Due to the information contained in Gary Taubes’
'Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It',
in January I began a low-carb eating experiment-of one.

I followed that plan through January, then went back to normal eating during a vacation week early in February.  Immediately after that vacation, I began low-carb eating again.On 3/20/11, Sunday,  I completed another 6 consecutive weeks.I'm calling my Plan VLC-2011 (for very-low-carb, year 2011).

My plan is to do my best to maintain the same eating Habits that I've previously established, including tracking all my food in my DietPower food journal, while working toward keeping my net carbs at, or less than, 30 per day, and my daily calorie average similar to my past year's amount.

This is not a plan I can recommend to anyone.  I don't even know how it will work in my own body.
I'd like to do this experiment for a 6 month period, but if my weight climbs...or there are other unforeseen side-effects, I will terminate it early.

Years ago, my DietPower journal became an enjoyable Habit for me, and it easily tracks my carbs, fats, proteins and calories etc. I also log in my daily scale weight and DietPower graphs it for me, which enables me see whether my weight is trending up or down over time.

So....
Thus far, I am still enjoying the novelty of eating this low-carb way. I'm not following a specific low-carb plan. like Atkins or Protein Power etc., I'm just working to restrict my carbohydrate intake, and trying to keep my protein and fat intake around the same number of grams.This results in my fat Ratio percentage being about twice my protein Ratio percentage, because protein is 4 calories a gram and fat is 9 calories a gram.

Allegedly, my minimum protein requirement is between 20 grams (WHO) and 36 grams (US RDA).  I usually take in between 50 and 100 grams.

I am aware of the Atkins "carb ladder", which puts foods in about 10 categories, but I am choosing not to follow it, rung by rung etc. The current Theory is that each of our bodies is different in the way it tolerates carbs, and that some people need more restrictions than others. I found it Interesting that Sugar and Refined Grains are NOT on the ladder at all... meaning they are off-limits to everyone, always.
Makes sense to me.

I have been avoiding sugar and refined starch, and I have also been mostly successful at avoiding complex carbs
including whole grains, dry cooked beans, and starchy veggies like corn, potatoes etc,  because these have a really high carb count....  AND I've found that eating a small amount of them causes me to crave much more o...

There are people who think Portion Control is bad because it requires them to limit the amounts they eat.  Good or Bad, in most cases, is simply a Value Judgment. I like something...It's Good. I hate something...It's Bad.

And, we can always find reasons to justify all of our Value Judgments.  Many Facts of Life are not Good or Bad. They Just Are. They Exist.

By definition, an Obese person takes in More food intake than that person's body requires to maintain a Normal weight.
The Reason this happens is really still unknown. although Taubes presents a good argument in support of his Theory. See his book, "Why We Get Fat" being discussed here in BOOKTALK.

Some people say the Cause is physiological.. that Obesity is due to a Genetic dysfunction, or a "raised set point", or some other unknown physical factor, an obese person's appetite control system doesn't operate properly. Specifically, that person has a body with a defective fat regulation system, and one symptom of this condition is physical hunger for more food than the body requires.

Some people say the Cause is psychological...that Obesity is due to Gluttony and Sloth.. and that this behavior can come from ignorance, or from Cultural influence, or from some unknown deeply emotional Dysfunction.

Whether Obesity has a physiological or psychological cause..... the only way a person who is Obese can become normal weight is tosomehow manage to Eat Less.

The term "Portion Control" is simply a shortcut way to define the process of "consciously and actively monitoring the Amount of one's Food Intake"

The Obese person's Body does not want to eat less. ...(Usually, the Obese person's Mind doesn't want to do it either.)....

Eating whatever food substance one wishes to eat.... in an amount that will satisfy an Obese person's physical and emotional appetites.... won’t result in that Obese person becoming, or maintaining, a normal weight.

It's just a Fact.

Call it Good. Call it Bad. It is just a Truth of Life.

I find that in order to find satisfaction and peace in Life, I must reach the point of Acceptance of these, sometimes unpleasant, Truths. Once I Accept a Truth, I can choose how I'm going to deal with it.  But Denia...

                             
    As part of my dieting hobby, I visit many different online forums, and I sometimes receive inspiration from posts written by other forum members who are dealing with the same issues that I deal with.

While Blogging here, I will sometimes quote some or all of a post by another. In doing this, my intention is to give appropriate credit to the authors of copyrighted articles, while protecting the anonymity of other sources quoted.

I agree with this thoughtful post from a fellow forum member and think that it deserves special attention here.

 QUOTE:

Every Bite Counts.
I had a huge light bulb moment last night as I was reading about "cheat days," which is what some people call it when you plan a day to go off your eating plan and eat whatever you want.

The theory is that if you PLAN a day like that every so often, it makes it easier to stay on plan the rest of the time. Whenever you are craving something, you just tell yourself that you can have it on your cheat day, but you have to wait until then to have it.

The problem is that for some people (like me), a cheat day turns into a cheat week or a cheat month and it's really hard to get back on track. Or if you have problems with bingeing, it isn't any hardship to ingest upwards of 4 or 5 thousand calories on a cheat day (yes I have done that), and it really messes up all your hard work you did eating right all week.

Anyway, it hit me.
Every bite counts.
EVERY.

Now, maybe this sounds obvious, but how many times have I gotten up, started a healthy eating day, and then at lunch "slipped up" and had pizza? Then I would tell myself, "oh well, I ruined my day, so I may as well have candy bars and burgers and fries for dinner and start over fresh tomorrow." Isn't that something a LOT of people are in the habit of doing?

We look at our eating aka "diet" in terms of a UNIT.

One good day  (eating the right number of points or calories or whatever your plan is) is a Unit of Success,

and a Bad Day (eating over your limit, not counting calories, eating junk) is a Unit of Failure.

Sometimes we even try to string days together, as in "I will start on Monday" or the first of the month
or after Christmas or whatever, which is an excuse to eat badly and not count anything until we "start again" on that special date.

WHO came up with this idea???
Why is a "DAY" the unit of success or failure??