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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.

Do I go back to low carbing?

4 replies

gendercritter · 25/07/2018 16:08

I found paleo/low carbing about 5 years ago. It changed my life. After years of struggling with my weight, it seemed to mostly drop off me and I felt so healthy. My skin glowed, various aches and pains cleared up and I slept better among other things.

Anyway, 4 years into it all, I began to get sick of all the meat tbh. I tried restricting my diet far too much to try to get thinner and it pushed me into binging. The weight started creeping on and finally a year ago I gave up low carbing. I just felt desperate to stop dieting and restricting myself. I completely lost sight of all the health benefits.

I think I've done well at eating generally healthily in the last year and it has been brilliant being able to eat porridge and bread and potatoes again. I love carbs. But perhaps predictably I have gained about 8-10 pounds. As much as anything that has been because my binging hasn't quite been under control but in the last month I seem to have finally cracked that with the help of a brilliant book. I feel confident that is a lasting change as long as I don't restrict too much.

I don't want to be carrying this weight. With the binging sorted, I want to get back to low carbing. I just don't know if I can. What good is it to get back at it and then 5 years down the line, feel so restricted that the same thing happens again? It isn't easy sticking to it 100% of the time, let's be honest. I love bread. But I do love low carb food too and I have been looking at photos of myself and it's really shocked me how much healthier I looked when I was low carbing strictly. I don't look that great right now.

Funnily enough just having a year off it instinctively eating masses if meat and fat seems very unhealthy. That makes no sense, but there you go. Is this really sustainable/healthy long term?

Thank you!

OP posts:
OohOohMrPeevly · 26/07/2018 08:07

You can get low carb wraps and low carb pizza base mix which makes it more doable long term I think. Also if you're happy to lose weight gradually then things like berries and greek yoghurt are fine. I think the most important thing is to stay away from sugar as that causes binges. I have lost and kept off weight by cutting out sugar and reducing carbs but still eat some.

tuckingfypo · 26/07/2018 08:37

I had the same issues with low carbing, it worked fantastically for a year and then I had a hiccup with a slice of cheesecake! I was straight back on it and lost the 3lbs the cheesecake made me gain but then never lost more weight (despite still being a few stone overweight!) and tracking my macros to make sure everything was right.

I ended up limiting the carbs in veg (things like broccoli, cauliflower and green peppers that I would eat freely before) and still stayed the same after nearly a year. So I gave it up and now I'm at my heaviest ever!

I'm in two minds whether to go back to low carbing in case it doesn't work at all!

I have the same issues with binging, would you mind letting me know what book you read as at the moment I'm struggling with it Sad

gendercritter · 29/07/2018 15:30

It's called Brain Over Binge @tuckingfypo

It's absolutely brilliant

OP posts:
BIWI · 31/07/2018 16:54

Perhaps it would be a good idea for you to try and work out what your daily tolerance for carbs is? We're all different.

Why not go back to low carbing and try a strict couple of weeks, using something like MFP to track your macros. Continue to low carb until you've reached the weight you want to be, and then gradually add in carbs until you start to gain weight again. (This is the basis of the Atkins diet, by the way).

Once you know how many carbs per day you can tolerate this will make it much easier for you to make the right choices at each meal.

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