Sugar Begone! low-carb eating for the incredible shrinking women!

[Ormirian]

Let's start afresh!

Hi Pekkala - thanks for the update on the beers. Always nice to have an alternative. [csmile]

Hi OM - can't really speak for anyone else here but I do paleo (eating like your paleolithic ancestors - no grains/potatoes/rice/wheat/dairy). I think many here watch their carb intakes and generally keep it low - cutting out wheat products and potatoes/carrots (the higher strach veggies) and of course processed foods and sugars. They will be able to tell you if they actively follow Atkins or not. Whatever people do though this is a really noce thread to be a part of.

We are a very supportive lot here so welcome and I hope you stay. [cgrin]

Hello all. Am back from a lovely long weekend away, and whilst on one hand I was a swot (no wine: No fish & chips whilst the others had: No ice cream), the amounts I have been eating are gargantuan. Made a lovely meal in the static caravan last night, which my DH said was the best thing he'd ever tasted: Pineapple, avocado and garlic salsa with trout and prawns. Good old (lying) DH

Hi OM! Welcome to the thread! It's making a huge difference to me- I almost succumbed to an ice cream today (honey and raspberry flavour! I mean, really!) but thought, no I want to be able to write on the thread that I've eaten all fresh. I'm not doing Atkins, but have cut out potatoes, bread, rice and pasta, am limiting dairy to milk in coffee and tea, and generally eating lots of meat, fish etc. It's basically an all-fresh diet, and it has made a massive^ difference to how I feel (and, unfortunately, to my food bills).

Mental italics. No idea why...

Well done for not succumbing to the ice cream at the weekend ConstanceFelicity.

Sounds like you had a great time!

I've just finished two beef burgers (sans bun of course) and made Custardo's Celeriac chips to go with them - really really nice! Might actually prefer them to potato chips since they had more flavour.

Think I'm eating a far greater variety of foods atm than I was when stuffing all kinds of refined carbs down me!

Hi all. Haven't posted for a while on here for a while as am back on low fat diet. Thought I would share some of the symptoms that have come back since I stopped lo carbing to keep you on the straight and narrow:

I lost 2 pounds whilst lo carbing - i went from 9 6 to 9 4 which I was quite happy with as am slim at that weight and was not being strict - I have immediately put that back on plus a pound

Whilst lo carbing I was never hungry. I am now hungry most of the time, particularly as I am now on a very low fat diet having put on that extra pound - I have not been 9 7 since being pregnant

Whilst lo carbing I was much less windy, and although not constipated, I "went" less often which meant my piles (sorry if TMI ) were much much better

I thoroughly enjoyed eating cream and cheese and eggs and bacon etc, and I have continued to drink heaps and heaps of water.

I did find that I was sluggish and tired and didn't have much energy for the gym though, and as my DH does all the cooking he was not enjoying having to think of how to adapt each meal so that i could have it. I also spent much more money on food, but I think that was because I was new to it, and this would have got better with time. I did not miss bread which I really thought I would - I found picnics quite difficult, and needing to eat at stations etc, but eating out was easy.

So - in summary - a good diet but not maintainable for me. Unfortunately. Right, what can I eat.....

Bloss

Hi guys. Am back from a wonderful holiday in rural ibiza. I have eaten my own bodyweight in bread. And also HM marmalade. Oh and booze. Tasty, fun but really not very good for the waistline. I have put on HALF A STONE! Rubbish. Back to (not) porridge today.

I have a bbq later and promised to make pudding - which will be a big raspberry and blueberry pavlova - i will just have to avoid eating any! Am also going to bring hm lamb kebabs as well which will be lo carb friendly.

Bacon and eggs this morning, salad for lunch then the dread bbq later. Need lots of water as i haven't drunk enough lately.

Welcome to all the newbies too. Let my 1/2 st be a lesson to you!

I have also been off the wagon this weekend - we found ourselves without kids for a couple of days so had a short break in Whitstable. Lots of eating and drinking in the sort of restaurants the DCs just wouldn't have appreciated! Very enjoyable, though, and I don't think I have put weight on, as it was a short burst of naughtiness.

But I have been hugely hungry since getting back, complete with rumbling tummy, and I realised this doesn't happen when I low-carb. Strange.

Well here you all are!

I've been rumbling on/off/on/off the wagon for a while, but decided that after I won £100+ worth of chocolate in the MN Easter namechange competition that it would have to be an off the wagon Easter!

Foodwise I've been back on the wagon since Easter, although the alcohol consumption, what with all these holidays/things to celebrate has been bad

But from tomorrow normal service is resumed.

I did try and start the C25K running programme, but managed to pull a muscle on my second outing, so have to find something else I can do.

I have another breakfast 'treat' for you - a LC version of a bacon and egg McMuffin:

Fry two rashers of bacon and one egg (two if you like). Put the bacon in the centre of your plate and slide the egg on top of them.
Top with a slice of plastic cheese (the orange stuff that is for burgers - check the carb counts as some are much higher than others) and a small amount of ketchup and American mustard.

Lovely!

Hi BIWI - was just thinking about you - we had the chicken "pizza" for tea this evening (that was your idea, wasn't it?). I do it differently every time - this one was quite sophisticated, with tomato sauce, basil 'n' all!

How's the chocolate scoffing going? What proportion of the £100 is still left, do you think?

Anyway, three ratty and sunburned DCs have just been ushered off to bed after Brownie camp / football tournament. One more glass of wine to round off the weekend, then no more excuses.

Thank you for welcoming me ladies,
The diet is going great for me and DH but every relative thinks its really unhealthy and my heart will blow up because of the fat! i just dont know what to say to them I have lost 12lb since i started on Wednesday and not been hungry certainly ate more fats, in the way of eggs and cheese but not what i would call excessive and my veg intake is way up.
I just feel nervous that i am wrong and causing my body damage but so far it is the only diet that has worked for me I started at 17st 6.5lb and i am now 16st 8.5lb i am 5'7 so surely dropping my BMI from 38.35 to 36.32 already has done some good?? All i hear is cholesterol this and heart attack that i really thought they would be more supportive :(

OM xx

Olismum, the perception of low carb diets is that you sit there scoffing slabs of bacon washed down with a pint of cream - people always think of hardcore Atkins, which is not what most people do.

High cholesterol has been proved to be mostly hereditary; diet has little effect on it, so eat those eggs!

If you focus on foods such as eggs, green leaves, chicken, fish, nuts etc. who could possibly say it is unhealthy? You have lost weight, so it cannot be a bad thing; your health is far more at risk if you are overweight.

My best mate is a GP and says that her job would be transformed if more people cut out the refined carbs and sugar, so keep it up.

Internet problems so couldn't post much lately. Had beef sausages with marrow fried in olive oil and then shoved some leftover vinaigrette on and aubergine parmesan. Meant to last two meals the AP but so nice I ae the lot, today used up the rest of the sausages in what can only be called a fridge jumble- chopped up sausages, garlic, spring onion, marrow, tomatoes, blue cheese and a bit f cream. Sounds weird but was really nice. At a friend's house for tea ut her DH does Atkins so that was fine. Had a few slip ups in the form of wine over weekend though. Very excited by low carb beers, that might help the situation.

Ooh forgot o tell you about brekkie, I bought carbquick which is low carb version of bisquick. So I had pancakes and bacon with low carb "maple syrup" , mmmmmm. Have also used it as a pizza base which I was less impressed with but edible if I really craved pizza.

Ugh. Am ill. Those bastard anchovies in garlic that cost me a million pounds from the very posh deli have given me the most terrible stomach cramps and squits (sorry tmi). I have been up since three. I nearly fainted earlier, having hot flushes etc. It's shit :(
DH thinks a piece of toast will settle my stomach. I don't want to give in. We shall see how the day progresses.

Yesterday:
Roast chicken salad
Bastard Poisonous Germ-Ridden Anchovy salad
Some ham
A Banana
Few grapes

Sorry to hear that, CF. Personally, whether low carbing or not, I would the toast. I would avoid eating anything until the toxins are out of your system.

But it is very important to keep hydrated - and hear I would forget about low carbing for the moment. You need to get some sugar into your system. If you don't have any dioralyte, then a little bit of lemonade/Coke (flat is better than fizzy), or some well diluted fruit juice. Drink little but often.

Stay in bed and rest.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

Thanks BecauseImWorthIt, shall heed your advice...

Sorry - I missed out a key word! Avoid the toast!

And as for spelling 'here' 'hear' ....

Thanks for the reassurance CV I am currently having unsweetened soy milk decaf iced coffee with some cream its yum! i seemed to have put on 3/4 of a pound this morning no idea why? maybe i should stop weighing every day lol week weigh in tomorrow morning so i will see what i have lost my first week on the atkinsish diet :)

Yeah, don't weigh every day, too misleading.

Why, after a weekend of pure indulgence, do I weigh 2lb less than usual, for example?!

:) bodies are funny things....2lb loss best not complain though :) it might hear you and jump back on (one of my deranged dieting thoughts hehe)

Hello all, are we all enjoying being back at work?

Despite a very badly behaved bbq evening last night (more booze than food tho), I am two lbs down this morning. But starting back to work with a hangover is not ideal!

Just had my first food of the day which was delicious burrito salad. Yum yum yum, although portion was a bit stingey. I have a yog for mid afternoon which will hopefully stave off the malteser munchies.

Dinner is lemon and thyme roasted chicken thighs and a 'fridge jumble' of veg (Poodlehorse - thanks for naming a common dish in my repotoire!).

I personally do weigh every day but I also have a spreadsheet and some lovely charts which help me see the patterns over the course of the week/month. So I can see if fluctuations are a one off or an actual pattern. I heartily recommend getting up close and personal with an excel spreadsheet. But I am a bit of a geek.

CV - sorry you are ill, that sucks. Unlike BIWI, I probably would go for a slice of toast in your circumstances. I do find that it's about all I can stomach after a dose of food poisoning. The thought of fat or veg really doesn't appeal. But hydration much more important overall - the caffeine in some flat coke does make you feel a bit more human.

Oops. I meant CF not CV.

I'm with you on the spreadsheet front, FBB!

BIWI, I think it was you that inspired me. I was almost disappointed to be on holiday and unable to weigh for a week. It's created a big gap in my chart!

Just thought i would ask if anyone has had these symptoms I have been lc for 6 days last night and today i have had a salty taste in my mouth and a bad cold is this normal?

thanks :)