hey all hows it going??

got a question for you? ow o you cope with carbs in your own diet?
i have personally been back on my diet for 7 days and considering going on to atkins/southbeach. But im not sure the long term weight loss is really there. i have managed to loose 93lbs by calorie counting and working out, but i have also been at a plateau for about a year (main reason i keep stopping/restarting my weightloss.)

so i thought...ok carbs, that must be it!
i do have alot of carbs in my calorie control diet, mainly beause im a poor student.
the main thing i have realised is how many carbs are in vegetables.

i used to have typical:

bfast: cereal skimmed milk
lunch: soup with 2 slices of healthy bread (carby carby!!!)
snack: cereal bar and fruit (carbs)
dinner: chicken, pasta and loads of salad and veg (carbs galore!)
desert: fruit maybe with a scoop of low fat ice cream if im good. (carbs)

this week im trying to replace more meat with some of my carbs andhave cut out some pasta and bread from my diet, but if icant replace it with veg, then i do feel more hungry.

how do you balance your carbs v calories?

what do you think i should try to help the plateau? (and yes i do exercise regularly)

thanks guys x

I tend to lean a lot towards carbs (fruits, veggies mainly), but I keep them in check by giving myself a minimum protein level to hit (30%). I'm not at the point where I'm working on the last few pounds (as you are - congrats) so can't really offer much help in that regards.

However, changing to a low-carb plan will have you drop some weight in the form of glycogen stores, but if you don't plan to keep a low-carb lifestyle you will eventually put it back on. ie. if I do a maintenance week I can go up as much as 5-8 pounds - when I go back to my usual higher protein diet I can drop those pounds in 2 days.

I watch my carb intake to a certain extent. I follow a high protein/moderate carb/low diet. I tend to get at least 100 grams of protein per day, not more than 175 grams of carbs, and at least 25 of those are fiber, and not more than 30 grams of fat. Not sure if it's doing much for me in the weight loss department, but I do feel fuller longer and I am getting more muscles since then. I have kinda-sorta abs now.

I would definitely cut back the carbs a hair with your eating. I'd keep the fruits and veggies and maybe 1-2 servings of high fiber carbs from bread or something per day. I'd definitely take out the pasta and the cereal bar for the time being. I shoot for my carbs to be around 45%. But again, I try to get most of those from fruits and veggies.

thanks amy, i have been trying that this week (less carbs for dinner and lunch) but i am on very low budget but here is what i had yesterday

brekfast- toast (wholemeal 2 slies bad!)
lunch - 1 slice of bread, 2 eggs and 2 slices of ham on lettice.
dinner- (50g wholmeal pasta bad!) 2 low fat sausages, veg of all shapes and sizes.
desert- jelly and one scoop of ice cream (not great) total kals - 1300

i just dont know what to replace my carbs with...

To me carbs are just calories, like any other. The only calories I control are those that come from fats as it makes sense to me as a gram of fat is more than twice as calorie dense as a gram of carb or protein. However having said that much less of my carbs come from bread than yours and much more from fruit and veg. I also have more dairy in my diet than what I can see in yours.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with bread, just maybe have it at either breakfast or lunch not both. And for me having a small serving of pasta/rice/other grains/potatoes in my dinner is what I do nearly every day.

Kitty

I follow a pretty low carb diet typically, because I find it helps to curb sugar cravings. I usually get my carbs from oatmeal, fiber one cereal, fruits and vegetables like pumpkin or butternut squash. I do have whole grain (40 calorie/slice) bread a couple of time a week, but only very rarely eat something like rice,potatoes, or pasta. I don't have anything against breads and white carbs necessarily, it's just that they are trigger foods for me, and it's easier to avoid them than to try to have just a little.

I eat a lot of low carb veggies, and lean proteins and nonfat dairy like yogurt. I definitely eat more protein than you're getting, things like lean turkey, chicken, fish, and protein whey powder. I never have a meal with carbs only, that will just trigger cravings for me, I add protein in some form (like, adding 1/2 scoop protein powder to my morning oatmeal) I like the low-carb flaxseed meal muffins too. For treats I'll have something like sugar free pudding or jello.

I hope that gives you some ideas!

i have had success with the 40/40/ 20 plan where 40% of your calories come from carbs, 40% of your calories come from protein and 20% of your calories come from fat. Fitday makes this really easy to count

thanks for all the advice, i have been trying to get more proten, its only due to my budget (student) that i cant deliberatly get more in. and bread is 49p and ham roll is £1.20 and bread lasts longer, u know wat its like shopping on a budget.
anyway i have been trying to have no carbs at lunch, and only small amount with dinner. But im still confussed how to have brekfast, the thought of meat in the morning makes me wanna be sick.
anyone got any siggestions for that... (and im having eggs for lunch so dont reallly wanna eat them for bfast too).

thanks so much for all the advice though :-)
and just for extra here is what i had today...

bfast: cornflakes (small bowl)
lunch: eggs, ham and lettice and cucumber
snack: feta and cucumber
dinner: chilli with 2 slices of bread (the carbs were better in wholemean bread then rice so i opted for that) and carrots
desert: jelly (again) and 1 scoop of ice cream. only 1100 cals, but its so high on carbs....ARRRGHHHH!!!!!

For breakfast protein, I will either have eggbeaters (essentially, egg whites) or protein powder. I can buy a huge container of whey protein powder at the discount store and it lasts me a long time. You can mix it into skim milk, water, or oatmeal or whatever.

To save money, I do a lot of bulk cooking in my slow cooker. I'll buy a large turkey breast when it's on sale, cook it on a weekend, then slice it up and weigh it out into 3 ounce portions and freeze them for later. You can grab one to throw into a cup of soup, or a salad, or make a sandwich. I do the same with chicken breasts. You could also bake or broil the meat. It takes a little prep time, but then it's all ready to go from there and very handy. That would make it easier to have the egg whites for breakfast, and something else for lunch.

Nonfat dairy has some protein too, so you could add nonfat yogurt or
milk in there somewhere. There are a variety of soy products that have a good amount of protein, but they may be more expensive to buy. And don't forget canned tuna -- I buy the 3 oz cans or packets and take it for my lunch frequently. Again, sometimes you can find that on sale to cut costs.

Yogurt is a good idea (one of my breakfast staples) as is oatmeal with added protein and fiber (like the weight control from Quaker).

How do you feel about cottage cheese? Some people can't get around the texture or taste (my husband) but it has an awesome amount of protein and minimal carbs. (1/2 cup has 1g fat, 4g carbs, and 14g protein). Throw in some strawberries and it makes a great breakfast.

What about beans or lentils as a cheap, easy protein source? If you buy them dried rather than tinned, they are super cheap.

I think definitely oatmeal for breakfast, much better, and far more filling than commercial cereals, also - a lot cheaper. And then have some hight water content fruit as well

If you want to bulk up meals, but don't know what to replace the carbs with, i would suggest that some of the problem is a mindset thing, ie we always think we need to have bread with soup when we don't or rice with vegetables, when we don't.

At dinner time, if you are having trouble with hunger, why don't you just double up on the veggies, but stick to the green veg with less carb content, Brocolli, all types of salad leaves, spinach etc, green peppers, courgettes, that type of thing.
I find if you make 2 seperate vegetable dishes, or a vegetable dish, and a salad, with protein, you don't miss the rice/potatoes/pasta quite as much.

I am such an oddball.

I'm eating an average of 70% carbs, 15% fat, 15% protein. I aim for 1800 calories a day (usually end up higher) since I still have a considerable amount of weight left to lose. I get around 40g of fiber and 70g of protein a day. All this on a vegetarian diet and I've lost 23 pounds this year with minimal exercise.

zinkemomx2 - a couple of years back I did pretty much a low-fat vegetarian diet. It works well, and you can eat a fair bit of bulk for fewer calories. I learned the hard way (illness) that it couldn't sustain me when I added in a lot of exercise, at work, and lots of cardio. I also missed meat, quite a bit.

One suggestion though, try getting a little more fat in your diet. I know it will be different for everyone, but I noticed thinning hair while doing low fat - and I've heard the same from other people. Usually it's suggested that your intake of fat be 20-30% of your daily intake. Okay, I looked back and I have one day where I hit 18%, but generally I hit around 25%. And my hair is back to being thick and glossy (even though I'm still losing weight).