BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Low Carb Why People Quit Low Carb

My boyfriend and I began eating low carb several years ago. Before that, my boyfriend's aunt worked for Atkins and I *vehemently* fought against her suggestions that we try low carb. My boyfriend was about 300 pounds, at 5'10" and he was definitely overweight. But I was convinced that low carb was about eating fatty steaks and tons of eggs and that it would kill my boyfriend. I was almost hostile in my responses to her, that she would suggest such a "radical diet".

Of course, eventually I began looking into it and realized it was NOT about eating tons of steak and fat It is about eating lots of fresh vegetables, high fiber foods, and cutting out sugar. At the time we weren't eating "junk food" - but he was drinking a lot of sugary soda. We would eat pizza, macaroni and cheese, french fries with our burgers. If we ate veggies it would be corn (super sweet) or peas (super sweet). We rarely ate salads.

So when we DID cut over to low carb, we instantly changed all his sodas to diet sodas. We did a sweep and gave away all our pasta and bread. We stopped buying ice cream. In maybe 4 months my boyfriend went from 300 down to 220 - and he felt SO much better. Imagine carrying 80 pounds around with you every day!! He could play baseball, basketball, all the things he loved. We could go out for the evening, he fit in chairs, the list goes on.

On to part two ...

OK now we're in current times. We still have only diet soda in the house. We don't have french fries or mac-and-cheese around. We don't eat corn or peas regularly - instead we have lots of broccoli and cauliflower and such. We regularly have a salad mix in the fridge, ready to go. We don't stock cookies.

But my boyfriend is back up at 280. What happened?

This is something they talk about a lot on the Biggest Loser. People usually get heavy because they use food as a comfort. Something is bugging them, they eat comfort food, they feel better. But if they never fix the underlying problem, them the "need for comfort" is still there the next day, and they soothe it with food the next day too. And it creeps up.

We don't have "bad food" in the house - but if he's out and about, he'll stop at McDonalds and get something with large fries. He'll stop at the pizza place and get a small pizza and eat the whole thing on the way home. Now the pizza place has a FULL set of subs and sandwiches and salads right there on the menu. He chooses not to order them. McDonalds has salads and snack wraps and such which I order regularly. Again, he chooses not to order them.

It is pretty amazing (and indicative) that he was 220 only a short while ago and is now 280. How quickly can a person gain 60 pounds? How long would it take to take it off again?

He's not "inactive". I know people here have talked about "well I'm active - I go for walks". That isn't enough to offset a typical diet. He plays in a band, he plays darts, we go for walks. That is just not enough activity to offset even a reasonably healthy diet. He's not eating pizza every night. He's drinking only diet drinks. But he needs to eat healthy ALL the time - or exercise more - to even maintain an even weight.

He loves baseball - but this year he couldn't rejoin the team because he had gained too much weight. He couldn't run the bases any more. So this is having a real impact on his daily desires.

So in one sense he's still "mostly low carb". So many bad habits from before are now gone. But on the other hand, he's back up to 280. So there are enough bad habits left that it's causing problems. We simply shouldn't eat french fries. Pizza should be a once a month treat - with a FEW slices - not a weekly treat of an entire pizza.

And probably more importantly, I imagine if he found a job he liked, and we got out biking again, he wouldn't have these cravings for french fries and pizza and such, which is the core issue.

Emotions have so much to do with what we eat. I know that when I am stressed I immediately want something to help offset the feeling. Unfortunately my food od choice is anything that is heavily salted and I can't keep chips or things like that in the house.

I agree about the pizza. Treating yourself has to be a part of every diet plan.

You're right about doing something you like for a living. Right there tension is eliminated.

Can he do without the diet soda? I used to love Pepsi and drank several cans a day then I moved over to Sprite and then it was Diet Sprite and for about five years no soda whatsoever.

Well the few times I go out and if I want something tasty to drink I will get rootbeer, sprite or a pepsi.

Two years ago I went to sizzler for lunch after shopping across the street at Toys R Us alone and had a nice steak lunch with pepsi and a refill.


Then last September I took my son to Shakeys and had a sprite and last month we went back and I had a rootbeer and a refill.

I have read many things about diet soda and that is does contain asperatame. I forget how to spell it since no foods I consume have it.

Has he tried any appetite suppressants? I highly recommend Hydroxycut. They sell it at walgreens for $31.99 but it does go on sale for 19.99 and I stock up then.

I kept a food log when I started and then went on prednisone and the pharmacist said not to take both so I stopped and my food log showed the increase in appetite and the gain in weight.

I was not hungry at all and would not eat my kids fries if we did the drive thru from BK. I did not snack at night watching tv, no more pretzels or popcorn. I did buy the 100 calorie popcorn for when I was off the hydroxycut.

You start the first three days taking one pill 1/2 hour before meals and the then move on to two pills 3 times a day and not to take the last one within five hours of bedtime.

Kristen - right exactly. Pizza once a month is a fine treat. But as a entire pizza as a regular "soother" it gets to be a regular habit which is then hard to break. He feels down and thinks "I want a whole pizza" - so when he goes into the pizza shop he doesn't even look at the other healthy choices. They're right there - but he goes right for the pizza.

So it's the underlying emotional thing that is the cause ...

Bonnie - that is a very good point. The first phase was going from sugary soda to diet soda. That was a huge change. Now we are in fact going on a change from diet soda to no soda. I actively have gotten into teas - and as I drink more tea, he does too. So he is drinking way more tea as a result. I encourage that by trying new teas and talking about the tea forum posts, which then encourages him to drink teas too.

We have never taken any appetite suppressants. If you're eating low sugar, then you don't tend to get hungry - because a lot of hunger has to do with blood sugar levels spiking and dropping. It's really amazing - if I eat something with sugar in it then I get hungry again soon. If I eat low sugar, high fiber, then I stay full for a long while and don't get hungry again. So that really makes a big difference. Also drinking ample water keeps you feeling full.

So I really don't think that he's "starving". We speak up when we start to get hungry, to stay aware of it, and that's not usually it. It's really eating because the food "feels yummy" - i.e. an emotional / comfort thing.

I agree with the emotional eating being the biggest problem against low carb. Because when you look at the list of "comfort foods" - they are all carbs:
mac and cheese
ice cream
potato chips
cookies
donuts
etc, etc

I am a big emotional eater, and even knowing this it is hard to fight against. Eating a cheese stick or pack of peanuts just doesn't have the same soothing effect. So I really have to be aware and fight that urge.

Michelle - you are SO right. We don't even keep mac & cheese or potato chips or cookies in the house any more, because when we bring them in to the house they get eaten IMMEDIATELY (by both of us). It is really hard to resist them. It's best to just not keep them in the house.

The trick is when he's out of the house without me. If I'm with him he'll be more aware (or maybe feel more guilty) about eating an entire pizza. If I'm not there, anything goes.

So really the key is to not have the urge for comfort food. If you're feeling content and energetic and happy, you don't go for comfort food. So it's one of those "go for the root of the problem" things.

Of course, I can't get him a new job So I didn't say it was easy. However, I have managed to get us both brand new road bikes, and am actively preparing us to go biking regularly!

Right, I can't have raw cookie dough in the house. Not at all. I WILL eat it.

I should look up a way to make a healthy, high fiber cookie dough. hmmm.

Oh Jill! Wait let me find it for you

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