The General Diet & Emotional Support Thread

ciderwithrosie_2

Alexnikov wrote: »

Just curious here (don't want to get anyone's back up!) - to all the low carbers, do you see it as something long term and sustainable, or is it just a quickish fix until you're at target? I've peeked my head into the lc thread a few times and there seems to be a fair amount of falling off the wagon. Suppose this is common with most diets though!

Oh I don't know, I think there's just as much falling off of other diets going on.

Thing is with low-carb you have to do a lot of forward thinking as to what you're going to eat/cope when out and about. Can't just run into M&S and grab a sandwich/pasta pot/bag of crisps at lunchtime, or if you go out for a meal, everything comes with chips or a baked potato or in a baguette. When I cook for my family you can't always adapt what you're making to low-carb so more often than not I end up having to cook something separate for myself and sometimes you just can't be bothered.

The consumer market is geared up to everything low-fat and whilst a few years ago when I first started low-carbing there were a few items in the shops - filled lc wraps in M&S, sugar free Rolos etc, these things have died a death or increasingly hard to come by.

However, I do love low-carb food, I can't understand people that shudder at the thought of lovely tasty things like double cream, pork crackling and cheese, but then in return I've never been enamoured with yoghurt and I don't particularly like fruit (love my veg tho).

My in-laws are in their late 70s, they're always on a low-fat 'cut-down' as they call it - why?? they're not overweight but have other health problems. It's not going to prolong your life, you may as well enjoy what you eat. My MIL has problems with her nervous system, I used to try to tell her that eating some healthy fats and cutting back on the carbs would help but it fell on deaf ears, so I don't bother now.

rubytuesday

Keeping a Food Diary and lots of walking is working for me. I don't count calories or follow any diet but I am losing weight. I just try and eat healthly, have slightly smaller potions and don't feel guilty about the odd treat. Anyway good luck everyone!

sarahs999

Also, with low carb - and this is very dull and technical, so please skip this post if you're not deeply interested - it's not as simple as just falling off the wagon and then picking up the pieces the next day. With low carb you're aiming to be in ketosis, which is when the body burns your fat rather than glucose for its fuel. To do this you have to restrict carbs. But it takes a few days to get into ketosis, and if you then eat just a few too many carbs on one particular day you'll knock yourself out of it again, and then it'll take a few more days to get b ack in... with the net result that you could have six really good low carb days with a blip at day four where you ate a big doughnut in a moment of weakness, and actually you'll have nothing to show for it at the end of the week. Whereas in a normal low calorie diet the moment you restrict your calories again you're back on track. It's why you have to be properly committed to the LC way or it gets very frustrating. Which is what I found and why I have eneded up maintaining for three years and losing a pound here and there every now and again, rather than having a consistent loss. But at least i Know I can do it long term.

spugzbunny

Hello!

I'm going to do a bit of a post and run here as it's nearly home time for me! I'll favourite this tho for sure!

I have done WW a few times. lost 2 stone the first time an no w I have put 1 st 4lbs back I've tried to go back but i cant stick to it again - I last a couple of weeks and fall off! I've also done slim fast and just a healthy basic eating plan.

My latest (and I hope permanent!) solution is a book I've picked up called Eating Less - say goodbye to overeating by Gillian Riley. I thought it'd just be another load of tosh but actually it's really good! It's about recognising you have a compulsion to eat and that it's not because you are hungry or necessarily sad or stressed etc etc it's an addiction like smoking. The idea is to recognise your addiction and challenge yourself to break it without getting hung up on losing weight.

Currently I'm concentrating on one target a day like, eat more fruit, don't eat snacks after dinner, don't get on the scales.

I'm hoping this will be more of a long term fix rather than a method to lose weight you know?

Bitsy_Beans

aliasojo wrote: »

Sarah, when I was younger I was one of those who said 'no thanks, I don't like that', whether I'd tried it or not. If I didn't fancy it too much I just wouldn't try it. You could play tunes on my ribs I was so thin (size 8 at one point). I ate loads, huge portions and did little to burn it off. I had no clue how lucky I was.

I got older and more willing to try things and found there was really rather a lot that I liked.

I also think if you have a full and emotionally fulfilling life, then food takes a lesser role whereas if you are not as fulfilled as you maybe could be then food becomes more important. That's certainly the case for me unfortunately. Again, when I was younger I had lots of interests and things to occupy me, now it's just you lot. (Said lovingly of course. )

I would agree with this for me to a certain extent. Being with the kids all day I don't have much time for me to do something FOR me. They say read a book, take a bath, phone a friend - not things I can feasibly do whilst looking after and playing with kids. However eating whilst watching/playing with the kids is something quite achievable Couple that with really silly portion controls and I think I have found my problem.

elfen

Shadowsfall, could you have different snacks? Like some nice veggie sticks...nomnomnom
And I didn't know that what I was doing is basically a SW red day...apart from today, I fancy some chips (thick cut and oven cooked) so I will,and then I'll tumble back down the gym tomorrow - won't be eating much tomorrow - having an extraction and it takes a few days to settle down - can only eat on one side of my mouth....so bananas are my friends!

Also, I've always been a fat b*stard, I put weight on so easily (except when I was bulimic and I was 8 stone and look hideous) so I'm trying to do it properly, and lower carb seems to help me really well...still have a takeway but it's mainly meat with veggies (so an onion bhaji as a treat and tandoor chicken with no sauce, or duck in plum, or something with no carbs) I'm also helped in my low carb bid by being gluten and lactose intolerant!

foxy-roxy

The low carb approach for me is a short term fix at the moment, I am not overweight I just want to lose about 8 pounds for my hol at the end of July, I think once I have reached my goal I will go on to calorie control diet, but am secretly hoping I will be that used to low carb by then that it will become natural

First though I need to go bloomin shopping as my house is full of carbs:(

It's going to be a dear do this me thinks:eek:

~daisy~_2

roxy we saw peter kay last week - very funny you will enjoy it

*Vikki*

Great idea for a thread! Off to WW soon and a bit worried as I had a couple of meals out this week!

glowgirl_2

It's going to be a dear do this me thinks:eek:

You got that right hun;)cheap it aint:D