Low carb - am I doing this right?

[Bluesheep8]

I've only just started trying to eat this way so please could anyone knowledgeable cast an experienced eye over a couple of example days from the last week?

B - 2 poached eggs with fried tomatoes

L - Spinach, tinned tomatoes, black olives and fried halloumi

T - chicken fajita x 2 (chicken, peppers, onions and spice mix) in 2 sweet potato wraps, sour cream, grated reduced fat cheddar.

Another day

B - strawberries and watermelon with plain natural yoghurt

L - lean steak mince with onions and peas, spinach, cauliflower and gravy

T - mixed salad, leaves, onion, peppers, spinach black olives, hardboiled egg and fried halloumi with dressing.

Am drinking tea and coffee with milk aswell...

[PaminaMozart]

This is indeed VERY low carb. Do you not eat any carbs at all, not even complex, unrefined carbs such as quinoa, lentils, chickpeas etc? There doesn't seem to be enough protein either.

What's your objective - what are you trying to achieve? I fear if you stick with this you'll snap one day and binge...

[Bluesheep8]

Thank you for replying. The objective is to lose just over a stone of very rapid menopausal weight gain.

Other things I plan to eat are mixed bean chilli with kidney beans, baked beans and chickpeas, and homemade chicken curries / minced beef dhansak both with lentils in. Also plan on eating tinned tuna and sardines in tomato sauce. I am just finding my way at the moment.

Also, I do drink dry white wine at the weekends but I'm guessing that's a no - no...

[Thefacethatlaunchedathousandchips]

If you're doing very low carb I think you can't have sweet potatoes and should watch things like peppers and tomatoes too. I would say yours is low(ish) carb, not keto or anything.

If you want the rapid weight loss I'd reduce the peppers and tomatoes and use cream instead of milk in hot drinks. You want mainly meat, eggs, green veg, oils, butter and then a little bit of other veg, some berries and dairy other than butter for keto iirc

[sugarplum33]

Low carbing is fairly broad term and it really depends on what your carb allowance is each day. Starting Akins you would be on 20g net carbs which is likely nearly completely used up just with two sweet potato wraps. You'd also want to be upping your fats and having full fat cheese instead of low fat, cream instead of milk. Beans, chickpeas and lentils would definitely be out.

[cocksstrideintheevening]

Strictly low carb no, sweet potatoes are out for a start. If you are doing LCHF you need to be strict.

[LadyBird1973]

Maybe have a look at the low carb bootcamp threads. There's lots of good advice on there and meal suggestions

[Bluesheep8]

I'll do that, thank you. Its very confusing because one response was that it's very low carb and others suggesting peppers.rs and tomatoes make it not low carb enough. I need to gain a better understanding I think

[abbey44]

Agree that sweet potatoes and peppers aren’t that low-carb and that the Low Carb Bootcamp threads have some really helpful advice and meal ideas. You could also try the MyFitnessPal app, which gives you the carb counts for he food you’re eating. I find that really helpful too.

[Bluesheep8]

Thanks for the advice. Still confused as to why one poster said its "VERY low carb" though. I will need to do some more research

[BreatheAndFocus]

@Bluesheep8

I'll do that, thank you. Its very confusing because one response was that it's very low carb and others suggesting peppers.rs and tomatoes make it not low carb enough. I need to gain a better understanding I think

Low carb is anything up to 130g carbs a day. Keto is less than 50g carbs a day (although some say less than 30g as it depends how low you have to go to enter ketosis.

Personally, as you only have a stone to lose, I wouldn’t bother about the details too much. Find a level of carbs that works for you and stick to it until you’ve lost the weight.

[Bluesheep8]

Personally, as you only have a stone to lose, I wouldn’t bother about the details too much. Find a level of carbs that works for you and stick to it until you’ve lost the weight.

Such sensible advice...I must have completely lost sight of the obvious! As you say, I'll try it and see how it works for me rather than obsessing about finding a strict set of rules to stick to. Thank you

[PaminaMozart]

@Bluesheep8

Thanks for the advice. Still confused as to why one poster said its "VERY low carb" though. I will need to do some more research

That was me! Whilst I am totally on board with what I consider to be a low carb diet, I am no fan of Atkins or strict keto, both of which can be potentially risky. I also fear that being totally focused on reducing carbs to extremely low levels could potentially lead to disordered eating.

I also agree that...
as you only have a stone to lose, I wouldn’t bother about the details too much. Find a level of carbs that works for you and stick to it until you’ve lost the weight.

I believe that keeping to a healthy weight in the long term requires long-term healthy eating. To me that means what could be described as a modified Mediterranean diet: Lots of vegetables/plants, moderate amounts of lean protein, plus some complex/unrefined carbs, dairy and healthy fats.

[LadyBird1973]

The bootcamp threads say that your carbs should come from vegetables, preferably green veg, not starchy or sweet ones. So pick green peppers rather than red, have broccoli, or green beans. Replace rice/potatoes with cauliflower rice or just veggie sides.
Cut out kidney beans and lentils until you've reached your target and then slowly reintroduce a few carbs at a time to see which ones you tolerate better and which make you put in weight easily. Obviously cut out alcohol. And while you are doing this, go easy on the fruit - raspberries are okay in moderation.
You might want to do a quite strict carb reduction and shift the weight quicker or if there's no rush, you could do it more slowly.

[BreatheAndFocus]

Green and red peppers have basically the same amount of carbs. The difference is absolutely negligible as they’re both only 9g carbs per 100g raw. Once you get to the level of obsessing over 0.05g of carbs or worrying because you ate 3 cherry tomatoes, you’re very close to disordered eating.

For some reason, keto has attracted the looniest of disordered eaters. A quick look at some of the forums will show you people doing 30 day bacon fasts (you eat nothing but bacon); people avoiding carrots and cherry tomatoes; and people eating no vegetables at all. Those are actual examples, not hyperbole.

i agree with @PaminaMozart that probably the healthiest way of eating is the Med diet with lots of plants.

[Janieforever]

Op, pop over to the low carb forum and look at rhe boot camp, you’re not quite doing it right now.

sadly you’re getting some evangelical responses giving you their views. For some reason, this way of eating gets some people frothing. I imagine as it’s usually successful

[Bluesheep8]

Op, pop over to the low carb forum and look at rhe boot camp, you’re not quite doing it right now.

I've been having a look at some of the threads on that section and am still confused as to what I'm "not quite doing right" (but that could easily just be me!) In any case, I will be eating far less carbs than I ever have before so at least that's a start and from what I've read, reducing carb intake is the most effective way to attempt to mitagatec weight gain in menopausal women.

[Bluesheep8]

I meant mitigate

[LadyBird1973]

The point of eating green instead of red is to help wean you away from sweet food.

Any calorie controlled diet will make you lose weight, but one of the purposes of low carb is to fill you up on real food - meat, fish, veg, some dairy and reduce the desire to eat sweeter things

[Luckydog7]

Op its pretty good, definitely a reduced carb diet but not keto or low carb as pp have said.

What you are doing will likely work. People are warning you about the sweet potato and carbier food are doing so because you are straddling the line between a keto and reduced carb diet and that can be difficult because it can have you moving in and out of ketosis (gat burning mode).

Keto flu isn't nice and if you aren't going all in on the keto diet you may end up in keto flu limbo (I have had friends in this position) where you are constantly feeling rubbish and this makes you more likely to give up.

In short if you start feeling unwell for more then a couple of days this might be why. You would need to reduce carbs down to 5%per day or increase to come out of ketosis consistently. Which one is best is up to you and what works for your body.

[Gnomegnomegnome]

You need @BIWI and the low carb boot camp! Honestly, lots of very helpful, no nonsense, non faddy information making it easy!

[Bluesheep8]

First weigh in this am after 1 week. Gained 2.5 lbs.

[LadyBird1973]

I think this is because you are still eating too many carbs, albeit good ones and not cake!
If you want to do this particular way of eating, try a couple of weeks of green veg only, no root veg or fruit, plus meat, fish , some dairy (be careful with dairy because it's easy to have too much). Drink lots of water and see what happens.

If this isn't for you, it's still possible to lose weight on what you are currently eating but you'd need to track calories a lot more carefully.
Read the bootcamp rules because @BIWI explains how it all works. She does also say it's not a very forgiving way of eating, so if you go off track it is very easy to put weight on.
The main advantage for me is that I'm not hungry all day - I did weight watchers and slim fast and calorie counting years ago and was constantly hungry. I do miss chocolate though, so you've got to be fully invested for it to work.

[Bluesheep8]

Thanks for your reply. I must admit that it's very disheartening to have cut out my daily porridge, all bread, crackers and potatoes and sat and watched family eat Yorkshire pudding and mash yesterday whilst I had spinach and broccoli with my meal...and gained 2.5 lbs in a week!

[meatbaseddessert]

Don't reduce fat. That's the art of low carbing. Satiety comes from fat and protein. All carbs only from green veg and a shit tonne of them. Never ever use low fat anything.

Also water water water. 3 litres a day. You will not lose without this.

Easiest way is to eat what your family do
Ex the carbs. Roast dinner without potatoes but with cauli cheese. Chili with sour cream cheese and loads of salad. No rice but yes to cauli rice. Avoid the beans.
Bolognese no pasta and salad or roast veg instead. Plenty of mozzarella.
Chicken ceasar without the croutons. Curry on cauli rice. Always ensure green veg is half your plate

Loads of amazing recipies on the low carb boot amp.

[BIWI]

Thing is, if you’ve been eating things like sweet potato, peas and beans and lentils, strawberries and watermelon, as well as drinking wine then you’re not really low carbing. Despite what @PaminaMozart may have said, your examples are NOT low carb.

If you go to the Low carb Bootcamp topic and have a read of the preparation thread, or the week 1 thread, you’ll find a lot of information about what you can and can’t eat. On Bootcamp, obviously! But the general principles will apply to most low carb diets.

The difficult thing about low carbing is that it’s impossible to give you a daily amount of carbs that you should be eating, as everyone has a different level of tolerance for carbohydrate.

However, a low carb diet should be:

• high fat
• medium protein
• low carbohydrate

… with proportions roughly 70% fat, 20% protein and 10% carbs.

Keto is different from low carbing (although the terms are often used interchangeably/wrongly), in that you have to keep your carbs under 20g for the whole day, which is very low.

I hope this helps - but why not come and join us on Bootcamp? We’re on week 4 (of 8) right now, but that doesn’t matter. People join all the time.