I am about to re-embark on a low carb lifestyle, but I am not sure what I want to do exactly. I previously lost 40ish pounds doing Atkins, but like the sugar/carb addict I am I fell off the wagon and regained it. I have been on a roller coaster since 4/2010 and want to get off.
I noticed Wheat Belly allows 1-2 servings of some fruits per day while Atkins, at least on Phase 1 doesn't allow fruit.
Is anyone out there following Wheat Belly suggestions? Just looking for some experiences people are having with it.
I'm not doing Wheat Belly per se. I've been very successful never cutting carbs to induction level. One of my goals has been these are lifestyle changes for life. So nothing has been too extreme.
I keep tweaking though based on new research I find and what works. I didn't go off all kinds of grains until recently but my body loves it.
I found once I got over carb cravings I have almost limitless ways I can go now and succeed.Just lots of whole foods, fats, and no grains. Many times when low carb doesn't work people are having too much protein. You need to up the fat. Grass fed butter and coconut oil to me are healthy and impartive to add.
But fruit no fruit, forget any plan per se, listen to your body. If you can't handle it, don't do it. Or get real comfortable with no cravings and lower hunger, then try reintroducing it. One of the things I noticed was my body resetting to burning fat. When we do high carb year after year many people get in fat storage mode. That's the beauty of low carb. You stop overtaxing your insulin system, your hunger goes down, and your body starts burning fat. It was a truly beautiful thing for me to experience and watch.
Last edited by diamondgeog; 03-02-2014 at 05:52 PM.
Personally I find it easier to live with low carb being extremely low carb vs moderate because of the dramatic reduction in hunger I get when I cut carbs way back.
But there are many paths to success and we're all different - my mom had great success with Rob Thompson's GL Diet which allows fruit - she lost so much weight she had to aggressively add back foods to stop losing (she also has a good metabolism...) I do induction-type levels myself.
It's been a personal process of discovery for me. I didn't go to any Atkins site or Paleo site or Primal when I started. I hadn't heard of Wheat Belly or Grain Brain.
I started out cutting out fast food, bread, and pasta because those things made me super hungry and lethargic.
Then I heard about those other things. Paleo doesn't allow dairy. I love cheese. I can lose weight pretty effortlessly on cheese. I haven't heard any downsides or many to cheese and plenty of upsides. It agrees with my body and mind so I have cheese.
On the other hand cutting grains has been awesome for my body. When I cut corn my back pain went away. So who wouldn't cut grains and corns if it was so wonderful? And I am sure I liked them just as much as almost anyone on the planet.
The internet has been invaluable but so has just paying attention to me. But thank goodness the internet was hear to tell me about the flawed and failed lipid hypothesis and that saturated fats are bad. And about Ancel Keys. About grains and good saturated fats like grass fed butter and coconut oil.
It has transformed my life. I truly believe if most people investigate, especially if they are insulin sensitive to some degree, they will find success with some form of low carb (non starchy veggies being a OK).
But low carb or not I will never use vegetable oils again. Wow. I urge everyone to do the research. The high omega 6 in them and the fact they are truly (heavy) industrially produced products. No way I will ever use them again.
I didn't do very well on low carb when I tried it. I had drops in energy and I think my electrolytes were off. I also had a flair-up of joint pain which may or may not be related. I got worried about the saturated fat, too. I'm eating mostly potatoes, beans, and vegetables right now but the hunger is bothering me. I think I'm going to try Atkins and see how that goes. I was eating almost zero carb before- maybe if I stick to about 20/25 grams like Atkins induction it will be easier. The diet really is satisfying and I like that it is nitrogen sparing as I'd like to lose more fat than lean mass at this point.
I don't think I've had many days if any under 50 grams carbs a day. I still eat plenty of veggies.
And my weight loss has far exceeded my expectations. And my reduction in hunger has far exceeded it as well. I keep feeling stronger and stronger.
If reducing that far works for you, awesome. It hasn't been necessary for me. I think without going that far I thankfully have become 'fat adapted'. My body burns it's fat now. But I do have a good amount of saturated fat now.
And that keeps me really charged up, full, and burning fat.
No calorie counting at all. That never would have worked for me. One of the many reasons LCHF has been AWESOME for me.
When they compare calorie counting to low carb no restrictions people do better on low carb every time.
For sure giving up long time favorites was hard. But so many yummy, healthy things left to eat. And bread, pasta, potatoes are, to me, not the tastiest things. Rather bland. But highly addictive.
Last edited by diamondgeog; 03-06-2014 at 06:30 PM.
Just be aware - women, older folks, those with thyroid conditions, and people very close to goal/highly weight reduced may very well have to count calories on low carb. I do both - follow Atkins for maintenance and calorie count in addition to my carb counts. Otherwise I stall or even gain. This wasn't an issue at 180 or 220 pounds, but after multiple years and being so much smaller, with the physiological pressure of a whoooole lot of emaciated adipocytes - calorie counting/awareness is just a part of life.
Some people never need to, but I have found it crucial to long term success.
I'm interested in finding people who follow the Wheat Belly WOE. I read the book and received the 2 cookbooks yesterday. I just found this site today, and wonder: Is there a place in 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community that focuses on Wheat Belly?
Thanks for any help -- I'm getting my ducks in row.
I've seen William Davis on YouTube a bit and I have the newer cookbook on Kindle. I need to use it more.
But no I don't think there is a section. Maybe Suzanne needs to create a grain free sub folder in Carb Counters.
I don't think he is technically grain free but kind of a variant. I know he says to be very careful of gluten free because the substitute flour might be just as high carb.
But Paleo and Primal are grain free. I think between those two and Wheat Belly and Grain Brain is a popular book these approaches are worth a sub folder.
I am not following any plan or counting anything. I just started cutting back on carbs. I started with junk food I tended to binge on, then sugar sweetened beverages (which I mostly consumed away from home) and after a few weeks of that I started cutting back on bread/pasta/rice/starchy vegetables (this was the majority of my diet at the time!). I have no idea what my ratios are. I want to give my body the chance to respond to these changes for a while and then I may start tracking. Tracking has been a binge trigger for me in the past so I will avoid it as long as I can as long as I am still losing. So, I guess I am a combination of the two but I don't think I am as low as induction on Atkins because I haven't had the symptoms people usually get with that.
Last edited by Shannonsnail; 04-14-2014 at 11:17 AM.
I'm interested in finding people who follow the Wheat Belly WOE. I read the book and received the 2 cookbooks yesterday. I just found this site today, and wonder: Is there a place in 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community that focuses on Wheat Belly?
Thanks for any help -- I'm getting my ducks in row.
Instead I found a great blog for recipes from someone following Wheat Belly in case you are interested
Wheat Belly vs Atkins?
