[blonie123]

Okay, so I am new to this site. I posted in the introductions about what plan I should try. Someone mentioned Jillian Michaels. She is the only trainer I have seen actually recommend low carb diets for some people. She has you take a quiz, and it tells what diet you should follow.

I guess I wasn't too surprised when it said I should follow a lower carb diet. My problem- I don't wanna give up my carbs!

So, the last couple of days I have been counting calories. I am starving!

Reality is that I probably will have the best results if I eat low carb, but I am afraid to try again and fail I give up almost always the second day. The cravings are so intense! I am not trying to sound dramatic, but I feel like I am an addict trying to break an addiction.

I wish someone would lock me in a room for a few days until it passes. :P

Did anyone else have this much trouble with a low carb diet? I am trying to figure out if I should try low carb again or if I should just count calories.

I really want to lose weight. I just need to figure out what to do and then STICK with it. Any insight or personal experiences? Low carb or low calorie?! What to do???

[Natasha1534]

Personally, South Beach is the only thing that has worked for me and it's working really well right now. It's not low carb...it focuses on consuming GOOD carbs instead of bad carbs. Check w/ your physician and they should be able to make a recommendation. Good luck to you!!!

[Rosinante]

I tried low carb. I tried very hard and loved the full way I felt. My insides began to disagree with it, and then so did my doctor.

She advised a low GI diet. So now I'm doing a combination of my own: I have a list of the GI values of foods and I shop from that. I make my own recipes up, mostly, from low GI ingredients. I then count the calories (around 1400), and try and keep my carbs at around 100g, and around 30% of the total.

I eat 3 meals and 2 snacks and haven't been hungry yet. Well, apart from one day when my lunch was very seriously delayed but that's not the diet's fault.

Since I moved from low carb (under 15g) to low GI (under 100g), I've lost 5lbs in 16 days. It's not roller coaster fast but it's a good rate nontheless.

Low carb - 2.4lbs a week. Felt full but very tired muscles.
Low GI - 2.2lbs a week. Felt satisfied but full of energy.

[jhawk76]

I am doing a low carb/high protein/low fat diet per my doctor's orders. I have a severe Vit D deficiency and (according to my doctor) when you are low on vit d your craving for carbs increases which increases your insulin levels and slows down your metabolism. So his idea was to do a protein kick to get my metabolism going again.

I am getting ready to start week 4 on Tuesday and I have no cravings for carbs whatsoever. Protein gives you a great feeling of fullness. Things that have helped me: I eat every 2-3 hours, drink tons of water and take green tea and 5-htp supplements (1 at night because they make you sleepy) to address potential carb cravings which I am not experiencing. The first two weeks I dropped 11.7 lbs but the doctor says that should slow to 2-4 lbs a week from here on out. I weigh in tomorrow so we shall see but I know that I have dropped.

The first week was tough but when I saw the scale move I was motivated to push forward and keep going. I am happy with the diet - it is the only thing that has worked for me in the last couple of years and until it doesn't work anymore I will continue. I don't feel deprived and I have no interest in junk food. Hope this helps and good luck to you!

[Sherrie568]

You should not be starving - your calories may be too low.
Go here to check how many calories you should be eating.

I count calories AND do low carb, low fat, high protein. (30%c, 20%f, 50%p)

If you want to try low carb again, try zigzagging - 3 days low carbs, 1 day high carbs.
I don't eat bread, pasta, potato - any starchy carbs - on low days; on high day I might have a baked potato (be careful what you top it with), or some pasta.
I'll have a low-cal muffin or w/w toast with breakfast. If I'm going to eat out, I try to plan it for the high carb day.

This works for me with almost no carb cravings.

[Mikkijoe]

SO let me throw in a suggestion too.

First of all it is important to do your research, know what your plan is all about, AND have a back up plan ready before you even start.

I started my whole family on lower cal, low fat, very little processed foods in June. We all stuck to it, and typical for me---just tossed around 3-5 pounds for 6 weeks. Drove us all nuts! And I track everything we eat, so I do have an acurate knowledge of our intake.

So then I started doing some more research. I have dieted ALOT, and nothing works long enough to get the weight all the way off. I give up after about 2 months. I know I have done alot of damage to my metabolism over the years. So I dietician mentioned that I needed to shake things up a bit. And that is what we are doing.

We did alot of research online first, primarily on Marks Daily Apple then I got the book. And it is working, and we are feeling great, and we are NOT hungry when usually eating 2 meals a day and a snack! Here is a three day idea of what we are eating:

Mon....Coffee, (11am) Huge salad with left over grilled chicken breast and egg on it, olive oil and lemon dressing. (6pm) 2 pork chops smothered in carmelized onions and zucchini, onion, basil and tomato cooked in butter! 8pm blueberries and strawberris
Tues....Coffee, 10:30am Huge Salad with 2 egg cups (omlette ingredients baked in muffin tin) (6pm) Cajun Chicken livers served on a bed of fresh greens with lemon and olive oil dressing. 8pm berries (get em' while in season!)
Weds..... 8am 2 fried eggs served over cooled swish chard with bacon crumbles. 1pm Blueberries, 2 ounces high quality cheddar cheese, 6pm Indian Butter Chicken, (this is a spicey sauce made of yogurt and coconut milk and tomato, with chicken pieces) skipped rice.

AND we have lost more this week then we have over the last 4 weeks on low fat low calorie!

Dare ya to check it out! We eat NO sugar, NO flours, and NO Grains. We eat meats, best if grass fed. Eggs, a little dairy, most nuts, Vegetables (no potatoes) and Fruits (berries best choice, high glycemic only occationally)

You feel hungry when you are not getting enought fat and enough protien. Your body is telling you something. We were practically processed free, but now when I look back on the week the most processed things we had were vinegar, canned coconut milk, and cheese.......
If your food came from a plant that is fantastic! UNLESS it came from a plant where an over worked, underpaid woman had to wear a hair net to work....thats the wrong kind of plant