That *is* a great on-the-spot excuse. And speaking as someone whose entire workplace knows all about her diet and discusses it regularly, you are doing the right thing by keeping it to yourself. Your life will be much easier for it (until they start noticing, of course, and then you can't hide it anymore.)

I am very private about my food too. And I don't think that is a bad quality... you can think on your feet...a very good attribute

I'm the total opposite...but then, I've always been a bit odd.

I broadcast what I can and cannot eat and why. Furthermore, I also broadcast the amazing benefits and wonders of the Atkins diet and have now added giving speeches on the Gary Taubes book/beliefs.
And believe you me....NOTHING sells like success....I'm giving out the Veronica Atkins site out to everyone and their brother now...now that they are seeing how great it's worked for me.

Nobody dares give me guff about my diet. It must be the way I say this stuff...everyone backs down.

On the other hand, I can be a very non-assertive person at times....but when it comes to this stuff (and any other causes I feel strongly about), I'm not.

deena

I figure in a few days no one will remember anyway. You know how people get wrapped up in their own lives. As for explaining visible weight loss, it might be a while before that is an issue. However, in the past, I have dealt with it by telling people I am following the "Don't Eat Crap Diet".

I don't want you to think I go around broadcasting this stuff to everyone within earshot. But am glad to do this to anyone who asks or who's interested.

I think the main thing that's different for me is that so many times I read all over the board how people were cajoled or coerced into eating things off their plan...and others kept bugging them until they gave in. I never have this problem. I just say, "sorry, on a diet and can't eat that"....and they totally drop it and never bug me......and I can't quite figure out why I never have this problem...especially because normally, I don't tend to be a very assertive person, as a rule.

Certainly, at 195 lbs., most people would have automatically thought, "well yeah, she needs to be on a diet anyway".....but even now, I have no problem telling others and don't experience others cajoling me like so many here seem to. I tend to be an open and chatty person, generally just blurting out what pops into my head (which most find amusing) but definitely NOT assertive. It's definitely not due to me being assertive....may have something to do with me just blurting out why (?).

deena

I'll be totally honest. I am embarrassed I let myself get to the point where I need to lose as much weight as I do. I weigh more than twice what I should. I would rather people think I am Fat Happy than know I want to change myself. The truth of the matter is I look more and more like my mom who died too early as a result of advanced heart disease and diabetes. She let food kill her and I don't want that to be my fate.

I'll tell you the truth....the one thing that would sound reasonable to me as a reason for why I'd be reluctant to tell others I was dieting would be.....the fear that it would ultimately NOT work or I'd not stick with it....and then I'd look like a fool....and a failure...with no will-power.

Kinda like those who get pregnant but don't want to reveal it until much later due to fears of miscarriage, etc. Want to be sure there are gonna be real results before revealing attempts are being made....so don't have to return with negative news later.

Insofar as being embarrassed about getting fat, I am sure there is an element of this for every single one of us....no matter how "happy" we might claim to be. For me, I may have been happy, but I was NEVER happy about being fat...there is a difference. Being fat doesn't mean we have to be miserable in general but I tend to doubt most of us were/are ever thrilled about being fat.

The thing is...at times I feel like a bit of a hypocrite. On the one hand, I totally agree with the Taubes Hypotheses....that it is the physiology that drives the behavior and NOT the other way around. This then almost takes the onus off the individual...in terms of blaming them for it and justifying them being embarrassed about it.

But on the other hand, I see so many "cheating"/"falling off the wagon" all over the board here and think, "what the **** is wrong with them? How do they ever expect to get anywhere if they keep this up?".

But then...on the THIRD hand ......I THEN think...."well ****, I couldn't stick to the plan if I was eating all the carbs they are". Because I truly don't know how they do it. When I ate like that, I was starving almost all of the time, had sweets cravings that often ended in sugar binges. So again...not really all that fair to hold them responsible for this. If the Taubes hypotheses were more widely known, tested and accepted....then perhaps they could be held responsible for not altering their eating plan....but at this point in time, they can't really be held responsible for that either.

Over-all, I think that fat people are blamed and held responsible for a whole heck of a lot more than they should be....which is very unfortunate.

deena

You make a lot of good points--thing I have been thinking as well. When I was doing Volumetrics it was great because I could eat all day but then again I HAD to eat all day because I was constantly starving. Now I understand how normal people eat 3X a day and snacking isn't even a temptation.
I think too there is a fear/avoidance of having to eat (haha) my words later. I think we all know our WOE isn't very well liked right now and I would hate it if people demonized the program because I didn't make a go of it. Yet how many people have been through the unnamed weight loss plan with weekly meetings multiple times yet no one says it is a bad plan.

Hehe....honey, just wait until you lose the weight and can smirk at those who demonize the program. That's one of the big things I love about losing the weight....I can now go around espousing my views on nutrition and healthy eating (a la low carb, of course)....and hopefully, be able to teach as many as possible. Nothing sells like success. They can demonize all they want but the proof is right here, as far as I'm concerned.

If you're really interested in this, you have GOT to get this Taubes book (Good Calories, Bad Calories).....even though it's non-fiction, it's a great read. I can hardly put it down. What I'm doing is highlighting the sections that summarize more simply....so my dad won't get all confused by his detailed info...mainly biochemical info. But he almost always then summarizes with the most relevant points in terms a layman can understand. I love it. I am learning SO much...there is WAY more in it than just what's in that one lecture.

I think I'm getting a crush on Gary Taubes....I'm serious. Extremely intelligent AND common sense/wisdom. Plus, I've always admired men who have the cojones to stand up to the status quo.

deena

People keep mentioning that book so it will be next after I finish New Diet Revolution.
You know, the more I think about the more self-evident the truth becomes. I ate low fat for years but I always ate high fiber, not high starch (when I cared about what I was eating that is) but it was like swimming against the tide. I had cut my kcals way way back and exercise like a maniac 7 days a week just to lose 2 pounds. So a rational person sees a problem and changes things in order to find a solution right? So why does the rest of the world continue to say they are right and we are wrong?

Hehe....I'm watching the weather on the news and they showed all these frenzied shoppers in the grocery stores today....and everyone they put the camera on had LOADS of simple carbs in their basket.....tastycakes, bread, cookies, etc. The newscaster even stated that everyone seemed to be buying mostly carbs.

What is it about the thought of being snowed-in that makes one think of all sorts of tasty and sugary carbs? Because they're comfort foods? Because they go good with hot chocolate? I mean, I know exactly what it feels like...I felt the same way in the store yesterday with all the other pre-snowstorm shoppers.....like, yeah, we need a bunch of cookies and stuff. But of course, I don't buy any of that. But what makes our brains instantly go to carbs...and the simpler and sweeter, the better....when a snowstorm is coming?

Wait til you get this book....you'll love it once you get into it. It's a huge eye-opener for me, that's for sure.

Why do they continue to say we're wrong? Well, depends on if you mean the medical/nutrition community or just people in general. Taubes gives a good bit of explanation in the book regarding the medical community, etc...much of which is that when it comes to nutrition hypotheses...they would rather treat a hypothesis as a fact just to be able to throw something at the problem. And then when it turns out that the studies don't prove the hypothesis, they are reluctant to change it. Who wants to say they were completely wrong? And the bigger problem is...what if they are not 100% wrong for every single individual? They don't want to be blamed.

Not to mention, the huge clout of certain food industries and their lobbies...ie: the corn industry due to the fortune they make off high-fructose corn syrup being put in almost everything...esp. the low-fat items.

As far as just the general population, I think it's a lot more complex, with multiple etiologies. For one thing, there are many who don't understand or have the wrong impression/information regarding Atkins yet they know they're against it. They are against what they THINK it is...but they're misinformed.

Then there are those with entrenched beliefs...for instance, my one sister's husband, who is a radiologist. He eats a very low fat diet and rather high carb...and also prescribed himself statins...in order to prevent atherosclerotic cardiac disease. Luckily for him, he's 1) a daily runner, 2) slender and 3) doesn't eat tons of processed junk, though does eat a good amount of carbs. But IMO, even worse....there are horrible side-effects to statins and it's not even proven that they really work, much less prevent anything cardiac. But he's still back in his entrenched ideas from medical school.

My sister, on the other hand....listens to the latest cutting-edge info in podcasts on her ipod and in her car....and SHE eats like I do and thinks her husband is doing the wrong thing.

The thing is...when he keeps himself abreast of medical news...it's mainly stuff related to radiology (and many docs do this....focus on their own field mainly) so he doesn't even spend the time listening/reading stuff on nutrition. It's unrelated to his field and/or his job.
And he's a DOCTOR!

Then there are a whole segment of the people who love carbs, don't want to give them up, and decide to do so is unwise and unsafe...in order to justify what they don't want to do in the first place.

Then there are people who are jealous of ANYONE losing weight and MUST criticize their diet plans, whatever they may be....the less widely accepted, the more they criticize.

But mainly...I think it's for the same reason it is for the medical community....people believe that if it's the established/accepted belief...then it's FACT and MUST be right. Taubes explains studies where they had positive results (meaning positive for showing a problem) but they were simultaneously measuring the effect of fats AND carbs. They had to go with one so they chose fats...based on nothing more than that it sounds more logical that fat would make you fat than that carbs would make you fat....and they just totally dismissed the carbs component as inconsequential...or irrelevant. As more and more studies showed they were wrong, they literally swept them under the carpet.
I can ASSURE you that I never, in a million years, had the remotest knowledge that SO MANY studies even existed....or had even heard of them. And MOST of the book is studies....not simply Taubes' hypotheses. He gives study after study...after study....and I'd never heard of most of them.

deena

Oh my word

For those who have chosen to be in agreement with Dr. Atkins' way of eating healthy, mostly unprocessed, balanced foods - it is, in my opinion, crystal clear. I have chosen to eat healthier foods to better improve MY health & by doing so, [B]I[B] have more energy, and have lost weight in the process. It is because of a lack of discipline, making poor food choices that I became tired, sad, & overweight. From my own experience trying various weight loss plans-with no lasting results - I believe that Dr. Atkins' diet is the one that is right for me. Simple.

We are all human, none are perfect, all are tempted - some are stronger than others & that is why we have this weight loss forum - to encourage & be encouraged, to build each other up.

"Honeybjones" - I just want to say "good on you" for staying strong - for being positive! If I can take from these forums a tiny tidbit that'll be in my head for the day to keep me going - then 3fatchicks have done their job! Thank you! & with that I repeat to myself "I have an allergy to wheat - it makes my hips swell"

I'm so happy to contribute in anyway to anyone else's mission.