Daniel,
That strikes me as a very sane approach and your weight loss stats make the
point more clearly than any words that it works extremely well for you!
My own belief after almost 6 years of dealing with diabetes and low carbing
(5 years on, 1 year off a low carb WOE) is that unless a person can come to
terms with non-low carb foods they are going to experience some very nasty
surprises down the line. The enthusiasm of the first year or two is
extremely tough to maintain long term, particularly after weight loss has
stopped and there is no longer the huge positive feedback of seeing the
scale move.
But everyone is different. I know one person who has never eaten a sugary
dessert in over 50 years. I know others whose only response to food is to
portion size. They are completely happy as long as there's a mound of
something on the plate and if it were Purina People Chow they'd eat it
happily every day of their lives.
I'm not like that. I do have to have a bit of this and a bit of that, and
the this and that change from month to month. For me right now there are
only two rules. Number is that I must maintain my weight loss, which I have
so far been successful at doing. I weigh this morning one pound more than
what I weighed this day one year ago. The other is that I have to maintain
my blood sugar control within normal limits.
I've learned there are foods that make it very easy to get out of control.
Oddly enough, they are not what I'd have thought they were. Yogurt with
mix-ins, for example, is a much bigger problem for me than donuts. I know
what a donut is so I eat one very rarely and I know exactly what I'm doing
to myself. Yogurt, OTOH, can carry an immense amount of coconut and nuts in
it without my noticing that I've added an additional 300 calories to my
daily regimen. Do that for breakfast for two weeks and you've gained some
real weight.
I've also learned that, for me, there's a cycle with off-plan foods. I'll
eat one little taste of something and it is so good I feel like I have to
have more. The second time I get it, it is never as good as I remember. By
the third time I'll think, why am I doing this to myself? It doesn't taste
that good? After that it is very easy to not eat the food again.
Occasionally something really bad for me is harder to resist, then it is a
matter of finding something else I really like and substituting it or
setting a limit on how much of the stuff I can have in a month.
It is an ongoing process. If you are going to succeed at weight loss you
will have to find something that works all the time because, believe me,
when you get to goal weight you are going to have to continue eating
whatever it was you were eating when you "ended" your diet, or that weight
will come right back on. It is a huge misconception to think that once you
hit goal, then you can eat all those treats you avoided before! So working
some of them into the diet food plan, though it slows the loss, might be the
key to maintaining that loss later.
-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. Below goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.7 .
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!
Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/
Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm
"Daniel Hoffmeister" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:I've read a lot of posts by people who've fallen off the LC wagon and are
beating themselves up over "cheating" and can't seem to shake off feelings
of guilt and self-loathing.
Early on, my wife and I did a little positive attitude readjustment on
this subject. Maybe others might find it helpful too.
If you're tempted by something, whether it's a single candy bar or all the
food on the table at the so not LC family Thanksgiving, ask yourself, is
this important enough to the quality of my life to be worth postponing my
weight loss for?
For some reason, asking yourself this question makes you think about the
whole issue differently. You are still in a success frame of mind -
weight loss will continue, although it may be set back or postponed - and
you are taking responsibility for choosing your actions, not just letting
things slide. It's also easier to resume afterwards.
Mind you, I'm talking about single meal or single day indulgences, not
multi-day binges that bring back cravings and other problems in full
force. I had a couple of those before I learned better, and they were
devilishly hard to recover from.
So, fast food tacos on the way home from work after you missed lunch?
Nah. Some of Aunt Peggy's sweet potato casserole and Mom's sage dressing
at Thanksgiving? You bet. Donuts because someone brought donuts at work?
Nah. Some wedding cake at your daughter's wedding? You bet.
We also decided that whenever we postponed our weight loss, it would be
for the "best bites", those first 3-4 bites that are really the tastiest
bites of any food. That has really helped us keep our occasional
indulgences moderate.
Dan
325/215/180
Atkins since 1/1/02 (yeah, it was a New Year's Resolution)
Besetting sins: good beer, German bread, and Krispy Kremes
Lose the CARBS to email me.
