I have been on low carb for a couple years, and its the way to go. But, My daughter has tried to lose for about a year now, and for awhile, on watching calories and fat she did lose. But like most of us, she came to a screeching halt. Now she is dumping all diets together. She is doing low calorie, low fat, high fiber, low carb, and south beach, altogether. I know it isn't the smart thing to do, but technically, how do I explain it to her? I have told her it doesn't work, but I don't know how to tell her 'WHY' it doesn't work.

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In the cookies of life, we are the chocolate chips.

MMM. Might be helpful to see what you mean by this. Can you post a day's actual menu of hers? Maybe it's not so bad as you think?

You really can't do "low fat" and "low carb" together. You can do "lowER fat" and "lowER carb" certainly, which is very much what south beach is about, I think.

I'm more concerned about her mental state going into this than her actual diet... as long as she is eating sufficient calories she'll probably be ok. But her though process might not be the one most likely to help her succeed.

Has she ever come here? We'd love to have her here, not to judge her diet, but to encourage her.

I don't have her daily menu, but she eats less then 1000 calories per day, and also makes sure there is no fat, and as few carbs as possible.

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In the cookies of life, we are the chocolate chips.

Well, that's probably the problem.

Less than 1000 calories is NOT enough for an adult female. And Dr. A did state that you NEED fat in order for this WOE to work.

Sounds like more of a Weight Watchers kind of diet really.

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DANDR

Starting weight: 196 lbs
Current weight: 149 lbs
Goal weight: 130 lbs

It sounds like a dreary way to eat. Not enough calories, not enough fat, she's gonna burn out fast!

She needs to decide what plan she wants to follow, read the book thoroughly and then make up her mind to stick with it for the long run in order to see any results. But ultimately it's up to her to decide. And the book she reads should explain it technically. That's why I like the Atkins approach - he explained it in a way that we could all understand, and it made sense!

I know how hard it is to convince someone that this is the best, healthiest way to eat. I've tried. All you can do is convince by your own example.

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Nita

yes, that doesn't sound healthy at all.

I think the best approach is to not focus on "which diet" with her, but just the health aspect. Any diet less than 1200 cals a day ( for women) should be medically supervised and only undertaken with a doctor's OK AND supervision.

That's what she needs to know.

And even the AMA says ultra-low-fat diets are dangerous!

I assume this is an adult daughter, in which case your influence is probably limited. Probably the best arguement you can make for moderation in her quest to lose weight is that the approach she's taking will probably mess with her metabolism and make it harder for her to lose weight, period.

Maybe do a search for the effects of yo-yo dieting on google or something? a couple of links could do the trick if she understands the implication of the crash dieting stuff...

good luck with her. (trying to get kids to be sensible===aggh!)

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