Dieting on doctor's orders for the first time

[blubberball]

I've been having really bad pains at the top right of my stomach, just under my rib cage. My doctor suspects gall stones, and I now need to eat a low fat diet. I've been trying to cut carbs and sugar for a while, but now I literally can't cheat on my diet, unless I fancy a night of tremendous pain. Usually the stuff with carbs and sugar is also too high in fat any way. But I've now lost cheese, nuts and olive oil, because they're all too high in fat. I still don't feel like I'm losing any weight, but will have to see how it goes.

Any one else in a similar boat? I have a lot of low fat/fat free yogurts in the house right now. I keep sugar under 10g per 100g in anything I'm having. I keep carbs under 80 calories for any meal I have, and everything low fat. I drink green tea and water. Not sure what more I can do.

Ahh the good old gallbladder diet - I lost three stones on it!

Make sure you switch the milk in your tea or coffee to skimmed...you get used to it pretty quickly. You may find some fats are easier to tolerate than others....I was badly affected by animal fats, less so by plant oils, and oddly not at all by fish oils - my grandmother was the same when she had gallstones and for a while lived on tuna and tomatoes as that's all she could tolerate.

Lots of chicken and salads ahead for you - try to see it as a good thing which will massively benefit your health in the end.

Thanks, that's great to hear. I've already lost 8lbs of Christmas weight and feel better in myself. I'm vegetarian as well (just to restrict myself a little more), so I've been eating Quorn fillets with salad. I have to get low fat yogurts, because I have to feel like I'm having desserts.

I lost lots of weight on the gallbladder diet. There's nothing like the threat of excruciating pain to stop you falling off the diet wagon! It certainly proved to me that though it may not be fashionable these days, low fat can be just as effective as low carb for weight loss. And, contrary to what some low carbers imply, you don't actually have to replace fat with sugar/sweetener-filled rubbish on a low fat diet.

I ate lots of lean protein, pasta, rice, wholemeal bread. 'Fried' things in a little bit of stock rather than oil. A few sweet treats, but not many, because most nice sweet things are also full of fat. I hate low fat yoghurt.

I don't see that it would be easy (or that advisable) to try and do low fat and low carb at the same time without starving yourself though tbh. It's extra hard not to put all the weight back on after the op when you're suddenly allowed to eat everything again though. I failed.

I bet I'll go nuts when I'm allowed to eat fat again too.
I'm definitely not starving myself, and luckily enough, I like the low fat yogurts. I'll have to start tracking the calories, but this is what I ate yesterday...

Breakfast: Actimel fat free yogurt drink, little glass of Tropicana 50% orange juice,
green tea, poached egg and mashed avacado on half a Warburtons thin, then I think a muller light fat free skyr yogurt. Then possibly a skinny whip bar (they're nice).

Lunch: Spinach, kale and beetroot salad, low fat houmous, 2 quorn fillets with tomato puree, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, sweetcorn, half a Warburtons thin bagel with marmite. I found this low fat ice cream stuff in Aldi, a bit like Halo top. A few little spoons of that with a little skinny syrup stuff. Then possibly another skinny whip bar. Green tea.

Mid afternoon: I found a low fat, low sugar chocolate milkshake. I think that it was called U fit or something.

Then just water and green tea the rest of the day. I don't really fancy eating in the evenings.

Probably not the greatest diet, but I'm addicted to chocolate and desserts, so I know that I'll fail without shitty alternatives.

But yes, it's definitely a whole different mind set to my usual "Fuck it" and eating the shit I fancy.

Could you try dried fruit instead of fake sugar stuff? Dates and figs etc are really satiating

Just added that all up on my fitness pal, and came to just over 1200 calories. For once it didn't bollock me for going over my carb or sugar allowance for the day, and apparently I hit my protein target.

I do like dates, so I might have them tomorrow. I found a nice recipe a little while ago where you whizz them in hot milk (have to be skimmed now). I might have forgotten to say that I nicked a few grapes yesterday. I usually like apple slices dipped in peanut butter, but that's not allowed now. The other day I dipped apple slices in fat free greek yogurt mixed with PB2 powder and honey instead. That was nice. I like to mash up banana and stir it in with porridge sometimes, or do that banana "pancakes" thing where you mix it with an egg and fry it (in the low calorie spray of course).

The fake sugar shit is definitely my vice.

When you're craving sweet stuff, try a handful of almonds (if they're not too high in fat for you). They do the trick for some reason.

Thanks, I like almonds, but too high in fat unfortunately.