Lowering my carbs

[Jetta]

My brother and his wife are on it and we vacationed with them over the weekend and now we're giving it a try. It's only been a day but I'm less hungry and happy to be able to eat. I have a lot to lose so I put my carbs around 50 a day. My brother is eating 100 and is down a pants size. His wife is at 70 (she may need to lose 10-15 lbs.).

 

I think it's going well, but I'll know more tomorrow after I check my weight. My mom checked her glucose level and it's so much lower it's in the normal range (almost)! She hadn't seen numbers that low in years! I'm going to check mine because she thinks I'm showing signs of diabetes.

 

Well I finally found a diet that's reasonable. It's not super easy but it's one of the easiest ones I've been on lately. It's not as strict as Atkins but it's doable for us and moderately challenging because we are carb lovers in this house.

[vivia12]

Theres lots of low carb diets which one is this?

[Jetta]

Not sure really. We just picked a number of carbs to stay around and have been eating a lot more protein and veggies. We also eat Sugar Free Jello and are allowed Diet Sodas if we crave something sweet. Our other trick is berries and cream, with a little splenda. We aren't watching fat content, we're watching sugar and carb content. My mom says to determine the carb content you subtract the fiber from the number of carbs listed on the package and that is what your body recognizes as carbs.

[Jetta]

Well I checked my blood sugar and I'm pre-diabetic according to what I'm reading, which is exactly what my doctor has told me. I've got about 10 years before it hits, unless the changes I make now create future changes. It was 124 an hour after eating, and below 140 is good according to doctors but this article I read said below 120 is really normal an hour after eating. Hopefully I get some weight off and can alter the course of my and my doctors future predictions. Man I'm going against some tough genes here.

[vivia12]

good for you! I need to do the less carb and sugar intake,and you said add more veggies and protein?

I live in Hawaii and we all love rice with our meals or some pasta,so how rice or carbs much can one have with a meal?

[wildchild1]

If I may say, 50 grams is not very much carbs. While you are felling more full and adding more veggies and that is good, the down side is that you are eating more meat, which is higher in saturated fats. For the long run this won't be good for your health, and low carb diets are hard to sustain. Not to mention when you start eating them more again, you will simply gain weight back. While it may not hurt to lower your carbs if they are high in your diet, the best option is to get your carbs from cleaner sources like vegetables or whole grain, better yet is sprouted grain products. The USDA's new food plate is a much more common sense approach to eating healthy (link removed), though I disagree with the drinking of cow milk as beneficial to humans.

 

And you are correct about subtracting the fiber from the total amount of carbs.

[Jetta]

You can still eat carbs but try whole grain rice and check the level on the package per serving. I'm not sure about pasta, that's something I'm limiting right now. They have gluten free but that's 19 carbs a serving still which is fine if the rest of your meal is veggies and protein. Depending on how much you need to lose, keeping it around 20-25 grams of carbs a meal is good. At 50 my mom who needs to lose about 40 lbs. is taking off 1 1/2 pounds a day. I know that's fast but we like results.

 

We are aware of saturated fat but we're tackling one problem at a time basically. This is much healthier than we were eating I will say that.

 

I'm really liking it, by the end of August I should be close to my goal weight of 145 lbs. Then I'll up my carbs to 70 and see if I maintain or if I still lose then I'll up it even more. I feel in control of my weight again and I haven't since I started these meds that have caused a substantial amount of weight gain. My mom said she'd watch to make sure I don't get too thin, but I think my goal is reasonable, though I do really think I should weigh 125 lbs. I am 5'4.5". But I have birthed two children so I'm cutting myself some slack.

[wildchild1]

Well I certainly don't want to talk you out of losing weight, but scales are not an all inclusive indicator of health. It sounds as you picked an arbitrary number to eat a day and ran with it. While results may be more immediate then other ways, the whole concept is built on something unsustainable. Especially since you say you are aware that eating more meat will increase you cholesterol and a whole host of other problems that it is potentially linked to many diseases (link removed). You are in essence trading one evil for another. Most of us don't gain weight rapidly, but rather over a period of time the cumulative effects add up. The process of losing it naturally works much the same way, many diets are out there that guarantee quick results, but few of them deliver long term. I'm defining long term as 12 or more months. If there was any easy way to lose weight, the industry wouldn't make so much money off of people with fad diets, whether it is Atkins or something similar.

 

If you would still like Pasta, portion control is still key, but check out link removed. They offer much healthier versions of food that people eat, and it is not processed. That said, I hope this all works out for you in the end.

[Jetta]

Protein comes in other sources besides meat (just an FYI). And I'm down around 7 lbs. so far!!! This diet is awesome, we picked the number based on what my brother and his wife started at, they thought they were losing weight too fast and upped their carb intake. If I up it I gain weight so that's really what my body needs right now to drop weight. This diet is relatively easy to follow and it's working! I'm eating, I'm satisfied, and you always have to give up something to lose weight, so far I'm able to handle what I've had to give up.

[DWNWRDSPRL]

Good for you!!!

 

About two years ago, I was in the doctor's office and he told me that I had four out of the five factors for metabolic syndrome. I half listened to him....until he said "Diabetes".

 

Wait? What? Diabetes?

 

I woke up...fast. He told me to try a low carb diet.

 

Flash forward to last Tuesday as I am sitting in his office once more for bloodwork and a checkup. Now, my triglycerides have plummeted from over 600 to 160, my cholesterol is great, and my BP is way way down. My resting pulse is 60.

 

I have lost almost 30 pounds, went down from a tight 40 inch waistband to a loose 36/snug 34. People rave about how much weight I have lost, I feel tons better, and life is great.

 

I try to eat less than 100 grams a day and cheat once a week. I eat a lot of lean meat, veggies, salads, chicken, eggs, fruit, nuts, semi sweet chocolate........

 

Bread, rice, and potatoes is what my dr. told me to stay away from. I also stay away from most sweets like colas and such. I really miss a beer from time to time but they have low carb varieties.

 

No other lifestyle change has ever worked for me. Diets, working out, etc. The carbohydrates were killing me.

 

Good luck to you and your family. I have found that with a once a week cheating session, it is a very easy lifestyle to maintain.

[Jetta]

Wow DWNWRDSPRL you're numbers were scary high and now they're fabulous! My tris are slightly high so I do need to keep my eye on it but they told me to cut down on carbs as well and I was like what do I eat then?! I've now just figured it out. Nuts and pickles work for salt or crunch craving. My new fav is peanut butter on celery 2.5 carbs per Tbsp. of peanut butter.

 

I still watch portion sizes and have cut out the potato, pasta, and now eat diet bread. I'm so excited to be in control of my weight again, I can't even tell you. I'm on meds that cause weight gain and to actually be able to lose weight and take my meds is like a miracle to me. I do exercise some but my real focus is on what I eat.

[DWNWRDSPRL]

Probably the hardest thing I had to give up was lo mein noodles and fried rice when dining at Chinese restaurants.

 

But now, I don't miss it.

 

I eat a lot of lean meats, cheeses, salads, nuts, popcorn, etc. I will say that it is the kind of food I really love, albeit rather expensive.

 

One of my "tricks" is to go to a fast food place and get a huge cheeseburger with everything on it. Then, I take it home and toss the bun and put everything else on a low carb wrap. Another thing I do is about once a week or so, I will order a pizza with all my favorite toppings. But instead of the deep dish crust I always got in the past, I get the thin and crispy crust. It still has carbs but a whole lot less than the deep dish thick crust.

 

I don't really have that much of a sweet tooth but a slice of cheesecake on occasion won't make the scale go up the next day. One of my favorite snacks is something that I make at home. I take a can/jar of deluxe mixed nuts (filbers, cashews, macadamias, almonds) and mix in golden raisins and semi sweet chocolate chips. It is a wonderful, energy dense snack that satisfies me.

 

When dining out, I stick with grilled fish, steaks, chops, fajitas and go with sides of grilled veggies instead of the starchy stuff like potatoes or fries. I have yet to find many restaurants where I can't "eat right".

 

I also eat a ton of boiled eggs and was scared that my cholesterol would suffer from it but apparently it didn't. Which is good as that is packed with protien and has no carbs.

 

Stick with it and make sure that you eat several times per day. I try to eat five to six times per day and feel fuller than I ever did before starting this change.

[Jetta]

Thank you for the tips, I too am fuller most of the time now. I should have done this long ago.

[Nymeria]

A low carb diet/high protein diet is a lot healthier than how most Americans eat today. Try to search for low glycemic index. The index measures how fast fods turn to.. well simple sugars. Sugars are bad because they raise your insulin level which not only causes weight gain but inflammation which can cause heart disease (if you go to a good cardiologist today, most will say inflammation NOT cholesterol is the leading cause of heart disease). Try cooking with coconut oil which contains very good saturated fats. I add it to my toast or smoothies and its soooooo good!!! Yes, saturated fats are not all bad. Try to avoid vegetable oil as well.

 

Good luck on your weight loss journey!