Missteps and Mistakes for the Successful "Low Carber"

Well, you have chosen to follow a low carb weight loss program. In fact, it has been so successful that it has become a lifestyle. You are exercising more, eating less processed foods and monitoring your daily carb intake with ease. Your weight has decreased to the point that family, friends and colleagues can't help but complement you on your new outward appearance. You probably have lowered your blood pressure; you have had to purchase new, smaller sized clothing and sleep may be coming so much easier.

What could possibly go wrong?

The good news is that you are likely not going to simply fall off "the wagon". You have made too much progress for that to happen. What is possible is that you may begin to fall prey to missteps and mistakes that will seem relatively minor in consequence but that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Let's take a look at small behavior changes, assumptions or small modifications to your low carb weight loss program that very well could lead to weight gain over the longer term.

Messing with the Carb Count: It's going to happen. It begins with an occasional trip to your favorite pub. A couple of beers aren't going to make a difference. Watching your favorite team on Sunday afternoon with just a very small bowl of chips is harmless. Surely, once a week won't hurt my program. Low fat ice cream was made for those of us called "low carbers"; fewer carbs and calories than regular ice cream.

The point is that adding these elements to our intake is easy and on the surface, individually, won't seriously affect our program. The problem is when these types of behaviors become more habitual. Just do the math. The additional calories and carbs become quite substantial and inevitably lead to a reversal of weight loss. Be watchful. Don't give in to the urge.

Planning? What Planning!: One of the pitfalls of maintaining an entertainment schedule while committing to a low carb weight loss program is not planning ahead for these special occasions, such as a new restaurant, family wedding, anniversary party, July 4th picnics, etc.

If you just appear at these outings without thought to what meals will be served, it will be very difficult to veer away from breads, pasta, pastries that you will be confronted with. Thinking ahead allows you to:

* Call a restaurant in advance to determine their willingness to substitute portions of a main dish or side dishes
* Include carb friendly foods to include in your picnic basket
* If you can not control any modification to a menu, you might be encouraged to eat a more friendly meal prior to arrival at your event

Thinking ahead will give you a fighting chance at maintaining some semblance of low carb compliance.

Get Up and Move: All bone-fide weight loss programs include exercise as a requirement for success. Exercise is great but truthfully, most people are not going to move from a sedentary lifestyle to doing a 4K or lifting half their weight each morning. But that is not an excuse for not moving at all. The point is that all of this is a matter of degrees. Little or modest movement such as climbing a flight stairs instead of taking the elevator or walking the dog an extra 5 minutes each day is a real and valuable start. Minor, incremental movement is essential to jump starting your weight reduction and ultimate contributing to a much healthier you. It must be said though, prior to beginning any program or changing your typical routine, you must seek the advice of a trusting health professional.

Lock Up the Cabinet: Set aside the alcohol for awhile. Yes it's true that some alcohol is carb friendly but that's not why alcohol consumption should be eliminated or reduced significantly. Think about what alcohol does to us. After a few drinks, it is quite typical to relax, feel better about life's condition and become very satisfied with successes (weight loss?). So often, drinks precede meals. This combined with a more relaxed mood and less inhibition about maintaining carb count discipline leads to a misstep.

Are You Sure About That?: Once you are an established "low carber" it becomes very easy to begin basing your carb counts on memory or estimates. Remember when you started the program? Everything was exact. You probably wrote down the numbers of all that was eaten. Still doing that now? Probably not!

Why not? Well if you are like the rest of us, you have become complacent or actually believe you know the exact carb count of every food component in your local grocery store. Do not make this mistake. Start reading the labels again. Make sure that your estimates are accurate. If you continue to estimate you will inevitably "bleed" carbs way past your daily target. Over time, that means slow but continued weight gain. Be sure about the numbers.

Boredom is Not Your Friend: Becoming bored is a problem for some successful low-carbers. Many have settled into predictable menus with basically the same components. It has worked for them. Weight loss has been consistent and their body has change, positively. But being the humans we are, this will eventually lead to boredom. What does a child do when it becomes bored? Trouble lies ahead and so it will for the bored low-carber. At some point, we all yearn for that wonderful plate of spaghetti and cream sauce. True? It is very important to substitute your menus with new low carb recipes. There is no lack of cookbooks available. If expense is an issue, get a $2.00 library card and knock yourself out.

Learn to substitute high carb content foods. Bread crumbs substituted with Parmesan cheese. Mashed potatoes can be substituted with spaghetti squash, and so on. Taking these steps before you begin to become dissatisfied with your daily meal routine will ensure that your meal time will continue to provide an ongoing, great tasting, varied eating experience.

Well, there you have it. Missteps and mistakes we all can make. For those of us who anticipate and pre-empt them, we will continue our successful low carb weight loss journey. Join Us.

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