Well, this IS the war zone, after all. If all who disagreed went away, there would be no war zone... and life would be boring.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by akman
LC may be useful in losing weight over a couple months, but eventually you will need to include ample plant fiber and starch. Atkins had it right in adding back carbs, but many try to skip that part with endless induction. Most of the successful diets include some kind of cheat days designed to get fermentable substrate into the gut.
|
I have to say I do agree somewhat with this. I've been low-carbing over six years now, around 30-40 g per day, except in winter when I go literally crazy due to Michigan's bitter cold, doom and gloom and lack of serotonin. From September through February I usually gain back 10-30 lbs, so it's taking me much longer than it otherwise might have. Over the past six years I've lost around two hundred pounds... I should weigh only 65 lbs by now. lol
Last year I've finally gained some control, mostly through three rounds of HCG, and while I still gained some 15 lbs last winter, I didn't gain as much as I used to and so ended lower than I have before.
This May I did the potato hack for three weeks, broken by high-fat LC weekends, and lost nearly 20 pounds that got me into a range I haven't seen since 1980's. Though I was reluctant to try the PH-- after all, I was a confirmed low-carber, six years of LC training screamed, "No no no, all this starch will be disastrous!!"-- I was shocked how fast the weight dropped off... as quickly and easily as my first time with Atkins six years ago, with minimal hunger.
Plus the PH seems to have reset things, even going back to LC. My body temperature is higher, I sleep better and my mood is improved, but most surprising of all it's been very easy to maintain my losses so far, though I have yet to undergo this winter on higher carbs to see if that all remains true. But I have maintained my losses even eating out not especially LC, drinking wine and LC beer and all without being 100% strict the way I used to have to be on LC just to prevent regaining. A glass of wine or one beer used to cause a 1-2 lb gain the next day that took forever to ditch.
That said, I'm not pushing PH for everyone, nor planning to continue it for myself. Right now, I'm doing the raw dairy diet, mostly because I have a cow that's just freshened and three gallons of milk to get through every day, though I don't drink that much of course.
And guess what, that's working too... a pound a day.
I believe anything done too long stagnates the system and causes stalls, LC included. Stalls are demoralizing. People start doing the wrong thing, dropping carbs when they should be increasing them. The first five years I did all the LC tweaks from Kimkins to meat & eggs to fat fast, and while they worked for a while, weight usually rebounded over time, and definitely over the winter when body systems usually take a dive anyway.
Perhaps what really should be done is do the opposite from LC... eat high-carb/low-fat as in the potato hack for several weeks, drop some more weight, then return to LC.
ETA: By the way, my fasting blood glucose DROPPED while on the potato hack.