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I hope this doesn't sound as if I am dissing the low carb diet choice, because I really, really don't mean it
that way. I know that some people are pretty protective of their dietary choices, and low carbing
has been the focus point of enough controversy that those who practice it might justifiably feel a bit
defensive about their choice. But still, there is a reason that there is controversy in the first place. I have heard plenty of low carbers, especially when it was gaining in popularity a few years ago,who made it sound as if going low carb were some sort of magical process that could cause weight loss regardless of how many calories they took in. They truly believed that if they could lose weight by eating buttered steak for breakfast, a couple of pounds of salami for lunch, and large chunks of cheese and bacon eaten as potato chips for dinner and lose weight, as long as they eliminated those dread carbs. Most have by now backed off from those statements, buy I would wager there are still a few who believe that way. And if they don't lose weight doing this (and they don't), then it is because they cheated along the way and took in some carbs, not because low carb isn't in itself a magic process that circumvents the whole calories in vrs calories burned thing. The thing about losing weight is, it really is just about calories in < calories burned = weight loss. Really. Nothing more. This doesn't change if you elimate carbs or fat or white refined foods or animal food sources or soda pop or fast foods from your diet. Really. It doesn't change if you don't eat carbs and protein or fat in the same meal. Really. It doesn't change if you follow the Med diet, Low GI diet, or the Cabbage Soup diet. Really. Some of the above might help you to get to the critical calories in < calories burned place, some more effectively than others, but they are a tool for doing so, a vehicle for driving the process, not the process itself. Another thing about losing weight that if you want to keep it off once it is gone, you have to continue to eat in a manner similar to that which caused you to lose the weight in the first place, for as long as you want the weight to be gone. I think it's safe to say that for the vast majority of people, this breaks down to "forever". If you go back to eating the way you did before you got thin, you will get fat again. If you want lasting results, you're going to have to live with whatever dietary changes you make for a long, long time. Going low carb can be a valid, helpful choice for losing weight. For some people carbs are trigger foods. A cup of cooked pasta isn't enough, if they sit down to a plate of it, they will eat four or five times the amount they should. One potato leads to six. And don't even get started on what some people can and do do to chocolate products (guilty!). For these people, dieting just is easier if they avoid the trigger foods altogether, and stick to a low carb diet in order to cut calories. Others simply find they they don't feel as hungry eating reduced calories if those calories come from low carb sources. Dieting is just simply easier for them if they go low carb. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you might do well to take a long, hard look at the choices you are making to do so. Do you really want to be low carb for the rest of your life? Why are you thinking of going low carb right now? It is truly a logical choice given your eating patterns? I think these are questions that everyone should as themselves about whatever diet changes they are considering making.
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