BIWI and any other low carb experts! A few questions from a novice low-carber.

[SoMuchToBits]

Hi, I have recently been doing a lot of reading on the low carb threads, and have decided to follow this WOE. I want to lose about 2 stone (starting from 10st 10).

I started just over a week ago, and think I'm getting on ok, but have a few questions. Also, could you have a look at a couple of days of my food diary, and tell me if you think I'm roughly on track? Thank you!

Questions:-

1. Apart from 'carb flu' (fortunately I only had a mild headache for the first couple of days, nothing else), should I expect any side effects?
2. Apart from weight loss, what other health benefits can I expect?
3. Roughly what sort of weight loss can I expect? I lost 2lb in the first week - would this be about right?
4. I understand that I need to eat quite a lot of fat to keep me from feeling hungry, but am a bit concerned about cholesterol/clogged arteries. Will this become a problem if I eat LCHF long term?
5. Thinking ahead a bit, but when it comes to maintenance, what should I add back in to my diet? I was thinking along the lines of yes to whole fruit, nuts, higher carb veg (such as carrots and onions) and some legumes. I'm hoping to avoid adding anything sugary back in, so no cakes, biscuits, puddings, sweets. Also hoping to avoid refined starchy carbs (white bread, rice etc), but not sure about whole grains yet.

Menus:-

Yesterday
Breakfast - omelette made with 2 eggs, small handful grated cheddar, 2 mushrooms, 1 small tomato, cooked in butter.
Lunch - salad of handful of prawns, 1 rasher bacon, 1 avocado, mixed salad leaves, cucumber, small amount red pepper, mushrooms and mayonnaise.
Dinner - 2 chicken thighs (skin on) baked with garlic, chilli, basil, tomatoes ad olive oil, served with leeks sautéed in butter.
Snack - couple of slices of cold roast beef (with yummy fat on!)
Drinks - 2 litres water, 4 cups tea with dash of milk.

Today
Breakfast - omelette made with 2 eggs, rasher of bacon, 2 mushrooms, small tomato, cooked in butter.
Lunch - salad of cold chicken (which had been baked in butter), avocado, cucumber, mushrooms, spinach leaves, red pepper, mayonnaise.
Dinner - Gratinee of eggs (cook courgettes, garlic and shallots in butter, add small quantity of tinned tomatoes, break 2 eggs in, cover with handful of cheddar and grill) served with broccoli.
Drinks, 2 litres water, 4 cups tea with dash of milk.
Snacks, not sure yet!

I do realise that milk isn't really encouraged, but I'm totally addicted to tea, and hate it black. I have cut down my tea consumption though (I'm usually an 8 cups a day girl! ).

If you could have a look at that and tell me what you think, I'd be very grateful - thank you!

No it doesn't matter but I usually buy the co-op full fat double cream.

What is very very nice, is that cream whipped with strawberries on top! Mmmm but I know they aren't allowed for you at this stage

I've just been to the supermarket and thought exactly that, SoMuch. There's just so much rubbish on sale - there are loads of aisles you just can't even go down if you're on a low carb diet.

No, I'll just have to eat the cream on its own!

Why can't you have strawberries and cream, QuiteLikely?

Fruit isn't allowed on strict bootcamp - it's a bit too carby. (Fruit sugars)

Cafes are often a bit rubbish too, for low carbing, unless they're the type that do a fry-up. But the sort of places that do sandwiches/toasties/baked potatoes etc - it's all very carby!

You can keep under 20g of carbs a day with strawberries, though - they're 8g per 100g. (According to Atkins)

That's quite a bit though, compared to the other veg and salad I'm eating. I think if I was eating berries at this stage, I'd be likely to overdo the carbs. I might save the berries until I get to the maintenance stage.

It's not just about the carbs though, ImperialBlether. One of the important things about Bootcamp is helping us to break the hold that sweet things have over us.

So eating berries, whilst they're not that high in carbs, is still giving us something sweet.

It's far better, while you're getting into the swing of low carbing, to get your carbs only from veg and salad.

I haven't been eating an awful lot of sweet stuff, even before low carbing (the odd biscuit, but rarely eat puddings/cakes/sweets). The things I'm missing most are some of the 'savoury' carbs, such as bread, pastry (in things like a cheese and onion pasty, or quiche) and pasta. So I reckon when I do add fruit back in, I won't necessarily want to eat it that often.

That's actually something that will stand you in very good stead, SoMuch!

That's good! I think the other thing that helps is I'm already used to eating a fair amount of fresh food/cooking from scratch. I don't eat much processed stuff, as I just don't like it.