Starting a low carb diet - anyone interested in going for it with me?!

[RatherBeOnThePiste]

I did this very successfully indeed for about 6 weeks in the run up to the summer break. I have been trying to lose weight for a while and was doing OK but then reached a plateau which was when I decided to try something new. And I easily lost a stone doing this.

It was hard in the beginning, for about the first week, then I sort of settled in to it and it just became how it was. And I like the rules of it, because you just can't cheat on it. But it was sometimes hard juggling what the family were going to eat.

I have been cutting down since Tuesday, but will be going for it completely on Monday 5th. I want to lose a stone. Is anyone interested??!!!

But kotinka - what veg? Some is higher in carbs like root veg. What low carb veg would you fill up on?

kotinka - I've never heard that before about protein turning into carbs - where does that come from?

And 88g of protein per day pounds really low, surely?

In kilos I was 80, now 87 grrrr, and am 171 cm. Think in imperial that is about14 stone and 5 foot 8.

Have a big build, was a size 8 when I was 18, but still needed 14 in jackets and coats.

I've never heard of that either! I did the maths and that would mean I get to have approx 53g of protein a day, which doesn't seem very much esp if I'm only having 20g of carbs?

I shall be eating dust at this rate

But one plus side is that u think I might have a wheat or gluten intolerance, as physically felt much more comfortable in the last week, so I want this to work.

But is there anyway I can have tea? Just normal tea with skimmed milk? Have it with cream so stopping that as of now.

Have a look at the amount of dairy you've been eating - that can cause problems. And the dressings you've been using, are they home-made, or did you buy them? There is a huge amount of sugar in bought dressings.

Are you drinking enough water?

Are you drinking lots of diet drinks?

Yes!! When I started this that was almost my deal breaker. I found out how many carbs were in milk by measuring it out once, then worked out how much a splash of milk in tea was. So now I factor it in to my 20g. A splash of milk in tea is 2g of carb, so I have three mugs a day and all is good. But I choose to spend my carb amount in that way.

Before this diet I used to have about 15 mugs of tea a day, but I appreciate my three so much more these days!

Until I started the Harcombe Diet I continued to drink coffee with milk, and it didn't seem to interfere with anything. I can't bear cream in coffee!

If you think you might have a food intolerance, I really, really recommend that you have a read of the Harcombe Diet.

Have a read of this

She bases her thinking around 3 key issues that prevent weight loss/encourage weight gain:

candida
food intolerance
hypoglycaemia

Her diet has three phases, designed to deal with these - which becomes, essentially, low carb. The first phase is only for 5 days, and is an anti-candida diet. You can eat any meat/fish and all veg except potatoes and mushrooms. It's dairy-free and no alcohol/vinegar is allowed. And no processed carbs. You can, though, eat brown rice - but this is the only thing that you have to weigh - you are allowed a maximum of 50g of brown rice per day. No caffeine, no diet drinks.

If you use all your carbs on milk, how do you build in the carbs in veg listed above? God this is worse than counting points! Can anyone recommend a bible for all these figures?

To answer questions above, no don't drink diet drinks anyway and make all sauces from scratch. Think I fell for the 'don't feel hungry' bit of pig 2 twig and ate too much. Did share a whole roast chicken with DH for lunch yesterday, which was probably bad.

Harcombe diet looks good, will read more on it.

Thanks again everyone, you've really helped me get through a miserable day.

I'm only having about 6g carb from milk though? That still leaves plenty for veggies, and still come in at 20g.

My downfall is possibly the gin, which I know is zero carbs with a slim tonic, but it doesn't help weight loss.

Kotinka - I am genuinely interested so no worries on my account! Some of you on here know so much, I feel I am an amateur.

I know how to get into and stay in ketosis, and I know it works, that's all really!

Rather- oh 6g sounds do able. Off to follow up all these links on the computer where I can read them properly.

And have a cup of tea.

The thing about 'eat when you're hungry' is that when your body goes into ketosis, this acts as a natural appetite suppressant, and you simply won't be hungry.

Personally I don't think Pig to Twig is really strict enough in the beginning. I think it would be good for you and your DH to do something like Atkins or Harcombe, with an initial strict phase, to make sure that you get into ketosis.

And once you get your head round it, you won't have to do much counting.

Basically, for an induction type of day, following Atkins, you're looking to eat protein and fat, with minimal carbs (20g). So, bacon and eggs, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, etc are all good breakfast choices. (P2T breakfast on day one is 2 fried eggs and 4 rashers of bacon, which I have always thought was far too much!)

For lunch, some protein with a salad (with an oil-based dressing), and then an evening meal of protein with low-carb veg, e.g. broccoli, cauliflower, leeks spinach, cabbage, dourgettes.

The list of carb counts kotinka posted is really helpful - and can help you to get your head round quantities, so that you don't have to count carbs. Take celery - you could have 20 sticks of celery and still not have consumed 20g of carbs! And if half a cup of iceberg lettuce is 0.2g of carbs, you can eat an awful lot of salad!

That will be courgettes of course!

Turkey - putting on a stone equates to eating an extra 7,000 calories a day for 7 days - I would have thought that was physically impossible on any diet! Are you both drinking enough water and not having too much salt - it could be you are both dehydrated and your body is hanging onto water. I strongly doubt anyone could put on a stone of fat one week into pig to twig!

My other thought was to ask you when you've been weighing yourself - you should be weighing in the morning, naked, and after you've been to the loo!

And are you using the same scales - and are they functioning properly?! My old ones always started going a bit haywire when the battery was running down.