Ah the strong draw of the drive through after a day at work. I once frequented them all. And there was the morning coffee (2 creams one sugar) and blueberry muffin from the Dunkin Donuts drive thru at the way to work. It's been nearly 2 decades since I engaged in that kind of behavior and now the thought of eating that way literally turns my stomach. I'm glad I finally figured it all out. Most people don't.

STOPPING LOW CARB: Laziness, succumb to temptation in the form of cookies brought to me by a friend, not liking to cook and finding too many high carb options and too few low carb options, taste and smell

RE-STARTING LOW CARB: facing another knee or hip surgery, hitting my self-prescribed weight ceiling (200 lbs)

Part of it is the idea, since we were babies, that "one X, Y, or Z" is harmless. And it is. But it's never once a year on our birthday, is it?

There was a time when I thought that babels were almost the perfect food because they were low-fat. Bran muffins were necessary because of the fiber. All the influential medical groups kept convincing me that fat in my diet was evil and fiber would fix all my health problems but for some reason the harder I tried to stay healthy, the worse my health got.

I remember when oat bran was being touted as the cure for all things cholesterol so Dunkin Donuts started selling blueberry muffins with oat bran. I fell for the hype. I am older and wiser now.

It never was - the holiday treats were so plentiful that they tended to last from one holiday almost until the next one brought a whole new batch of holiday treats. In between, there was always hard candy available, chips to have with sandwiches, and icecream in the freezer.



A birthday cake might have lasted about 3 or 4 days in a small family. In a large family the birthday cake might not have lasted through as many days - but they had birthdays more often, and that meant they ate birthday cake just as often, just not as many days at a shot. My mother always had a cake on hand for desserts though - at one point she was also making what she called "breakfast cake", which was essentially a fruit cake (with more sugar laden batter and less fruit than regular fruit cake), or zucchini bread. Might as well have been having cookies for breakfast.



It was actually worse when my kids were in school than when I was a kid, because we never had treats in class for classmates' birthdays. But by the time my kids were in school, in a class of however many kids, there were that many days during the school year that some kid in the class was having a birthday (summer birthday kids were allowed to pick an un-birthday), so they'd bring in treats to share with the class. That was in addition to them inviting most of the kids in the class to a birthday party, where they'd have some kind of starchy meal (often pizza), then birthday cake and icecream for dessert.



Some kind of dessert was still being served on the school lunch trays then too - it might have been some kind of jello, or fruit flavored (and sugar laced) "applesauce" for dessert, but the sugar fix was still there every single day, often more than once a day.



And that's just the sugary treats that simply never stopped - never mind all the starch based foods that were consumed in great quantities, since it was the era of 6-12 recommended servings of grain based food daily.

Now that I'm retired, life in an office is no longer the Nutritional Valley of Death for me. The break room is only the beginning. There are endless celebrations of birthdays and births, and all other life events that MUST have cake attached.

With the advent of Starbucks (does anyone remember when this was a little upstart coffee place in Seattle?) a coffeeshop every half-block offers fragrant pastries and plenty of other carby things. And let's not forget the beverages way beyond pure black coffee laced with sugar.

I actually think a January "crash diet" is a good thing--if it becomes a learning experience for permanent change. Seldom does, alas.

Happy New Year! January's almost over. Time to get serious!

Growing up in New England, a fast breakfast on the way to work or school was a drive through in Dunkin' Donuts or Mister Donut or a quick coffee and muffin in Mug 'n' Muffin or Pewter Pot. What could be healthier than a sugar-laced bran muffin with a slightly crispy top and a very soft interior. They know how to make them so desirable . . . . .

Back to seriousness . . . . .

Where I work, the office IS the junk food room - it's a donut chain! I can't get over what some of my coworkers eat, let alone the customers.

I love how we throw in a buzzword ingredient - whole grain banana pecan muffin - and that makes it healthy in peoples' minds. NEWSFLASH: YOU'RE STILL EATING CAKE FOR BREAKFAST.

Our raisin bran muffins have 4 g fiber, compared to 2 in a chocolate chip muffin. They're allowed to have the health claim, "source of fiber." IT'S STILL CAKE.

Part of me thinks all health claims should be banned.

When I do raisin bran muffins, I only send 6 to each store. They don't sell. OTOH, I do 1.5 - 2 CASES of chocolate chip. That's upwards of 144 muffins.

Well, here's a thought. The Weight Creep is incredibly sneaky, and in fact rather slow. Even when you (that is, I) consider myself essentially in LC maintenance, it's easy to let the W.C. sneak up.

Here's what happens:
--Allowed LC foods that add up with regular use: eg. heavy cream, cheese, nuts
--Vacations, travel, any short-term event that puts on 3-5 lbs. that never come off.
--Marriage. Yes, marriage is fattening.

It may take ten years. But one day, you step on the scales (about which you have been in denial) and OMG! You are on your way back to where you thought you'd never go again. If you're like me, you have a wardrobe (more than one) that accommodates weight gain. Noticeable, but....denial, again.

Anyway, it's totally understandable, even if you (I) consider yourself an LC devotee for life. I'm thinking that while the scales are NOT my friend when I am in weight-loss mode, I must must must not neglect them when I'm in maintenance, and that's for life.

This has been the easiest maintenance EVAH this time around. Because I didn't change much from how I lost the weight.

In fact, I looked back at my Carb Manager app for last year. I started mid January, 2019. So I guess I qualify for the Crash Diet category of the thread! I spent a couple of months figuring out what I could eat and sticking with a 20 carb average per day. And then, I just winged it as the weight fell off rather quickly. By fall I was the same size I am now, and I've been cruising ever since.

It's not just the low carbs, because I've probably doing 30 carbs average this winter. Friends were worried I was "too thin." I didn't know if I was doing something wrong or what, so I let up a little by eating more of things I was already doing okay with. Like low-sugar fruit, chocolate that's not Bakers chocolate -- Finland makes a couple of killer bars that a square or too of doesn't create cravings. I added some raisins to my coleslaw because it's so good on BBQ pork. I have a low-sugar "sparkling probiotic drink" I treat like wine, and have a half cup to sip after dinner. I still feel good and my weight has stayed the same.

What has been KEY is that I don't touch a whole list of foods that are now simply off limits. I remember averaging 32 carbs a day, much like now, only I wasn't nearly as slim, and still had some cravings. But then, I was eating gluten, legumes, artificial sweeteners: small portions, carbs low.

But a dramatic difference in results.

I'm getting jjjealllousss! Okay, for me I've found I'm probably really carb sensitive because even non-starchy veggies I ate on vacation put on ten pounds it took a rigorous eating plan including almost no plants, seriously reduced fat plus high protein to finally get rid of. Regular low carb/high fat or keto don't seem to be enough for me, but at least something works. Credit Dr. Ted Naiman's P:E ratio plan for the higher protein reduced energy from fat (already low carb for me) concept.

I keep it consistent, because I'm reminded of the times years ago when I thought I had more flexibility with low carb. What works for me is just how you describe: I know what I can eat, I know what I absolutely cannot eat, and I know what I shouldn't eat. This way, 99% of the time, I'm eating what I can and 1% of the time, I may eat what I shouldn't, and I never eat what I absolutely cannot. This approach is easy and simple, and once I learned how to categorize foods for me in this way, it produced very positive health outcomes and feelings of well being.

I was just at a work function in our building and they had cookie cakes all over, and red juice. It was all sugar. I which it was rubbed ribs, and brisket. no way I am messing up my almost 15 pounds in 1 month loss.

there are many reason why people drop off, will power, personal life things happen, and so on.

Sorry - I don't have any stats. Once upon a time - I knew a grossly obese woman at work who had bariatric surgery. It seemed to work for her as she lost a lot of weight. But one day, in the coffee room, I watched her eat a box of popcorn. I heard her explain to a colleague that popcorn was OK. (In another setting and in another time, a dietician leading a weight loss group, told us all that if we were hungry we should eat popcorn.)

One of the things no one talks about is the diet required for those post-bariatric surgery. It is VERY restrictive.