How does this work?

[newcarbgir]

I've been spending some time thinking about this woe and about what I want from it. I feel committed to doing this long term - permanently, in fact - but I'm not sure I'm going to lose weight on it unless I rein myself in to a certain extent. I would really like some feedback on this. It seems to me that there are two ways (at least) of thinking about this woe. One line of thinking is that my insulin is under control, therefore my body will eventually dig into its fat stores :thup: no matter how much I eat. Another line of thinking, though, is that the woe allows me to get my appetite and my cravings under control ... which means that I eat less, take in less calories and therefore lose weight over time. I know that we're not supposed to think about calories :devil: :devil: on this woe, but if the way it actually works is by eating less over time, then I might as well help it along ... NOT by counting calories, but by watching things like fat intake and making relatively healthy choices where I can. Is anyone still following this, or have I gone off on some impossible ramble? I'd really like to know what you all think :wiggle: Is this just all my old dreadful dieting beliefs raising their ugly heads, or does this make some kind of sense?

Perhaps the everlasting PMS is just eating my brain up :confused:

[Zuleikaa]

Visit BeccaRN
She's taking a healthier route and reached below goal. She's also sensitive to sugar so her treats are generally with AS. Some other members have combined a lower fat version. It's what works for you. Some have to be more strict to lose and make lower glycemic choices. That's the beauty of CAD!! It can be tailored to fit anyone!!

[Divina99]

Hey Newcarbgirl we think alike! :lol:

In these 2 lasts posts you have asked the exact questions that have also pondered in my mind. :idea: Your better at asking though. :P

Zuleikaa always comes through. :rose: Thanx

Going to check BeccaResRN's journal...I find that I too am sensitive to sugar..have to keep my RM treats LC and SF.

[newcarbgir]

Thanks, Divina. Though I hope you're better at putting things in to practice than I am. I asked the question ... and then promptly had a huge carb binge during my RM. Life would be so much easier without hormones :lol:

[muweek]

Stephanie, I also have a lot of ideas going thru my head because this plan is totally opposite of what we have been told to do to lose weight. It gets confusing but as long as it works, Thats all we need to know for now. I am still trying to get my rm to be good and satisfying so that your mind knows that you CAN have these foods everyday so it doesnt end up being a carb binge. Learning everyday.....

[BeccaResRN]

hello you know when I first decided to try CAD i was totally unsure exactly how it worked...and in the beginning I had lots of unbalenced carb heavy RM's and I still have them on ocassion....the marvelous thing is that on CAD nothing is forbidden at your RM...so if you must have it you can.

I have discovered that I am waay sensitive to refined sugar...real ice cream a real sugar desserts make me bingey...so unless it is a once in alifetime opportunity or a birthday celebration I avoid real suagr I have fruit with no problem and SF candies...both at RM of course
although I get in a rut eating too much SF choclates at RM thus consuming too many calories I'm sure so i take a break from them.

Although I do not count calories per say I do know that my body is like giant calculator and to say that calories do not figure in there somehow...well my body knows differently. If I stuff myself at RM with high calorie/high fat foods for a few days in a row that stinking calculator inside shows a gain. If i eat a more reasonable amount of food with good balence between high carb items and protein and low carb vegies my body maintains or loses

I feel good and thats the most important thing...CAD was and is a learning process...I feel more in tune with my body now than ever before.

Honestly i think that if you are a carb addict that CAD is an awesome plan that can be tailored to whatever personal health or nutritional goals you have.

feel free to stop by my journal anytime...although I am definetly not perfect or an expert I can tell you my exeriences :)

[Divina99]

Thank you Rebecca. Your journal is awesome..very inspiring! :thup:

Oh, and you look fabulous in your pictures..beautiful family too! :)

[newcarbgir]

Although I do not count calories per say I do know that my body is like giant calculator and to say that calories do not figure in there somehow...well my body knows differently. If I stuff myself at RM with high calorie/high fat foods for a few days in a row that stinking calculator inside shows a gain. If i eat a more reasonable amount of food with good balence between high carb items and protein and low carb vegies my body maintains or loses


Rebecca, thank you so much for your clear-sightedness :yay: I've been feeling kind of guilty all week, because I've kept thinking that I'm not going to lose weight on this woe with the amount of calories I've been putting away :lol: and every time I've thought that, I've told myself off :nono: for falling back into the old calorie trap. I think this woe is going to work brilliantly for me, but in my case I have to think of it as a way of managing my appetite and allowing myself to have the nice treats I want in moderation, and then I have to bolt a diet onto that ... not calorie counting, but trying to make choices that do bring me out at ... I would guess ... around 1500 cals a day. When I was on Sugar Busters and it was working for me (before the carb cravings got out of control), that was about what I was having, and I was losing steadily on it. Yes, I am sneaking calorie counting in by a back door! - but I'm going to faithfully do it the CALP way and see where it gets me. And the awesome thing about this woe is that when I've lost the weight I want to lose, I know I'll be able to eat myself silly if I want to, as long as I stick to the plan, and I'll never put the weight on again :roll: :roll: :roll:

[newcarbgir]

Half an hour later ... and I'm feeling very confused now. I've just been catching up with muweek's journal, where there is lots of interesting discussion going on about how this woe works. All the experienced CADettes there are saying that this woe will heal our bodies over time, and we'll find ourselves eating less and getting on track without having to impose control. Now I really don't know what I think ... is it ok for me to sort of start keeping an eye on calories, or is this bad old control-freak me talking, and I should just chill out and wait for the woe to work its magic on me? :help: :help: :help:

[BeccaResRN]

well Stephanie in my opinion calorie counting per say is not part of this wol....But keeping in the back of your mind that everything is a balence is not bad...you should not skip meals to lose weight faster or to keep down your calories that is against CAD. If you are not hungry though it is ok not to eat.

In reference to calories lets see basically I try to balence for example my favorite homemade enchilladas which I pile on sour cream and they are already higher fat higher calorie items...I try to take this is consideration when choosing the rest of my RM...like have fruit for dessert insted of ice cream and eating a larger portion of low carb vegy so I am not as hungry for more high calorie goodies.........I never count up the calories I eat...i don't use Fitday anymore....

The only other thing I do Is that if I have really been eating heavy larger calorie high reward meals and I notice that over afew days my weight is creeping up ...now this doesn't count for me until its been about 3 days slowly going up...1 day up means absolutely nothing. Then I will choose "lighter choices for a day or 2...chicken, steak and vegies for CM's and for RM try lighter chioces like no cassarole or cheese and sour cream smothered foods or recipes that are "atkins" like deep dish pizza quiche

Does it make any sense??? and remember this is just what I have found that works for me...

I do think that as CAD becomes a WOL it gets easier and less like a big mini binge RM...I guess that as it went along I realized I don't have to have it all tonight because another RM is coming tomorrow....

[IthinkIcan]

I get this line of questioning. I've thought about it all, but then I get a brain cramp and decide to not think anymore :lol:
Seriously tho, I think back to the one thing that turned me off about CAD. That appetite reducing salad before eating my rm. I KNEW I'd never make it, if I forced that on myself. So, my balance comes like this. I know this is freaky, but like it was said, you can do this customized so to speak. In my head, I make sure I balance the rm 3 days a week or so. I don't do that salad thing. I do a bite for bite for bite method. I've noticed that I do eat less than when I started and that balance, when I do try to do it, isn't a struggle.
But I'm so green still yet, but so far, that's how its worked for me.
You know...strange thing last night to mention. I had a 3rd cm! About 3 hours after dinner, I was hungry. I don't mean munchy. I was hungry. So I warmed up a leftover cheeseburger patty and ate it. Done the job. But I bring it up, because I don't limit myself to one cm a day, it is just what satisfies my body. So for whatever reason, I needed more yesterday. I thought it was kinda neat to know the difference between that..and the other night when I had the huge crave attack from msg. Those were two different feelings. I used to mistake cravings for hunger.
Anyway...now im rambling. :)

[muweek]

Stephanie, as you saw in my journal, you see that I ran into a big bump in the road. When I started the plan, I followed by the book and didnt count anything. Everything was going so great that I thought I was doing something wrong. Then as usual, I started diseccting to see how it could work and started cutting back, counting cal and carb. Carb 20-30 and cal 1400-1500 per day. What a mistake!!! Felt frustrated and hungry and really disappointed. Anyway, went back to the way the plan is designed and feel very good (only 2 days now) but its a start. Its so hard to let go of what was ingrained in us and just believe that there is a more humane way to lose weight than low-fat. Isn't that great???? Like my husband says, If its working for you and you like it, dont question how and why, just do it. What good advice!! :)

[newcarbgir]

Thanks, guys, you are great, I am seeing the light :idea: :idea: I am NOT going to go back to calorie counting :nono: Naughty Stephanie!

However, I think I know at least part of the reason why I'm not losing - it's occurring to me that I got a high-fat habit while I was on Atkins, and I've carried it across. Lots of yummy full-fat dairy products and tons of chicken wings.In the old days, I used to allow myself as much good fat as I wanted - olive oil, for instance - but I didn't eat too much saturated fat before Atkins. I'll try and go back to that, and most of all I'll try and trust this woe rather than tinkering with it just so that I can feel I'm in control :rolleyes:

So much to learn ... but such great teachers :roll:

[Divina99]

Hi Newcarbgirl,

Same thing happened to me when I switch from Atkins to CAD.

CAD almost seems magical to me now. I use to wonder how CADers could skip meals and not be hungry. Now it's happened to me as well. So, I think it's important to go with the flow.

To a point I do believe calories do count, but, not enough for it to take control of my life. I don't worry about checking every label for calories. I believe that this WOE is already helping by keeping me satisfied at every meal thus cutting out the snacking and cravings in between and keeping the cals down all on its own.

We don't want to have to count calories or anything else for that matter. That would totally destroy the freedom CAD allows us...this is a WOE for life...we want to be able to enjoy it. I want to be able sit down beside a thin person and eat like them (at least for RM) and eat freely..no guilty feelings or worries about overduing the cals etc. Most people who don't understand CAD/CALP would probably be envious to see how good we eat and still lose weight. I love eating with my in-laws...here I'am eating everything and anything at dinner (my RM) ..after being on Atkins. They must think I threw my diet out the door and I'm going to gain triple my weight. :lol: They are probably counting the seconds my belly will pop from all the foods I'm enjoying...while they are picking at tiny bits of food because they are scared to eat and gain weight. Now that is not living...I never want to go back to that.

The other thing that helps me is to at least follow my CM's as close as possible..eating veggies and lean meats. When it comes to my RM I know that I can treat myself if I want since I've been eating good all day. I can even stuff myself at RM and still lose weight. Just as long as I do good at my CM's.

Well, those are just my little tips if it helps any ;)

[Tess M]

Very well said, everyone. Stephanie--I'm pretty much like Becca.. I try to watch the overall fat for the day. If I have a larger than usual cm, I TRY to rein it in a little at rm. If I have a day like a couple of days ago--no time to eat all day--I just eat what I want (all balanced as well as possible, of course) at rm. I can pretty much know whether I'll lose the next day, by what I've had to eat the day before. I spent so many years eating low fat--I just really prefer it now. Skinless chicken (white meat)--that type thing. Most of the Atkins recipes have just too much fat for me to lose weight on. I even had to limit certain CAD recipes (that I got from the cookbook), because they are just too cheesy, etc. for me to have very often. But--I'm also like IThinkICan, in that I WILL eat if I am hungry. It doesn't matter how much I've had that day. I'd rather have a warmed over cheeseburger, so that I can stop thinking about it--than get up in the night and eat ice cream straight out of the freezer. That's what I meant when I suggested eating enough to keep you from being hungry. Or cravey... I think we all figure it out in our own way, after a while. I know in my heart that I could lose faster than I'm losing--but I still am just a little afraid of myself. I could limit myself much more than I've been doing, but will I get so hungry that I lose control? For ME, it's just better to keep myself full enough to be safe (from myself).. :p I may not get there as quickly, but I WILL get there... Don't know if this will help at all--I sense that I've gone off on another "ramble"... :)

[lowco]

HI GUYS,
my thoughts are: It is important to know the amount of carbs in foods thats why the hellers have a carb counter in and along with their book. for instance, when i eat foods like fruit, starchy vegs ie. corn, pumpkin etc, lc veggies,legumes, and protein i tend not to overeat because these foods have fibre, are not processed and low glycemic. i do not count these carbs because my body tend to eat just enougth of these. i never over eat these foods. But when cake, ice cream, and cookies are concerned, somedays i control them very well other days i feel like haveing bigger portions, and there are days i have none.