Low carb vegetarian? Rose Elliot specifically.

[SuddenlyMadameGlamour]

Hi all! In my never-ending quest to finally shift the last half stone of baby (well toddler now really) weight, I am finally set on starting to low carb. I am a vegetarian, and whilst I have been lurking on the bootcamp threads, I have struggled to actually get my head around what I can actually eat on that one, though others success has been very inspiring!

I lost 2 stone on slimming world, but then stalled, and have been losing and regaining the same half stone for at least 6 months doing calorie counting on mfp, trying various calorie allowances, various nutrient ratios, various forms of exercise etc etc. I was running quite long distances not long ago, but an operation followed by a string of minor illnesses has scuppered that!

I have been inspired this weekend as I have been away with a couple of good friends who are complete foodies, been have lost lots of weight and look fab low carbing. We have been staying in a kosher vegetarian house and they have still managed to eat amazing food.

I am torn on the merits of low carb, but i really want to shift this weight now. I have just broken up from uni for summer, and want to go back a new woman! I have just ordered the two rose elliot veggie low carb bookson amazon, so hopefully they will be with me not long after I get back. They seem to essentially be atkin's adjusted for vegetarians.

I realise I am appealing to a small demographic as there are not that many vegetarians, let alone those that want to low carb, out there, but nevertheless it would be lovely if any of you out there would like to join me, or through in your two pennies worth! I don't want to distract from the other great threads running ATM as they're doing a gret job, but I do feel it would be nice to have one better suited to us veggies!

Thanks cut it out! No it's fine, will take a look!

Good luck for tomorrow ungrateful!

Ok so weighed myself this morning and I'm now 11st 4.5lbs! That's another 2lb off so I've now lost 6.25lbs since i started my attempt to low carb on Thursday, and I have been following rose Elliot since Saturday! Pretty chuffed with that tbh, that's the lightest I've been since having dd and only 2.5lbs to go until I've officially lost all the baby weight.

I'm not doing the shred today cos it's horrid, decided to reserve that for days when I haven't lost any weight! Just going to try and incorporate as much activity as possible into my daily life, there is so much housework to do so that shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you suddenly for your reply :)

I think I am going to put starting the low carb diet off until I get the book delivered as I am worried I am doing it wrong and will end up putting on more weight!

The goats cheese salad sounds lovely. Could I use other cheeses as well to make it more of a variety?

Sadiemay

I've ordered the book - dh away for a few days so I can get started without having to cook for him (dcs usually eat separately earlier in the evening so will have to avoid hoovering leftovers ). Starting weight 12 st 6...

Well, my planned immersion into low carbing on Monday did not happen for a number of reasons

I have sort of started today (ignoring lunch entirely) at 11st 11.75lb.

Would like to lose 32.75lb overall but first goal is to get into the 10s.

Very well done Suddenly, you're doing really well and have inspired me to give it a proper go tomorrow.

Good luck Newlark and winston!

Sadie may, I don't see any reason why you couldn't use other cheeses for variety, as long as you check the carbs and include them in your daily total.

Tomorrow I am having Caesar salad with Parmesan shavings and mayo and toasted flaked almonds instead of croutons. I'll let you know what it's like!

Can i join? I'm not vegetarian but before low-carbing i ate a lot of vegetarian food, as I don;t really like meat very much! I have eaten more meat in the last 3 weeks than in the last 6 months i think, and i do worry abot the sat.fat. and cholesterol (tho i don;t think i have a problem there)

I've been continuing breakfasting on porridge with half soya/half water (will weigh portion tomo to see how much carbs in it) because i think the health benefits outweigh the wanting-to-lose-weight

Lunch - really good today, had a party at work, lots of samosas, onion bhajis, spring roll types on offer, but i was too excited busy to eat so just had 2 skewers of cheese/tomato/olives, and avoided the drinks but had water.

At home - one entire LittleGem lettuce with mayo

Dinnner - pork chop (I know!) with mushrooms in soyacream sauce and spinach in butter (from garden)
Dessert - 3 teaspoons greek yog.

Handful Brazil nuts.

#Probably could have done without the porkchop....

Welcome sparkybabe! I'll forgive you the pork chop...

Rose Elliot has a hot cereal recipe that does contain some oats but other low carb stuff to pad it out, I'll dig it out tomorrow, if you like?

I've just been inspired - I was making my low carb hot choc, and I mixed the cream into the cocoa powder first, and the consistency was like chocolate truffles, you know like those ones dusted in cocoa powder? Then it occured to me that you must be able to make reasonably low carb chocolate truffles using cocoa powder, butter, cream and sweetener instead of sugar?! Think I may have to do some experimenting - but perhaps I ought to leave it til phase 2!

Thanks mmeGlamour! I didn't think artificial sweetener was allowed on low-carb, something to do with the blood sugar spike which leads to wanting more sugar....dunno. I asked BIWI if i could have low-sugar jelly and cream, (which is just artifical sweetener and flavourings) and got a scientific answer (basically - No!)

Hot oat cereal recipe would be great, thanks. I weighed the portion i usually have, it was 30g, (of 66g/100g carbs) so about 20g just in that portion, without soyamilk. So if i aim at 30g in total for the day, I should still lose weight.

Having said that i'm off for coffee with friends in town today, so Toasted Teacakes are on the horizon...

I'm not sure sparky, rose Elliot doesn't allow aspartame for those reasons, but does say stevia is fine, and splenda is acceptable... Tbh as a veggie there are so many things we can't eat, I've decided to allow myself some for the sake of variety!

Stevia is plant-based (so expensive tho!) so ok for veggies.

I don't really eat puddings anyway, am happy with a few spoons of greek yog, if that. Miss fruit though, - might actually have a 'carb' day today, toasted teacakes, apples, grapes... and leave the meat just for 1 day.

I have lost 0.5kg this week.

I feel rough as hell today. Has anyone done low carb before on the past? When do you start to feel better, or does it just get worse?

oh no sorry you are feeling rough. Do you think its the diet or could it be a bug? Either way drink lots of water and flush it away

too much sweetener is not good as it can make your body think sugar is on its way and add to the cravings. Diet drinks are not great for that reason plus sweeteners are said to have lots of other nasty health consequences.

I have seen stevia seeds in a health food shop before but I'm not sure how you get from growing a plant to having sweeter coffee!

I think splenda is ok in moderation but watch the carbs as I'm sure it has some.

I need to ditch my strawberry and cream habit or there will be no loss showing tomorrow morning

You can buy stevia made into sweeteners nowadays. Splenda in the tablet form has no carbs, but the granulated stuff has 0.5g per tsp but I've been counting that. I don't use them very often tbf, but I'm not going to cut them out completely as having something ocassionally sweetened with them stops me from caving completely and eating chocolate! Mainly just use it for my low carb hot choc in the evening as a treat for getting through the day!

This morning I was down to 10st 9.75lb, though I probably can't credit the loss with anything other than my odd and wildly fluctuating weight. I will continue to daily weigh though as I need to keep focus.

Lunch was marinated tofu, leftover swede mash, and creamy leeks.
Dinner was a pot of jalapeño coleslaw (quite carby but am in quite a bit of pain today so was better than nothing).

I've had a couple of cups of coffee with soy milk, and am almost at 2l water.

I'm ignoring any talk of chocolate and related goods. There was a picture of me put up on a social networking site yesterday (one of only five on my entire profile) that has mortified me into a more determined weight loss effort.

Whilst I could argue that the other photos weren't as bad because they were from better angles (was in a dress with quite serious slimming undergarments), it would just be nice not to have to worry about fattening angles and control pants y'know?

That, and (to be less vain) it sets a bad example to my daughter. Hopefully these points and this wonderful WOE will keep me motivated.

I hope you're feeling better tomorrow Suddenly, and step away from those strawberries CutItOut :)

Actual at my own optimistic mistype. Am 11 st 9.75lb and have not miraculously lost over a stone overnight

Hi,
I'm vegan and do low carbing. Not impossible at all, and it does work, but every now and then I just have to have a bowl of rice/noodles (brown!) otherwise I'd go mad. Oh you've made me think now, yummmm, rice....
I've gone from 16stone + to 9stone, with a combination of mfp and low carbing. And in all honesty, not a lot of exercise other than running around / carrying three babies.
Also, gin and slimline - or champagne/prosecco, that works best for me! But god, I miss beer, so occasionally succumb.
Good luck!

Hi Mummyinggnome :)

Congratulations on the weight loss, and thank you for the tips especially the one advocating prosecco

If you don't mind me asking, what do you eat for protein as a vegan low carber?

It's probably just my lack of imagination but I'm struggling to think of many foods. Apologies for my vegetarian stupidity!

Hiya,
For protein I eat all manner of lentils (whilt carby I know, if you do less lentils and high volume of liquid you can make fantastic lentil and veg soups which fill you up) and tofu, normally marinated and baked or similar. Split peas, green lentils, red lentils, small amounts of beans. Prob sounds ghastly, but actually delicious. Tons of spices and light coconut milk, quite into Thai spices at the moment. And then if you add rice noodles /brown rice noodles - they're relatively calorie light when you do allow a bit of carb back in.
So anyway, back to the prosecco and big bowl of olives! Yum!

I didn't do too badly yesterday - cheese omelette for breakfast plus a couple of spoonfuls of yoghurt, lunch out was an M&S "Simply fuller longer" superfood salad which had quinoa and kamut grains in but wasn't too high in carbs overall. A piece of cheddar and some nuts as snacks and some veggie sausages with veg and a tiny amount of pasta with tomato sauce for dinner.

Holland and Barratt had some trial size sachets of milled/ground seeds - I bought a variety selection plus some separate sachets of flaxseed. I had a tablespoon on some greek yoghurt with a few raspberries for breakfast.

I think rather than trying to get to very low carb levels I'm just going to significantly cut down - I felt pretty good about yesterday and think it would be sustainable - the scales say -1 lb though that could just be day to day variation

Hi mummying gnome!

Yes I think I feel better today winston! Dp got the end of my grumpy low carb tongue yesterday so I think he probably hopes I am!
Keep up the good work Newlark!

Well I'm down to 11st 3.5lb now, so that's half a stone in a week!

I've also realised that low carbing isn't as expensive as I thought it'd be. I reckon it's because when I'm doing low fat I buy extra meat to pad out (skinny) dp's meals, whereas now because what I'm eating is so protein/fat rich, I've just bought spuds/rice etc to act as the carb element for dp/dd's meals. I stuck to our usually weekly budget for our online shop and I seemed to get mountains more food than I usually do! Plus I am off the wine so that helps!

strawberries avoided

I am 3lb down today

I may have to dip into the bootcamp thread to talk non veggie food though. I am still feeling caught in between following a veggie diet or not so I might dip in and out of the threads if that's ok?

interesting what you say about cost Suddenly. I need to give this some more thought and plan some meals properly as I am trying to get me and reluctant dh low carbing and the dc eating the same meals but tweeked with the addition of healthier carbs.

is it best to shop weekly? I have to confess I am nervous about the food bill soaring but then again we do end up with wasted items as we tend to shop in a rush and get led by what's on offer

well done everyone :)

one other thought, is it worth starting a low carb recipe thread for veggies and vegans like they have for bootcamp?

Ooh I like the recipe thread idea- I was going to go looking for that cauliflower recipe again .

Well done on proving the backbone to this thread suddenly. I'm another pound down on my own 'careful carbs' meal choices, but the book arrived today so I'm hoping to start properly now. If DD will ever stop screeching long enough for me to read the book . My BMI is 25.1 today, yeys, getting there!

I am tempted to try phase one for a week or so, but am breastfeeding so should probably be sensible.

Hungry today - possibly because of late night/early morning; it's true you eat more when tired.
Brekfast - leeks and omelette, followd by a few nuts, some cheese and more nuts!

lunch - salad leaves with mayo, half tomato

gardening at exDHs - he has loads of raspberries so have had rather too many of them!
dinner - salad,mayo, ham and coleslaw. Probably will have more nuts or cheese tonight watching telly