I have been doing the low carb thing since the end of July and have lost 12 pounds, not a lot but still, it is something. I have, like most everyone else, been on and off diets my entire life. I once lost 130 pounds on Weight Watchers and even was a lecturer for them for over a year, but over time it came back. Mostly because I seem to become weight obsessed when I diet. I spend an enormous time thinking and planning about what foods i will eat next. Since I have been doing the low carb, I am doing fitday as well, and it has become an obsession too.

I lost 80 pounds about a year ago and have kept it off. How I lost it and how I kept it off has been a topic in my personal thoughts this weekend. It started with a personal crisis, but then eating in moderation and exercising became a way of life for me and I never thought about my next meal or snack. I never berated myself for missing a day of exercise. I felt healthy and self assured. Then I started Atkins and with all the rules and dos and don'ts, I started worrying all the time I would do something wrong, I felt I had to count every bite I put in my mouth. I became obsessd by it all.

Soooooooo, the point is I am going to continue the low carb dieting, but I am not going to worry about counting the carbs and every bite I put in my mouth. I am going to eat a low carb diet in moderation and also live a normal life. I am going to go back to exercise because I want to, not because I have to. I want to get back to a more normal way of life, not counting every carb and calorie in and every calorie out. I think this will be healthier for me.

I hope this will decrease my stress level right now! ! will keep you posted!

Lily

I think you will do fine! You apparently know what you are doing in the diet business, so that counts for something! Good luck, and glad you found a less stressful way to do this. That is very important. Keep us posted!

It sounds like we are in the same place, Lilybutt. Please keep posting. There are different degrees of low carbing - Atkins is not the Holy Grail!

By the way, I absolutely love your name!

Ruthxxxx and Jennifer,
Thanks, that is exactly what I think too. I feel bad when I don't do it "exactly" right! I appreciate the support!
Lils

I agree - I don't count my carbs - I did for a while and learned what I could and couldn't eat and lived with that with no problems. Now it is a way of life, not a diet!

A friend of mine was very overweight. She has lost 90 pounds on Atkins and has alot to go, but she admits it has just become a way of life - she knows what she can and cannot eat. Similar to someone that has allergies to food - you know what is good and what will not set well with your body. I know if I eat carbs I get sick to my stomach - literally. It doesn't like it when it is not use to eating it.

Keep us posted!

Hey Lilly,

After eating a certain way for a while you learn what you can and can not have just by eyeballing it, it becomes second nature.

I too am at the point now where I can pretty much wing it with the carbs, BUT I can't with the calories, I have to pay close attention to it or I will not lose. Sad but its reality. Everyone must do whats right for them.

Good luck !!

Hugs, Leens

Well I have a little different take, I think you should give up fit day for a while and the scale but I think you should keep a journal of your carbs, wether you write down what you eat or just the # of carbs, you need to keep track. I am like you where I become obsessed with the weight loss and the food, I lost weight on WW a few years back and have put some of it back on. What I have learned in the time since is to stay away from the scale, but to write it down what I ear and my daily exercise. It takes less time then fit day and I can see at the end of the day how I did or looking back what weeks went well and why or what did not go well and why.
KFS uses a program on her palm with many foods calculated I think it is Calorie king. I my palm for WW. It is fast and easy and i can look up thousands of foods in seconds.

I think it is WAY too easy to not keep track and forget about a pick here and a taste there. With low carb, correct me if I am wrong I am not a low carber, but if you go over the carb recomendation you turn the fat that you eat to Fat. I would hate to see you gain the 12lbs back.

I like most people here speak form experiance of failure. You can certaily tone down what you do and remove the obssesive componants without throwing caution to the wind...I think it is always good to evaluate what is working and what isn't. It sounds like low carb works, so find a way to be accountable without being obsessive.
Just my 2 cents...
I wish you all the best.
-L

I'm inclined to agree with L. I'm also a bit obsessive about any kind of diet which means that if I blow it, even a little bit, I tend to go off the deep end and the binge can last for months.
But, I've tried the "don't think about dieting and you will lose weight naturally" approach with absolutely horrific results. For me, that was a license to graze constantly on everything. My body never did recognize when it had had enough. Dumb old thing!
Right now I'm trying to be less obsessive about Atkins. I do keep a little notepad on the kitchen table and I write down the basics of what I'm eating without going into major details. I also have the little Atkins Carb Counter handy. A couple of times a week I might go to Fit Day and enter my daily menu but I'm not making that a priority any more. For one thing, it's too darned time consuming.

We are all different and what works for one person, might not work for another.
I hope you will continue to post here. I'm interested to see how your new approach works for you.

Lily, I, number 1 hope that this approach fits better into your life. Everyone has such very different personalities that radiate through our work style, family life and how we learn. Forcing yourself to do something that adds stress is surely not going to result in a long term change, and a new WOE. I applaud you for having the self awarness to see that. Personally, I may be your polar opposite, in so many things I live by my routines. I find great comfort in journaling my food, recording calories and tracking exercise but that's very much the way I am in everything. You should see my office! Everything has a place. I do believe that taking into account who we are and what we are comfortable with goes a long way to finding something that will help us all lose weight, in a way that fits our personalities. Definietly kept posting, we'd all miss our lil' lilybutt if you didn't.

Hugs
Tummy

Years as a dieter I have finally really "gotten" that my being overweight was because of two things.....food comforts me and sugar for me is a drug.

I have realized during this round of low carbing (I am doing my own version of South Beach and LowCarbing-presently down 10 pounds). I went out to dinner for my Mom's b-day to our fav french restaurant, my guy friend bought my favorite bottle of wine and then I ate OP but for desert I have just a few bites of brioche, a little bit later I became clammy, my hands began to sweat, my heart began to pound a little bit harder ....I leaned over to my guy and told him how I was feeling and he said....its from the sugars! from the wine and the deserts. For the first time someone other than me noticed this addiction and how real it is, the next morning I had the equivalent of a good sized hangover, nauseous, headache...that is real for me.

In that moment I realized that my WOL does not include sugar. my diet will include proteins, veggies and bread only high fiber or low carb and in extreme moderation. Sugar control is just how I need to live my life, it has nothing to do with weight control, but weight loss will be a result of actually just living my life the way that I am learning that I need to. Then it just becomes something that I do to take care of me, instead of denying myself.

I had and still battle the "on diet" "off diet" mentality. I am now doing hypnosis where my therapist is telling me to make decisions as my "thin" self. I have been waiting forever to become thin before I act thin. Now I am just begining to think that way, and begining to learn how to think that way.

I am going to follow the Dr. Phil challenge, because I believe that I need to deal with the obession around food...for me I obesses on what I am eating, I eat too much....or I am counting everything, I too am looking for that middle ground that I can be happy and live the rest of my life.

I began wanting to shed 80 pounds, I have gotten rid of 10, now I am on the way to melting away another 70 pounds with small goals along the way. The only thing that I haven't capped for myself is the length of time. I want to learn everything that I need to know so that this time I don't gain the weight back, that I learn to live this way, I have spent 37 years overweight, I can take two or more years to take it off.

Right now I am looking at hitting the onderlander world, used to be so depressed in the 190s, now I will be doing the happy dance!!

Just keep focusing on what makes you feel good, and introduce change slowly....integrate it and don't beat yourself up......and these boards are incredibly helpful.

Keep up the Good Work!!!!!!