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!

Self-Sabotage Is Your Greatest Diet Enemy

In the past week, I have received two similar e-mails from people who have decided to start the low-carb lifestyle in earnest, but...

Don't you just love how we take that little word "but" to justify how we feel. That's exactly what both of my readers did when they went on a low-carb diet. They were all gung ho and excited about what this lifestyle change can do for them until their short-term expectations regarding weight loss didn't match the reality.

Here's the first e-mail:

Hi Jimmy,

I am 25 and after my 2nd and final child I am trying to get my body back into shape and gain some energy. My mom lost over 100 pounds on the Atkins diet and I thought what better way.

Atkins to me is a no-brainer you don't have to think a lot since you don't weigh your foods or count calories. It's very appealing for my lifestyle. Well, I started out at 219 and started Induction gung-ho and yesterday was 2 weeks. My husband is doing this with me so we keep each other motivated.

We both weighed and he had of course lost 14 pounds. However, when I went to weigh I was sure I had lost as much if not more than my husband because I had stuck to it a lot more then he had. But when I stepped on the scale, imagine my disappointment when I only weighed 216.

Aaaaack! What did I do wrong?!

I did do the shakes for breakfast because I'm not a breakfast person but I drank all my water and even pre-cooked meat for lunches. I didn't overeat!

This so disgusted me that I got off the scale and walked to kitchen to eat what was left of my son's chocolate ice cream and I had my favorite chip and dip with triscuits. UGH!

Where do I go from here? Is it okay to start again tomorrow and go back through Induction and try to just stick to meat, lettuce and 3 oz of cheese daily? I start the gym tomorrow I am just so upset with myself that I have done something wrong.

We were eating a lot of zuchinni before and I'm going to cut that out as well as tomatoes. I'll stick with eating just lettuce for my veggies and maybe some celery. So can I start Induction again and lose like I would if I was starting for the first time?

I'm not a quiter and I hate setbacks. I ate that junk out of frustration but I have made peace with my lower than expected weight loss and would like to proceed to try again to get better results. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. At least I didn't gain, but I told myself I just know I should have lost more!

Whew, did that strike a nerve anyone? How many of us have engaged in this kind of self-sabotage because we put the bar so high that we quite literally set ourselves up for failure? That's why I created The "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge to give people a modest goal of a pound a week for 30 weeks. You don't feel pressured to lose 10 pounds a week and are encouraged to just do the plan.

Click here to read the second e-mail I received as well as my response to this idea of giving up on your low-carb lifestyle when your expectations don't match your reality regarding weight loss. I'm gonna step on some toes here, but this message is too important to be missed.

What To Do When You 'Blow It' On Low-Carb

One of the best lessons I have learned since I started livin' la vida low-carb is that nothing you can eat will spell the end of your ability to lose weight ever again. If that were true, then my planned splurges would have spelled the end of my weight loss a LONG time ago. Thankfully, I know better and am 190 pounds lighter as a result! :)

But one desperate new reader was so upset by what I'm simply gonna call "the Pop-Tart and waffle incident" (shhhh, nobody has to know about it--hee hee!) that she wanted to know if she "blew it" after cheating on her low-carb diet.

Here's what she wrote:

Dear Jimmy,

I stumbled upon your web site and it is so encouraging to me! I began my low-carb journey one month ago. I learned that I could eat fruits and veggies and not just cream and butter and eggs all the time (although I like those too).

I am an "older" mother of 2 toddlers and a 12-year old and really thought that my metabolism was such that I could never lose weight. But I have lost 13 pounds so far. Yeah!

I am writing you today for some advice. You see, I feel like I blew my low-carb diet because I ate a Pop-Tart and a waffle! We live out in the country and I had no eggs or sausage and I was starving! Have I blown it for good?

I am very upset at myself. I would appreciate any advice at any time. I know that you are a busy person and a family man. Thanks for your web site and for helping out a fellow low-carber.

Have you ever thought these same kind of things whenever you have "messed up" while livin' la vida low-carb? I'm sure many of you can relate to this which is why I am printing this e-mail and my response to it at my blog today.

Here's what I wrote back to her:

THANK YOU so much for writing to me today and CONGRATULATIONS on making livin' la vida low-carb your preferred method for losing weight and getting healthy for good. YOU CAN DO THIS! :D

Regarding "the Pop-Tart and waffle incident" you had, I'm here to tell you it's all over for you. There's no hope for weight loss in your future so you might as well give up right now...JUST KIDDING! Seriously, messing up on your low-carb plan is natural, but try not to do it if you can by planning ahead of time.

Prepare yourself plenty of low-carb options and get rid of (if you can!) tempting foods like Pop-Tarts and waffles (although there are low-carb options available) so you won't grab for them in a pinch like you did. Keep at least some almonds or macadamia nuts on hand at ALL times as well as other low-carb snacks for when the hunger bug bites. Leaving yourself without options only sets you up for disaster.

So you had some sugar today, huh? That's okay and it's not the end of the world. Just get right back on plan and even go back to Induction-level carbs for a couple of weeks to kickstart ketosis again. Remember, this is a lifestyle change and not a get-thin-quick scheme. When you put in that perspective, then no matter what you do you've never totally "messed up."

Browse around my blog or read my book for more hints and tips on sticking with low-carb even when the going gets tough. You hang in there, my friend. One of these days you will think back fondly to that day you had a Pop-Tart and a waffle and realized you're not just on a diet, but a lasting and permanent health solution plan for your life.

Now get out there and GO FOR IT! :) THANKS so much for writing!

We really are our own worst enemy when it comes to this weight loss game we play with ourselves. People think strict adherence to the diet is the most important issue to bringing about permanent weight loss success and even one little mistake like eating Pop-Tarts and waffles is going to cause some kind of irreparable harm. The thinking goes, well I messed up one meal, I might as well mess up again!

Come on, people! One meal like this is not going to send you spiraling out of control unless you allow it! You still have the ability to come back from it stronger than ever. It's all a matter of keeping your head screwed on straight and never forget this is a LIFESTYLE CHANGE and not just a diet. My reader was right when she said her "diet" was destroyed--now it's time for her to begin living and eating the way she was meant to--the low-carb way, of course!

Be encouraged today, my friends, because you already know livin' la vida low-carb is a healthy way to eat. Even if you encounter a few bumps along the road, you ARE being successful and you WILL make it just like I did. Be smart, make good choices, and NEVER EVER EVER give up on this healthy way of life. Just look at the alternative--remaining obese and unhealthy--and it sorta puts it all in perspective for you.