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Weight loss chat

A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Would low-carbers care to share their shopping lists with us noobs...?

19 replies

WilfSell · 04/01/2010 11:43

That's it really. I am rubbish at shopping full stop (you know, the sort where you go planning a week's meals and you come back with some spanners, a lifesize box of cornflakes and some wine).

And I am planning to start low-carbing induction next week with DH. I'd really appreciate seeing what ingredients you buy for the week ahead.

Thanks.

OP posts:
HinnyPet · 04/01/2010 15:17

You have to avoid the breakfast cereals for a start .

You need a huge bag of mixed salad, cooked ham, cooked chicken, tinned salmon and tuna, a little oil and vinegar and that is your lunches sorted out.

You also need ingredients to make tomato salsa which livens up omelletes and your salds lots. (recipe off atkins.com)

You need eggs to make omelletes or frittata, bacon for breakfast (cook the bacon in advance, stick in fridge and just re heat in microwave when you need it). Fritattas can be made and frozen reheated for breakfast.

I'd be interested in seeing what other people suggest as I will be doing this (again) in a week or so.

WilfSell · 04/01/2010 20:27

Thanks hinnypet that's a great start.

Any other offers?

OP posts:
Katisha · 04/01/2010 20:30

After induction, the best breakfast in my opinion is defrosted berries of any description (blueberries, mixed bags from Tesco, whatever) and greek yoghurt.

HinnyPet · 05/01/2010 13:32

Bumping for you as I am going to start again soon

BecauseImWorthIt · 05/01/2010 13:57

As a fairly long term low carber, most of the time , my shopping tends to be fairly conventional. In that I buy/cook the usual pasta, rice, potatoes, bread - I just don't eat it. So if I'm doing a 'meat and two veg and potatoes' kind of meal, I just have extra veg and no potatoes. If it's curry (we have take away every Friday) then I just have the curry and no rice/poppadoms/naan), and if it's pasta then I either don't have any or I may substitute thinly shredded, boiled white/green cabbage for spaghetti. Trust me, it works surprisingly well! Makes you realise that pasta is really just a carrier for a sauce.

You're likely to find breakfast the most difficult - it seems to be an issue for most who are new to low carbing. Eggs will be your saviour.

I eat, variously, poached eggs, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs or an omelette occasionally - with cheese. I don't have bacon and eggs very often as it's not my favourite thing, but every now and then I may do it for a change. I sometimes may have just one hard boiled egg if I'm not very hungry.

You can have yoghurt and berries, as Katisha says, but beware the carb counts and make sure you weigh/measure what you're eating, otherwise you can eat a lot of carbs without realising it.

otherwise, the other thing to do for breakfast is to not think about it as a meal that requires 'special' foods; eat stuff leftover from dinner the night before, for example. Or go Continental, with sliced meats and cheese.

My dinners for this week are:

Yesterday - roast chicken with roast veg, (leeks, peppers, courgettes and carrots (quite carby so I avoided those), and salad with vinaigrette.

Today - what we call 'Big Salad'. Not sure it's really the day for it! This will be: a green salad with vinaigrette, stuffed hard boiled eggs, tomatoes with mozzarella, grilled peppers in vinaigrette and - for the rest of them - freshly baked baguette.

Tomorrow - spaghetti and meatballs with tomato sauce; I will either have cabbage just the meatballs. Tomato sauce will be homemade, and is just tinned tomatoes, olive oil and garlic. Meatballs are homemade and are minced beef, onion, chilli, garlic and a red pepper, all whizzed up in the processor and then baked in the oven. I will serve this with broccoli and possibly salad.

Thursday - pork steaks. Not sure how I'm cooking these yet; DS1 loves them baked in the oven with barbecue sauce, but there's quite a lot of sugar in that so I suspect I'll probably just roast them in a more boring fashion! This will be with potato wedges, for the rest of the family, and whatever veg/salad I have left in the fridge by then.

Friday is takeaway night, when I try to be as good as I can (usually succumb to a bit of naan bread, although I will try my best not to this week!).

Weekend lunches I find the hardest, as I often just make sandwiches or buy 'nibbly bits', such as spring rolls/samosas for the rest of the family, and then it's too tempting for me. One way round this is to skip breakfast and make brunch - always a good excuse to serve up bacon, sausage and egg.

This is the low carb site that I have used for a long time and there are lots of good recipes on here.

And remember, one of the joys of low carbing is that you can eat fat, so cheese is allowed! (Just don't go too mad ...)
Hope this helps!

PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow · 05/01/2010 14:01

BIWI - I've got a good GR recipe somewhere for spiced pork chops...

here

tis LOVELY.

supersalstrawberry · 05/01/2010 14:13

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

supersalstrawberry · 05/01/2010 14:16

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HinnyPet · 05/01/2010 14:22

BecauseImWorthIt does it work well for you? are you in the maintenance phase? how long have you been on?
I'm just asking, as in 2004 when I was getting married I did Atkins for 4 months and lost 2 1/2 stone. Getting pregnant with DD almost immediately after wedding helped me pile on the weight and I'd love to lose it.

I tried again last May and managed to lose half a stone in 4 weeks but it was so hard !

PheasantPlucker · 05/01/2010 14:25

BIWI - I am seriously impressed!

PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow · 05/01/2010 14:27

supersalstrawberry - [dares to ask] what is egg bound?

supersalstrawberry · 05/01/2010 14:32

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PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow · 05/01/2010 14:36

ah.

good. The first stage of Atkins has the opposite effect

BecauseImWorthIt · 05/01/2010 14:39

I think eggs making you egg-bound (i.e. constipated) is a bit of a myth. At least it's not been a problem for me! I guess if you're eating enough veg/salad then you should be getting enough fibre.

Hinny - it does work for me, except I'm not really disciplined enough . At the moment I'm way too heavy because I just haven't stuck at it. I have flirted with calorie counting recently, as I did get tired of not eating things I enjoy, like pasta and potatoes, but the results were very predictable.

I'm determined to be more disciplined and stick to it this time, otherwise I'm never going to lose the weight, and as I'm now 50 and clearly approaching the menopause I want to be shot of it asap.

It works for me as a way of eating and dieting in that you really, genuinely are never hungry. I used to be obsessed with what my next meal was going to be, when it was going to be and how many calories I would be 'allowed' to have. If you're low carbing you can enjoy lovely food - none of that horrible low fat/'lite' compromised stuff - and still lose weight.

My downfall is alcohol. Although you can drink in moderation when you're low carbing, the body turns to alcohol first as it's the easiest source of fuel, so if you're still drinking, chances are you're burning less fat.

When I do Mon-Thursday without drinking, the results are significantly better than if I still drink.

Like any diet it can be hard, but at least on this one, the sense of deprivation is somewhat lower. And eating out is much easier than if you're trying to calorie count or eat low fat foods.

The secret is to plan ahead. To know what meals you're going to cook and make sure you have those foods in the house. Another problem are for me is that I can do a fair bit of travelling with my job, and food choices 'on the go' are all high carb - sandwiches, pasties, crisps, chocolate, pizza - you name it!

supersalstrawberry · 05/01/2010 17:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow · 05/01/2010 17:59

thanks for sharing

BecauseImWorthIt · 05/01/2010 18:18

Are you a chicken, sal?!

supersalstrawberry · 05/01/2010 20:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BecauseImWorthIt · 05/01/2010 22:15

Thank you! The advantages of dim lighting ...

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