One of the things you first said to me about experimenting with portions in maintenance was the example about the "just the one biscuit" and I remember thinking "hmmm that's a carb, no way can anyone have just the one, I won't put myself through that, I'll just avoid the triggers alltogher, that's a bit too much experimentation and masochism for me!" and you know what? I still think that's right for me.
Which is how it should be. Question and experiment..find what works for you but keep an open mind too
but I admire that you worked out not only how to portion and retain control but how to do so when the hormonal response is potentially overwhelming which makes me believe that either you are the most strong willed person in the universe -quite possible!- or indeed, not really IR -more probable-.
Probably not IR, but there again I can get addicted to anything very easily, so the carb thing is just one of many things I can struggle with. As it happens, I find I'm more addicted to carbs with fats rather than carbs on their own. Yes, I can have a very strong desire for another biscuit, or even a few packets, but I don't seem to have quite the same addiction when it comes to eating bowls and bowls of plain pasta. I'd certainly stop after a while, whereas left to my body rather than my common sense, I could happily chomp the biscuits one after the other for days, or add some pesto with the pasta or creamy sauce and the urge is huge again.
This is very common and the last I read they found few people were addicted to carbs alone. Their triggers were nearly always for foods that were high carb, but also with fats and even some protein.
So maybe I am the strongest willed person in the world
, but I think not. I've spent a lot of time with drug addicts, both still dependant and also ex druggies. I've also lived with an alcoholic who gave up the booze, though he did actually have the occasional one.
How I saw it was that I was perfectly capable of having just one, because I had done it so very many times.
When I was at other people's houses, I never once raided their larder or rendered them unconscious because they only offered me one biscuit. I coped. When I had a puppy, I didn't kill it in a desperate attempt to get at it's doggie biscuits because there were no carbs in the house. Okay, I might have taken one when puppy wasn't looking but not if I had visitors watching me.
If I was in a restaurant, I never cried over only getting one bread roll with my meal, even if I had wanted another, I could manage.
So, why could I cope in other places, in a different environment and not when I was home alone. Surely if we are true addicts, then we would not be able to function outside the home at all. Mind you, I was getting to that point where I didn't want to leave the house as I wouldn't be able to binge, but at least I realised that I wouldn't be able to binge IYKWIM. I was never so desperate for the carbs that if I had to leave the house, I caused harm to anyone but myself in an attempt to get to plain carbs.
So that's what turned my thinking around. Of course, that doesn't mean that everyone needs to. Whatever works and whatever we can manage AND whatever we want to live with.
Personally, living on lower carbs is my idea of hell and I think anyone who can do that must have the strongest willpower in the world
alexmummy: yes, as misama says, you can increase carbs until you gain (aka atkins). Cambridge does it by increasing carbs whilst keeping cals low to avoid sudden shock on the scales. Other passionate low carbers have carb refeeding days which does show on the scales, but it doesn't bother them because they know it's not fat.
There are no "normal" levels. Certainly not the criminal 400 carbs a day the ADA advocated in the past!
I would say a normal level would be where you don't get a water gain with added carbs. Muscles refilled etc. I use the British and American guidelines which is about 50 to 55% carbs much of the time (well, when I track...which is rarely these days). It gives me approx 250g carbs on 1800 calories
