Yo Yo dieting - and Atkins, Bad?
 

Hello all,
I just wanted to bounce this off the group, do you think yo yo dieting and atikins can cause problems with loosing weight as it does to other diets in context that each time you try it will become harder and harder to loose.

I only ask because I find myself returning to Atlkins after stints of being slack, because I want to be healthy and I kniow whats good for me. I know I need to loose some weight and can't help but feel this is the correct way to do it and live. But I am human, and I am addicted to sugar, in a way that if I have just a little it feeds upon itself and gets me in trouble.

Is there a line where you have returned to the diet so many times, that the effects are no longer there because your body has learnt to deal with this kind of eating and not loose weight..

Anyone have a clue.. It isn't that I have expeinced this yet, but when I returned I wondered if I am still going to see and feel such fantastic results that I did the first time, or have I botched it by being weak.

Hi Just Dave,
You aren't weak, you are human, just like all of us. :) And I know I am as much an addict to sugar as anyone is to alcohol, cigarettes, etc. But Atkins keeps the cravings controlable, which is half the battle.
I had tried Atkins twice prior to this time, and I really didn't see much difference in my rate of success during induction each time. I have read posts by other people saying they have, so maybe it's a YMMV kind of thing.
All I know is that Atkins is the ONLY WOE that gets that scale moving down for me, PLUS I feel so good, that in itself is encouragment to keep going!
Don't give up Dave...you're worth it!
:thup:
Have a good day!
Lesle

Let me qualify my response first. I'm not doing Atkins per se, but what I am doing now resembles Atkins OWL. I don't think it hurts - just my opinion of course. The only thing I have to back up my opinion is the way I approached this WOE. I started out by just lowering my carbs. I first set my limit at 150, then later dropped it to 100, then later 70. And now I hover between 25-50 most of the time. Throughout the first 2 months, my carb counts were all over the place. When I set my limit to 100, there were days when I was well below and days when I was up high. I am convinced that I went into and out of fat burning mode all the time. I still continue to lose.

Also if you follow the thought that this is what our ancestors did, then I would imagine every winter, they ate lc and then in the summer they ate higher carbs. It makes sense if you think about how they would have lived back then. But of course, they didn't have the refined carbs we have today.

Again, this is just my opinion.

Good question, Dave...

It is my opinion that it is OK to yo-yo with this WOE and here's why:

It would be far better for you to remain LC and never deviate, but as long as you return to LCing and resist the urge to abandon all efforts to follow a healthy eating program, you'll be ahead of the game. Yo-yo or not.

In my own experience with LCing and falling off the wagon for brief periods, I have contiunued to lose weight when I return to LCing. However, when I have done so, I always start from step one. I do the two week Induction period by the book. I don't try to delude myself into thinking I can just resume where I left off. This program works by getting everything lined up in the right order, and that means 2 weeks of Induction level eating when you return to LCing.

I also happen to believe in the power of positive thinking and visualization. I think if you convince yourself that you won't be successful at LCing becasue you have yo-yo'd several times, then you're sure to fail. On the other hand, I strongly believe that if I strongly believe and make a commitment to myself, I can not be stopped--no matter what.

As for it being "harder" to get back to LCing in general, I haven not found that to be true. For me, when I have returned to LCing, the foods taste so good! Far better than the feelings I get for sugary foods.

Thanks for posting this interesting question!

Donald

Just wanted to add my "2 cents". We ARE all human and sometimes do deviate from our LC ways. However, I really haven't noticed alot of problems with loosing after I got back on the right track. As DW said, the important thing is to go back into "induction" and not the "phase" of the diet that you were in just before you "fell of the wagon". I always make sure to keep my carbs around 20, even if I havent cheated, so it's pretty easy to do for me.

Best of luck to you!

40's YOYO NONO
 

No...this is not a new Japanese born singer....:lol:

The above subject should read...YOYO? NONO!! :D

As a 40-something who has yoyo'd since childhood (and I'm talking WIDE weight swings (25-100 lb or more)...NOT 5 or 10 pounders) I am constantly told by doctors, books, other media and medical studies that this has directly contributed to my inability to lose weight at the rate I wish I could. I hold lifelong yoyos either directly or indirectly responsible for about 80% of all physical problems I've encountered. My excess and constantly changing "baggage" has so far been an insurmountable "thorn in my flesh" and I have never completely conquered it.

Today...I recently read a post in another thread in which someone says that some yo yo-ing is "okay". I SAY...YO YO-ING IS NOT OKAY! I understand yo yo-ing....I've done it so many times....but I know deep down that it can never be OKAY. One time can lead to another and another and another, and we fool ourselves if we say "just this once" or "a couple times won't hurt". We're triple digiters in our 40's....where does it end? I am weak...I can't always do it right...heck, I've never EVER done it right. BUT...I know what my problem is....and it's how I got into this big fat mess. And...I aim to make this my last eating lifestyle change....Atkins for Life.....it HAS to be. I don't claim perfection...I'll probably fall once in awhile...but I need to tell myself that it's NOT okay to yo yo.... My life depends on it.

Comments? :sunny:

DerBlumers,

I am right there with you! Yo-yo'ing is devastating to us! I have lost (from the age of 15) anywhere from 50-68 lbs, many times, and put it right back on again! Each time I gained more than I lost, and my body changed shapes! And every time, the addiction to carbs was stronger than before (although for a while I didn't know that was the problem) simple carbs for us are poison and death as far as I am concerned. how many "just this once's" have we had? I know for me, it has been in the hundreds!! Maybe some can handle it, but I can't!! That one bite, that one piece of cake, is like one drink to an alcholic!
Changing the subject-how can we get the other 40 somethings to get in on the threads?
Tina

from what I have read about the yo-yo diets every time you do it you lost muscle tissue which leaves you with more body fat the next time you balloon back up making it harder to lose the weight each succesive time as you have less lean tissue burning calories and more body fat just riding a long doing nothing.

Tina I too am a carboholic and know I am one cheat way from returning to a 300+ pounder. I found a 12 step for over eaters and adapted it to fit my Atkins WOL. Just as there is no such thing as one drink or a bottle in the house for an alcoholic there will not be just a little bite or any high carb foods allowed to reside in my house. As Dr Atkins said in rule 5 of induction there is no just one bite, cheating is the kiss of death.

Happy low carbing to y'all

Tina3...I think if we say 40's (the number, not the word) it might make it easier to find...especially for some who routinely scan thread titles instead of "read" them....

Just a thought...

I totally agree about the yo-yo ing. In fact, at one point I went on a strict dr. supervised liquid diet (HMR) and the first time lost over a hundred pounds. After having my baby, I went back on to try and lose the 70 I gained back while pregnant. Even though I was only consuming 800 calories a day of protein liquid, the first two weeks I think I lost a total of 2-3 pounds. The doc insisted I must have been cheating, but I had not cheated at all and had even been exercising quite a bit. Clearly, my metabolism had gone into starvation mode (something I know now, but didn't know then). I became so frustrated and depressed that I threw in the towel on the liquid diet and my weight continued to go up and up. It's been very difficult getting it off now, but I know that this is the only weigh to go for me. I've lost my cravings, am not ravenously hungry and can get through meal to meal without snacking non-stop between meals. I've made up my mind that this will be a way of life for me now. While I don't expect to lose all the weight overnight, I do know that it will gradually come off as long as I stick with the plan. So long to starvation and welcome to low carb satisfaction!