After losing weight and staying on my calorie counting plan for years, I stressed out and gained back about half of the weight I lost. After numerous failed restarts I decided I needed help and started with a physician that specializes in weight loss.

She put me on a diet that seemed drastic to me. She has me on 800 to 900 calories a day by eating a few ounces of protein, drink 2 protein shakes, and eat at least 3 cups of non-starchy vegetables. She says no dairy, fruit, or nuts. She wants my carbs in the 40 to 50 grams per day. It sounded impossible to me but I gave it a try. To my surprise, I have been able to stick to it for 7 weeks and have lost 20 pounds. My cravings for sweets are gone!

Suddenly, I started having problems sticking to the diet 3 or 4 days ago. I think that I may need to tweak the diet some. I need to make this something that I can live with for a long time, if not forever. Last night after eating most of my calories for the day, I really wanted something. It was a strange feeling for me. I could not really say that I was hungry nor was I having a craving. I guess my best explanation is that I was not satisfied.

I had consumed 770 calories and 44 grams of carbs. I thought that I wanted a protein bar. Last week I bought Nature Valley protein bars and I think they may have started my discontent. Anyway, I wanted to stay under 900 calories and a protein bar would have put me over. Searching for a solution, I scoured my kitchen reading labels. Let me tell you, there were not many low calorie, low carb items in that cabinet! I considered adding an apple which sounded really good to me. That would have kept me under the calorie limit but over the number of carbs that I wanted.

I ended up eating a tablespoon of peanut butter and it helped. That kept me under both the calorie and carb limit even though it was not on my Dr.’s list. I want to prepare for the next time I am feeling unsatisfied.

Any suggestions on what to add to my diet and keep it low carb?

Thanks everyone!

Thank you! I see that I will be spending some time browsing that site.

Sound like to me she has put you on her version of the ideal protein diet. Which yes, you will lose weight. Once you stop you will put all the weight back on and then some- trust me and many others who have done the diet, this is what happens and it’s even harder to take the weight off again. I think 900 calories is way too low! But again just my personal experience!

Hi,

Could you please post what you eat in a typical day? I would love to get my carbs in that range. Good job!
Thanks,
Sheridan

Thank you for the replies

I appreciate the thought. Actually, you are voicing concerns that I have. I know that if I go back to my old way of eating, I will put on weight rapidly. However, I had lost over 100 pounds calorie counting and gained half that back after I got away from that too. I have accepted that I have to permanently change the way I eat. I originally planned to do this plan for a short term to get rid of my sugar cravings. I don't have those cravings now. This may be the time to add more calories but keep my carbs under 50 grams. I am trying to find what will work for me long term so I am looking for suggestions on what to add to my diet.

This is a typical day's menu for me:
Breakfast - protein shake (DR provided)
Mid-morning snack - 2 servings of eggbeaters (I make at night and take to work)
Lunch - 3 ou chicken breast, green beans,
Afternoon snack - high protein pretzel twists provided by DR
Dinner - 3 ou chicken breast, steamed squash and onions, broccoli

Thank you everyone.

Maybe try adding more calories, but keep your carbs low.

800-900 calories is alright if you are medically supervised. I'd ask her how she will transition you once your reach your goal weight so you know if it will be a maintenance plan you can live with.

I agree. The calories are VERY low. I am not bashing..but it seems like a set up for failure. Just because you are medically supervised...does not mean the said person supervising was an A student! lol

I have to say, of allllll the Ways of Eating I have tried...Atkins is the most doable and satisfying. It is high fat, low carb...it makes such a difference to have the fat!

Of course we are all unique, but 800-900 calories...is a level that a person in their 80s or 90s would eat daily..just my opinion.

I am also doing low carb ... but no particular "plan." What I am doing sounds very similar to what you are doing, but I eat a little bit more protein than that. I don't weigh anything, so I am not sure how much. I used to eat a protein bar once a day, but I do not anymore. I also used to drink a shake for breakfast --- and sometimes I still do if I'm in a hurry and I have nothing else handy. But lately I have made a change to that too.

It sounds to me like you don't necessarily need to find different "food" -- but maybe just a different way to prepare your foods (which might call for the addition of some low carb, low calorie ingredients that you don't have). JerseyGyrl is right. You have to find a way to stick with a particular diet plan. For me, what has kept me able to stick with it is making my meals interesting, using low calorie, low carb -- but very flavorful ingredients. The website that JerseyGyrl suggested is a good one. But they are a LOT of recipes online if you look around.

One way I make my meals more flavorful is that I use a lot of non-traditional spices in my cooking to give them an international flavor (Indian, Mexican, etc.) I use a lot of cumin, turmeric, coriander, garam masla, ginger, curry. For a long time I routinely made a plain, grilled chicken with the same boring spices on it (garlic powder, salt, pepper, etc.). Now, I make a chicken tikka masala (Indian), salsa verde chicken (Mexican); lemon and oregano chicken (Greek). I've also done the same with pork, lamb and beef when I make those dishes.

Veggies also do not have to be boring. Don't get me wrong, I eat a LOT of grilled veggies. They are a staple of my diet. But I do also eat veggies in non-traditional ways that really help sticking to a low-carb diet. For example, when I make my chicken tikka masala or my salsa verde chicken, I make it with mock "rice" that is made from grating cauliflower. I never used to eat cauliflower... because just steamed, it is boring. But when you take some time to prepare it will and add some spices and other ingredients to it, you can make it quite tasty. In the dishes I mentioned above, the cauliflower makes a VERY tasty substitute for the rice that would normally be incorporated into those dishes. Another veggie low carb substitute I use is spaghetti squash. When I'm in the mood for pasta, I make spaghetti squash instead. I do it scampi style with shrimp. It tastes so good that I don't miss pasta at all.

There are also other substitutes that you can use that will also cut calories and fat, not just carbs. (You see a lot of low carb recipes that contain very heavy, fat-laden ingredients that are high calorie -- such as heavy cream, full fat cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, etc.). I try to use such substitutes when I can. For example, I find that Fage 0% Greek Yogurt is a really good substitute for sour cream, with no fat and much lower calories. Friendship 1% whipped cottage cheese is a good substitute for ricotta cheese -- and possibly cream cheese in certain recipes.

Another thing I like (but don't use very often) are Joseph's wraps and pita bread. This one in particular: http://www.josephsbakery.com/p-10222...-Square-Lavash

I see that you have egg beaters as a mid-morning snack. I have been eating those lately too. The other day I stumbled upon this recipe at skinnytaste.com http://skinnytaste.ziplist.com/sousc...omelets-2.html

They came out AMAZING! And the best part is that one batch is enough for my wife and I to have for breakfast Sunday --- and the entire work week. I just pop a couple of them in the microwave for a minute and breakfast is ready!

I made a modification to the recipe to make them lower fat and calorie by using the Eggbeaters Florentine rather than the regular eggs. Also, on a second batch I mixed in friendship 1% ricotta cheese rather than the fat reduced cheese. These two modifications brought the calorie count to about 60 each (120 per serving of two). However, I have to say that the ones made with the fat reduced shredded cheese did taste better.