Question for those who have used low carbs for more than 5 years and have maintained their weigh

[Fishtoo]

I don't want to be depressing or a non-believer in low carb diets....they obviously work fantastically well in the short term......as does nearly every other restricted eating plan, but i have read statistics which show that most of us cannot maintain the weight loss for much more than 3 years and many end up heavier than ever, and with extra fat, and reduced muscle mass.
So I am really interested to hear how those who HAVE maintained their weight loss for more than 5 years have managed to do it please?. The only time when I was naturally "thin" for years was when I was running marathons and triathlons.....
Thanks!

 

[IanD]

I've maintained LCHF for 6 1/2 years. It's a lifestyle, not a diet. My BMI has been around 25-26 since I started. Down from about 27-29.

 

[AndBreathe]

I don't want to be depressing or a non-believer in low carb diets....they obviously work fantastically well in the short term......as does nearly every other restricted eating plan, but i have read statistics which show that most of us cannot maintain the weight loss for much more than 3 years and many end up heavier than ever, and with extra fat, and reduced muscle mass.
So I am really interested to hear how those who HAVE maintained their weight loss for more than 5 years have managed to do it please?. The only time when I was naturally "thin" for years was when I was running marathons and triathlons.....
Thanks!

I believe there are quite a few people who will be eating LCHF, but don't label it that way. I'm thinking of, for example, someone I used to work with who was coeliac, and had other intolerances, which reined in her eating, and then of course the challenge of maintaining her slim (initially starved by her body's reaction to her intolerances) figure. She has eaten this way for many years, but wouldn't give it the label we do. Additionally, I think we should expect that many successful low-carbers to have settled into their eating patterns and perhaps drifted away from the forum, in under 5 years (if the forum even existed 5 years ago).

Whilst many diets have significant "failure" rates, the diet with the highest failure rate appears to me to be the diet most of the population are on; i.e. one where "they" eat a varied diet, including high proportions of carbs and junk food. When we read that the general population is getting bigger, with higher and higher percentages becoming overweight and obese, surely that's a diet that's failing for much, much more than 5 years?

Our bodies are all different, and cope with food in different ways, but we have hundreds of blood panel results posted on this site which show a diet where the individual has consumed reduced carb, with adequate fat, results in improved blood scores and fewer alarming health markers.

How and what we eat are choices, but also there's a lot of habit in there. Bad habits need to be contained, and good habits promoted. Too many days of "one won't hurt", or "but, it's a treat" will seduce us down the trickier routes which may have contributed to us being here in the first place.

I'm not sure if I'm feeling a resistance from you to embracing a carb-curbing approach, but if you want to reduce the scores on your blood panel, then diet is the way forward. Exercise will help a bit, but exercise is most effective when applied along with a modified diet.

The only way you will know if something works for you is to try it. It's that simple. You are at a significant advantage in that you express you can self-prescribe blood tests, so you have access to a level of monitoring not routinely open to many of us. This really is an instance when actions speak louder than words.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[Fishtoo]

I've maintained LCHF for 6 1/2 years. It's a lifestyle, not a diet. My BMI has been around 25-26 since I started. Down from about 27-29.

Hooray! so glad to have met you! The statistics on weight loss maintanence are so depressing...I've been a member of weight watchers for 55 years...never more than 10 kg above goal weight, but a constant struggle to reach the last few Kg.....tried various methods...all of them work for a while, then I loose motivation for some reason or another..personality fault perhaps!

 

[Fishtoo]

I believe there are quite a few people who will be eating LCHF, but don't label it that way. I'm thinking of, for example, someone I used to work with who was coeliac, and had other intolerances, which reined in her eating, and then of course the challenge of maintaining her slim (initially starved by her body's reaction to her intolerances) figure. She has eaten this way for many years, but wouldn't give it the label we do. Additionally, I think we should expect that many successful low-carbers to have settled into their eating patterns and perhaps drifted away from the forum, in under 5 years (if the forum even existed 5 years ago).

Whilst many diets have significant "failure" rates, the diet with the highest failure rate appears to me to be the diet most of the population are on; i.e. one where "they" eat a varied diet, including high proportions of carbs and junk food. When we read that the general population is getting bigger, with higher and higher percentages becoming overweight and obese, surely that's a diet that's failing for much, much more than 5 years?

Our bodies are all different, and cope with food in different ways, but we have hundreds of blood panel results posted on this site which show a diet where the individual has consumed reduced carb, with adequate fat, results in improved blood scores and fewer alarming health markers.

How and what we eat are choices, but also there's a lot of habit in there. Bad habits need to be contained, and good habits promoted. Too many days of "one won't hurt", or "but, it's a treat" will seduce us down the trickier routes which may have contributed to us being here in the first place.

I'm not sure if I'm feeling a resistance from you to embracing a carb-curbing approach, but if you want to reduce the scores on your blood panel, then diet is the way forward. Exercise will help a bit, but exercise is most effective when applied along with a modified diet.

The only way you will know if something works for you is to try it. It's that simple. You are at a significant advantage in that you express you can self-prescribe blood tests, so you have access to a level of monitoring not routinely open to many of us. This really is an instance when actions speak louder than words.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Thank you very much for that most sensible comment,

As I've said above, keeping to any restricted eating plan gives me weight loss but eventually I get distracted, loose motivation etc....had a good few years when I got addicted to exercise ran Marathons and Triathlons, and ate whatever I wanted without gainijg weight ( coeliac so am not high carbs), but found I could not do fast training when on very low carbs ( Atkins) because of the ketosis and resulting cardiac arrythmia....My best eating plan when concentrating and motivated, is a Dr Fuhrmans high veges with proteins and more or less avoiding the starches...and trying to eat slowly "in the moment" like a thin person does! ( Paul Mckenna )

More interest than concern at the moment...was worried by rise in Hb1c to 40, upper limits of normal and recent peripheral hyperaesthesia of the toes, which may not be assoc with BS anyway.....

Excellent website, fund of knowledge...just not enough time in life to fit in everything at the moment....

And yes, you are correct in diagnosing that I have some resistance, as a doctor, to diets which depend on ketosis for their rapid effects.....but have no wish to upset those who are really pleased and happy with that way of eating, and are finding it successful.....as you so rightly say we each have to find what suits us best

Thank you for sharing
Hilary

 

[AndBreathe]

Thank you very much for that most sensible comment,

As I've said above, keeping to any restricted eating plan gives me weight loss but eventually I get distracted, loose motivation etc....had a good few years when I got addicted to exercise ran Marathons and Triathlons, and ate whatever I wanted without gainijg weight ( coeliac so am not high carbs), but found I could not do fast training when on very low carbs ( Atkins) because of the ketosis and resulting cardiac arrythmia....My best eating plan when concentrating and motivated, is a Dr Fuhrmans high veges with proteins and more or less avoiding the starches...and trying to eat slowly "in the moment" like a thin person does! ( Paul Mckenna )

More interest than concern at the moment...was worried by rise in Hb1c to 40, upper limits of normal and recent peripheral hyperaesthesia of the toes, which may not be assoc with BS anyway.....

Excellent website, fund of knowledge...just not enough time in life to fit in everything at the moment....

And yes, you are correct in diagnosing that I have some resistance, as a doctor, to diets which depend on ketosis for their rapid effects.....but have no wish to upset those who are really pleased and happy with that way of eating, and are finding it successful.....as you so rightly say we each have to find what suits us best

Thank you for sharing
Hilary

Firstly, I don't believe that coeliac discease needs to render the patient low carb, per se. They will certaily have to eliminate certain carbs, but not necessarily lots of them. It is my understanding that many coeliacs, whilst they can't eat certain grains, may be able to tolerate starchy vegetables, for example. Anyone can take quite a carb hit in serial baked potatoes, or chips.

Secondly, there are more and more circumstances in which diets leading to keto-adaptation are being recommended. Examples are for the control of certain types of epilepsy and brain health in the elderly. Providing an individual is in dietary ketosis, as opposed to ketoacidosis, I'm not sure there's too much of an issue. Have you proven ketosis led directly to your arrhythmia, as you suggest?

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

Hooray! so glad to have met you! The statistics on weight loss maintanence are so depressing...I've been a member of weight watchers for 55 years...never more than 10 kg above goal weight, but a constant struggle to reach the last few Kg.....tried various methods...all of them work for a while, then I loose motivation for some reason or another..personality fault perhaps!

If you fall off the weight watchers wagon, the worst that happens is you put on weight or don't get awarded a sticker.

The stakes are a lot higher when you fall off the wagon which controls your diabetes. You will therefore find such people a lot more motivated.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I agree with @Avocado Sevenfold

If I feel tempted to eat a large baguette or a vanilla slice, it's the "What will it do to my sugar levels" very real fear that stops me, not "I will put weight on but only a pound so I'll have one". Many years ago (in the 80's) I lost a similar amount of weight by going to Weight Watchers to what I have lost on low carb. When I reached target and moved to maintenance I was allowed to eat chocolate biscuits. I am now on a maintenance eating plan on low carb, but chocolate biscuits are not on the menu and never will be.

 

[Jo123]

Looking back I joined this forum dec 2008 after being diagnosed pre diabetic, so nearly 6 years low carbing!
I was a bit disadvantaged as I had a normal Bmi so no opportunity to lose weight and resolve my problem. I have to confess at being gutted at the diagnosis as I worked hard keeping my weight down due to family history of diabetes.
I have low carbed ever since, the only problem I have is on holiday ie eating enough to maintain weight without increasing carbs.
I currently weigh 57.5 kgs and I am 5'8". It is a life style not a diet.

 

[donnellysdogs]

As others know here I am 50+, 30yrs+T1, and always been a low carber (without knowing that terminology) all my life basically. Even as a kid I would only eat sausages n a complan until my parents took my brothers on hol and left me at home with my nan.

I have always been a size 10 except for a time when I was encouraged to eat toast or bread or porridge and less exercise than I was previously doing due to ill health. My weight then went to a size 12.

I do eat extra carbs (hugely) at christmas and I do not low carb intentionally, it has been my foods since a child, so I have just carried on as an adult. I do occasionally go out with friends for meals out and I eat anything and everything when I do. A couple weekends ago I ate a £9.99 pudding meant for two to myself!! Profiteroles, icecream, cream, custard n more... So I do not intentionally look at my weight at all either when deciding what to eat when I go out.

It is very rare when we have food out or takeaways so my pump goes up to 250% basal rate when we eat more carbs because my bg levels react if I don't as my body is used to less carbs.

It was only early this year that @phoenix made me realise that I wasn't having enough fat... This introduction of fat further reduced my weight by 10lb initially and put me at a size 8. Since then I have stabilised my size back to a size small 10. I do not measure by weight normally, only by clothes size.

Lower carb, higher fat is completely sustainable....

 

[Fishtoo]

I agree with @Avocado Sevenfold

If I feel tempted to eat a large baguette or a vanilla slice, it's the "What will it do to my sugar levels" very real fear that stops me, not "I will put weight on but only a pound so I'll have one". Many years ago (in the 80's) I lost a similar amount of weight by going to Weight Watchers to what I have lost on low carb. When I reached target and moved to maintenance I was allowed to eat chocolate biscuits. I am now on a maintenance eating plan on low carb, but chocolate biscuits are not on the menu and never will be.

Love your Blue tit photo...great little birds that we don't see in NZ much.....I too dare not have in the house anything i like too much as can go onto a binge suddenly without much warning...have been known in the past to wolf down a whole packet of dry rice cakes....so for me, controlling what i put into my mouth is really a mattter of managing emotions Hah!

 

[Fishtoo]

Looking back I joined this forum dec 2008 after being diagnosed pre diabetic, so nearly 6 years low carbing!
I was a bit disadvantaged as I had a normal Bmi so no opportunity to lose weight and resolve my problem. I have to confess at being gutted at the diagnosis as I worked hard keeping my weight down due to family history of diabetes.
I have low carbed ever since, the only problem I have is on holiday ie eating enough to maintain weight without increasing carbs.
I currently weigh 57.5 kgs and I am 5'8". It is a life style not a diet.

Well done Jo I really admire those who have managed to keep their BMI within normal limits with effort, and I envy those who have never needed to make an effort and are "naturally" thin anyway....it must be somewhat difficult for the latter to understand those of us who fail to maintain a normal BMI

 

[Fishtoo]

If you fall off the weight watchers wagon, the worst that happens is you put on weight or don't get awarded a sticker.

The stakes are a lot higher when you fall off the wagon which controls your diabetes. You will therefore find such people a lot more motivated.

Wow, how very true! I am always amused at my own fixation with the scales, weigh and graph when being 'good' and stop when I have "given up the struggle" Motivation probably entails different things for diffeent people...we are told to hold a carrot for our children, not weild a stick, so probably we should be motivated more by a low BS than fear of a high one perhaps? But we are all different...shall have to do a survey on this site as to how much our personality alters our ability to maintain control of our Diabetes...ie will have to start a new thread, but perhaps this has already been done..must investigate.
The other major difference i want to explore is our reactions of hunger to emotional stress...in my experience the naturally thin loose their appetites when stressed, the rest of us immediately want to eat whether we are hungry or not!
Cheers, Hilary

 

[AndBreathe]

Wow, how very true! I am always amused at my own fixation with the scales, weigh and graph when being 'good' and stop when I have "given up the struggle" Motivation probably entails different things for diffeent people...we are told to hold a carrot for our children, not weild a stick, so probably we should be motivated more by a low BS than fear of a high one perhaps? But we are all different...shall have to do a survey on this site as to how much our personality alters our ability to maintain control of our Diabetes...ie will have to start a new thread, but perhaps this has already been done..must investigate.
The other major difference i want to explore is our reactions of hunger to emotional stress...in my experience the naturally thin loose their appetites when stressed, the rest of us immediately want to eat whether we are hungry or not!
Cheers, Hilary

Does it really matter what "everybody" does? To me, it doesn't. It matters to me what I do, and that I do it to the best of my ability. I may care what others do, and be interested in their approach, but if they feel or react differently to me, it's unlikely change my life. We each have to find our own way of dealing with this thing.

Again, it almost reads, to me, like you're looking for ways this is all too difficult for you, rather than seeking out decent feedback which moves you forward.

Of course, I could be very wrong.

 

[Fishtoo]

Firstly, I don't believe that coeliac discease needs to render the patient low carb, per se. They will certaily have to eliminate certain carbs, but not necessarily lots of them. It is my understanding that many coeliacs, whilst they can't eat certain grains, may be able to tolerate starchy vegetables, for example. Anyone can take quite a carb hit in serial baked potatoes, or chips.

Secondly, there are more and more circumstances in which diets leading to keto-adaptation are being recommended. Examples are for the control of certain types of epilepsy and brain health in the elderly. Providing an individual is in dietary ketosis, as opposed to ketoacidosis, I'm not sure there's too much of an issue. Have you proven ketosis led directly to your arrhythmia, as you suggest?

The only time being a coeliac reduces the chance to eat is in situations when there is no gluten free food available and then we probably feel deprived as everybody else stuffs themselves with nibbles or suchlike, and overeat afterwards as a result...on many occasions I have had to just eat the inside of a sandwich, or bun, or wrap or pizza......which is certainly usually an immediate reduction in carbs!

Have no wish to upset those who are happy and doing well on low carbs., or on any other eating plan...on this site, there will always be disagreement and the need to defend what we believe individually....I am only talking about my own experience and feelings as an individual....and no I certainly have no scientific proof that low carbs were the reason for the arrythmia but they certainly stopped when I resumed my previous eating plan., and I did not put it to the test again

Apart from large scale scientifically statistical studies and double blind trials, I believe we each are an experiment of one...all individuals......

 

[Andy12345]

If you fall off the weight watchers wagon, the worst that happens is you put on weight or don't get awarded a sticker.

The stakes are a lot higher when you fall off the wagon which controls your diabetes. You will therefore find such people a lot more motivated.

huh

 

[beardie]

Hooray! so glad to have met you! The statistics on weight loss maintanence are so depressing...I've been a member of weight watchers for 55 years...never more than 10 kg above goal weight, but a constant struggle to reach the last few Kg.....tried various methods...all of them work for a while, then I loose motivation for some reason or another..personality fault perhaps!

That sounds like it should tell you something.

 

[Fishtoo]

That sounds like it should tell you something.

sure does...weak willed, scatty and undisciplined...that's me lol

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

sure does...weak willed, scatty and undisciplined...that's me lol

No, it tells you that it doesn't work!

 

[Fishtoo]

No, it tells you that it doesn't work!

Agreed! Another reason why I am here.....I gather that the best and only certain way to loose and maintain weight loss....for the majority, is by surgical banding or suchlike...and that the long term success rate on ALL diets and eating plans is low if analysed statistically...a life style change is apparently easier to maintain over the years than only changing what one puts in ones mouth...thousands of different books on diets say a lot too!