Help for a beginner

[swifttwist]

I have just started low carb and downloaded carb manager.

Today the app is showing me the following

Protein 85g permitted. Eaten 98g

Fat 106g permitted. Used 67g

Carbs 17g permitted. 12g used.

calories, 1070 used out of 1311.

I am not hungry but do have a bit of a headache so drinking lots of water.

My protein has come from 2 eggs scrambled with butter for breakfast and an extra boiled egg that I had just after 4 pm as I was getting a bit hungry. I had a small chicken breast at lunch, pre packed from Tesco. This won’t happen again. It was just what I had in the fridge. I then chopped up 130 grams of chicken breast for a stir fry for dinner.

Can anyone make any suggestions on what else to eat to keep protein lower? Or, do you just go with what you are cooking and watch the carbs only?

Fat wise, I think I’m right in saying I could have more butter at breakfast, more mayo at lunch or more olive oil in the stir fry. I don’t really snack so don’t want to go down that route. I’m not good with dairy but do like cheese. Don’t touch milk or cream.

Thanks for any tips you can give.

Updating to say I do eat cream. That should have been I don’t touch milk or avocado.

Personally, my macros simply don't happen - I use Carb Manager too, which I really like, and it says 93g protein, 116g fat, 1492 cals, 19g net carbs. I'm on day 17 and the closest I've got is 84g protein and 111g of fat - that day I had almonds, avocado, halloumi and canned coconut milk. I don't eat eggs and cheese is the only dairy I have as I'm really intolerant to eggs and have to be careful with dairy. I don't eat meat or fish.

I've lost over 8lbs so far.

What did you actually eat though? Instead of focussing so much on the macros, what about the actual food?

I agree don’t focus on the macros too much.

focus on eating 20g or less carbs per day

omelettes
sea bass
haddock
salads
coffee with cream
joim low carb groups on FB they will keep you right

F

I'm happily low card, high fat now, based on the low carb bootcamp threads I found here on Mumsnet.

Very simple approach, loads of friendly and knowledgable support available. No measuring required.

I can't do links here so , please, come and have a look at the low carb bootcamp threads. It's really simple and is working really well for me.

@swifttwist the headache will be because you need to up your electrolytes - it's not just about drinking more water. Specifically you need sodium, magnesium and potassium.

Sodium - cook with salt and add it to your food. In the immediate short term, try a hot drink made from Oxo or Bovril or Marmite.

Other food sources are salmon, avocado, spinach and full fat natural yoghurt.

You can also get a supplement like this one

Generally speaking, you don't need to count calories on a low carb diet - but you do need to keep your fat levels high. I wouldn't be worrying about the protein levels you're eating, but I would say to up your fat.

Thanks for responding. On that day it was

2 eggs scrambled with butter and some salt.

Lunch was chicken breast, cucumber, celery, lettuce leaves, cheddar cheese and mayo.

Boiled egg.

Chicken, peppers, beansprouts with garlic, ginger, a squeeze of lime and a little soy on cauliflower rice. Stir fry was cooked in olive oil.

Thank you all for responding. I will definitely look at the boot camp section for tips and help.

It's been a good week. The weekend is always a test though.

All of that food looks fine - BUT - it looks low in fat.

So - did you have an oily dressing/and or mayo on your salad?

Did you keep the skin on your chicken? And actually, chicken thighs would be better!

And stir-fries generally use very little oil - a good idea to dress it with sesame oil when you've cooked it.

Come over and join us on Bootcamp - we're just over half way through, but it doesn't matter! People come and join all the time. And we're always there for support and advice, as well as lots of chat about food

Thank you so much. I’ll pop over.

I took the skin off the chicken breast. Simply because it was a pack from tesco and when I read the ingredients list, it wasn’t just a roast chicken breast.