I've read many diet/nutrition books-everything from detailed programs to anti-dieting and this is what I've come away with. I don't believe that weight loss is ALL about calories in and calories out bc I feel this is too simplistic as some foods will actually TRIGGER cravings. In fact I recently read that bc of Neuropeptide Y, whatever you eat when ravenously hungry will be imprinted as a strong ongoing crave-leading to the belief that it's not as about willpower as one might think-some foods will work against you creating a physiological drive to consume that food (this all depending on your own food history). Which is why it's always best that if you really need to have this food it's eaten directly after a balanced meal. (which goes against anti-dieting's thinking of : eat what you most want when you're adequately hungry)
I DO believe that SB like most WOE drastically decreases calorie consumption-especially in phase 1 and that your body will eventually adjust to it (metabolism slows) Now it is widely accepted that it takes 3500 calories in EXCESS to what you normally consume to gain 1lb of fat-soooo here comes my concern-after only 10 days of drastic reduction, why should phase 2 be so volatile? How is it that all of a sudden, a few too many strawberries, or not enough vegetables can lead to a plateau or a sudden weight gain? These were NOT the issues that caused your/our initial weight gain. And obviously we are not talking 3500 EXCESS calories-so it shouldn't be fat gain, and if it's water weight, why?
I understand the role of insulin control in this WOE but I don't think anyone should fear gaining 3lbs overnight from eating a baked potato (also the glycemic index should not be relied on too heavily as glycemic load is much more important-for instance for a carrot to have the GI noted affect on insulin rise, you'd have to consume cups and cups of them-just an example) It is noted that eating fat with high GI food changes their affect on your blood sugar.
What attracted me to SB is that I believe this WOE will definitely help conquer cravings (and other health issues) but I'd hate to think that I'll never again be able to have a non-SB meal without having to revert to Phase I again. Could a person just cut out processed foods and sugar-but still eat fruits, limited whole grains etc... and have the same results? ANd if they did I"m sure one food would not undo them (unless that food triggers future cravings) so what happens during Phase 1 of SB to then make us SO sensitive to the carbs we reintroduce?
EEK! SOrry this is so long-I guess the bottomline is, how come Phase 2 seems so much harder to lose weight on? ANd for those now on it, how much fruit and whole grains were you able to reintroduce? And if you had sugar or pizza one night did you have to start all over again???? ( I never "plan" on reintroducing trigger foods but would like to know that if I eat something non-SB it will not undo my efforts, it would not be a 3500cal binge which is what would require actual fat gain on other WOE)
Thanks so much!