Low Carb Diets

[mummymels]

How sustainable are low carbohydrate diets in the modern world?

I think so.
You're doing go lower aren't you? Are you struggling now you are preparing the food yourself?
It's all about preparation. If you are out it can be very difficult to find a low carb snack, and a lot of the time I have resorted to eating the filling of a sandwich or wrap with a fork, which is hardly the most elegant thing to do . In the early days of doing it I would carry babybels around with me, but I think the more you fill up on protein, the less inclined you are to snack anyway. If we go for coffee now, I stick to an americano (black coffee to you and me ) and just avoid the cake. Reading the calorie list on the Starbucks website will shock you.
I really like the low carb approach, I have tried it twice in my life, after both dc. I have a real problem in pregnancy that carbs are the only thing that keep nausea at bay, which combined with limited mobility due to SPD meant that I put on a TONNE of weight, and I am prone to putting weight on when breastfeeding as well. I've lost 5 stone since October doing low carb, taking me to my lowest adult weight. I've slowed right down on the loss now, but have maintained it quite easily, and eat bread and rice when I want. It's all about choices. I don't want to get complacent as I know I will put weight back on if I start chowing down again. Bread and pasta especially are my downfall. But when I don't have them, I don't miss them. Not to mention the buckets of energy I have when I low carb.
The most shocking thing for me was realisign that I have lost the weight of my 2 children combined I have a nearly 2 year old and a nearly 6 year old and I just can't comprehend the extra strain my body must have been under to carry all that extra weight around every day.
It is nice to be the other side of weight loss though. I have a friend who has consistently gained since I have been losing, and I wish I could do it for her. She's so unhappy and doesn't know where to start. A lot of people have read snippets of low carb info and completely misunderstand what it's about and I think that's half the problem. It is doable. But it does require thought and organisation as the ingredients are fresh. I cringe when I see Weight Watchers ready meals, I just can't see how that is promoting healthy eating.

I am hoping it is going to be easy as I am also on GoLower and will eventually have to make my own meals. I think the market for LC foods and snacks is growing and there is a bit more availability in the supermarkets. It would be great if GoLower could sell their meals and snacks in the supermarkets as that would really help me out!

I don't think it's sustainable unless you're prepared to take your own food along with you at every occasion. This is why systems like Go Lower and Atkins often fail people. Avoiding entire food groups is easy on paper when you're only looking after yourself or when food is provided ready-made. But when someone is trying to cater for a family, travel, go on holiday or eat in a normal social setting ... like accepting something as innocente as a piece of wedding cake.... then it really becomes a problem because the world just isn't geared around 'low carb'

I happen to think it's better to choose smaller portions of the 'smart carbs'... the wholegrains, vegetables, pulses, fruit etc.... with a good mix of proteins and fats and get used to that as your standard way of eating. Then you can adapt to pretty much any occasion, not being the weirdo sat in the corner at parties, picking the filling out of a vol-au-vent or trying to exist on a piece of cheese and a hard-boiled egg.

I love the atkins diet and lost 5 stone 4 years ago by doing it. I kept it off till last year when we had a massive family crisis that made me depressed and I reached for those dreaded carbs! I've just started again today and hope it stays off again. It is really difficult to eat out and I always used to take cheese strings out with me or buy packs of sliced beef to eat instead of a sandwich. What I love about it is the energy levels eating low carb gives me and the lack of hunger. I used to only get hungry if I missed a meal and used to walk for miles. My mum is obsessed with weight watchers and the amount the crap she eats is unbelievable and she's always hungry! Those weight watchers foods are just pure sugar and I've tried teaching her a low carb approach to the diet but she won't have none of it. For maintenance I used to avoid all sugar, white bread and pasta and ate loads of lovely salads and meat and veg type dinners.

Your body NEEDS carbohydrates. Like Chil1234 says, just choose the 'good' ones (wholegrains, leafy greens etc) and have a controlled portion, rather than an 'all you can eat' size!

Its disapponiting to be labelled as a 'weirdo' because I choose to not eat a certain food group. There are lots of us on this forum all trying different ways to loose weight and trying to support each other to do that. If someone at a wedding refused some cake as 'they were trying to be good' I wouldn't think that weird.....

You can only judge based on your own experience. 'Weirdo' is my word - because that describes how I felt when I followed a low-carb diet several years ago. The one rejecting 90% of everything on a restaurant menus as unsuitable. Having to prep any dinner-party hosts in advance on my list of acceptable foods. Feeling irrationally stressed when innocent sandwiches were provided as lunch during a meeting. It can be quite isolating and really inconvenient/impractical after a while. As a mother now I would not like to be explaining to my son why it's OK for him to eat toast but not me....

No-one has to eat wedding cake if they don't want to. But, realistically, the occasional slice of a celbration cake is not what makes people fat in the first place.

Thanks for your comments everyone. Yes justallovertheplace, I am doing Go Lower. You have done brilliantly losing all that weight and brightyoungthing, you've done brilliantly too.

The actual meals at home aren't a problem as such. In fact I do enjoy cooking but always used the excuse of not having time to cook much before and although I still don't find I have much time I am making as much time as I can fit in. I am still not very experimental but I will get there and this forum is really helpful for that.

Snacks are harder. I used to eat the babybels too but have to be honest that I am a bit fed up with them now! Lucky I don't feel like snacks too much but I have to admit I have started being a little bit more leniant when I am out now within reason.