To ask you to critique my first week of low carb?

[CardoMondo]

I have a shit load of weight to lose. I’ve never been so fat so as of the 1st Jan I’m going low carb.

Can anyone talk me through my first week as I don’t know what I’m doing to be honest!

Day 1 - breakfast - full fat Greek yogurt
Lunch - omelette (two eggs, mushrooms, peppers and cheese served with spinach and Mayo
Dinner - beef medallion, cauliflower cheese and broccoli

Day 2 - breakfast - two boiled eggs
Lunch - salmon fillet with Philadelphia cheese, lettuce, tomato and cucumber
Dinner - homemade chicken masala with cauliflower rice

Day 3 - breakfast - Greek yogurt
Lunch - left over masala
Dinner - shepherds pie made with cauliflower rice and broccoli

Day 4 - breakfast - egg mayonnaise
Lunch - salmon with Philadelphia cheese and salad
Dinner - heck pork sausages, cauliflower mash, broccoli

Day 5 - breakfast - Greek yogurt
Lunch - left over shepherds pie
Dinner - chilli con carne (without kidney beans) with cauliflower rice, cheese and sour cream

Day 6 - breakfast - 2 boiled eggs
Lunch - left over chilli
Dinner - tandoori lamb chops (sides?)

Day 7 - breakfast - Greek yogurt
Lunch - 2 egg cheese omelette
Dinner - mousakka (made with aubergine instead of pasta)

How does this sound for week 1? I’m also going to aim for 15000 steps a day (I currently do around 4000

Hmmmm... how many kcal are you aiming for/ day? I think it sounds great for weight loss, but really bland and boring (to me!). If it seems sustainable to you, then that's perfect.

No fruit? Do you not like them or are you worried about the sugar?

What helps me (i know a lot of people disagree) is a cheat meal/week. Never a dinner, always breakfast or lunch, usually on a Saturday.

Best of luck OP!

Fine if this is what you want to do - I’d wack in some more veg tho and your breakfast is a bit minimal.

I know it’s annoying when people offer unsolicited opinions, but do you need to do this for a long time? If you do I worry it’s unsustainable - would you consider a more moderate approach like Second Life or Louise Parker?

Where's the veg??

From a low carb POV it looks good although I would add in a bit more green veg and of course shit loads of water.
Obviously don’t eat any fruit

Also cauliflower rice can get a bit boring so if I’m making things like curries or bolognese/chilli I’ll have mine on a bed of kale instead just to really up the green veg

All looks good. Watch portion sizes. Ensure you are smashing the water and I'd add some more leafy greens somewhere. Maybe do the eggy breakfast (Greek yoghurt high in carbs still) and have big tuna Mayo salad for lunch or roast chicken salad.

Most of your carbs should be coming from from green veg and I'd be surprised if you are even reaching 20g of carbs with that. Broccoli is your friend as are sprouts, spinach and green beans

And yeah, no fruit!

Why no fruit I thought berries were ok with low carb?
Up the salad and veg I reckon.

It's fine, but as others have said, drink lots of water and more green veg/salad. And def no fruit!

I like the sound of most of it but I don't think Greek yoghurt on its own will satisfy you for long. I'd have some berries and/or seeds with it and maybe a spoonful of cashew butter (which I love when low carbing).

To go with the lamb chops, maybe stir-fried vegetables with some spices added? I always find crunchy vegetables like cabbage are really filling, especially if they're only lightly cooked.

@cheeseisthebest

Why no fruit I thought berries were ok with low carb? Up the salad and veg I reckon.

Berries are low carb but only in tiny quantities. You get significantly more vitamins and significantly less sugar from green veg. If you are trying to wean yourself off sugar then sweet things should be avoided. Can be introduced in small quantities once you're well on the way but OP is in the first week.

Can I suggest you join the low-carb bootcamp threads. There is another one starting mid January and it is full of support and advice.

It has worked wonders for me. I started last May and I've lost 3 stone since then.

I've done low carb a couple of time - it is effective (just wish I didn't have sugary relapses).
The first time I did lots of cauliflower rice, courgetti, etc. More recently I didn't bother - just enjoy the texture of chunky cauliflower, etc - and it's a lot less faff.

If you really want to lose weight quickly, once you've adjusted to low carb eating, try introducing intermittent fasting - cut down from three meals to two (or stick with three if you can fit them in) and extend the period that you're not eating for - eg breakfast later, supper at 6pm.
Admittedly that's probably easier in summer when I did it, a lot of advice around this aims for 16/8 - so if you eat breakfast at 10am, you don't eat anything after 6pm.

Good luck with it!

Thanks for the advice. I don’t eat fruit anyway as I don’t like it and believe it or not, this is more veg than I currently eat! (I’m terrible!)

I like sound of spiced stir fry veg with the lamb chops

I’ll get some sprouts in as I do like them. Tuna I never thought of either so I’ll get some in for salads.

Speaking of salads, if you were making tuna Mayo salad, what do you put in the salad? (I live on pot noodles, this is all very new to me)

Its good but again very low on veg, l would steam 3 or 4 non root vegetables to add as a side dish, you will feel fuller, get more nutrients and it won't blow the calories.

Also l would add berries daily and almonds, and lessen the cheese.

Good luck !

You’re better off heading to the Low carbing board (you can ask MNHQ to move this for you) where you will get people who actually understand the science of low carbing and have lots of knowledge and resources on it.

Also check in with BIWI’S current boot camp chat thread - it will be on the boot camp topic. Lots of knowledgeable people who can give you really good advice.

Casting a quick glance it looks good. You need to eat a shit load of green veg, a lot of healthy fats and drink lots of water. Go easy on the cheese until you’re sure you can moderate well.

Good luck! BIWI should have another boot camp starting around February time which would be an invaluable source of support and guidance, but there is always a chat thread running as I mentioned above, for those who continue in between camps.

I’m really pleased that you’ve actually got some good replies/advice here which isn’t usually the case with AIBU.

Mayonnaise is the devil's food - or really not even a food, just a topping!
The fat is high, I recall once realising that there were more calories from the mayonnaise than the rest of my meal.

Recently I had M&S plant kitchen coleslaw, and was amazed at the comparatively low carb/fat/calorie count, compared to mayonnaise or conventional coleslaw. For a super easy tuna mayo salad, try this with tuna.

Have you tried the cauliflower rice yet? I was full of high hopes and I will eat anything if I think it will make me thin but jesus, one mouthful was all I could tolerate, it was evil.

Good luck, I'm on it too from January - so many stone to lose.

@EveryDayIsADuvetDay mayo is fine... you want high fat on a low carb diet

Add more carbs.
Your list has very little filling food and I see it is your aim.
Lots of the food you eat can you made healthy, get one calorie fry spray and lighter than light mayo.
For example my Dsis could grill a healthy slap up breakfast with mushrooms, beans, tomatoes, bacon remove fat poached eggs. She lost 5 stone.
If you eat it early it will give you a foundation without starvation.

Meant add more veg.

Mayonnaise is absolutely fine. Especially if you make it yourself.

Ignore the advice to cut the fat and up the carbs. Absolutely do not use any “light” products if you’re low carbing.
Advice to go over to the low carb board where people know what they’re talking about is good

Low carb should be low carb/high fat.

Cauliflower rice can really vary. The ones in sachets that you keep in the cupboard are vile but I like the frozen ones. And homemade is nice. Just messy!