As I approach the first anniversary of starting this WOE, perhaps my 'story' will help illustrate how low carbing can become a WOE and WOL - way of life.
I started the year weighing 11 stone 5.5lbs. As I'm only 5 foot 2 inches, and quite petite, this was pretty hefty, and I was already beginning to see some of the size 14 clothes I had had to buy beginning to strain at the seams. My last weigh-in of the Little Black Dress Bootcamp saw me reach 9 stone 3.75lbs. It has taken me just short of a year to lose 2 stones.
That sounds like a long time, but during that year I have:
- continued to drink alcohol at the weekend; mainly wine, sometimes rum and soda and occasionally gin and slimline tonic (try to avoid the latter because there is some suggestion that artificial sweeteners are implicated in weight gain)
- continued to drink alcohol during the week if I go out. This has probably been once a fortnight, on average
- had various weekends away where low carbing has not been possible (including a weekend in Rome and another in Lille with DH), or dinners at friends where everything served has been high in carbs
- had a two week family holiday where I ate whatever I wanted
I also signed up to a personal trainer, and I see him for some fairly brutal gym-based exercise twice a week. I also try and go at least once a week on my own if I can manage it. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
What I have learnt is that in the long term you will lose the weight, if you return to low carbing for most of the time. This WOE isn't as forgiving as a low calorie or low fat diet, and you have to plan ahead and be prepared. But the odd slip-up isn't going to sabotage you too much. But. You do have to be disciplined, and get back on the wagon as soon as you can. Carbs are horribly addictive, and once they creep back in, you can find yourself consuming more and more, sometimes without really realising just how many!
Things that have really helped me, especially in the beginning:
- weighing my veg to work out how many carbs I'm actually eating. Although Bootcamp rules are based on not counting carbs, it can be a really good idea to start with to do this, just so you have a better fix on carb counts. We probably all know how many calories are in things, but have little real idea how many carbs are in things.
- I keep my own spreadsheet of my weight, and I weigh daily. I use the spreadsheet like a graph - filling in the cell that I have reached with a colour, so I have a visual record of my loss/gains. That helps enormously. Weighing daily isn't for everyone, because you also have to recognise that even if you have been really good, sometimes your weight will go up, for no apparent reason. However, for me, it keeps me focused. And if you look at the spreadsheet as a whole, you do begin to see the overall, downward trend. When you're so much 'in the zone', sometimes you can start to obsess about your weight over the last couple of weeks and if it's not going well, which sometimes it won't, you can forget the bigger picture - i.e. that you are losing weight - just, perhaps, more slowly than you want to!
- I have a shirt that I really wanted to wear, but was way too tight. Every now and then I would try it on again, to see how it fitted. The way your clothes fit (or don't!), is a much more accurate way of assessing your achievement than the number on the scales. (Bear in mind that if you are exercising, muscle weighs more than fat, so your weight could go up despite the fact that your body will be leaner and more toned)
- I kept a food diary, on a daily basis, of everything that I had eaten, and what I had drunk. It really helps to keep you focused if you're writing it all down, and also helps you to identify - if all isn't going to plan - what might be contributing to that. I learnt, for example, that cream is not my friend, and can impede weight loss for me
- accept the fact that weight loss is totally unpredictable! I went for ages losing very slowly - then suddenly lost 3lbs. Nothing to do with what I was doing. It can be frustrating, especially if you're hoping to lose a certain amount each week.
- make small targets - they are much more achievable, and it's more satisfying. So don't start by thinking "I've got to lose 2 stones". Start by focusing on the first half stone.
- read about low carbing. Either books (many have already been referenced on this thread) or blogs or websites. You will get a lot of criticism from other people about low carbing - usually from people who haven't read anything about it, but just regurgitate what the media have been telling them - particularly on the basis of the amount of fat you will be eating, how this is a fad diet, didn't Dr Atkins die of a heart attack in the end?*, etc. You need to understand what you are doing and why.
(*No, he slipped on the ice)
But above all, the thing that keeps me doing this is the fact that I can eat enjoyable food. I know that my diet is much better now, and I eat plenty of veg and salad. It's 'cleaner', in that by jettisoning all that low fat/low cal stuff, I'm consuming far fewer artificial ingredients. And the reading I have done about low carb has really persuaded me that, as well as weight loss, this is a far, far better way to eat for long term health. Low carbing is implicated in a number of serious conditions I really want to avoid, especially as other members of my family either suffer from them (diabetes, Alzheimers) or have died from them (cancer).
I not only want to be slim as I grow old (I'm 53 now), but I want to be healthy and enjoy my old age.