To attempt low carbing?

[VelvetSpoon]

My favourite foods (aside from chocolate, of course) are bread, pasta and potatoes. I eat at least one of the 3, some days all 3 (albeit not at the same meal!).

I need to lose weight because I weigh considerably more than I should. I am going on an activity type weekend in 3 months which will be pretty rough at my current size. I'm also going to a big wedding in 4 months and would love to have lost a decent amount by then.

Oh I also have gallstones which I'm waiting for surgery on. They are pretty quiescent as I'm careful not to eat cheese or butter, or anything deep fried, which tends to kick them off.

So if I low carb, stupid question but what do I eat? My eating is quite disordered and as a result of several SW attempts I tend to 'fill up' on pasta and potatoes.

I know the ultimate answer to losing weight is to eat less, but I do eat emotionally and compulsively so this isn't always easy. I also have a bf who does a lot of exercise and so doesn't really restrict what he eats (and he does virtually all the cooking).

So is it worth trying low carb especially with such a carb heavy diet as mine? Am I likely to be able to stick to it?

With mental health issues around food, you really need help with that first. Diet clubs are probably the last place you should be!

It is about eating less but as you recognise it isn't that simple for you.

I hope matters improve.

why not choose a sensible eating plan combined with increased exercise levels instead of some fad plan you have no chance of sticking to?

Hi,

I lost 4.5 st after the birth of my second. I did it by low carbing and using my fitness pal app.

My main day would have been:
Weetabix/granola and fruit
Salad with lean meat (Chicken, salmon, pork)
Another lean meat or vegetable.

I did also eat potatoes and pasta when they were part of the family meal but I only did this about 2 times a week.

I think the huge thing with me was no bad snacks. I snacked on while fruits or nuts.
I didn't eat bread at all.
I also drank 2.5ltrs of water a day.

I found it very difficult for a number of weeks, but once my body got accustomed to this diet it became a bit run of the mile.

I hope this helps :)

The problem is I don't know what sensible is!

I have been eating cereal for breakfast, sandwich or pasta for lunch, a dinner and dessert for the last few months but I've not really lost any weight doing that, admittedly I have had a few lapses of overeating within that, but equally some days where due to illness I've barely eaten, so the two should cancel each other out. I thought I'd lose some weight at least but I haven't.

Ok if you are low carb you need to watch sugar intake and replace it with protein and good fats. Cereal is awful... even the so called healthy options are packed with sugars. Try eggs for breakfast. With bacon if you like! Mushrooms. It'll fill you up and keep your blood sugar levels steady.
Read up on food pairing as well...so a few squares of dark chocolate plus a handful of nuts which counteracts the sugar and slows the absorption rate. You need to and highs and crashes.

If it wasn't for the disordered eating, I'd suggest Michael Mosley's 8 week blood sugar diet. It's Mediterranean style eating and fairly low carb, but 800cals per day for eight weeks.

It might still be worth having a read about it, as you can do it by sticking to the principles of the diet without the calorie counting, or doing it in conjunction with intermittent fasting.

I'm at work when I have breakfast during the week so quite limited on what I can have. I do sometimes have scrambled egg on toast at weekends (obviously more carbs!) - any other way of cooking egg kicks off my gallbladder unfortunately.

I've not heard of food pairing, will look it up.

Have you thought of slimming world. I started last week and have lost 3.5lb.
Its more of changing what you eat rather than dieting.

I did read about the blood sugar diet as someone I know recommended it/ gave me the book, but I couldn't see how I could do a lot of the meals as I'm at work ft in the week. I will have another look at it though.

I've done SW twice. I won't go again. Whilst I lost weight I put it all back on. I found that it encouraged me to eat more than I did previously, huge plates of pasta etc, the group dynamics were such that the emphasis was very much on stuffing yourself, that if you didn't lose weight you hadn't eaten enough.

if you didn't lose weight you hadn't eaten enough.

Who let those people run a slimming club? Jesus.

Boiled (prepped night before) or scrambled eggs (in microwave at work) with lean ham and spinach for breakfast.

Cold chicken or lean meat or poached salmon with salad for lunch

Supper:

Stir fry with lots of veg, spiralised courgettes and salmon or chicken for supper.

Or cauliflower cous cous (whiz in food processor) and steam with lamb and salad

Pork chops and roast fennel and green salad

Chicken and homemade coleslaw

Steak and either butter bean or celeriac mash with green beans

Curry with chick peas and spinach

Aubergine layered with tomato and cheese and baked with green salad.

Avocado tomato and mozzarella salad wth basil

Prawn and chickpea curry

Satay chicken with bean sprout and carrot salad

Lots of water. Limit the booze

Tom Herridge's dopamine diet recipe book is great.

None of this is easy or cheap though.butbit works. Is tasty. Filling. Nutritious.

Low carb is fantastic. And surprisingly easy to do once you get past the first week or 2.

Have a look at the low carb bootcamp threads OP, there are some amazingly inspirational people on there, the recipies are delicious and it has completely gotten rid of my sugar cravings in a few weeks.

You'll be surprised how easy it is to stick to once you're through the first week.

I've lost 3 stone low-carbing so far - 9 months in. If you give it a good go and can't hack it after a week, at least you've tried.

I'd sort a meal plan out first though, and sort yourself some nuts/sugar free jelly and cream out to get you through the cravings. If you get headaches from your body withdrawing from sugar, have a cup of stock/oxo in water type of thing. Good luck!

Some people do brilliantly with low carb. I've done it a few times, but the weight has always come back on and then some for me.

I think the trick is to find a way to make it sustainable for you. Loads of meat at every meal is only fun for about a week and now I keep hearing how bad a meat heavy diet is for the planet etc, I don't know if I could bring myself to increase my meat consumption right now. Depends if that sort of thing bothers you. I'm sure there are ways to do low carb without increasing meat consumption if you wanted. It's just a consideration.

if I low carb, stupid question but what do I eat?
Things that are low carb? Like, look at nutrition tables on the internet? (E.g. www.nutritionvalue.org/) Google "low carb recipes"?

Typical meals for me

Breakfast - one of:
FF authentic Greek yoghurt with double cream and vanilla
Bacon, tomato & egg
Sausage, tomato & egg
Scrambled egg & watercress

Lunch
Selection of: 1/2 mozzarella, hard boiled egg, watercress, tomato, cucumber, mackerel, sardines, halloumi batons wrapped in streaky bacon, avocado etc

Dinner
Premium burger
Pork belly slices
Minty lamb chops
Steak
HM lamb koftas
Roast chicken
Served with either 1/2 plate of salad or steamed veg, dressed with generous amounts of olive oil or butter

Snacks
Slice of gouda with a slice of parma ham rolled up
Celery and cheese or cream cheese
Carrot disks with pate

Drinks
Coffee with single cream
Tea with FF milk (limit to 1 - 2 cups a day)
Mint tea/ herb tea
Very occasional glass of wine/dry cider/spirit with diet mixer
At least 2 litres of water

Eating carbs, especially fructose, but regular glucose and starches too, will entrench you in a carb craving cycle. Our bodies have no off switch for fructose - by design. It was great for surviving winter. Fructose used to either be limited by the short seasonality of fruit, or protected by angry bees. Nowadays it is available 24/7 at your local corner store to drive thru to giant supermarket and that hyper-ubiquity is maladaptive. All carbs throw your insulin, ghrelin and leptin appetite hormones out of whack.

First thing to do is to give up drinking calories, apart from the negligible amount from milk/cream added to drinks. Even fruit juice isn’t benign, it might contain vitamins, but just get them from whole fresh fruit… it has identical amounts of sugar as fizzy pop.

Then watch “That Sugar Film”… it’s available on youtube (it’s the one that has czech subtitles). It’s about how much sugar there is in supposedly “healthy” foods like fruit juice, yoghurts, cereal bars, breakfast cereal, cook-in sauces… before you even get on to candy, biscuits, cake, coke etc - a real eye opener.

Also look out for the Big Fat Fix, about eating a Mediterranean diet… not the bastardised version of pasta, pizza and tiramisù, but eating real meat, oily fish, salad, fresh vegetable, olive oil etc. Simple, quick, unprocessed home cooking. Nothing messed around with or commercial gak.

I will say that this way of eating is immensely satisfying… now I’ve got used to it, I never feel hungry as such, just feel ready to eat at the next meal. Food is delicious and satiating, and I feel like I’m being deeply nourished at the same time. I don't eat any starchy carbs or sugar now, beyond the tiny amounts in fresh vegetables and berries and the idea of going back to it now seems unimaginable. My weight has gone from 65kg at its highest, to around 58.5kg (BMI 27 to 24.3 and still going ).

If you get headachy in the beginning, just drink more water, take a dose of paracetamol and drink some bovril/marmite/stock in hot water to rebalance your electrolytes. It passes in a couple of days.

Low/no carbs send me batshit. Just saying.
What worked for me was -
Drink more water
Move more
Cut out all sauces and add more green stuff.
Eat when you're hungry, not because "it's dinner time" but have a glass of water before you think about eating.
Lost and have kept off four stone.

I've been low carbing for 3 weeks now and so far have lost 10.5lbs. It's tough at the beginning but once you get used to it it's fine.

The hardest part for my was to undo all the low fat nonsense that SW sprout and eat full fat stuff...cook with proper oil and not count calories. Low carbing is not for everyone but has worked wonders for me.

Wow ive not expirenced that yet (only had 2 meetings)
Im also doing my fitness pal. I don't each much like most seem to do on the plan but hoping to keep losing on it.

I will have to think about what I can eat for breakfast/ lunch. We don't really have a microwave to use. Although I think we can get scrambled egg in the canteen.

When I did SW my lunches were always pasta mugshots .

Dinners should hopefully be less of a problem once I've got away from relying on pasta or potatoes to bulk out a meal.

Low carbing works, but it needs to become a life-style change, otherwise it all comes back.

I find that I need barbs in the morning, otherwise my mind doesn't function.
So - toast, or granola, or wherever for breakfast.

But then - for lunch and dinner it needs to be low carb - so no sandwiches or pasta, or rice, or potatoes. And definitely - no desert after dinner - unless it's fruit/plain youghurt.
And that - at least 5 days/week.
With a bit of relaxing of it during the weekend

Here's what you can eat :

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/low_carb_bootcamp/1447493-Bootcamp-Recipe-Thread

Low carb works and works fast. However it does require an overhaul in eating. It's quite hard to inpromtu snack - no crisps or sandwichs from the local garage or shop.
In fact it does get you to eat less often which is really good if the calories have come from grazing and picking.

I didn't bother with the cauliflower rice because I immediately thought about real rice but I did find sticking meat on a roasted aubergine worked well ( I never liked them before). Looks massive and not many calories or carbs.
You also need things with flavour - chills, curries and fresh herbs with things .

I will have to think about what I can eat for breakfast/ lunch.
If this helps, I eat a salad for lunch every day: fresh vegetables with lean protein (fish or grilled meat). No microwave needed.