How in the hell do you all low carb?

[Conundrumish]

A couple of weeks ago I started a quick crash diet of fruit and a bit of protein, just for a week, to kick start my dieting (having been trying to get motivated for months). It was going really well until I got bored and put a couple of pounds back on. I posted on here and everyone said to do a low carb diet.

I bought the books, I bought the food, and I lasted ..... two days. It was horrendous. I forced down mackeral on day one for breakfast and a boiled egg that nearly made me gag on day two. I spent a fortune on food and the very thougth of eating it made me feel ill.

What's the point in being allowed cream if you have nothing to put it on but brocolli? I thought I would be allowed cheese and eggs, but reading furthher into the Charles Clarke book I bought seemed to suggest these were severely limited at the beginning.

I thought it was a diet that kept weight off until I got further in to the book and realised I would have to stay off carbs (I mean proper carbs, like cake 'n' stuff) for life. I would honestly rather be fat.

What do you all eat that keeps you motivated to stay on a low carb diet (and how do you afford to)?

PS: I also didn't like the fact that even if I was good all day, if I was tempted at the end of the day, the whole of the fat I had eaten that day suddenly 'counted' and would be dumped. Much too stressful!

I can't do it either! I found I was eating lots of meat and it made me feel greasy and horrible. It doesn't help that I hate salad so lunch is always a problem when low carbing.

If anyone has the answer I would love to hear it!

But I can't live on that stuff Riven - salad and vegetables .

I need sweet stuff. I like porridge with skimmed milk and raisins (no sugar), a cup of skimmed milk cocoa, raisins, pears ... anything sweet. I don't need it all the time, but I need to know that I can have it and that if I break and have it at 10pm that I won't dump the pork-scratchings/chorizo/full fat cheese and other artery clogging things I have stuffed all day straight onto my hips.

I can't do it either. I feel shaky and weak before 1pm

i couldn't do low carb either. i also felt weak and dizzy by the afternoon.

i lost 25lbs doing the weight watchers points diet though!

low gi is much healthier and easier to sustain and you can have brown bread, rice and pasta...and cake once in a while. Actually chocolate is low gi - just high fat - dark choc is ok tho.

How are you getting on with it Riven?

Low carb doesn't work for me, I have tried it and stuck to it religiously and not lost a thing. What works for me is good old fashioned calorie counting.
Some people find Low GI or Low Fat best.
If you are looking at a diet and thinking you'll never do it and not even wanting to start it, you are stting yourself up for failure.
Have a look at other plans and find what you think you can realistic work with.

I can't low carb either. Its all about completely banning certain foods - which in the end is unsustainable. Paul Merton lost 4 stone on Atkins, didn't he, and it certainly looks as though that has all gone back on again.

As soon as someone says "don't eat bread" to me, I just want to eat bread in enormous quantities .

I understand all the science behind it, and know I don't need lots of carb rich foods as I am not an athlete in training by any stretch of the imagination.

I don't think anyone can ever lose weight and keep it off unless they can learn to live with less food. And become more efficient at burning calories.

Have a look at the food doctor diet, might work better for you? Low GI like Riven suggests.

I do low carb for my evening meal but eat normally the rest of the time. So spag bol is served on a bed of salad instead of pasta, cut out potatoes and have extra veg with roast chicken etc

It usually helps me shed a few pounds quickly, but I don't miss out, or get shaky.

Isn't it as simple as eating less, eating better (less fat and sugar) and being a bit more active permanently? If you don't change your habits permanently you're just going to put it back on?

You're very right, Porridge.
Have a look at the Food Focus website, you put in your weight, how much to want to lose and what your lifestyle is like sedentary/active etc and you log all your food in. You log exercise as well so you see what effect that has on how much food you can eat.
It is an eye opener.

That site is good - did you link to it on THE THREAD THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED. Don't tell Su I have a wander on the dark side occasionally

Tsk porridge!

yes to Low GI

the Times bought a book out about it a couple of years ago, its dead good

I'M A DIET GURU! That'll be £67 zillion squids please plus p & p

Porridge, here it is, in case you get put off by cocktalk and snogging

FoodFocus

It's v good.

Didn't see you creeping up behind me there Cyb. I presume I can rely on you discretion?

You should listen to Cyb OP, she's our primus inter pares dieter.

Thanks for sparing my blushes Lizzylou I'm a delicate flower

Yes but atm dont do as I DO ,do as I say

I have been a low carber for 2 months and have lost about 17lbs without ever going hungry.

The thing is you have to want to be thin more than you want to eat cake. That makes it easier. When I started I was walking round the supermarket thinking I can't have that, or them, or that and nothing down that entire aisle and feeling like I could have hardy anything but if you use your imagination a bit, it hardly makes any difference.

What also makes it easier is if you cut out carbs almost completely you go into ketosis, which is your body burning fat rather than carbs for fuel. When you are in this state you don't really get hungry as your body doesn't need to remind you to eat to replenish your carb stores.

And 99% of the time you don't feel tempted to eat biccies because you want to keep that engine running on fat rather than carbs.

Glad I'm not the only one who has struggled. I have been looking at the GI diet on-line and it looks interesting, but lists chocolate and cake as low GI - so not sure that would suit me . I only have half a stone or so to loose, so difficult to get movitated, but so reassuring to know people on this thread are loosing it from low fat/low GI/cal controlled methods - thanks all.

I had lost 3 stone and was maintaining (for 5 years!) on an Atkins-based diet before I got pg with DD, came off it while pg/bf and promptly put on 4 stone

I'm finding it really, really hard to get back on the wagon - I have several good days in a row and then carbs 'find' me and it's back to square one - which I know is fucking up my metabolism, but I can't seem to get back in the LowCarb groove - it is hard when you're the only one in the family doing it.

I don't know the Charles Clarke plan, I have always eaten eggs and cheese freely under the low-carbing I do, and still lose the weight.

However, PP, if you've only got half a stone or so to lose, then perhaps low-carb isn't the way to go - I found I had to be INCREDIBLY strict with myself to lose my last half stone when doing Atkins - cut out all artificial sweeteners (which until then I'd had loads of), no snacking (even on approved foods) and more exercise, so it's not an easy option.

One tip that they don't necessarily make plain in any of the books I've read - you really must up your water intake. 2 litres a day at least. Sounds horrendous but your body will thank you for it - good luck!