I was a skinny gangly kid until age 8 or 9, then vwooom .. fat. Interestingly I also experienced early puberty too, age 10. I ate the same things and same amounts as my older brother and sister yet they both stayed skinny all through childhood and adolescence. Although, they both became obese as adults. The difference was activity level .. they were into sports and physical activity, whereas I was the nerdy bookworm with less physical interests like art and music.

When I was 16, I went on the original 1970's Atkins diet with my dad .. and kept the weight off because I stuck to low carb eating, until I went to college. There in nursing school they put the fear of cholesterol in my head .. and for the next 2 decades I struggled with low fat diets and yo-yo dieted my way up to 215+ lbs, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

re CCL - I've found that my daily carbs can go fairly high .. 40 - 50g ECC per day .. IF it's from vegetables, including the occasional portion of starchies like squash, beans or lentils, or a fresh fruit (not bananas though ). But as soon as I add grains, bread, Wasas or cereals into the mix, even if my overall carb grams don't change .. uggghh. Bloat, crave, gain


Doreen