Any low carbers here??

[ontario]

Hi all, I've been low carbing for a few years now and so far have lost 30 lbs and I have 30 lb to get to my goal. Any low carbers here? I just got the Force and while I'm still trying to figure it out I think it'll be the motivational boost I'm looking for to get me to my goal. By the way, can anyone tell me how to change my user name from "ontario" to my name? Thanks 🙂

[Peachhead]

DEFINITELY LOTS OF FREE RECIPES and also a lot of free cookbooks on Kindle.  I've gotten many free Kindle cookbooks from this website:

www.onehundredfreebooks.com 

Many Keto, Paleo, Low Carb, Vegetarian, Vegan and every other kind of diet books, all free from Amazon!!

[Peachhead]

Fantastic!!!!!!!

[CraigM]

I'm still doing fairly well with Fitbit. My son and granddaughter got fitbits for Christmas and we have issued eachother several challenges. Discounting my week of flu, I guess I'm averaging 15-17K steps with some days over 24K. (Only 14.5K so far today, but might put on another 3K).

We dropped of the low carb diet for Nov-Dec, but are back watching the carbs starting 1-1-15. Down 7 pounds so far this month/year. Still about 265 pounds, but down from the all-time high of 320 of two years ago.

[Peachhead]

Great!!!!  I'm hoping to set a good example for my hubby.  He is low carbing but not really adding in exercise.

[CraigM]

I'm a little bummed 😞 Just looked back to my post in Jan 2014 and see that I'm actually about 5 pounds heavier! O'well, I guess I took more time "off" than I had remembered. I'm back, both watching carbs and walking.

[cskate]

hi im a low carber and just got the "charge"

[Knowledge]

Just posting an update, been doing a strict 20 gram low-carb Atkins diet since January 3rd. Started at 306 lbs and 45% BF, now down to 267 lbs and 35% BF!

[EdinburghLass]

That's amazing. What a great result. Did you just stick to less than 20g carbs every day? I have a lot to lose and need help!

Sent from Louisa's iPhone

[Knowledge]

Yup I pretty much stuck to 20 grams of carbs! There were a few days I went to 25 grams and a lot of days I was around 15 grams but overall average of 20. I also didn't count fiber as a carb so I used "net carbs"

Usually exercised 2-4 times a week but nothing intense, just 15 minutes cardio and 30 minutes strength training.

Also I did count calories but found I was never hungry enough to over eat. My calorie count was between 1200-2500 calories a day with an average of 1800 most days. Very few days did u go over 2000 but again I ate until full and usually a low carb diet makes you full on very little!

[EdinburghLass]

I'm vegetarian and wouldn't know where to start with low carb. Would it mainly be eggs and cheese and things like that?

Sent from Louisa's iPhone

[Knowledge]

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@EdinburghLass wrote:
I'm vegetarian and wouldn't know where to start with low carb. Would it mainly be eggs and cheese and things like that?

Sent from Louisa's iPhone

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Yes cheese and eggs! But you can also get more protein from Soy and Tofu and nuts. You can also eat lots of non-starchy vegetables. Also unsweetened soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, etc. You can even fry your tofu if you like or marinate it in soy sauce, etc. There are lots of great healthy vegetarian friendly recipes on the Atkins website.

You should check this out:

http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20

and

http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/compare-plans

and

http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20/phase-1/acceptable-foods-atkins-20-phase-1

and

http://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20/phase-2/acceptable-foods-atkins-20-phase-2

For low-carb really you can have lots of cheese (usually up to 3 oz a day) and a liberal amount of eggs (I eat 4-6 per day). I also have 1 or 2 oz of pistachios every day (these have 3-5 grams of net carbs so only eat them if you have the allowance for them). You can also have some berries but be careful as too many can get over the carb count so I try to avoid them as I get tempted too easily! You can have beans as well in moderation, but again watch the carb count.

Basically Phase 1 and Phase 2 of Atkins are the same, the only difference is Phase 1 is designed to jump start your weight loss so its really only for 2 weeks. After those 2 weeks you can add more foods from Phase 2, and at that point you can either increase your carbs to 50 grams a day or keep them at 20 grams with the additional food choices.

Personally I prefer to stay at the 20 grams because I lose a lot faster at this restriction, but you can lose a good amount staying under 50 grams a day if 20 is too restrictive for you, but it will be slower.

[Knowledge]

Also I posted this in another thread and thought it would be helfpul here! Don't freak out about the 1200-1800 calories a day because on Atkins you will be full on much much less than you're used to. Dr. Atkins used to not limit calories in his original books because he found patients lost weight without having to count calories (only carbs). However it helps me maintain focus.

The reason for this is because the satiety hormone (Leptin) has been shown in the last 5 years or so to be critically dependent on low Insulin levels for functioning. What was shown is that high Insulin levels can block Leptin from properly signalling the brain that you're full.

What causes high Insulin levels? Basically added sugars and refined carbs (white flour, white bread, white rice, white pasta, processed foods with corn syrup or added sugar, etc).

Ever since going on a low-carb diet I have been able to get full on very very low calorie amounts. I wasn't intentionally trying to starve myself but I ended up eating no more than 1200-1800 calories a day simply because I was full.

So if you try cutting out added sugars and refined carbs from your diet, you'll see your hunger pangs will vanish. It will take about a week for your Insulin levels and hence Insulin sensitivity to return to normal but it will happen! Not trying to recommend you "starve" yourself but rather shift your hormonal balance.

Our Western Diets have screwed up our bodies own hunger signals. Before doing this I would eat 3000-3500 calories per day and still feel hungry. Now if I eat more than 1500 calories in a day I feel like I'm going to burst. Amazing!

[EdinburghLass]

Thanks x I'm going to try to lower my carbs. Don't think I would last the Atkins diet though. I think I would find it really hard to do.

Sent from Louisa's iPhone

[Knowledge]

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@EdinburghLass wrote:
Thanks x I'm going to try to lower my carbs. Don't think I would last the Atkins diet though. I think I would find it really hard to do.

Sent from Louisa's iPhone

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If anything low-carb helps (doesn't have to be as extreme as Atkins). Studies have shown that you can lose lots of weight by limiting carbs to no more than 110-120 grams per day! That is very doable and would help a lot, especially if you cut out added sugars and refined carbs 🙂

[heartnurseva]

You have inspired me to try low carb eating again. It has worked for me in  the past. The first three days are hell, as your body gets used to withdrawing from the sugar. After the induction period( 2 weeks) the cravings are gone. I am at my highest wt ever and know that low carb  lifestyle has worked for me.  I eat mainly fresh green salads, cheese, meat and eggs, I allow two slices of whole wheat bread every few days after the induction. I also love fresh collards and kale, and have tried the low crab yogurts and shakes. Do not like the sugar free candy or annything made with sorbitol or malitol, these are sugar alcohols and will do your GI track a disservice.  To put it bluntly, diarrhea! 

[EdinburghLass]

I would like to start doing more low carb eating. I am addicted to bread/cake/chocolates/sweets/crispsand cannot stop binging and ruining all my hard work. Do you think low carb would help? I don't even know how to go about finding out how many carbs are in food. I'm vegetarian also so that makes it a bit complicated 😞

Sent from Louisa's iPhone

[carl669]

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@EdinburghLass wrote:
I would like to start doing more low carb eating. I am addicted to bread/cake/chocolates/sweets/crispsand cannot stop binging and ruining all my hard work. Do you think low carb would help? I don't even know how to go about finding out how many carbs are in food. I'm vegetarian also so that makes it a bit complicated 😞

Sent from Louisa's iPhone

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what do you mean?  you can just look at the nutritional labels and that should tell you how many grams of carbs there are per serving.  pay attention to the serving size!  

i know there are vegetarian low-carbers out there.  eggs, cheese and nuts are great protein sources.  there are a ton of vegetarian low carb recipes out there.  just google them.

as for your addiction to breads/sweets, i won't lie, it's going to be tough to break.  i loved sandwiches before i started low carbing.  seriously, LOVED.  if you put a quality meatball sandwich and a quality steak in front of me, i'd choose the sandwich.  but now, not so much.  for me, the first few weeks, i avoided all sweet things, even fruit.  this was to mentally break the cravings for anything sweet.  after a couple months, i added fruit back in.  mostly in the form of berries.

i posted in this thread a while back with more info (go down to the fifth post):

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Weight-Loss/Does-anyone-do-Atkins/m-p/636449/highlight/true#M16378

[Knowledge]

The hardest period of low-carb is the first week. After that it is skating downhill. The first week is tough because our insulin-desensitized bodies are craving sugar, and its a bit like breaking a smoking addiction for smokers by going cold-turkey.

But the weight that comes off the first week is so motivating you stick with it and then the cravings go away as our body readjusts its taste buds.

Also logging your food on fitbit helps as you can use their nutrition info to count carbs. I recommend logging food before you eat it so you get an idea of its carb content, and then you can delete that food from your log if you decide not to eat it because it has a lot of carbs. You can also google nutrition info, like "tomato nutrition" or something like that and google will give you the carb count.

[Swuzz]

I have been eating low carb (fewer than 100g, usually around 50g per day) for a few weeks now and I have to say that I don't notice a loss in my food enjoyment.  I'm a total carbie, breads, pizza, pasta, crackers, you name it.  But I really want to lose a few pounds and decided to eat "clean" and as a side effect that equated to fewer carbs.  So, aside from an occasional flatbread pizza on the Cheesecake Factory's "Skinnylicious" menu, I have stopped eating bread, pizza and pasta.  Do I miss grilled cheese and lasagna?   You bet, but not more than I want to lose the weight and feel better about myself!

Things I typically eat include:

• An EAS carb control shake
• one scrambled egg w/ one scrambled egg white with sauteed onions and spinach
• a HUGE kale mix salad with some grape tomatoes, lite feta cheese, maybe a carrot and some balsamic vinegar
• lobster (Wegman's has frozen lobster meat which is fantastic)
• sauteed chicken breast tenderloins
• natual almonds
• hard cheese
• whole wheat crackers (in moderation)
• fish (salmon, halibut)
• pork tenderloin
• alaskan king crab legs
• strawberries, apples, pears
• sweet potatoes
• garden lites spinach souffle or butternut squash souffle (usually I just eat half and save the rest)
• spaghetti squash with pasta sauce and turkey sausage meat balls

Basically what I am saying is that I am by no means feeling deprived of good and filling food, ha ha!  My typical daily calories come out to be between 1000-1500 per day depending on my activity level and whether or not I have to eat somewhere other than at home.

Something that works for me is logging the food before I eat it so see how it impacts my overall daily carb/calorie count.  If a food is too high in carbs I will look for something else that sounds yummy at the time.

I have been eating like this for a few weeks and went to visit a friend who I haven's seen in awhile.  The whole time I was visiting she kept commenting on how good I looked.  Radiant, I believe is the word she used.  I have to attribute that to the clean eating and cutting out almost all alcohol and beverages aside from water since I only recently began to incorporate a regular cardio pattern into my life.

I love most foods so going low carb for me was much easier than I had initially feared.  Think differently about your food and experiment with more types of food.  Eating can be fun while watching what you eat!

[EdinburghLass]

thanks, that's helpful. So for someone who's never done it before would you say under 100g is a good figure? or should I start at 150g?