Support on low carbing - very important

[thindelite]

I am new at this - well not really - I have been through the sugar withdrawals countless times, but I am new to this site. I must say that reading the messages and what others have to say, helps me a lot. I need all the support I can get and if anyone wants to chat by email - please let me know. I want to get well, I don't want sugar to ruin my life. It is a powerful, addictive substance. I am 48 years old and have wasted too much of my life on a sugar high that has done nothing but made me feel like a speed freak and added weight to my petite frame, besides contributing to me quitting countless jobs and losing almost everything in my life that was ever important. I clean houses for a living and carrying around the extra weight really drags me down. I have felt awfully depressed due to this weight gain and lack of energy - except the inner speed maniac that I have been. I would like to hear some success stories of women that lost weight eating high fat and protein and cutting out the sugar. I still have my doubts about eating so much fat and what the medical profession has to say about it. But I do know that my sanity is returning after 5 days of kicking the white crap out of my life. And my appetie is decreasing - even with high fat and protein.

Thanks, Denise

[Karen]

Hi Denise!

I completely relate to sugar as being a drug and never knew it until I started low-carbing. It has saved my life and more importantly, my sanity. I've been low carbing for almost 4 years and have never looked back.

Don't worry about the fat. Just really enjoy what you are eating! Make it a priority to prepare really delicious meals for yourself.

One of the best ways to get support is by giving it. You don't have to restrict yourself to the PP forum as it's not very active. You can give and get support all over the board. Don't be shy and jump right in!

Karen

[Teila]

Hey,

Let's look at things in a simple light. You've been eating carbs all your life and look where it's got you! So what's wrong with trying something different. You can only be in a better position. I too am a woman and well this eating lifestyle works wonders. I love eating all the foods that I had previously given up for the past 7 years (when I was a vego). I eat loads of meat and I crave for the fat on the meat. If I eat enough meat and meat fat everyday then I'm completely satisfied and I feel the weight just melt off my backside!

So you've got to listen to your body. I only have dairy products every now and then, cause my body doesn't respond well to them. I limit nuts to about 400gms a week (on 1-2days).

So how am I doing? Well I can eat and in control. Before on carbs, if I went to eat a chocolate bar (which I couldn't leave the supermarket without buying) I would eat the whole thing in one sitting. If I bought a pack of ate buns or a tub of ice-cream, I could physically not stop my body from eating the whole thing. I'd still want to keep eating and more. Now on meat and protein and fat, I'm satisfied! I'm never going back!

Stick with it and avoid all those treat things that they say you can have - the stuff with artificial sweetners (especially sugar alcohols). They all say low/no-carbs but they slow my metabolism down. I'm better off without them.

Also go for lots of walks. I work out at a gym (weights and cardio) but the walking is the most effective weight loss for my body.

Listen to your body! Pretend that you're on a science experiment and that some scientist is depending on results from your new lifestyle.

Make sure you keep setting goals. I have a clothes goal of clothes I want to get back into. I've set a date for each garment (one a week that I need to get back into with the ultimate one being a pair of tight jeans that I use to be able to wear).

I'm only new to this (three weeks) but I've been off of wheat and high carb products (except sugar) well and trully before I found out about these diets for I felt that my body felt better of without them. The only thing I didn't do was to eat fat cause I'd always been told that it was a no - no. Quite the opposite as I now know. without it, you just won't burn body fat!

Good luck!

[Laura D]

You can totally do it! I was very suspect of this whole protien power thing, I read the book and was still sceptical. I have been on it for just over a week and am really pleased at how the pounds are coming off. Just do your best to follow the plan you are on, and don't freak if you slip up, I have gone over my daily allowance a few times but I just try and make up for it later.

[acohn]

thindelite,

If you had told me before I started low-carbing that I would end up eating 65% of my 2000 daily calories would be coming from fat, I would have just walked away, shaking my head. That was 10 weeks, 45 lbs., and 13% of my body fat ago. Now, it's other people who walk away, shaking their heads. ;)

I, too, was a sugar addict. Hell, I was a food addict. I spent a decade in Overeaters Anonymous, searching for a spiritual solution to a biochemical problem. Not that I'm complaining about OA; it gave me a lot of benefits, but sustained, *comfortable* weight loss/management wasn't one of them. I've been where you have.

Some metabolic types thrive on a high-fat diet. Many low-carbers whom I've seen post end up at 40-50% fat. You may not be one of those people, but don't be afraid of the possibility.

Give your new WOE 100 days. And as they say in OA, if you don't like the results, your misery will be cheerfully refunded.