If I walk and then add low carb will it work better?

[leekno]

I do low carb for a while and then i fall off. I was thinking maybe I should just start working out for a while and then follow it up with lowcarb. I have tried it the other way so many times that I need a new aproach. You all know the mantra " If you do what you have always done then you get what you have always got". i need a new stratagy. Maybe add more fiber.
My weight today is 377.
Lee

[Kary]

I am not sure about that. It seems to me you have a problem sticking with LC and not so much starting it. There have been studies that indicate you have to be emotionally ready to change your life in order to have a good shot at changing your food consumption and losing weight. You might try exploring why you give up on LC. And while you are doing that you might start doing some exercise. It could put you in the right frame of mind and make you more open to sticking with LC.
One thing I found really helpful was to make sure my meals were made of the richest, tastiest LC foods I could afford. Like add Hollandaise sauce to your veggies and meat. A couple of tablespoons of sour cream as a dipping sauce is good too. Butter, mayo, bacon, blue cheese dressing and a tablespoon or two of sliced almonds on your salad, all the good stuff you don't eat on a conventional low fat diet.
Best of luck to you. I know that if you keep plugging away at it you will eventually reach your goals. :thup:

[rightnow]

Getting sufficient protein (try for 120g+), and enough fats and keeping carbs very low, all this LONG ENOUGH that you are no longer dealing with cravings, a need for energy, etc. is pretty critical. Plenty of people go on and off lowcarb, but ideally, each time one is better at it and less likely to go off and more likely to succesfully stick with it. I don't think you need to do one thing 'and then' another. Do both of them now, why not. :-)

[5kiddos]

I agree with pp that you need to be emotionally ready. When I started lc in '05 I read Dr. Phil's diet book...while I didn't follow the diet...I did get a lot of useful help from the emotional end. This time (I had another baby, etc and regained..sigh) I am trying to think of me a little again and remember that I am important too. You can do it! I just have to keep telling myself that everyday and that it is ok if I go off plan because tomorrow is a new day. I also keep thinking that if I just do my best, heading down is better than staying put or gaining more.

good luck..this board is a great place to be!

[gridcan28]

The third time (I think) I tried to lose weight, I saw a nutritionist offered by my insurance company. We decided on a plan that included keeping a food diary and trying to get some walking done. I never kept the diary, but did find it in me to walk. I ended up walking six days week, for at least half an hour everyday. At the end of the month, I saw the nutritionist. I had not lost any weight. But I did feel good about myself and was happy with what I had accomplished. The next month, I kept a food diary and started cutting back on portions. I also continued with the walking. At the end of the second month, I lost 10 lbs. At the end of the third month, doing the same things, I lost another 9 lbs. This was a time when I was trying to do things in moderation and wasn't going low carb. I eventually went on to Atkins, but that took another year or so.

The whole point of this long drawn out description is to say that yes, you can start out with walking. You will have to look at your food intake, but start with what you feel you can handle. The last time I started Atkins (9/06), I thought that I had to start exercising at the same time I started the "diet". But I didn't get back into exercising until 2/07. You have to do what you can do at that time. If exercising will get you motivated to look at your food issues, then start exercising. Try something! Don't feel like you have no control. If nothing else, walking may make you feel better mentally, even if you don't lose any weight. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[diemde]

Hi Lee. The fact that you posted this makes me think you really want to do this. As long as you are doing it for yourself and not for others, then your head is probably in the right place. :thup:

How I started just might work for you and is sustainable for the long haul. For the first 3 days, I tracked my carbs without attempting to cut back. I simply tracked to see how many I was eating. If I had known about fitday at the time, I would have tracked there, but I just tracked on a spreadsheet. When I saw that I was eating nearly 300 carbs per day, I decided to cut that in half to see if that would make a difference. I hadn't read any lc books, but was just going by some info that my sister had shared. It worked like a charm. I ate around 150 carbs for a few days, then dropped to 125 carbs, then later dropped to 100 and so on. For a long time, I stayed at 70 carbs and that was quite comfortable and I lost weight.

Cutting down on the carbs helps to get the appetite under control, but it's the fewer calories that really makes us lose the fat. Finding a balance with these is what worked well for me as I lost more, but I didn't have to track calories initially. I think just weaning ourselves off the carb works, but it's something you have to try to decide. If you still have strong carb cravings then it may not work for you.

As far as exercise, it's always good if you can do something, but I don't think it's critical when you first start. The key initially is to find a way to eat that you can live with. When I started, I still ate bread and other carby foods because I could have them at the higher carb levels. I just cut back.

Walking is a great option for you, but I would still stress that you have to find something to do for exercise that you enjoy. I did walk sometimes, but I was doing it just to get the exercise and it wasn't all that much fun... so I didn't stick with it. Any extra movement at this point will help, whether that be yardwork or window shopping at the mall. Just find something you truly enjoy for now.

Please let us know how it's going.

[MisterE]

I have a dear friend who lost 113 pounds in 4 months, starting at 312 pounds (December 28, 1983 to April 28, 1984) by a serious walk program mixed with low carb/low calorie eating. He started walking 2 miles a DAY minimum in the 1st week and increased to over 9 miles a day (work days) by the final week. After week 6 he was walking 20+ miles a day on weekends. By the time his weight had gotten down to under 260 he was up to slow jogging which had become pretty effortless since he no longer had to tote the extra 50+ pounds. He walked before work, during lunch break, took a minimum of two short walks up the 1/4 mile hill in front of his building during breaks, and then he walked/jogged every single night when he got home. Rain, snow, dark...every single night. When the weather got too bad he went to the mall and walked. It is amazing how one can move from walking to jogging effortlessly when the weight begins to fall off. Your body no longer has to carry all that extra weight and you move faster and easier. By the time he was finished he no longer carried the SEVEN 16 pound bowling balls worth of FAT everywhere he went. Oh, and he found he loved walking and spending time out of doors doing that which his weight had prohibited before. The newspaper did a huge picture story on "The Amazing Shrinking Man!"
Oh, yeah. He kept the weight off for 15 years until health issues took his ability to walk away. How do I know all this stuff? Because the friend I speak of is ME. And there was no sagging skin after a 113 weight loss. I was 34 years old and the great amount of exercise tightened me as I went. It was walking that made the difference...not the food program.
So...regardless your food program of choice, if you can walk, do so. I figure it can't hurt. And it might help more than you know.

[leekno]

Thank you all I am grappling with my weight but I am determined to lose it once and for all. But here is the thing. I start and then stress from school or life in generial get to me and I back slide. I also have some physical issues and pain that crop up but I try not to make any excuses for not losing b/c others on this forum have a much greater obstical than any that I have. I am so proud of you all. Lee

[SweetJenna]

"It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not."

-- James Gordon