Evil carbs?

[Zanshins]

So I after piling on a stone in weight over the past 2 months I started a crash low carb diet yesterday.

I ate:

breakfast - 2 egg omelette with bacon and cheese
Lunch - chicken salad with spring onions, cucumber and herbs
dinner - lamb grill with a mini jacket potato and broccoli.

I also snuck two bourbon biscuits and drank shit loads of coffee throughout the day.

The result? I dropped from 11st 1lb (as I was yesterday morning) to 10st 10lbs this morning.

I do usually drop weight quickly whilst low carbing but 5lbs over night is a record even for me!

My question is - can you low carb but still eat "good carbs" like the potato and still lose weight properly? I am aware that 99% of that 5lbs I lost would be water weight. I've just had a mushroom and spring onion omelette and a glass or fresh orange juice for example - have I cocked it up??

I want to change my eating habits rather than stick to a strict diet. Any experiences?

Should also add that I'm looking to loose around 2/3lbs a week as I go on holiday in 5 weeks and want to be below 10 and a half stone.

Course u can. U need at least 6 portions of carbohydrate to function healthily. Thing is people forget what a portion is. 1 being a small fist size. So people often go overboard, have a huge plate of pasta and that's 3-4 portions strait away. Try and avoid overly refined carbs so stick to brown rice, pastas, wholemeal bread/pittas etc

Thank you. So for example, I'm ok eating a small potato with my evening meal? a small glass of orange juice with my breakfast? A yoghurt with my lunch etc?

You are still having too many carbs to lose weight consistently. There will be a huge amount in the orange juice, the potato and in the yoghurt if it is sweetened and low fat. If you want to read more about it come and join us on the Bootcamp Bonanza thread, there are some guidelines there.

Alternatively you can try just dropping the refined carbs - sugar, bread, baked goods etc.

And you do not need carbohydrate to function healthily. A low-carb way of eating gets all the carbs from vegetables and a little fruit.

But I'm only hoping to lose around 2lbs a week Shimbo, won't I get away with the odd potato/orange if I'm only hoping for slowish weight loss?

no you don't need at least six portions of carb to function healthily. That's a total myth.

Obviously it's entirely up to how much carb you eat. But fruit juice, biscuits and potato definitely don't feature in low-carb diets . If you don't want to cut carbs very low then consider brown rice, rye bread etc.

Yes you can get away with just cutting out your bad carbs if you haven't got much to lose . I was in the same position as you in that I only wanted to lose about 3-4kg when i started this way of eating infact it wasn't so much for weight loss, I just wanted to see if I could improve my health and reduce my cravings for sweet things, and it worked, and I have lost a little weight (mostly muffin top!) in the process which was an added bonus! I am now thinking about maintenance as I don't really want to lose any more.

Woah don't shoot the messenger. Im only relaying info from my nutrition & weight management course and my degree. Each to their own

No need for 6 portions of carbs. Total myth.

Get your carbs from whole fruit (don't drink the juice), veg, dairy (but avoid yoghurt etc with added sugar), occasional root veg ok too.

The body uses around 100g carbs a day BUT can make them from other foods if you don't eat carbs. Body can function healthily in ketosis for extended periods of time.

If your calories in are less than calories burned then you will lose weight regardless of jacket potatoes and oj. It's just that carb heavy foods are usually calorie dense and hence cutting carbs is an easy way to cut overall calories.

I lost 4 stone at 2lb a week using foodfocus.co.uk and not eliminating carbs entirely but I did eat fewer to keep within my calories.