Low carb (not keto) questions

[RavensWig]

I'm 49 next week, currently 15 stone something (afraid to get on the scales) and size 18/20 at 5'3". I'm menopausal and have put on a lot of weight almost everywhere. No major health issues apart from chronic migraines - joints are alright, blood sugars and cholesterol both low (blood pressure has just started to creep up).

I have a terrible sugar fixation, I can eat mountains of the stuff and I need to wean myself off it. I do want to lose weight, partly for vanity and general health, but mostly because having watched my DM decline and suffer horribly with dementia, I am immensely struck by the published links between high sugar/low fat diets and cognitive decline.

I think I should try low carb, although I'm not sure I want to go full keto. So my questions are;

Is low carb manageable if you don't eat eggs - what are the alternatives to all the egg based stuff?

Should I be aiming to fast as well (e.g 16:8 style)? DH hates me fasting, he says it makes my breath smell like Satan's arsehole, so if I don't have to kill him with my halitosis I'm sure he'd be glad.

Is it possible to do it with very ordinary foods that I don't have to order online or find in Holland & Barrett, and normal recipes that you do in one pot without a load of faff?

If you're an IBS sufferer is there a means of minimising or mitigating the effects of too much roughage on the system (for me, that's pain and diarrhoea)?

What sort of level is "low" carb without going "no" carb? So I can have a small amount of flexibility - cup of tea with a dash of milk and a sweetener until my sweet tooth fades, bit of mayonnaise in something etc - without ruining the whole plan.

I have googled, honest, but there is SO MUCH info out there and all leads down a keto rabbit hole. If anyone can give me an easy steer I'd be grateful!

Bump?

My first step to low carbing was going low sugar. For about 4 weeks the only sugar I had was a few raspberries after lunch and two cups of tea with a splash of milk and two cups of coffee with coconut milk. I drank Roobus and herbal tea at other times and water. I had babybel cheese and pecan nuts as between meal snacks. I found sugar free pasta sauces and just had soy sauce on stir frys etc. It took about a week for my sugar craving to go to such an extent I could look at a piece of cake and not even fancy it. Maybe just go low sugar to begin with to kick the cravings and then you can always take it further later on with a low carb/high fat diet.

The beauty of keto is that once you’re in the zone hunger disappears and it becomes easy to do

Im not sure low carb but no ketosis would be as sustainable but that’s just me

Try knocking potatoes, bread and rice on the head as well as sugar and see how you go

Ps mayonnaise is fine on keto. I eat loads of it

Thank you both. Yes I plan to go as cold turkey as I can on sugar, bearing in mind the stinking headache and foggy brain that comes with that!

I do like cheese and happy to snack on that - it's so hard to get out of the calorie counting mindset though, mentally notching up the cals in bloody cheese and nuts. I've downloaded a free carb counting app and disabled the calories section so I don't get distracted/disheartened - I've selected a plan which gives me 75g carbs a day.

Sadly I really can't stomach eggs, so that takes quite a few easy meal options out.

I've added up a hypothetical day of what I might eat, including porridge oats, skimmed milk and a couple of oatcakes, and that hits the macros OK although I struggled to up the protein.

I'm loathe to try protein shakes as they play havoc with my IBS, any ideas for squeezing in some more protein?

Good news about the mayo. 🙂

You ideally need to cut out skimmed milk, porridge and oatcakes. Try full fat Greek yogurt and plant milk- unsweetened soy or almond are lower in carbs then cows milk. A cube of cheese would be ok as a snack.

Do you eat meat or fish? Keto would be pretty easy without eggs in that case. I'd say most of my protein comes from cheese, nuts, seeds and sometimes tofu so if you're a veggie it's still perfectly possible without eggs. You could try a free trial of Diet Doctor website they have lots of keto and low carb recipes.

Check out the low carb Bootcamp area of Mumsnet. I think there's even a thread about breakfasts that aren't eggs. Lots of help and support for sustainable weight loss by low carb (not keto) and there should be a new bootcamp starting some time this month for extra ideas and support!

I lose weight easily by:

No bread, rice, pasta or potatoes.
No sweets, cakes, crisps or other 'treat foods'.

I hate any sort of complicated diet.

B: yogurt, fruit, nuts.
L: veg sticks and hummus
D: steak, roasted veg and carrot and swede mash.

Cheers Rayna I'll keep an eye out for that.

The plan I've set allows for 75g carbs, so when I mentioned the few items that have carbs in I meant I could have those all within plan if I wanted to - not that they were going to be my staple diet. I'm otherwise aiming for fat and protein and wanted some ideas for increasing protein.

I'll look out for the other threads and lurk there I suppose.

Another vote for signing up for low carb bootcamp. I’d actually go below 50g, OP. That will tip you into ketosis and kill your food cravings and therefore make it easier for you. 75g might feel too difficult but up to you.

Thanks for this @Ontherebound34.

When you say 75g may be too difficult, do you mean that it's just enough to keep the cravings alive? That makes sense - maybe I'll try 50g, although I was hoping for "low carb" to be just low enough to make a difference without being really hard to manage with ordinary everyday food and cooking. I wasn't aiming for ketosis, but I see what you're saying.

I've just been down this road so many times (trying to lose weight), I start again tomorrow and already that little voice is saying "What makes you think it's going to be any different this time?" so why bother. 😒

Or try the 'Why We Eat Too Much' thread. It's about a less strict low carb way of eating.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/4332041-Why-We-Eat-Too-Much-Thread-4?pg=1

Thanks @Rollergirl1980, I've bookmarked that page and will try to have a good read.

Took a deep breath and weighed myself this morning. Ooh, dear me.