Come and talk to me about carbs please

[isthatporridgeinyourhair]

Help me low/no carbers! Am considering no carbs since I'm blardy well exercising everyday and eating under 1100 cals but going nowhere fast!

I get the bad carbs thing .. white bread, pasta and potatoes. Are low GI/low calorie carbs as bad? Things like wholewheat bread, brown rice?

One trick I learnt from the Atkins book is to get the total ammount of carbs (so say a slice of brown bread has 17g) and then take the dietry fibre (say 4g) and deduct it from the carbs. So that slice of bread actually has 13g of carbs, not 17g.

Personally I have cut out bread, rice and pasta altogether as even the wholewheat stuff tends to be full of carbs. I'm trying to stick to around 25g carbs a day and if one slice of bread has 13g ... you can see how it adds up!

From what I've heard and read, anything low in fat/calories tends to be high in carbs. Full fat stuff (such as full fat cheese, mayo etc) has the least carbs in.

It's the kind of diet where you end up eating the stuff you'd least expect to be 'allowed'!

I've just had 2 thick slices of corned beef with melted cheese on top ... full of fat and calories but well within my carbs allowance

If you want to do low-carb you really need a book to follow. Otherwise you can end up following a bit of this and a bit of that and if you still have your head in the low-fat camp you will not be doing it right.

Would agree with Riven that your calorie allowance seems very low.

Yes, just to add when I tried low fat diets, I tried to severely ristrict my calorie intake and I ended up just putting weight on. They call it starvation mode where the body panics and stores whatever fat it can find.

Thanks. I have a few more questions, if you don't mind?

Should I be aiming for 1400 calories a day?

Starvation mode stops at some point presumably? When?

Will more exercise help?

Which books are good?

There is a way of working out your basal calorie requirement. Google it and see if you can find a calcualtor. I think mine was about 1470 when I did mine ages ago - it takes into account your build and age to say how many calories you need just to keep your body ticking along - then you add for the amount of energy you will burn on top of that. 1100 is going to be very very low - aren't you feeling a bit ill on that level?

Not sure how many calories you should be aiming for tbh but as OrmRenewed says, there are calculators online which work it out for you.

Starvation mode will stop eventually, say after a few weeks? I don't know because I could never starve myself for long enough to find out.

Exercise helps with any diet

As for books, not sure about general dieting but if you're still interested in Low-Carb ... the atkins diet revolution explains everything about how it works, the science behind it and how to actually do it.

here

You need to work out your total energy needs and then pitch your weight-loss intake about 700 cals below that. Don't go below 1200 cals if you're over 21 and reasonably active. Don't go below 1500 if you're under 21. Crash-dieting always ends in failure because, as someone pointed out above, your body's natural reaction will be to hang on to your fat stores rather than burn them off. You'll also increasingly feel the effects of malnutrition and be very likely to end up bingeing.

Make up your calorie allowance with a good balance of different foods, including small amounts of starchy, unprocessed carbohydrates. For example, if you cook 1oz (dry weight) brown rice or wholewheat pasta that's a totally adequate portion and it's providing you with valuable B vitamins and fibre. But it really isn't the 'carb' content that determines what happens to your body-weight, it's the energy in vs energy out equation.

Finally... are you actually overweight? (BMI 25+) If you're already a healthy weight (BMI 20 - 25) then it's very difficult to see results no matter what you do.

Thanks Orm and Ench - will do. The odd thing is that I don't really feel hungry any more, just a bit more tired, although I had put that down to davinaring and having a non sleeper.

Chil1234 - my bmi is 21.7 - does this mean that I'll never get thinner?

Well you are well within your healthy weight range. IME it is harder to get below that sort of level - I always got stuck around 20.

'Never' is a long time. However, the smaller you are the less energy you need to start with. So to create a big enough calorie deficit to lose weight you either need to eat next to nothing (bad idea for obvious reasons) or you have to do significantly more exercise than normal. And the progress is slow either way.

If you have 'muffinage' you should look at the quality of your diet. Many slim people (and you are slim) who have a poor diet can end up looking flabby or puffy because of fluid retention. If your diet, for example, contained a lot of processed foods, salt, sugar, artificial sweetners, caffeine, alcohol, preserved foods, packet foods, ready-meals etc., then that would be the thing to change before you start on the carbohydrate or even the calorie content.

If what you want is a toned, leaner body the other thing to understand is that 'dieting' (especially when you're a healthy weight) tends to result in the reverse. Deprived of energy the body will use lean tissue as well as fat to make up the shortfall... so you can end up losing muscle. Rather than being toned and leaned you can experience the awful problem of 'skinny fat'... ie. thin and out of shape.

So I'd suggest you aim to get your total energy needs for a while, pay attention to the balance & quality of your diet, drink plenty of fluids and take regular exercise. You may not end up weighing less but you'd be a much better shape.

"You may not end up weighing less but you'd be a much better shape.
"
Yes. Quite. And assuming you aren't losing weight for health reasons, that's the main reason we do it isn't it.

i have an introduction on my mn blog you should also join the low carb thread

Thank you ladies - wise words - will up the calories on low Gi foods, drink more water and do more exercising. If that doesn't work I'll sell one of the kids and get lipo

Before I start I'll just say that it sounds like you're of a healthy weight, and it can be harder to lose more if your body's happy the way it is I think, but if you are persevering...

I found the only way to lose my (substantial) first baby weight gain was through low to no carbs. I don't know what your medical history is, but for me I put this down to polycystic ovaries and an inability to process sugar effectively. I ate no carbs whatsoever after 6pm, and limited any that I did have to small amounts of fruit etc.. For me I find that if I eat carbs I am hungry much more quickly again than if I stick to protein and vegetables. (I don't include things like broccoli and green beans as a carb btw, although obviously there is some, I mean food which are predominantly carby e.g. bread, pasta, rice, cereal and sugary foods).

FWIW I also think having a non-sleeping child makes weight loss a lot harder because IME you need more food just to keep you going as a substitute for sleep even if you don't realise it. I lost weight twice as quickly with half the effort once ds started sleeping for more extended periods.

Good luck!

Hi all, I am doing low carbs too. I am doing a diet called Go Lower. They send you your meals in a package so you don't need to cook them yourself although once you have been on the diet for a bit you can also make your own low carb meals too.

www.pig2twig.com inspired me no end, it has a lovely, supportive forum and the book is so friendly. If it works for me, the person who thinks buttered toast is an essential food group it works for anybody.