Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

How do you know which diet is best for you?

8 replies

Avelandra · 04/01/2021 12:58

I desperately need to lose a lot of weight but just don't know how to go about it. I have insulin resistance PCOS which makes it even harder, and the weight has just been piling on recently. I take various supplements - inositol to help with insulin, vitamin D, magnesium and iron. I have started to do C25K 3 times a week, and I do HIIT workouts at home 4 days a week. Ideally I need a whole lifestyle change rather than a crash diet

I have found a lot of information regarding low carb, but I don't know whether I should be doing low carb and low fat, or just low carb, or low carb/high fat etc. There are so many different options and I just don't even know where to start

OP posts:
CodenameVillanelle · 04/01/2021 13:00

Research.
Low fat and low carb together is not a good combination. Have a look on the weight loss page, there is usually a low carb boot camp thread going or about to start with loads of info.
Also you need t pick the lifestyle change that you can stick to long term. For me that's calorie counting as I don't want to cut out any foods.

Defiantly41 · 04/01/2021 13:12

Various diets work better for various people (stating the obvious but true). All diets work, it's mainly about can you stick to them for long enough to make a difference/ become a semi permanent change in your way of eating.

PCOS tends to respond well to low carb. It's worth reading about the science behind it (try Gary Taubes 'what if it's all been a big fat lie'). The reason for high fat with low carb is partly that is makes it bearable for long enough for the body chemistry to do its thing, you are much less hungry with high fat and it means there's always something you can eat e.g cheese, boiled egg etc

Low carb with low fat is hard to stick to, you will be very hungry, and so tends to work best as something like Fast 800 - a short sharp reset rather than a permanent change.

When I first read about low carb high fat I honestly thought the author was mad. My reaction was 'but that goes against all the advice' (the advice being lots of low fat starchy carbs, with tiny amounts of fat, and that all calories were equal so as long as you stuck to your calorie limit, for weight loss it didn't matter if 100% of your calories were from chocolate). Then I thought ... but you're sticking to the 'advice' and you're fatter than ever ...so it must be worth a try.

And it was. I lost 3 stone fairly effortlessly as long as I stuck to it, including eating out at least once every week, sometimes twice, I just learned what I could have from various menus and stayed away from carby sides, the bread basket and puddings, although I did sometimes have cheese.

What is most striking is the lack of hunger once you're in the zone. Having been a hungry person my whole life, I found myself occasionally skipping meals because I wasn't hungry, and have ended up with a largely 16:8 fasting pattern (again, lots of science about how this is good for the body)

pensivepigeon · 04/01/2021 13:35

That's so funny, I found low carb reduced my appetite. Previous to that I used to get ravenous. However since having D.C. I wanted to have a more balanced approach which included more grains because of the nutrition in them - B vitamins and Magnesium. So now it works for me just to amend my portions of starchy carbs to much less. I make up the space left on my plate with green veg / salad.

Logging intake, calories, macros with exercise is good because you can systematically tweak stuff if and when you plateau or there are any other issues.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

pensivepigeon · 04/01/2021 13:36

Defiantly41 oh, sorry I misread you. Yes, low carb with low fat can be miserable. I definitely don't do low fat!Grin

Avelandra · 04/01/2021 14:47

@Defiantly41 I have been reading a lot about low carb/high fat, and agree that it does sound strange at first but have seen a lot of people saying it really does work

What sort of things do you eat in an average day if you don’t mind me asking

OP posts:
DishedUp · 04/01/2021 14:52

Realisitically its whatever you can stick to. People will advocate various diets but its personal preference as to what you stick to long term. Basic principles of plenty of fruit, veg and fibre. Maybe with PCOS id start with low carb

Low carb low fat is just boring and you aren unlikely to stick to that long term. Personally I like carbs and so low carb doesnt work for me. What sort of foods do you like eating? Generally what is your meal pattern like, are you a snacker? Look at your existing diet and what it is you genuinly enjoy eating and work around that.

MsRinky · 04/01/2021 16:03

The two things that work for insulin resistance are fasting and low-carb. I wish this wasn't true, as I also have PCOS and adore carbs with a passion, but there we are.

Defiantly41 · 04/01/2021 16:48

I'd recommend the advice and support of the Low Carb Bootcamp (there is a spreadsheet with the 'rules'). I can't link from the app but @BIWI should be along soon and along with the other contributors to those threads will have loads to help.

I tend to stick with whole foods as much as possible, avoiding most fruit, all fruit juice, sweets, chocolates except 85% or 90% cocoa chocolate, crisps, pastry, bread, rice & pasta. What's left to eat? Meat, fish, eggs, dairy (full fat Greek yoghurt, plain kefir, cream, cheese are all fine for me, not everyone can lose whilst eating dairy), salad and green veg mainly. Some people can cope with nuts and/ or berries.

Today I've had Greek Yoghurt, coffee with cream, mushroom soup made with cream and will be having smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and some spinach sautéed in butter for dinner. I think there's a low-carb 'what have you eaten today' thread too, which is great for ideas

Good luck

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread