Hey- this is a POSITIVE thread that is about what we, maintainers, who have successfully lost weight (and in some cases kept it off a while) have done. There are lots of paths on this journey- this thread is an exploration of some of them. It is fascinating to me how different we are, and what we have in common. I can read about all kinds of other stuff lots of places on this site- this is not bashing anyone- this is for those of us in it for the long haul.
For me, SBD is a great plan for others! It is too similar to the way I used to eat to work for me. All I know is CALP works, and if it ain't broke don't fix it. Almost 3 years, and still going strong.
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I also want to add that I do not eat nearly as many grains as SBD allows. During the main thrust of my weight loss, phase II, I was allowed 3 grain/starch servings a day. I found that when I did eat 3 serving a day, that I'd stop losing weight. So I opted for 2-3 servings per week of starches and grains and that worked for me.

Even now, the only grain I eat daily are these Wasa rye crackers because I have finally realized that wheat triggers my appetite to I tend to avoid it. Except for Dreamfields pasta which I eat every couple of weeks. Once in a while, I'll have some brown rice or a potato but not often at all.

I think that as long as I keep strict with the grains/starch, that I'll be able to maintain. The balance of what I eat is some dairy, some cheese, 3-4 fruits a day, lots of protein(chicken, eggs, turkey, steak, fish) and lots of fresh veggies and hummus. OH!! ...and Breyers double churned, triple chocolate no sugar added ice cream!!

I see many people fail on SBD and I think that many of them jump to add bread back into their plans way too fast!! I still eat bread as a treat once in a while but for the most part, I avoid flour and will continue to avoid flour.

I've been investigating the glycemic diet (WOE) - and my husband and I are going to use some portions of it.

There is absolutely no way that either of us would be happy with the low fat that is recommended, but since we seem able to tolerate a fair amount of carbs, we'll simply be careful to choose ones with low GIs. We will not choose a carb just because of its GI (peanut M&Ms are low!), but we will choose what we consider healthy carbs with a low GI!

Right now I'm working at getting 3 pounds off, plus we've just done a lot of (unexpected) traveling - but in a week or so I'll start making steel-cut oats for breakfast, Ezekiel-bread for toast with eggs, extra fruits - I think our general WOE is fairly close to Protein Power.....and goes over to Atkins when we're trying to straighten something (like extra weight!) out.

I think in maintenance, we have to continually tinker with our eating to find just what works best for us - and I suspect that what works for me simply does not work for another person. Even between my husband and me, I have to make modifications - for example, he can tolerate only 1 cup of coffee a day (blood pressure rise) and limited salt - but he can eat a quarter pound of almonds and/or macadamias with no impact - I have to be super careful with the nuts (weight gain) but the coffee and diet Cokes don't do a thing to my bp, and salt makes me swell up but doesn't raise my bp.....

As I said, we're all different.....

My knowledge of Stillmans was that it was intended to be temporary, not long term. I'd be interested in checking out Donaldson's just to gain some understanding of an actual lifestyle based on meat only....Kiwi, do you have a link to it?



I find the differences fascinating too....if I wanted to hear/talk about only PPLP, I'd be primarily at their website, and I have found when exchanging information for the purpose of learning and supporting each other, that the plan of choice doesn't really matter that much. There does seem to be enough common ground in the LC lifestyle as a whole for us to share in support.

Eno, what exactly is CALP?



Judy, as a SBer, what is your take on the prepared SB dinners? I'm seeing a lot of those in my grocery store, and some of them don't look half bad with the carb level fitting into what I can have in maintenance.

Not to live off of completely, of course, but in moderation as a break from cooking now and then.

I've been skeptical of Atkin's products and found some to even contain transfats.

Donaldson is here. at the top of this webpage is a menu, and one of those menu items says "Plans", which leads to useful synopses of a bunch of different LC plans; Donaldson's plan is one of them.

WRT to Stillman's, all these plans have weight loss components and maintenance components; the all meat plans do as well, although the things we're seeing pop up now (M/E, "Carnivore") have people saying they'll do it forever (right). But the plan being followed on the other board has two seperate phases, the first one low fat/no carb (it's basically Stillman's from what I can tell); the second phase re-introducing vegetables and so on once you've reached maintenance, which resembles the run-of-the-mill maintenance plan for any low carb diet. I do know there are people who have rapidly (in under a year) shed hundreds of pounds on a Stillman type plan and have kept it off to date. It's not for me -- there's evidence that weightloss that fast can shorten your lifespan -- but it can, and has been done, and is still being done.

I think that is the beauty of this board, we know that one size does not fit all. Each person has to find out what works best for them. And kudo's to everyone that has been able to figure it out, not everyone is there yet. It usually takes some experimentation to get there. Even I haven't gotten it all figured out, I know I still have a lot to figure out to know what is the absolute best way for me to eat for life.

I know for myself, when I eat grains (wheat, oatmeal, rice, and others) it leads to cravings and I get bloated, fruits are not as much of a problem. I find that fats keep my feeling satisfied and happy with what I am eating. For the most part, I do buy skinless boneless chicken breasts, but it's because I find them easier to cook (grilled) and eat.

There are certain things that I cannot have in the house, because I will overeat them. LC ice cream and chocolates, cashews and popcorn are particularly troublesome. These are things that aren't very good for me anyway, so I am learning to accept that I shouldn't have free access to them.

Thanks for the link. I've been trying to find some sort of published plan based on meat only, and the only thing I've seen is articles/testimonials in the War Zone.

One source of confusion I've had is how maintenance is actually entered on a m/e plan....all of the LC plans I've seen do include upping the carbs at some point to stop weight loss. Others do, however, just stall out when their body is at the weight it wants....I noticed my weight loss slowed on its own to a degree even if I ate at induction levels, as I approached my ideal weight.

I have some understanding that a pure "carnivore" diet that includes raw meat and organ meats can be seen as a healthy lifestyle, though its not my cup of tea. Donaldson's doesn't seem to include this aspect, but it does include to add stuff back in slowly at some point.

It took me 10 months to lose 84 pounds, and I've gotten some flack IRL that I lost too fast, though my father lost over 100 pounds in nine months on a doctor prescribed diabetic diet that was along the lines of SB. I don't feel I forced things or went to any extremes, that was just the pace that my body let the pounds go.

Thanks for your input...what worked for you?

I'm going to be very honest here as Kraft is the one who designs these foods and they don't always have our best interests at heart!! They just want us to buy..buy and buy some more!!

Dr Agatson wrote a note about these foods and says to use them once in a while when you cannot eat fresh whole foods. While I agree with this, I still don't eat them!!

The frozen foods are loaded with sodium...the cereals are loaded with sugar as are the cookies and bars too. Bad...very bad!!! They could learn alot from the Kashi line of foods!!!

Personally, I like the Kashi products much better!! Their granola bars are great!! I have not tried their crackers yet but will at some point.

I had a feeling that this would be your answer, LOL!

Most of their dinners didn't look to be much different than what I can make at home (though more convenient), but I've been eyeing their pizza.

My "sin" food is LC flatbread and I have yet to try making it myself, cause I have to order a couple of the major ingrediants online, and I've never really mastered baking bread (without my bread machine). So far, Quizno's subs (delicious flatbread!) is my weekly treat, but one of these days I want to enjoy a good, moderately healthy, LC pizza.

I make a LC pizza at home with Flat Out Carbdown flat breads (I buy them at the deli area of our Super Wal*Mart). They have both a plain and an italian herb variety. I just heat the oven to 400, drizzle a little olive oil on a cookie sheet, plop the flat bread down and top it with whatever I happen to have on hand. Always SF tomato sauce, pepperoni and cheeses. Sometimes sausage if I have it. Veggies if I'm hungry for them. They bake for about 10 mins and are GREAT!

Sorry...duplicate

I make a LC pizza at home with Flat Out Carbdown flat breads (I buy them at the deli area of our Super Wal*Mart). They have both a plain and an italian herb variety. I just heat the oven to 400, drizzle a little olive oil on a cookie sheet, plop the flat bread down and top it with whatever I happen to have on hand. Always SF tomato sauce, pepperoni and cheeses. Sometimes sausage if I have it. Veggies if I'm hungry for them. They bake for about 10 mins and are GREAT!

Ohh, thanks for the tip! Our super Wal Mart just opened, and I hadn't thought to check the deli area for LC breads. They keep the LC tortillas in one place, LC bagels in another....I had no idea that they carried flatbreads.

Touyfan (murdered that spelling) makes a really awesome LC pita. It's only 7 carbs and the way I count cals says it's 90 cals, which is great, since half a pita is like a serving for anything I would need it for.

I used to love flat bread, I will have to look for that for SURE.

Hey Wooo!!

Where do you find that Touyfan?