Low Carb Diet

[ScrubsandBubs]

Im considering following a low carb diet.
I've done slimming world before and lost 4 stone but that has started to creep back on and I'm frankly bored with SW
I love meat, fish,eggs,butter, cheese fruit and veg and have a very sweet tooth! I also love bread but I know when I eat loads of bread I feel bloated and sluggish.
So, is it just a case of cutting all bread, rice potato from my diet?
Any help gratefully received🍒

It depends how strict you want to be. Some people just cut out refined carbs and notice a difference. People on a strict low-carb diet cut out all grains and try to avoid starchy veg, most fruit and legumes, and sometimes nuts and seeds.
Some people get all technical and work with numbers, adding up and calculating their daily carb intake a bit like slimming world points. Your daily allowance depends on what works with their lifestyle and how quickly they want to loose weight.
Moderate carbohydrate: 130 to 225g of carbs
Low carbohydrate: under 130g of carbs
Very-low carbohydrate: under 30g of carbs

If you are significantly reducing the amount of carbohydrate in your diet, you may need to make up some of the reduced calories with either protein or fat.

Thanks Ricekrispie that's really helpful.
I eat so many carbs at the moment so I'm thinking I will start gently, cut out bread,potatoes,pasta.
I'm thinking lots of meat , eggs, salad, fruit and veg.
Eggs always fill me up for ages and I like the idea of full fat things, real butter and olive oil😋
Doing slimming world I satisfied my sweet tooth with fruits, usually melon, strawberries and mango. I know some fruits are more carb heavy than others.Would these fruits still work?

You’d be best to stick with berries (within reason).

From what I understand, you can have non carby vegetables...greens, salad stuff but not carrots, sweetcorn, peas etc.

Berries if you must have fruit.

Full fat versions of dairy products

I've tried it on and off...it works, keeps you feeling full and I didn't count calories or massively restrict portion sizes. I love meat, cheese and butter, unfortunately my sweet tooth always gets the better of me.

formerbabe that's my worry! I love cake but I also managed really well with fruit and yogurt on SW
I can do berries and full fat Greek yogurt.
I need to do.this, I'm like a fat sloth at the moment!

If you go on youtube, there are lots of low carb baking recipes for cakes/brownies/cheesecake. I just don't have the time or motivation to bother!

A simple one I think is Dr Unwins diet
Shown on the program 'the truth about carbs' a few months ago
All on one side of paper!

Hi,
Been on keto (low carb, high fat) for 8 months or so. Well done for losing so much on SW.

Personally I've found that SW can involve a lot of highly processed food, which we're not built to digest well. Keto/LCHF is a lot more eating closer to the source; natural veg, natural fats, fatty meats. A few others have basically got it nailed down- you need to eat fats to make up your calorie deficit- your body wont work properly if you're not getting enough calories (yes you'll lose weight but probably feel crap too). Keto is essentially retraining your body to burn fats stored in your body rather than the quick-to-access carbohydrates. The first week you'll lose water weight and you'll probably not lose anything major for another 6-8 weeks while your body "heals" (re-learns to use fat for energy).

A rule of thumb there's no cheating; I've basically just cut carbs from the shopping trolley and my DH and DD go for a carb load while I'm at work. If you're strict then you get quicker and more effective results (plus less tempted to cheat/fall off the bandwagon).

The diet doctor website is a good source of information and there's a few films on netflix- that sugar film and the magic pill.

Hope I've not rambled too much- good luck!

Join RH fitness, they have a facebook group.
I've found them really helpful with things like balancing meals and debunking diet myths.

ketomun thanks that's really helpful!
Will check out the diet doctor

Thanks everyone for your help, I'm really motivated to do this now.

There's a low carb section on MN. Worth a look. Worked for me.

And you'll lose your sweet tooth, once adapted. I've been low carb for three years, (I'm 72), lost nearly two stone, and although I have a few little treats (85%dark chocolate one square a night), I have little desire to eat anything high carb.

Yes I totally lost my sweet tooth on low carb, which was nothing short of a miracle.

the Low CArb Bootcamp threads on here are ACE and very straightforward. Lots of help from seasoned low carbers too.

That's good news nan My sweet tooth never really went with SW, I just keep eating mango instead of sweets!

Just be aware though that you can't just cut bread pasta and rice out and then double your intake of meat, cheese, eggs and fruit. If you do, you are basically just eating too much food to lose weight. If you cut almost ALL carbs and stay at 20-30g carbs the. You can eat a fair amount of protein and fat. But if you only cut out B,R&P but carry on eating starchy veg like carrots and also lots of fruit, and eat more fat and protein you will gain weight.

Another vote for the LCHF threads on MN. There are experts there who will be able to answer all your questions, also recipes and lots of moral support.

The thing that makes low carb easy though is that you can eat a similar volume of non carb for far less calories. So replacing B,R or P with something else generally does mean you loss weight in my experience as you do eat less calories with less carb.

That's interesting to hear that you may not lose weight for 6-8 weeks. I was going to SW even though I was following low carb, as I'd paid up front. I lost some weight the first week, then haven't for the last 2 weeks. I feel less bloated though and my sweet cravings are gone so I'm carrying on. I'm following the Diabetes UK low carb program which basically starts at 130g carbs and drops lower if you want. I have a free lifetime membership because I did the trial but I think it's a bit expensive otherwise. I do really like it though.

I think that you have the right idea by cutting out the white carbs first. You may find a super low carb diet like Keto too much of a shock to the system. Cutting those out for a month and then switching to low carb including your veg and fruit etc may be the way forward. You'll feel loads better energy-wise just cutting the pasta and bread, etc. out.

I intend to take it slowly to start with, cutting out potato bread rice and pasta. I will replace with salad green veg and eggs,
Are the best veg leafy greens? I'm thinking cabbage, sprouts, broccoli im going to stink
And strawberries blueberries melon for fruit?

I eat lots of eggs, cheese, mushrooms and courgette. You need to find which non carb foods you really like and stock up on them. These have been my wash go to foods. I remember someone on the LCHF threads swore by Brussel sprouts cooked in butter. I started pretty radical from the beginning and it worked for me because I lost weight really soon and my palate adjusted quickly.

I did low carb and lost four stone.

I also had to have my gall bladder taken out.

I now have spinchter of oddi

I’ve now got pernicious anaemia.

I am not saying it doesn’t work and it has worked for many. Just be careful.