A LESSON learnt, and WARNING to others!!! The power of CARBS

[Foxtrot]

Coo, what a thread!!!

I was going to start a thread in RTM asking if you, BL, and SB and now perhaps KD would give us a snapshot of what a 'normal' day or two of food intake is for you. Would that still be possible?


And could someone, KD?, explain: -

Quote:
Be warned - never EVER trust the carbs!!!

Umm. Even better though to learn how to deal with carbs. Remember that unless you are planning on completely cutting out carbs such as rice/pasta/pots etc, your diet will be unbalanced, and you will get that glycogen gain the moment you have them again. And I guess you will at some point?

Does this mean that to be balanced with the correct glycogen we have to have the carbs but also have to know how many??

[Blonde Logic]

I will post my average day on the RTM section hon.

[Foxtrot]

Thanks BL. I know it sound daft but it's almost reassuring to see that you come out the other side of this human. Warts, slip ups, carbs and all!!!

[SerenityValley]

So, warning to those who are still abstaining, or just about to start RTM, or to finish RTM - never ever let your guard down. Never assume you can "get away with sometihng".

I will echo this, though I will warn that this can happen with anything, not just carbs, when you let your guard down.

I have for reasons I've barely explained, quit RTM. After my surgery, I took 2.5 weeks to myself and di whatever I wanted.

week 1 I put on 2lbs
Week 2 I put on 2lbs
Week 3 I put on 5lbs in 4 days (despite behaving better - fam,age from the previous week I suspect)

I am unsure if there is more damage to come, but I have started a fairly strict calorie controlled diet - and have started exercising (e.g. today I did 547 calories worth of exercise, and have so far taken in around 1200 cals from food - I expect that to become 1570 cals - so a net intake of just over 1000 cals.

I'm going to monitor my weight for the next 7 days and adjust the intake up or down, till I find the right levels. I have no idea how slowly or quickly the weight will come off - but it felt good to grasp control and start the exercise - and it felt good to throw a couple of things away from my fridge, that previously I would have eaten, despite them being fairly valueless (a chicken pie and a cornish pasty - 410cals each and not really how I want to "spend" my cals).

Well done BL - of everyone here, you're the one we all think of as bulletproof and it's a good reminder, that even you are human. (I just typed "ate" human lol).

[Porgeous]

Hiya

My two penny's worth for what its worth....

I agree totally that it is oh so easy to slip back into bad habits, a little bit here, a little bit there and the amount you eat starts to creep up.

On the 3kg I think it is easy to get hung up on the scales, it would be pretty difficult to gain 6lbs in a week and then equally difficult to lose it. I have found that if I have alot of carbs the scales can suddenly shoot up but if I cut back on them over the next few days the weight drops off again. It isn't actual fat gained/lost just my bodies reaction to carbs. I do agree that monitoring your weight is good practice as it allows you to see patterns, for example, I often weigh heavier on a Monday as I tend to laze around at the weekend and retain a bit of water etc etc

I am waffling on so will shut up now, just sharing my experiences.

xx

[Blonde Logic]

no, don;t shut up Georgie.

Thats all I did - cut back for a week, and problem sorted.

I am not really sure why this has some so concerned. I appreciate their concern, don;t get me wrong....but thats what we were told by our LLC - as soon as we see or feel it, knock back the carbs. I never gave it two second thought if it was fat or glycogen or water. THat didn;t matter to me. I knew my clothes were feeling tighter so it was time to reverse that. I blamed it on carbs, because those were the things I could feel I was beginning to have more of out of ease. ANd thats what it felt like - carb bloat.

SO I did that- i cut them out for a few days - and sorted it. I did have brown rice once during the week, but other then that, none. I knew it was for 7 days only, and I know now to not have a baked potato and pasta tonight for dinner....etc. It all seemed pretty basic to me really..

It probably was over two weeks that the scales snuck up actually...I think they went up 1 kg one week, and then up to 2 more by the end of the floowing one....I'm not too hung up on when - I just know it was time to exercise a bit of consious planning, thats all.

THanks for your input.

[KD]

And could someone, KD?, explain: -

Quote:
Be warned - never EVER trust the carbs!!!

Umm. Even better though to learn how to deal with carbs. Remember that unless you are planning on completely cutting out carbs such as rice/pasta/pots etc, your diet will be unbalanced, and you will get that glycogen gain the moment you have them again. And I guess you will at some point?

Does this mean that to be balanced with the correct glycogen we have to have the carbs but also have to know how many??

I guess it doesn't hurt Perhaps it's just me, but at the beginning I didn't really have a good enough idea of what a normal day should look like, so I did monitor for a while, aiming to get the approx of 55% cals from carbs, 30% from fat (pref healthy fats), rest in protein. Not obsessive about it, but just wanted to be a 'normal' eater without restricting any food groups etc. I did that for a while. Gave me confidence and a chance to see how cruel the scales can be

I suppose I was afraid of falling into low carb, or too low fat. I knew that low carb would be very hard to keep to for the rest of my life, and low fat isn't particularly healthy (well..not the fat levels most diets set anyway). Both things absolutely fine for dieting, but I planned on never dieting again.

But, if I did chose to low carb, then I have to be prepared to the odd glycogen gain on the scales and not panic as it wouldn't fat.

I do have a similar thing happen with crisps. Don't eat many of them, because theres too many other scrummy things to get through , but when I do, up the scales go 2lbs. It's not the carbs as I eat plenty, but probably the salt as I tend not to use much salt when I cook, and don't eat much processed stuff.

No problem though. I get on the scales...say "interesting....that'll be the crisps", because I know that I haven't eaten enough to put on 2lbs of fat...and I've learnt that crisps do that to me.

Doesn't stop me from eating crisps on occassion, and I don't go on a diet to get the two pounds of. It just comes off again on the days I don't eat crisps

I don't fear crisps..it's no big deal.

I think that's the difference. It's not that I don't believe in weighing. In fact, I think it's vital, but I don't assume that everything they say reflects a fat gain....because only excess cals will do that.

I could post my days food on RTM, but reluctant. This thread concerns maintenance, and I feel comfortable posting on this thread, because maintenance is maintenance regardless of what diet you do to get to goal. Something tells me I shouldn't post randomly in the RTM section in case I get bundled

[Foxtrot]

Thanks KD. Again everything in moderation then. And looking at all angles too!!

It seems the water retention trigger could be more of a alarm to take note of than any possible fat that could be laid down.

And you being my local CD councellor, I wouldn't bundle you!!

Sorry for the semi hijack here BL. I guess being a Refresher I want all the info I can get to get the maintenance right this time!!!