Anyone else not been able to stick to a low carb diet?

[Housemartinshappyhour]

I tried to do a very low carb, high protein diet for around 3 weeks.
No bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, anything.
No cakes or crisps, etc.
No dairy milk
I'd have grilled bacon and eggs or veggie sausages for breakfasts, protein with salads and veg for lunch, same for dinner.

3 small snacks a day, nuts, seeds, cheese, fruit etc.

I'd also have protein shakes and bars, but they're very expensive so I've stopped

In 3 weeks my skin improved, stopped being as bloated and lost 1kg.
However I'd have a cheat day once a week where I'd eat all sorts of rubbish.

I just couldn't sustain it however. My diet was awful previously and I'm just on a more relaxed version of it now.

I eat wholemeal/rye bread only, have porridge with non dairy milk and honey for breakfast, sandwiches on wholemeal bread, brown rice, potatoes etc.
If i want a packet of crisps or a cake I just have one.
Haven't put weight on, I know it isn't as healthy as before and part of me feels guilty.
Do you think I should try to revert to the previous eating plan?
I just can't imagine doing that for life, it also became more expensive I think.
Does anybody else follow a keto diet permanently?

I've been low-carb for a few years now in that I avoid starchy carbs like bread, pasta, rice etc and luckily don't have a sweet tooth so don't crave biscuits and cakes. Very low carb is great for a few weeks to get you going and lose quite a few pounds quickly but too difficult and probably not do-able long term and it's also expensive!

I use the free app MFP and weigh myself every morning - it all suits me very well and I've kept off the 2.5 stone that I initially lost. At 5'2" that loss made all the difference to me.

I’ve low carbed for about 4 years for my T2D. I do occasionally have carby stuff, but as someone else said things do become way too sweet. I was on holiday a few weeks ago and had a couple of scones. I’m not super strict with it.

I've tried loads of times. I can do it for a few months, but I constantly crave carbs during that time ,and feel miserable. I did lose weight, though. But it was expensive, felt like I was depriving myself constantly, had to eat lots of things I didn't like and not things I did, ended up not bothering to go out with people as the temptation was too great. Sugar cravings never disappeared.

But I know I need to do it again :(

I've never tried it but I would never kid myself that I could stick to low-carb, about 90% of dinners at mine involve pasta or rice or potatoes.

Running about 3x a week is my preferred method of keeping weight down.

At the moment I'm trying to lose a small amount of weight for a summer holiday next month so I've also been using My Fitness Pal, for a grand total of 12 days so far - I am 3 lbs down.

Proper low carb doesn't suit me at all. I eat less when I'm trying to lose weight but it's typically less obvious carbs like pasta because I'm doing portion control counting calories.

I lost loads of weight in 2016 doing slimming world and again in 2018 counting calories and maintained until lockdown 2020.

I like carbs, I'm grumpy and don't feel full if I don't eat them so cutting them out too much would just leave me falling off the wagon completely.

I've been diagnosed as type 2 diabetic a few weeks ago so I'm trying to get my blood sugar down.

I did some reading and some watching of youtube so I'm doing low carb high fat. following the guidelines of Dr Sarah Hallberg

www.dietdoctor.com/remembering-dr-sarah-hallberg

It's brought my fasting blood sugar from 16 to 9, it needs to go lower.

Her rules are :

    Low carb, but not no carb
    Eat protein for breakfast

So my typical breakfast is now yoghurt with fruit and nuts or a cheese and bacon omelet.

For snacks I'm having cheese or nuts.

My weight has dropped, on my scales I have gone from 104 Kg to 102 since the 12th May.

My Dr weighed me at 106 kg but at my nurse visit her scales said 100Kg.

I'm also on metformin so I don't know how much of the reduction in blood glucose is from that or the diet.

All I know is things are going in the right direction.

There’s nothing wrong with eating carbs! Or anything else, for that matter.

Just eat plenty protein, keep to a reasonable calorie deficit, and you’ll lose weight in a sustainable manner.

Cutting out food groups is not necessary.

I've tried it before and after a couple of weeks it just makes me feel ill - eating all that fat and rich food (somehow carbs tend to absorb some of the fat/richness usually?). I'm also vegetarian and the thought of another egg based dish after a while is just yuck... but there aren't that many low carb veggie options.

My happy medium is avoiding the obvious sugary carbs but still having some bread, brown rice, fruit etc.

Your current diet, with your porridge, rye and wholemeal bread etc , sounds very healthy, and also sustainable.

Wholemeal carbs are not your enemy. Keto is not a way to live on a permanent basis.

You need to try Lumen. It's a bit pricey but I think it could fit your way of eating very well. Even if you don't want to commit to it, read about the science behind metabolic flexibility. Basically, it's a low-ish carb diet with good carbs but not full on keto which isn't really sustainable long term.

Also recommend reading 'The Glucose Revolution' - shows you how to have your carbs and eat them too 😀

Never pay for a diet, absolutely no need.

@LunchPoems

Thanks. I do MFP. Was impressed that I'm currently on a 124 day streak !

@SausageAndCash

Correct

@ToffeeNotCoffee that’s great! I use MFP too, but managed to wreck my streak by trying to change calorie goal - gutting 😃

Yes. I find it really hard to stick to.

I tried it a few years ago and thought it was awful. I was doing a vegetarian version but eating plenty of eggs, cheese, full fat yoghurt, veggie protein etc. Never been so hungry in my life and I didn’t even lose any weight!

I'm T2 diabetic, and have lost nearly 4 stone by following a lower carb diet. I don't eat any kind of bread other than seeded Vogel, I don't eat potatoes/rice/pasta/cereals of any kind. You kind of just get used to it to be honest, but I found that strict low carbing made me really miserable and extremely constipated. I remember reading an article once that said it takes 66 days of doing something for it to become a habit, and I do think that once you've made that lifestyle change, it becomes easier.

Sticking to low carb needs forward planning and the realisation that you do need to see it as a lifestyle shift. Plenty of protein is really important - that’s what keeps your appetite in check - and I have cook days where I make big trays of low carb recipes and then divide them into portions for freezing. That way, there’s always something in the house to eat, and it’s easier to avoid falling into a toast binge!
I agree about the not having cheat days - it just makes it harder in the long run. Once you adapt how you eat and make it a habit, then having the odd slice of cake etc isn’t a problem, and you’ll also find you can add in more carbs when you’re maintaining rather than losing.
But it is hard - mainly because so many snacks and convenience foods are carb-based. And delicious lol

Fruit isn’t low carb 🤨
did you do blood ketone testing? I doubt you were in Ketosis…2 pounds in 3 weeks doesn’t sound right…

I think low carb works if you a)like meat and b) don't have cheat days.
Your carbs have to come from vegetables (the green kind not the jacket spud kind). You do need some carbs. You can get very low carb bread (love life in Waitrose) so you can still have a sandwich or egg on toast, which makes it a bit easier if you don't have time to prep or can't store a more complex lunch.
Ive done it in the past and it was great. My dad reversed his T2 diabetes on it.
But it's hard to socialise on this way of eating - you realise just how much life in the UK is geared around eating or drinking alcohol.

health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall This makes interesting reading about all the various diets.

The article does look a bit like something a journalist might have done on their own, but the list of experts who came up with it is impressive health.usnews.com/best-diet/experts

Can you go on the keto diet if you don't eat red meat? I eat chicken and fish

Yes, it just reduces the variation in the meat aspect. What I do think would be hard is doing it without dairy (cheese is a great low carb snack) or as a veggie

I think the effectiveness of low carb varies from person to person.

I know I have a tendency to diabetes as I have PCOS and had GD in pregnancy. So low carb really works for me. It may not help so much for others.

Even so, low carb/ low GI is way more sustainable for me than no carb/keto. I follow a relaxed version similar to yours OP. I try to limit bread, flour, sugar, cereal, white rice. I don’t worry so much about lower GI carbs like new potatoes and pasta (I ought to eat less pasta though really, I’m always bloated after it, and my skin was awful after a recent trip to Italy!) I do try to have non carb snacks like nuts or cheese.

Have a look at Glucose Goddess - silly name but her tips do work to reduce blood sugar spikes, which in turn reduces carb/sugar cravings.

As a PP said, I find it makes me really hungry and grumpy/emotional.

I saw a great cartoon once that had pictures of people from different nationalities - Japanese, thin eating rice, Indians, thin eating roti, Italians, thin eating pasta, French, thin eating bread, Americans, fat "it must be all the carbs"

My view is that it's all about sticking to regular meals - no snacking, no excessive amounts of food, 2-3 meals a day. That is sustainable and what cultures where most people are slim do