How many of you follow a low carb diet?

[Housewife2010]

I've just been looking at lowcarbotopia.blogspot.co.uk.
So many of the diet rules have changed since I was growing up, but I really don't think I could give up my potatoes & enjoy green vegetables. But, I would like to be thin.

I'm doing it because it gas given me my periods back! I started it as a change from WW/ low fat (have gotten to goal twice with WW but keep putting it back on)

I was so sick of pointing and counting, so decided to give P2T a go. I'm loving it!! Feel good and best of all my elusive periods have returned. I was perimenopausal, my periods had stopped at 40. But now they're back!! I just feel so much better with a bit of fat in my life... God bless butter!!!

herbaceous - not sure about the Wise Woman bit but if you're eating enough fat and then protein, you really will be full and not hungry. And the rule on this WOE is 'if you're hungry, then eat!'

I suppose the problem is I can't quite be bothered to totally change the way I shop, cook and eat, and to have to then accommodate DH and DS, cook extra stuff for them, etc. Sorting out food is tedious enough as it is.

I'm only about a stone overweight, which is gradually coming off just by, er, eating less, so I fantasise that I will eventually reach 10.5 stone in this manner...

I don't (very often) cook different stuff for me - I just eat the same, but without the carbs. So if I'm doing sausage and mash, for example (obviously using low carb sausages) then I don't have the mash, just the other vegetables. Or I'll make myself a different mash - swede or celeriac is my favourite.

I don't cook different stuff for me either. The dcs eat less pasta and I think that's probably a good thing! But we have discovered lots of food they love and like Biwi I tend to swap the carby bit for a veg alternative - dh and I both low carb. It does take a little bit of thinking and planning to get your head around it initially but it gets easier.

I sometimes do cook my own thing but only because I like trying new things and the dc are less keen on spice and chili (last night had yummy Thai soup without the sweet bits).

I find it liberating. But I do have to eat when I'm hungry and hope there is a Yo Sushi or something in train station or airport.

I low carb and we follow a paleo-ish diet (with the exception of cake but I am on may leave).

I feel better eating this way. I read Gary Taubes book Why We Get Fat after looking for a way to reduce my families risk of diabetes (family history). It completely changed the way I viewed carbs.

I find that I just feel and look healthier without too many carbs and cutting things like wheat, corn, potatoes, sugar. I look younger (probably down to eating more veg). I don't find it boring but I do have to plan meals and shopping because it's harder to fall back on convenience stuff which tends to be carb based.

This is a good free resource for info on Primal/Paleo diets (low carb): Marks Daily Apple

Mat leave.

Because I am starting to show signs of early diabetes.
And also because eating this way makes me feel better! more energy, less abdominal problems/pain, head is clearer.

For me a bonus point is that I have lost weight with it but it has never been the point of it iyswim.

I suppose the problem is I can't quite be bothered to totally change the way I shop, cook and eat,
tbh I haven't change that much. I have changed my breakfast but no one else has (not an issue, the dcs already had something different and DP is more than able to prepare his own toast).
Evening meals, I just ensure that I can separate the carbs from the rest (so no lasagne). So I still do a stir fry but skip the noodles and have more veg instead.
Lunch, again we were having different things anyway so I have just adapted my own lunch. No changes for the others.

It does require you to change the way you eat but then that's the whole point isn't it? That you change your diet for a more healthy way of eating that is then becoming the norm. Not changing the way you eat for 2 months, loosing the weight and then going back to old habits that did cause the problem in the first place?

quick question - can I use sweet potato instead of normal potatoes?

Nope! There's a clue in the fact that they're called 'sweet' potatoes!

20.5g carbs per 100g for sweet potatoes compared with 17g for old potatoes.

I do quite often leave out the potatoes, or whatever, from my portion of the evening meal, but am starving again by bedtime. If the problem there is not enough fat, DP's version (which includes the carbs) would then be v fatty and v carby, and he would become a porker.

I'm making excuses, aren't I...

Yes!

A low carb way of eating is high fat. Without this, you will be hungry - as you have found - and it does make weight loss much harder.

Stop worrying about DP's weight for the time being, and focus on yours. He can eat along with you - just cut down/out his carbs as well. Will he really notice?

TBH, he's far more overweight than me, but I'm not allowed to suggest he goes on a diet. So I make things that aren't too fatty/carby when I can be arsed and then miss out the carby bit of mine. Convincing him of the benefits of a low-carb diet in general would be akin to turning an oil tanker.

It depends on your lifestyle.

Lots of my friends low carb, and are skinnier than me, but I cannot cut carbs out as I do lots of sport, about 4-5 times a week, and if I would not have a baked potato or sandwich or pasta for lunch, I would (literally) keel over.

All my friends who are sporty and slim eat loads of carbs (but no sugar, and cut down on fat)

All my friends who are not sporty and slim are so because the lowcarb.

But It really think it is not good if you do proper exercise (athletes do not low carb!).

So personally, I choose the sport+ carb option.

I do exercise quite a bit. Nearly every night. Running has been really good lately as feel light and faster. But the biggest factor is sleep over last few years has been sleep, which I am now finally getting.

Do others exercise?

I've got a couple of friends who are very sporty and low carb. Although not an athlete, I'm reasonably active and sporty myself & other than in the first 3 weeks of adjustment, I haven't had any problems at all.

Not necessarily the case, Chandon. My trainer is a low carb advocate. The body does 'transition' into using fat/protein in place of carbs for fuel.

I go to the gym twice a week for a session with a personal trainer (which are brutal!), and then add a class and/or another session on my own.

I run on a low carb diet.

Before being low carb I used to run in the morning on an empty stomach - I'd hit a wall and get hunger pains after about 30 mins, so had to starting eating a very light breakfast. On low carb my body is burning fat, so my body doesn't hit a wall, no cramps and I can just keep on running. It does take your body a little while intially to adjust and become quicker at converting fat for energy.

But if you are exercising, eating a high carb diet and happy with your size then there's no problem....your body is using all the carbs you're feeding it.

I love sleeping now - after over 10 years of never sleeping through the night - and I couldn't blame the dcs, I finally sleep now - it's enough of a reason to stick with low carb - insominia is horrible!

Sorry BIWI. Just sampled chocolate philly on a cinnamon and raisin bagel. No way I'm giving up that shit...

Herbs, I just can't imagine doing low carb either - I love fruit, loads of veg and carbs, but can take or leave fatty/buttery food usually.

And the chocolate philly isn't too bad. On a cinnamon and raisin bagel you say????

What I would like to know is, what do your DC make of your low carb diets - do they comment why aren't you eating the same as them, etc?

My DDs eat the same as us. They just eat more fruit/sweet potatoes/white rice etc for carbs. I don't cook twice.

So last night we had curry - turkey, spinach, coconut. I did some boiled rice with it for DD1. I had a little bit but find that I don't enjoy it as much as I used to. I would normally make cauli-rice but couldn't be bothered last night.

Tonight will be stir fry - vegetables and meat.

In the day I don't snack much but DD1 will have fruit or veg sticks.