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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.

Can I have an idiots guide to no carbing please?

38 replies

MostlyLurking · 05/06/2010 10:09

Have just read another diet thread and no carb seems the way to go. Can I have the low down on it and what you can/can't eat.

I think Hully and MsBoogie have had success, so inspirational stories would be good as well.

TIA.

OP posts:
msboogie · 05/06/2010 10:43

It depends how strict you want to be really but there's two approaches;

a) you are a bit overweight and would like to lose a bit in no great rush, in which case you can give up sugary things, processed foods, things with wheat in (bread pasta) and rice, potatoes etc.

you will still get carbs from fruit and veg and other things that you eat but you will feel better and lose weight.

or

b) you have a lot to lose and want to do see results more quickly..

In which case you can avoid eating almost any carbs and live entirely on meat, green veg, salad, eggs, cheese, nuts, berries, until you have lost the weight then gradually reintroduce some carbs to have a wider variety of foods(but not bread, never bread!) ,

you will GET very few carbs and after a few days your body will go into ketosis and instead- and you will lose weight.Its feels a bit restrictive at first because there's so much you can't have but you very quickly find out that there's loads you can have instead and there's a thread on here with loads of menu ideas.

The good thing about both of these approaches is that you are not "dieting" as such because you are not restricting the amount you eat and should not go hungry at all. Also you can't have processed food so you are entirely in control of what you eat and how many calories are in it and it is much healthier. Processed food is what is causing the obesity problem at the moment.

If you do b) you will find you rarely get hungry because your body doesn't need to tell you to eat.

It's the best regime I have done and the only one where I didn't just stop losing weight after 3 weeks and fall off the wagon. The feeling of being in ketosis is great - quite euphoric at times...and you don't have to cook separate food for yourself - DP has what I have but with carbs.

Beware though, if you do b) and cheat you will drop out of ketosis and have to spend days getting back into it, during which your body will try to get you to eat carbs and you will feel hungry and tempted...

good luck and if you do decide to have a go please look at the menu thread - you will see that low carbers tend to eat very well!

sarah293 · 05/06/2010 10:49

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RatherBeOnThePiste · 05/06/2010 10:54

Am Reading this with curiosity. Have been losing weight by calorie counting and essentially cutting back for 6 months and it's going well. But I think I need to do something more/ different now to lose the last bit.

What about naturally occuring carbohydrate in fruit. Is all fruit out?

RatherBeOnThePiste · 05/06/2010 10:55

Riven.... How do you know you are in ketosis? Sorry to be dim/ dumb!

sarah293 · 05/06/2010 10:59

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RatherBeOnThePiste · 05/06/2010 11:05

Aaaah. That explains it. I thought you just knew!

I thought I'd never manage such levels of self knowledge.

sarah293 · 05/06/2010 11:23

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rubyrubyruby · 05/06/2010 11:27

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cyb · 05/06/2010 11:29

BUY THE DUKAN DIET BOOK

I just have and altho I dont need to lose weight anymore it makes sooo much sense and seems easy peasy, AND most imporatntly is a way of eating for life, not quick fix

its cheap on Amazon

have a look here

sarah293 · 05/06/2010 11:30

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rubyrubyruby · 05/06/2010 11:32

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sarah293 · 05/06/2010 11:34

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cyb · 05/06/2010 11:38

Riven its heavy on the meat for the first phase. Which is about 5 days. I'm by no means an expert and there are threads about it on MN but it seemed better than Atkins as it was a long term change of eating, it does introduce veg etc quite quickly.

cyb · 05/06/2010 11:38

forgot you are veggie

RatherBeOnThePiste · 05/06/2010 12:06

Bear with me, this is an idiots guide..

Are stuff like bananas / fruit out because of the naturally occurring carbs?

Also I would imagine that one can only eat very basic whole foods to ensure there are no carbs in it. For example I had a yogurt this morning which had carbs in it. That would be out yes?!

But Riven, eggs are in then??!!

cyb · 05/06/2010 12:18

some fruit carbier tha others. bananas are every carby, apples are not

LOW GI is a good way of thinking about food rather than carbs too

cocolepew · 05/06/2010 12:19

Bananas?! Really? Bugger, I've been eating about 3 a day.

cyb · 05/06/2010 12:35

aren't you completely banana bound?

cocolepew · 05/06/2010 12:36

ahem, no [lies]

champagnesupernova · 05/06/2010 12:47

The other diet that is Really good is India Kniht's idiot proof diet, I will be back on the bandwagon to shift the weight once this baby's born.
Good luck

msboogie · 05/06/2010 13:12

yes fruit is relatively high in carbs so if you are really trying to restrict them you have to go easy on the fruit and not have fruit juice at all. But like I said above you can eat these things and just restrict highly refined carbs like sugar and flour and still lose weight.

I know you are supposed to get into ketosis after one day and technically you are I suppose but when I have come out of it I found it was several days before it kicked in properly - only had a slight tinge on the wee sticks and was hungry a lot.

The strict atkins no carbs regime isn't meant to be permanent; you can reintroduce some carbs once you have lost weight.

One thing to beware of is alcohol - if you don't have carbs your body pounces on alcohol and you will get drunk a lot quicker and easier than you might be used to.

sarah293 · 05/06/2010 15:21

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cocolepew · 05/06/2010 16:50

No fruit juice?! Sod it my low carbing was crap!

cyb · 05/06/2010 16:51

lol

still lost weight though didnt you

cocolepew · 05/06/2010 16:53

I could be a size 8 by now [sulks]