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!

Well done cutitout and ghost!

Ghost phase 1 really is quite tough at first, see how you go but I have felt crap at times, only just started to feel good today (cleaned whole house - yay!), and don't know if I'd have coped bfing! Though maybe you would still get the same slump with more moderate carbs anyway? Who knows!

I have no problems with another thread for recipes, but don't want to step on bootcamp's toes. But if there is not already one specifically for veggie/vegan is guess it wouldn't be...

Today I had Greek yogurt with flax and almonds for breakfast.

Lunch - went out and met mum, had cheese ploughmans and gave dd bread and left the pickle, it was such a massive block of cheese, probably too much, and the salad was smothered in a dressing that I think was honey and mustard...

Dinner - had friends round so did cream of watercress soup to start (recipe from book minus the turnip, asda didn't deliver it today) and then I had fried halloumi with salad, and I gave the guests chicken and halloumi baked in the oven with olive oil, herbs, lemon zest and honey, with salad and new potatoes. I stayed off the wine, and didn't even succumb to one of the gu cheesecakes they bought for pudding. Just had decaf coffee with cream instead.

I hope I continue to feel as well tomorrow as I did today! Big challenge tomorrow as we are going to an amazing restaurant for lunch with friends.

Oh and I promised I'd post recipe for hot oat cereal for sparkybabe:

Sara's hot cereal:
Spread 55g oats out on grill pan and grill until light golden brown. Leave to cool then add 55g ground almonds, 55g chopped walnuts/hazelnuts, 55g wheatgerm, 55g soya protein isolate powder (guess you can leave this out) and 6tblsp wheatbran. Store in sealed container in fridge.
To serve, mix 3tblsp of mixture with 150ml boiling water and soak for 2mins, add 2tblsp ground flax seeds, then add cinnamon/ginger/butter/cream/sweetener to taste.

Can I join?! I haven't read the whole thread but will go back and do so in a minute.

I've been doing vegetarian low carb 'freestyle' for the past few days with a friend. I've got about 10lbs-1 stone to loose ideally as I've ballooned a bit recently and my friend is trying to go from size 18 to size 10. She doesn't have mn so I'll rep her!

So glad this came up in my active list, I've been really lacking in inspiration of what to eat.

So yeah can I get in on the veggie low carb club????

Of course ruby! Welcome!

Welcome ruby plus friend .

DD is almost six months old and DH is overseas, and we're having a teething/cold virus/weaning extravaganza of horrors, so on reflection I definitely don't have the energy for phase one!

I did have spicy tofu plus salad for dinner though - was pleasantly surprised! I'm going on a discounted Julian Graves run tomorrow for the extra bits I need.

Yay! Thanks I think although it helps doing it with my friend we came up with this plan over lunch as we are in fact each others food enablers so we tend to egg one another on with the oh it won't hurt, live a little talk. Hopefully mn can give me a kick up the arse.

The problem I always have with diets is I'm a complete chocoholic I've found chocolate coconut milk helps but am still looking for a substitute. Also I find the Linda McCartney veggie sausages quite low carb and I really like them.

Some of the recipes on here look great I shall have to try and find my own ones to add.

Do you think there's a limit on how many calories you should be eating/how much fat in certain things (is it obvious I'm still a bit wary of all this cheese and mayo) or is it completely irrelevant?

In theory you shouldn't have to count calories, but I have been inadvertently counting calories on mfp and I have been consistently having less than maintenance cals when sticking to phase 1 on rose Elliot, which may in part have contributed to my weight loss. I was calorie counting alone before though and getting nowhere, so low carb is definitely helping.

How about low carb hot choc for a chocolate fix? 2 tsp cocoa powder, hot unsweetened soya milk, a dash of cream and some sweetener.

So sorry if I'm being nosy but roughly how many calories are you eating per day? I'm your height so I feel like that could give me a good guide.

I've always been a calorie counter, I lost 6 stone nearly twenty years ago solely counting calories but eating crap, and I know the calorie content of so many food off by heart. Think I just can't shake that feeling of " the cheese has how many calories!".

Yes yes to the hot chocolate, will try that out tomorrow. Great tip!

Well some days I'm eating close to 1800, others 1300-1400. Though yesterday I ate a massive block of cheese at lunch and wasn't really counting so probably went over yesterday. I haven't lost weight today, but that may be because AF has decided to pay a visit!. I'm only aware of calories as a side effect of using mfp to count carbs, otherwise I wouldn't bother. If you do happen to be thinking of getting the rose Elliot books, if you follow her phase 1plan you won't go over on calories. But tbh even if you did it yourself I think you'd be surprisingly ok calories wise. Take away the carbs and you've taken away a big chunk of calories. Might be different for meat eaters.

Tbh it's amazing how quickly your mindset changes. Having counted calories pretty much all my adult life, I've now become very used to counting carbs! Rose Elliot says you should count the protein too, but tbh I haven't been paying much attention to that.

Wow! I can't quite believe how quickly this diet works - is it mostly water weight at first? I've been replacing one or two meals a day so by no means doing it properly, but the scales show another 2lbs gone this morning!

I always knew carbs were my nemesis

I think it is mostly water weight at first ghost, but apparently that's the same with any diet! Fat stores water so as you break down fat you will lose water too, still means you're breaking down fat though! Plus when you use fat as an energy source you produce ketones which need to be flushed out it the urine so you tend to lose water that way too, hence why you need to drink lots, but again still means you're burning fat!

Well done on the weight loss!

I thought it was something like that .

I've just made the 'cornbread' - not bad but a bit eggy for my taste, though it's still hot. I have a dreadful cold/sore throat combo, as does DD, so I don't know if my wobblyness is food related or illness related

mummyinggnome - Thanks for that. It all sound delicious, but aside from the tofu a lot of those foods are very carby. I might start adding some of them back in once I've lost a bit.

Hello to Ruby :)

Well done on the losses everyone!

Sorry to hear that you're not feeling too well Ghost.

DD and I are both on day two of temps/some sort of ENT infection and she's just started vomiting

On the plus side, in spite of some cheating I'm down to 11st 8.5lb today. Had salad for lunch and then roast veg (aubergine, courgettes, red pepper) with mushrooms in a creamy white wine sauce for dinner last night.

One thing that I've found helpful is having a veg box delivered. I hadn't realised how deficient my diet was in veg until forced to eat my way through a box of the stuff

Ok so I've so far eaten 2 babybel lights but I couldn't face an actual breakfast. Does anyone else find the dairy so early in the morning a bit much? (should probably point out I am a lifelong toast/croissant muncher for breakfast and I don't like early food).

Think for lunch I will be having creamy garlic mushrooms and salad or possibly be making this cornbread.

Hi Winston thanks for the welcome, sorry to hear you * ghost are suffering, if it helps my cat got soaked in the rain and is so upset he won't get off my chest so I'll probably be coming down with something pretty soon the joys of working from home

Sorry to hear that you and your DD are suffering too winston, there are some nasty bugs doing the rounds! It's hard not to want carbs when feeling poorly.

I'm having divine cauliflower bake for lunch

Can confirm that the cauliflower bake is properly yummy

Wow ghost - 7 minutes to scoff your lunch!

Talking of cauli - does anyone have the reciipe for cauli that turns out like rice? Not sure where i read it now but think it's raw,grated...

sparkybabe - here thanks for the reminder to go and buy another cauliflower :)

Are any of you counting carbs by removing the fibre? I just read online that your apparently supposed to subtract the fibre from the carbs, is this tru? Completely didn't realise.

I've ordered the rose elliot cookbook but it hasn't arrived yet and everything I read online is making me

sparky I think I was only a few mouthfuls through when I posted that as DD had woken up from her nap and I delayed my lunch to settle her again

But as DH is away and DD is super clingy then yes, I can definitely do lunch in under 7 mins

Is everyone referring to the 3 cheese cauliflower gratin? If so, glad it's nice as I'm cooking it for my low carbing guests tonight and giving them some meat as well!

I had a disastrous lunch, well it was lovely actually! Went to riverford field kitchen where basically you pay at set price and get 3 courses and all the food comes to the table and you all share. Idecided to have a cheat meal. There was a corgette and briadbean salad to start. I had the veggie option which was butternut squash tart, plus various veg including potatoes! And a divine lemon and marscapone cheesecake plus a glass of prosecco. Oops! Just gonna pretend it never happened and get straight back on it for dinner, hope I haven't regained it all tomorrow!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm I'm jealous of that meal!!!

I meant the divine cauliflower bake which is cauliflower, cheese, sour cream, Tabasco etc. it's good! But the other one sounds nice too.

Thanks Newlark for the recipe, nice and easy!

Ghost - i remember the 3-4 bite lunches well. Used to take all day to eat!

MmeGlamour - sounds delish! My lunch was a few slices of cheese, half a pack of parma-style ham and a bowl of chicken soup(well, chicken stock with a few bits chicken leek and carrot in.)

Dinner so far - half pack radishes, 3 globe artichokes from garden, dipped in butter. No idea about the carbs in that!

It is really interesting hearing what people are actually eating - the books and recipes are great for ideas but in reality we often need to eat ready meals/eat out, use quick/convenient ingredients/recipes.

I had greek yoghurt with a few raspberries and 1 tbsp milled flaxseed for breakfast, veggie sausages (tofu based) with a few carrot sticks and houmous for lunch, nuts and cheese for snacks, quorn chilli (readymeal) on cauliflower "rice" for dinner. I'm going to pretend the small bag of doritos while dd was swimming didn't happen and take some sensible snacks with me next time