One thing with low carb and it depends on how low your carbs are that when you initially start out, the glycogen in your body is used up which means you lose glycogen weight. That is usually why when people start low carb, they immediately lose 10 lbs and why when the eat carbs, their weight jumps back up.

I think it is all about what works for you though :) I have PCOS, I eat a high carb diet but I have to watch the refined carbs 'or else'.

My inner child tantrumed at my inner adult for about 10 years, screaming, "But I don't wanna have to give up sugar!" and stamping her feet. Eventually, though, inner adult won...and cutting out the sugar seems to have actually really helped inner child's emotional stability issues :D

I agree that on some level "it sucks" to have to eat a particular way, that is not the way "the rest of the world" and "the normal people" are eating. But on the other hand, I feel amazing and fabulous every single day, and I look amazing (ok I'm no supermodel, but compared to how I USED to look, I'm fabulous), and I know that my health is amazing now, too. So if I have to make a tradeoff, I guess that's one I'm willing to make--it's worth it to me, so worth it.

WarMaiden...Yes...ditto, ditto, ditto !

I agree with this. We are not all exactly alike. I am going to read the South Beach diet to see if I think it will help me. I already watch my carbs to keep them below 50% of my diet. I looked through the past few days of my Daily Plate entries and most days it is 100 to 130 grams. When I first started calorie counting, all I did was count my calories. Then April 2009 my blood work came back with a glucose level of 101 which was considered borderline high. It just didn't seem fair because I had lost a good bit of weight and my numbers should have been down! Anyway, I read up on a diabetic diet and lowered my carbs. I have had my glucose tested twice since then and had good readings of 80.

Last night I downloaded the Kindle sample of the South Beach diet book and read the first couple of chapters. I don't think what I did at the beginning was much different from SB. My doctor had me eliminate most of my carbs for a while to get rid of my cravings which was what the book said you do at first for SB. It has been a long time since I had cravings.

It was interesting to read that SB can be high carb. That got my attention and made me want to read the rest of the book. I am just going to check it out of the library instead of buying one.

My diet may be inline with SB now. I may reduce my carbs a little more after reading the book. * I use the word "diet" as in the foods that I eat and not as in a temporary weight loss plan. *

More and more studies are looking at this -- does being overweight lead to IR, or does IR lead to overweight?

One study looked at lean subjects, some of which have IR and some of which don't. They noticed that the IR subjects tended to store extra glucose from high-carbohydrate meals into fat. Non-IR subjects stored the same glucose in the form of liver and muscle glycogen. So more and more, we're starting to see that IR may be one of the causes for overweight, not the other way 'round.

(long page, dealing primarily with diabetes, but about two-thirds down it cites some studies dealing with IR. The site, Blood Sugar 101, is extremely useful information for those with IR, pre-diabetes, or diabetes.)

I'm not as low-carb as Robin, but I've definitely found that when I limit carbs to one "carb-y" serving per meal (slice of bread, 1/2 cup of rice), my blood glucose is more likely to stay within normal ranges after meals than it does if I eat two or more servings. I don't limit my veggies (except "starchy" veg like beans, corn, and peas), and I may have an apple or some berries or melon for dessert. I have begun staying away from the tropical fruits, because they are so much sweeter, but then I'd rather have a ripe peach than a slice of mango or pineapple anyway. I also enter it all into DailyPlate, so I have an idea of how many carbs I've eaten in total, but I don't have a firm "carb limit" number in mind.

So far, what I'm doing gives me a slow, steady loss of 1-2 pounds a week, and I'm eating wonderful food and am not hungry. It hardly feels like "dieting" at all.

(we'll see how I fare when I hit my first big plateau, which if I follow my normal pattern will be in another seven pounds or so. :dizzy:)

Robin, the first time I read one of your posts that told how you eat, it sounded terrible, totally undoable to me. But you know, when I first started on this journey, eating only 1800 calories a day seemed terrible and totally undoable, if there is such a word. Then it got easy but eating only 1500 calories a day seemed terrible and totally undoable. Then that got easy.

Now, how you eat does not sound so bad and I have started thinking that I might even be able to eat like you do. Maybe. My point is that some of us just have to adjust our thinking as we continue on this journey. What once seemed impossible now seems possible.

Yes, Cheryl, this is not one size fits all ...we just have to keep tweeking till it works.

While I am writing there are more posts!

This is what I am doing except that most days I have the "carb-y" serving for 2 of the 3 meals. I also limit potatoes to once a week.

I find that there are three factors which influence how any particular carb source affects my body:

1. Glycemic load - Some carbs like refined sugar, white flour, dried fruit, bananas, etc. just create a higher/faster release of glucose in my body. These carbs will tend to make me hungrier and set me up for a blood sugar rollercoaster. Doughnuts will always be a bad idea for me.

2. Food combination - Balancing all non-veggie carbs with some protein and fat really helps to steady out my blood sugar. I simply do not eat just an apple or just a cracker...ever. This really helps.

3. Timing - Earlier in the day my blood sugar is much more prone to wide swings. First thing in the morning, even paired with protein/fat, there are some carbs that just don't work for me at all (dried fruit), whereas I can have them at my evening meal or later and they don't cause a blood sugar swing or extra hunger.

When I follow these guidelines, I'm able to keep my blood sugar steady and my stomach happy all day long.

You ladies are such a wealth of information!

Robin, Cheryl nailed my thoughts on your diet. My fear is that I quit this life style once before and I was looking for something "un-quitable". ;) Simple calorie counting with whole foods, something MOST people lose weight on, was absolutely sustainable for me. There was virtually no possibility of cheating because everything could be planned to be within plan. Eating your way, the way I should be eating, takes more thought and I know that one slice of cake will make me crave sugars again. I've been down that road. So what do you do at the holidays, birthday parties, showers, weddings, friends' houses, restaurants, etc., etc. I just can't bring myself to see it as sustainable....yet. It just scares me because I have done this before and I failed...I quit. I gained everything back plus the typical 10-15. I can not, will NOT do that again. Am I as strong as you? I don't know. Sometimes I think so. ;) And sometimes, I just don't know. I have fear, doubt. It just saddens me that what I found totally sustainable is no longer working.

Warmaiden, interesting reflections there. My in-laws who have diabetes report the same thing as far as the hours during which they eat carbs. And your technique of combining carbs with protein is pretty much the insulin resistance diet.

Cheryl, I love the concepts of South Beach. It really does make sense. But I have to tweak even that. I think I need to stay firmly within a strict early phase II. We shall see.

I found the Insulin Resistance diet very easy to grasp and to connect to day-to-day eating. I began by doing that "linking" and "balancing" of carb and protein. It's a very easy way to begin thinking about limiting carbs. It's still the overall model I use, even though my carbs are a bit lower now. I still link them (eat them with protein) and balance them (eat a serving of protein for every serving of carb, and no more than two servings of carb in any meal).

Drives other pre-D folks nuts when I talk about carb "exchanges" instead of grams. :devil:

For me combining is important, but something else is the key. I know this sounds too good to be true, but when I limit my carbs to one meal per day instead of spreading them out, I have found that I can have 100 to 125 carbs without the ill effects we have all described. This makes it very sustainable, because I can eat out, have dinner at a friend's without special arrangements, go to a wedding...whatever...just thought I would share.

Here's what I do: *gushing to host/hostess* "Wow, congratulations on your special day. That cake looks delicious. Oh, no thank you, I really can't tolerate sugar at all." Occasionally if it is something really REALLY special (I mean amazing levels of special), I will have one bite. Other times, at family holiday functions, I bring a dessert that I have made without sugar which I can eat--and some of my relatives appreciate that too. I find it all very do-able, because I'm not shy in the least about communicating my limitations to people and being firm about that.

Yep, I first learned about the technique from The Insulin Resistance Diet and it's been incredibly helpful to me. It just wasn't quite all I needed, because linking a croissant to bacon and a latte still isn't all that workable for me ;)

I should mention I can't tolerate sweeteners. They give me migraines. So I by cutting out sugar I am indeed giving up desserts entirely. I can and DO do that often, but ALL the time...no.

This made me laugh. :D
Yeah, my calendar's not that full. :rofl: I may be like you when I'm thin and be more social, but right now I border on having social anxiety. So those events don't crop up all that often. And unlike you, I actually don't get hungry all that often. I don't recommend this with any regularity, and it's a lousy plan for weight loss, but I've been known to not eat all day in preparation for something like Thanksgiving. It's no big deal. Ordinarily I eat six equal meals a day. OR I'll carve off 50ish calories from each meal so I can enjoy a single dip ice cream cone in the evening with friends. THAT to me is sustainable.

I'm sure I'll find a happy medium. I just know me. And hopefully some of you have gotten a strong enough reading on me by now to know I'm stubborn and quite determined. I can use the stubborn for good and often do. I will succeed at this. But I know it has to be sustainable and I'm just not there yet.

Yes, stubborn and determined people tend to land on their feet alot. I'm sure you will.