I’ve been doing Paleo since August and it’s been working out pretty well for me - nothing dogmatic (just usually avoiding bread and pasta) and I have considerably more energy, especially in the mid-afternoon when I used to have food coma. I also can go longer without food than I could have before - in fact I’ve been experimenting with intermittent fasting, partly for convenience’s sake which would have been impossible for me before.
Well, I guess yesterday was my first proper “low-carb” day. I guess it’s probably too short a time to necessarily tell, but I’ve noticed the following:
- Less hungry on fewer calories, and when I am hungry, it’s not like an “OMG must eat 10 mins ago” type feeling, but a much more modest hunger that I can sit with
- This is a big one: Less tired feeling. I started a thread several months ago about my perpetual tiredness, and that’s been the case for a while. It’s gotten a little better but not much. Anyways, this morning is the first in a while that I’m not wanting desperately to nap by noon.
- I feel a bit more . . . even, emotionally. Less hyper/exhausted.
Anyways, maybe it’s all placebo effect. I’ll let you know again in a week if this has maintained.
I’m low-carbing right now. Not really doing Atkins because I’m not following the book and I don’t plan to reintroduce carbs. My story is pretty much the same as everybody else. Tried it, lost weight, did well, then got overwhelmed/lazy/broke. I will probably introduce more carbs to the diet this summer when the farmers market starts again and I want to buy delicious tomatoes and raspberries and the like. But for right now, I’m perfectly happy with my eggs, bacon, spinach, ground beef, cheese, almonds, and Greek yogurt. I’m also thrilled because there’s almond milk at the store now. I hate soy milk and there was never a zero carb alternative to regular dairy, but the unsweetened almond milk isn’t bad at all.
I’ve lost about 25 pounds in the past 5 weeks. I allow myself one “cheat” per week. Sometimes even two. Maybe a slice of pizza on Friday night and a tortilla or some fries or something on Saturday, but it hasn’t disrupted my weight loss. If I do eat something carby, I just focus on portion control.
Wow, 25 lbs in 5 wks is absolutely amazing, pepperlandgirl! Do you mind if I ask how much weight you need to lose?
I’m just asking to figure out if I can expect to lose that much so quickly. I need to lose about 50 lbs to be at my target weight.
My friend just came off the first phase of PSMF, as prescribed by the Cleveland Clinic. I think he lost something like 150 lbs in a year (I believe he started at just over 400#). He’s on the second phase now but hasn’t said much about it. I think it’s less fun for him when he’s not losing 5# a week.
I’ve waxed and waned about going on it myself - with the help of a doctor - but I still can’t get in to the idea of meat. Especially chicken. So I’m just hitting the gym with regularity for now and losing slooooowly.
nonacetone and anyone else looking to do low-carb cooking, I urge you to check out Dana Carpender’s cookbooks. Heaps and heaps of great recipes in there, with great ideas like what Rushgeekgirl and PeskiPiski mentioned.
Pepperlandgirl have you ever heard of Hood’s low carb milk? It was a great treat for me at the later stages of my Atkins journey. Tastes great!
I need to lose at least 100 pounds. My loss has stalled this week. Tomorrow’s my official weigh-in day, and I don’t think the scale will have moved much at all, but I’m still losing inches, especially around the waist. Insulin resistance tends to cause belly fat and that’s where I’ve been losing it. The difference in my appearance was noticeable within a week.
I’m also walking every day and weight lifting a few times a week. I’ve been doing that for a month. At first I could barely go around the block without feeling like I’d certainly die, but now I can do 2 miles without hurting.
ETA: I have not tried the low carb milk but I’m definitely happy for the link!
I have pretty severe IBS, which can limit my food options. I eat a very reduced carb diet because I feel awful–bloated and hungry–when I eat much in the way of carbohydrates. I eat lean meat, lots of broccoli/cauliflower/carrots/kale/salad, and dairy. I tend to avoid most grains.
Eating this way, I feel better, my IBS is usually under control, and I’m not hungry.
White rice, because it is nearly pure starch without the harmful (IMO) compounds found in other grains. Desserts, because I started missing them, I feel fine eating sugar as long as I don’t overindulge, and extra carbs (I was eating under 50g of carbs for a while there, it comes with some benefits but also some drawbacks for me) are necessary for me to gain bodyfat anyway.
I think animal (mostly saturated - coconut oil is included in this of course) fats are much healthier than vegetable fats. I go to some lengths to avoid omega-6 fatty acids.
I’d like to add that I don’t experience decreased appetite on this diet - to the contrary, sometimes in a big way. That’s only right as my body really needs to build extra mass. Eating this way seems to encourage everyone’s body to crave what it really needs. When my body was messed up I used to crave Skittles or Doritos, then have no appetite for real food…
What a timely thread for me! I started eating low-carb 5 days ago after reading Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes. A big thank you to whoever recommended it in another thread. I’ve been pretty serious since the beginning of the year about trying to drop 25-30 pounds but was really struggling with the low calorie diet. I felt hungry all the time, and even with a good amount of exercise, the pounds just weren’t coming off.
So, I decided to give low-carb eating a try. I’ve been doing Atkins and I have to say, what a revelation it has been in terms of its effect on my appetite. I’ve been eating around the same number of calories as I was on the low calorie diet and haven’t been hungry.** I didn’t feel very well the first few days, I suspect due to the so-called Atkins “induction flu”, but I’m perking up and doing much better now that I’ve been replacing electrolytes. I’m still looking forward to the burst of energy many people report after a few weeks on the plan.
It’s restrictive right now, but I’m hopeful that if I follow Atkins properly, I will be able to establish the number of carbs I can eat and maintain a healthy weight. Then I’ll have a leeway to eat a greater variety of food and an occasional treat.
**I’m not limiting calories per se, just tracking my carbs. At this point in the game, the low number of carbs allowed plus the appetite reduction pretty much self-limit the calories.
What made you reach this conclusion?
Oh, yeah, and definitely less hunger too. Friday is usually a “splurge” day for me so I ate until I was full and super-indulged, marginally out of curiosity. I was shocked to discover it was less than 1500 cals.
Do y’all primal people restrict dairy?
That’s one of the funny things about eating this way. Sometimes I’ll hear people on plain ol’ low-calorie diets moan that they are only allowed to eat 1400 calories a day, say. And I’m thinking, jeez, I sometimes have to force myself to eat up to 1400 calories a day, because all this meat really sates you quickly.
I’m thinking of relaxing the no-starches rule next week, though, just to give my body a change. In the past, I’ve found that actually eating significantly more carbs (100 to 150g/day) for a period will result in a temporary water-weight gain, but when I go back to restricting carbs, not only will I lose the water but actual fat pounds will drop very quickly once again too.
(BTW, I didn’t mean “moan” in a whiny way, more of a descriptive way. 
I’ve been on low-cal diets myself and they are truly difficult.)
Here’s a handy Venn diagram about Primal/Paleo (“caveman” regimens). I confess I’m still learning the difference and the subtleties myself even while diving into the Primal diet from longtime regular low-carbing, just because it made so much sense. rhubarbarin can tell you more.
http://huntgatherlove.com/content/paleo-vs-primal-vs-atkins
From perusing the Primal website for many months and reading some of the book, it seems dairy is somewhat of an option for that variety of the philosophy. Many people feel dropping dairy improves allergies, speeds weight loss, or whatnot. It’s difficult. I’d like to drop the last 10 lbs and eliminate most of my migraines, but I don’t think dropping the cheese and such has helped, although I feel a bit “clearer” when I stay off it a while.
I used to eat tons of dairy but now I’ve cut it back to heavy cream and butter. Seems cheese, yogurt, etc were contributing to the zits I was still getting until I finally gave them up (mostly) last month. Dairy products seem to be a common trigger for many people prone to acne. I want totally clear skin for the first time in 10 years, I think no Greek yogurt is worth it.
Gestalt, it’s a long story how I came to believe saturated animal fats are one of the healthiest food sources for humans… Dr. Kurt Harris has an amazing blog and I heartily agree with most of his conclusions about nutrition and health (but not about libertarianism), so I’ll point you in that direction because he’s more intelligent and a better writer than I.
Must know more.
I haven’t tried this coconut flour bread yet, but coconut flour is very low in net carbs.
It’s delicious too! I made a very dense pumpkin pound cake with coconut flour.
This is the recipe but I made it with half almond and half coconut flour and added a little extra liquid sucralose: PUMPKIN POUND CAKE - Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes
I also used it half and half with parmesan cheese to bread chicken.
Keep in mind it’s not bread. It’s two squares that hold your meat and cheese.
SPINACH "BREAD" - Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes You have to use the canned parmesan or it won’t work. Learned that the hard way.