diet (i.e., SAD/SGD/whatever high carb diet), you will not only regain the weight lost, but at least +10-20 pounds. So, in essence, you've reinvented the wheel. Congrats!

I suggest you try reading a book on the topic besides Lusting. Give Taubes a try. But here's a relevant link right here on this very forum: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=456492

My experience almost exactly...except I need carbs under 20 to lose. I haven't reached maintenance yet, but I suspect that CCL will be around 30 to 40 on a daily basis. I might get away with a very sporadic 50-100 day, but on a daily basis that would equal weight gain for sure. And I've seen a direct effect of just a couple of days eating apples or pears in moderate amounts, also nuts. I don't think that will change, I just have to be very careful.

Years ago, after reading Art Devany's blog, I went from eating low carb to incorporating fruit into my diet. Devany didn't really advocate unrestrained fruit the way I ate it, I don't think. It didn't work for me, but I've seen people on the board who seem to be able to maintain when they increase non-refined carbohydrate foods into their diet.

I've done brief experiments eating a large number of bananas recently, and done all right on the weight loss front. But I don't trust it. I seem to pee a lot with bananas, and even though theoretically my weight should be going up with the increase in glycogen it goes down. I finally got around to checking my blood glucose 1 hour postprandial after eating six bananas--165. I decided that was too rich for my blood.

I find I can reliably lower my blood glucose, within the context of a very low carb diet, by manipulating my protein intake.

I just came back here. I went from 185 lb to 158 or so in 2 years South Beach (so not as fat as your LC, but still low carb). In the years since then, 2005, I slowly added a few lb a year, until in 2012 I was 180 again (though healthier and more muscle). But like you, I have sworn off refined carbs forever. With this N of 1, I swear it is not doughnuts or ice cream - I gained this weight, slowly, IMO, mostly because, 1) like several here, healthy carbs are still not good for me, 2) Portion control (or lack thereoff), 3) fats especially dairy, 4) alcohol. But I can't tell you which is the most important. For the past year, I have maintained 170 but want to go down another 15 lb (so I am officially normal), and these last pounds are hard. So I am back to phase 1.5

Pork,dairy, wheat and sugar make me gain - as do peanuts. Walnuts, bananas, beef and olive oil and butter - also beans and lentils make me lose. In my experience it is the actual foods themselves rather than the carbs they contain that dictate their effect on me. I do the blood type diet which most people laugh at. But for me it works. LC didn't work long term for me - and I didn't fall off the wagon or cheat. It stopped me from getting fat - for sure - but I never felt that great on it. i also developed a dairy intolerance and ended up with quite a severe leg injury after attempting to do chronic tennis training anaerobic stuff on next to no carbs and loads of fat - which was in hindsight not a good idea.

I actually lost 5 kilos to begin with on lc - then gradually gained it all back plus 2 or 3 more without going off plan over the course of about 5 years I think it was. I never restricted calories or any of that crazy behaviour - I regained on the same diet I lost on. Some of that was muscle but a lot wasn't. I did tend to regain subcutaneous fat rather than visceral which is something positive I think.

But I am in the same boat - I can lose or maintain with quite high amounts of unrefined carbs as long as those are foods that agree with me. And with lots of fat as well. My appetite tends to go completely out the window after a large meal of lots of fat and fruit and a bit of meat for example. To me that is my body telling me it is well fed and working well.

Right now I am 20 weeks pregnant and eating a lot of fat and unrefined carbs. I haven't gained much at all - but that is usual for me - I gain about 10 kilos in the last trimester.

One thing has always been true for me - I need to eat a lot of red meat to feel well. But I think once I got rid of the wheat and other gluten grains (and sugar) the whole getting fat around the middle thing kind of went away. I wonder how many people that is true for.