So, I've been stalled for awhile...I've been sooo hungry lately, and I've been a little irresponsible by fasting. Also, I know for a fact that I haven't been eating enough fat. So, what I'm going to do is the Fat Fast until my weight loss picks up again, and then I'll do some carb cycling. I've been reading the threads about yo-yo dieting, and at this point I'm not sure if I've done too much damage to my metabolism. I do have to be completely honest about something though. I'm not sure if this is a WOE that I'm going to be able to maintain for the rest of my life. I am only 22 after all. It's helped me drop weight quickly in the past and it really helps my cravings when I'm doing a good job on it, but I'd like to think that in the future I'll be able to find a way to just control my emotional eating and portion control...and figure out how much I have to exercise to maintain whatever my ideal weight ends up being. Sorry to rant, I'm just getting concerned that if I do proceed with this WOE I might mess it up for me in the future if I want to eat differently. Well I'm sure many of you have gone through this dilemma before...any input would be lovely..

Have you read "Good Calories Bad Calories" yet? I always thought of low carb as a weight loss plan until I read that. I'm not losing much weight lately, but then, I'm about a zillion years older than you and I HAVE messed up my metabolism, for sure. Regardless, I'm more and more convinced that this is by far the most healthy way to live. You might also check out some of the other really great books talked about here. And don't worry about how you'll eat for the rest of your life. That's a really loooonnnggg time.! Just worry about getting healthy right now, and take the next step when you get to it.
Hang in there

i know what you mean.,.. I am 20 and am concerned with the same thing. I am worried that when i turn 50 I will get fat again. Im worried that in the future they will say DONT DO ATKINS!!!! IT WILL KILL YOU!! Then im screwed!! know what i mean. Im just going to do what i have to now, and worry a bout the other stuff in the future.. God Bless

What I thought was emotional eating and problems with portion control were actually caused by the foods I was eating - both bc my diet was very high carb, and I was intolerant to gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats etc) and they were making me crave. There's often a biological reason behind "emotional eating" (and there may be emotional reasons as well - kinda like how smoking is both a physical and mental addiction), and many of us have found that a low carb diet keeps that in check.

And I agree, don't worry about the rest of your life just yet. Deal with now. In time, you may be able to eat a much wider variety of foods (finding your carb level a la Atkins). Some people find that they can add back fairly high levels of carby foods, while others can't. It'll take some time to figure out where you fit, and even then it may change as time goes on.

But LCing isn't going to mess anything up. We evolved eating this way, after all.

Yeah, AuntWei, me too - messed up metabolism bad that is.

Emotional eating is bad, but very common. Once you know what you're dealing with, it helps!

Since Atkins has been around since the 70s I really doubt that any research is going to come out that says it will kill you.....

Take heart that you are doing the RIGHT thing by taking control so early in your life..... sure wish I had!!!!

Julie

Why would you want to eat differently? If you are not convinced that this is a healthy way of life then you shouldn't be doing it imo....but there is so much evidence that low carb is the way to go.

What kind of nutrition does refined flour offer?

My advice to you as a 36 year old who grew up in the stupid low fat diet generation......do some study and convince yourself that you are eating the right way...get on the wagon and don't get off! It only gets harder as you get older. Your metabolism will slow down. I only wish I had your opportunity. I would have learned the right way to eat and would not have been overweight through my 20's and early 30's.

Now I am able to get the weight off...but I am getting wrinkes and grey hair.

IMO "carb cycling" IS yo-yo dieting. Fasting is not irresponsible if done correctly. Eating three meals plus two snacks a day is a relatively recent phenomenon; our ancestors routinely ate only once or twice a day. Don't worry about the rest of your life--take care of today.

I agree that fasting can be done very responsibly....

I think that carb cycling can also..if you are moving in and out of maintenance levels...vs binging on junk

I also think it's effective for athletic pursuits where you might need extra carbs at certain times. If I ate half a watermelon because it was in season and growing in my backyard and it would go bad if not eaten, I consider that healthy carb cycling, too. For me, it's all about seasonality and there being a time for all whole foods. Snickers is not a whole food!

I can't see how cutting processed sugar out of a persons diet can HURT anyone. The naysayers always come up with this idea that Atkins is about only eating meat. It is a bunch of bull as most of us know, it is just people out there that do not read the book and follow what they THINK is Atkins and then complain that it is bad for you. I am reading Dr. Schwarzbein's books and she doesn't think that ketosis is good for a person so that remains controversial. You have to do research and decide for yourself what is good for you, but eating real food and avoiding processed foods is NEVER going to be bad for you.

I also mostly think of this as a way to lose weight and not something I will sustain 100% for the rest of my life.

BUT.....

I have also learned a lot about nutrition, the biochemistry of food, benefits of good quality food, and micro- and macronutrients. I do know that, although I will not "eat LC" for the rest of my life, this way of eating is teaching me a lot about how to "eat healthy for the rest of my life.

p.s. I firmly believe in building muscle so that if one does tend to overeat or eat less healthy, the body has a healthy and fast metabolism to deal with that extra energy input.

I started low carb at age 22 and it is the best thing I have ever done.

Atkins Is The Best.....woot Wooot!!