I had a doctor once tell me that she never knew a patient to successfully lose weight while eating bread and pasta. The one time I seriously lost weight, I didn't eat any flour or sugar. At all. I did it for a little over a year (no slips, total perfection), and lost about 60 pounds. The only reason I was able to stay "perfect" at how I ate was because I KNEW that a little slip would avalanche for me. And it did. I'm heavier now than ever. It is really hard.
The thing I want to remind myself is that when I really had the flour and sugar completely out of my system, I didn't crave it. I think it's literally physically addictive, like nicotine.
I don't feel like I have it in me to do that again though. Not not, at least.
It is an addiction. A carb addiction. One ex-boyfriend who was trying to lose weight followed my advice on cutting his carbs and literally had withdrawal symptoms. He was sweating, agitated, having massive cravings. But then, after soldiering through for about 2-3 days, all the carbs passed through his system and he was fine. Like you
Ellem, he no longer craved them.
I love bread and pasta, and I also love sweet starchy vegetables - potatoes, corn, beans, carrots, peas. I finally realized what was happening to me with all the carb overload. In college, I used to come home at noon, eat red beans and rice on white bread and for some reason, I never knew why, I grew incredibly sleepy after an hour or so and literally
had to take a nap. I just couldn't stay awake. It was extremely dangerous when I was commuting to school or driving 300 miles home during the holidays - I was falling asleep behind the wheel and
nothing would keep me awake.
I was starting to have chronic bowel problems which everyone just assumed was irritable bowel syndrome which meant every single thing I put in my mouth triggered a loose bowel episode that
had to be addressed then and there or else an accident would happen. It was affecting my personal life. I couldn't go to outdoor events or social events that included meals unless there was a bathroom nearby that didn't have a waiting line.
I finally heard about the low carb diet and I tried it, and instantly, all those problems went away. I could eat a nice meal of a meat and green vegetables and not feel a bit sleepy, not fatigued, my bowels acting perfectly normal. I lost weight and felt better.
I also likely have wheat allergies (celiac disease), so despite my love for starches, I have to abstain almost completely. I've cut almost all sugar from my diet as well.
And it works. I lost 45 lbs on the diet and I fall off the wagon from time to time, but I never gained back all the weight, that's probably because I never go
completely off. My body just can't tolerate the foods I love that make me gain weight and I like not having bowel problems.
You'd think I'd be the thinnest person around...
but no, I suffer so I
can eat bad food that I love - I'm HISPANIC for the gods' sake! We are raised on starchy foods from the cradle! - and my body instantly hangs onto any flab I develop so I have to work out as well, which I don't like.
I'm like the perfect candidate for the low carb diet. Seeing my success, friends have tried to emulate me, but of course, diets affect everyone differently. One friend
developed bowel problems on the diet, another got chronic headaches - which I personally think was caused by her sugar addiction withdrawal - but anyway, she couldn't hack the diet. Another friend - the first bride I ever knew who
gained a ton of weight before her wedding - took one look at the food restrictions of the diet and refused to even try it, unwilling to give up milk, potatoes, etc.
