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A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Original poster

Atkins/Low Carb/High Protein - Anyone doing it?

256 replies

FrogBellyRatBone · 29/08/2006 16:57

Lost 2st on Atkins but have since veered more to GL type diets. Unfortuntely don't seem to be able to stick to them like I could with Atkins.Still want to lose 3 stone (have put back on nearly a stone of the weight I lost) and am debating whether to go back on Atkins. Any opinions welcomed

OP posts:
MoonFrog · 08/10/2006 14:36

Congrats Ggirl. That's fantastic Are you doing the 40g of carb per day version ?
Tbh I avoided the Atkins/Low carb bars and tried to stick to unprocessed stuff as far as possible, but why not give them a try and monitor what happens ?

Hello sallyscarystrawberry, welcome

Well it's weigh in day for me tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to it......at all........ all because of those buggery potatoes. We've literally got sacks full of them and I really don't know what to do about them. I so want to not eat them, but feel so guilty about wasting them. Have to see if any of our neighbours want to buy any

Home made veg soup up to now today, and Roast Beef for tea. Gaaaaah.......got to cook Roast Potatoes and Yorkshire Pud for dh and dd.......... will I be able to resist??????
x

joelallie · 09/10/2006 13:09

ggirl - I agree with moonfrog - avoid low-carb products as much as possible. They aren't that lovely, they are usually pretty expensive, the sweeteners (if they are polyol) will have a terrible effect on your digestion (ie no-one will want to be near you ), and they will give you that taste for sweet things again. But I know they are tempting...

BTW - from my pov....bloody home-made bread... Nothing else to say But at least it was organic and wholemeal.

ew - if you visit the low-carb website (posted the link further down) you will find several women who have used low-carb to effectively combat PCOS.

joelallie · 09/10/2006 13:10

BTW ggirl ...congratulations!!!

Crotchety · 09/10/2006 14:40

I think the low carb breakfast bar things are quite nice actually. The Tesco choc chip ones are fine, and cheaper than the proper Atkins ones. I only have one a day though - useful for breakfast if short of time, or for guzzling at work at about 4.30...I don't find the polyol stuff gives me problems, but I agree eating a lot of the processed low carb stuff would.

joelallie · 09/10/2006 16:08

crotchety - try sugar-free jam then

Crotchety · 09/10/2006 17:25

But on what??

joelallie · 09/10/2006 17:37

Mixed with Greek yoghurt. With almond 'scones' and clotted cream.

Crotchety · 09/10/2006 19:23

What are almond scones? Do you have a recipe? Does it involve special flour? (Sorry if you've already given it - I have had a quick scroll through the thread but didn't see it)

joelallie · 10/10/2006 10:49

No Ive haven't given a recipe. There isn't one really - just a chuck-it-all-together kind of thing. Melt 100g butter and beat in an egg then add enough ground almonds to make a stiffish mixture. Put it in paper cake cases and bake in a moderate oven until they are slightly brown - about 15mins. They aren't really scones but they are nice with cream/butter. You can also make a form of bread - miss out the butter and cook it in a microwave for 2 mins - you can add seeds to make it more interesting. You can sweeten the scone with heat-stable sweetener.

But if you use sugar-free jam on them just beware....

MoonFrog · 10/10/2006 20:35

Righty ho, firstly was weigh in yesterday, and.......... da da da da, da da, da daaaarrrrrrrr 12st 9lbs, so I've managed to lose 1lb. Not bad considering potatogate, but I'm still not back to where I was in Sept.

Secondly, every meal I've eaten in the last two days has adhered rigidly to the diet.............. Unfortunately it's been a different diet at each meal, so the combined effect will not have been good

Really do need to get a grip and get stuck back in Am bloody useless at deciding on one to follow and then sticking to it. Am veering towards trying a 40g carb a day, as it is not as rigid as Atkins, and will allow me to eat my beloved grapefruit for breakfast, and lots of veg soup. I just need to keep away from the evil potatoes and that includes sweet ones and my other nemesis, the noodle. Have been craving them big time and for supper had a bowl of rice noodles (I know, the worst ones) with beef, garlic, broccoli, sp onions, and red pepper, seasoned with v. small amount hoisin sauce and the obligatory chilli sauce. Looked sooooooo healthy, but it was the noodles wot done for me guv.
toodle oo
x

bloodcurdlingstrawb · 10/10/2006 20:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

emotionalwreck · 10/10/2006 21:44

What is this "my carb's higher than your carb?"

Well if we're playing that game, I must confess to eating one each of the following at approximately 11.15am today: Mini flapjack, mini caramel square, mini choclate rice-crispie cake and mini cookie. Not bad I hear you say - they were all mini, but alas I followed this up with a bloody quarterpounder from the golden arches!

Weigh day tomorrow - er, don't think I'll bother posting any messages tomorrow!

Well done Moonfrog - 1lb is fabulous under the circumstances!

MoonFrog · 11/10/2006 10:45

Gawd, rather than a "let's see how much weight we can lose", this thread seems to have morphed into a "let's see how much we can eat" thread

Emotional have you got your book yet ?

joelallie · 11/10/2006 11:38

"Unfortunately it's been a different diet at each meal,"

ROFL! Been there, done that. When I've started to let things go a while and tell myself I'm doing a low-GI diet but then feel guilty and cut back on the carbs and then freak out at all the fat I've been eating and make myself a low-GI plate of pasta....and then run panicking back again into the arms of Dr A and so on and so forth. Sends you mad eventually

CristinaTheAstonishing · 11/10/2006 12:39

Many apologies for jumping in with a question: does the Atkins diet take a while to kick in? I'm on WW at the moment but I'd LOVE to just eat and eat for a week. I thought I'd ask as this seems a diet where you can eat more than on WW. I'd go back to WW afterwards and I don't want to put on weight meanwhile. Thanks and sorry for the odd question.

joelallie · 11/10/2006 12:46

ChristinatheA - Sadly you can't just eat and eat on Atkins. You could eat unlimited amts of meat/fish/eggs but that tends to be self-limiting as you get full quickly. You have to cut out or seriously restrict everything else to start with. And it would have to be 2 weeks at the very least and going straight back to a low-fat, higher-carb diet would be a bad idea - you'd put on all the weight you'd lost and then some! Low-carb is meant to be a long term strategy. But, yes to answer your first question, you can lose loads of weight quite quickly on low-carb if you follow the rules carefully. But as with all diets a lot of the initial weight loss will be water.

CristinaTheAstonishing · 11/10/2006 14:13

Thanks, must have been the hunger talking. I knew you had to restrict some of the other stuff but I was delirious for some bacon, eggs etc, rather than gorging on carrots and celery (which are free on WW). Better get back to my carrots then, i thought i'd be able to cheat for a week...

Crotchety · 11/10/2006 18:19

Thanks for the almond thing Joallie - will give it a go. I've been away with work for a couple of days - bit of a sorry carb-fest sadly...Oh well. Back on the straight and narrow again. 12.9 sounds pretty good to me Moonfrog - have you revealed how tall you are somewhere in this thread?

Crotchety · 11/10/2006 18:26

I mean joelallie - I am totally incapable of getting names right on this board...

MoonFrog · 11/10/2006 18:45

Crotchety, I'm 5'7"

Joelallie, I am that mad woman I'm doing exactly as you described. Need to rein myself in again.

No sign of Emotional then ?

bloodcurdlingstrawb · 11/10/2006 18:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

emotionalwreck · 11/10/2006 21:04

I'm here! And it isn't good - put 1 and half pounds on and ate a jacket potato today. What's all that about? I can't even begin to try and rationalise how putting weight on would persuade me its a good idea to eat a plate of stodgy carb?

Anyway, not got the book yet moonfrog - should be here tomorrow. It would be so easy to just say bugger it and stop dieting/exercising. But I keep telling myself if I persevere I'll get results.

Also if I'm going to be totally honest (don't shout) I have been drinking alcohol virtually every night since I went back on Atkins . Not much - just 1 or 2 gins or a glass of wine a night but I know that's what's slowed me down. So I'm now on the wagon - both for alcohol and carbs!

So not only have I got an arse the size of a small country, my liver probably isn't far behind!

emotionalwreck · 11/10/2006 21:04

I'm here! And it isn't good - put 1 and half pounds on and ate a jacket potato today. What's all that about? I can't even begin to try and rationalise how putting weight on would persuade me its a good idea to eat a plate of stodgy carb?

Anyway, not got the book yet moonfrog - should be here tomorrow. It would be so easy to just say bugger it and stop dieting/exercising. But I keep telling myself if I persevere I'll get results.

Also if I'm going to be totally honest (don't shout) I have been drinking alcohol virtually every night since I went back on Atkins . Not much - just 1 or 2 gins or a glass of wine a night but I know that's what's slowed me down. So I'm now on the wagon - both for alcohol and carbs!

So not only have I got an arse the size of a small country, my liver probably isn't far behind!

emotionalwreck · 11/10/2006 21:05

Apologies - don't know how that happened!

joelallie · 12/10/2006 10:31

OK. OK. As we are all being a bit pathetic is anyone here up for a really strict induction? Perhaps we should have a group carb-starve!

2 weeks - Atkins induction. I can't remember the exact qtys of anything as I haven't consulted my book for ages but the basic principles are:

unlimited meat, fish and eggs - preferably 'clean meats ie not processed.
no more thab 4oz hard cheese (not soft cheeses) a day.
Limited amounts of green leafy veg and salad. No root veg, peas or 'sweet' veg. No fruit.
Double cream - 3tblsp a day. Unlimited fats/oils.
No processed foods at all.
At least 3 litres of water. NO ALCOHOL (emotional!). Cut out caffeine if it tends to give you cravings. Diet drinks but not too many - ideally sweetened with Splenda not aspartame (if you can find any in UK!!)

If anyone has a book perhaps they could remind us of the exact qties of veg allowed.

I can feel myself starting to stray and I need to get back to basics. And sounds as if I'm not the only one