Reintroducing carbs

[LibbyL92]

Hey all!

Apologies if there’s already a thread on this, please point me in the right direction.

I’m approaching my target weight from low carbing since January. Having around 20g-30g of carb a day, through veg mainly.

Now I’m almost at target I’ve been reading I need to start introducing carbs.

I’m so scared I’m going to pile the weight back on. I’ve accepted this is a lifestyle change and I’ve managed really well since jan.

But if you reached target how did you maintain? And how did you reintroduce carbs? Where did you start?

Thank you!

I've done it very slowly.
At the moment I eat about 40g of carbs and been maintaining for a couple of years.
I haven't introduced more because for me that's enough. I will never going back to eating pasta, bread etc.
Whatever you plan on eating I would add gradually and see how you get on. So maybe up carbs (reduce fat tho) to 40g, monitor your weight then add more if you want to.
Remember there may well be a couple lbs gain but that will be water.

@Girlintheframe Perfect! Can I asked what carbs you have?

I don’t plan on eating pasta often ect.
Maybe on a weekend if I’m out for dinner and I really fancy it. Or maybe a desert for a special occasion. This won’t be often though.
(Just thinking pre future)

Monday-Friday would be strict low carb moving forward as I do put weight on easily so this has to be a lifestyle change anyway!

My carbs are things like berries, greek yoghurt, dark choc, nuts, seeds, veg, beans and pulses.

I eat low carb (30g) on work days and the other 3 days it's low carb but I don't count strictly (approx 40g, sometimes 50g)

I occasionally eat 'normal' carbs like pasta, rice etc if we have a special meal like birthdays/xmas etc.
Generally I do that about once every 1-2 months.

Sounds perfect!
I’m going to start giving it a go. Few more pounds to go.

I do feel so much better and not so groggy or bloated. It’s amazing what cutting out sugar can do.

I'd start by adding more carby veg to your meals - or some legumes/pulses. But go easy, so just introduce them at one meal per day. And keep a careful eye on the scales to see what happens. It's a bit trial and error to see how much carbohydrate you can tolerate.

If you know you're going to have a carby meal - say you're going out for a pizza - then keep the rest of the day super low carb, and make sure that the couple of days following are also strict.

You also need to set yourself a weight range - your body weight fluctuates naturally day-by-day anyway, so you'll never just stick at your target. But if you allow yourself, say, half a stone over your target then you'll be building in flexibility. Once the weight starts to reach that upper limit, it's a sign that your carbs are too high, and that you need to have a few stricter days.

Maintenance is harder than losing, I think!

Thank you @BIWI this makes perfect sense. I may drop my target to lower. So I can have half a stone to play with.

I’m reading off of the food list for Atkins for phase 2/3 is this a good guide?

It's a long time since I read Atkins! But the principle of the Atkins diet are generally good, when it comes to the later stages of the diet, i.e. introducing carbs very gradually but also systematically

I'm resigned to having to relax and be strict in turns. As a vegetarian really low carb isn't very sustainable. I got to below my target weight in November and stayed under target weight until the end of Jan.

But then it all went wrong and I was 10lbs up on my lowest weight and 6lbs up on my target.

I've been back on lchf for 4 weeks now and am only 2lbs over target.

What's heartbreaking is even on lchf and IF and burning 400-500 cals a day in cardio (eg 8k run) I only seem to shift 1lb a week at most!

But @ThinkAboutItTomorrow, if you're that close to your target weight, weekly loss isn't going to be large - 1lb a week sounds great!

@BIWI I know, at least it's going in the right direction, just seems so much harder to loose 1lb than gain it 😂

I remember the days when a week of not snacking would lose 2-3lbs! But that was 30 years ago.....