Low carb experiment
 

I've been having trouble staying within my 21 daily points. I want to save my flex points for restaurant measl/going out. But I am always so hungry!

So yesterday, I thought I would try an experiment. For breakfast I had my coffee with coffemate (1pt), everything bagel thin (1 pt) with 1 hard-boiled sliced egg on top (2pts). This was a 3pt breakfast instead of my usual Quaker Oat Squares and ff milk (5pts). I didn't start thinking about lunch until 1/2 hour my usual time. Good sign?

For lunch I had 3 oz of jerked-grilled chicken (3pts), and celery sticks with hummus (4pts). It was so filling I never got around to wanting to eat the apple I had brought. Forgot about it actually!

So after I closed the store, I decided to go shopping to have something to do (my partner works Friday nights and I didn't want to go home and eat in front of the tv). I wandered for several hours, and even while checking out the new Target grocery area, I wasn't led to buying a lot of junk (just some frozen wild salmon and some Kashi bars).

I finally got home at 10:30, and knew that I was still 10pts short of my day, so I had better eat something. Since this low-carb thing seemed to be working, I ended up eating a left-over grilled pork-chop (6pts) and treating myself to a lite beer (Labatt's lite with lime 2pts).

For the first time in months, I had 2pts left over! And I didn't eat a cookie! :carrot:

I have PCOS and have been told I am probably insulin resistant, but I never really tried to do low-carb. Now maybe I have seen the light. I know I have to incorporate more veges and fruits, but still it seems promising.

So today, I have been checking out the low-carb boards. Anyone combine WW and low carb? Any advice/insight?

I do. I don't eat a lot of fruit, but I do eat a lot of veggies, and I add a small amount of beans/lentils/sweet potatoes to breakfast and lunch to fill me with fiber. I find that I actually forget about eating sometimes and only eat three meals a day with the largest meal being breakfast. Although I'm a maintainer, I find this helps for those times when I've indulged and need to get back on track.

I do encourage you to eat more veggies. Because of gluten-intolerance, I've cut out bread entirely with no problems. If you wanted to reduce the carbs further, instead of the bagel thin, you could make scrambled eggs with 1 whole egg and 3 whites plus add a bunch of veggies. Then if fruit's not an issue for you, add some fruit for 0 points. Very satisfying, IMHO.

Good luck! My DD has PCOS, is about 80 lbs. overweight and is probably gluten-intolerant. She's working hard at reducing the carbs and gluten and finds she has more energy and less digestive issues.

I'm also insulin resistant, but very low-carb (like Atkins Induction) always made me very ill - and it didn't get better or go away after two weeks as Atkins promises, instead it would just get worse to the point that I would actually pass out (so I was convinced that low-carb was not only unhealthy but possibly dangerous).

Then about seven years ago, my doctor recommended low-carb for my insulin resistance but warned not to reduce carbs too low (but admitted he didn't know what was too-low).

As a result I started (skeptically) experimenting, and discovered my best carb level - low, but not too low (I use an exchange plan with a carb level of about 100 to 125 grams of carbs).

Too low and I get sick. Too high carb and I feel constantly starved.

I have been doing WW (Points Plus) with low carb for awhile. I started out doing about 40 net carbs a day and gradually upped it. And, yes, I found that it was way easier to eat less calories/points while eating lower carb. Right now I eat between 75 and 100 net carbs a day. Basically I usually don't eat grains more than once a day and almost always eat whole grains when I do. I generally avoid potatoes almost entirely. This really all helps a lot when I eat out. I went out to Panera's the other day and had a 1/2 soup and 1/2 salad. I considered a 1/2 sandwich but the bread adds a full 150 calories! It just wasn't worth it.