wow, I have loved reading all of these forums, the people are so nice! I just wanted to share my story and ask a few questions about the low-carb way of life...
dec 2002:
went low carb and loved it! I ate ample amounts of beef, chicken, fish, nuts, seeds, avocaods, and veggies throughout the day and ate one high carb meal at breakfast (usually whole grain toast with yogurt and apples) I lost weight on this and was quite happy (never had to count calories or portions), energy was good
jan 2003:
started feeling "guilty" for eating sooo much yummy fatty foods and meats (even though I ate rather healthfully considering what a lot of lcers eat-frakenfoods) I went vegan and I lived off of plant starches (rice beans potatoes vegetable fruits, and grains only) I cut all fat out of my diet as well as all protein in adherence to this McDougall guys recommendations, felt crummy most of the time, but still stood faithfully to my vegan diet,
dec 2003:
I was the "perfect" vegan but couldn't take it anymore!!! I gained weight when I tried to eat more than 800 cals a day and the more rice and beans I ate the more weight I put on!!! I had dreams at night about eating meat. I became a majorly food obsessed anorexic (I had eating disorder tendencies before i went vegan but veganism drove me over the edge) I lost it one day in frustration and went on a completely ketogenic diet. I ate nothing but greens and meats and fats. I felt like my body was turning back "on"! Unfortunately I lost WAY too much weight doing this and looked like a bag of bones after about 3 weeks.
March 2004
Right now I eat only whole grains, veggies, fruits, and yogurt for carbs. I eat ample amounts of protein with each meal and very small ammounts of healthy fats (I eat a meal every 2-3 hours for a total of 5-6 a day)
Which brings me to my question....
How can I follow a low-carb plan and NOT lose weight. I want to maintain my weight eating low carb. I wish to cut back on the starches a little more but every time I do the more weight I lose. Adding fat calories doesn't seem to work. Eating lots of fruit doesn't even work. Ever since I began eating meat again I can now tolerate 1500-1800 cals a day w/out gaining weight (and I am a SKINNY woman who by all definitions should have a pretty shot metabolism after 8 mo's of existing on 400-800 cals a day) I exercise 6 days a week but only 3 days are 30 min of cardio and the other 3 are weightlifting. I actually exercised more while being a vegan (cardio for 1-2 hours a day, seven days a week) and I've found that after I began eating meat I didn't have to workout nearly so hard to stay slim.
I simply feel good on a low carb eating plan but i do not want to lose weight nor do i want to eat a bunch of cheeses and fatty meats. I like living off of plant fats, lean meats, fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, dairy and the occaisional whole grain. Makes my body feel good but doesn't keep my weight up. I have found that I tolerate an extremely high level of carbs now compared to before.
ps: I have been declared perfectly healthy by my doctors, blood work/thyroid/heart/liver etc all checked out okay. I just need to figure out how to maintain my weight and still eat low carbish. I do not want to GAIN just maintain.
Thanks for reading this rather long post if you haven't already lost interest by now

Quote:
Ever since I began eating meat again I can now tolerate 1500-1800 cals a day w/out gaining weight

Well, great for you. Why do you say 'tolerate' the figures you mention are still low for an active healthy woman.

If you feel you are eating enough and you are eating healthy foods (as you seem to be) why on earth are you even bothering to weigh yourself?

Throw away the scales, eat healthy maintainance food in decent amounts and stop calorie counting and carb counting.

Your body will find its own true weight for itself.

Hiya there, I am an ex-Mcdougal person myself. I actually did lose weight on the diet but after about a year and a half of being vegan I ended up having some health problems so I added back dairy and fats. If you aren't wanting to lose weight definately just start with the main phase of atkins. I am currently pregnant and doing the maint phase and hanging around the amount of calories that you are aiming for. You are welcome to pop by my journal and have a look at what I eat on a daily basis. I don't eat meats other than some seafood which my doctor asked me to add to my diet but you maybe it will give you an idea of how much and what you can eat without losing. www.atkins.com has the info you probably need although it might take a little searching around.


Jenn

{{{{{ex-vegan}}}}}

I just want to give you some hugs. I too was vegan, and had many of the same problems you did.

As others have said, try a maintenence plan. Both Protein Power Lifeplan and Atkins for Life are very thorough in discussing how to eat low-carb and maintain your current weight.

Good luck!

what exactly were your "health problems as a vegan?"
mine were:
scaly skin
hair falling out in HUGE clumps (l love my hair)
always cold
heart palpipations
aches in my bones
difficulty concentrating
the urge to binge on starch and sugar
enlarged thyroid glands (probably due to the excessive ammounts of soy)
NO energy
and this was all before I started "restricting" as a vegan, when I was still eating enough calories and variety as a vegan.
I will definitely check out the maintainance plan for the books you mentioned. I feel guilty still over eating so much protein after being told it is bad for me BUT
my hair looks good as new
my skin has recovered
I can exercise comfortably now and with good energy
I am actually *gasp* building muscle with my weightlifting, something that always eluded me as a vegan, even my cellulite on my hiny is gone
My weight is still too low for my height but I am hoping that the lifting will fix that in due time as well as the decrease in cardio, I am still not used to enjoying and eating so much food and staying the same weight generally week after week, I feel like it is too good to be true! after months of suffering. What were the greatest challenges, rewards, tips etc that the ex-vegans here have for me? How do you overcome the guilt and how noticeable were the improvements in health after becoming carnivores again? Any favorite foods or food ideas I can try to vary my diet with? I am partial to tuna fish...

I had all of the health problems you mentioned. I actually thought I might have chronic fatigue syndrome because I could not move out of bed in the morning. I could not think either... it was like my brain was canibalizing itself. I subsisted mainly on soy meats and sugar. My hair fell out too, and I had awful acne.

Now that I am low-carbing I have a ton of energy, my hair is thick and glossy, acne is gone and I am back to my old self.

Welcome ex vegan! I am glad you found this wonderful community. While I have never been vegan, I was vegetarian for a long time. Being veggie and eating 1000-1200 cals a day made me sick, lethargic and brought out food allergies and asthma.

I started LC last July after buying "Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution" for myself for my birthday. Since then I have lost 20# (5# to go, for a total of 100# lost), my allergies and asthma as completely under control and I have more energy than I ever had in my life.

Now I eat 2500-2800 cals a day and about 35 carbs. I learned that I was insulin resistant (with 2 diabetic parents) and I healed my metabolism. I feel great.

Maybe try reading "Atkins for Life" as a mainteneance plan. Good luck and keep in touch.

Namaste, Julie

I had pretty much every single symptom you mentioned, plus I was having serious bruising problems. I couldn't open the car door without breaking a vein. It was seriously scary. I never in a million years thought I would be following something like atkins but I feel soooooooooooooooo much better than I can remember feeling in a long long time.

Jenn

Man you are so lucky to have that problem. LOL.

Just eat more if you don't want to lose any more weight. Its really not hard to get in 1700 calories. Experiment with recipes and find high calorie ones. Check out the kitchen section. With all the different recipes for brownies and cheesecakes ... whipped cream... mmm . Sorry there for a moment I started drooling. LOL.

*** passes Itsthewooooooooo a wet wipe to clean up the drool *** ((( Do not fear, I am a mom and come prepared )))

Ditto what RCFletcher said in his above post.

Liz

noticed u were 5'6'' in your profile-- you should definitely be eating more calories per day, just so as not to have a calorie defecit. Given your exercise level, u would need even more calories on top of that..... nuts are a great way to get more calories in, as are using protein bars/meal replacement bars as snacks instead of meals (my doctor recommended this to me when i needed to gain weight), eggs w/ yolk are good esp if u add mayo, almond butter is also a great, healthy option to add to your diet esp if u put it on veggies, avocados are good too

yeah... I have discovered the joys of avocados on salads, olive and flax oil on salads, low carb snack bars from the hfs made with almond butter and chocolate, natural pb, eggs (omg I love eggs!!!) It is so funny to be eating so much fat after living for mo's on no fat. But I think my body is healing itself b/c I feel a lot better, dramatically better, I just need to put back on the muscle that atrophied away as being a vegan. Thanks for all of the advice and commiseration. I going to a fair tomorrow and it is smoked turkey legs for me;-)

eating protein and high cal is the best way to build muscle, that's what i'm trying to do right now too

Could u post some of your sample menus? Do u know your CCL? Have u found eating the above foods still caused you to loose weight (which would be bad since it'd correspond to a loss of muscle as well)?-- thanks, just looking for some advice here as well!

You can do a vegetarian type of LC. Not really vegan, but vegetarian. There is a vegetarian section on this low carb forum.

I eat tons of fat as well! LCing has been the best decision I have ever made.