Hello all,

For the last couple of years I've maintained a "beer belly" that I was always able to hide in most non-skin-tight clothing, so it was never a problem. However, when I took my shirt off, it was less than attractive. Last year, I put on a bit more weight and was starting to push the "thin" image - an outline of the belly was starting to appear in almost all clothing and I was nearly 28lb overweight. Because I was surprised at the rapid rate I put on the lbs, I jumped right onto the Atkins diet "cold turkey" and never looked back. I did it for several weeks (about 11) and lost over 20lb. I was back to normal. However, because the winter season was upon me and I live at a high altitude and Ski every day professionally as a teacher, I absolutely had to have carbs to maintain a decent energy level. Not only that, but the only way to actually grab a lunch between lessons was to have a Sandwich on the slopes.

After the winter season (about 4 to 5 months) I was almost back to my previous weight (although I had probably but on a few lbs of muscle - tough season), albeit 2 to 3 times slower than I put it off. I had put on about 12lb and once again was concerned that my weight would slip, especially since I was doing far less excercise with no skiing. This time, starting to Atkins was a far more difficult process. I had indulged all winter and was used to being able to snack on anything, and I constantly fell back into my old eating habit. The pounds continued to flow in and I was almost back to the position of having put hte 20lb back on (although this was nearly 6 months later at this point, so it was much slower than what it took to lose it). Finally I put an end to the cheating and jumped back onboard.

I know that a lot of people will wave their fingers and say this is not the way people are intended to do this diet. I've been lectured about how LCing is a "way of life", not a temporary fix - I'm afraid that simply does not apply to me. I love carbohydrates and will not give them up. In the near future, my lifestyle will be changing drastically and I will be able to maintain a regular excercise program that should allow me to begin enjoying a balanced lifestyle of all the foods AND excercise - something I have never been able to do. I realise that a lot of people do not like to hear this, but please, do not lecture me about how this is a WoL, because it will never be my WoL

A couple of things I'd like to point out about my experience:

For me, carbohydrates were an addiction. I found it incredibly difficult to stop eating them because I absolutely love foods that are made of carbohydrate - pasta, bread and pizza are my favorite foods. Kicking the sugar habit was not so hard because I have never been so in love with chocolate and such, although losing the ability to have a nice dessert once in a while was a bit hard. However, I could live with this. Without a doubt, the first few weeks are the hardest for this diet. Both times I found myself being extremely hungry at all times - and because it is so much more difficult to just grab a "casual snack", you find yourself far more aware of your food intake (or lack of). Before, I could grab a bag of chips and just forget about hunger for a while afterwards.

For me, cheating is the worst. Once I take in too many carbs in one meal, like 50g or so, I say "what the hell" and just go all out. Then I figure, hey, I already ate carbs, I might as well eat some more. Before I know it I'm back to a full carb diet and then it's the same problem all over again. I found this far less of a problem after the first week when I began to feel satisfied with just my LC meals.

Menu limitations - I spend about 1/3 of my meals in Restaurants and the food choices are often a big problem for me, as I'm usually relegated to a steak. Most chicken dishes tend to come with carbs of some form. I got to the point where I would actually ask the waiter NOT to bring me any french fries (although most of the time they came anywyas) just so that the temptation wasn't there to have them if they came with the dish usually. Losing a lot of my regular foods was very difficult, and I would start to dread going out to dinner / other people's houses for dinner because I would end up cheating or starving.

Starting and Stopping - the second time I went into the diet in a serious way, the first two weeks were fraught with cheating. This made my weight fluctuate by a massive degree - almost 6 or 7 pounds per week. From my reading, I can only assume that this was water buildup that was coming / going. This makes it very difficult to actually gauge at what weight level you are.

Last time I did the diet, I never made it to my "ideal" weight, although I was only a few pounds off. Although it was sad to see the 10 weeks of work slip away, the fact that I put the weight on over 24 weeks made it less difficult. This time I plan & hope to be able to keep the diet going until I reach my target weight, which should come at around the time when I finally have the option to maintain a regular excercise program, so I will hopefully be able to slip back into a more conventional eating style (albeit a healthy one - no more cakes / sodas for me, except on special occasions)

I don't know if anyone has similar experiences with this diet but if so, let me know how you coped with the same problems.

Great forum by the way, keep up the good work everyone.

....Maintainance.

Unless you want to keep bouncing between 20 pounds up and 20 pounds down, how about figuring out where your critical carb level for maintainance is and following that using low carb veggies (and even a few moderate carb ones), low glycemic fruits, whole grains in moderation, adequate amounts of proteins and healthy fats. Yo-yoing is not good for your metabolism or your health in general.
If you're exercising regularly, of course you're going to need a few more carbs, but it seems like you feel that there isn't any happy medium...it's all or nothing, high carb or low carb. There IS a middle ground.
It seems from what you said, both times you lost weight you stayed at very low levels of carbs (induction level) until you reached your goal weight. While this may work fine for losing, it doesn't teach you a lot about what your body can and can't handle carbs-wise or how to maintain that loss once you get to goal without exercising like a demon. That's why Atkins is designed the way it is...you work your way through all levels so that you know how to maintain, how many carbs and from what sources, your body can handle as well as which ones you can't.
There are also health considerations as well as weight. Yup...those high carb foods sure are yummy but they do other things to your body besides make you fat.
Perhaps Atkins isn't for you for life...have you checked into CKD or Body For Life? They might suit you better, especially once you are in a situation where you can exercise regularly.

I think there are a lot of people who gain weight because they suffer various degree of insulin resistance or other things.

There are other people who gain weight because they just eat too much or massively fattening foods.

People in the latter category can usually lose the weight without any big problem, even on low-cal diets.

People in the latter category who also do mega-exercise for a living no less, are probably not in need of a low-carb eating plan.

It will work to take off weight, but chances are Weight Watchers and a lot of other options would work for you as well.

People who consider lowcarb a 'way of life' do so because their bodies function in such a way that if it is NOT, they are not merely gaining 20lbs over the winter, they are in some cases gaining 20lbs per month and feeling lousy and even borderline diabetic besides. That is quite different than your situation.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

PJ

Bobbst

I agree with what Lisa said, it seems to me you need to find the middle ground. It always puzzles me why people assume the only way to LC is Atkins. Maybe SugarBusters, The Insulin Resistance Diet or The Schwartzbein Principle would suit you better. I think you should give them a read before you go on and off Atkins again.

Thanks for those tips, I'll look into those other suggested diets.

Please don't feel like I'm going "all or nothing". When I return to carbs I will do so in a reasonable way and find out which foods I can eat to maintain my weight with the level of excercise I will be doing. I can guarantee that I'll have a pizza every week or so though, no matter what

You're the one that who decides what you eat. You're in control. Find that WoL that works for you.

It's all about choices. For me, LC works darn well, even though I usually eat dinner in a restaurant more times than not (work requires a lot of travel). This is a fundamental part of why I am able to stick with this WoE.

For others, LC does not fit into their WoL.

There is no right. There is no wrong. But there are lots of options.

what ski resort do you work at?

I tend to move around from resort to resort to see the world a bit. Last year I was in Aspen, which was wayyyy too expensive and the pay was TERRIBLE. Plus the general teaching quality was very poor (surprisingly) so I came back to Switzerland. This year I joined the Swiss Ski School and worked at Leysin, Villars and Gstaad in Switzerland.

I did Atkins for about 3 weeks. Hated it. Loved the way I felt though. Also got my carb addiction under control. I can now walk by donuts and not be pulled to them. I also don't crave food like I used to. And I can stop myself from eating now. Before I was like a robot....'put food in hand, open mouth, insert food, chew and swallow' repeat untill anything not nailed down is gone. But I still like a lot of the foods that are on Atkins. Adn they don't make me foggy, quesy or anything like that when I eat them. So I am following something more along the lines of Sugar Busters. Keeping track of my calories and making sure that the carbs I do eat are worth every gram! This allows me to splurge a little once in awhile. Which is nice when I go out to dinner or to a friends house. Good luck to you!

I'm new to this site, and I have been overwhelmed with the information that I've found. Thanks everyone. 4 years ago I lost 90 lbs. on a low carb diet. No special plans per say. I ate lots of fruit - apples mostly, and chicken (and chicken and chicken) and salad. I lost it in 9 months, and have kept it off. However, I recently gained 10 lbs. due to a slipping diet and little exercise. I find that as long as I get out and exercise, I do fine even if I have more than one serving of carbs (equiv. of two pieces of whole grain bread) which is what I try to limit myself to. For exercise all I do is walk (power walk) 4 to 6 miles a day, depending on how much time I have. From what I've read, anything over 45 minutes of fast walking has a residual effect and raises the metabolism. (?) The past few months I've gotten out very little, and now my spring clothes are so tight that I hate it. I decided to get on a program and found my way here among other places. I know that I have a lot to learn, but for me, I didn't stop living when I went on the diet. If I knew I was going to someone's house for dinner I made sure that I didn't have any carbs all day prior to dinner. This way if they did serve pasta I would be ok. Maybe I'm not strict enough with the diet, but I know that it has to be something that I can live with. I read in one thread that someone said if the meal is amazing then it's worth it. I agree - you have to enjoy life. But not overdo. I know that I will limit the carbs forever. Yeah, it may slow things down if you splurge once in awhile, but if you stick to it on days other than those special occasions you'll be fine. Thanks again for all the information and personal experiences. I now have a few books to read thanks to recommendations posted here. Time to get on a program and get rid of these extra pounds!

Hi Bobbst,

I know what you mean about carbs. I was a strict vegetarian lowfatter until 2months ago when I attempted atkins. Since then I have included fish, eggs and cheese to my diet, not possible to eat meat, don't think I could stomach it.

But I understand about it not being a WOL for you. It's very difficult to adjust to a lowcarb lifestyle when I don't love meat and I've been used to grains for the last 9 years in my life.

It is hard, but I do feel better eating lowcarb so far, I am a carboholic and do get all the bad symptoms when I consume breads and sugar.

You need to judge for yourself what makes you feel good. If you can't see your future WOE as lowcarb then no one can tell you what you should or shouldn't do.

For me it's a real struggle because my boyfriend is vegetarian and we can't really enjoy the same things anymore.

I have 18pounds to lose, so if I get there I will re-evaluate how I'm feeling and see what other LC program would suit me. For now though I'm sticking to atkins and see if I can rid myself of my sugar cravings.

goodluck to you and to all who find themselves in a similar dilemma.

cathie

I suppose I'm lucky enough that if I eat right (at a high carb level) i.e. no chocolate, ice cream, cookies, sugars etc, I can maintain my weight with moderate excercise.

It's when I start to eat all the wrong foods that the pounds begin to stack on. I just have to stay away from them once I get to my goal. If I can stay off all carbs I can surely stay off 1/2 of them.

But no, this is not and never will be a WOL for me - I love carbs too much, and if you deprive yourself if the simple pleasures in life you will eventually deprive yourself of all pleasure.

I agree that you need to find the right mix for you. I started on Atkins, and like YankeeINtx have lost that carb addiction and I don't want it back. But, I don't want to continue eating the amount of fat that I have been, because that is the part that I don't think that I can do forever. I too have been searching for a happy medium without adding back all of the refined sugars.
My main concern is to keep them in control, my protein at a good percentage and my calories in my range and I'm pretty sure that this will work for me.
I have no intention of ever adding back high sugar carbs like bread, pasta, potaoes, chips etc on a regular basis. But I do think that I woulk like to enjoy them occasionally here and there. Never again all day long like I used to.

Wee