So who out there is truly committed to LCing as their way of life.

I mean truly made the transition from being on a diet, to actually modifying their eating habits...for life

Some real honesty here guys......we all talk about this being a WOL but do we really mean it

For me this transition happened about 2 months in. I can no longer imagine eating any other way. This is me

Lesley

For me all it took was the second week. One week of feeling better, more alive, more alert, happier, stronger. The effects for me started in the second week.

I think one reason that was the case with me is that I didn't have, and haven't had, any cravings for sweets or other carbs. The only real hurdle I had was learning to eat fresh veges and take the time to prepare them.

And since the program lets me eat my most favorite foods -- artichokes with mayonaise, avocados, Joe's Special, etc. -- I haven't felt the least bit deprived.

I love it! And I'm loving creating new recipes for my new way of life!

And as far as learning to take the time to prepare veges, I prepare them in advance and store them in plastic containers. I keep diced onions, celery sticks, sliced mushrooms, chopped scallions and all manner of other prepared veges available so I don't have any excuse to go out instead. Although, going out is actually very easy to stay on track.

Thanks for asking the question!

;-Deb

Not sure when it happend, but I know that I noticed it had happend when I was on holiday in Cuba. It was effortless - it's how I eat now.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to go back. Carbs made me miserable, cranky, moody, headachey, hungry AND fat! I can live without them - it's such a sacrifice, not!

Nat

Yep, it's a WOL.
Like Nat, I'm not sure exactly when it happened but I can't imagine eating any other way now.
(Check it out, me, comparing myself to Nat! The cheek of me!)

Even my SO, who started this with me to humour me, has stayed because he feels so much better on this WOE. Friends have been telling him how much better he looks - he's lost very little weight, eats just enough carbs to maintain.

Rosebud

I have to agree - I don't know when it happened either. Like Nat I was on vacation and although I loosened the reins a bit, I was happier sticking to my usual diet. I also realized it the other day when I contemplated whether I could call myself a success or not...success somehow implies that you've achieved an endpoint and I don't really see it being over in any way. Does this make any sense?

More noticeable though...is that the feeling that I have to struggle through is gone. This is what I do, this is who I am.

Lisa

I think it was when I realized that I am in control of my food not my food controlling me!! I am enjoying a quality of life that I definately would have never achieved eating low-fat. For me it is truly the addiction response to sugar that I have overcome. In my case, I am a sugar addict and it is imparative that I avoid it because it could end up killing me one day. Like many of you, I make my food choices automatically and look forward to every bite because I know I am doing the best thing for my body. The food-equals-guilt equation is gone!!

SS!!

I realized one day that LC was now my "safety net" and the carby way was just plain dangerous in all sorts of ways.

I will not go back - yeah, never say never - and if I do, just find me and shoot me!

Karen

I've accepted this as my way of life, its been almost a year eating this way and Im not tired of it yet. I look back at my eating habits before starting LCing and i can't believe i used to eat all that "crap". Now when i think about going back to eating that way I just get sick. I love LCing and I dont really intend to switch back to my old habits.

I can't say so for sure. I love the way I feel, love the fact that I am in control, and I even love keeping the charts and tracking my progress. Also, I never was very physical, in fact I tried to hide in the corners in gym class so that I would be missed in some of the games. LOL Hated exercise. Now I look forward to going to the gym.

But I still feel like the recovering alcoholic. I never know when I may cheat and eat something that will send me on that slippery road back to my old habits. I'm still in that vulnerable state.

I plan to stick with this woe. I love the encouragement of all the wonderful people here. I think that this time I can actually do it and I am looking forward to being slim again.

Atrsy - I know what you mean about feeling like you could slip at any time. That feeling has lessened over time as I've become more confident in myself and my ability to stick with it. Also, as the weight comes off, you may find that you can tolerate more carbs...on the other hand, a true addict may never be able to. You'll find your "niche" and what works for you.

I still keep that little warning in the back of my head that knows where the slippery slopes are and tries to steer me clear. I tend to become "addicted" for short periods of time to certain artificially sweetened desserts. For a while it was jello made with cream. At the moments its almond bark. As soon as my stash is gone I know I'll avoid it for a while.

Lisa

My friends keep saying things like..."When you are off this diet...we will treat you to a ___________" You fill in the blank, as long as it is high in carbs.

They don't understand that I now view sugar and processed flour as poison to my system. It is a WOL, to go back is to sign my death certificate.

Dee

Four months doth not a life make. methinks.
But forsooth, the carbs I do not take forthwith.
Yet hark the day breaks yet forth when mighty cravings may appear and smite the fair Rustpot in his tracks.

And thus the vigilante watch he keeps, lest morsels of a floury kind might slip twixt cup and plate whence not the numbers counted low shall cause a tragic spike and deafening stall.

If truth be told upon this day and wisdom speaks from a winter OWL, the time is yet to come when sanguine humours do abate and corpulent frame is sculptured less.

And yet the present task is hardly done and daily life not so ingrained as makes the very thought of sweetness sour the brain. But when the flesh shall stand like a greyhound in the slips then surely life will mirror appetite henceforth.

I am mightily impressed dear Rustpot! Can it truly be that we have an LC bard in our midst!? We become cultured despite ourselves...must be all the steak and egg.

Lisa

Right now, it's my way of life...but I'm old enough to know that ways of life can change. For thirteen years of my life, low-cal eating was a way of life...and I would have kept at it, counting every morsel that went into my mouth, probably (despite the health risks and fainting spells), but my poor abused body rebelled. One morning I woke up and just couldn't get back to 500 calories again--and believe me, I tried! I don't think LCing has that same sort of reactive and inevitable "NO" from the body. I doubt I'll wake up in 2007 one day and simply be unable to eat another steak and salad, automatically regurgitating it or the like. So I suspect it's physically possible to make it a WOL.

But I also know that I live in a Carby Carby World. I know that it's darned hard to say no to some old favorite carby foods, and it's darned hard to stop once I begin eating them. So does WOL mean life of total abstenance? Or does it mean finding a place in my life for a rare dessert made of carefully-chosen ingredients (NOT WHEAT! lol) eaten with a meal? (that much I know and believe--don't eat carbs alone! CAD a meal if you must go off-program!) Is thinking it could mean the second thing just a part of an addictive mindset, like the 'just a sip wont hurt me' pleading/self-justification of an alcoholic? Or is thinking the first just another kind of eating disorder, an "all or nothing" rigid rule that is more about getting a false sense of control than it is about health? I don't know those answers. I may never have a final certain answer.

I cautiously move forward, working through my emotional issues, avoiding promising "forever" too much, paying attention to how I react to various foods eaten under various circumstances. Life is process...and I'm engaged in the process of low-carbing right now.

Exercise, though: that's just a way of life for me. Seldom has it not been (even when I was a size 22) and only injury will slow me down in the future.

Razzle, you are amazing. You and I have some things in common, and I could not have said that better if I had tried!

I was going to post my own reply, but after reading your I think a simple "ditto" will suffice.