Losing Now

Low Carb diets are all the rage and for good reason, they work.  It has been proven over and over that they work.  Atkins, South Beach, Kimkins, and the list goes on have all had many people lose a great deal of weight quickly following their principles.  Knowing all of this I state here and now that I will not go Low Carb.

Looking through forum posts and blogs today almost had me signing on to the Kimkins web site.  People were saying how great this plan was and everyone was having success.  Thirty, forty, and fifty pounds lost by people in just a few weeks.  I tell you honestly, with my slow weight loss I really would love to see those results.  So I was ready to reach for my wallet when I was struck with something obvious; why do all of these people still need to be on a low carb diet?

When I began my journey to a better weight and better health, I swore that I was not going to use pills, gimmicks, or diets.  My change was going to be a change in my life, not a simple change in body weight.  Genetically I am predisposed to obesity, a classic endomorph body.  I could follow a food plan that is completely unnatural for a few months and knock down my weight.  I might even keep that weight off for a period of time.  But I am not going to eat low carb for life.  It is just not in me to eat that way.

It is obvious that I had been eating wrong.  There were too many carbs, fats, and proteins in my diet.  I binged on everything from ribs to ice-cream.  You could find me snarfing down tons of salad one night and sausage the next day.  It is true that I was a carb-oholic and that I need to watch out for that tendency, but I need to learn to restrict my calorie intake as well.  This is why I will continue with the 40/40/20 plan.

My goal is to train my body and mind to eat properly, and to learn to listen to my body’s needs.  I can not do that by artificially changing my diet habits, even if that would lead to faster weight loss.  For the remainder of my life I will be striving to eat 40% protein, 40% low Glycemic Index carbohydrates, and 20% fats in the amount of calories needed to maintain my body weight.  To lose weight I am simply reducing my calories.  This will teach me to choose the better foods and portion control.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2007 at 3:40 pm and is filed under Philosophy, Weight Loss Plan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.