Is low carb or diet and exercise better?

[Darlingdahlia]

I am trying to shift last few pounds of baby weight. Have successfully lost 1st 7lb over a year or so and want to get rid of about 5 more lb, mostly from my flabby tummy. I am a normal weight now so it's vanity more than necessity, but still keen to do it. Tried to low carb for a couple of days and feel AWFUL but want to get rid of it quickly once and for all and keep falling off the wagon with calorie counting and exercise. Any tips or experience? I like to stay fit so like to exercise but struggled with that on low carbs.

[Darlingdahlia]

And I should add low carbs diet has made me think obsessively about food!!

[myusernameisbob]

Have a look at the Louise Parker method - low carb-ish and probably the healthiest weight loss/ exercise mix I've seen. I've been following this for a couple of months now (also using the Blood Sugar diet cookbook as the 2 plans are quite complimentary) and it's definitely working for me. I'm eating a much wider range of foods than I've dared to eat for ages (my eating habits had become seriously warped by originally doing high a protein diet to shift my baby weight) and not obsessing about food at all beyond planning my lovely weekly menus. Definitely worth a try.

[Darlingdahlia]

Thank you, I will have a look at that. It's so hard to untangle all the different ideas and 'scientific' information about diet and weight loss. It can't be right to be doing low carb if it makes me feel so awful though- I can't function or look after the children properly!

[myusernameisbob]

I felt exactly the same - hangry and tired ALL the time. The LP plan is essentially a comprehensive dose of common sense re eating, exercise, sleep habits, etc. but nice to have it all in one place with tasty recipes thrown in.

[Darlingdahlia]

Sounds much more sensible and doable!! Thanks

[Blazedandconfused]

I'm trying to lose the dregs of my baby weight (flabby tummy) and so fed up of dieting now.

I'm eating normally and have started lots of exercise. I love that I'm starting to tone up and gain muscle. I feel that fitness and energy is crucial with 2 very active little boys.

[RJnomore1]

If you're trying to focus on a particular body part targeted exercise and sensible eating might be best - you can't control where you lose fat from or where your body likes to hold on to fat if you diet but if you strengthen the muscles it will look better

[kirinm]

You can go low carb without going all the way to ketosis. I'm currently doing that combined with regular exercise. I've cut out sugar and eat a lot of veg, healthy fats and lean meat / fish. After exercise I eat carbs as a way to refuel. It's pretty straightforward especially if you meal plan and are used to cooking.

[Darlingdahlia]

I have tried doing that Nathan and I feel physically ill. I'm very active and generally very fit, BMI mid to lower end of normal. I always gain 3plus stone when pregnant but lose it again over several months of diet and exercise. I think a low carb diet can be successful for people with a different lifestyle to me who are either overweight, inactive or not at home with small children but having read about it over the last couple of days I think the best way of eating for me is to eat lots of fruit and vegetables, some lean meat and fish, pulses, beans, eggs and cheese. This is how I feel well and have energy and I do think probably the last bit of weight will fall off if I do that. I'm pretty convinced that the idea that carbs are bad is just a fad like any other food fad and the key is to eat as natural a diet as possible and be active if you want to lose weight and maintain it. Like the look of Louise Parker. Will let you know how I get on with the tummy!!

[HumphreyCobblers]

Sometimes when I go into ketosis on low carb high fat I get potassium deficient. IT feels like no energy, leaden legs and fluey.

I take half a teaspoon of lo-salt (high in potassium) and that seems to sort it immediately.

[FuckyNell]

The thought of giving up my porridge to low carb is

[BIWI]

This is the second anti-low carbing thread you've started Darlingdahlia.

You also didn't answer my question to you on the last one - I was interested in your assertion that people who low carbed became more sensitive to carbs when they went back to them, and wanted to know more about that.

You feel shit in the first few days of low carbing because you're withdrawing from carbs aka sugar.

[myusernameisbob]

Excellent DarlingD! Enjoy! Hope it works for you.

Porridge is a staple breakfast on the LP Method FuckyNell - hence why I've been able to stick to it for so long!

Don't know about the carbs aka sugar thing. Cutting out sugar whilst eating healthy amounts of carbs (in veg, oat bran, pulses) certainly didn't have a negative effect on me (aware that's just my personal experience though).

[kirinm]

Low carb diets are used with diabetes and epilepsy. Not quite a 'fad'.

[MMmomDD]

Low carb doesn't need to be NO-carb at all.
It took me years to get down to my pre-babies wait - but i did and have kept it off. Lost about two sizes.

I have carbs at breakfast - cereal or toast, or whatever i feel like.
Otherwise - gym would be a torture and i'd feel lightheaded and almost ill. Just like you.

And then for lunch and dinner - i do mostly protein/salads.
Not much snacking in between, or fruit/nuts.

If we go out, on weekends i let myself eat whatever, just don't finish my portions. And, more often than not - have a couple of starters than a main course, that seem too big and boring anyway.

If your diet is making you physically unwell - tweak it!
It's not about losing weight the fastest way. It's all about adjusting the way you eat in a sustainable and healthy way.

Good luck!

[myusernameisbob]

I agree kirinm - as Nathan pointed out, it's the interpretation of low carb that has become warped - this has led to faddish attitudes being created around it.

[Ohyesiam]

I've list just over 2 stone on the blood sugar diet, which is low carb. I am massively some shaped, or I was, it really comes of your middle. Nothing had shifted weight for me like this, much better than sw IMHO. I kept thinking there's fit to be more than calories in, calories out, I feel a bit of the jigsaw is missing. And not having rebound blood Sunday levels due to diggesting carbs is it.
And yes, you will feel bad and be hungry for 2 days, after that, it's been plain sailing. But you need at least 2 l of water a day.
If you read the reviews of the book on Amazon, it gives you a good overview.
Good luck with those last lbs

[Ohyesiam]

Just read one of your pps and I am active, with children, and low carb is great for me.
And contrary to what someone up thread said, a low carb approach means you can target tummy and waist for fat loss.

[Darlingdahlia]

I know that low carb does work for lots of people. BIWI I think it was some research that was quoted in a BBC programme, maybe one of the horizon diet programmes but I can't remember. I think also whoever pointed out that low carb and no carb are very different is right. I have had some carbs today but many less than usual and feel fine, I just feel awful cutting them out entirely.
Whoever pointed out that a ketogenic diet is used for medical reasons therefore not faddish, that is exactly my point. Someone with severe epilepsy which cannot be controlled with medication is often put on this diet as are people with diabetes, which is a serious condition that must be controlled either through diet or medication. They are people with serious medical problems. Celiacs must avoid gluten entirely and people with peanut allergies cannot eat peanuts. That doesn't mean gluten is bad for everyone or that peanuts must be avoided my everyone. The same can be said for carbohydrates. Any diet which entirely cuts out one major food group will lead to weight loss if stuck to rigidly and therefore I do think it's faddish if not a little dangerous to undertake a ketogenic diet when you don't need to. But I appreciate totally that lowering carbohydrate intake is a good thing for most people, and certainly getting most of your food from whole, natural foods seems to be a no brainer. Sorry to have answered my own questions, I have just read lots about this lately and I'm trying to work out what is what. It seems like there are so many motivations behind all the books on the subject, mostly that someone is trying to sell lots of them!

[BIWI]

Low carbing isn't about cutting out a food group though. It's about reordering the proportions of carbs in your diet. So instead of eating carbs:protein:fat, which is what most people eat, it's fat:protein:carbs.

And you get your carbs (mainly) from vegetables and salad - of which you should and can eat plenty. So it's hardly going to be a dangerous diet, is it?

[Darlingdahlia]

No that isn't at all dangerous, I only meant cutting out carbs entirely which I was talking about in response to the person who said it was a diet used to treat epilepsy or diabetes so it couldn't be faddish. I think that's where I was going wrong and why I felt so ill though, and reducing my carb intake and adding more fruit and veg seems to be better. Lots of things I read said start by totally cutting out carbs at the start so I had tried to do that but it makes me unable to look after the children.

[Darlingdahlia]

So really the key is lower carb and not cutting out carbs for me I think, mostly because that definitely reduces how many calories I eat!