I’ve lost significant weight by low-carbing (and other means) many times (as much as 80 pounds at a time). Same old story. You stop whatever you’re doing, and you gain the weight back (plus more).
Is this time going to be different for me? Honestly (and realistically), I don’t know. I hope so. Some factors that are different this time:
*Now I’m diabetic, and I’ve started having complications (neuropathy, kidney impairment). On previous diets, it was mostly for the aesthetics of weight loss, with only a nebulous goal of “improved health.” Now it’s real. I’m terrified of having to have things amputated, and I know that it really could happen to me.
Low-carbing has normalized my blood sugar, and my kidney function is almost back to normal. It will take years to see if the neuropathy reverses, but at least it’s not progressing. I know that slipping off low-carb will put my health back on a rapid downward spiral, so it’s easy for me to view carby foods as poisonous. As I walk through the grocery store and see the colorful packaging of manufactured foods (which are placed with ever-increasing aggression; they display junk foods in the produce department now!), it feels like walking down the detergent aisle. Pretty boxes, but these items are not edible.
*In addition to the laboratory-proven health improvements, I just feel so good, like 20 (or more!) years younger. I had gotten where I was taking NSAIDs around the clock to keep everything greased up. My shoulder was so bad, I could hardly use that arm. Now nothing hurts! I still can’t believe it, and I keep expecting some joint or another to start acting up, but so far they haven’t. This, by itself, is a very prominent motivation. I didn’t realize how bad I felt until I no longer did. I almost never take painkillers anymore, only for an occasional headache (which I got more frequently before).
I remember experiencing a “feeling good” phenomenon when I low-carbed about 15 years ago, but I never achieved it last time (about four or five years ago). I think the difference was that last time I took frequent “cheat days,” and the previous time I was more hard core. Now that I understand what’s going on, and now that I’m older (thus having more aches and pains averted), just looking at “detergent” packages makes me kind of wince.
*My husband is on board, and he has developed his own compelling health issues (also resolved or resolving), so he’s motivated to stay on plan, too.
*We don’t have cheat days. I know that some people find breaks helpful for sustainability over the long term, but it messed us up last time we tried low-carbing together. For me, it’s hard to reconcile in my mind that something is okay to eat one day, but not the next. This time, I have absolutely no cravings for things I shouldn’t eat, and I know that permanently relegating carby foods in my mind to the “detergent aisle” has made this possible.
*We practice intermittent fasting, something that we didn’t do on previous attempts, and it’s a game changer. We are mostly OMAD (one meal a day) with a lot of flexibility and individualization, and there are definitely “feast” days, but neither of us ever has dinner. This is incredibly liberating, and it is probably what was responsible for the rapid reversal of my diabetes. Low-carbing alone probably would have done it, but not as quickly, and maybe not to this degree.
*I’m on my seventh month and going strong. The longest I had low-carbed previously was about six months, and even then, there were cheat days (both planned and unplanned, probably), and thus constant temptations. It just doesn’t feel like a struggle this time.
So, all things considered, I’m optimistic that this time is really going to be permanent.
