Low Carb for Life? Could you do it?

[Kelsie]

Don't get me wrong, I am a believer in the low carb diet for quick, dramatic weight loss but to be honest, I am just not sure once I lose the weight I want to lose if I can actually 'live' low carb.

I love fruit, pasta, etc. and the thought of living a diet without them (or with limited amounts) does not appeal to me.

My question, has anyone ever lost the weight on a low carb diet, then switched to say, Weight Watchers and were able to maintain your weight or continue losing.

WW is more in line with my lifestyle and something I think I can live with.

 

[Zoesmama03]

I do great with WW. With carbs. Of course there is a portion control portion of the diet that makes it "doable" to enjoy ANYTHING you would like. I used to have pasta and pizza all the time while doing WW and lost 40 lbs in 20 weeks so approx. 5 months. I thought that was pretty good. And that was without exercise. If I had exercise regularly as I'm starting to now I know I could have done even better.


I don't think I could do NO carb or even low car but i could handle doing 'better' carbs, like high fiber nutrient dense for the calories(and carbs too) cereals and whole wheat pastas are good too. Health food stores also have veggie pastas like spinach pasta that I'm betting is better carbs too.

I have read on South Beach and totally think I could handle the phase 2 or 3 diet for life because the good 'better' carbs are allowed. Being an Italian food lover meaning lasagna and spaghetti nope I could not forever give up carbs. But for me whole wheat pasta is good but dh didn't care for it much.

I think following some kind of calorie watching diet such as WW or even just using fitday.com or whatnot to calculate calories(fit day I believe tells carbs too) a keeping portions in track is key. Sure you can have "A" cup of pasta but not a plate.

 

[Rhonda]

I'm doing Atkins and I know I could eat "low-carb" for life. It doesn't mean that once I lose my weight I will never again eat any pasta or a potato. It just means that, since I know that high carb foods make me gain weight, I will watch my carb intake carefully.

I will still have an occasional potato, or a cookie, without feeling guilty. But I do not ever want to go back to eating tons of sweets, or junk food, or processed high-carb foods that aren't good for me anyway - on a daily basis. That's just common sense.

And, fruit is not considered a "bad" carb food. I eat fruit now, while on Atkins! I try & stay away from the high-sugar fruits like bananas and pineapple, but I do eat strawberries, blueberries, melon, apples, etc. After I lose all my weight, I will eat more fruit. But, while I'm trying to lose I'm trying to stay away from high-sugar foods. Fruit will not make you gain weight, but it will keep you from losing if you eat a lot of it, because of the sugar.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I lost my big chunk (little in comparison to other wishers) with low carb (actually SBD)--as my activity level increased...I did have to "abandon" the idea of low carb--but still did the principles.

I use the low/good carb diets--to help purge my sugar cravings. I used lots of sugar for marathon training (those Gu's!) and then never really kicked the sugar in response to decline in activity level once I finished. I was back to my old ways of eating entire boxes of cookies and such. HORRIBLE. I did SBD last week to purge those bad bad bad sugar cravings. I could only stick to it for about 4-5 days. I have to eat the beans for the carbs for running....and speed drills and beans do not make for a happy tummy. The quick reintroduction of good carbs did bring on some headaches since I did it quickly to compensate for the activity.

Wild Oats has some low carb frozen chocolate bars that I can get which I enjoy. I don't do aspartame--so can't do the sugar free stuff in regular stores.

I am back to not craving cookies and muffins and cakes now which is what I need to maintain--and hopefully not eating any at all will get my body to start burning off some unneeded fluff. I don't mind my current weight--but I do mind daily fluctions of up to 5 pounds as a result of the sweets.

I would love to lose 10 more pounds, but will not kill myself over it.

For most whom low carb has been successful, they do adopt it as a new way of life for life---following it at least in principle if not to the t.

I love fruits/salads/whole grains/lean meat anyway--so SBD aside from the detox period (5 days for me!) is easy.

 

[johde]

If weight watchers is more inline with you lifestyle, you might want to look into the WW Core program. It is a bit of a hybrid plan between Atkins, SBD, and WW. It is less low carb than atkins or SBD but also more low fat. You also have your weekly flex points for when you want something not on plan. If you want the "dramatic" results you could easily do phase 1 of SBD then switch to Core instead of phase 2.

 

[MelanieC]

I was just reading this thread and thought.............why not try WW Core. It sounds very similiar to what your talking about and there are no breads on the list, but you can use your 35 flex points to have them, plus you can switch to flex if you choose to at any time.

I know lots of people have success with Low carb, I personally like to eat healthy carbs in moderation. I occasionally have bad carbs too and that works well with WW's.

There is a ton of information on the WW Core program on the WW bulletin boards under weekly points allowance.

 

[ZerasPride]

I have been wrestling for weeks with whether once I get to goal I'll stay with low carbing. At first I thought I'd abandon it and just try to eat sensibly. Then I remembered how trying to portion control and eat sensibly helped get me in this mess in the first place. I thought of all the low carb foods I love. Steak, shrimp, bacon, eggs, sausage, full fat cheese and heavy cream, the list could go on and on. Plus doing South Beach, I can have whole wheat pastas, breads, cereals and fruit too. Then I thought about the carby stuff I've given up and know I no longer want to eat those things. I realized that for me, I am a low carber for life! I love eating this way and plan to eat this way pretty much always!

 

[wiskband]

I could totally go forever with out pasta,potatoes and white bread! Its the sweets that get me everytime! I am a choclate freak! and I love cookies and snack cakes. I cold even live with out friuts..........but Low carbing forever is probably not healthy fat wise. I fill up now on burgers, lunch meats eggs etc. Not good I know! eventually, I will havce to find a new way of eating! I just cant do WW........... I have tried, its too much work for me and I am sooo used to this way of living.


renee


Just curious if anyone else successfully went from LC to WW? as a matter of fact, I think ill start a thread about it!lol

 

[DznyDreams]

. . . I know lots of people have success with Low carb, I personally like to eat healthy carbs in moderation. . .

I totally agree with this, and this is my philosophy as well.

WebmasterKelsie, it does sound like the WW Core Plan work well for you! I'm a WW, and I claim to be on the Flex Plan because I count points; however, I eat mostly from the Core food list. This is working out great for me because it helped my body go through a much-needed cleansing, if you will. Anyway, it couldn't hurt to just try it for a while and see how your body adjusts.

Kind of going off topic here, but healthy, wholesome foods make my body feel SO much better than the junk I used to call "a meal" the first few times I tried WW. Sure, one CAN eat fast food, bad carbs, and foods loaded with sugar, count the points and still lose some weight, but that sure makes it a lot harder to stick with, IMO. My cravings have even changed since I started eating from the Core list, which is GREAT. Sure, I still have my chocolate cravings once a month, but I get through those just fine now with a box of those 1-pt WW chocolate minicakes. One of these and glass of milk, each day during the heavy craving days, is more than enough for me. It's a heck of a lot better than the Dr. Pepper and M&Ms I used to crave and buy by the case during this time!

 

[lmhall2000]

I started off low-carbing....mainly to shock my system into eating good foods...I now buy more fresh veggies and good meats...before it was sandwiches everyday and some pasta thing for dinner. I still will do a low carb splurge (2 days out of the week) if I've had an overdose on carbs...but essentially I've cut out all white flour foods and white sugar foods...about once a week I may have a handful of M&M's or semi-sweet chocolate chips...or if it's a birthday..I may have a piece of cake...I just make those a very limited selection.

As long as I keep my exercising up I lose...I have not had a gaining week yet in 12 weeks. I think I've had one maintain week out of all that. I really attribute that to eating whole wheats/fresh veggies/cutting out french fries/and drinking mainly water...I haven't had any drinks with sugar in it either..juices or sodas. I really believe our bodies need good whole wheat foods for a healthy digestive track...so staying low low carb where breads are not allowed long term does not seem healthy. I don't eat croissants, muffins, or doughnuts but I do eat 1-2 servings of whole wheat something or other...whole wheat crackers with cheddar cheese or a piece of toast with my egg...I have read that when you do eat carbs that if you eat something protein with it will help in your body keeping your insulin from spiking..this seems to work for me...just find what works for your body and your style of living...

Great tips here from all!!
Tara

 

[sm4987]

I am a low carber for life. I know that I can do this. As Lisa (zeraspride) said, there are so many options and so many things that I found that I love to eat, I could stay this way. So, if it's not for you, maybe you should switch now before you really start low carb or healty carb. That way your body is used to one way of eating.

 

[MaryFMac]

I lost the bulk of my weight (about 100 pounds) through weight watchers, but for the past year, I've been completely stagnant. I just stalled out, and lost the sum total of nothing b/c of what i really view as a true sugar addiction.

I decided to switch to Atkins to just see what the hype was about, without telling my ww leader.

Having been on Atkins for 3 weeks, I have lost almost ten more pounds, I'm never hungry, and I don't REALLY miss anything high in carbs. My BMI is finally .5 points from being in the "healthy" range.

This feels like the fit for me, and while WW was there when I needed it, I've grown out of it.

Just my 2 cents.

(Yes, I tried and failed miserably at Core.)

 

[twinklebug]

"Low carb" seems to be mis-interpreted all too often these days so it really depends on your take on what it means.

I'm trying to stick with the SugarBusters definition of carbohydrates and what our bodies really need verses don't know what to do with. According to SB, I feel that I should be able to define a healthy diet for life and not feel jipped in any way

 

[bicker]

My question, has anyone ever lost the weight on a low carb diet, then switched to say, Weight Watchers and were able to maintain your weight or continue losing.

From what I've read, I believe that the greatest success in losing weight and keeping it off comes from losing weight with one approach and keeping it off with a different approach. That may sound unbelievable, but some research does indeed show this, and if you think about it logically, it does make sense: It took many years to gain weight. Some folks contend, as a result, it should take many years to lose that weight. However, that's contrary to what we know about the nature of motivation. Rather, what we do know is that both the body and the mind, conditioned by millennia of survival, work against any long-term renunciation behaviors, either by overcoming the behaviors or adjusting to them (thereby mitigating their intended impact). At the same time, we know that long-term weight management (keeping the weight off once you've lost it) requires a sustainable set of behaviors.

Therefore, generally, overweight folks need:

(1) a way to lose weight (relatively) quickly (we're not talking overnight here, but rather a manageable time-horizon, as defined by the patient's temperament), in order to maintain the motivation during the period of renunciation; and

(2) a way to keep weight off long-term that doesn't require renunciation behaviors (at least not from the patient's perspective).

This understanding -- that you can/should lose weight one way and keep it off another way, has other benefits. It means that you can spend the time while you're losing weight learning about how to live healthfully for life. It also means that instead of viewing reaching goal weight as the final accomplishment of the weight loss effort, you view reaching goal weight simply as the beginning of the second (and perhaps more critical) phase of the weight management effort. This clearly would contribute to reducing recidivism of overweight and obesity.

WW is more in line with my lifestyle and something I think I can live with.

This is really critical. Some folks can view a low-carb lifestyle without considering it as "long-term renunciation behaviors" -- some folks cannot. If you fall into that latter category, even a little, you increase your risk of recidivism.

 

[nativetxn]

I think that I could live without refined carbohydrates. Potatoes and fruit? Those are good carbs and I can eat them

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

I think the idea of healthy choices is the key. "Low carb" is not "no carb." No matter what the choice, keep making the healthiest you can. It is in the lifestyle change that we can maintain the healthy way and find success. It is not easy, but it can be done.

Good luck in finding the right fit for you.
Keep on keepin' on.

 

[CheapMom]

I admit, I am only on day 4 of induction- so this is the honeymoon period for me, but yes- I think I could do this forever. Especially when I look at maintenance and an average person can eat 40 - 60 carbs per day when they hit that point. Yes, I think it is doable.
Can I afford to eat like this forever? That is another question.