For the Low Carbers - how do you do it?!

[dollyxdaydreamer]

Hi all, I hope someone can answer some questions I have about low-carbing

I've got this dream to be the healthiest me that I can possibly be. I've done a lot of reading about the low carb woe (read Taubes/Briffa etc) and it totally makes sense to me. I get it.

But I just don't see how it can become a permanent way of life! Whilst I would absolutely love to be able to embrace this, it just seems difficult to maintain! I couldn't even do it for more than three days last week, I just caved in. Would those of you who maintain this woe mind answering these questions?:

1. How do you just not think "oh sod it!" and eat the bag of crisps/whatever carby snack you fancy?

1. What do you do when you go out for a meal and there's too many temping things on the menu?

1. Similarly, when you have people visiting - for example, we had friends staying this weekend, they wanted to order in pizza. What do you do in this situation? I'd feel like a killjoy not to join in. And the 'nibbles' with drinks etc. How do you stop yourselves?

1. Do you tell everyone you're doing it? Do they think you're weird or unhealthy?

I guess most of these questions boil down to wondering weter the carb cravings actually ever go away? Or whether you find yourself with a constant daily battle?

I hope someone can help. I feel like it's an addiction! I know junk carbs aren't doing me any favours, but I can't seem to stop it. Like a smoker I guess!

Hi.

I know how strange it seems in the beginning, especially as this woe seems to go against the grain of everything we've been told for years about eating healthily. I have been LCing for nearly 4 months, not particularly to lose weight but to be healthier, and will try and answer your questions.

1. You do have sod it moments and if you do, just rectify it as soon as you can by going back to low carb - I have planned cheats occasionally and a fair bit of dark chocolate which stops any cravings. The cheats have not made much difference in the grand scheme. It takes time for the cravings to reduce and for this to become a normal for you woe, but it really does.

1. Order what I like that is low carb (steak, salmon, whateve) and ask them to replace chips/potatoes/etc with yummy salad or veg. Indulge in a pudding if you plan to cheat but make sure it is worth it!

1. It is difficult with friends visiting. I usually just make up something like I'm wheat sensitive and do a big salad that I have and everyone else can share. The best thing to do is to plan ahead and prepare a dish that you are able to eat too. You may find that no one notices!

1. I have told some family and friends and they have passed comment, but I tend to ignore anything uneducated! Some have joined me :)

The carb cravings do go - and surprisingly quickly! Honestly! Give it four weeks if you can then come back to this thread and tell us how you've got on. And do join us on the Bootcamp thread, there are some lovely people and great support.

I agree that the carb cravings leave quite quickly.

I've always been a massive sugar fiend, massive. But as medal says a few squares of dark chocolate really is enough to satisfy any post dinner sugar longings. I have a bar of Green & Blacks in my kitchen that I've been nibbling over the past five days, there's still a third of it left.

This would have been unthinkable before.

The main thing is to do lots of research for delicious low carb recipes. Nothing guaranteed to send you flying back to carbiness than the same four recipes being recycled.

Give the low carb at least a full week, preferably 2, and the carb craving will go. First time I did it (jan this year) I got pretty awful flu like symptoms days 5 and 6, but stuck with it (think it was a sort of detox) and felt fabulous after that.

I read India Knights book 'the idiot proof diet' which really encouraged me to start and keep going.

I lost 3 stone earlier this year, stopped the strict phase over the summer, restarting in Sept. Still eat lower carbs and more healthily in general; have still kept sugar cravings at bay, and feel much better for it.

Very easy to eat out on this way of eating. Meat/fish plus veg/salad really!

Strongly agree that its much easier to follow if you become an adventurous cook. It's very easy to adapt lots of recipes once you learn all the principles of low carb though, so its easy to find inspiration.

I add odd glass of wine in, that's my big treat, and still lost weight and felt healthier. I have masses more energy, and oh, how I need it! Oh, and your skin is sooo lovely and clear after a couple of weeks - a great side effect

1. The cravings go. They honestly do. I still have crisps, cake, chocolate, bread etc in the house (for other people!) but 99% of the time I couldn't care less. I'm just really not that fussed about eating that stuff any longer, partly because it rarely tastes as good as I think it will and partly because once you take on board how crap sugar etc is for you, you don't want to eat it anymore. Once your blood sugar is stabilised, you feel great, so you don't want to do anything to spoil that.

1. I order the delicious meat or fish or cheese and ask for extra veg and butter! Once you get into low carbing, things like rice/pasta/potatoes can seem a bit bland and stodgy anyway. I genuinely never miss them now. I order bacon cheeseburgers without the bun - yum! Puddings, I might have one in a great restaurant where I know it's going to be worth having. But why bother with a bit of defrosted cheesecake or microwaved sticky toffee - have some more cheese instead!

1. If I'm cooking for friends they eat low carb my way, maybe I'll do them some rice or whatever. if they've cooked for me I'll usually just eat it, going easy on the carbs. If they wanted to order pizza I'd suggest Indian instead . Nibbles with drinks - easy! Nuts, olives, etc (pork scratchings?!)

1. I usually tell people I'm cutting back on sugar and starch. No one can argue with that. Or that there's diabetes in my my family and I'm trying not to eat foods that screw up my blood sugars. I couldn't care less if people think I'm weird, and I know I'm not unhealthy, so... I just feel sorry for them as the count the calories/points in their low-fat 'healthy treat'

Give it a proper go. it'll become like second nature and you'll start to wonder how you ever functioned eating huge amounts of carbs (like we all did). Honestly, low-carb ROCKS, it just takes a couple of weeks of adjustment.

Oh and I eat chocolate and drink wine too! Nothing like a glass of red with a few squares of 85% Ghanian choc - anything else just tastes like sugary pap!

everyone else has answered all your points but just wanted to add that it makes you feel great I am so much less anxious and more positive than I was.

Just break the sugar addiction. Put up with the withdrawal symptoms, they WILL pass. You have read the book, you know it makes sense!

agree with everyone else

and on point 3, it's easier having others coming to you (where you can control the menu, and if you've already got something planned then they are unlikely to suggest pizza instead) than if you go to others'! sometimes politeness overrules diet (e.g. if a lovingly prepared homemade lasagne appears infront of you) and then you just enjoy every mouthful and get back on the wagon as soon as you can

i tell very few people about low-carbing as i am surrounded by low fat weight-watchers types, but i'm confident that this is the best way of eating for me. plus i enjoy their faces when i reach for another large dollop of full fat mayonnaise

Got to agree with Humphrey, I feel so good I don't want to eat any other way.

I have twice now lost large amonts of weight, over 5 stone each time, eating a low fat, calorie restricted diet. It was bloody miserable. I felt hungry all the time, cheated continually, dreamed about steak, butter and cream. I was thin but felt crappy.

Low carbing I'm not hungry which is such a relief, I feel like I was hungry for YEARS! It took about a week and a half to stop craving sweet things and now they don't appeal at all. I've had a couple of planned cheats and didn't enjoy it one bit. I seem to have lost my sweet tooth.

I try to avoid gluten and all processed foods now because once I understood quite how bad gluten, sugar and processed seed oils were for my body the urge to eat cake or pizza etc went away, as did my reflux and IBS.

I still have treats, king prawns with aioli, roasted, salted macadamia nuts, red wine, extra dry prosecco, 90% dark chocolate etc. I have had chips for a special occasion but they were home cooked in proper beef dripping not rancid veg oil from McD's.

I think the trick is to educate yourself about low carbing and struggle through a first week or so until ketosis kicks in. Once that happens the cravings calm right down and you've then got the head room to make informed choices about what you actually want to eat.

Great thread, OP. You've asked all the questions I've been wanting to ask of the LC'ers.
I've read Biffa, Taubes, the swedish doctor, watched Dr Lustig on youtube talking about sugar etc etc - just never got stuck in to doing it. I'm going away this week but when I come back I'm really going to give it a go...the assurances about cravings going away are just what I need to hear because at the moment I feel like I'm a food addict (Ok a sugar and starch addict).

Wow! thanks for all your lovely replies! It's really encouraging to hear how going low carb has been such a positive experience for you all - this is just the encouragement that I need to get me started.

So did you all just decide one day that was it and you would go low-carb? or did you plan it first, how you would do it, what your meals would be, clear your diary etc? No one wants to be hit by "carb flu" at the best of times so did you factor this in?

Or am I just thinking about this too much and should just get on with it?

It's really good to hear that the carb cravings will eventually go and it's just a case of getting through the first few weeks.

Were you all as apprehensive as me before you started?

Thanks Medal for the invite to Bootcamp thread, i will definitely see you over there!

Superdragonmama - loving the sound of lovely clear skin, just what I need!

You are so right teaandthorazine about microwaved/frozen desserts at restaurants, I am usually disappointed by them anyway so that shouldn't be too hard to give up...

Whippoorwhill thanks for sharing your journey.

I find that usually when I'm snacking on carb-crap it's not beacause i'm actually hungry, but because I'm bored/depressed/want something to fill the gap. This is something I need to address - how did you fill the void that snacking filled or did it really just disappear?

Thanks Auxey - we seem to be in very similar situations. I watched the youtube video too and it horrified me, but it still didn't stop me devouring the haribos! I am such a starch/sugar addict too. Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with me that I want to abuse my body so much! Please update when you start it and let us know how you're getting on...

Feeling more positive now but I must admit I'm still slightly skeptical you all make it sound so easy! (I mean that in the nicest possible way!)

Dolly I've marked the thread to watch it - I'll be interested to read the answers to your questions about getting started. When I get home from my trip in two weeks I'll definitely come back to see how you're getting on and let you know that I've started.
I'm horrified too about how bad sugar is, but being horrified isn't quite enough to stop me eating it . Just scoffed a 140g packet of fruit gums.

I planned carefully before I started.

• read, and re-read my book, The Idiot Proof Diet; that inspired me to start and guided me day by day through the first 2 difficult weeks
• I joined the online forum pig2twig for support and encouragement. I think I'll join low carb thread here too, it looks v supportive too.
• started on a Monday so that days 5 and 6, often difficult days for new starters; fell on a weekend, when I wasn't at work. That was a good plan!
• took a 750ml refillable water bottle to work. I wanted to drink 3 litres of water a day, so during the day I refilled this bottle 4 times. It was easy for this idiot to count to 4

I found first two weeks very odd and pretty difficult, tbh, but I was convinced that low carb would work in the end, and I was focused and determined to succeed. During those 2 weeks I had awful cravings, especially for sugary junk foods, which I struggled to ignore. Just kept drinking the water, and soldiered on. Day 5 was worst for me, took paracetemols for a bad headache, drank all the water, carried on.

By day 8 major changes started to happen, all of them good, and I've been a convert ever since. These have been some of the benefits to me:

• lost weight with ease compared to awful low fat regimes I've tried, and failed with, in the past. 3 stone gone so far, and I'm about halfway to my goal. I don't feel like I've been dieting, yet all this weight had gone, bloody brilliant it is!
• I don't get hungry between meals, then feel a sort of almost enjoyable hunger rather than painful cravings of the past. Protein really fills you up!
• I feel much calmer, can think more clearly, and sleep more soundly.
• skin is sooo much better!
• I worried about the cost, but with careful meal planning, and not buying junk goid, my food costs are about the same as before (have a limited budget so this was an important consideration for me). I use my freezer a lot, try to buy meat etc when its reduced, and freeze.
• lost my sweet tooth pretty quickly, and while I enjoy the odd square of very dark choc, ordinary sweets taste vile!
• non sweet foods taste more interesting and exciting
• tmi maybe, but I used to get bad wind, and that's completely stopped. Don't quite know how to describe this, but my gut feels cleaner and calmer somehow.
• oh yes, I have high blood pressure, and its come down a LOT, so far in fact that gp is going to cut my meds in half - fantastic
• I truly enjoy my food now. I feel that I can decide what I want to eat instead of constantly being sabotaged by and controlled by cravings.

Are you convinced yet? I'm a total convert.

I should mention that my weight loss would be a bit higher if I didn't have odd glass (or three) at the weekend, but even then I stick to low carb drinks if I can, plus the occasional bit of wine.

Do you have a date when you might begin?

What keeps me going is the results. I've spent time this week sorting out my wardrobe and took four black bags full of clothes to the charity shop this morning because things are just too big now. You know thoses clothes you keep for when you loose weight? Well I've even had to throw someof those away.

No more PMT, no more size 16, no more guilt that's what keeps me going.

Sometime you do go a bit off the rails but so long as you hop back on again it's fine.

I have done low carb successfully before (success in as much as I lost a lot of weight) but I always felt unwell on it and suffered with a lot of heartburn. I was unable to get past the point of feeling unwell even though I did it for a couple of months or so, so I could not sustain it long term, does anyone else have this problem?

My experience is that I started to make small changes, avoiding bread, pasta etc. Now I have cut out sugar in my drinks, avoid all sugary foods and am careful with what veg I eat ie avoid BN squash etc. My weight loss has been slow compared to those doing the full Atkins thing.
I really enjoy my fatty foods as I love cheese which was something I always avoided in the past and can now eat without guilt.
If I go out I either just have meat and salad or just go full on carb and then carry on the next day as before.
A month in and I don't have the light head that I had in the first couple of weeks. I feel and look slimmer. Like the others say once you are into it and realise you can enjoy your food without guilt and loose weight at the same time you don't want to cheat.
My bloating and wind is much improved, my energy dip in the afternoon has gone and I am sleeping very well at the moment.
Go on give it a go as other have said give it 2-4 weeks and then decide if it is for you.

Agree with the superdragonmama on the wind issues. I fart like a trooper when I eat bread. I barely fart at all anymore on low carb.

Avoiding carbs is hard going for the first week. We are told to avoid wine as that brings on the nibbles, the nuts, the chocolate etc.
To get around this, I have wine as late as I can in the evening, and then have a smaller glass than normal and I drink it so slowly, as if I am wine tasting, smelling and tasting every drop!! (Quite sad really!)
When I am out, I order salads, which until this year I have discovered are really tasty and delicious! Most restaurants I go to have the vegetables on the side, so I can take the greens and leave the potatoes.

Yes my children love Pizza Express, and they do amazing pizzas, I do miss those and sometimes let my go! and have ONE slice and a glass of wine. But then spend the next 5 or 6 days behaving. Well 5 days if I am honest.

Life on the edge!

Dolly why dont you give it a try, I follow Dukan Diet and it works for me. xx

Dolly, would you believe me if I said that the snacking/hunger urge disappears so completely that some of us go hours and hours (I'm talking 16 hours or more) between meals with no problems at all?

At the start of the year I was teetering on the brink of 12 stone. I'm now a happy, healthy 10stone and at 5' 7" I look positively sylphlike in the right light . My trousers are falling off me! I may fall off the wagon now and again but I can honestly say I will never ever go back to a carb-heavy diet again. it's just amazing.

Tips for your first week:

Meal plan. Make sure you've got plenty of low-carb food in the house, take packed lunches to work etc. You can eat whenever you feel hungry, and you might feel hungry a lot to begin with, so EAT! Cheese, eggs, sliced meat, chicken drumsticks, Total full fat yoghurt etc are all good snacks.

Get your family onside. DH did it with me, which was great - no one being negative. Even if your family don't want to do it, explain it to them and make sure they'll be supportive.

Weigh yourself a lot. I know this seems unhealthy, but the scales really will move quickly and it's great to watch.

Drink lots of water.

Read a lot about low-carbing. Mark's Daily Apple is a good blog, Briffa's website, or the Bootcamp threads on here will all help to keep you on the straight and narrow.

OK, I'm convinced about the science behind it, and unless you lot are all part of some weird LC cult the posts here have done a pretty good job at convincing me that LC is not the massive hardship I'd decided it would be.

So, I just need to get through the first bit, over the hump, then reap the benefits, right?

The advice to meal plan and prepare properly is very good. I think i will draft up a couple/few weeks worth of meals that I know I will like. If I have a meal schedule to stick to I reckon that can only make things much easier. It's all in the prep and planning isn't it? I think it's also important to mentally prepare for the change, too. Maybe I should write a list of my reasons for doing to remind myself in times of weakness.

Haha superdragonmama, topsi and squoosh I am usually such a windy person! But I stopped eating wheat two or three weeks ago but not mcvities chocolate digestives and I'm not joking when I say my 'problem' has all but disappeared...

superdragonmama Congratulations on lowering your BP so much, that's awesome . I'd like to start asap but (there's always a but) my Mum is visiting from overseas for the first three weeks of september, and then we're on holiday visiting other rellies for a week after that...I don't know whether I should just break the camel's back start it now and not let life get in my way (i.e. do my best!) or wait until the start of October when we've pretty much got a clear run until Christmas and I'll have time to plan for it properly and lose all motivation

DH is onside, he's probably going to 'supplement' his meals with carbs etc but that's up to him. The kids are toddler and baby so shouldn't be affected.

Congratulations everyone on your weight loss and on living healthier lives! I know that one day I'm going to come back here and tell you all how you were right

I don't really drink any more and I may be wrong but I think dry white wine is pretty low carb!

It's the booze that's my downfall. I, low carbing but it's my birthday at the weekend. What can I drink?

Briffa has a thing about not allowing yourself to get too hungry (by having planned snacks like nuts) and this means that when you smell the fries on the station concourse, you won't be hungry-to-tears and give in.
However, it is also good to get clued up about places you can get good snacks if you forget. Things like little bags of peanuts you can get in most normal newsagents. Sometimes you can get little individual servings of cheese. You can buy a bottle of water anywhere, this often helps (with the food if you are really hungry).
BUT what I really came here to share was LEON:

www.leonrestaurants.co.uk/menu/

They are a low-carbers dream. In usual takeaway places, breakfasts and lunches are bready, but at LEON you can get lovely egg pots for breakfast and for lunch the "on its own" options or salads. I heart them. I try to be organised and can't really affort not to be but you know, sometimes, it goes wrong.

leon looks fab, thanks, will make a note

careful with peanuts, they are legumes rather than nuts and quite carby.

I am another convert but one who falls off the wagon still due to a variety of crap excuses. I do not eat bread, pasta or pizza, ever, I also do not currently eat dairy but gradually reintroducing.

I find that I eat better, more regularly and I am a better judge of flavours and stopping eating when I am full rather than stuffing myself. I no longer have massive cravings for food and I even find I don't need alcohol to sleep. I overall sleep better and I have slightly more energy.

And I have not only lost weight but feel a lot lighter and slimmer, a week on holiday however has been an enjoyable relapse into cold ways of eating and it's very noticeable around my waistline!