***Carboholics Anonymous*** The story continues...

[oggsfrog]

Right.

Hey ho.

I appear to be in need of the wagon again .

Please feel free to hitch a ride.

I started yesterday.

Anyone care to join me?

Don't you worry about me EFBE, I'm still here at the back of the wagon .

Still sticking to it, have been breakfasting on boiled egg, lunch has been lettuce leaves spread with mayo with ham and cheese inside, then evening meal has been meat with brocolli, cauli and maybe a chunk of leek.

Haven't been drinking as much water as I should, and have been drinking more double cream (in coffee) than I should so I'm working on that.

System, I have to agree with Jumpty in that ketosis relies on the ingestion of not many carbs. Too many and you will switch back to burning the glucose that is produced when you eat carbs. If this is combined with high fat/protein intake then it will result in gain not loss.

Roughly how many grams of carbs do you have over the day?

But isn't it the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet systemsaddict is following? IIRC it's low carb but with one meal a day balanced with fat, carbs, and protein. There is something about carb intake being limited to one hour a day only and in conjunction with the fat and protein, something to do with the way insulin works - plus she is BF, and I think although there is no research, most of these low carb plans advise against a total ketogenic diet when BF?

Ah. It must be a different Carb Addicts Diet than the one I followed about 20 years ago (by Tish Hayton).

Still don't understand how it works, but hey, if it does, then that's all that matters .

Sick of boiled eggs so had an avocado for breakfast and have just had 6 brazil nuts. Have got a cup of ginger and lime tea and a large glass of water now.

Hi guys, sorry have been offline for a couple of days with 2 sick small kids (hence pizzas etc).

Yes it is the Carbohydrate Addicts' Diet I follow here which allows one 'reward meal' a day - in which you balance carbs, protein and low-carb veg. The rest of the time you eat from like an Atkins Phase 1 list of foods but more restricted I think. It doesn't rely on ketosis for weight loss but aims to balance your insulin by only stimulating your pancreas once a day.

It works v. well for me - lost about 3 stone on it 1st time round and maintained on plan for 6 years till I fell pg in 2005 - and have already lost a kilo since going back on plan - though I am breastfeeding, which helps. Though actually I eat this way mainly to stave off depression and lethargy, the weight loss is a bonus.

I am deliberately eating too many carbs at reward meals because of breastfeeding so I am not a model CADDer at the mo. And admittedly I would normally aim to have slightly healthier reward meals, and slightly healthier low-carb ones too; this has not been the ideal week!

Have just thought after posting my explanation - is it OK for me to keep posting on this thread, or would people rather keep it purely to people doing exclusively low-carb eating? (rather than the CAD 'controlled carb' version) I won't take offence if you'd rather I went elsewhere, honest I know how important it is to get online support right.

Don't be daft systemsaddict! Why would you not be welcome to post? Eveyone is doing their own thing and some of us are following a specific low carb plan, others, like me, are just winging it. Incidentally, I've ordered a copy of TCAD and it should be arriving today from Amazon.

I'm not convinced that ketosis is necessary for weightloss and feel myself that the answer lies in the insulin balance/control issue. I try to read as much as possible about the subject and then just follow what feels instinctively right.

Hope your household recovers soon, it's a nightmare trying to stay on top of things when the kids are ill (esp if you are yourself). I know many a pizza has been devoured in this house in such circumstances!

I haven't got out my aitkens book, can someone tell me if I am not eating very much, but sticking to no carbs will I stop losing weight. The reason I ask is because as I have mentioned my weighloss has slowed down and I am actually eating less. But still being strict, I am just not hungry in the morning.

System Don't be silly of course you should stay.

Well, I have heard many many people say that they have stalled when they started eating a lot less. Not to say if that is the official line, but I have heard of anecdotal evidence to that effect.

Can you give me a rough idea of what you're eating daily?

Of course you are welcome here System .

D'oh! The one I followed was called The Food Addict's Diet, not the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet. I do know the one you are talking about as I got the book from the library once - I found it a bit too wordy so didn't read it all.
I hope you didn't think I was criticising your WOE.

It's interesting to hear about how low carb can work in other ways.

I'll second that, Worm. Mitchell, if you don't eat regularyly then your body goes into starvation mode and holds onto everything as it's not sure when the next meal is coming.

It's best to have something , even if it's not much.
I was in a rush this morning so just had coffee with cream and a handful of brazil nuts that I munched as I was driving.

Thank you guys! Glad I can stay as I've found it really helpful being here. Don't worry, I didn't think anyone was criticising, I read yr posts as being with helpful intention, just thought I should clarify what I was doing.

Thanks that is kind of what I was thinking about the body thinking it was in starvation mode for the morning. Will eat more.

Like for instance today I left the house without eating and then have had a full breakfast at 1pm (eggs, bacon, mushrooms, sausage). But usually I try to get eggs for breakfast but can't have them too often. Other days I will just eat cheese until lunch. I need to have more snacks to eat in the fridge like cooked chicken pieces, viennas etc. As I tend to snack for breakfast rather than have a meal.

Thanks for your help.

systemsaddict - I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to sound critical. Well done on your kg, that's great, especially when you've got sick kids. I've never heard of CA before, sounds interesting.

Mitchell, what are viennas?

Hot dog sausages

systemsaddict my copy of The Carbohydrate Addicts Diet arrived today. I did the questionnaire and came up as a moderate, nearly severe addiction, whereas DH came up as less than 21 points therefore not a carb addict.

I'm a bit about the terminology "addict" but I am willing to put that down as a daft Americanism. I'm going to give it a go. The reality is I just don't have enough will power to stick to any diet for long so maybe one which combines a low carb approach most of the time with the chance to eat a normal dinner with a pudding if I want it will work.

After all, I've been trying to low carb it since May this year (this time around) and I am a pound heavier than when I started.

I'm thinking maybe I'll have trouble with not eating between meals though. Well we'll see. It can't be any worse than Slimming World !

oggsfrog was that the Food Addicts Diet (The Body Knows) where you are allowed strictly controlled portions of meat/fish, fruit & veg, low fat dairy and wholegrains only FOREVER AND EVER AMEN. With a kind of 12 steps for food? If so I had that one too. If not, jeez there sure are a hell of a lot of diet books for us to waste our money on, eh?

No, it was a different one .

If I remember rightly you had to totally eliminate sugar, wheat, potatoes and cow dairy products from your diet (I'm sure there was one more in the list but I can never remember it).

I think it was intended as much to help with problems like IBS which I had really badly at the time, as much as to help with weight loss.

It did work for me though and I both lost weight and managed to 'cure' my IBS.

too many as *much^'s there - sorry, it doesn't really make sense.

Gah!

Earthworm, I scored right up well into the 'severe' category! I'm with you on the daftness of the 'addict' terminology, though hate to admit it does describe my behaviour ...

I went off plan yesterday, cravings stupidly triggered by combination of sleep deprivation, worry about kids (5 mo. old been ill for 2 weeks, obviously in pain, dr.s just say 'virus' ), nowhere near enough water, and (probably the most significant trigger) ate mango the night before outside my reward meal, not ripe enough for ds and I didn't want to waste it (and didn't think to save it for reward meal, duh). Yesterday went v. downhill with cake and hobnobs.

Probably a good warning though as I felt so awful within a couple of hours, couldn't move levels of lethargy and very tearful, v. scary as I'd been feeling physically and emotionally really good the past couple of weeks since going back on plan.

Enough of a scare to get back on today. Have had coffee with cream, bacon and cheese salad, and some cheese for snacks. Will do protein- and veg-heavy reward meal this evening and hopefully be rid of cravings by tomorrow.

Hi all, hope you don't mind me joining in your thread. I am hoping to follow India Knight's low carb plan for a couple of weeks to shift a few lbs and regain some energy. I eat far too many carby foods during the day (bread, biscuits, more bread etc) and tend to feel like a zombie come the afternoon...Zzzzzzz. A couple of weeks off the wine will be good too for the waistline.

Day one today - so far I have had two cups of coffee with cream and sweetener and some olives and cheese for breakfast. Lunch will be chicken salad or soup; gammon and vegetables for dinner.

How are you all getting on today?

welcome toadette
I have had meatballs and cheese, chicken and bacon salad for lunch and will have home made quiche with no pastry for dinner.
How is everyone else doing?

Lost another 1kg this week, was hoping to stick at 2kgs a week but unfortunetley not.

Just done a week of CAD and it is a total revelation. Well, perhaps I shouldn't speak too soon, but I feel much better, have had virtually no cravings and have enjoyed great LC food during the day at breakfast and lunch, then normal dinners with bread or potatoes and fruit, portions of chocolate or cake for dessert although I can easily see me not bothering with "sweets" after the initial thrill/testing stage.

Still need to drink more water though, but so far this beats the pants off any low carb plan I've been on. I feel so much better and in control for the first time in ages.

I really think that insulin control is key for me rather than ketosis.

Hope everyone is doing OK this week!

systemsaddict thanks for putting me onto the CAD. Hope your DC are better soon.