IS this low carb to maintain wright loss?

[kissmelittleass]

I'm vegetarian and have been making a lovely veg soup but would like your opinions on whether it's low carb enough to maintain weight loss. I've been using a knorr vegetable stock pot which makes 4 portions at 1.6 carbs per portion I usually have all the soup as that's all I have. I put celery, courgette, leek, garlic, white onion and red pepper in it. It's very nice and fills me up. I have had this as my main meal a few days this week.

Couple of comments - first, are you sure that's all the carbs it comes to? Onion and peppers can be quite carby quite quickly.

It's very low carb - so is your question actually about is this too low in carbs, so that you will encourage weight loss? I'd say that if you're eating this low, you're looking at weight loss rather than maintenance, although in reality, no-one can actually answer your question - because everyone is different in terms of the amount of carbs that they can tolerate.

What are your other meals? How many carbs in those?

Thanks for reply biwi, I meant 1.6 carbs per portion of stock then on top of that the added vegetables. I'm not great at guessing carb amounts but guess with the veg it comes in at about 20g carbs for the soup.
My breakfast would usually be 2 sticks of celery spread lightly with peanut butter, handful of almonds or walnuts and a small tub of natural yogurt. Sometimes breakfast is a few slices of cheese, few nuts and maybe 2 Ryvitas and about once a week I would have a small bowl of porridge made with water. I tend not to eat lunch but might have a few nuts sometimes.
Dinners are the soup I described home made or a veg stir fry with cauli rice, or a green salad with tomatoes, red onions and cheese or egg. Sometimes I make quorn mince bolognaise with courgette 'spaghetti', or a Quorn burger with onion wrapped in lettuce leaves with grilled tomatoe and quorn bacon.
Any advice to help me very welcome.

Forgot to add I would have 4 squares of dark chocolate a day at 4.4g carbs per 2 squares.

Sorry kissme - I didn't read your post properly!

I meant 1.6 carbs per portion of stock then on top of that the added vegetables. I'm not great at guessing carb amounts but guess with the veg it comes in at about 20g carbs for the soup.

You should be fine with this, but:

a) it's probably worth weighing your veg next time you make this, to work out the amount of carbs, just so you know
b) whether it's low or not depends on what else you're eating in the day
c) try substituting shallots for the onions, as this will lower the carbs further

My breakfast would usually be 2 sticks of celery spread lightly with peanut butter, handful of almonds or walnuts and a small tub of natural yogurt.

This sounds good, but just we aware that the carbs in peanut butter can be high - check the back of the jar. And also, when you say 'a handful' - how many is that?! A handful can be quite a lot! Again, check the back of the packet. And again - cracked record emoticon! - check the carbs in your yoghurt, as this varies quite a lot between brands - but especially, make sure it's a full fat yoghurt, not a low fat one.

Sometimes breakfast is a few slices of cheese, few nuts and maybe 2 Ryvitas and about once a week I would have a small bowl of porridge made with water. I tend not to eat lunch but might have a few nuts sometimes.

Ryvitas are not low carbs, and nor is porridge. However, this may not matter too much if you're maintaining - it all depends on how many carbs you can tolerate - but I'd try not to have these too often if possible.

Dinners are the soup I described home made or a veg stir fry with cauli rice, or a green salad with tomatoes, red onions and cheese or egg. Sometimes I make quorn mince bolognaise with courgette 'spaghetti', or a Quorn burger with onion wrapped in lettuce leaves with grilled tomatoe and quorn bacon

All this sounds good too - although check the carb counts of the Quorn.

Overall, this is probably OK - but only you will know! If you start to gain, then have a look at the things I've highlighted.

However, my other concern, looking at what you've described, is what seems like a relative lack of protein and possibly fat. It's important that you eat good fats and quality protein - can you introduce more eggs, for breakfast perhaps?

Thanks again biwi much appreciated advice! Natural yogurt is full fat at 8.5 a pot, almonds I would have about 15-20 once a day. The peanut butter I have is 5.4 per 100g and I would have about 40g of this on my celery for breakfast. The Quran burgers are 4.0g per burger and the quorn bacon is 2.4 per 3 slices. I think this sounds ok? I used to eat alot of eggs until i heard about a egg and a foetus being present, I haven't eaten an egg in months now I have a very weak stomach and it makes me feel sick to think about it. I might try the odd fried egg into my diet if I can, would I get protein from the nuts? Any ideas on what I could add bearing in mind I'm vegetarian and I don't eat fish either? I'm very fussy I'm afraid! Thanks biwi