how many of you would stick with LC if it didn't help you to lose weight, but did allow you to experience all other related health benefits? frankly, are you doing it for your health or simply because its a quick way to lose weight (losing weight isn't always healthy), the apparent health benefits being just a bonus? Please be honest

in spite of the fact that I have not lost more then a couple of pounds (which always seem to bounce back) for well over 10 months. My goal is to weigh somewhere between 10 and 20 pounds less then I currently do, so I keep plugging away at it. However the benefits to my health and how I feel are well worth the "trouble", if you can call it that, of staying involved in a LC way of life.

No more migraines, better periods (yes I know, but its all relative), more energy, more level moods, and much clearer skin. So even if I dwell at this weigh forever I will continue doing what I am doing.

Oh and for the record, yes I have tried most of the things suggested on this site and others to break the stall. Nothing has worked for me, some have even caused me to gain a pound or two. I just figure that this is maybe it and oh well, I can live with that.

Honestly, I got into low carbing to control my diabetes and high blood pressure. The weight loss has been a nice benefit, but wasn't my primary motivation at first.
I've said it before and say it again; even if I never lost another pound, I'd stick with low carbing because of the health benefits it has brought me; normal blood pressure, normal blood sugars, better bloodwork results and feeling better than I have in more than a decade.

I first started this WOE to lose weight, but now I eat this way to control my lipids. Look at the data in my signature. I've been eating this way for about 2.5 years now, and have been maintaining my current weight for the last year. My last few pounds? Well, since early summer I've changed the focus of my exercise with the goal of reducing body fat and gaining muscle. It's working, since I've stayed the same weight but shrunk in dimensions.

Will I ever go back to eating mostly carbs? Heck no.

Since I started eating more like this my health and sense of well being has gone way up in many areas.

When I began induction I saw immediate improvement in many areas of health. First thing to change was the food obsession and chronic hunger I had dealt with my whole life. Within days I went from needing to eat every hour or two so as to avoid "hunger" (which really was a low blood sugar attack), to barely needing food at all. You see, cutting out the carbohydrates allowed my insulin levels to fall to a normal healthy point. This allowed my body to do what I can only describe as finally being able to USE all the extra fat that was being packed away. I would explain in depth why and how sugar load is so crucial to this process of regulating body weight and energy intake, but it's a really long explanation. Let me just say briefly that sugar puts your body in prosperity mode, it changes hormone balance and receptor sensitivity in a way that is conducive to accumulating excess fat. It's an anti-starvation adaptive mechanism. When you reduce sugar, your body thinks it's in a time of more scarce resources, so it changes hormones and receptor sensitivity to allow us to use our body fat for fuel better.

The second change, one that came on in days (roughly a week), was the acne I've had since 9 years old cleared up almost entirely. Reducing sugar was very kind to my whole endocrine system. One hormone abnormality begets others, and for some reason hyperinsulinemia is linked with abnormalities in sex hormones. This constellation of resulting symptoms is called PCOS. So, I saw a relaxing of PCOS symptoms almost immediately within starting the diet.

THe third change I noticed was that my depression got much better. Ketones and ketosis has a very positive effect on my moods.

The final change, one that took a longer time to notice, was that I no longer get sick. I just don't. When I do get sick, I'll experience a mildly irritated throat for maybe a day, or something like that, but I never come down with full blown colds and flus and infections and yeast/fungus growth. I used to get them all the time. Sugar has a profound debilitating effect on the body's immune system. The reasons for this are numerous. One theory is it competes with vitamin C. Sugar is a very efficient fuel. This efficiency comes at a cost. Sugar is very taxing to the body and as a profound effect on the cellular aging/dying process. The more sugar you eat the more you need to consume vitamin C and other antioxidants. You put a lot of wear and tear on your body's immune system with sugar, debilitating it's capacity to fight off other threats to health.
The second reason is that sugar feeds parasites and other unsavory health elements. As I said, it is an extremely efficient source of energy. By eating a lot of sugar you are not only fueling your own body, you are also fueling the billions of microscopic parasitic life forms that cause disease. An over abundance of readily usable simple sugars (which btw your body converts from "complex carbohydrates" like pasta and bread almost instantly... just saying this side note to avoid fueling the misconception that the problem is soda and table sugar because it's not, the problem is all carbohydrates) fuels bacteria, fungus, viruses, heck even cancer cells. When you cut out the sugar, candida, bacterial infections, incidences of common colds, even your risk of cancer plummet dramatically.

Finally, I notice that my dental health is phenomenal. I no longer need to visit the dentist. My teeth were covered in plaque, achy & sensitive, and ridden with dental carries. This is an off shoot of the third health improvement. By reducing sugar, you eliminate all the simple sugars floating around to fuel the growth of bacteria. Dental health correlates tot he level of parasites in your mouth. No sugar = much lower level of bacteria = very good dental health. Also when you decrease carbs you also tend to eliminate or decrease a lot of the acidic foods that are hard on tooth enamel, like soda and orange juice. This is also really good for teeth.

So you see, reducing carbohydrate is very healthy. It's not just about weight loss, it's about improving health. Now don't misunderstand, I'm not advocating that people stop considering other aspects of health.
I don't think people should be eating margarine simply because it's sugar free (trans fat is horrid).
I don't think people should eat bacon every day because it only has 1 or no carbs (processed meats are horrible for you, frying increases lipid oxidation which is also horrible for you).
I don't think people should eat as a staple processed polyunsaturated oils (again horrible for you).

Basically I don't think people should feel like they are doing themselves a benefit by eating blackened charred oxidized meats and fats, processed/cooked oils, while also eating almost no healthy carbohydrate containing foods (yogurt, fruit, veggies) or other unhealthy dietary practices.

What I am saying is that this one facet of diet - reducing sugar load - in isolation is very, very healthful. Really, a healthy diet is de facto low in sugar to begin with. Where do we get sugar? Most people get it from high fat and high sugar crap like cake, cookies, snackfoods.
Even if the diet is conscious of intake, we get it from "whole" grains (fine in moderation, but eaten like the government suggests it is very unhealthy), and we get it from eating lots of too-sweet fruit and high carb vegetable products like honey, molasses, cane sugar, corn syrup products, pineapples, bananas, ect ( this is again fine in moderation, but if eaten in such a quantity that the total carbohydrate level in diet is high than you are eating an unbalanced unhealthy diet).
A balanced, healthy human diet is one where most intake comes from animal products... particularly flesh and organ meats. This automatically increases fat and protein percentages. A healthy diet is then supplemented with dark, richly colored vegetation and fruits/nuts/seeds. Our food pyramid is upside down. Our food pyramid is the sort of diet that is consumed when resources are scarce and the body needs to be thrown into an energy-conserving, fat-storing mode. It is the diet of peasant farmers. The human animal evolved to be exploitative and capitalistic. If we give our bodies lots of sugar, if we structure our intake around efficient energy sources that tell our bodies we are in times of prosperity, then our body will "learn" from this dietary pattern and exploit it. It will begin down regulating insulin sensitivity, it will increase insulin levels in the blood, it will make burning body fat harder and increase hunger. It will do all these things so as to "exploit" the pattern of indulgence and excessive sugar we are showing it. It does all this to ultimately force the animal to over-consume and to store fat. The body does this because sugar tells the body that it is spring, that the trees are blossoming with fruit, sap is leaking from the bark, and that we better stock up for the famine season. Our bodies evolved to deal with cyclical bouts of famine and feast, and a high sugar diet - a diet so abnormally high in sugar from what humans experienced most of the time - tells our body it is feast season. We prepare for the famine that never comes.

By decreasing sugar to a level more optimal for a western lifestyle (which in my honest opinion shouldn't be more than 20% of calories assuming you are an average person with average lifestyle), you avoid the "feast season" trap, and you avoid all the associate problems with "feasting" on sugar for too long (diabetes, CHD, fertility abnormalities, general poor health and suppressed immune system, etc).

I first started to eat low carb just for the weight loss and had no intentions of making it a lifestyle, hell I wasnt even convinced it would work. A week before I started this WOE I brought 2 boxes of 96 rennie and used 3 strips in that week which was about normal for me. Here I am 10 months later and I still havent used those boxes and for that reason alone I am happy to continue eating this way. I have just not long got over a long stall I was stuck at 195 for ages but still kept to this because it made me feel so good.

I've been LC'ing since early 1980'ies, and to me it is a lifestyle. It's a healthy way of living. Unfortunately gallbladder problems, hormone problems, hypothyriodism and the fact that I stopped smoking has made me gain weight in three periods during this time. Each time I've gone back to induction or near induction level. I've never lost weight quick. I've used more than a year to lose 27 lbs - and still have approx 16 lbs to lose. I'm happy if I reach goal next summer. I didn't gain overnight, and I don't expect them to dissapear overnight either. If I was in it only for losing weight I'd be looking for another and better way a long time ago.

I'm quite certain LC'ing has helped me stabilising my insulin level, helped my hypothyriodism so I no longer need medication. My bloodwork (monitored twice a year) is perfect. In addition to that the food I'm eating and the water I'm drinking (my lifestyle) keeps my skin clear and young and healthy, my hair thick and shiny and also takes years off my age. I look younger than my 47 years and many of my fellow LC'ers do.

Sure, for some it's a quick way to lose weight, but it must be clear to everyone that if you go back to old eating habits, stuffing yourself with carbs, - you will gain it all back in notime. Atkins and other low carb WOE's is not only a diet, it IS a WOE/Way of Eating and a WOL/Way of Life - A lifestyle change.

Honest !

I was an avid, three season varsity athlete while in school and maintained a very trim 130 lbs frame. (I am 5'8) I keep looking back at those years to see how I stayed healthy. I had acne but not bad, had tons of energy, the whole nine yards. It finally dawned on me that I had been eating more or less CAD style for many of those years...I just didn't know it. I would often have nothing for breakfast or get a donut and skim milk at school. Lunch was usually a salad with full fat dressing and some cheese. Dinner was often some kind of meat or poultry and veggies. While I had my share of pizza pig outs, full sugar sodas, and other teen foodie things..I was active and eating to fuel my body. While in college disaster struck and I had two major knee surgeries w'in 18 months. I was about 155-160 at the time but had gained muscle too so not all the excess was fat. I could no longer workout or play sports so i ate. It made me feel better and the freshman 15 for me was more like 50 (and I was a junior). I ended at 210. I tried diet and exercise to get the weight off, using what is touted...low fat diets. I lost nothing, I went vegetarian, I lost nothing. I was walking/running 45 minutes a day and lifting weights..I lost nothing. At Christmas my sis told me about Atkins. I bought the book and read it twice before New Year's. I started on Jan 1 and lost 50+ lbs in four months. That time around it was about loss. Over the years since I have been on and off Atkins and my weight always ends up at about 210 before I kick myself. This time its about health. Type 2 diabetes runs in my family, so does cancer, depression, horrible periods and endometriosis. I have found that LC helps me to fight all of these. If I never lost another pound I would still eat LC to strengthen my own life, my body and my health. The skinny, athletic person lurking inside is just a bonus( although its a bonus I can't wait to see! Yes I am vain) It is the only WOE for me.

I'd be lying if I didn't say weight loss, but with all the attending health benefits a very close second. I need to get rid of the weight to make my bad knee less of a problem, diabetes, obesity (Dad died from "stomach stapling" complications) high blood pressure...ALL run in my family. As a single Mom to a child with special needs, I HAVE to be healthy. I need to be able to care for him, and I couldn't do a good job of that at 300 lbs.

Health benefits are great - weight loss is an awesome "side effect". I laughed when I first read that on a website 18 months ago - but now I totally agree.

I started LC last year b/c a doctor recommended after I was diagonosed with PCOS. After years of horrible -sometimes weekly- migraines - they just stopped without any medications! (Finally figured out they were related to sugar!) My energy level went up and with a little more help from Metformin, my PCOS symptoms lessened.

When I fell off the wagon in July, the biggest thing I noticed is that I was extremely grumpy....mood swings due to my body being all out of whack (like pre-LC). When I started to get the migraines again, I knew I needed to go back to LC. Not to mention I was exhausted, I was eating pasta, oatmeal cookies (for breakfast - ahhhh!) and french fries - all I wanted to do was sleep (especially after lunch!).

On a side note, even when I was off the wagon I stayed away from HFCS (if I had a label to read) and didn't go back to my nasty pre-lc habit of regular mountain dew or pepsi....b/c I now know how bad sugar is for my body.

What I liked about this WOL the first time around is that while everyone else at work or at family get togethers were eating their low-fat/low-cal salads and plain chicken breasts, I was eating steak w/ garlic butter and cheesecake (splenda sweetened!).

My motiviation now is do I really want to be grumpy and miserable again?

Since it has taken me a year to lose 7-8 pounds, it certainly is not as efficient as a 'starvation diet'. However, during that year, I have never felt better. I have more energy - I used to get so lethargic and sluggish in the afternoons, now I feel great all day. So, that's why I stick with it - if it means the weight comes off sloooow, I can live with it, since I don't have that far to go. Besides, what has come off has STAYED off.

My intent was to lose weight, in order to protect my heart. My dad died from a heart attack at 57, I look just like him body-wise. I initially thought my being overweight would contribute to heart problems, but now I think they are both symptoms of the same underlying problem of poor diet. From what I've read since beginning this WOE, I am totally convinced that the way to heart health, is through a lc diet. So I am there for good.

Interesting question. I hope you don't mean to imply that a lc diet is not healthy. I'm eating healthier than I ever have in my life, and enjoying my food at that. Last night I had a salad, baked squash and smoked beef brisket.

Any comments Ocean Wave ??

I actually started this out of a desperate attempt to set my hormones straight. Weight gain was one of only many problems I had from using depo-provera. Many women swore by a low carb diet. I was skeptical, but desperate enough to try anything. The rest is history - not only did I get rid of the depo-provera problems, but chronic problems like depression and acne improved immensely. My list is similar to ItsTheWoos.

So to answer your question, 'health'. The weight loss happens because you set your metabolism straight. Unless you have some specific, unusual medical problems, there are no health risks to low carbing.

I've been lucky enough to be in good health despite being overweight. So I began my LC diet partly out of vanity, and partly out of a feeling of shame, due to the incessant media/medical culture pressure that overweight=moral weakness and almost certain eventual health problems. I continue to enjoy good health and feel psychologically relieved to have my eating under control.