You may not like zero carb then,

because we are not into rules!

Rules are to have carbs as close to zero as possible.

Eat most of teh calories from fat. Eat enough protein for your body.

Like Atkins Induction sans the veggies.

But not on induction or zero carb!

I lost my weight on Atkins but since this is a lifetime deal for me, not a DIET, I've been a bit flexible since induction. I did a clean, by the book induction for two weeks and from that point on I based what I ate on how my body responds to specific foods.

I do not eat veggies every single day. Some days, it's just eggs, meat and cheese with a low carb tortilla thrown in. I have found if I don't eat enough fat, I get tired and sluggish. Adding fats was my biggest challenge. I used to drink coffee black but I started adding heavy cream just to get in more fat per day. You've got to tailor your program for what works best for you.

I'm a pastry chef/chocolatier. Imagine my struggle.

I've got a haute chocolate party to throw in a few weeks, as well. :: sigh ::

Pattim65:

That's really going to vary among people. There are many factors that influence weight loss, besides what we eat. Your hormones and metabolism play a big part. However, I think zero carb may help someone find their equilibrium a bit faster than low carb, because you get down to the basics of burning fat for fuel without anything else getting in the way. If you are having trouble once you are fully fat-adapted, then you have to look at things such as fat intake, stress, thyroid, insulin resistance, menopause, pregnancy, depression, famine, poverty, you name it. They all influence whether or not one burns fat or stores it.

Regards,

Charles

Well, you see that's what everyone is so frustrated about. People want to see such studies performed but no one seems to be doing it, probably because of the complexities. In Taubes' book, which is at home, I'm out of town, they have comparative studies where they varied the carb count, calorie count and macronutrient intake yet found very different ranges. They all lost weight, but it really varied like 36 pounds for one person, and 3 pounds for another, despite eating the exact same foods under the same conditions.

Zero carb is not so different than low carb when the carbs are kept below 20 grams. If I was trying to break a stall on low carb, I would shorten my menu to something like this: 3 eggs and two sausage patties for breakfast, a 1/2 pound burger for lunch, with green leaf lettuce, tomato, mayo and mustard. For dinner, either chicken thighs, ribeye steak, flouder or trout, with or without some grilled vegetables. On Zero Carb, I would simply drop the vegetables and condiments. I would eat this same menu for about three days and see what happens. If I started to lose, then I would slowly change the variety, like changing up one meal for three days, and then check the scale and my cravings to see whether the new food stays or goes.

I would not skip a meal, regardless of how I felt. If I was not hungry, I would exercise to create some hunger, most definitely weight lifting to get my metabolism going.

Don't change things too fast or you won't know which factor made a difference or not. If after the first three days, things didn't change, I would eat this way as long as I could until something did change, because it's completely healthy and I couldn't go wrong.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Charles