Manaloa
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Hello!So, I came on this place quite by accident. Sorry about the long-winded story!
It all started with what I thought were food allergies. I went to see the allergist and they gave me a skin prick test. I had a couple flares on some of them, but by the end of the fifteen minutes there was no reaction to be seen, so according to the allergist I don't have an allergy to anything. But I might be sensitive to some foods. And if I notice a reaction then, I'm to avoid the food regardless of whether it shows on an allergy test.
I've had constant ankle rash for the last 7 years. My ankle rash cleared up noticeably w/out wheat/corn in the diet. So I basically gave up all grains, including rice. And after about a month of avoiding them completely, my ankle cleared most of the way up (and I broke my addiction to them, and I know probably many will not believe me but I'm now convinced that any sort of grain causes an addiction to consume it). It was a really cranky/angry month while I was giving it up, but looking back at it now, I felt the same way about giving up cigarettes. Yeah, btw, at this point I was back up to 228.5 and holding comfortably and it didn't seem to matter what I was eating or how much (and yes I was tracking it and no I wasn't working out and no I haven't started working out again yet)
So continuing with my research on diets, allergic or otherwise, first brought me to cealic forums, where I read up on those. From there I googled grain-free diets, which got me around to something called a paleo-diet. From there, low-carb stuff started showing up, which I immediately started discounting, because low-carb isn't supposed to be "healthy" right??
So, I figured I'd researched everything else, I might as well check to see what all the fuss was about the whole low-carb issue. So, yeah, it didn't really seem all that horrible for you as long as you weren't eating a lot of the processed crap (which I have to avoid anyways). So I figured, what the heck, I've tried everything else, why the heck not!!!
So on 4/3/07, I started minimizing my carbs down gradually.(BTW, I was not controlling my caloric intake, which averaged about 2050 cals) And the pounds just kept dropping (I'll tell you how much I lost in the last ten days at the end), I got down to the induction level of carbs which I guess is about 20 grams of carbs. And upped my protein and fat along the way (which previously were very minimal.) My satiety went waaaaaay up. I started only eating three meals a day with no snacks.
Continuing to read on the low-carb forums about the troubles people were having on staying with the low carb and reading about what they were eating, made me realize that the people who had the most trouble were the ones consuming grains (remember above I said they were addictive). They were also the ones who couldn't wait to up their carbs after induction. So, I put that correlation together, which could be entirely wrong. But really, grains don't actually provide you with any nutrients that vegetables and meat don't.
Since I was feeling soooo good after a couple days of the low, low carb (tons of energy during the day), I started checking out how long I could stay at that level and what was really healthy. Which got me looking once again at the whole low-carb debate about where we really need to get our nutrients from. I read both sides of the issues and checked both of their case studies that they presented to support their arguments. And I don't know if the people who are against the whole low-carb thing actually read the case studies that they presented as an argument against it. Because most of the case studies that they said supported their argument, only supported it in the summation, but not in the actual study itself. The actual study itself discounted the correlation that low-carb was bad.
So, while doing all this research on low-carb, proponents of which, stridently demand that it's not a no-carb diet. I thought, what??? What's a no-carb diet?? Does anyone actually only eat meat??? (although why that should seem odd is beyond me, since there are people who eat only vegetables). So then I started researching no-carb diets (of which there aren't many). First thought to pop in my head was aaack! They're not going to get sufficient vitamins and die of scurvy!! And if they don't do that, then all that fat will give them heart attacks!!! Right! Yeah, apparently not.
So, I thought, what the heck, I've done strict vegetarian before (which sucked btw, I had no energy and lost a bunch of hair) And for the last 3 years, I've been eating "healthy" (i.e. whole foods, 55-65% cal from carbs (veggies/fruit/whole grains) and the rest split between protein and fat) and struggling to lose weight. I'm already doing minimal carbs from veggies, so what is it really going to hurt if I do just meat. Just to see how it was. So since 4/9/07, I've been doing meat, eggs, cream, butter, and very limited cheese. My caloric percentages are roughly 70-80% fat 20-30% protein and I keep my carbs below 1%.
Low-carb - From 4/3/07 - 4/9/07 - I went from 228.5 to 226.0 a loss of 2.5 lbs
No-carb - From 4/9/07 - 4/14/07 - I went from 226 to 218.5 a loss of 7.5 lbs
And no, I'm not restricting any calories. If I'm hungry I eat, if I'm not I don't. I'm still consuming an average of 2050 calories. Where before I was consuming 16-1800 calories and exercising to get the weight to come off.
I have tons of energy, and for the first time in a long long while, I actually feel like working out (not that I've started yet, because I'm so busy), and in fact I'm going to have to start working out very soon, because my house is too clean now and I don't know what else to do with my energy. I've been waking up an hour and a half earlier than what I have been in months. I sleep like a log. I don't have the mid-afternoon slump. I never overeat or binge on anything because all my cravings are gone. Even with the low-carb days, I was still craving fruits and desserts.
I am completely in love with this way of eating, and I will probably never change it. I don't feel any urge to include any extra carbs into my diet. I'm not a marathon runner, nor do I exercise to extremes to which I would need any extra carbs. This might change at a later date, when my body fat goes way down, but right now, I'm doing really well and I feel fantastic!!
And best of all, for the first time in over 3 years, my weight is below 220 lbs. I literally haven't seen a number that low in years.
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Dean
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Manaloa,
Welcome to the Bus! 
WOW! What an amazing story! Reading these types of testimonials keeps me from second guessing what I've known for years and years, but was too fricken brainwashed to simply totally believe!
Thank you! You've made my day! 
I can now go forward with much more confidence, and just laugh at all those idiot "scientists" and "health care providers"! I don't need endless research studies to prove that I feel like you feel. It's just REAL! 
WELCOME! So glad you have found your way here!
 
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jeff
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Manaloa, thanks for sharing your story. I can relate to much of what you have experienced. I have lost over 60 pounds and have been maintaining my loss without ever once even thinking about restricting calories. I have tons of energy, don't get that midday slump, and sleep much less than I used to. I have never felt better or been healthier. I too have no intention of ever going back to the old ways of eating.
I exercise quite a bit, and I can tell you that you do not need to increase carbs in order to exercise. Your body may need time to adjust to burning fat for intense exercise, but it can certainly be done.
Again, welcome. Looking forward to hearing more from you.
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Bobi
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Nice story, Manaloa! You have discovered for yourself what most of us , here, have discovered over too many years. Some of us more years than others!!! 
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Dave
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Manaloa,
Welcome to the bus!
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Dave
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Also good to see another person born in 1976!
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Manaloa
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Yeah, I had a hard time last b-day turning the big 3-0!
Well, at least the nice part about my genes is that I still get carded for alcohol.
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