Thank you 3FC. Thank you, thank you for the many pearls of wisdom without which I would still be sitting at the same weight.

So many of us are carb sensitive, and I fight that diagnosis, but ultimately the body wins. It wants what it wants and needs what it needs. I lowered my carbs starting on Friday and have dropped almost a full four pounds since then! And it's only Wednesday! That's more than I lost all last month. I know you drop 8-14 pounds at the start of South Beach in the first two weeks, but I never imagined I could even come close to that as clean as my diet already was. And I'm not even doing Phase I!

In any case, I thought I'd share in case it helps anyone else. I'm not particularly fond of cutting out fruit and grains, but there you have it. I'm allowed one a day and will slowly add them as I see how I tolerate them.

Congratulations Eliana I'm so happy that the diet changes are working for you! How are DH and DS doing? Are they following the new diet changes too? So excited that this is working for you

It is wonderful that you had such a large loss! I appreciate you sharing. Is your calorie level the same? How many carbs a day are you eating? I think that I may have to consider this low carb thing.

Thanks Kuchick! DH is following the insulin resistance diet, which is always eating a protein with the carb, so something like an apple with peanut butter. He's stalled at the moment but I think it's just time for a stall for him. Our son just eats what I feed him.

Cheryl, do you know much about South Beach? The first phase cuts all carbs for two weeks except the carbs you get in veggies. (Carrots and corn excluded) Phase II begins by adding just one carb back for a week and you continue adding one carb a day for a week paying attention to how the body reacts. This is how I decided to go about it because it's a program I'm familiar with.

So I'm eating steel cut oats right after a cardio session, and the rest of the day is pretty much lean meats, eggs and vegetables. I like to eat yogurt with walnuts for my evening "dessert". On non-cardio days, I could have an apple somewhere in there, but I haven't done it yet. Yesterday my one carb was...um...ice cream. Totally planned! We had dinner out with friends. But generally speaking, my one carb is a good, healthy choice.

Thanks, Eliana! I definitely need to read the South Beach book. It does not sound like you are also counting calories also.

Yes, I consider myself counting calories with a carb restriction and I'm using concepts from South Beach. LOL!

I am definitely going to read the book and try this. Because I have a huge fear of gaining weight, I am afraid to try an exchange program or really anything but counting my calories. But if I do this and count calories, I want to give it a try.

Thanks, Eliana, for posting about this.

CC w/CR SBC

Okay here is the name of your new plan!

Counting Calories w/Carb Restriction & South Beach Concepts

in case anyone asks! Good for you and your stick-2-it-ness!

Thanks for that!

Cheryl, I really don't think you could put on weight doing South Beach. However, I did it before faithfully and for whatever reason I stalled out. BUT I've certainly done my fair share of that calorie counting too, so it's quite likely I just wasn't patient enough. For me it's all about sustainability. Calorie counting is very sustainable but I'm still worried about South Beach. I quit that before and I thought it was really easy at the time. There's no reason to quit calorie counting. I can't explain it very well.

Basically, yes, give it a go! I do love South Beach. It's a very healthy way of eating for life. I'm just going to have to figure out just how many carbs I can eat. Another concept from South Beach is pretty much to stay away from white stuff, which I do. But this go-round, I think I'll count in stuff like ice cream. LOL! Or popcorn. I think once in a while my one carb a day can be a treat. But the vast majority of my diet has to be nutritious.

One other point...South Beach is not actually low-carb, more like lower carb to healthy carb. The initial phase is very low-carb but after that it lightens up on the carbs. I just think my body needs to stick with the strict carb restriction. Anyway, let us know how it goes if you decide to do it.

Yes, the plan I am doing features moderate carb restriction. I am raising my calories from 1300 to 1500 because that feels better.... but counting calories as usual... because that makes me feel safe.

so how many carbs (number wise) are you eating a day? 100 grams? Less? More?

I so related to the carb sensitivity thing, my body loved me when I did South Beach (and Atkins WAY back). It sounds like there are a lot of us - gotta wonder if it has something to do with weight gain for a lot of people? Maybe.

Do you find it makes a difference when you have your carbs?

-Aimee

Glad you found something that is working for you.

I find that any plan that lowers carbs helps my cravings go away. Right now I am eating 85-100g/carbs a day and about 80-100g/lean protein and I feel better than I ever have.

Mama, I have no idea how many grams of carbs I eat. I don't count. I have to keep it simple. I just know approximately where various carby items fall on the glycemic index and eat them accordingly. Today my one non-veggie carb will be an apple.

Swimgirl, I think about that. I have PCOS and I'm pretty certain it is the cause of the weight gain because I remember gaining 70 lbs in a year for really no reason. But sometimes I wonder if the weight caused the PCOS or the other way around. Are we fat because we're IR or are we IR because we're fat? I have to believe I have PCOS just because I do. I can't stand the thought that I might have caused it myself.

Robin, *sigh* . I've seen you talk about how you eat and I didn't want have to go down that route. But it is what it is and I'm sure I'll get used to it and may even like it. I do like veggies but I prefer fruit. I guess I was just really happy with pure and simple calorie counting while keeping a close eye on making sure I had some really wholesome foods. Now I feel like I am on a diet. That sucks.

Lyn, that's a HUGE benefit of low carbing. I found that oddly enough my cravings went away just by cutting the calories and eating whole foods. It took longer. Cutting carbs takes me about 3 days to get used to and calorie counting took 3 weeks.