Can you lose 15 pounds in 2 weeks eating fatty spareribs? |
Did you think that losing weight on Keto or Atkins was going to be easy?
Do you feel lost and frustrated like you're caught in a whirlwind of emotion and expectation?
If so, maybe it's time to reevaluate why you're torturing yourself and take a closer look at your real dieting motivations.
I
realize that dieting is difficult. It requires you to give up a
lot of your favorite foods, revamp your lifestyle, and substitute
those old food habits with healthier alternatives. But c'mon . . .
- I mean, do you really expect to drop 15 pounds in only a couple of weeks?
- Do you really expect to lose 5 or 6 pounds week after week, every single month?
- Do you enjoy the pain and misery you are bringing upon yourself by expecting to lose so much weight?
- Did someone, somewhere, tell you that low-carb diets are a quick weight-loss scheme?
Many people believe that if they don't shed a lot of weight during the first week or two, or even the first month, that a low carb diet isn't worth the effort, even though almost all of that weight is water, glycogen, and a little muscle tissue.
The self-torture that many are putting themselves through, due to their false expectations and fantasies, doesn't make sense to me.
The only way you might lose 15 pounds in 2 weeks is if you're seriously obese and have never gone on a diet before in your entire life. While some people do experience those types of results, they are the exception to the rule. They are not the norm.
Whether it's three days, eight days, two weeks, or a month, choosing to beat yourself up about what your body is or isn't doing won't make the body fat come off any faster.
Low carb diets are not crash diets!
The only way you might lose 15 pounds in 2 weeks is if you're seriously obese and have never gone on a diet before in your entire life. While some people do experience those types of results, they are the exception to the rule. They are not the norm.
Low-carb diets are NOT quick weight-loss schemes, so why do new dieters believe they are? |
So what's going on with newbies?
- Are you miserable because you don't like what your bathroom scale is saying today?
- Are you letting that number on the scale control how you feel and act?
- Is that number so important to you that you're allowing it to determine your self worth?
If you recognize yourself in the following 7 brutal ways that low carbers have been torturing themselves
lately, please leave a comment below, and tell me why living in the misery of self-pity, just for the sake of weight loss, is so
appealing to you.
I
really want to understand what's going on here.
The latest research on low-carb diets, partially funded by Gary Taubes, clearly showed that you don't lose a single ounce of body fat for the first 7 days.
1. Are You Setting Yourself Up to Fail?
A
lot of you already know how I feel about setting weight-loss goals. (If you don't, here's a link to our weight-loss goal article.)
The act of goal setting immediately pulls you out of the present and throws you into the arms of the future. The future always robs you of the self-consciousness and presence you momentarily enjoy.
The act of goal setting immediately pulls you out of the present and throws you into the arms of the future. The future always robs you of the self-consciousness and presence you momentarily enjoy.
Most
of the time, goals are extremely unrealistic and demand more of you
than you can give.
This is because goals are about a destination, achieving something in the future, rather than living today, so they rip any current happiness out of your arms and hold it out in front of you like a cupcake on a string.
You won't be happy until . . .
This is because goals are about a destination, achieving something in the future, rather than living today, so they rip any current happiness out of your arms and hold it out in front of you like a cupcake on a string.
You won't be happy until . . .
If you're setting up
unrealistic weight-loss goals, then you are setting yourself up to
fail. Fat
loss doesn't travel in a straight line. The
path is filled with:
- ups and downs
- twists and turns
- small or large setbacks
- lengthy pauses
And
that's going to take more than 7 to 14 days.
Water fluctuations can make it difficult to see the downward weight-loss trend unless you take the time to plot it out on a graph. |
During
the first two weeks on any low-carb diet plan, no matter which
program you're following, you're going to lose glycogen (the storage
form of carbohydrates), tons of water, and only a little bit of
viseral fat.
The latest research on low-carb diets, partially funded by Gary Taubes, clearly showed that you don't lose a single ounce of body fat for the first 7 days.
NONE.
Any
weight you do lose is muscle mass and water.
If
you're expecting to drop 15 pounds of body fat during the first
month, that's not likely to happen. Weight loss on any diet is a
group of very small successes. Enjoying a massive drop on the
scale is rare.
Don't
self-sabotage yourself by setting up unrealistic expectations of how
long this is going to take.
It took me 2 years to lose over 100 pounds, and I had to pile on additional food restrictions and cut my calories to the bone to make it happen.
It took me 2 years to lose over 100 pounds, and I had to pile on additional food restrictions and cut my calories to the bone to make it happen.
If
you insist that a weight-loss diet provide you with instant
gratification and super-large losses on the scale every single
week, then a low-carb diet is not the right diet plan for you. I
don't know what it, but it isn't low carb.
2. Do You Punish Yourself for Not Achieving Your Goals?
If
the inability to achieve your weight-loss goal isn't
enough to throw you into the depths of self-misery, then you'll
probably impose a few punishments on yourself for failing. The most
common punishment I hear goes something like this:
“If
I don't lose 15 pounds by the end of the month, I'm going to quit low
carb.”
Honestly,
beating yourself over the head with a hickory stick would probably be
less painful than trying to force your body to comply with your
demands.
When you set up conditions, every day is a form of torture as to whether your body is going to submit to your will or keep on fighting you to save your life.
When you set up conditions, every day is a form of torture as to whether your body is going to submit to your will or keep on fighting you to save your life.
When
it comes to life preservation, there's no bargaining. You are not the
boss. You can't force your primal instincts to give up its fat stores
if it isn't comfortable doing so.
Throwing a tantrum or blaming your low-carb diet isn't going to make you feel better. You're only going to feel worse.
Throwing a tantrum or blaming your low-carb diet isn't going to make you feel better. You're only going to feel worse.
A
low-carb diet is not a passing fad, so threatening to run away and
try something else isn't going to work, either. You can't force
success.
Low-carb works by correcting hormonal imbalances and lowering your cravings and hunger, so eating at a deficit is easier than it is eating just low calorie.
These corrections take time.
Low-carb works by correcting hormonal imbalances and lowering your cravings and hunger, so eating at a deficit is easier than it is eating just low calorie.
These corrections take time.
3. Do You Measure Your Self-Worth By the Number on the Scale?
Along
with insisting that your body live up to your false expectations,
another way of torturing yourself is to measure your self worth by
the number on your weight-loss scale.
While dieting is often a way to improve your physical health and well-being, more often, it's a grab for approval and acceptance from others.
While dieting is often a way to improve your physical health and well-being, more often, it's a grab for approval and acceptance from others.
You
don't feel happy in your current condition, and you're hoping that
losing weight will get you the rewards you're looking for.
If the number on the scale doesn't go down quick enough, you might be tempted to identify with that number and associate it with your worthiness as a person.
If the number on the scale doesn't go down quick enough, you might be tempted to identify with that number and associate it with your worthiness as a person.
Diet
results will always be unpredictable.
Identifying with the number on the scale sets you up to experience disappointment at some point in the process. Disappointment always brings a wave of negative emotions, which in turn, will cause you to start looking for blame.
Identifying with the number on the scale sets you up to experience disappointment at some point in the process. Disappointment always brings a wave of negative emotions, which in turn, will cause you to start looking for blame.
Blaming
yourself or blaming the diet is convenient, but it really won't
relieve the torture.
The only way to get rid of the misery the scale causes is to separate yourself from the number and use a different way of measuring your success instead. While patience can be difficult, a low-carb lifestyle offers you possibilities and healthy benefits you won't get anywhere else.
Every single pound you lose is hitting the target.
It's another pound of butter that's gone, another pound brick you no longer have to carry around with you as you go through your day.
The only way to get rid of the misery the scale causes is to separate yourself from the number and use a different way of measuring your success instead. While patience can be difficult, a low-carb lifestyle offers you possibilities and healthy benefits you won't get anywhere else.
4. Do You Criticize Yourself?
In
fiction writing circles, we used to call the little voice that
stepped out during the writing process and started criticizing what we
were doing: our inner critic.
After watching the Harry Potter movies, and reading all of the books, I started calling it Hermione. She can be quite rude and cruel once she starts speaking, especially if you listen to her or choose to identify with what she's saying.
If you accept her harshness and judgment of you, you're setting yourself up for some lengthy stretches of misery.
The inner critic can be likened to Hermione Granger, so I often call it Hermione. |
Like
how Hermione often judged Harry and Ron unfairly, your own inner
critic's judgment will be just as twisted.
Every single pound you lose is hitting the target.
It's another pound of butter that's gone, another pound brick you no longer have to carry around with you as you go through your day.
No
matter what that voice says, you are not a victim. You don't have to
accept what it's telling you. You can clearly tell it to back off or
get the heck out of your life.
I often tell Hermione to go to her room.
I often tell Hermione to go to her room.
5. Do You Compare Yourself with Others?
This
is a huge way to torture yourself because no matter who you try to
compare yourself to, Hermione is always going to tell you that you
fall short of the perfection you believe the other person radiates.
That's
bull-crap!
People
we look up to can enable us to stretch toward some aspect of them we
find admirable or worthy of imitation, but most of the time our image
of others is warped. We don't see them clearly
because we are not looking at the world through their eyes.
We are looking at them through our own, and perception can be quite hinky and distorted.
We are looking at them through our own, and perception can be quite hinky and distorted.
Looking at others is like looking through a blurry window. The comparison is quite distorted and inaccurate. |
Few
realize the lengths to which someone else had to go to achieve the
weight loss they did. Nor do they understand what it takes to
maintain that achievement. Reaching maintenance is the easy part.
Holding
on to your weight loss is much more difficult.
Most
people can't do it because they aren't willing to pay the price that
weight management actually costs. There are no guarantees that the
path you're on will end up where you want it to, but you'll
definitely not get there if you quit.
6. Are You Trying to Skip Steps in the Fat Loss Process?
If
you've never looked at weight management as a process, maybe it's
time to start.
Most of the people torturing themselves while they are on Atkins Induction or during the first month of Keto don't understand how a low-carb diet works.
Even those on LCHF diets struggle to understand the basic process.
Most of the people torturing themselves while they are on Atkins Induction or during the first month of Keto don't understand how a low-carb diet works.
Even those on LCHF diets struggle to understand the basic process.
Many
dieters expect to see dramatic weight losses when the body is busy
doing something else.
Unlike
traditional low-calorie diets, a low-carb diet has to balance your
hormones and then set up physical conditions that are supportive of
fat burning. While all body systems can use ketones for energy, when
burning ketones, your body isn't burning body fat for energy.
It's simply pulling out only enough fat to make the ketones.
It's simply pulling out only enough fat to make the ketones.
Low carb doesn't allow your body to take the easy way out. It has to
adapt to what you're eating, so eventually, the body will stop using
ketones (except for the brain) and
switch to fatty acids.
This is what you want the body to do because it will produce the greatest fat loss and prevent muscle wasting.
This is what you want the body to do because it will produce the greatest fat loss and prevent muscle wasting.
But
getting to this point takes a little time.
All
weight loss diets set up a famine situation that the body responds
to. A low-calorie diet requires fewer adaptions to start using body
fat because you are only limiting calories.
When you choose to restrict carbohydrates in your diet, your body has to adapt to both calorie and carbohydrate restriction.
When you choose to restrict carbohydrates in your diet, your body has to adapt to both calorie and carbohydrate restriction.
There
is no way to skip steps in this process.
Your
body won't go from predominantly burning glucose to predominantly
burning fatty acids in a couple of days. It doesn't work that way. If
you try to rush the process, you're only setting yourself up for
misery.
7. Are You Nursing a Deprivation Mindset?
This
one isn't as evident in the beginning of a ketogenic diet, but I have
seen it in those who don't seem to be able to get through the first
month without cheating on their diet.
While sometimes, this attitude is a misconception about how low-carb diets work, more often, it's the result of feeding your feelings of deprivation.
While sometimes, this attitude is a misconception about how low-carb diets work, more often, it's the result of feeding your feelings of deprivation.
Looking
at foods you use to love and insisting that the scale reward you in
exchange for giving up those foods is only another form of
self-torture.
Dieting
is only as painful as you make it be.
If
you consistently focus on what you can't have anymore and long for
the eating habits and temporary pleasures that got you fat in the
first place, you'll be more likely to jump overboard at the first
chance to bail that presents itself.
Human
nature seeks to avoid unpleasant situations, and nursing your
feelings of deprivation simply fans the flames. This is particularly
true if you don't really want to change your eating habits or if
you're trying to lose weight for someone else's attention and
approval.
Keeping
yourself in agony can be a way of getting even with someone else,
especially if Keto isn't really what you want to do.
Dieting Without Purpose
Each
of these 7 brutal ways of torturing yourself while on a low-carb diet
come from a set of misconceptions about life. If experiencing pleasure is your number one purpose for living, then everything
you do that creates discomfort will bring misery and pain.
Dieting
is painful because you place restrictions on yourself that don't give you the rewards you're seeking after. Plus, you set up many, many false expectations.
I
know.
I
was there once, too.
I'm
guilty of having experienced all 7 of these miserable states of being
at one time or another in my life.
I'm
guilty of trying to push my body to do things it didn't feel safe
doing, and I'm guilty of failing to achieve what I originally set out
to do.
So
let's get real for just a moment.
If
you've read this far and you're still with me, here's the deal:
Tell
me where you're at.
When
I first started this blog in 2007, I weighed 257-1/2 pounds. I had
numerous health issues I thought I could cure by going low carb.
I couldn't.
Even though I lost over 100 pounds in 2 years, and stalled at 145 pounds, I couldn't maintain the loss. Today, I weighed in at 226 pounds.
I couldn't.
Even though I lost over 100 pounds in 2 years, and stalled at 145 pounds, I couldn't maintain the loss. Today, I weighed in at 226 pounds.
That's
reality. MY reality. No excuses. Just the pure truth.
CONFESSION
TIME:
I
couldn't do it.
While
low carb is a very healthy way to eat, it's not the only way to eat.
In fact, I'm extremely happy just eating a gluten-free diet and making small keto-type changes one at a time.
I'm not sick anymore. I'm not torturing myself.
I'm content now.
I'm not sick anymore. I'm not torturing myself.
I'm content now.
So
tell me where you're at – no matter what that is.
- What do you struggle with?
- What are you interested in learning?
- What do you really want?
I read this article because I'm interested in self defeating patterns. What stood out for me is that these are the same negative behaviors that thwart success in other areas of life:
ReplyDeleteSelf punishment, self deprivation, self sabotage and self criticism. Then to motivate our self we compare ourselves to others. We even look for shortcuts and tricks to beat the system.
The question is: What are the real underlying issues that would lead one to use techniques that never seem to work?
Our hidden beliefs definitely spill over into all areas of our lives, don't they. When it comes to dieting, most people haven't reached a point where they are ready to admit that dieting doesn't work. I suppose it's the same for anything we're trying to do. People, in general, fear failure and what other people will think of us if we can't do something.
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