The Keys to Long Term Low Carb Success

Several years back, I wrote a proposal for a book about long-term low carb success. Sadly, no publisher picked up the proposal -- this was at the height of "low carb is dead" -- so the project died a-borning.

In the process of writing the proposal, however, I put out the word for people to let me know about their long-term low carb success, or lack thereof, and what they felt the contributing factors were. Two things rose above all else as the make-or-break influences on low carb success.

I would love to be able to say that low carb cookbooks, and learning to plan whole new low carb menus, were among those factors, but they were not. Oh, many people did say that trying new low carb recipes was part of their success, and learning new ways to plan menus, but as many people said they just based their meals on a slab of meat, fish, or poultry, plus a salad or simply prepared vegetable dish, which is great.

No, the two things that stood out as the keys to long term low carb success were:

1) Support
2) Attitude

I'll elaborate.

Support was vital. Many successful low carbers said that they went low carb with their spouse, others with a sister, their mom, or a friend. Others said they got no support at home, but they sought it out on the internet -- they read the low carb blogs, joined low carb message boards, read all the news reports, any and all online support they could find. Too, a number of the successful folks had doctors who supported their efforts, some of them from the get-go, others coming around when they saw the low carber losing weight and their blood work improving.

The folks who fell off the wagon, conversely, felt that no one supported them; often their spouses were hostile, demanded the same old carb-y junk be served at every meal, even made fun of the dieter's efforts. Many had doctors who were dead-set against the whole notion of low carb. Many felt they were the only person in their whole circle of acquaintance who ate this way. I don't know why these folks didn't seek out the online support others without local support did; it could be anything from just not realizing what was out there to limited computer access. But the upshot of the situation was that no support equaled eventual failure.

Which leads to the second, intimately connected predictor of success: Attitude. The folks who failed were sheepish about being different. They felt weird, they felt everyone was looking at them funny. They felt it was horribly rude to say a simple "No thank you" to the potatoes or the dessert at the dinner party. They were sure they were a terrible bother when they asked for things the way they wanted them at a restaurant. It may well be that this attitude held these folks back from seeking out the support they needed, as well.

People who were successful long-term were not a teeny bit apologetic about being low carb. No "I'm sorry" or "Gee, I don't mean to be any trouble" or "I know, it's kind of a crazy diet, but..." Heck, no! They were in-your-face proud about being low carb, convinced that they knew something hugely important most people didn't know, that their diet was not crazy, but The Answer To Health In General, and that everybody needed to hear about it. They were on a mission to tell everyone who would listen that the Low Fat Emperor Has No Clothes, and you were darned lucky you'd run into them and learned the truth.

Heck, no, they weren't going to eat the birthday cake at the office just to fit in. In a pig's eye they were going to knuckle under to their mother-in-law's nagging to just "try a little, this once won't hurt you, I made it just for you." And of course they were going to make sure the waiter brought them the steamed vegetables instead of the potato, what are waiters for?

None of this should come as a big surprise. I have a feeling that support and attitude are the two biggest predictors of success at most things. Still, I thought it was worth sharing.

One other thing that stood out: Among the folks who had support and a good attitude, but still fell off the wagon and were starting over, the common stumbling block was the Special Occasion. "Oh, I'm on vacation," or "It's the holidays, I can handle a few cookies and go back on my program after New Years" or the like were cited over and over again as the beginning of a long downhill slide. Be wary, be very wary of the special occasion Indulgence. It has torpedoed a lot of otherwise very strong and successful folks.