is low carb suitable?

[Ifancyanewname]

Can someone advise me what kind of eating plan would suit? I have been low carbing for about a week and a half but still eating a bit of fruit and carrots. I have basically cut out all bread,pasta, rice, crackers, cakes, choc. However, I am still feeding dd 8mo so I dont want to go into ketosis as I believe this might affect my milk? Also, I am doing the couch to 5k and read you should have some carbs for exercise or your muscles start to eat themselves (scary). Also, I have been having some higher fat products e.g butter, cheese as I believe you need these for energy?
I havent really lose any weight though, I seem to have lost the bloating but the scales are stuck on the same weight. I seem to lose a couple of pounds then it goes back on.

Anyone? I'm getting so disheartened :(

What are you eating in a typical day? Unlikely to go into ketosis is still having some fruit and dairy. From what you are saying though you are doing a mixture of ketosis (is allowing high fat) but not actually cutting out the carbs.

Either go very low carb high fat - ie ketosis
Or moderate carb low fat - I think preferable when breastfeeding.

Unlikely muscles will eat themselves until your body fat percentage is very low or you are starving yourself and doing massive amounts of exercise.

My typical day (weight loss phase)
2 egg omelette and 100g fat free yoghurt and oatbran for breakfast
apple mid morning
Lunch salad with tuna / mackeral / smoked salmon / cottage cheese etc
OR soup made with veg and pulses and soya mince added for extra protein
pear mid afternoon
dinner lean protein, loads of veg
yoghurt for dessert

Hi there,

Don't be disheartened. I think you're right. Low carb isn't suitable for somebody who is breastfeeding. Why don't you pop over to the Paul McKenna thread? It might seem a bit far out, but it works for 71% of people and is a natural way to lose weight. It also helps you to start thinking about yourself in a better way.

mychild - paul mckenna didn't work for me when breastfeeding as the feeding gave me an abnormal appetite! Worth trying though.

OP - why not keep track of how many calories you are eating on your current plan, it might be that you are just eating too many to lose?

This site seems to have some sensible advice. Or there is also the excellent Kellymom website.

Yes BFing gave me a ferocious apetite. I was back to pre-preg weight 4 weeks after giving birth to DS1, but had gained a ridiculous amount of weight by the time he was a year old!

I just know how low carbing makes me feel, so I can't imagine how weak, dizzy and fatigued I would feel if that was in combination with BFing.

re: feeding - I did tesco diets when DS2 was 6 months old. I was cutting down on the BFing to twice a day anyway, and I wasn't bothered by my milk supply dwindling (which it did but think that's because DS2 lost interest in feeding as he was getting bottles during the day) - nutritionalist at tesco thought dieting whilst EBF (ie baby 100% dependent on you for nutrition) wasnt recommended.

Each feed roughly 100 calories, so as I was doing 2 feeds a day aimed for 1400 calories rather than 1200 calories, obviously with 5-6 feeds that would be closer to 1800 calories.

I can't low carb as I get constipated. Moderate carb low fat works for me, still don't eat grains very often but do eat starchy veg, fruit and dairy.

Hi all, thank you for your comments, I think the prob is like forever on a diet says, I'm not particularly going low carb but am full fatting it too!
That site looks good, makes sense. I think I shall carry on avoiding bread/flour/pasta. What is the Paul Mckenna diet?? How does it work?