Hi everyone!

I've signed up here after deciding not to follow a low carb diet any more. I lost weight on South Beach, Atkins, intermittent fasting, and Dukan (low fat and low carb).

While I have been really successful (I lost 45lbs - down from 200lbs to 155lbs - and kept it off for two years), I can't seem to get back on low carb. I do okay for a week or even ten days, and then I go off the diet and go NUTS! Mega sugar binges, like eating anything sugary or bready I can get my hands on.

I know it's partly because I'm in a much more stressful situation than I was when I lost weight previously, and I'm definitely a stress-eater.

I decided to try a more balanced approach to see if that helps eliminate the starve-binge cycle. This is my plan:

• 1400 calories/day
• Try to get most carbs from veggies, and others from wholemeal/whole grain
• Eat organic and natural unprocessed food as far as possible
• Gym weights workout 3x/week

Any advice or ideas greatly appreciated!

South Beach is not really a low carb plan, except for Phase 1 which you are only supposed to stay on for two weeks. Then you start adding back in healthy carbs. Veggies and whole foods are the cornerstones of South Beach so you may want to reconsider abandoning that plan. You could even start on Phase 2 if you don't want to go back to giving up carbs, even for two weeks. The South Beach board here is really active and there's a LOT of support available, especially for those of us learning how to live with good carbs in our diet, as opposed to just eliminating them altogether. Hope to see you over there...

Your plan sounds really good Arafura, a lot of people do the calorie counting thing and are very succesful with it. I too try to eat unprocessed foods where possible, and it should help! good luck with your plan

Your plan is basically my plan. I hope that it makes you feel better and that you have good luck with it.