I want my carbs!

I have to admit, I'm a carb lover. Not necessarily sweets, but I would not be able to stay on a plan that did not let me have my morning toast (dark rye bread is my fave) or oatmeal. I enjoy pasta and potatoes, although I use whole wheat pasta and sweet potatoes. I'm calorie counting/calorie shifting but my most difficult time of the day is late evening when the carb munchies attack. Lately I've been coping with sparkling water and Quaker Crispy Delights (90 cal for 20 g. pack)

Does anyone else have this problem and what satisfies you?

Absolutely. My favorite trick is quality over quantity. I get some light carb fixes though various low calorie bread (I've found some that is decent as low as 40 calories a slice) for the times I really want the texture but no a real carb fix.

Then I also make my own bread (I have a .5lb loaf that's 300 calories) and that's a big portion of my dinner calories when I have that so I offset other calories and I don't do this every day. I also bulk up or highlight pasta and potatos. For pasta I'll grill squash or zuchinni and toss it in with the pasta (juliened carrots also work well for this). For potatos I'll either have like a baked potato and make sure to really enjoy it or I'll do something like a salad with 1 or 2 baby red potatos boiled and sliced on top.

Carbs, love 'em! But so-called "white" carbs (pasta, potatoes, white bread, rice, sweets) are trigger foods for me and I do better to stay away from them, for the most part. The complex carbs doesn't seem to have the same effect, so I get my carbs pretty much like you do, through oatmeal, pumpkin/squash, nonfat dairy, and the occasional slice of whole wheat reduced calorie bread. I don't do pasta normally - I use tofu sherataki noodles as a substitute. For the evening carb-attack (I need my sweet fix), I either go for sugar free pudding (the Jello sugar free rice pudding is wonderful) or a 100 calorie kettle corn popcorn bag. That and lots of zero calorie liquids ...

I'll go for the other carbs as an occasional treat, but not as a regular, daily thing. If I avoid the white carbs, I get less of the carb cravings and find I stay on plan better.

Im also a carb lover! My husband has learned a great mashed potato re-do with non-fat milk instead of butter or cream, and veggies instead of salt. If he makes this, Ill have a 1/2 cup that evening. I also do 45 calorie bread, the Sarah Lee brand.

At night, Im a CEREAL addict! I usually have a bowl of Fiber One Honey Nut, a variety of Cheerios, or the occasional rice chex with fruit added in. YUM! Another night time snack choice for me is 100 calorie popcorn pack. I get SmartPop by Orville Redenbocker brand

Another carb lover here! Whether it be oats, sweet potatoes, whole grain bread, brown rice or my beloved Kashi GoLean cereal and waffles, I eat some at every meal. Though I'm a calorie counter, I follow a Mediterranean style diet (with a lot of my family's traditional Croatian food), so my carbs are typically rich in fiber and usually paired with some protein and fat... almonds in my oatmeal, olive oil on my bread, flax on my cereal, peanut butter on my waffles, etc. My advice would be to always combine the big three macronutrients (carbs, fat, protein), so add something to those Quaker squares to help tide you over

I just ate spaghetti for dinner! HA!

We eat whole grain pasta 2-3 times a week at least. Sandwiches are a staple around here as is cereal, oatmeal, brown and wild rice, and crackers. If we don't eat some carbs outside of vegggies and fruits we just don't feel satisfied. We almost always get the whole grain version since it's less likely to make one hungry later.

For us it's about eating real food, sensibly. Yes we do eat some 'diet food' but it has to be as good as the real thing or it's not getting invited back to dinner.

Thanks ladies. I see all those posts about low carb ways of eating and I know (from experience) that I cannot stick to them. Good to know I'm not the only carbaholic out there.