In the last two months i've not touched a carbohydrate and I've gained about 15-20 pounds. Granted, I've probably been averaging in the ballpark of 4,000 calories daily, a good 80% of which has been fat, have drastically scaled back on exercise, and have not been getting nearly enough sleep lately.
While I don't presume to speak for others here, and I'm sure the amount of food that I've been eating is atypical, i think my experience clearly invalidates the widely held view that as long as a person isn't eating carbs, he cannot gain weight. As far as I'm concerned, it also invalidates the opinion that zero carb eliminates cravings in all cases. I foresaw having a miserable amount of school work this semester, and knowing from experience that logging in hours behind the desk drives me to eat extreme amounts out of boredom, I figured that perhaps going zero carb could help me overcome this problem, or at least prevent the inevitable weight gain this sort of behavior would ordinarily entail, but clearly the diet has failed in both respects.
I don't mean to discourage others, and I'm people will be quick to point out that I'm just one person, but in the spirit of science and understanding more about how a carb free diet affects the body, I thought somebody here might appreciate some insight into my unique experience.
All you've demonstrated is that you have extremely high insulin levels and you store fat even when you eat what you consider to be ZC. Two months doesn't tell us much of anything. The fact that you eat so much means that your body is in no way adapted to ZC. Just eating meat and drinking water is not enough. The benefits comes when your body is able to adequately use this food and your cravings and hunger are controlled. These two things are the sine que non for ZC. You have not achieved control over your hunger or cravings due to your high insulin and you are still storing fat.
Therefore, we cannot learn much from your experience. What meat did you eat during this period and what did you drink, just out of curiosity?
No one here adapted to ZC eats this much, craves food this much or eats when bored. It just doesn't happen. Read the journals and see for yourself. You may have convinced yourself that your diet has failed and I agree with you. Any diet that does not control hunger and cravings is indeed a failure so whatever meat you've been eating, is not serving this purpose and is therefore improper for you.
Charles, I hate to say it...but I think that what you're saying is all wrong. I've never been obese, and have not had any major problems with weight in the recent past. Moreover, I can easily go days not eating very much and feel fully sated and experience no hunger pangs. Its only when I have to sit at a desk all day long and do work that I start getting the munchies. I really don't think that my insulin is out of control. My overeating is psychological, not physiological. I eat well past the point of hunger (even to the point of nausea) on a regular basis because food provides a welcome distraction and comfort. I thought, going into this, that maybe the monotony of just meat and water and the hormonal shifts would eliminate the phycological desire to overeat. Much to my chagrin, i ended up, under the impression that I could do no wrong eating only meat and water, giving in more often to that bugger in my head that wants to eat and eat and eat without end. Now I am 20 pounds heavier. I'm not blaming the weight gain on zero carb per se, just pointing that certain kinds of psychological eating disorders cannot, contrary to the opinion of some here, be eliminated by zero carb or insulin control, and that weight can accumulate on somebody eating zero carb.
And for the record, I eat mostly beef and lamb. Occasionally I'll eat poultry or assorted offal (but not liver). I concede that I have been known to use modest amounts of seasoning from time to time, but I really don't think that this is messing with my insulin. After all, I adopted zero carb eating after averaging about 50-100 carbs per day and not experiencing any problems what so ever with weight gain.
Based on my personal experience, to agree with you that I'm just over-secreting insulin because I'm not yet adapted to zero carb would fiy utterly in the face of common sense as far as I'm concerned.
Hi timmypatch,
Very interesting story. I hear you about the munchies when stuck at a desk. I maybe didn't read closely enough but did you mean to say that you had no problems with weight when averaging 50-100 carbs per day even with the "sit at a desk all day long" test? Or did you mean you always gain weight no matter how you eat when you "sit at a desk all day long"?
Good question Melinda
Before going zero carb, I had more free time and wasn't chained to my desk 24/7. As a result, I spent most of my time doing thing that were more interesting and stimulating than school work and for this reason I did not experience boredom cravings very often and was able to maintain a healthy weight. Going zero carb didn't create the cravings, but it didn't solve them either.
Interesting. Can you tell us more about yourself, your history, and your daily intake? Are you gaining muscle or fat?
If you have been eating fat, meat, and water (and more fat than lean) then you might need to see your doctor for a checkup (insulin levels, BG levels, hormones, etc).
Personally, I sit at a desk for 12+ hours a day and I used to eat a lot of munchies before ZC. I don't need to snack while on ZC.
I admit to being a little puzzled and skeptical about the lack of information you're giving out. It would really help us get a better picture if you gave us more data.
I'll try to give you a little more background. I'm a 21 year old guy and I became interested in zero carb primarily out of curiosity. I have been blessed with good health most of my life and have never needed to resort to extreme diets like zero carb. I also figured zero carb might help me with my obsessive compulsive tendency to overeat when doing boring work and when stressed, both of which I foresaw lots of in the near future. Sure enough, I have been overworked lately, and have been overeating constantly. I transitioned from a diet that was already fairly low in carbohydrates because I believe that high intake of carbohydrates probably isn't very healthy. I would eat mostly animal products, dairy, vegetables, fruit, and nuts (I used to be real big on nuts). I haven't touched grains, sugar, or processed crap for several years (did I mention I have obsessive compulsive tendencies). Making the transition to zero carbs wasn't very hard for me. Over the course of about two weeks, I progressively eliminated fruits, then nuts, then finally vegetables. After going completely carb free, I spent about a week feeling slightly foggy brained, sort of out of it, and hungrier than usual, but quickly those symptoms passed.
I can eat a normal amount of meat and fat and feel sated and good--but like I've been saying, having food in my mouth and swallowing somehow keeps my mind off stress and work. Some people cut themselves to relieve stress, I overeat. Interestingly, after a certain point I find that I actually start feeling less full and can eat pretty much endlessly untill I've expended all my food. That 4,000 calorie figure I put up is an average. In reality, some days I probably eat more like 2,000, while other days i'll take in 6 or 7 thousand easily.
Like I said, I've been pretty strict about what I'm taking in: meat, water, ocassionally spices
Okay: still need more details, and more specifics.
In a previous post you said you were 23, so which are you; did you gain the weight as muscle mass or fat tissue, and what specific meats and cuts of meat are you eating, are you eating fat first and then lean, what seasonings are you using, etc?
If you are compulsively overeating on ZC you would really be a standout. I find it hard to believe but hey, anything's possible. I recall that Jeff and Dean (of Magic Bus) tried to eat 5kcal/day for a month and found it very difficult, so that is my baseline. Did your BP go up or down? Do you feel worse or better on ZC than when you were carby? Do you have a lot of energy or are you less energetic than before? Do you have to wear bigger or smaller clothes?
I don't mean to come across as grilling you, but I am curious and would like to see more of the picture.
I am also very aware that elsewhere on the internet, there are plenty of people who think they "tried ZC" when what they were doing was in fact *not* ZC. Not that you didn't, but we don't know much about you and so you need to give us more details if you want us to help you figure out what's going on. If you are asking for help.
When did the weight gain occur? Are you gaining at a constant rate lets say? 1lbs per week or sth? or did you put weight during the first two weeks?
What is your weight btw?