My Success on CAD
I lost a bit over 20 pounds without exercise doing CAD. I lost my urge to binge and I felt very healthy and had a lot of energy. I went to parties and social events and stuck to the plan.
I met my husband at a 4th of July party where I brought chips & pork skins (another food I have never eaten since getting off plan). People couldn’t believe this thin woman ate pork skins! In fact, the next time I saw my future husband at a different social event, he asked me where my pork skins were. I was not attracted to him until he made this joke! So maybe CAD brought us together in a way.
I’m never one to hide my diets. My friends always ask me what the latest one is. But remember, I was on CAD for over 3 years so they got used to that. However, they still bring up the party I was at (another 4th of July party) at a friend’s. When I entered the party I scanned the appetizer table. I would not eat until I was ready for my reward meal, so any appetizers had to be part of that meal.
Once the main meal was served, I set up my plates. I chose the appetizers I wanted, set up my meal plate and maybe even set up my desserts (sometimes I’d have to ask a hostess to let me eat my dessert before others did). I brought my own kitchen timer with and set it to 60 minutes once I started eating.
That was an entertaining meal. One of my friend’s kids walked by with some kind of ice cream treat I hadn’t seen. My time was running out so I asked her to go get me one. It was like a race & everyone was shouting, “Hurry! Hurry!” Even she was racing to get the treat back to me so I had time to finish it. We were all laughing and people who didn’t know me thought I was crazy.
In fact, it got to the point where I didn’t drink much at all while reaching goal. I chose to eat food instead. Not a huge deal since I’m not much of a drinker, but it was different going into bars and being completely sober. Drunks are very irritating when you’re not one of them!
Why I Quit
First off, I’m surprised I stuck with it as long as I did. I reached goal in a couple of months. I could have quit then and there. But I enjoyed feeling so healthy and I didn’t want to gain the weight back. My problem is binging on carbs and I knew if I got off plan the binge mentality would eventually return.
But after such a long time on the plan I started resenting the fact that if I had oatmeal for breakfast (something I was having an urge for), then that would have to be my reward meal and my next two meals would have to be low carb - 2 in a row. And my low carb meals were getting boring. I was starting to just cut up my meat and throw it in a salad for dinner.
I’m a person who needs variety and I decided I had enough of the program. I should have just eaten my oatmeal and had a sensible reward meal for lunch or dinner on those days. But I suppose if I allowed myself to do that the WOE would start changing more and more, until it was no longer CAD at all.
The good news is that I kept my weight off for over a year. So many people say that once you stop low carb you gain immediately. That’s hogwash. If you’ve lost enough weight it isn’t all water, especially after a length of time. Sure, you might “plump” up a bit as carbs hold onto water more but you’re not going to suddenly gain back everything you lost unless we’re only talking a couple of pounds.
I can’t remember how I started gaining. I don’t know if I just started binging again or if my back went out (old car accident that flares up about once a year & keeps me bedridden at times) but after a year of maintaining my weight I finally started gaining again. And that’s when I finally joined Weight Watchers.
