Wow...sounds like it was an excellent plan for you. Congrats on meeting your goal and your hard work.... Good luck on maintenance...

TJ

Hi,
just a quick note on how excited I am to be almost at goal.
I've started to think about maintenance now, and in what
way to increase my calories. I think I'll go with the fat for
more energy, as I don't miss grains and beans. Fruit will be
included as well in minimal amounts.
One thing that worries me is cravings and caving in to sweets.
I have conditioned myself this past month to view most
processed food as cardboard, so that is not a problem,
but I still view chocolate and cakes with cream as food.
I think it is the association that fat=good, so anyting sweet
and cream still registers positive and I am very afraid to cave in.
Yesterday I was proud that I passed an offering of chocolate
from a colleague, but boy did I want to eat it.
So, with the knowledge that sooner or later I'm going to have
to eat something bad for me ( and I am sure that it will be a
chocolate or cream eclair , and no, just a square will not do)
, I am also starting to think of strategies to limit the damage.
I am a big believer in having
a plan for coping, to avoid the self-loathing trap that leads you
into falling out the wagon, so let's see how it goes.
This weekend I am going to have alcohol, and in 3 weeks I am
visiting my family for the first time this year, and I am not
going to refuse their wonderful treats.
These will be my first big tests. I'll let you know how it went.
Good luck to you all!!!

A few thoughts.

Congrats, first, on your weight loss. Simple, straightforward and expeditious. I am impressed.

Thanks, too, for the excellent information which I have copied. Regina Wilshire has referenced Annika Dahlqvist -- one might call her the "Swedish Atkins" (as Kwasniewski is the "Polish Atkins"... and so on). Which leads to my question:

How does this plan differ from Atkins OWL (ongoing weight loss). It sounds remarkably similar to me. See DANDR... where Dr. Atkins extols the virtues of thin crispbreads piled high with meats and cheeses. And of course Dr. Dahlqvist advises re-introducing carbs gradually, emphasizing "slow-burning carbs," until you reach a balance point, neither gaining nor losing.

That's Atkins in a nutshell (but not too many nutshells!) -- he always called it your CCLM (critical carb level for maintenance) after you lost weight at your CCLL (critical carb level for losing). And he said you would have to determine that level through trial and error... just as you are doing now.

So I think you've been "doing Atkins" without knowing it. How cool is that.

And statins for 8-year-old kids? Breaks my heart. Can't big pharma make enough big bucks off consenting adults? Those children will have no choice, you know -- absolutely none. Side effects may not appear until decades later, much too late... who knows? When did our society decide it was OK to use CHILDREN as guinea pigs in long-term uncontrolled clinical trials... when pediatricians follow the Academy's current recommendations on statin use, that may be the end result -- not intentional, perhaps, but all too real. The Law of Unintended Consequences (Corollary 20B) strikes again.

While we're at it, why don't they restart pregnant women on thalidomide to control morning sickness. Highly effective drug. Works like a charm. Oh... right... just one tiny bad side effect. Shows up 9 months later.

Sigh. When will they ever learn?

End of rant! Delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Hutchinson, and how exactly like a Brit you sound...

Yes I now agree with you.
When I signed up to this forum and made the initial post to this thread I had not studied Atkins (still haven't to be truthful) therefore I was not aware of the similarities between Dalhqvists plan and Atkins OWL I think I made a mistake in placing this in the semi-low carb section.

I had just read The Diet Delusion as GCBC is sold in the UK and wanted to give it a try and thought Dalhqvists plan, because it doesn't involve anything that would tax my brain or my pocket, the simplest cheapest most sensible way of implementing Taubes ideas.

I'm sure that wasn't meant as a backhanded compliment

Hi, thanks, it has been some work but worth it.


The last 10 years I did low-fat 1200 cals, the zone and atkins.
Did not loose anything on the low-fat one (what a surprise!),
lost a lot of weight on the zone, practically the same I did now,
then gained and lost a lot of weight on atkins.
The difference is in the attitude and food choices.

I stopped the zone because it was a lot of trouble in getting the ratios right, although I was becoming a master at it, and the principles stuck in for a long time, making my diet afterwards
healthier.

When I decided to do atkins, I did it because it sounded more suited to me, and I like fat in my food, and it was easier to eat
lunch out everyday in my native country (Portugal) than the zone ( can you believe it? Low fat Mediterranean diet, my a**) :-) .

This time, I decided on the dalhkvist plan because it allowed milk and I didn't want to go through induction again and obsess about carbs in vegetables, as I did before. In my mind, this is
what distinguished it from atkins: it was more flexible.

So, I did the plan, logged in everything on fitday and incorporated
some knowledge from the protein power plan, which is very,very similar to this one.
Carbs for me fall naturally between 15-40, ,so I guess
I've been doing Atkins OWL indeed, but without the
previous time's obsessions.

So it seems to me is that low-carb plans in general
are not very different, and each person chooses a plan on the
level of fat and carbs that they like.
For me I am very happy to be able to drop
7 kg in 5 weeks, without any hunger and eating what I like.


Cheers, and best of luck!!

On the statin issue: I'm appalled. I hope there does not
come a day where this is compulsory and the parents are
accused of neglect if they don't give them.

I've started thinking also how to make changes
on my kids' diets so they don't become
"predated upon" by the state's dietary guidelines.
I have a chubby 9 year old, that could benefit
from some of the principles of low carbing.

The problem is that they eat on the state's cantines,
but they do follow some good guidelines (french style,
lots of salads and dairy, some carbs and little meat,
sweets once a week, fruit everyday)
, unlike in America, so not much harm there.

I'm going to wean them off bad carbs at home, so I hope
to see some improvement on the chubby one.

Cheers,
F.

Hi there in Switzerland! A "neighbour" in Baden-Württemberg calling!

I have been "secretly" weaning my kids off the carbs at home and it has worked pretty well. My eldest daughter (now 11) wouldn't drink plain water as a toddler and so we resorted to the standard "Apfelschorle" (apple juice mixed with fizzy water). However, gradually I have got them both (my youngest is 7) into drinking more water and less juice. That's one area where you can instantly reduce carbs: just cut out fruit juice and, of course, all soft drinks out of their diet. I told them that fruit juice is basically just "sugar water" and not good for them. I started this "programme" in January when I restarted my own low-carb diet. Now they both seem to prefer drinking water to juice.

I guess your kids are school-age if they are eating at canteens: how old are they? It's perfectly possible to explain basic low-carb nutrition principles to kids over 7, for example, that excess carbs are converted to fat round the tummy area and to go through with them which foods are high in carbohydrates etc. My eldest daughter also eats at a school canteen three times a week and she has taken to reading the labels on the yoghurts etc they offer as desserts. She comes home and tells me how the second ingredient is fructose syrup (or whatever)!

I have also taken to leaving out the starchy part of a typical meal - i.e. the other day, I cooked a meal with meat and vegetables and just said "I didn't hvae time to make any rice, fill yourself up with cevapcici and vegetables". They didn't complain and just ate the meal.

I don't make desserts anyway, and their afternoon treat is a "Duplo" bar (about 10g of carbs). After that they are not allowed any more sweet things. At supper we eat German-style (bread, cheese, ham etc with raw veggies). I allow them to eat cheese sticks or salami without bread (which I wouldn't have done a few years ago - I would have been nagging them to eat the bread!!!) and encourage them to have them with red pepper, carrot sticks and cucumber and tomatoes.

At the moment we eat quite a lot of soft fruit with whipped cream (strawberries, raspberries) as an afternoon treat. I have simply stopped buying store-bought icecream (the Mövenpick icecream now proudly proclaims 'only 8% fat' or something like that, which means that the sugar content has gone up). They have never complained about the lack of ice-cream in the house! Some changes can be made unannounced. Slowly but surely, secretly rather than with lots of sermons, would be my advice.

Another tip:You might want to check out "Leben ohne Brot" by Wolfgang Lutz. He treated overweight kids in his clinic in Austria using a low-carb diet (he recommends - for adults - 72g carbs/day).

I also once saw on the American Amazon site a book about lowcarb dieting for kids. I just remember that the author was a "big black guy" - his photo is on the front of the book. But if you put out a general search for the book on Amazon.com, you should find it. I then order my books via Amazon.de, who get them sent from partners in the UK. "The Book Depository" in the UK stocks a lot of American books and I have had reliable and fast deliveries from them.

Oh, and, by the way, my kids are "just right" as far as their weight and physique is concerned: they are neither too skinny, nor too fat. I have a friend who admits she has "given up" on trying to get her kids to eat healthily (in her book that means getting them to eat fruit and veg). Her two boys, aged 7 and 9, eat tons of sugary food and litres of sugary drinks on a daily basis (drinking chocolate, fizzy drinks, juice), but very little fat and very little protein. They are both as skinny as anything! They are not receiving anything in their food to build up muscle and, as they are active boys, they are using up their carbs for energy all the time. The last time I visited they spent the entire afternoon "grazing" on sweet things (bread with Nutella, chocolates, Gummibärchen) because their lunch simply hadn't provided enough protein to keep them going.

She has a beautiful garden which she tends with great love and care. It is a pity that she can't find the energy and time to make sure her boys grow into strong, sturdy specimens, too. Currently, they are thinking of letting the eldest boy take Ritalin for suspected ADD. If she took him off the excessive carbs and gave him more protein and fat to eat, he could probably concentrate fine! It's a crying shame.

Anyway, hope these ideas are helpful. Sorry for going on about my friend (who I otherwise like a lot!).

amanda

Hi, amandawood,
thank you for your most precious info.
My kids are 7 and 9. And the 9-year old is slightly overweight by the
BMI charts, although he was always very large for his age since birth.
For drinks I always give them IceTea light, which has maltodextrose as
sweetener. I know it's not perfect, but lately there were days where
I ran out of it, and they had water and were just fine. Maybe I'll
start doing it a "weekends only" treat.
They were doing a diet like me of too much rice,chips and pasta for supper,
so that will end when they come back from holidays, as I'm also not
up to doing something just for them.
One thing I will start doing is having soup around. In my country soup is
essential, it's always the start of a meal,and the main way of getting
vegetables. They like spinach and leek soup, so I'm going to be more
dilligent there.
The chocolate is another problem. How can you be in Switzerland and
not have chocolate :-) . I've managed so far, doing things with cocoa
powder when I have cravings, and maybe can do something for them,
like "nutella" or chocolate ice cream. It might be fun doing it together.
Overall I've changed my patterns of buying to focus on loads of vegetables
in the fridge always, so let's see if it rubs off on my kids.
Another thing I remembered is the snacks they take to school. I usually
send an apple puree "pot", but I'm going to start sending more protein
based stuff, like minibabybel or pic sticks, which they like a lot.
Let's see if I can implement these changes when school starts, I'd really
like to see my older kid with less belly fat, and better stats when we
go to the pediatrician.
Best of luck for all of you with kids!!

Oh, and on your friend's case. I have family with overweight kids, that
drink juice all day, all the time, because it's healthy :-( .
It is very bad when you can clearly see what is wrong with others but
can't really do much about it, specially to people you love.

Take care.

Good luck with your low-carb for kids plans!

amanda

Hello!!
I've reached my goal, and am ready to go to maintenance.
I'm going to continue what I am doing, as I have no foods
that I miss, and I got used to this routine.
Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that alcohol does not
affect me, which is great.I am also keeping some diabetic
dark chocolate and having it once in a while. You can't
really eat too much of it, or else you'll spend all your time in
the loo, so I feel safe having it around :-)

And next weekend I am going to visit my family, and this will
be a MAJOR test on this WOE. I have a couple of strategies
in place for coping, but I am going to go off plan for some
meals, as I am sure a lot of goodies will be offered, and I
am looking forward to eating them :-)
Let's see if I can limit the damage and go back to plan. I feel
confident I can do it.

Oh, and Amanda, I have found a most wonderful substitute
for french fries for me and my kids: roasted green beans.
I could not believe they tasted so good!! I hope my kids
like them. I hope they can be frozen, as I intend to use them
a lot as a side dish for meat.They are great with mayo and
ketchup!

Bisous!!

Hi,
back from holiday at 139 pounds this morning. Not too bad, for I had popcorn, chips and pastries during the weekend. But I am amazed at my willpower to portion control it all. Maybe my sweet tooth is cured, but I am glad I am back into my very controlled environment away from temptation :-) , until Christmas, anyway.

I expect most of the gain to be water, so let's see in the next days how it goes down. I will continue to follow the plan, limiting carbs a little more, but not changing much otherwise.

Will update the stats next friday, as I am following a thread on lowcarbfriends, for weekly weigh-in, not to fall off the wagon easily. I am still very insecure with my will power to maintain, so let's see.


Cheers,
F.

One trick I have adopted to avoid snacking is to put a teaspoon of Coconut Oil in my morning/afternoon pots of green tea. (It would be as nice in herbal/fruit teas I imagine) By doing this I am sure I feel less hungry at mealtimes and there is a much lower temptation to graze on the ingredients while I am cooking supper.

There was a recent paper showing how eating oily fish 3 times a week or consuming 1.5g omega 3 daily (3 double strength or 6 normal fish oil capsules) achieves the same sort of effect.

There is another paper showing how eating a full creamy yoghurt an hour before lunch also reduced calorie intake at the following meal when compared to times when a LOW FAT yoghurt was issued as the morning snack.

This is very interesting. I have been having a salad with canned fish,
tuna,sardines, mackerel, for lunch on weekdays since I started the diet.
And I find it keeps me satisfied until supper, although it is a very low
amount of calories. Maybe there is something in the omega3 and olive
oil consumed.



I had the most wonderful 8% fat greek yoghurt on my last holiday, but
I can't get it here. I do get a full fat 4% yogurt that really curbs my appetite
when I have it after dinner.

This WOE really solved my snacking problem, I don't snack at all now.

Cheers,

F.

Hi, all, how are you doing?
I've lost my holiday weight and am now at an all-time low, I cannot remember being so low.
Which is good, since I am going on a road trip next week, and I intend to eat apfelstrudel, sacher-torte, and all the goodies Austria and Germany have to offer!!

I have basically not changed the way I eat, because I don't feel like it.A little fruit and maybe a little more fat than usual, I've added coconut oil through home-made mayonnaise to my diet, as also putting some sour cream in the yogurt to increase fat content. Other than that I skip breakfast to control lunch hunger, and delay lunch on weekends to 3PM. This due to lazyness, and trying out the effect of Intermittent Fasting.

I must say I lose a lot on weekends now, instead of gaining, and my total calories remain pretty much the same. Now that my kids are coming back this weekend mode might change, let's see.

So, doing fine, and still amazed at how easy it all is.

Best of luck to you all!!!

I used to drink skimmed milk in decaff tea and coffee. Is this allowed on Dr Dahlqvist's plan? I really miss having 'normal' milk in hot drinks. Any advice or recommendations? Thanks! I'm very new to all this low carb stuff, having been a low fat dieter for years!