Is the low carb honeymoon over?

Today's words of wisdom come from my fellow moderator on The Low Carb Dish, Tyler Buhl. Tyler isn't just a low carber, she is a low carber who has maintained her weight loss for over 25 years! She knows the ins and outs of the low carb way of life and has been more than generous with her time and advice.

This latest gem of wisdom from Tyler is invaluable for people just getting started on low carb who hit a stall or for people getting bombarded with advice from people who are also fairly new to low carb. Instead of listening to just anybody, take the advice of someone who has been successful at low carb for a very long time.

"Is the low carb honeymoon over?

The first 2 weeks-30 days on a low carb diet is bliss (well, except for a few days of ‘the flu’). Pounds are melting off rapidly, you have tons of energy, your health is improving. You are excited, motivated! Yay! Go YOU! --then you hit your first plateau or worse yet you gain….

Now comes the hard part. A low carb diet can be very accommodating in your first 30 days. Especially if you were eating very high carb before. Initially, you can ‘get away’ with some poor choices and have the perfect justification for it – “it didn’t stall me”, “I’m still losing”, “I’m still in ketosis”, “it worked for me”. You can only justify for so long though, before it catches up with you.

You hear it constantly- “Everybody is different” and that is SO true! But because Susie eats Atkins bars and low carb products without negative impact, doesn’t mean that it won’t make you gain like crazy!
Why do you always hear read ‘THE BOOK’*? Because, there is a process to determine the ‘right way’ to eat low carb for YOU and YOU alone. Doing the work and following the process is the way to ensure long term success and a sustainable lifetime way of eating. 

Just because something is ‘low carb’ doesn’t mean that it will impact your body in the same way it does for Susie. Starting with the very BASICS and going through the gradual process of adding and eliminating foods will determine what works for YOU.

And guess what? That just may not work for Susie." - Tyler Buhl



* THE BOOK can mean the Atkins' book, Protein Power (or Protein Power Life Plan), Wheat Belly, Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It, or any number of excellent low carb books. We nag people in The Dish to pick a plan and work it. If you are just trying to wing it on your own, you drastically increase your chance of failing.