[kassi14]

What I am doing just is not working. I think a low carb diet will work best for me. Has anyone had any experience with this? All I do is sit around most of the time because of school and homework. I try to run at least 4 or 5 times a week. I can tell that I've gained a couple pounds just from the way my jeans felt today. It was an awful feeling because it seems like I'm going no where with this. What do low carb diets consist of and how do you get enough calories during the day?

[mandypandy2246]

I am on the first diet that ever worked well for me. Calorie counting never worked for me. I sort of do a variation on the Primal Blueprint which is low carb while trying to lose weight (you can build some more carbs in while maintaining). But basically I eat wholesome foods - protein at every meal with lots of veggies. And the only carbs I eat are fruit in moderation and sweet potatoes in moderation. Google primal blueprint to see if it interests you. This may not be what you are getting at but I know it works for alot of people. I think the biggest adjustment for me was upping my protein and not being scared of healthy fats - and eating adequate fats/proteins seems to work for me. When I stray from that is when I have a binge.

[Arctic Mama]

I'm a low carber and it is excellent for me. I didn't start out that way, but rather tweaked my way to it when other methods stopped working or weren't feasible anymore. Turns out the composition of my foods matters at least as much as the calories

I'm an Atkins 2002 girl now, and plan on being so for life.

[wannaskipandlaugh]

I too, follow Atkins with alittle tweak (I do not like veggies very much) so I eat just 1-2 cups of lettuce a day (salad). You should eat 6 cups of veggies, but I suppliment the missing fiber but taking fiber tablets. I love meat and cooking it with different spices (Mrs Dash low salt stuff is even better for you), seafood, Taco meat salad, eggs (cheap too now that I am on unemployment), smoked, grilled, frying pan fried steak/chicken/turkey. There is so much. Just have to watch the seasoning packets if you use those for the carbs. This way of eating just makes my mind sharper (got rid of the BRAIN FOG from sugar) and I feel fuller alot longer (and sometimes forget to eat which is a NO NO). Try it and write down how you feel after a week or so and see if your whole body and mind feel better.

Glad you have started!

[JerseyGyrl]

I will soon be celebrating 9 years on Atkins. My suggestion to you if you are seriously considering low carb is to research the many low carb plans that are out there. This will help you to understand exactly how & why the plan works and how to do it correctly.
All the best to you!!

[ohmanda]

Yep, works for me too! Calorie counting did not and I was always hungry. I find it's difficult at first, but if I keep with low carb, I have more energy, my skin is better, I don't have mood swings that I get when I eat carb-y things, and I just generally feel better. Also, doing research on it, I think it's the best long-term plan, at least for me, as diabetes is prevalent both sides of my family. I'm doing it now so I don't need to worry about that when I'm older.
I would also recommend reading the Atkins book, or you can get a lot of info online. I've been looking into primal and paleo, but I enjoy dairy too much and do not feel like I have a problem with it and can't afford to eat all organic and can't find a lot of the stuff.
On a typical day I may have something like bacon and eggs cooked in butter for breakfast with coffee with some heavy cream and coconut oil in it. For lunch today I had some ground beef with onion and garam masala (spices.) As a snack, I stuffed some mushrooms with cream cheese and sprinkled it with garlic powder. Sometimes, I will spread some cream cheese on ham or roast beef and roll it up (very filling.) For supper tonight I'm cooking a Cornish game hen with some butter and lemon. You can add salads, just leave off the croutons and any type of sugary fruit. I make stir-fries sometimes. There really are lots of choices, just stay away from sugar, grains, most fruits, stuff like that and watch for added sugar!

[ohmanda]

The more healthy fats I eat, (butter, olive oil, avocado, coconut oil, etc.) the more weight I seem to lose!

[MarkMoxom]

Hi kassi14,

After over a decade of being a low carber I guess I should agree that it works for me as well.

The real secret is to find one of the low carb diets that you like and simply stick with it following it step by step.

If you do simply that you won't go wrong.

Hope that helps,

Mark

[vabs]

I count calories AND eat low carb. My diet is pretty much low starch vegetables, proteins like meat, tofu, or eggs, and some dairy products.

Sometimes I also eat pre-made low carb/high fiber tortillas, or make bready things on my own using stuff like almond flour and milled flax seeds.

I eat 1200 - 1500 calories a day, and have 20g to 30g of net carbs (that's grams of carbohydrates minus grams of fiber, which are indigestible).

Monitoring my calories ensures I lose weight, and eating low carb reduces my overall appetite to a manageable level. I don't follow any set diet anymore, although I learned a lot of great recipes and meal ideas from doing Atkins.

[chubbiegurl]

I calorie count and watch carbs too. I cut out my usual entre of Mexican rice, re fryed beans, pastas and breads. I don't want to be in ketosis so I eat roughly 100 carbs a day. Choosing side dishes is a challenge now but we eat a lot of black, pinto and Perubian beans, quinoa and veggies now. I thought it would be impossible to quit eating those foods but since I allow a cheat day, lately two I manage just fine. I don't follow any plan and always made chicken breast like I do now so watching my portions and cutting those carbs with cardio added in helped me drop 29 lbs in 3 months. Of course I also cut out all the baking and poor choices of snacks.

[synger]

Originally Posted by vabs

I count calories AND eat low carb. My diet is pretty much low starch vegetables, proteins like meat, tofu, or eggs, and some dairy products.

...

I eat 1200 - 1500 calories a day, and have 20g to 30g of net carbs (that's grams of carbohydrates minus grams of fiber, which are indigestible).

Monitoring my calories ensures I lose weight, and eating low carb reduces my overall appetite to a manageable level. I don't follow any set diet anymore, although I learned a lot of great recipes and meal ideas from doing Atkins.

This! (bolding mine for emphasis)

After trying all sorts of low-carb variations, and all sorts of calorie counting variations, and anything else you can name, I found that golden juxtaposition between calories and carbs that lets me slowly but steadily lose weight without being ravenous and ending up binging. It's pretty much the same as yours. 1200-1500 calories, aiming for fewer than 50 carbs (usually closer to 20).

[Palestrina]

I've always known that carbs are the key to gaining or losing weight. Carbs in every form seem to foster addiction (sugar, pasta, desserts, etc). I've tried Atkins and no-carb diets many times only to fail. It's just not possible for me to stop eating carbs dead on! So I had to develop a strategy for coming off carbs, this is really working for me so I hope it offers some hope! These are the rules I live by.

1. First, I cut out all sugar. No cookies, no ice cream. This is very hard to do if you crave sweets but after a while you don't crave sweets anymore. Sugar is the most addictive substance on earth.

2. Cut down dramatically on wheat. Opt for small portions of rice, corn or potatoes. But limit bread, pasta, cereals, etc. It is much easier to do this than to cut out all carbs at once. Once your body gets used to living without wheat you can then start to tackle those other carbs. Wheat is the most toxic of the carbs, at least potatoes are still a vegetable!

3. Make it a rule to eat raw foods every day. I eat a big salad for lunch every day. I get creative with it, use interesting greens, add a half cup of peas, some avocado, cukes and bell peppers for crunch, a handful of black beans for protein or hard boiled egg or grilled chicken or tuna, sprinkle with some sunflower seeds. The good thing about this is that it takes forever to eat it, it's not easy to scarf down a salad, it gives your body plenty of time to receive the fullness signal.

4. Write down a list of approved snacks and put it on your refrigerator. Mine is a handful of nuts, fruit, yogurt, cheese, hardboiled egg, hummus with raw veggies, a brown rice cake, or sopressata.

Anyway, the most important part is cutting way down on wheat. When I cut way back on wheat it helped me reign in control of other carbs much more easily.