Low Carb Diet (atkins)

ravylesley

tinkerbell84 wrote: »

I still don't get it

Don't you feel better when you stick to the diet?

Just for the record I havent binged and probably wont do now.I've been on this diet for nearly four months and lost nearly four stones.But I am bored and demotivated and I think a day when I eat what I want might cure the demons and get me motivated again as I've had the foods I crave.I know everyone says that the cravings ease the longer you are on the diet but for me they have increased and I'm not taking too many carbs its just a case of I love cooking and I love eating what I've cooked.Thats the reason I got fat in the first place.I just need to learn to control the amount that I eat not what I eat as prediet I ate really healthily.As for whether or not I feel better sticking to the diet do I !!!!!!y.Yes my jeans fit and I feel healthier but just as miserable and or a whole different reason.I guess I'm just a girl who cant be pleased:rotfl:

Lesleyxx

Mojisola

ravylesley wrote: »

But I am bored and demotivated and I think a day when I eat what I want might cure the demons and get me motivated again as I've had the foods I crave.

Doesn't Aktins say this in one of his books - if you're really struggling with the cravings, have a day when you eat everything you're missing and then get straight back onto the diet. It's less damaging than constantly sneaking small amounts of carbs into your food.

Ted_Hutchinson

ravylesley wrote: »

but just as miserable and or a whole different reason.I guess I'm just a girl who cant be pleased:rotfl:

Lesleyxx

As well as eating low carb have you corrected your Vitamin D ~ omega 3 ~ magnesium status?
Each of these affect your insulin status so not only help with the weight loss but they are also excellent for mood control. I know that since I've increased my intake of those supplements I've reduced my depression and really improved my feelings of wellbeing.

I also enjoy cooking and eating, and one of the reasons for my Way of eating is that I don't have to worry about the amount I eat. Similarly I've not wasted any time counting carbs or calories.

I think when you understand the science behind low carbohydrate eating you can enjoy good food without regaining the fat. I don't think of it as being on a diet. I just don't eat those foods that I know disrupt my blood glucose levels.

tinkerbell84

HC wrote: »

It's all about self-discipline.

And if we had that in bucket-loads, none of us would ever need to diet in the first place!

I don't entirely agree.

I didn't overeat before, and I did exercise etc. I now know that it wasn't the quantity of food I was eating that was the problem - it was the food itself. A diet based on little protein (I'm veggie) but huge quantities of bread, potatoes, pasta and SS milk were to blame.

Toast and latte for breakfast
Sandwiches and diet coke for lunch
Pasta for supper etc.

I didn't scoff crisps or mars bars, I didn't take supplements. I drank huge quantities of alcohol on a regular basis (binge drinking ). I didn't have sugar in my tea, but I didn't drink water either.

I've corrected it now, and my body is appreciating it. I'm never hungry, I'm never bored. I'm happy to cook other people cakes and roast spuds and pastas and I'm not even tempted to taste it.

It's a mindset, and willpower does come into it. I'm no longer dieting - I'm managing my weight on a different way of eating. And that's it. For life.

It doesn't make life very easy, and I have to plan my food with almost military precision, but by doing that I'm in control, and nothing beats the feeling of being slimmer and healthier!

Still got some weight to lose, but I won't be stopping low carbing when I'm done!

HC_2

tinkerbell84 wrote: »

I don't entirely agree.

I didn't overeat before, and I did exercise etc. I now know that it wasn't the quantity of food I was eating that was the problem - it was the food itself. A diet based on little protein (I'm veggie) but huge quantities of bread, potatoes, pasta and SS milk were to blame.

I see your points, and of course Atkins said exactly the same thing. However, as there are millions of people who can and do maintain a healthy weight on a carb-heavy diet, I've always been sceptical of that claim.

After all, it's very possible that, even without pigging out on junk, you were simply eating too many calories. To state the obvious, a surplus of just 100 or so calories a day (e.g. two apples) means a weight gain of a pound a month. Very easy to do - and very easy to underestimate the number of calories we eat, particularly with all the boozing that you mentioned.

However, whatever the scientific truth of that, I agree with you about this WOE. I feel well on it, more energetic, rarely hungry and I'm losing weight (21 lb in 8 weeks :j). I still do think of it as a diet, rather than a WOE, though. I can't get out of that mindset. But perhaps by the time I've lost the rest of my blubber I'll have come round to it.

Ted_Hutchinson

Insulin, Leptin, Diabetes, and Aging: Not So Strange Bedfellows It worth reading the whole article but just take this section and consider what eating in a low carbohydrate way does.

The longest lived animals share the following traits:

Low fasting insulin levels
Reduction in fasting glucose
Lower body temperature
Low percentage of body (visceral) fat
Reduced thyroid levels
Low triglycerides
Low fasting leptin levels (Leptin is so new that it has only recently been measured in centenarians, but it has been measured in calorie-restricted animals. Since leptin correlates with and even controls these other biomarkers in humans, this is also probably true in centenarians.)

Of those we know for certain the Refined Carbohydrate raise insulin, increase blood glucose, increase percentage of body (visceral fat) raise tryglycerides and fasting leptin levels.

It appears from this book that low carbohydrate improves the situation for those with thyroid problems

The body temperature one I'll have to think about. Increasing your protein intake will raise thermogenisis (you'll burn more energy thus running a slightly higher temperature) however this is balanced by improved satiety (resulting in eating less food which may, over the long term, more than compensate for the increase in temperature your higher protein intake would generate). I can't remember when I last took my temperature so haven't a clue if it's higher or lower now I'm on a low carb way of eating.

PS Actually if you read that article more carefully than I did first time through you'll see Leptin, through the brain and hypothalamus, controls thyroid levels and body temperature. So avoiding leptin resistance as well as insulin resistance by cutting back on carbs and sugars affects beneficially each of those markers for long life.

Another thing I've just learn't from it is the adverse effect of raised insulin on magnesium and the role of magnesium in relation to omega 3 metabolism.

Sazbo

Evenin' all:D

Finally having a chill out after a busy saturday which started with our leaving the house this morning at 7am! :eek: Having a sit-down with gilly now in front of telly:D, we had roast chicken and celeriac chips for dinner - and the celeriac chips were surprisingly nice!

Some interesting comments from you guys on here today. Re: Ted's point - I have corrected Vit D3 and omega 3, but being honest I'm not sure how much difference it's made moodwise. And do I feel better on this diet, and do the cravings lessen over time? I'm not sure about that either. I have to say I agree with Lesley - it definitely does feel like a diet to me. Which is a shame, because I started the low carb thing on Dr D's plan thinking one of the plus-points would be that it wouldn't feel like a diet.

But after weeks and weeks of stalling, we progressively cut more stuff out or down - to the point where it does feel like a diet. And even then it's a struggle to lose weight. This, as you all know, isn't my main motivation for going low-carb - but having bought the science as to how it works, it would be nice to see it work, iyswim lol! But I guess if you accept that the weight gain might be endocrinal/metabolic in origin, then I guess it must also follow that everyone's endocrinal/metabolic response will vary. So, I dunno.

Anyway, just the ramblings of a mad woman on a saturday night, so just ignore me!:o :rotfl:

Enjoy the rest of your evening everyone! :wave:

Much love to all,
Saz xxxxxxxx

tinkerbell84

I'm re-reading the IPD, and it gets to a point where it says the diet alone won't work - you have to up your exercise levels too.

Think that's where I have gotten to.

As for cravings, I still have them, but now it's for very very dark chocolate, nuts and cheese (and occasionally, raspberries).

I actually am turned off carbs completely now. I'm not tempted by pastry, chips, rice or bread. My OH prefers califlower rice and almond pastry. I don't fancy cakes at all.

At the TOTM I'm craving sweet things a bit more, but not so much that a sugar free sweet/chewing gum/splosh of chocolate extract in my coffee doesn't cure

I'm a happy bunny!

~daisy~_2

oh poo - just lost a long post !!

ok well was saying - pants cant really remember now but just how some ppl do have more self discipline and will power than others and how ill always have a penchant for a hunk of rustic italian bread a crispy roast potato a slice of lovingly home made cake - thats just me i was a chef and i love good food

when offered naughty goodies - if im being good its easy to politely say no - if im feeling weak - and yes i do see it as a bit of a weakness - then its very hard and sometimes as we all know i do eat things i shouldnt

its nothing about feeling better when im being good for me - yes i like the control i feel when ''im in the zone'' but i do also see this as a diet i think despite how many times i tell myself '' its a way of eating'' - otherwise i wouldnt have had my 4 month blip........


hmmm this is prolly a bit muddled now.....

tinkerbell84

~daisy~ wrote: »

oh poo - just lost a long post !!

ok well was saying - pants cant really remember now but just how some ppl do have more self discipline and will power than others and how ill always have a penchant for a hunk of rustic italian bread a crispy roast potato a slice of lovingly home made cake - thats just me i was a chef and i love good food

i adore good food too - but now i'm creating good food without the carbs.