Diet-Hopping Will Drive You Completely Nuts!
Going on a diet has become a national pastime for many people because it's what everybody's doing. When you're overweight or obese, you're willing to do literally anything to lose the pounds. We've become a nation full of desperate souls who will stop at nothing to get what we think we want out of all these diets.
Unfortunately, what we end up getting for the most part is anger, bitterness, and disappointment that we are miserable failures and that weight loss is just too pie-in-the-sky for us to ever hold in our hands. The pipe dream of having permanent and lasting weight loss is futile and it's just not worth the effort anymore.
Have you been diet-hopping and now feel like you're ready to throw in the towel for good on this whole concept of losing weight and getting healthy? Join the club! That's exactly how one of my readers felt and expressed in his e-mail to me recently sharing his disgust about where his life stands after trying and failing too many times to count.
Here's what he wrote in that e-mail:
Hi Jimmy,
I've been fat for most of my life. I am now 55. I have a binge eating disorder and have had it since I was about 7. It's not that I can't lose weight--it comes off fast no matter what diet I am on. Of course, I can't stick to any one way of eating so I don't lose weight in the long run.
I feel that my body (and mind) is shutting down. I know that I have medical problems but I am scared of doctors which is bad. I switch back and forth between low-carb, vegan, low-fat and most of the rest. You just really don't know what to believe in anymore.
I am about 200 pounds overweight right now--maybe more--and I'm very depressed and under a psychiatrist's care. But it does not help. What do you think? I am close to cashing in my chips! Thanks for any advice you might have for me.
Just when I think I can't hear anything more shocking from a real person who is hurting in their quest for weight loss, along comes an e-mail like this one. What pain and agony this poor guy is going through and I wouldn't wish that hopeless and helpless feeling on my worst enemy. It's a sad state to be in.
Talk about sharing from your heart, though. Man, I can certainly relate to his utter disgust with the mixed messages about what's healthy that comes from the so-called experts. It's enough to drive anyone bonkers who wants to get serious about his health, but doesn't know where to start. I'm so glad this reader wrote to me.
All I know from my experiences livin' la vida low-carb is that I found a way that I could eat that would make me thin and healthy for the rest of my life. I chose my plan, read the book about what I needed to do, trusted the information I learned about that way of eating, and then implemented that into my life not just during the weight loss but ever since as well. I'm STILL livin' la vida low-carb.
What can this reader of mine and anyone else who feels the same way do? Since you can lose weight on ANY diet that you've tried, I encourage you to pick one that you want to do forever and then never stop doing it. This isn't a game and it really has nothing to do with dieting and simple weight loss. At this point in your life, it's about living out your days to the fullest with the best potential to be who God made you to be.
YOU CAN DO IT! I'm very proud of you for realizing you are in need of doing something about your weight and health in very short order. It's NOT impossible, so don't ever give up! Now get out there and GO FOR IT!
After I responded to this reader, he wrote me back one more time:
Thanks for the fast reply Jimmy. I am reading your blog right now and I will not stop until I absorb it all. One thing that concerns me about low carb is of course the issue of heart disease and clogged arteries.
As most fat people are experts on diets and calories/fats/carbs and their impact on health (although they cannot act on that information in many cases), I have done a lot of research on these diets also. Even though I know that there are many opinions on all aspects of those various ways of eating, how do I break the concept that the fat in my diet will not hurt me more then it may have already?
Now you're talking my language! Bringing an end to your fat phobia is the single-biggest challenge. The following are some posts I have written at my blog with facts for you about fat to help you understand why eating fat while on a low-carb diet is EXTREMELY healthy:
High-Fat Diet Is Only Unhealthy In Tandem With A High-Carb One
AHA's Boorish 'Bad Fats Brothers' Brainwashing
Eating Fat Improves Mental Health, Study Finds
Butter, Coconut Oil On 'Healthiest Foods' List
When Is Eating Fat Not Fattening?
Butter Anyone? Defending Fat With Facts
Volek: Low-Fat Diet Useless To Health Apart From Weight Loss
The Senile Subjectivity Of A Healthy Diet
AHA Does An About Face On Fat Intake
Eat More Fat And Less Carbs For Heart Health, Study Recommends
That oughta keep you reading for a while, but there's plenty more if you need more convincing. The bottom line: Keep your carbs low and saturated fat is NOT unhealthy for you. Trans fats should be avoided like the plague, but not saturated fat. Hope this helps and THANKS for writing! Let me know how you are doing from time to time. I believe in you, so go make it happen!
Want to share your low-carb comment or question with me? Write to livinlowcarbman@charter.net anytime. I'm happy to help any way that I can!
Unfortunately, what we end up getting for the most part is anger, bitterness, and disappointment that we are miserable failures and that weight loss is just too pie-in-the-sky for us to ever hold in our hands. The pipe dream of having permanent and lasting weight loss is futile and it's just not worth the effort anymore.
Have you been diet-hopping and now feel like you're ready to throw in the towel for good on this whole concept of losing weight and getting healthy? Join the club! That's exactly how one of my readers felt and expressed in his e-mail to me recently sharing his disgust about where his life stands after trying and failing too many times to count.
Here's what he wrote in that e-mail:
Hi Jimmy,
I've been fat for most of my life. I am now 55. I have a binge eating disorder and have had it since I was about 7. It's not that I can't lose weight--it comes off fast no matter what diet I am on. Of course, I can't stick to any one way of eating so I don't lose weight in the long run.
I feel that my body (and mind) is shutting down. I know that I have medical problems but I am scared of doctors which is bad. I switch back and forth between low-carb, vegan, low-fat and most of the rest. You just really don't know what to believe in anymore.
I am about 200 pounds overweight right now--maybe more--and I'm very depressed and under a psychiatrist's care. But it does not help. What do you think? I am close to cashing in my chips! Thanks for any advice you might have for me.
Just when I think I can't hear anything more shocking from a real person who is hurting in their quest for weight loss, along comes an e-mail like this one. What pain and agony this poor guy is going through and I wouldn't wish that hopeless and helpless feeling on my worst enemy. It's a sad state to be in.
Talk about sharing from your heart, though. Man, I can certainly relate to his utter disgust with the mixed messages about what's healthy that comes from the so-called experts. It's enough to drive anyone bonkers who wants to get serious about his health, but doesn't know where to start. I'm so glad this reader wrote to me.
All I know from my experiences livin' la vida low-carb is that I found a way that I could eat that would make me thin and healthy for the rest of my life. I chose my plan, read the book about what I needed to do, trusted the information I learned about that way of eating, and then implemented that into my life not just during the weight loss but ever since as well. I'm STILL livin' la vida low-carb.
What can this reader of mine and anyone else who feels the same way do? Since you can lose weight on ANY diet that you've tried, I encourage you to pick one that you want to do forever and then never stop doing it. This isn't a game and it really has nothing to do with dieting and simple weight loss. At this point in your life, it's about living out your days to the fullest with the best potential to be who God made you to be.
YOU CAN DO IT! I'm very proud of you for realizing you are in need of doing something about your weight and health in very short order. It's NOT impossible, so don't ever give up! Now get out there and GO FOR IT!
After I responded to this reader, he wrote me back one more time:
Thanks for the fast reply Jimmy. I am reading your blog right now and I will not stop until I absorb it all. One thing that concerns me about low carb is of course the issue of heart disease and clogged arteries.
As most fat people are experts on diets and calories/fats/carbs and their impact on health (although they cannot act on that information in many cases), I have done a lot of research on these diets also. Even though I know that there are many opinions on all aspects of those various ways of eating, how do I break the concept that the fat in my diet will not hurt me more then it may have already?
Now you're talking my language! Bringing an end to your fat phobia is the single-biggest challenge. The following are some posts I have written at my blog with facts for you about fat to help you understand why eating fat while on a low-carb diet is EXTREMELY healthy:
High-Fat Diet Is Only Unhealthy In Tandem With A High-Carb One
AHA's Boorish 'Bad Fats Brothers' Brainwashing
Eating Fat Improves Mental Health, Study Finds
Butter, Coconut Oil On 'Healthiest Foods' List
When Is Eating Fat Not Fattening?
Butter Anyone? Defending Fat With Facts
Volek: Low-Fat Diet Useless To Health Apart From Weight Loss
The Senile Subjectivity Of A Healthy Diet
AHA Does An About Face On Fat Intake
Eat More Fat And Less Carbs For Heart Health, Study Recommends
That oughta keep you reading for a while, but there's plenty more if you need more convincing. The bottom line: Keep your carbs low and saturated fat is NOT unhealthy for you. Trans fats should be avoided like the plague, but not saturated fat. Hope this helps and THANKS for writing! Let me know how you are doing from time to time. I believe in you, so go make it happen!
Want to share your low-carb comment or question with me? Write to livinlowcarbman@charter.net anytime. I'm happy to help any way that I can!
Labels: diet, encouragement, failure, fat, health, low-carb, phobia, weight loss
posted by Jimmy Moore at
5/20/2007 10:31:00 PM
4 Comments:
I had what I thought was a compulsive eating disorder for years and I was 200# plus overweight for many many years. My health was failing me at age 61 when after years of searching I discovered by searching on the internet that I was addicted to sugar in the form of fruit and vegetables and grains and leguimes and dairy. All (hybrid carbohydrates). That was a little over one year ago. It took me several tries to get all the way off from all these sugars and on to eating only meat and low glycemic vegetables full time. I have lost about 40# in the last six months and I feel better and better as this weight loss and sugar free life progresses. I no longer have a compulsive eating disorder and I no longer binge. I no longer have hypoglycemia either. I will eat this way for the rest of my life and I will gradually lose the remaining 140# plus over the next couple of years. I am never hungry and I enjoy my meals a lot. Water, air, sunshine, food and rest and family and friends is all I have in me. I consume no stimulants or drugs of any kind. Water, food and sunshine and the air that I breath. That's all that's in me.(like every other creature on this planet earth). It's a new lease in life. I wish this for everybody. I wouldn't trade it for anything, not just the weight loss but the being stimulant free, that's the key. Sugar is a stimulant. My mother addicted me just like every other mother out there. We didn't know any better. We used to dump batteries in the ocean and build factories on river banks so we could dispose of the waste. We would burn the rest. We oiled our dirt roads with used motor oil to keep the dust down and we used DDT and arsenic to kill bugs. We didn't know any better. Now we do and so do you.
I have only just discovered your blog and it's the best I have seen on lo carb's anywhere.
My site tries to give a balanced view of al the different diets as we all know that people will diet hop no matter what.
I personal feel Atkins is a good diet short term but many people suffer with the maintenance sideof things
http://wwwdreamboynow.com
THANKS for your comments, Graham, and I appreciate your efforts to stop the diet-hopping in your own way.
But you couldn't be more wrong about the Atkins low-carb diet being only for the "short term" because I've been eating this way for 3 1/2 years and counting.
I know MANY people who have been eating this way for over a decade and are doing just fine with their maintenance.
You've been sucked into the propaganda and I encourage you to stick around a while here and learn a few things about what livin' la vida low-carb is REALLY all about.
THANK YOU again for your comments!
Your reader said:
I have a binge eating disorder and have had it since I was about 7.
While I can appreciate that some people have sensitivites to carbs and sugars that cause binge eating behavior, for myself, this is something I've had to continue to deal with, even on low carb.
One thing I've found is that if I stick purely to low carb foods when I feel "binge-y", it does a lot less damage than if I ate carby foods, at least as far as weight is concerned. The more purely low carb, the better - No bars or other low carb "products", just fat and protein based homemade goodies.
There are a few things about eating excess amounts of fat during a low carb binge:
In the absence of excess carbs (starches and sugars), the fat won't be very well absorbed by your body.
The fat content will fill you up much faster than all the carbs in the world, so a truly low carb (mostly fat) binge will be self-limiting.
Maybe someday I'll reach the same point as The Bunnell Farm, and be able to say that my binge eating is behind me.
But since we don't know 100% for certain that it always works out like that, I would tell your reader to try a very low carb way of life, and in so doing, make sure that the only "treats" he has readily available to binge on are truly low carb, and preferably high in fat.
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