I am eating way too much carbs. Need advice please.

[suiledonne]

I have always favoured carbs over other foods and am several stone over weight. I am a SAHM and realise it is getting out of control.

Yesterday was a VERY bad day. Very little veg, no fruit and very little protein but these days are becoming more common. I am suffering from indigestion for the first time since pregnancy.

I ate

2 slice wholemeal toast with butter, tea with milk and sugar

2 homemade scones and a bowl of leek and potato soup (homemade) for lunch

Scone with jam as afternoon snack and tea with milk and sugar

Didn't bother with dinner. Ate some homemade chips and some baby carrots I had done for dd's tea.

Another scone and tea for supper.

It's not a balanced diet at all but I am really craving the carbs.

Better not make scones again for a while.

Any suggestions on a plan to follow? I don't want to do totally carb-free but need to reduce the carbs a lot.

I am not a big meat eater and don't eat any eggs or fish other than tinned tuna. I do like vegetarian stuff and love dairy.

I love vegetables but not a big fruit eater (like apples, pears and bananas but nothing citrus)

I buy very boring bread and nasty margerine, no cake or biscuits, no crisps and no potatoes. I fill up on protein rather than carbs and over the years have learned to love apples as a snack.Post menopausal but kept off the 1 1/2 stone I lost 10 years ago. Feel like a recovering addict - I could slip any day and it would all go back on! I'm with Kate Moss on this and you know what she said! be strong!!!!

I find if I eat porridge at breakfast I am less likely to dive into carbs the rest of the day but the main trigger for me is if I don't have enough sleep I crave carbs - does this sound familiar?

its not so much the carbs - its the sugar in the carbs - so very addictive - you don't realise till you come off them.

i have ben low carbing since may and have lost 3.5 stone.

my eating habits were

no breakfast

no dinner - or toast or crisp if at work

come home from work and eat from 5 - midnight.

whatever was for tea + 4 slices of bread
fruit
chocolate
crackers
crisp -full 6 pack easily.

----

now

still no breakfast - i just don't do breakfast ( i';m one of those people!)

dinner - two slices low carb bread. perhaps with tomato on toasted. or philidelphia.

evening meal - last night i ate chicken breast stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon - topped with mushroom and onion accompanied by a salad.

i was v. full

but snacked on two low carb toast at midnight!

I have done low carb properly and lost a lot of weight, and am now just eating small amounts so I don't pile it back on.

I find that it helps to have a huge breakfast or something like porridge, and that will see me through til lunch. If I get hungry at 11ish I'll have a big cup of coffee/tea which will keep me going. Used to it now though and don't really snack anymore.

Apples as snacks are a good idea.

Cut out carbs for dinner.

For lunch, how about scrambled eggs or omlette, tuna salad, tortillas instead of huge slices of bread? Once you get into the habit it's pretty easy to cut down.

Today I had an omlette for breakfast (go easy on the cheese!!), then 1/2 can of beans on wholemeal toast, and that's all I've eaten. Total calories is about 750. Will probably eat an apple at about 4:30 when DS has his tea, and then dinner is likely to be stew or something (no spuds)

oh hi Custy [hsmile]

I am doing low carbs and find having oatcakes and cheese as a snack really filling especially if cheese is super strong to make your eyes water.

I'll eat that with grapes or a sliced up apple if I'm feeling decadent.

Bread and butter, biscuits and cakes are my downfall but I have found avoiding them reasonably easy this time.

make soups too.

Thanks for all the good advice.

Very impressed with the 3.5 stone Custy. I have similar to lose.

I think my main problem would be finding ways to fill the gaps the carbs will leave.

I don't eat eggs at all, in any form (except cakes, of course) so that is one option ruled out. I struggle to eat meat in any quantity. It just doesn't appeal to me.

Before I had my dds I had more time for shopping and cooking and I would cook vegetarian things with beans, different grains etc but don't find the time now.

Today I had

breakfast - 2 slices wholemeal toast with butter, tea with milk and sugar

mid-morning - tea and a scone with relish and cheese

lunch - deep dish mini pepperoni pizza, apple

afternoon - tea, homemade oat biscuitsx3

dinner - spaghettti bolognese

just now I had tea and a slice of Lidl kiwi cake

sorry baby awake

back soon

I'm copying a message I wrote a few days ago re

Neris and India's Idiot proof diet -how we lost 10 stone (india Knight and Neris Thomas). I can't recommend it highly enough!

Basically it's like Atkins etc which has a 2 week very low carb induction period, but it seems to work by being aimed at now-longer-young women living in Britain, not California etc!

They do a day-by-day diary of how each one felt during those two weeks, after a solid introduction of how each ended up the size they didn't want to be.

I found it very helpful, as once I started eating proper low carb meals, I honestly didn't need the mid-morning or mid-afternoon snacks that you're having. If you cut all the carbs for a fortnight, your body starts to not crave them any more.

Lost a (very easy) stone in 4 weeks, and now slower weight loss but still definitely going in the right direction.

suile you are snacking a lot

you're just eating a lot.

its really a lot.

i am no meat lover

i love crackers. i adore salad and fruit and cake - i love pasta with sauce without sauce - bit of olive oil and some veg. i love rice on it's own with peas and tuna. - i am no chocolate lover - but i love crisp and i can eat nuts comming out my arse.

but something had to change. something better than 'i will go for a walk today' becuae it wouldn't happen

something better than ' just cut out the snacks'

becuase it wouldn't happen.

i have done WW and slimming worrld - and they work - for a while. but it's costly

this diet i must stay on - i MUST. if i 'just' have something i shouldn't - my body goes out of 'ketosis' and i have to stay on the diet for 3 days before i will start to lose weight again.

for me it's not worth the bag of crisp, the 'one' biscuit, the small bite of cake.

i love carbs i truly do. i was a veggie for 3 years at Uni! meat is not my bag - believe me. but something had to change.

seems like you HAVE to have something to eat with your tea. This is an easy habit to get into. Stop this and you will cut at least 300 cals from your daily intake plus all those bad carbs

suiledonne - I used to eat the amounts you ate too but I started on Go Lower a couple of months ago. It is a low carb diet but they supply meals for you (I am pretty sure there are veggie options too) and it is really easy to keep to. I used to eat a lot and though that I wouldn't be able to do something like this without feeling hungry but was surprised at how easy it really is.

How are you getting on suiledonne?