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

[Ormirian]

Let's start afresh!

This thread is great. Please can I join in?

I have started a made up low carb diet today which seems to resemble what the rest of you are doing...

I had an egg & mushroom omelette for brekky, wee prawn cocktail tub from co-op and some ham for lunch with a low fat yoghurt and some salmon with cajun spices for tea. Oh and some crispy bacon strips on the way home from my meat fest at the supermarket Lots of cups of tea with 1% milk or semi skimmed. Some water, diet coke and a berocca.

Am a size 16/18 at the mo (was a 12/14 last summer and I have been out of control with food) and have hardly any clothes I can fit. I'd say I need to lose about 3 stone.

Hi Mssoul, most of us are making it up as we go along, so you're in good company!

I agree CV about making it up as we go along - this thread is a metaphor for life in that respect ... we are all making it up as we go along really, aren't we???

Anyone?

Ah, just me then ...

Oh good. Tried Dukan before, but it was just too strict and rigid. And the implication was that if you make one tiny slip up, you would never recover . Bloody dieting industry - they're all just marketing a product. Eating less sugar, bread, pasta and tatties - that's what it's all about. And thanks for the welcome

Can I join in?? I have been lurking for ages and have been following IPD since January. I have lost just over 2 stone but have 4st to go. I'm 5'11 and 17st at the moment. I have gone from a size 22 to 18 on bottom and 16 on top. I am aiming to be size 14 all over I haven't been a size 14 since I was 15 years old so its a bit scary.
I have been shredding and have just finished the 30 days although it took me about 7 weeks so I'm now going to restart but uping my weights and intensity. I have also been thinking of trying the couch to 5k like some of you have been doing. Just thinking about mind you.
I love eating lowcarb and actually find it quite easy to stick to. I have converted my sister and dad as well.
Today I had ham with a poached egg and hollindaise sauce for brekky and for lunch I'm having my sisters butter chicken leftovers. I'll make bunless burgers tonight I think.
I live in NZ (but have just moved back here after 10 years in the uk) and I can't find celeriac but have discovered swede which is a nice change. I might try to make chips with a swede anyone tried this???
Big love to Custy as it was her blog that first got me on to low carbing.

Ended up having two, yes two dinners

First salmon spinach and more cucumber garlic yog (remind me not to make so much next time).

Then went out to a talk thing and watched everyone else eat big fat chips, mini banoffee pies mini cheesecake and winewinewine I think the only thing that got me through was knowing I have a lapse planned tomorrow (belated birthday celebration) and Saturday (brother's 30th).

Oh and inspired by sal I jogged very slowly ran to the talk thing, nearly a couple of miles.

So after all the running and watching was just starving when i got in and just had ham eggs cheese hummous fridge raid.

Oh well, at least it wasn't banoffee pie.

Wow Febes! That's fantastic! Well done!

My Thin Jeans are loose today. This hasn't happened in years. (It's all relative though. They are a size 16... :)

I think my brain is going to explode from reading low carb websites. Just how many carbs should I be aiming for, and do I count every carb, or can I eat protein willy nilly? I don't eat red meat so tend to be living off tuna steaks, tinned salmon, smoked mackeral, chicken, eggs and Emmental cheese. Do I have to count the carbs in those or just in the veg and 'extras'. I cannot give up my first cup of tea in the morning with skimmed milk for anyone, but I am drinking red bush tea for the rest of the day. Can I use honey? Aaaargh. So many questions.

Gah; yesterday was not a good day. Ended up eating massive piece of HM raspberry cake at 9pm. So three lots of sweet stuff yesterday. Scales are back over 10 5 today. Need.To.Get.A.Grip. And either throw the cake away or freeze it in DH size portions.

Right, back on the yog this morning. Pret salad for lunch; might need to buy some snackage too - probably cheese or sliced chicken. Dinner will be fajitas on lettuce leaves (tacos for DH).

Yes welcome all and sorry not to say so last night - was too depressed about the two dinners...

Well done Febes! Ditto was thinking of trying shred - amazon have in on offer for 6 quid btw for anyone else thinking of it.

And well done Constance on the jeans Cannot believe how much Less flabby my tummy is after only three days off this. Didn't realise how much of it was just carb bloat.

Mssoul - also looked at Dukan and agree too restrictive. Am still losing weight by winging it (2.5 pounds this week despite constipation from all the eggs...)

Exit - alot of people seem to be aiming for twenty. I am not being too rigorous about counting - just checking counts to get a rough idea of what's ok and sticking to the ok things.

What do you all snack on when you get hungry? I had a hard boiled egg and a slice of Emmental cheese for brekky but I am starving now. I would normally have an apple but there are 21 carbs and that would be the day over.....

Hi Exit

I got into this fairly slowly. I don't count carbs in non-processed fish, meat or cheese. However, I try to keep my portions on the normal side. But probably more on the man size than dinky lady size i.e. a good solid portion but not obscence.

If it's processed, then I do check the carbs. If I'm using literally one spoonful of something in a bigger meal, then I ignore it.

My aim is for somewhere around 40-50 carbs a day. That means I can pretty much eat all veg (apart from spuds). I try to eat more of the filling low carbs veg rather than eg carrots and peas, which are higher carb. But if that's what's on offer somewhere then I don't get too uptight about it.

I am steering clear of most fruit at the moment because it just sucks up your carbs for the day. If I've had something carb-y early in the day then I try to be a bit more strict for the rest of the day.

There are a lot of people who are really hardcore and they get great results. But I know I just wouldn't be able to stick to that long term so I am going for the softly softly approach, tweaking and experimenting as I go.

Although current experiment with cake is not so successful!

Snack

piece of cheese (sometimes with peanut butter - CV is scandalised by this addition!)
cold meat/fish - salami, chicken, ham, smoked salmon etc etc
celery with dip of some sort - some dips are better than others
Yoghurt - full fat, Greek is best. I try not to have more than two a day as they do contact some lactose (ie sugar)

Once I am in the swing of it, I find I don't need snacks. But that takes a week or so.

Peanut butter

Ah I get ya about the low fat yoghurt Super Sal - hangover from Dukan...

Febes, you are doing so well, well done.

Sarraburd I had eggs again this morning so constipation prob around the corner for me too What else can you have for breakfast?! And two dinners - I have done that every night for months before: usually kids' leftovers then a massive tea later on

Anyone calculated how many carbs are in a splash of milk in tea? I prob have about 10 cups a day when in the office, so I might have to go lactofree.

Have a good day y'all...

snacks - ham, chicken legs, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, nuts, olives, tuna mayo,

My approach is a bit like FBBs (apart from the cheese and PB weirdness), I'm not too strict, but accept that this means a slower weight-loss (actually I've stopped losing weight as I'm as low as I want to be).

Is an apple really 21g carbs??

My usual snack is a chunk of cheese or some salami. Even if I think I want cake that usually hits the spot.

here is BIWI's list - it's per 100g

Asparagus (raw, boiled or canned) 1.4
Aubergine 2.8
Avocado flesh 1.9
Baby sweetcorn 2.7
Bean sprouts 2.5
Beetroot 9.5
Broad beans 11.7
Broccoli 1.1
Brussels sprouts 3.5
Butternut squash 7.5
Cabbage 5
Carrots 2.5
Carrots 6
Cauliflower 1.9
Celeriac 2.3
Celery 0.9
Courgettes 1.8
Cucumber 1.5
Fennel 1.8
French beans 4.7
Garlic 16.3
Ginger (peeled) 7.2
Green pepper 2.6
Leeks 2.9
Lettuce 1.7
Mangetout 3.3
Mushrooms 0.4
Okra 3
Onions 7.9
Orange or red pepper 6.4
Parsnips 12.5
Peas (frozen) 9.7
Potato 15.7
Pumpkin 2.2
Runner beans 2.3
Shallots 3.3
Spinach 0.8
Swede 2.3
Sweetcorn (canned) 26.6
Tomato 3.1

Thanks

CV - so jealous you are at the weight you want to be. I am so tired of losing weight and then putting it alll back on again.

Am loving low carbing though as it is so good to reach into the fridge for an olive or a piece of cheese.

Do miss fruit though.

Ooh chicken legs great snack idea - thanks!

Lovely girls' belated lunch and as I was cooking not tooo bad on lc front (steadfastly ignores half bottle of cava...)

Tried great "potato" salad lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/soupsandsalads/r/cauliflowrsalad.htm
Cauliflower, eggs and (I adapted a bit as didn't have all ingredients) diced celery, finely chopped red onion, capers and dressing made with Greek yog, mayo, mustard and (yes really) hummous. Mmm.

Then as birthday cake substitute almond truffles - 125g almond flour, 4 egg yolks, splenda, almond essence (didn't have any so used vanilla); beat, roll into balls, dust in almond flour.

So all in all not toooo bad as a planned lapse (except perhaps the portion sizes guzzle guzzle...) (this weekend different kettle of fish as mother cooking - thinking of bringing my own cauliflower etc)

Belated birthday lunch...

And gravadlax and gherkins on side, which I know both cured in sugar but not tooo much.

Exit - it's very strange, I had never dieted before. I've always been one of those "can-eat-anything-and-not-put-on-weight" people.

That is, until I hit 40. Then v-e-r-y slowly a small tyre started to build around my midriff.

So I gave myself a target of losing a stone, but the low-carbing went so unbelieveably well I completely over-shot my target and lost nearly a stone and a half. And, as I said above, I'm not hugely strict. I guess I have just found the right eating regime for my body.

As for putting the weight back on; I think that's the problem with weight-watchers/calorie-counting - you are "depriving" yourself so much that the moment you relax it all piles back on.

I can see myself eating this way forever, something I would never have imagined if I was calorie-counting.