I gained weight back in October. I figured I had a mild addiction to sugar so.... South Beach here I come. I have tried South Beach a total of 6 times so far. I start with the Phase 1, have great results and then life happens! Life happens...stress/depression/time of the month. When I mess up I go all out. Straight binge. Anyway, I can't do this any more. If I had of gone back to my calorie counting I would have lost the 20 pounds already and then some... I'm so depressed. I am going to challenge myself for the six weeks of Lent to not binge and do the calorie counting. I eat pretty healthy ...fruits/veggies/whole grains. The other plan is too restrictive for me right now. For example, if I decide I want a slice of real pizza, I need to know I have that option. If I eat pizza on that plan then I have cheated and then I get depressed and binge. With my old plan, if I want pizza, I eat a slice or two of chiken garlic with a side of veggies. Then eat light the rest of the day. Treated myself and then STILL kept within my plans guidelines. NO guilt, no depression.
I just have to embrace the fact that I have to lose twenty pounds over again - although I have lost the same 10 maybe 3 or 4 times with South Beach. Not knocking the plan. It just isnt for me and after 6 months of failing and beating myself up; I have to go back to what works and pray that my body still responds!!!! Plus, going back to my workouts!!
Anyone change from a low carb to a calorie count and have decent short term results leading to long term??? Sorry for the long drawn out post! TIA
Royal, I did full on Atkins a couple of years ago. I lost quickly and gained it back even quicker. I am now a calorie counter and much, much happier. Nothing is OUT completely. If I eat something off my whole foods, I just try to take it from somewhere else in my calorie allotment.
Let me know if you have any particular questions. I would be glad to answer as honestly as I can.
yup, me too - did Atkins and thought I'd discovered the wheel it was sooo easy and do-able . . .until, of course, I had a cookie! and then the 40 lbs. that came OFF in a hurry came rushing back FAST and brought 10 friends with it! ergh! Oh well, at least you've figured out what works for you and your body -- that's half the battle right there!
I'm all for counting calories - makes me feel like i'm spending money, and i have to decide what's worth it, and what's too pricey!
Don't be depressed--you had an "aha" moment and now you can go on from here. Think about what you are going to do and be sure and reward yourself (not with food, of course) for all the progress you're going to make.
With my old plan, if I want pizza, I eat a slice or two of chiken garlic with a side of veggies. Then eat light the rest of the day. Treated myself and then STILL kept within my plans guidelines. NO guilt, no depression.
.... Not knocking the plan. It just isnt for me and after 6 months of failing and beating myself up; I have to go back to what works and pray that my body still responds!!!! Plus, going back to my workouts!!
I think I could have written this, also! Last year, I had very good results with my first time on South Beach. From February to maybe late May, I lost almost 20 pounds (plus working out religiously). I was able to be pretty much phase 3-ing all summer/fall, but the time from November through December always brings depression and poundage from overeating.
this January I tried to go back to Phase 1, and then onto 2, but just couldn't do it. Now I'm a calorie counter, and if I eat my alloted calories wisely and continue cardio/strength workouts, the scale does move down.
You're right, we have to do what works for us. I just love my one piece of whole wheat toast with pb with my coffee in the morning. And my 4:00 pm cereal bar, whose 140 calories are counted in for the day.
I always try to eat low carb. I have not had the experience of loosing wt fast no matter what I do. And I do have some confusion about it but I am so brain washed after all these years I think if I ate too many carbs I would feel to guilty and think would put on wt immediately. don't know. Glad for the poasts
I think that Atkins and other low carb/no carb diets can work super well for a lot of people. I also think that if you can totally commit to it and work it all the time you can totally succeed! But I too am a person that has to know that most things are not off limits to me (ie: pizza or whatnot) or I begin to feel very restricted and head off plan very well.
I did Atkins about 10 years ago and lost quickly and then piled it back on. I went on the Carbohydrate addicts diet and lost 40 lbs about 4 years ago and then piled it back on. I went on the Dr. Phil diet and lost 30 and piled it back on. Now that I am calorie counting I have lost 80 lbs easily. HOWEVER I think that if you don't change the very core of your eating (ex: replacing snack packs with fruit or veggies say) as soon as you go off your "diet" you will regain. Losing weight is for LIFE!
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I will soon be on Atkins 5 years but...be it Atkins, South Beach, WW, Calorie Counting etc., successful & permanant weightloss requires changing your eating habits for the rest of your life. If you aren't willing to make that committment, you are only setting yourself up for failure.
All the best to you
Finding the plan that you can see yourself doing forever (or at least the foreseeable future) is the ultimate challenge for anyone wanting to lose weight, and keep it off. I think there's a common culture of dieting, but not the same culture of maintenance. There's still an unspoken belief that maintenance will somehow be "different" than weight loss. Unlearning some of that, can be challenging.
Through four decades of trial and error, I think I've finally found my "for-life" plan. The best WOE for me is a relatively low carb diet, because high carbohydrate foods (even the "good" ones) can trigger overeating or even binging. Calorie counting, or an exchange plan (a short hand calorie controlled system that requires you choose from all food groups every day) works for me if I stick to it, however when I make high carbohydrate choices for my exchanges, it takes what seems like superhuman strength to keep from eating more than my alottment for the day. However, except for extremely low carb eating (which I'm not sure is healthy for most folks in the long run, but many people appear to do quite well on it); if I don't count in some way, I don't lose weight. On South Beach, after Phase I, I didn't gain, but didn't lose, either.
A compromise for me was to use what I had learned from all of the plans I had been on that had a component that worked. On one hand I "can" choose anything, because just like calories, every food on the planet can be calculated into the exchange system. I use resources online and a book (Exchanges for All Occasions), however high volume, low GI, low calorie foods are the best choices, because they control my appetite the best.
I'm not saying everyone has to control carbs AND calories, or have such an organized system but that's what I learned for myself. Maybe it's my brain and body chemistry (that might have been caused by four decades of dieting, or maybe I was born this way), but the whys don't matter, I probably will have to control calories and carbs for the rest of my life. I'm still not very good at it, and I make a lot of mistakes, but as long as I'm moving in the right direction, and keep in mind my "ideal" food choices (even when I don't always make them), I don't worry about not being perfect as long as I'm making progress.
One of the things that bothers me about criticism of "hard to stick to" plans, is the argument itself. For me, there is not a single "easy to stick to" plan. I can't stick to calorie counting, if I eat high carb foods regularly - I'm just too hungry and food obsessed on carbs to stick to plan. South Beach has too many loopholes for me, as I can very definitely overeat "good" carbs. Atkins in it's extreme works very well, but I think induction is unhealthy and in any other phase, there are the same weaknesses (for me) of South Beach.
I think the plan I've settled on is the best for me. I think it's a good plan, and I'd recommend it (as an experiment, not as a guarantee) to anyone who thought it sounded like something that would suit them, but I think my path to this WOE was very much my own. I chose it, because of what I'd learned about myself in at least a dozen other plans. Finding the plan that is realistic and doable, forever (or at least the foreseeable future), is a very unique process, I think. Maybe one day, we will have a tool that can help any person predict the food plan that will be the easiest or best for each individual, but that's not the world we live in now. Instead, we're stuck with a very unique and personal journey.
But even in all of this, the journey isn't just about the food - or the exercise, or any of that. It's about changing thousands of habits, I barely realized that I had: habits like comforting myself with food, or eating quickly, or finishing food on the plate just because it's there, like eating beyond physical hunger, like picking at food without paying attention to actually eating it, like not asking the waiter how a dish is prepared, like not deciding before eating how much of a restaurant meal is going into the take home container.
It's not just the eating that has to change for life, it's the very ideas, beliefs, habits, and traditions that we have about food (and exercise too). There are so many changes that have to become part of who we are - it's a monumental task.
Ann, you have done so well! No reason for you to be depressed. I feel that we all have to do what works for us. No matter what plan it is, if we are happy with it and it is helping us reach our goal then that is the plan for us. You will do fantastic on the calorie counting, if that is what you want to try. Just look at how far you have come. I am so proud of you.
I have a lot of respect (and truth be told maybe a bit of jealousy!) for people who can count calories, eat carbs--starch and sugar--and still lose weight. I'm not one of them. I think I'm allergic to sugar. If I eat any, I gain weight. Can't lose on a low-cal diet. So Atkins at induction level is really my only option for losing. RoyalAthena, my hat's off to you for knowing your personal limitations and I wish you the very best of luck! You'll do great!
It's all about finding the plan that works best for you, isn't it? Ann, it's fantastic that you've figured out that a plan that tells you that you can't eat certain things is one that doesn't work for you. I'm exactly the same way - if I've started a diet that tells me I can't have something, I can guarantee that food is the one I instantly crave, even when it's things I can't stand.
Good for you - you've done so well in the past and I know you're going to do fantastically well now!
It's so true what everyone is saying, you have to find what works for you. I eat high protein medium carb and that works better for me than total low carb but way better for me than high carb so I watch my carbs, eat a higher percentage of protein, but also ballpark count my calories, if that makes sense.
That way I am able to eat the fruits I love that are higher carbs and still lose weight, but also am able to have a bit of bread or a cookie now and again and still lose. I don't feel deprived like I did on strict Atkins, but I feel better and lose, especially if I am careful with what I am eating (because no one loses when they go off plan no matter what the plan is!!)
I need support! No more low carb for me!
but...be it Atkins, South Beach, WW, Calorie Counting etc., successful & permanant weightloss requires changing your eating habits for the rest of your life. If you aren't willing to make that committment, you are only setting yourself up for failure.
