I'm one of those lucky people doing low carb for the first time with the benefit of advice from other experienced low carbers. One point that has stuck in my head is that it's much harder the second time around.

At this point I can't imagine eating any other way, but.....

... most of you must have felt the same way before. What made you stop low carbing? Was it a gradual thing or did you just get tired of it? Did you gain quickly or slowly?

I'm sure a lot of us first timers would really appreciate any tips you can give us.

judy

I did great for about a year. Even got down to my goal weight.
Once I did though, I guess I thought eating alot of carbs wouldn't touch me, but it does. A cheat will send me off on a week or two binge. I'll gain a few pounds, tired all the time, cranky. I'm still at my goal right now, but really have to try to stay away from all the carbs...
Good luck

I'm embarressed to say this is my third go around with low carb.
The first time I had great success, but had a kidney stone. I had people who convined me it was caused by the extra stress the protein was putting on my kidneys, so stopped...and gained back every pound.

The second time I enjoyed great success, dropped 40+ pound and won $300 from our work weight loss contest. I started allowing myself to "cheat" on weekends. Weekends turned to weeks... and I gained it all back again. Truthfully I never noticed the weight returning...

This time I set very agressive goals through 14 months. I obsessively weigh myself, 2 times per day. I calculate body fat% and lean mass weight and track this via spreadsheet. I actually find the losing to be a little slower this time, but I definately have found a balanced way of eating which allows me to lose weight, but not be hungry. Step two of my new program starts in the next 2 months when I purchase my home gym and add heavy resistance training! Good times are ahead...

this is my third go round.

the first time i had just lost my mother and father and i was very depressed, i wasn't very successful because i drank a lot on the weekends. i was a bad boy. i also felt like it was causing me terrible intestinal distress.

after feeling terrible for a while on a regular diet and realizing i would rather have stomach cramps and be on the toilet half the day rather than feeling terrible all the time i went back on. however this time i had moved back to the city, Portland, that i love and i had to adjust to many things, including my teenage kids causing me grief and my uncle passing away. i just buckled quickly and spiraled into depression and binging again.

this is the third time. i actually have the money now to buy a lot of meat and specialty items i never budgeted for before. i also have dealt with my depression and have stopped drinking and partying. Lifting weights is helping as well. i have finally got organized AND I CUT OUT THE SUGAR ALCOHOLS. i didn't know until i started reading about Protein Power and found this site that sugar alcohols were causing my intestinal distress.

i am so content with this diet now. i still feel guilty when i spend a lot on groceries though. but i'm one of those men that likes to shop so i guess i can get used to it. lol.

Thanks so much, everyone, for sharing your experiences. You've all helped me to see some possible pitfalls. It seems the most important thing about this is not the food, but the emotional space we're in at any moment.

I have a friend who is an alcoholic...she hasn't had a drink in over 20 years, but she still considers herself an alcoholic. She's always saying that booze isn't the problem, it's only a symptom. I guess if you just change the word "booze" to "food", the situations are identical.

Thanks again.

judy

time around...

the first time I just plain got cocky- Once I lost 20 or so pounds, I was eating all the time... I felt that if I could eat all the time, and loose weight, then after a while, I can just eat whatever I wanted. I also started drinking heavilly. First I stuck with wine, then I went to my fave- BEER Gained it all back.

Anyway, I am pretty serious about it now, and I only have red wine and only once in a while... Err, only about every other week (for the whole week) guess I need to work on that

Bottom line is: go with what works. Carbs just don't work.

Good luck, and just stick with it! You'll do fine.

The stalling made me quit the first time I did Atkins.

I did not educate myself enough about this WOE and
grew inpatient. BIG MISTAKE.

Reading DANDR and this forum has made all the
difference for me.

Suzie

This is my fourth and, I feel, my last time starting. I'm currently been "good" for about 2 months.

What has made me stop?
I suffered from "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" I would see my gaming group or those at work and say "Why am I denying myself this carbs when its not hurting them" Oh the mental games - "Lets see, if I eat my half cup of oatmeal with berries, I will be pure the rest of the day" Yeah.. right. I would prepare my meals on the fly - "Yay, can of tuna for lunch 6 days in a row..." I would drink tons of diet soda or coffee. I didn't allow my body to get over sweetness. I also let others make decisions for me "Ok, Donkin donuts is fine for breakfast..."

What changed for me was this one thought

Carbs make my body feel ill. Just like cigarettes. I used to smoke decades ago but I won't smoke another cigarette. It makes me ill. So why treat carbs differently. In me, carbs are no better than cigarettes. This was a profound thought that has helped me resist temptation

I like your quote, Shelley! I seem to remember back in the olden days that sugar and bread were considered bad if you wanted to lose weight--then the famous North American food pyamid came into being. I forgot through all those low fat failure days that I had the answer all along.

In spite of being able to eat so many foods I like now (so different from low fat diets), I doubt if even low carb will ever become so natural that I don't have to think about it.

This forum has made all the difference to me, too, Suzie. Whatever the problem, someone (more likely several someones) has the answer.

Even though we've all failed in the past, this time we're all going to be winners. I know it.

judy

I always fail when I see others eating the foods that I can't have but used to absolutely love! It was a pretty much halt right then.. I stayed within 5 lbs of my weight loss though, which isn't so bad. I really can't think of a way to combat the cravings though, wish I did. Some foods you will always love, no matter how much people say you lose your taste for them! Doesn't happen over here.....

I don't think I'll ever get over needing something sweet, but now (I'd never have believed this in the past) two things do the trick for me--a little fruit w/Splenda and my DD coffee. I only have one or two coffees a day, but sometimes I wish I could get used to it black or at least w/cream only--ain't gonna happen though. I think, because of a psychological block. I was always trying to drink black coffee in the low fat days and it made me gag.

It has nothing to do with will power (I have none), but so far, I've stayed away from "franken" foods, mainly because I'm afraid I'll either like them or they'll make me want the real thing--like chocolate, which used to be a nightly snack. The amazing thing is that I really don't miss it. I think that would that change if I had one bite now.

I've heard on the forum that L-Glutamine helps with sweet cravings. Anybody tried it?

judy

Pregnacy. I got to 9 pounds to goal when I got pregnant. We'd been trying for a few months anyways. I tried to do a lower carb pregnancy but sugar cravings took over more often than not.

She's 7 and 1/2 months old now!

Beth

Attached Images

smiling1.jpg (24.6 KB, 22 views)

Update....13 years later and I'm a member of the "been there, done that" group. Number two was a bust, I realize now because I cheated without realizing it (everyone knows what I mean, a little tweak here, there....all the things you didn't know how to do the first time) Anyway, this time I went back to induction for real and I've lost over 7 lbs.

What made me fall off the wagon? In a nut shelll...Life and laziness and eating someone else's food (aka restaurants), which gradually made it easier to add the wrong foods to my own grocery list. For some years I was helping my parents and we ate out a lot. One of their favourite meals was fish and chips. They both reached 90 before passing on four years ago.

Because LC didn't work the second time around, I tried going low fat. Big mistake. So glad to be back (and losing!) with low carb.

How's everyone else doing?

Hey Jude, Welcome back!

Sorry to hear that your second attempt at LCing was an epic fail! I've lost track of the number of times I've tried and failed but I KNOW the number of years I've yo-yo dieted (35 years )!

But I finally figured it out...I'm a carb addict!

Wishing you much success on your journey to better HEALTH!

Hi Judy! For me it was too much stress. My mom passed away and immediately afterwards I was promoted to a job from hell, from which I stepped down from one year ago. Eating healthy is a holisitc approach. I need to make sure other areas of my life create an environment in which to best succeed. It's true, first time on LCHF people tend to lose the fastest, but I've found great success no matter if it's first, second, or third attempt. The plan works. And each of us find ways to tweak it to our individual needs, even changing it as we get older, etc. Glad to know you are having success