Why We Get Fat

Tracey and I got a couple of comments here yesterday for the first time in a long time, and it made me realize that hey, people still care about low-carbing and that hey, we haven't written here for nearly a year. Crazy!

You'll be happy to know that we're still at least semi-low-carb. I say semi, because we both still absolutely believe that this is the right way to eat, but we still have all of these great feelings attached to foods we know aren't good for us. And don't hate us, but we don't exactly want to do anything about it just yet.

We've both been eating low-carb breakfasts and lunches and then whatever we want for dinner, which is keeping our weights steady but not allowing us to lose anything. For us, just maintaining is a pretty big deal. Tracey has been keeping up with low-carb blogs and podcasts all along, but I have to admit that I stopped paying attention and stopped caring for a while. Here's something I wrote back in July, when I was coming around to low-carb again:

I picked up Gary Taubes's Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It knowing what it'd say, "We get fat because we eat grain and sugar." I thought it'd give me some motivation to stop listening to everyone around me who continues to tell me that all I have to do is eat "right"–meaning low-calorie–and go to the gym. What I didn't expect is that it would give me brand new insight not just about why we get fat but why I specifically get fat.

I believe Taubes when he says that people are just wired differently and that I'm just one of those people who can't eat carbs without consequence. After all, lots of people have terrible reactions to dairy or gluten. Lots of people get angry when they drink alcohol. I'm just a person who can't handle my sugar very well. It almost seems more manageable when I see it in those terms; I can do it, but I have to do it a little differently than all of those low-calorie/gym people.

When I see my my co-workers eating chicken fingers and pizza for lunch, I have to remember that they're not trying to lose weight. When I see my friends with the crazy metabolisms scarfing down cupcakes, I have to remember that diabetes and double chins aren't even on their radars. I have to remember that celebrities, people whose job it is to look good, eat low-carb.

I have to remember that it's not just for weightloss, it's for overall health. I have to remember that it's not the end of the world if I feel like I need to eat something carby as long as it's a one-meal break or a one-day break and not a one-month break or a one-year break. I HAVE TO REMEMBER TO STICK WITH THIS.

Let's do this.