[GeishaGirl]

I'm again determined to give low carb a wholehearted shot, and I want to start my planning. I'm pretty sick right now, so I figure I'll give myself 5 days to a week before I implement any changes, but I wanted honest opinions and pros and cons.

I eat a LOT of carbs, not gonna lie. Sugars aren't bad -- not great, but not bad -- but my weight is horrible and I never feel well. I figure this is just as valid an experiment as anything else I tend to eat the standard 200-300g of carbs a day, with a decent amount of bread, and (*blush*) candy. I know I'm a carb/sugar addict, and I want these things to be sincere treats, and not ways of life.

So what are the pros and cons of cutting back slowly vs cold turkey? Neither worked in my past attempts, so I'm wondering if I just did it all wrong. What has worked in the past?

[xMenace]

I found and still find that compromising leads to higyher carb intakes than planned. Go cold turkey for a couple of weeks. 50g a day!

Easing in may be safer though. There are changes in insulin use patterns - for me less spiking but higher numbers later in the cycle, and an overall increase in "liver dumping". Where change happens danger lurks.

[fgummett]

Bearing in mind I am talking from a Type 2 (on insulin pump) and obese perspective, and assuming that you are comfortable making your own insulin adjustments...

I'd add my vote for a cold turkey start: I found it easier than having to count carbs, and when making choices of what to eat or not, I just skipped anything that listed > 1g carbs per serving... anything that did not meet this criteria was thrown away and removed from my grocery shopping list -- no temptation that way and on the plus side it meant I could eat fairly freely of everything that was on my list... so I did not feel hungry or deprived.

After the initial "induction" phase -- which I believe is important to reset the body into fat burning mode -- I then started adding back green leafy veg and some berries... but only real whole foods... nothing processed or packaged.

There is Protein and Gluconeogenesis to consider but I find (as a Type 2) that this has a stabilizing effect with very few BG peaks or troughs as a result.

--

Maybe do some basal testing first to be sure you have your basal(s) set correctly... in theory this may not change much, if at all, on low-carb... what is most likely to change first is your meal-time bolus.

[foxl]

I'd vote for cold turkey ... the cravings recede faster!

[jer.lawrence]

I guess I lean the same way. I don't know how many a day I ate before, but when I was Dx, I tried to cut back to 30g a day (right off).

.. I didn't make that, I don't think, and settled on closer to 50g a day.. I now try to shoot for less than 75g a day. I don't plan to go any higher than this for a good while because I feel like I am still (slowly) losing weight at this level.

It seemed like I craved them for a couple of weeks this way, but got over it pretty quickly.

AAActually, I'm trying to lose a good amount of weight in the next 2 weeks, so I'm thinking about cutting back to much lower for the next couple of weeks as well.

[plattb1]

Cold turkey will be the only way to be truly successful if you're a true carb junkie ... then, after you achieve good control, you may be able to slowly add some complex carbs back in.

YMMV - just my opinion.

[dbaratta]

So what are the pros and cons of cutting back slowly vs cold turkey? Neither worked in my past attempts, so I'm wondering if I just did it all wrong. What has worked in the past?[/quote]

Cold turkey will make you feel weak. You need carbs for energy and brain power. Personally I eat 45g a day on most days, on a heavy carb day I will eat 65g. I have an extremely low tolerance for carbs....that is just me though. Eat complex carbs you get from fruits and veggies, cut out the simple carbs to start, bread, packaged foods, ect.. That is what I would do.

[DeusXM]

As a T1 who doesn't low-carb, take this for what it's worth...


...I'd just start cutting back, if I were you.

Simply going cold turkey will play havoc with your basals and pretty much undo all the certainties you have about how your BG management works. It may also make your liver panic and start spilling out glucose and you could end up yo-yoing before you find a safe level.

Furthermore, if you're eating a lot of carbs at the moment, going CT will leave you feeling like "Uh, so now what am I supposed to eat?" You'll end up just eating lots of meat, get bored very quickly and be right back where you started.

However, if you cut back steadily, you should avoid these problems, find a diet you're more likely to stick to in the long run (thus getting any health benefits) and you'll also probably find you'll still be able to eat your particular favourite carbs without suffering any bad effects.

[Josselyn]

My recommendations is to select which works better for you - Atkins or South Beach (READ the book while you're sick) - and follow their induction program (2 weeks). SB is less strict, but the results in your BG and weight will be more dramatic with a modified Atkins (add more leafy veggies to avoid constipation those first two weeks).

I find that on the 8th day, I feel stronger...I can pump up the stairs. Must be the protein.

After those two weeks - and you really have to follow it closely - you will notice your cravings for carbs have diminished, your hunger is reduced, your weight is dropping, and your BG will thank you within the first few days! You've turned your body from a carb burning machine into a fat burning machine, and you'll lose fat.

One gradually adds a certain amount of carb back into the diet, but not the white stuff...not even Dreamfields for a while. You can do some of that on maintenance.

I lost almost 100 pounds on Atkins...and was never hungry. I wasn't always satisfied (I do like my carbs), but I was not hungry. I do wish I'd stayed on it...I'd be thinner, and perhaps, not a T2 at this point in time.
Who knows?

I'm about ready for another round of induction to accelerate my weight loss; care to join me? We can comiserate the first two weeks.

Anyway, FEEL BETTER SOON!

[Handybear]

I went cold turkey the day I was diagnosed as Type 2. Doc put me on Actos and Metformin.
I found the 6-12-12 low carb program and started that day.

Three years later I am 77 lbs lighter, and off both of the meds.

[soso]

If it were me I would prolly go cold turkey..but another good approach is cut out all the bread first and do not replace those carbs.. after a week cut out the candy and by then you will have less carbs to drop. Another thing I did was cook up a load of LC treats and have them in the freezer so I could feel indulgent at a few mins notice.
good luck

[SteveFromIowa]

Another T2 perspective here. IMHO, everything in moderation. I am not lo-carb, but reduced carb. And not every day is the same. Some days for me certainly qualify as lo-carb with less than 40 carbs total intake. I've had several days that I eliminated all bolus injections. Some days I may be in the 150 carb range. Most days probably average 90 - 110 carbs. This offers a little variety without going to the extreme. Keeping the average to a reduced level has produced (for me, YMMV) a slow but steady weight loss, plus a drastically reduced A1c and triglyceride count.

Set a goal for an average carb count per day. Set a maximum amount for "cheating" days (say 150 carbs), then eat by your meter to make those goals a reality.

Good luck and be sure to share what works for you.

[GeishaGirl]

Thanks for the opinions, guys I'm not sure I'm ready to do solid Atkins (sorry Joss ) yet mostly because any kind of drastic change NEVER works for me unless I'm 100% into it... and I'm not Hubby and I go grocery shopping tomorrow, so here's what I'm thinking:

- NO bread, pasta, stupid candy, etc
- Actually get some fresh fruit and bagged salad, along with some deli meats, chick peas, and cheese -- I make a killer chef's salad.
- Get a few frozen meals with under 30g of carbs for emergency days (usually when I oversleep and can't make a salad!)
- Order more egg protien -- I also make killer protien smoothies with less than 5g of carbs per
- Get my ingredients for my Famous Black Forest Cheesecake Muffins to have something sweet -- oh, and get some SF Jello.

I may decide to have rice at some point -- it's the only starch-heavy food that I can eat without a major BG spike.

That's about all I got :P I'm a little stuck otherwise.

[soso]

sounds like a good plan to me.. I find if I have good foods ready to go (bagged salads etc) I eat them..if not I start looking for easy things and they are rarely as good for me....

[ShottleBop]

Originally Posted by GeishaGirl

I'm again determined to give low carb a wholehearted shot, and I want to start my planning. I'm pretty sick right now, so I figure I'll give myself 5 days to a week before I implement any changes, but I wanted honest opinions and pros and cons.

I eat a LOT of carbs, not gonna lie. Sugars aren't bad -- not great, but not bad -- but my weight is horrible and I never feel well. I figure this is just as valid an experiment as anything else I tend to eat the standard 200-300g of carbs a day, with a decent amount of bread, and (*blush*) candy. I know I'm a carb/sugar addict, and I want these things to be sincere treats, and not ways of life.

So what are the pros and cons of cutting back slowly vs cold turkey? Neither worked in my past attempts, so I'm wondering if I just did it all wrong. What has worked in the past?

I just listened to an interview between Livin' La Vida Low Carb's Jimmy Moore and Diane Kress, author of The Metabolism Miracle. She recommends an 8-week induction period of extremely low-carb (although, based on the interview, she doesn't appear to include veggies, cottage cheese, and some other foods as prohibited carbs, as did Atkins)--to give the pancreas a vacation. Otherwise, she says, it will continue to operate in overdrive.