Right, that’s it, I’m going carb free

I’ve been doing it for about 6 weeks, feel much better and can tell my body shape is changing (I don’t weigh myself) and my clothes are fitting better.
Some days it’s fucking boring though!
I’m usually okay with eating from a much smaller selection but over the weekend I found myself being really unenthusiastic about my meals. Still sticking to it though.
I’ve just cut out bread, pasta, rice and potatoes, not really eating a lot of fruit but I am eating some. I’m not hardcore low carbing, I suppose im just eating ‘less’ but we are a family who would usually have at least 2 types of those carbs every evening meal. And now I’m not.

Week 1 - May '24 Low Carb Bootcamp. And off we go! | Mumsnet

I think when you hit your 40s you have to reassess your diet, our body changes and so does how it handles food.

The only 'diet' that I lost any significant weight on (probably coz I kept it up for longer) is one I made for myself! We all know the eat less, burn more, count calories, reduce sugar and carbs rules etc etc
I find when I diet and really restrict calories after a few days my body goes 'oh we are in a famine, lets hold on to all the fat' and I just stagnate. I find I have to keep my body confused!!

So I did a mix of 'completely carb free fasting half the day' days with some low carb days (so cutting out obvious carbs - bread/pasta/potatoes/rice) and then the odd day of eating whatever I want even doughnuts and baguettes. I don't eat low fat anything as they have to replace the fat with something and it still takes awful! Drink more water as I am normally rubbish at that. I don't drink alcohol much. A big night out every couple of months and the odd glass of wine maybe every 2 weeks.

My weight has crept back up (every day seems to be some sort of 'treat' day in work etc) so I am about to start doing the above again. I feel like the above is sustainable long term as it's never too long before I can have a meal with carbs or a treat meal out etc.
I think I am going to do (mixedup and depending on what I have on each day)
1 x almost fasting day (so just cups of tea/water) so after early dinner one night to then eating a late dinner the next day.
2 x carb free days
2 x low carb days
2 x normal days allowing carbs

I am not a runner or very sporty at all so I am going to try and do some body weight stuff to help build up muscle.

My tuppence...

Intermittent fasting
Cut out UPF and sugar as much as possible - this is key!
Mediterranean style diet - mostly plants, moderate amounts of lean protein, and small portions of unrefined carbs (especially vegetables and lentils), healthy fats and dairy.

Plus exercise, especially weight training. Not necessarily to lose weight, but to facilitate a healthy lifestyle and prevent deterioration of health and fitness as you get older. Lots of good workouts on YouTube, including:

Lucy Wyndham Read for beginners
Heather Robertson, Rebecca Louise, Growingannanas if you want more of a challenge
Caroline Girvan for weight training with dumbbells - she is excellent - can't recommend her enough!

This, exactly! The way of eating which works for weight management is the one you can sustain, indefinitely. Anything else is simply yo-yo dieting.

You won't like it, but my tip is, don't. You say it's worked, but in the nicest possible way, if you're unhappy with your weight again, it really hasn't, has it? Because worked, means a way of eating that maintains the weight you want to be long term. I'm in my 50s, and for 5 years now I've maintained a BMI of 21 and am 8 stone 10 at 5' 4". I eat all the carbs, just avoid the very processed white ones. I follow a vegan whole foods diet with an emphasis on the most nutritious foods I can find, and avoid eating anything where the only value lies in the taste. Nothing else has worked for me but this.

And the sensible ones who like me need the accountability to stop falling into bad habits, go regularly free of charge to maintain our weight

SW hasnt had a penny from me since November and I still have access to groups and online

It only doesnt work when you stop doing it. And there is no reason to stop doing it, its a healthy balanced diet

You're going to upset everyone now OP by saying 'carb free', even though your OP is clear what you mean, you just want to minimise the main carb players rather than 'cut out food groups' as people are so keen on saying.

Yes I eat lower/low carb, I do have porridge in the morning with steel cut oats but I also use rolled oats if we run out, I have dried fruit with that, so thats my biggest intake of starchy carbs through the day

Then each meal is largely protein and veg, I do also have quite a lot of carbs via milk through the day, and things like cottage cheese or greek yoghurt.

My snacks are nuts, cheese, home made plain pop corn (bit carby). I eat quite a lot of pulses and legumes, so they are higher carb but they dont seem to set off cravings in me like bread/pasta/potatoes. I very occasionally eat rice, I make batches of it for the freezer, I do find it quite bloating.

The NHS considers a low carb diet being under 100g of carbs I think or thereabouts, I used to be under 50g and it was better for me but I had to add in my porridge and dried fruits which bumps it up. I dont mind that so much. I tend to hover around 80ish

For me, even though extreme low carb causes me to lose weight like crazy, I can never sustain it. I think trying to avoid refined carbs like white bread, pasta, chips etc whilst including small portions of wholegrains like brown rice and brown bread is the best approach, or it has been for me! I also try to go heavy on the veg with every meal even though most vegetables are carbs, they aren't refined so its not the same as a plate of pasta.

You could do overnight oats with full fat natural yoghurt and frozen berries but only a small amount of porridge oats and have it for breakfast? I’m getting married next year and want to lose A LOT of weight so I’ll be joining you…starting Monday obvs.

Hasnt there been an increase in heart problems in people who restrict carbs?

If you restrict them too much your body breaks down muscle. It doesn't just focus on fat cells. We need carbs.

Just stay away from refined carbs. The body doesn't know what to do with them anyway part from storing them as fat. There are healthy carbs in the world.

Isn’t a low carb diet strongly associated with reduced life expectancy? Swapping refined carbs for wholegrains is probably best.

Edited to add source: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(18)30135-X/fulltext

Your plan sounds more low carb than carb free because rice and oats definitely have carbs. It's really hard to go carb free, even veg has carbs.
maybe a healthier way is to do low carb and eat smaller portions of healthy carbs like oats, brown rice, wholemeal bread etc. Just a normal sized portion with your meal. Which is a lot smaller than you probably think. Two to three tablespoons of rice is a portion, one medium slice of bread is a portion. BUPA and Association of UK Dietitians have portion sizes

Go for it!
Take a look at this for some tips.
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I would start the day with porridge as it’s is carbs and protein and filling and then cut out other carbs through the day. I don’t believe cutting out any food group entirely is healthy and this works for me

That’s the same with any ‘diet’ though. If you go back to eating the same way you did before, you will go back to the same weight you were before. With any diet anyone undertakes, you need to think about the maintenance phase afterwards. For me, cutting carbs down stops me from craving carbs, which makes it more sustainable than any other diet I’ve tried.

What do you mean 'carb free'? You've just said you plan to eat rice and do you know that carbs are present in fruit, vegetables and other food?
Low carb is great, removing processed carbs is great but you need to be educated on what you're eating and not eating

Restricting*

If low carb worked then what happened that you stopped and do you have a plan in place to continue low carb for the rest of your life.
Otherwise you are in danger of reaching goal again, stop, and the cycle continues

Low carb/carb free is a quick fix OP. Fast results but not sustainable and you'll end up gaining the weight back. Instead of restructing/cutting out food groups, just calorie count. Stopping snacking and taking 10,000 steps a day really made a different for me.

Cutting out a whole food group is unsustainable, especially when you think of the obvious carbs, rather than all the other foods that are also carbs.

It's much more effective to increase your protein at each meal, as well as considering macros.

For me, personally, I need carbs but I need to balance them with protein intake ideally, which naturally means I'll have fewer carbs.

To me, that sounds unsustainable.
However, how about cutting out sugar?

I am doing a combination of low UPF and using the Yuka app
This seems to be working for me
I never think cutting out food groups is a great plan

The only way WW (and SW) makes money is because people don’t keep the weight off and keep going back.

My plan is to cut out bread, potatoes and pasta completely. I’m guessing a little rice would be ok and some cereal/oats?

It depends how low-carb you are wanting to go. If you just want to cut back, then a little brown rice, and some steel cut oats are fine (but not instant oats), but keep them to small portions occasionally. If you want to go very low, then no.

You've got to do it in a way that you can sustain, so if rice and oats help you to keep this up, then have them.

Have you tried WW recently? The new program is brilliant. When my DH went to the doctor for help with losing weight, he was told that clubs such as WW and SW are now not advised by the NHS and that gentle low carbing was the way to go. So cutting out all white carbs, and keeping other carbs to small portions only, or avoiding all together. Carbs really are not necessary when you are losing weight.