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Low-carb diets

Share advice and experiences of following a low-carb diet.Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Hello! Day One Done - anyone want to join me?

721 replies

SharkSkinThing · 29/09/2015 20:43

Just wanted to say hello and see if any other new starters wanted to buddy up for support and advice?

I've got 3 - 4 stone to lose, all gained AFTER having my DS who is now - god help me - 5. All down to long-term sleep deprivation and sugar reliance, and forming terrible habits. And wine to help me cope with the sleep deprivation,

Anyway, hoping to finally turn things around now that he's finally sleeping (sometimes until 5.30am!). Would love to chat to others who are finding that this WOE works for them.

xx

OP posts:
FavadiCacao · 15/11/2015 08:53

I'm jelous of the lamb price and seaweed and the sunshine, fit.
What you're eating is good but be carefull with a few foods.

It would be best to avoid sugar and sugar substitutes but if you can't do without... Have you tried xylitol? It doesn't raise blood sugar, and it's apparently good for colds.
Diet drinks could play avoc with your insulin. Here is what Dietdoctor says about diet drinks.

Sundried tomatoes and cashew nuts are super high in carbs at 23g and 30g per 100g respectively. Fresh tomatoes are fine and most other nuts are too- watch out chestnuts and pistachios.

Coconut oil? I eat it with a spoon!:)
You can use coconut oil instead of butter, it works particularly well with slightly tangy dishes. For example, lamb cooked in coconut oil with a touch of lemon or lime, a tad of chilli and a few mint leaves (a bit of garlic, optional). The other night I fancied creamy mushrooms, so I fried them in coconut oil with garlic, chilli and parsley, then added coconut milk at the end and served over a bed of gently sauted spinach with a few prawns.

Thefitfatty · 15/11/2015 08:59

It would be best to avoid sugar and sugar substitutes but if you can't do without... Have you tried xylitol? It doesn't raise blood sugar, and it's apparently good for colds.
Diet drinks could play avoc with your insulin. Here is what Dietdoctor says about diet drinks.

Never seen xylitol here, I've seen stevia? I saw about the diet drinks, which is why I'm sticking to one a day now as a caffeine boost after the gym. I HATE tea (any and every kind, just can't do more then one hot drink a day).

I'll cut out the sundried tomatoes ( I googled it and they said it was low carb :() and cashews and switch to walnuts and almonds.

I'll have to pick up some coconut oil this week and try it. :)

What's the deal with pickles and olives? If I can't have crisps I like to snack on dill pickles.

FavadiCacao · 15/11/2015 09:58

Stevia is just another 0 calorie sugar substitute that would elevate blood sugar; xylitol is mainly used by diabetics, so you might find it in health stores or pharmacies.
How do you take/make your coffee? I ask because I find coffee tastes sweeter made in an espresso pot, than in a percolator or a plunger pot (I have never tried just in a pot). Have you tried eating the coffee beans as a caffeine fix? They are delicious especially coated in dark chocolate

Olives are perfect, the green ones have virtually no carbs, the black ones have just a little. Dill pickles should be fine but look at the ingredients on the jar: a lot of pickled products have added sugar.

FavadiCacao · 15/11/2015 10:05

Sorry, I meant to also say... Stevia is not good when processed but as a plant is great, it's just like an herb. I don't why you couldn't add a few leaves to coffee.

devoncreamtea · 15/11/2015 10:11

Hello folks,

fav could you post up what you might eat in a day? You seem very knowledgable and I like your approach...I also wondered about pickles - I think they are probably too carby as usually contain sugar. I eat quite a lot of olives though and chilli peppers stuffed with soft cheese - which is delish and a good substitute for crisps/nuts if you are having friends over or having a film night etc.

Had duck last night, think it is my favourite meat. Love lamb too and pork belly. In fact really like meat....! Most people I know are veggie, which makes me feel a bit like Fred flint stone gnawing on a bone, but one friend has recently decided to eat meat and is enjoying liver, of all things!! Does anyone eat organ meats regularly? We make a good chicken liver pate just using celery and liver and soaking in milk. I got it from a baby weaning book! Liver etc tends to be cheap, but organic probably best.

I have just found a grass fed meat company near me!! They deliver too. So I am just about to order a box. Also raw milk, a farm in my area does that too, I have had it sometimes, my kids love it. We are still at the stage where they all drink loads of milk, so it is hard to keep up supply!! I need a cow.

Glad birthday was fun shark and hope you and everyone have had a fun weekend! I am having a lazy day today, I am not doing anything but nice things. My dp has been informed....!!!

FavadiCacao · 15/11/2015 10:43

Sure, devon. :)

Last night I had a pork belly slice with cauli pesto mash (i.e. I stirred the pesto into over steamed cauliflour).
This morning I had liver sauted in beef dripping and caramellised with freshly squeezed orange and topped with the last bits of chives in the garden.

I'll post some recipes too, maybe tomorrow. I'm now off to the farmer's market to buy some game, including venison heart (if available).

Queenbean · 15/11/2015 12:11

Hi all, thanks for your welcoming words! Sounds like everyone is doing really well, that pork dish sounds delicious!

I am now 6 days in and decided this morning to stand on the dreaded scales - I am already half a stone down!!! I appreciate that some of that is water weight, and that as I go back to the gym and build up muscle it will come back on but it is such a boost for the first week!

I have given up sugar almost entirely (apart from one apple or pear a day, some berries and sugars in milk) and I feel amazing!

I am sticking to it so easily, it doesn't feel like a diet at all and for the first time ever, I'm not getting headaches, carb cravings, or a 3pm slump

Slightly concerned that I will turn in to one of those annoying people who raves about it and after only one week my enthusiasm might change but I do feel great!

Thefitfatty · 15/11/2015 12:28

I drink percolated. Maybe I will try it with some whipping cream tomorrow instead of milk and it might add some sweetness. I'll take a look for xylitol this weekend. With the highest rate of Type II Diabetes in the world, you'd think it would be everywhere here!!! I'll look for stevia as an herb, but I highly doubt I will find it, and if I do it will probably cost a small fortune.

I will try bringing some coffee beans to munch on to. Might be a nice after workout treat.

I'll also look at the dill pickle jar. Jeez I wish my Nan was still alive, she made amazing home made dill pickles with no sugar at all.

Weighed myself today and I haven't lost anymore then that initial 5 ish pounds. However I noticed that my stomach looks much flatter in the dress I'm wearing today (usually it's very unflattering and makes me look pregnant, today I don't). Could be some inches lost, could be that what I'm doing to close the gap in my abs is working, hopefully it's a bit of both! My gym clothes also felt loser today and I swear I almost had a thigh gap!

devoncreamtea · 15/11/2015 13:30

Well done fit that is great. I don't understand weight, I have been stuck at 10 stone (because I have been less than strict for a couple of weeks...) however, there continues to be changes in shape and looser clothes etc. I don't know how this works, but it could be that as fat is burnt from places in order of fat storage preferences or something, meaning that it gets used from 'problem' areas first, so we notice a shrinkage before the scales do??

Anyway that is great and very motivating too!

I am off for a plod on the moors now with my children...

Thanks for sharing food ideas - very helpful!

Queenbean · 15/11/2015 13:48

I think that if your weight is the same but clothes are looser then that is because you're losing fat but building muscle

devoncreamtea · 15/11/2015 17:03

I am loving that explanation queen !

SharkSkinThing · 15/11/2015 20:28

Hey gang. Fascinating posts going on - wow, we love our food!

Totally believe the looser clothes = building muscle and losing fat. My clothes are DEF getting baggier but the scales have slowed right down.

I've upped my water to 3l and will be exercising like a m'f'er next week - I HAVE to break that 14 stone barrier!

queen - well done! And me too. I'm on week 6 now, and I'm still loving the food and feel a million times better than when I was eating carbs. I really can't see myself going back to them on the same scale again.

devon - how were the moors (hums Wuthering Heights). We're on the Sussex Coast and had a walk on the beach this afternoon - I swear DS is determined to get swept out to sea, he's such a bloody nightmare daredevil, wave dodging with DP.

Good luck next week everyone! xxxxx

ps - where's ready? Come back, ready!

OP posts:
Thefitfatty · 16/11/2015 05:10

losing fat but building muscle

I should certainly hope I'm still gaining muscle! LOL. I'm doing 45 minutes of weight training 5 days a week, and continuing to up how much I'm lifting, so if I wasn't gaining muscle I'd be hugely pissed off!

To me, losing fat at the same rate that I'm gaining muscle makes sense, but then I read body building forums and there all, that's not possible, you should still be seeing a decrease in the scales, you're obviously eating too many calories, cut cut cut! And I end up feeling really down and frustrated. Argh.

Or even worse you read some of the threads on here where people just bash overweight people as being greedy and lazy, and I know I'm neither of those things. It really upsets me (yet I continue to read them).

Focusing on the bright side of things, so far this diet has A) cleared up my major painful bloating that I was getting daily, B) Warning TMI!! reduced by bowel movements from 3-4 (diarrhea) a day to 1 and C) cleared up a weird pimply rash on my upper arms that I've had for years and just read is a sign of gluten intolerance. So YAY!!!

DurhamDurham · 16/11/2015 10:18

Rather late to the party but can I join in ? Smile

I have lowcarbed very successfully in the past and need to get back on the lowcarb bandwagon. I really lowcarbed two years ago and managed to stay relatively low for ages afterwards. However the last six months have been awful and I've started eating cake/crisps/sweets/pizza/potatoes again. The only thing I haven't started eating again is bread.

I need help and I need support, I felt so good when I was lowcarbing, much fitter and no mid-afternoon slump.I don't know why I slipped knowing how it would negatively affect me.

SharkSkinThing · 16/11/2015 10:24

Come on in, Durham - it's lovely to meet you!

Help AND support are here by the bucket. We are all lc'ing in our own way, and we all seem to be getting there bit by bit. It's a lovely, friendly and informative group, and no question is weird enough for some kind soul to answer.

Are you on Day 1 today, or just getting ready for it? What can I help with to start with?

I am on week 7 now, and am down 1.2 stone. It's slow, but it's working, and I'm exercising and feeling so much better. It hardly feels like a diet, tbh.

xxx

OP posts:
Thefitfatty · 16/11/2015 10:33

Welcome Durham This is a great chat! Lots of helpful folks!

DurhamDurham · 16/11/2015 10:55

Ah thanks Smile

Day one today, had a clear out of carby stuff yesterday and went shopping to stock up on lots of meat and eggs.

I feel very motivated but am worried about falling off the wagon when I start to feel a bit flu-like which has happened to me before.

Over a stone in seven weeks is fantastic work, you must be delighted Shark

So glad to have found you all!

FavadiCacao · 16/11/2015 13:22

Apologies in advance for the essay.

Well done, Queen. Rave all you like about it.

I'm here for the same exact reason, Durham.
I've only just learnt that to prevent flu-like symptoms some of us need to be careful with protein intake as gluconeogenesis is going to be rampant whilst our body gets keto-adapted. I've limited my protein intake to roughly 60g/per day (about 200g of meat/fish a day) and for the first time ever, I've been able to go into ketosis with no headaches, no muscle aches, no letargy and no brain fog. I'm hoping to increase the protein in a couple of weeks when I should be fully keto-adapted.

Fit, you are most definitely gaining muscle and losing fat, even if the scales are not budging. Listen to your clothes and not your scales!

Gluten is responsible for so many ailments.
Removing gluten cured my asthma, ulcer, eczema, hayfever and migraines, saving me the cost of 6 prescriptions! Low carb'ing rids me of painful, sometimes swollen, joints and frequent headaches which is why is so silly of me to over indulge in carbs, safe or otherwise. Since removing gluten, my ds no longer suffers from migraines and super painful tummy (he compared the pain to that of appendicitis!), although he still puts up with some IBS symptoms because he refuses to give up GF pasta and bread -at almost 15 I'm not going to argue with him!

Food thoughts, as promised. Apologies to shark for so much meat involved.

We all eat liver and heart fairly regularly as they are the best and most easily absord source of vitamin A (why waste £'s on expensive retinoic acid creams Wink ) and we are lucky that our farmer gives us extras as other people leave their share behind.

I regularly cook a stock until the bone marrow has melted. Oxtail, ham shanks, turkey legs, fish bones, shellfish shells -crab and langoustine are particularly tasty- etc. are readily available. We either drink the stock or I use it in cooking.

Despite our love of the fattiest parts (bone marrow, beef tongue, oxtail, pork belly, lamb breast, poultry skin, fish skin...), animals come with a limited supply of these, so we are forced to eat leaner parts too! :) When eating leaner cuts, I readdress the balance by adding extra fats, generally in the form of a sauce either with the meat or vegetables.

Meal ideas

Salmon (wild salmon is very lean) in mushroom and cream sauce.
Cook the salmon on its skin in olive oil and a herb of choice, I used tarragon last night. Rubbing oil and salt on the skin before cooking will prevent the skin sticking to the pan and will crisp up beautifully.
Saute' mushrooms in butter with garlic, chilli or pepper to taste and a herb of choice (I stuck to tarragon); when the mushrooms are cooked, but still not releasing water, stir in some cream and a pinch of salt . I chose to cook the mushrooms in coconut oil and stirred in coconut milk, that I had reduced to avoid becoming to liquid. We also had spinach wilted in the salmon pan.

We had spinach and mushrooms because are super low in carbs, meaning I didn't have to worry about the carbs in the orange used for the liver in the morning or the few carbs in the coconut milk. The entire meal was roughly 70% fat, 25% protein.

Salmon is also delicious with pesto, hot or cold so ideal for packed lunches.

Pesto
-Almost a bag of pine nuts (a few get accidently ingested or squirreled away!),
-a bunch of basil,
-1/2 lemon (juiced),
-1 tbs (or to taste) Parmesan (Grana Padano for a milder taste, or Pecorino for stronger taste),
-a slug of olive oil (maybe 1 tbs?)
-salt to taste
Blend/blitz all ingredients together, it makes ~6 serving and it will easily keep for a week.

Today I had a fried egg (duck), sauted avocado and tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and basil.

SharkSkinThing · 16/11/2015 15:47

fav Flowers but don't sweat it. I have no issue with people enjoying their meat when it's cooked with such thought and care.

Anyway, I eat fish and that salmon dish sounds yummingtons!

Durham thanks! Getting there! You will too! ????????

OP posts:
SharkSkinThing · 16/11/2015 15:48

Meant to be Smile not ? Sorry!

OP posts:
DurhamDurham · 16/11/2015 17:43

That's interesting to know about limiting protein, I've usually just thrown myself into eating lots of meat ( and lots of veg) from day one. I had omelette for lunch and am planning in a mince dish for dinner some don't think I've had too much protein today.

When I have low carbed in the past I have lost some weight but the biggest difference was the way I looked and felt. I looked much ' leaner' all bloating went and clothes fit ( jeans etc are v tight at the moment ) well.
I had so much more energy and pmt vanished........it's back with a vengeance and that has to dealt with asap because I'm horrible when my period is due Blush

Thefitfatty · 17/11/2015 04:52

I made a very yummy low carb/high fat dish last night. I dumped broccoli, bacon, onion, garlic and garlic butter in a dish, topped it with cheddar cheese and popped it in the oven for about 25 minutes. All in all took 30 minutes to make and it was sooooo good!

This is just me waxing philosophical, but has anyone noticed the quality of their hunger has changed? Before when I got hungry I'd feel light headed and a bit nauseous and I had to eat right away. Now I feel hungry, but it's not the sick hungry. I feel like I can wait awhile and make a proper meal, rather then just have to get something into me right away.

Oh and Favadi have switched diet coke for fizzy water and a couple of coffee beans (they taste horrid at first, but they have a nice aftertaste) and cut my sugar in my coffee in half and I'm using whipping cream. Going to halve my sugar again next week and hopefully just wean myself off of it entirely. :)

SharkSkinThing · 17/11/2015 08:27

Yes, fit, I feel less me that 100%. The ravenous, cavernous, frankly insatiable hunger/greed has gone. It's a joyous feeling, I feel like I have broken an addiction. And I know that this time, I won't fail and I will get to my target weight!

Also, I have noticed an amazing improvement in my, er, movements! I also suffered from frequent trips to the loo (and diaoreh) which I put down to childbirth (DS was 9.7). I had blood tests and all sorts of examinations to see what the issue was. Turns out it was carbs (pasta I think, mainly). Who's have thought.

Drinking 3l of water a day has also been amazing...skin is glowing and I sleep much better too.

How is everyone today? Am working from home today as car having MOT, so planning a nice lunch of buttery kale and garlic salmon.

Xxxxxx

OP posts:
SharkSkinThing · 17/11/2015 08:27

Less hungry!!!!

OP posts:
FavadiCacao · 17/11/2015 09:41

Flowers to you also, shark. Your lunch sounds delicious, I'm having fried kale too!

How much protein is an interesting question, Durham. I'm tryng to follow a very high fat, moderate protein. I go by the principle of 0.8-1.2g/kg of lean mass but I think atkins allows 1.5-2g/kg of lean mass. To calculate body fat, I used the fat calculator on 'lowcarbdiets.com'.

An example: a woman weighing 60kgs with 20% body fat, would have would have 48kg of lean mass, needing between 38.4 to 57.6g of protein (60-(60x0.2)=48; 48x0.8=38.4).

Well done on your switching, fit. It sounds that the coffee you ate was deep roasted, try a lighter roasted (paler in colour). Arabic coffee is meant to be the sweetest. (Coffee is the equivalent to the weather talk in Italy!)

Last night I almost cooked the guinea fowl, I bought at the market on Sunday but the hunger-possessed teenager couldn't/wouldn't wait. I made burgers (minced pork, onion, garlic, thyme, red wine), fried kale and swede french fries -plus some super buttery mash for ds.

Decadent Fried Kale I made last night.
Fry kale in fat of choice (I used lard) with a pinch of chilli and salt to taste; when almost cooked add a few chopped tomatoes (fresh or tinned), a splash of lemon and a few pine nuts; cook for a few minutes (3-5 mins). Olives can substitute pine nuts and savoy cabbage will work instead of kale.

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