thinking about uping my carbs

  • hey all - well i feeling sick today - was vomiting most of the evening (hopefully not tmi) and am having really bad leg spasms so i ate a banana and have a gatorade becasue i am really dehydrated. i likely wont be eating much for the rest of the day.
    and if i do eat i may have a piece of toast since its pretty easy on my stomach. all this means i will be over my 20g of carbs.
    i decided that i am going to try and add in 1 piece of fruit or 1/2 a piece of bread daily - hopefully i will still lose by avoiding garbage carbs and sugars but i am getting bored by not being able to even eat an apple or some strawberries once in a while.
    i still a going to try and eat as lc as possible though. and by wokring out daily hopefully it wont make too much of a difference and i will continue to lose.
    just thought i would share....
    how many carbs do you stick to to remain in ketosis?
  • Chickadee, for me it all depends on how much exercise I'm getting. If I'm going to the gym at least half the days, I can get away with 30 and stay in moderate ketosis. If I'm not getting that much exercise, I have to stay at 20. If you up your carbs and don't lose, drop them again. If you find your cravings come back and/or you can't stay OP, you may have added something that's a trigger food for you. I find for me, it's best if I experiment cautiously with ONE new food at a time. Not a food group, like fruit, but just one food, like strawberries. That way I find out if it's OK, or it makes me want more carbs, and I don't have to spend a lot of tiime figuring out which one(s) of 4 or 5 foods it might be. Good luck, and remember this is all about learning what works for each of us and what doesn't by experimenting with it, it's not about diet dogma.
  • I'm not sure if you guys count the total carbs or the net carbs (minus the fiber), but strawberries are definitely a must on my low-carb dieting! The amount of carbs they have isn't bad at all, in fact most berries aren't too bad:

    http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/low.../a/berries.htm

    http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art583.asp

    Hope that helps! Enjoy some berries! So long as you can control how many you eat (as is the problem for me with all foods, and why I'm overweight in the first place ) then they're really great as a little dessert to curb that sweet tooth.

    Some strawberries dipped in cool whip... mmmmm!
  • Quote: Some strawberries dipped in cool whip... mmmmm!
    Cool Whip is a no-no on Atkins...its loaded with high frutose corn syrup, as well as hydrogenated vegetable oil! Heavy whipping cream with a bit of Splenda works well.
  • I use the whipping cream that is in the bottle just like the other whipped cream spray bottles ya know. It has it says zero or less than one carb for 2 T and i'm just carefull about how much i use. For a treat I put sugar free zero carb jello with one fairly large strawberry cut up with just a tad of the whipping cream on top. It is so good and filling!
    As for adding in different food I also agree that one at a time but be best that way you can really tell what is working.
  • As for adding carbs...this would be the OWL (Ongoing Weight Loss) phase of Atkins and should be done according to the carb ladder, each being added gradually in 5 carb increments as follows:

    Vegetables
    More salad and other vegetables on the acceptable foods list

    Dairy
    Fresh cheeses:
    Cottage cheese
    Farmer's cheese
    Ricotta cheese
    Pot cheese

    Keep portions small for
    Hard aged cheese
    Cream, heavy and light
    Half and half
    Sour cream
    Low-carb ice cream, yogurt, and milk

    Seeds and Nuts
    Macadamias
    Almonds
    Peanuts/Natural Peanut Butter
    Coconut
    Sunflower seeds
    Sesame seeds
    Walnuts
    Pistachios

    Berries
    Eat frequently from:
    Strawberries
    Blueberries
    Blackberries
    Raspberries

    Eat moderately from higher AGR (Atkins Glycemic Ranking)melons:
    Watermelon
    Honeydew
    Cantaloupe

    Wine and other spirits low in carbs
    Spirits
    White Wine
    Red Wine
    Low-carbohydrate Beer

    Legumes
    Lentils
    Kidney Beans
    Pinto Beans
    Black Beans
    Hummus
    Chickpeas
    Tofu
    Soybeans
    Soy milk, unsweetened

    Fruits other than Berries and Melons
    Plums
    Kiwis
    Peaches
    Apples
    Grapefruit
    Tangerines

    Starchy Vegetables
    Keep all portions small
    Carrots
    Green Peas
    Acorn squash
    Butternut squash

    Eat rarely:
    Corn
    Potatoes
    Sweet potatoes

    Whole Grains
    Keep all portions small and focus on whole, unprocessed grains:
    Old fashioned Oatmeal (Steel cut oats
    Oat Bran
    Wheat Bran
    Low-carb (soy) bread and muffins
    All-bran
    Barley, cooked



  • I had a bug a couple of weeks ago - had to go the tea and toast rte myself---felt really weak afterwards. Hope you're over it by now!

    I don't think LC is a "diet" for me this time . . . I'm thinking its just a total way of life that I feel great on and know that it is healthy in this processed food/junk carb society. Fruit/berries may be the answer for ya and it may not. I just keep exploring all the great recipes for lc substitutes at this point - I made enough LC Egg Bread last nite to get me thru the vacay - (I hope) - wasn't that hard to make and was delish with real butter & some parmesan sprinkled. I'm taking roast beef "sandwiches" with me to the Polls - lettuce - thin tomatoes - mayo & a dill pickle. My point is - mix it up & you won't be bored, ya know?

    Good Luck with the tweaking, chick!