Best easy way to start low carb without missing snacks

[Batsypatsy]

Posting here for traffic.

I need to lose some weight and thought I'd try low carb.

I'm happy with omelettes for breakfast, meat and veg for dinner without carbs, but what can I snack on? I'm on a tight budget too so can't buy smoked salmon for example. No Aldi nearby, I shop online from tesco. I'm not a great cook so be gentle please

Thanks. I've got bovril, will that do?

You can still lose without Keto. But might be beneficial to set up a carb limit per day. Use a carb calculator (from a UK site as US work out carbs differently) to work out what you want your limit to be- but you may want to also stick within the fat and protein limit. I swing between clean and dirty Keto and have lost 2.5 stone since January and that’s with a few meals out too. I track my carbs when I remember but usually just checking packaging is enough. Today for lunch I had half a tub of ready made prawn cocktail and salad and half a tub of sundries tomatoes and mozzarella balls. About 14g of carbs (I aim between 20-30g a day) so not clean Keto due to the sugar in the prawn cocktail but it was lovely.

I’ve been keto for over a year now...I’d recommend keeping under 20g for at least 2 weeks to get your body fat adapted

I’m totally dirty keto now though

Thanks. Can i use MFP?

I use MFP- you won’t be able to see the macros unless you buy the premium package. But you’ll be able to set the carbs, protein and fats and see how much you have left. If you use MFP put in the name of the brand when you input food, e.g. Tesco broccoli etc

put in the name of the brand when you input food, e.g. Tesco broccoli etc

How would Tesco broccoli be any different to any other?

It affects the difference in carbs- sometimes by a vast amount. Just done broccoli as an example- both 100g portions, one Tesco and the other just broccoli. The MFP includes data from other countries. The US, for example, calculate their carbs completely differently to us

Thanks.

I've started the day with a cheese and tomato omelette. I've some mince so will make something with that for late lunch/ early dinner, then the shopping is coming tonight. I hope I can stick with this. I gave up sugar and snacks last year but they've crept back in and I'm feeling rubbish. I need to lose two stone at least - I haven't weighed myself because I get very anxious about my weight and tend to sabotage my diet then so I'll go by how I look and how my clothes fit - everything's tight at the moment.

Yes I want to cut snacks out but most of all I don't want to fail, so hopefully having a few low carb snacks whilst I'm getting used to it will help.

If you want to lose weight longer term then stopping snacks would be a good idea. With 3 meals a day you dont need snacks at all.

Yes that's my aim. I just know that after the first few days of feeling virtuous I tend to feel rubbish and give up, I want to stick with it this time, so hoping that if I stick to a few low carb snacks until the hunger passes, which I'm told it will on low carb, I'll manage to carry on.

It was certainly my experience with low carbing that my hunger levels/urge to snack dropped dramatically after the first few weeks BUT I would never have got through that initial adaptation period without having low carb snacks to hand. I didn’t snack all day or even every day, but when I did it stopped me falling off the wagon. Fail to prepare and prepare to fail, and all that

Thanks LiveFats That's what I thought too.

@Harp1977
We have ham and chicken in spices ( I cook and shred whatever is on offer) in baby gem leaves."
Oh god this sounds lovely, have you a recipe / which spices ? Would love to try it out

Batsy - I did try to snack ‘mindfully’ if that makes sense. So first I would try drinking water or herbal tea, and if I still felt hungry then I would have a couple of spoons of yoghurt, or a few olives, or one slice of ham and a chunk of cucumber. Usually I found it was enough to tide me over to a proper meal. I lost 1.5 stone, and felt pretty good after the first couple of weeks (which I will admit were rough). Make sure you eat loads of green veg to stay healthy

Thanks.

Yes Harp the recipe sounds great. Would love to try it too.

I've just had broccoli and green beans with my mince in gravy, it was lovely.

I have cold sliced meat with butter spread in it and rolled up. Made me realise I don't need bread!

I've not craved any carbs once I got through week 2. My sweet tooth has reduced too!

My shopping arrived I've had a Babybel and a few slices of salami as I was still hungry after dinner.

How about celery?

It's so unrewarding taste-wise that you may just decide it's not worth bothering with snacks. OTOH, it will provide lots of crunching and chewing.

I quite like celery and cream cheese

I have a couple of pickled onions for crunch (check the carb contents as they can vary widely), with a few strong cheddar cubes. It satisfies my hardcore crisp craving.

I like a bit of celery spread with cream cheese or nut butter. Or a few nuts. Or a chicken bovril or miso soup. But generally I haven’t needed to snack.

Thinking about this, I make sure I fill up with meals so only have one snack a day (evening while watching tv). Snacking is a no no on boot camp but I'm not feeling like I'm missing out.

Following for some good ideas! Greek yoghurt is good with berries