trying to get back on the low carb
 

Wonder how many times I need to get back on before I am willing to commit to low carb for life...maybe 40-60 a day is doable for me rather than trying for 20

Sharon 1964

Why not try it and see if it works for you

If you find yourself slipping or gaining - drop down

Hi and welcome Sharon. :wave:

The problem with letting it go much higher than 20-40 g is you lose the advantage of appetite suppression. You - or at least *I* and many other people - would be back to struggling with cravings and hunger at that carb level. I won't say I never do 40-60 g carb in a day, but I save it for special occasions and it's generally a one-and-done dinner out with family or something.

If you'd like to tell us a bit more about yourself and your lifestyle, we can offer up some tips on how to navigate keeping it lower. :thup: I'd recommend aiming for 20, and even if it drifts higher, you should still have success.

Agree with Kristine. Dr Atkins designed the first two weeks to be less than 20 total carbs, with a very limited list of foods. It is important to lose your hunger and cravings for sugar and starch, and become solidly fat adapted. For some people even 2 weeks is not enough. if you were an actual Dr Atkins patient and obese, you would stay at 20g total carbs until at goal. That is why Dr Westman, who wanted to replicate what was actually used in the Atkins clinic, keeps his clinic diet at 20g. I think Dr Eades use to call eating low carb but not low enough to be ketogenic something like "LC purgatory"....you don’t eat low enough carbs to get into long term ketosis with hunger suppression, so the diet is hard...much harder than it needs to be. Stay at 20 g long enough so you are confident you can slooowly add 5g more without triggering hunger.
https://proteinpower.com/why-is-low...nd-time-around/. All the best,

Good advice, Jey

I have recently discovered that I have 2 "hungers"

A "mouth" hunger and a "stomach hunger"

I am having to learn the difference in their signals

I am learning to respond to stomach hungers by eating while ignoring mouth hungers b

Welcome back :)

I find <50 net grams per day the perfect balance of doable where I can lose weight and also have a larger variety of foods (specifically higher carb veggies and beans sparingly). However, I am very active at least 5 days per week. I have also found through experimentation that this is what my body can handle best, though I've not followed the Atkins plan since college over a decade ago, and even then I did it poorly without researching it enough.

If you're up for it, I would also recommend following the program as written. But......if you get to the point where it's 50g/day or give up, then go for the 50. That's where I ended up. I still go on and off the wagon but I stay on for longer and go off for shorter periods of time.

at this point in time I am not willing to commit as it seems to difficult ....

You need to make it simple for you. I am not sure why you would want 40-60 carbs unless that is veggies. But if your wanting bread, then your not ready. This is not easy to do but what you gain via health, looks, less stress, less sickness and so on is worth it.

Check out dr westmanns rules. He teaches vlc to many many many people at Duke. He makes it very very simple. He wants sucess for every patient the first time.

We have a thread here somewhere with written program , easy to print and post for referal.

Veggies are two fistfuls of salad greens, and a fistful of vlc veggies from a list, like greenbeans, daily.

dr atkins program is posted here too. When I started, writting out the basics and posting on fridge for easy access worked well.

You need to know the limits on other foods you mught like for variety. If not , have a peice of real meat no breading, prepared with salt and butter, and a small 1cup salad, twice a day. And only drink water. THAT is as simple as it gets.

I agree with Arielle, Dr. Westman's plan is as simple as it gets. No points, no shakes, no macros, no tracking foods, no calorie counting, just eat real food, etc.


So what is it you think is too difficult? Cooking?...we have no-cook meals. Hunger...you can eat as much as you want of a list of foods. Let us know your sticking point, and we will try to help.

Here is the basic diet Dr Westman gives all his first time weight-loss patients. Read it through to see if there is anything in it you can do. (Posted by Jey100)

https://lipedemasummit.lipedemaproj...dout-134067.pdf

Here's Gary Taubes' version from Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It.

No Sugar, No Starch Diet: Getting Started