I've recently made some diet changes and I'm on this road with you.
See a doctor and perhaps a nutritionist. Make sure you don't have problems with your thyroid, testosterone levels, etc. I did that a couple years ago and everything came back mid-range in all tested categories, though it did reveal bad LDL and got me on statins.
In my opinion, low carb diets are the worst ones out there. You do lose
weight, some would say by calorie restriction ultimately. I don't know if I buy that, because I still lost
weight eating massive amounts of meat and cheese, exceeding my ideal calories intake. There may be something to the metabolic effects of ketosis, but I think it's a hard state to maintain.
When on the Atkins diet, I lost significant muscle mass. I have never been a bodybuilder and never will be a bodybuilder, but I have lifted
weights at times over the course of my life to maintain strength. I was at my absolute weakest after weeks on Atkins, probably weaker than I had been in 10 years or more, after only about a 6 month layoff from the gym, and it took work to get it back.
Anyway, Atkins is old-school and has long been discredited. South Beach is a much better diet that acknowledges the harm of transfats and saturated fats and has more complex carbs after the initial phase. I would suggest you try it, if you haven't already done so. I lost
weight on South Beach in 2003, but then tried it the next spring and had some unpleasant side-effects and have been unable to do any low-carb diets every since. Any low-carb diet gives my diarrhea of the variety where my body will suddenly let me know to find a bathroom...or change of clothes within the next 30 seconds. It's not practical for me cause I have a job that sometimes takes me outdoors and from building to building. Assuming I bought into the claims behind them, low carb diets are NOT an option for me.
Many of the claims behind low carb diets are suspect, IMHO. They talk about how the food pyramid has made America fatter. Get serious. Americans don't follow the food pyramid, but instead opt for Twinkies and Big Macs. Yes, Americans have gotten fatter since the food pyramid came out, and food labeling (which no one would want to do away with), but it's more coincidence than cause and effect. People don't eat healthy. Some people like myself, and perhaps you, have poor metabolism and
weight is a struggle. Yet, I can't say that diet never played a part. I can't remember the last time I met someone that ate almost exclusively whole grains and vegetables and couldn't fit through the door frame. Give me a break.
Diets that are commonly criticized fail because of a break in willpower and when the diet is super strict it's almost inevitable. The key to making them work, I believe, is to recognize them for what they are...a tough act for follow for any length of time. A person should use a diet for a period of time to drop noticeable
weight and then normalize their eating to something more reasonable, however with healthy changes. It is unrealistic to think one can go back to his old habits, but it's unrealistic to deprive oneself altogether.
For example, my normal eating is oatmeal and an apple for breakfast. A turkey or ham sandwich (wheat, pumpernickel, oat bread, etc. preferred but sometimes white), banana, and Kashi bar. I'll have a Power Bar before exercising in the afternoon. Then about 8:00 or 9:00, after considerable exercise, I have a plate of whole wheat pasta and marinara with a fresh peach. Sometimes I substitute brown rice with corn, black beans, and tomatoes for the pasta. That being said, I do break from the routine on Fridays to have the special of fried catfish, french fries, hushpuppies, coleslaw, and a chocolate brownie here on the installation. And sometimes if I'm out shopping on Saturdays I'll have a half-pound burger with fries. I watch what I eat overall, would put my diet up against 90% of the general public, and exercise enough that I could probably get away with one somewhat bad meal almost everyday, though I don't want to get in that habit. I realistic, and I believe essential, temporary departure from good eating is not going to break me.
Perhaps you might want to take a look at the
Rice Diet book. It's a ballbuster and it's almost entirely complex carbs and highly vegetarian. I intend to try it for a month when I get back home and have a kitchen to cook in. I think it's a little too low in calories for my liking. For example, most of the time you'll be at 1200 calories per day and, being a person that regularly exercises, I will probably increase the portions about 25% and make it more like 1600. Yet, it shatters some of the common diet myths. Although a person will slow his metabolism if he starves himself, the Rice Diet gets one back up to around 1500-1600 calories per day after a few weeks, which isn't too much lower than one's max daily recommended intake...at an ideal bodyweight. People continue to lose
weight on the plan. Their bodies don't "shut down" and stop losing fat like some say will always happen. Also, although only about 5% of the calories come from protein, people that lift
weights do gain muscle mass and strength. There is even a story about a football player that added about 70 pounds to his bench press while following the program. Now, I do believe that higher than average protein is needed when a person is really dedicated to
weight lifting, lifts several times a week, and with a very high intensity, but excess protein is not needed for the average person that just adds a little weightroom activity in for general fitness along with other exercise activity.
