to ask for a very basic pre-holiday low-carb plan?

[AtYourCervix]

I'd look at the bootcamp threads but my fancykindle won't let me find it.

3 weeks til my holiday.

3 Weeks to shed 5 stone (I may have left it a bit late).

So..... low-carb?

The basics for a 3 week plan please.

[Thanks]

When I low cab I eat loads of chicken and steak. Not cheap, and not great for someone who doesn't like meat!

Eggs and tinned tomatoes is one of my meals, or chicken and cottage cheese. Veggie soups are good too, but not so much in this weather.

Sorry, not very helpful!

what are the rules on coffee?
When you say salad, bagged leaves with cucumber,tomatoes and beetroot etc?

oh and is there any pudding in the world I can still have?

I have been to lidl.

I have cheese, yogurt, olives, bacon, eggs,

Can i eat mushrooms?

Mushrooms are v low carb.

Yes - mushrooms very good! Lovely fried in butter, with some garlic and finely chopped shallot (much lower in carbs than onion), and a sloosh of cream.

Titalina - no hard and fast rule with coffee. Some say it provokes an insulin response, others disagree. Ultimately it's up to you - if it doesn't seem to interfere with weight loss, then carry on drinking it. However if you drink white coffee, you need to be careful because you can consume a large amount of carbohydrate in the milk you're using.

One pudding you could have is raspberries & whipped double cream.

Do you eat quorn? It's not as zero carb like proper meat or fish but still low enough to work with, my vegetarian DP has been low carbing since Feb and has lost around 3 1/2 stone.

Another pudding option is 80-85% dark chocolate, Aldi do a 5 pack of individual bars for about £1.20 or something, there are only around 5 grams of carbs per bar.

Some fab ideas here. I wonder if I could ask for help? After breaking my leg badly and stopping smoking (used to be a gym freak, can hardly walk far now) I put on 20lb very quickly. I am veggie and eat tons of carbs, diet mostly consisted of them. But never ever ate junk, and don't drink much either.
Anyway I have lost 19lb on the Cambridge diet, and after losing 14lb in a week I have come to realise that carbs do not work for me. I am going on hols in 2 weeks and really want to low carb, and I think this is now going to become a way of life for me from now on, as I simply can't excercise to burn off carbs, therefore they are storing as fat. I love quorn and am going to start eating chicken too. I was just wondering if this is possible to do as a life style choice, obv having the odd wine etc. I realise to maintain this weight and maybe lose more, this is something I am going to have to do. Has any one heard of the no carb pasta? I think you can buy it in holland and barret? Was wondering if its any good?

YABU to ask this on the AIBU board.

Nornironmum If you cut your carbs low enough to go into ketosis then you shouldn'thave wine/most alcohol as it's dangerous (google "alcohol and ketosis", I've seen it's effects first-hand so I'm pretty sure it's not just scare-mongering). The no carb pasta is pretty grim, very chewy! You can get a noodle version though which is slightly more palatable, they are best used to bulk up something like a stir fry rather than as a straight swap for a pasta and sauce type dish. Hope your leg is better now!

Jaffa I wondering where the was about posting on the AIBU.
Lurking as I need a kick start to lose some weight.

Courgette strips made with a vegetable peeler work well instead of pasta. Fry them in butter. I do mine in garlic butter.

Norn, the no carb pasta is vile! Courgette ribbons are much tastier and carry pasta sauce very well.

I am doing this way of eating fo rlife, I do not like what carbs do to my body or my health.

The odd wine at the weekend, especially white, wont do too much harm but will be used as fuel before burning fat, so more ideal for when you are at your target weight & maintaining.

Slimming world is working for me. Ive lost 7lb in three weeks which feels sensible. Ive cut out bread and am having fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, salads with prawns, salmon, ham, new potatoes or boiled egg for lunch. Loads of fruit throughout the day. Normalish dinners like stir fry or pasta without cheese and smaller portions. And the odd treat! Its just sensible eating but i like the structure and the shame of being weighed by a stranger is an excellent incentive!

MrsBrownsGirl - I'm sorry, but that's simply not true about alcohol and ketosis. You can quite happily drink alcohol and be in ketosis as many of us long-term low carbers can attest

Nornironmum - absolutely you can do this as a lifestyle choice! It's what all the low carb writers recommend. Low carbing has many health benefits beyond just the obvious of losing weight. A diet high in carbohydrate is implicated in diabetes, hypertension, cancer and Alzheimer's as well as obesity.

If you're looking for a pasta substitute, stay away from anything like Dreamfields pasta which claims it is low carb. But if you are near an Asian supermarket or Japanese food store, look out for shirataki noodles - they are zero carb. They are a little tough, and more like a rice noodle than egg pasta, but they do work very well in a stir fry.

Thanks BI I think I will hop over to the low carb boards soon.
I just know that if I went back to my old, though some would say healthy ways the weight would pile back on as I can't excercise. I can cycle a bit, but nothing like I used to. Plus I have read so many things now about not eating things that were not around years ago, that I think low carbing is the way forward. Though I do plan to have some carbs through veg, which I love. Am keen to try the courgette strips and also cauliflower rice.

Oh yes - you must have some carbs - it isn't about cutting them out altogether - but your carbs should come mainly from vegetables and salad.

Jaffa -i think you'll find i can't get to certain places. For some unfathomable reason the topic list doesn't work for me. And I don't care anyway.

Jaffa -i think you'll find i can't get to certain places. For some unfathomable reason the topic list doesn't work for me. And I don't care anyway.

I am discovering my inner carnivore!

A few Qs.

Can i eat mayonnaise?

How much cheese?

Why do i feel fatter than i was 3 days ago?

you can eat whatever you want as long as the total calories taken in are fewer than you are using, and it is a balanced diet. You use about 2000 calories a day just existing, but if you are fat you need to move around to burn more.

NHS eatwell plate will tell you about a balanced diet.

crash dieters end up fatter. Anyone who says 'x diet always works for me' is telling you that it NEVER works. Otherwise why would they repeat it?

I'm off for a walk.

Mayonnaise yes, so long as it's full-fat and has nothing weird in. Hellman's is fine. Check the carb count on yours.

Cheese - yes.

Don't know why you feel fatter. Hot-weather related water retention? I felt like a whale by the end of yesterday and my ankles were definitely swollen. I started low-carbing on Monday and so far I have put on a quarter of a pound. I think yesterday was just so hot my body was hanging onto every ounce of water it could, despite my best efforts at drinking.

OK. Will carry on with my meat and cheese and salad eating.

17 day diet is fab. I lost 10lbs in 17 days. The first stage is low carb with some carb added in at each 17day stage. 4 stages in total.