I'm interested to hear from those who finished with their low carb diet, began eating carbs and still maintained weight?

I recently had 2 cheat days and my weight jumped about 1.3 pounds! I've lost it again 2 days later but if this is how it goes once I'm done with the diet I'll put all the weight back on in no time!!

Hi Robed!

You can't jump from low carb to high (or higher) carb and not expect to gain a few pounds, nor can you expect to return to your former level of carb consumption and not expect the pounds to return and bring a few of their friends with them. There's a reason why many plans increase the carbs gradually; so your body can get used to the increased carbs gradually. To work towards maintainance, you should increase your daily carb consumption by about 5 grams and stay there for a week. Then increase them again and stay put for another week. Do this until weight loss stops and that level will be your maintainance level. Increase your carbs by using nuts, more veggies, low glycemic fruits and once you get to pre-maintainance, whole grains in moderation.
I notice that your profile shows that you have not read any low carb books and you list your low carb plan as "general". I'd like to encourage you to pick a specific plan, then get the book and read it so that you have some idea how to go about what I've described above. If you're unsure what plan would work best for you, see the link on the right side of the page titled "Which low carb plan is right for me?". Just winging it without any idea of how this works and why will ultimately limit your success both in losing the weight and in keeping it off.

Dear Robed,

This happens to me if I drink a beer! The carbs make you hold back water in your body. That's also why it goes away so quickly - it's not fat, just water.

I'm on the OWL stage so I can't speak about maintainance.

Bear something in mind however. You are never 'done' with this diet. If you were overweight and you go back to the way of eating which made you overweight of course you'll put it all back on again.

When you reach your ideal weight sure you'll be able to eat more carbs - just enough to stop you putting the weight back on.

I don't know why you put on weight - we are all different. Personally, I know that for me chocolate, white sugar, white bread and all the other crap I used to eat are forbidden for the rest of my life - unless I want to be obese again.

Good luck with this way of eating. You'll come to love it.

Regards,

Robert

Thanks both for your info!

Maybe I should have explained my situation a bit more.

I'm 5 feet 11 inches, 17yrs, and at the start of my diet I weighed 176 pounds at my highest. Before summer in the US, I had a big beer belly, but I would look normal in most shirts - you couldn't really tell I had a belly (unless I was shirtless). However, I went to the states (im in Europe fulltime) for 6 weeks and ate VERY badly (loads of junk). In 6 weeks, I managed to put on about 12 pounds (I was REALLY eating badly, indulging every craving, I used to be able to eat like this when I was younger without puting on weight, but not anymore!). When I got back to Europe, my apetite was MUCH larger so I put on another 3 pounds over here. This was it for me - you could start to see the outline of a belly when I wore a t-shirt, and my pants felt tighter, especially when I sat down. As I'm only 17 I decided I needed to go back to being thin.

So far the Atkins has worked very well for me. I spent a week in the US recently, and ate a full carb diet (although not as unhealthy as my 6 week period) to see what would happen and i put on about 2 pounds (although I drank FAR too much sugary drinks).

That didn't really displease me because I lost this in less than a week, and to be honest I was still eating too much junk food.

Before I started this diet I was a huge carb eater - 90% of my meals would be mainly or 50% carb, and I could basically eat until I was satisfied and MAINTAIN weight. My target weight is 145 to 150 pounds, and I'm getting closer to that - almost halfway there I guess (currently 162 lb).

My goal is that once I reach this 145 to 150lb level I will be thin - 6pack thin (I know it's there, I can feel it under the fat). I WILL start eating carbs again, and I will do it slowly, but if I put on all the weight it will be 2 to 3 months down the drain. My target is not to be on a low carb diet for the rest of my life, I eventually want to be on a full carb diet. I was under the assumption that this was possible, but if it isn't, I'd rather have a belly and eat carbs than be thin and have no carbs

Could someone explain what WOL means?

That should explain a bit more what my situation is.

Hello again Robed,

Thanks for all the info.

WOL stands for 'way of life'.

OK fine - but what do you call a "full carb diet?". If you mean:

"90% of my meals would be mainly or 50% carb, and I could basically eat until I was satisfied and MAINTAIN weight."

Well maybe you can't do that now. One thing is sure. You are only 17 now and you have a belly. If you don't do anything your belly is going to get bigger and you could end up like I did.

I was 119lbs from my teens till I was 25. Then I slowly started to put weight on, not fast, maybe 5 or 6 lbs a year. By the age of 50 I was 212lbs and obese. Then I decided to do something about it and so far I've lost 44lbs. I'm still fat but I'm not huge anymore.

You have to think about the rest of your life. For you this might mean eating less carbs. Wholemeal grain products instead of white bread and pasta, cutting out sugar, drinking diet soft drinks instead of sugary ones. Increasing your excercise (you'll certainly have to do this I you want a 6 pack stomach).

You said, 'I'd rather have a belly and eat carbs than be thin and have no carbs'. Well I've been a fat git most of my life and I can tell you it isn't much fun. Choosing to be fat would not be an option for me if I had my time over again.

In short you need to think of a WOE (that's a way of eating) that is part of a WOL (including the excercise) that will suit your tastes and keep you slim.

Untimatly it's up to you to work out a way of life which will be your own salvation. Whatever that is I wish you well in getting your 6 pack stomach and keeping it for the rest of your life.

Regards form Belarus,

Robert

I understand exactly what you're saying - and the reason I got on the diet was because I reached my high point of 176.

Anyways, my USUAL diet was quite healthy, but it was when I went to the states that I put on weight. In 8 months I'll be leaving Europe and heading to the states for college, which will be my crucial time. My only consolation is that I wont have enough money to just go out and eat whatever I want whenever I want (although food is SO cheap there).

As for the excercise bit, I do enough excercise to keep me looking alright (except for the belly). This shouldn't be a problem.

Didn't mean to quote myself up there :P

Hi there again, Robed!

I'd really encourage you to not think of this as a diet: something you do for a little while to lose weight, then stop once you reach your goal. If done properly, low carb is a lifestyle change and it is for life. Right now, you have youth and a higher metabolism on your side, but it's not going to stay that way forever. You've already found how easy it is for you to gain weight when you eat high carb. This isn't just about reaching and maintaining a healthy weight, either. It's about staying healthy long-term which most people aren't able to do eating a high carb diet.
It's quite possible that once you reach your goal and with exercise you will be able to slowly increase your daily carbs to 100 grams a day or more (actually, you should be slowly increasing your daily carbs already) using fruits, veggies and whole grains but don't kid yourself into thinking that you'll be able to go back to having meals that are 50-75% carb again and keep the weight off, even with exercise especially since you noted that before your carb binge in the states you were already gaining weight.
It occurs to me that once you reach your goal, something more like The Zone or Protein Power Lifeplan might work well for you. Check it out.