I kicked my carb addictions while on Atkins induction for the first four months. Then started increasing to about 40-50 ish. This went fine for awhile then I had *the stall.*

Amazed with the results thus far, I couldn’t get things moving again so I switched to pplp. I was really missing fruit, squash, and the occasional grain such as rice.
The shake-up brought me to another mini-goal.
Now it’s been some time again and I’m feeling the same way I was during my pre-pplp stall.

I haven't been counting carbs for some time. I’ve got a pretty good idea of how many carbs I consume, due to the fact that my menus and tastes are pretty similar- week to week.

I can say that my addiction to carbs is gone. I really don't have a taste for HG carbage anymore [popcorn excluded]
I love meat. It's easy for me to make it the largest percentage of my daily diet.

I'm still apprehensive about the 'all things in moderation' mentality because that was my mantra as I gained over 100 pounds.
I echo many of you here; I'm tired of feeling afraid of food.

It'll be fun to come here and compare notes!

Thanks Liz!

Oh, I'm another one married to Mr. Carbo.

That Mr. Carbo really get around.

I said but didn't eat all things in moderation. I'm much better at that now.

I've come to realize that I'm less concerned with long term success at weight loss than I am with long term success with life. And that means not being hung up on food is more important losing another 20 or 30 pounds. Frankly, I also think the only hope I have at that other 20 or 30 pounds is not being so danged hung up on food.

How do you guys define moderate?

In relation to Atkins, for me it would mean anything above what he considered the threshold for most people, above 30-40 carbs a day, maybe anywhere from 50-150 carbs a day, but obviously this is all relative. But I would also throw into that a willingness to eat either grains and/or sugar because that is really where people step away from a strict low carb. Sugar is really an asolute no no on strict low carb plans, but I eat it, so even if my carbs don't jump a huge amount, I feel like that puts me in another category. Especially in comparison to hubby's sub 10g daily carb totals.

Only a little bit.



Often.

No really, I would do fine without following any specific plan, any and all foods if I watched portions.
Until the cravings would come. Usually in the evenings and binges would ensue totally destroying my efforts throughout the day. I would tell myself that only two pieces of the chocolate bar rather than the whole thing was eating in moderation; 2 cups of popcorn rather than the whole bag etc.
A mindset that had me convinced that this is how normal people eat...and the way I slowly gained.

I did Atkins to start with then M&E, and then chopped and changed plans I dunno how many times ,usually giving ww's ANOTHER go and then got impatient with the WL! At that stage I Was having carbs treats , even tho I was allowed them( I did flex) so did not have the weightloss I Was hoping for which was discouraging.
I seem to have found something that is very doable and it works for me!
I HAVE to get to goal this time so unless I am away or sick I will journal each day for accountability!

How you define moderate is the question, isn't it.

Here's my idea of moderate for a day. I ate this a few days back and, anal retentive me, I weighed everything. It comes to 1638 cals, 106 g protein (this was a high protein day), 87g fat, 87g carb, 27g fiber (I think of this as 60g net carbs).

3 cups coffee with h&h and sweetzfree, 3 turkey sausage links, half an avocado

Chicken sandwich on high fiber multigrain with tomato, spinach salad with a tablespoon of my blue cheese dressing

snack: 1 large rib celery with 1 wedge laughing cow light

roasted chicken breast with skin, crookneck squash with onion, spear of broccoli, butternut squash, butter on veggies, pear salad

late night: ounce gorgonzola and glass of merlot

I have lower protein, higher carb days. Fact is, since you asked this question I found that I tend to trade off 20 g of protein and carbs -- If I come in at 80g protein then I come in around 80g net carbs. On Dreamfields days my carb count is significantly higher and my fat is lower, but that's about once every 2 weeks. The other thing is, this is just one day -- you almost have to see a week to see how it all averages out in terms of variety.

How do *you* define moderate? Heck, how does everyone define moderate?

Hello everybody,

Please allow me to introduce myself: I'm Liz from The Netherlands. On January 4th, 2008 I was all set to lose 40 pounds, warned by Oprah's/Dr. Oz's program, stating that fat on the omentum isn't good for our health and so I started off with the South Beach diet.

After a couple of months I couldn't stand meat and eggs anymore so I switched to the CAD/CALP program (by Richard and Rachel Heller). When I faced an unwanted 'plateau', I switched to the good old low carb "Scarsdale Medical Diet' (by Dr. Herman Tarnower in the seventies), by which I always tend to shed a few pounds but which I find to be more and more difficult to cope with.

I still have a few pounds to lose but that's not urgent anymore. More importantly I'd like to be freed of wanting 'high carb things' to eat after dinner. When CALP can teach me this new kind of behaviour and 'engrave' that in my system, I would have reached my main goal.

May I assume that you are all familiar with the South Beach Diet program?

I consider the first phase of that diet to be 'very low carb', the second Phase to be 'low carb', whereas the third phase I would call "moderate low carb'.

How many carbs is the average nondieter eating?

Here's a calculator that I looked at when I freaked about the 200 carbs I was getting close to.

http://www.lifeclinic.com/focus/nut...?printpage=true

The average person eats much much more I would say. AND they eat the carbs with all kinds of fat.

BTW, my total carbs is not net. I eat about 48 to 50 g of fibre a day. But I'm sure even 150 carbs freaks most people here out!

I read somewhere that the average American consumes 500 carbs per day. I would think that includes sugar drinks.

500, I believe it. Even more I would say when I see the crap people eat.

It pains me when I see all the health problems one of my co-worker and her 9-year-old are having (acanthos nigrans -- I have been bugging her to get blood tests and tell her doctor). She was actually wearing a pair of capris that I shrunk out of and it jolted me to see how big I was.

Hi Skyliz, glad you joined us.

I think most of us here are familiar with South Beach, and some of us are doing it. I am not acquainted with CAD/CALP. Can you tell us about it?

I had nearly forgotten the Scarsdale diet! When I was a kid my mother had the book -- along with Atkins -- and I read it.

I got accustomed to not eating a large serving of carbs at dinner after about 2 years into LC. My biggest fear since then has been starting to want that again. Can you tell me what it is about CALP that you think will help you learn not to want that big serving of carbs?

I hate counting calories, but to find out what my maintenance was I recorded calories (including weighing & measuring as much of my food as I could) for 5 weeks in the spring of 2007. I was exercising moderately (running 3-4 days a week, weightlifting 2-3 times a week) as well, so that factors in.

My maintenance calories at that activity level was 2400 calories a day and I found that my carbs were 175g gross, 150g net.

That carb level to me is moderate. It's an average, so I have days where it's less and I'm more traditionally low-carb, but I have some meals or days where I'm eating more carbs and that bring the average up.