On low carb, depressed and putting ON weight, please advise!

[musicposy]

Hi there, after putting on over a stone in the last 2 years and now finding a size 14 none too big (having been an 8 - 10 all my life) I decided I really need to stem the relentless creeping weight gain.

I've been reading "escape the diet trap". Last week I cut out refined sugars, but since Sunday I've gone all out on the low carb, as the book suggests. I've been putting my food into My Fitness Pal every day and I'm between 40 -60g carbs a day.

The first couple of days I felt awful, really lousy. Today is better and I can see that the awfulness is wearing off.

But -

I feel bloated and fed up. I hate the food (DD2 is veggie and I virtually followed her diet before). I dislike meat and fatty foods. I'm not eating that much because I just can't bear the sight of any more meat or eggs or cheese. I'm sticking religiously to no refined sugars and no starches, but have been eating some fruit, mainly berries which Briffa says is OK.

I think I've put on about 4lbs. I look and feel really fat and horrible. I have no energy at all and everything is a struggle. I'm craving sweet things like you wouldn't believe and even though I haven't touched refined sugars for nearly 2 weeks now, the cravings haven't gone. There's an advert for a wispa gold McFlurry on a bus stop near us and I could cry every time I go past it; I want one so much.

This is meant to be about changing your diet habits for good but I cannot live like this. I've told myself I will give it a full 2 weeks to see if I see results but even that seems a very depressing thought.

Anoyone got any advice? I was going to join one of the low carb threads but I feel half defeated before I even start and goodness knows what I'm doing to myself eating all this fat. I'm scared that by the end of the 2 weeks I'll be about a stone heavier. I'm finding it hard to trust the book.

That sounds very normal for the early stages but low carb isn't for everyone and if it is making you miserable why do it? What do you usually eat? Can you try just only eating real, whole foods, prepared from scratch (no wispas still! ;-P), watching portion sizes but making sure to eat 2/3 filling meals so you don't need to snack and move more (walk/cycle/swim/garden/energetic housework). At the end of the day you don't need fad diets unless you have specific issues and more most people eating real food it is simply about calories in/calories out. Don't expect overnight results, progress will be slow but that is how you keep it off. Good luck!

Also, meant to say, 40-60g of carbs a day is VERY low. Even if you just cut back a bit, i.e. don't eat them everyday/at every meal and kept them more around 100-150g that would still be significantly lower than most people eat but you shouldn't feel deprived.

Can't post much at the mo but look at BIWI Rrecipe thread and there is a veggie low carb thread too.
There is no point eating meat you don't like it because you won't stick to this way of eating. Are you drinking enough water? When I'm carbing you need to up it.
When you say that you think you have put on 4 pounds have you weighed yourself and/ or measures yourself at the start

I follow this way of eating and I don't eat any high fat foods. Like you I can't stomach them and IME, to lose weight low carbing eating high fat foods, need to get carbs v v low ie around 20g (ie ketosis diet).

What do you want to eat? I eat mainly unprocessed food, high protein, low fat, low carb. So fish, tofu, eggs, quorn, chicken breast, lean beef, fat free dairy, some fruit and mountains of veg.

I would try upping carbs to around 100g but cutting down on the fat. And making sure protein at least 100g.

I eat low carb too but without lots of high fat foods. I have done Atkins in the past, but put the weight back on. I have to low carb to lose weight due to all sorts of metabolic issues, but I lost all my weight (110 pounds) and kept it off this time with a low carb low calorie healthy way of eating. I eat lots and lots of veggies, some fruit, no grains, and protein. I like chicken and fish and eggs mostly. I avoid beef and never eat cheese. The only dairy I eat is skimmed milk in my coffees. it works for me and is very low fat.

I eat similarly to Wiifitmama and Foreverondiet - low carb and low fat but primarily aim for basic, unadulterated 'natural' foods.

Little or no bread, cake, biscuits, pasta, potatoes or cereals (very occasional porridge or oat based granola for breakfast if I'm going on a 50km+ bike ride).

I do eat lots of veg, salad leaves, tomatoes, some berries, an avocado a day, skimmed milk, low fat yoghurt, low fat philadelphia, low fat cottage cheese, chicken, eggs, fish etc.

I've maintained my weight (BMI of between 20 - 22 & dress size 8 -10) for around 18 months - if I want to eat something (anything!) I will eat it but try to be mindful.

Thank you for these posts and for being so encouraging!

I think I will go the route of getting rid of some of the fattier things because there's no point eating what I hate, as people say, I won't stick to it. Lots of the diets like Atkins say you need high fat and very low carbs for ketosis, but I'm struggling to get to that.

I love fruit and veg. I'll try and up the veg and salad and go easyish on the fruit. Fish, philadelphia, tofu, I can do all those things and enjoy them (though DD won't eat the fish but she likes the quorn substitutes; I could look at the carbs in those too).

I'm finding breakfast the worst because I am used to cereals or toast or porridge. Eggs and the like just don't appeal at breakfast time. I've been having greek yoghurt with berries thrown in and I quite like that - just that the fruit ups my carb level quite a lot. Any other suggestions?

I have weighed myself and have definitely gone up a pound or so but it's such early days I think I will be patient (and stop weighing myself every day which i think is a recipe for disaster). I am on thyroxine for underactive thyroid and was also on steroids for about a month a short while ago so I do think things are a bit against me at the moment losing-weight-wise.

I think if I can only stick to it it's bound to be better than all the utter rubbish I was eating. If I can only get started on getting a small bit of weight off I'll feel able to have the odd ice cream now and then. I think the hot weather and no ice cream definitely contributed to me feeling so upset today!

Thank you everyone. :)

Have you seen this thread?

Really good for those in the early days of low-carbing. Lots of advice and ideas.

If you were previously following a mainly vegetarian diet, with a weight gain of 1 stone over 2 years, then I would suggest you don't really need to make any drastic changes. Look at your portion sizes, clean it up if you need to [ie less processed food] and watch your snacking and alcohol intake.
I am a vegetarian who has lost over 4 stones in a year, like you I hate fatty greasy foods and don't want to eat things like quorn or millions of eggs [especially in the morning]. I eat porridge for breakfast every day and a small amount of wholemeal bread and potatoes.
I think you just have to find a way of eating that suits you really, rather than trying to follow a specific 'diet'.

Hi. I'm new to mumsnet.
I've been reading the low carb posts with interest. I read the Briffa book & started to try & follow the plan 8 days ago. So far, I'm not finding it too bad. Berries are in season & salads are great in the summer. I'm not sure how I'll find it when the days get colder. There's only so much ham, eggs, meat & salmon I can stomach.

One great tip from a chef friend.
Gently roast a packed of mixed nuts & then blend in the liquidiser, then add some ground almonds. It makes an almost cereal like product to have with all those berries & greek yogurt.
I'd love to read any other tips as I can see me getting bored & start dreaming of toast!

The nuts in the blender tip sounds good!

But the fact is, I have put on more weight on during a week on the Briffa diet than I have in about the 6 months previously. There's nothing in the book about what if you put weight on. Maybe my body isn't designed to cope with all this fat. I kind of admitted defeat today - early, I know, but I just don't think it's for me. I was out shopping with DD today and we ate at Subway for lunch. I had a turkey breast on honey oat - more carbs than I've had for over a week - but I chose a healthy option and stuck to 6" and had it with water. I think that's the way I'm going to go. If we do eat out, I'll make better choices.

fatlazymummy I suspect you are right. It's more an insiduous creeping weight gain. It seems enormous to me but that's because I've been slim all my life and suddenly, in the space of 2 years, I'm not. But actually, if I sort my diet out a bit it should be redeemable without all this eating stuff I hate.

I had got very lazy with takeaways and with eating lots of sweets and biscuits and I think if I clean my act up a bit over that, the whole family will benefit (none are overweight - I'm by far the fattest - but if we carry on as we were I can see it going that way). Our portion sizes have also got bigger and bigger over the last few years and as the girls have got older and we've increased their portions, we've increased ours too.

Whilst I was waiting for DD2 today (she's doing a skate camp all week) instead of just sitting there I grabbed her skipping rope and did 20 skips, a few times over. I also took the stairs instead of the lift. It's the kind of thing I used to do, but I've become lazier as I've got older. Time to reverse the trend.

I'll keep checking threads on this section. But I don't think a specific diet is the way for me. DD2, who is a very strict veggie (and skinny as a rake but with bags of energy) has been berating me over all the meat recently; I can go back to my 5 meals out of 7 being veggie again now. Thank you for all the brilliant advice :)

A low carb diet which requires you to eat more of proteins (lean meat, chicken and other poultry, seafood, eggs, skimmed milk and tofu) along with fresh, non-starchy vegetables is highly recommended. I lost 19 pounds in 8 weeks on a low carb diet and have kept the weight off ever since.