guidance please
RebeccaMaunder
Posts: 171 Member
You have all been so helpful and I feel constantly so lost. I know that some of you have seen my food diary and have made both negative and positive comments. I want to do this right and I feel like I just am not getting it. I know that I am trying but could you please share some insight with me. I have read all the tags at the top of the group and I know it should be simple but for some reason I just don't seem to be doing this right. Do you have suggestions. I know that some people have suggested doing the first month (which I am technically out of, but could totally restart) with no sugar and no carb substitutes..etc.. I get it but I am also struggling because I want to keep things normal, and maybe that's the problem.
I hope that I am not sounding like I am whining because I am really not trying to be I am just really trying to do this the way that I should. There are so many health benefits to this woe and I see that. Like both helping my IR, PCOS, Seizures, and so much more. I want to get this down for all of those reasons. (ok and maybe also because I can finally see my ankles and my fingers are swollen every morning when I wake up).
OK so please help me to figure this out a little more. Specifics are more helpful.
It is helpful I can put the foods that we do or do not eat here... and things we are not sure about. I am a really picky eater.
Thank you
Becca
I hope that I am not sounding like I am whining because I am really not trying to be I am just really trying to do this the way that I should. There are so many health benefits to this woe and I see that. Like both helping my IR, PCOS, Seizures, and so much more. I want to get this down for all of those reasons. (ok and maybe also because I can finally see my ankles and my fingers are swollen every morning when I wake up).
OK so please help me to figure this out a little more. Specifics are more helpful.
It is helpful I can put the foods that we do or do not eat here... and things we are not sure about. I am a really picky eater.
Thank you
Becca
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Replies
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Things to eat: Meats chicken and fish (non breaded), cheeses, veg, bacon, deli meats, nuts in small amounts, eggs,
Things to stay away from: bread, candy, milk, soda, juice, regular pop, chips, most fast food unless you LC it and ditch the bun/biscuit etc
You have to watch out for gravies too or anything that could be thickened with flour
It's hard in the beginning but you get used to it eventually. When in doubt, read the label! I thought I'd try some Atkins snacks and the carb count on them was crazy so I decided against it.
I'm a noob so I'm still learning0 -
I learned pretty quick that there's an "old normal" and a "new normal." I had to put away thoughts of old normal and just embrace the new normal. After 18 months, I'm bringing back small parts of my old normal in keto-friendly ways. I added in keto crepes and cookies in the last month, but they no longer hold sway over me like they used to.
I suggest you start fresh and go all in. If you need to have a weekend or even a month of "food funeral" for all of the foods you're going to give up, then do it. Say goodbye. The good news is that it won't be goodbye forever. It's just goodbye for now until you adjust to the new normal, get rid of all of the sway those non-keto foods have on you, and find a way to add back keto-friendly versions of old foods. That might happen in 6 months, it might be 2 years, but it's better than the alternative.
This is posted on my wall in my office and on the fridge at home. It's been my motivation for a while now...
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Things not to eat:
Bread, bagels, waffles, pancakes, cereals, crackers
Pasta
Potatoes/French Fries
Rice
Desserts, cake, donuts, cookies, etc.
Sugar
Soda
Juice
Milk
Things to eat:
Use a sugar substitute like Splenda if you have to.
Diet soda if you have to.
^^Some people say this is a problem and causes cravings, but in moderation is okay if you can control it.
Meats, all kinds
Seafood
Eggs
Veggies (most veggies are okay, avoid potato, carrot and corn)
Butter
Cheese
Heavy Whipping Cream
Cream Cheese
Real Mayonnaise
What I usually eat:
Breakfast: A protein shake OR Eggs & Bacon or Sausage (No toast)
Lunch: A big salad with grilled chicken
Dinner: Some sort of meat and veggies or a salad
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I generally eat any unbreaded meat, fish, eggs, cheese, non-starchy veggies (greens, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, green beans, spaghetti squash, and zucchini), heavy whipping cream, coffee, and tea daily.
I keep an eye on serving sizes for higher carb things like carrots, tomato or other sauces, cashew butter, and 90% dark chocolate.
I use stevia on occasion and maybe once or twice a week make a baked item with almond and/or coconut flour.0 -
If it's too stressful to go "all in" right from the start, there's no problem with taking baby steps until you get to a LCHF level that you are comfortable with. This is a lifestyle change that you need to make sure you can live with from now on. Start by cutting what carbs you can (junk food, potatoes, soda, corn, bread, etc.), eat a moderate amount of protein (meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese) and add in healthy fats (butter, coconut oil, sour cream, cream cheese, olive oil, avocado) to help you feel full. As you progress and see how your body is reacting, you can always make adjustments and fine tune. Let it be a fun learning experience and enjoy knowing you are on the way of becoming healthier again.0
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Hand, feet & leg swelling was always an issue for me due to health problems. But going grain free & dairy free really helped stop the swelling. I eat meats, nuts, veggies, a little fruit. I've just recently started adding small amounts of cheese - like sprinkled on a salad. I'm having to go slow and see how I react. Things I don't buy: pasta, bread, rice, potatoes. My side dishes are usually 2 kinds of veggies, or a salad and a veggie. Oh and have fun with natural spices / seasonings. I found it easier to start with a small list of foods & stick with that for the first few weeks. Very restrictive, but then I didn't have to worry if I was doing it right lol. After that, I FELT a lot better, cravings & swelling were gone & I was ready to get more creative.0
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^^ i agree go simple then out from there
plan a day where all your macros are hit and see how you feel
then rinse and repeat- i tend to find a meal i like and keep doing it LOL0 -
Hi, another newbie here trying to get it right ,too. Thanks for this thread. I need everything spelled out for me. I am copying everyone's suggestions for myself and a friend who is not on MFP, but needs this WOE very much. Thanks for letting me hijack your post, Becca.0
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I agree with the simple. I started off very simple. Get rid of the white stuff: flour, sugar, rice, bread, potatoes, etc.
Eggs and breakfast meat for breakfast throw some spinach, onions or peppers in there for veg serving, salads with some kind of meat for lunch( watch the dressings for sugars/carbs) and a meat/fish/shrimp with veggies (usually steamed fresh broccoli with butter and a sprinkle of garlic pepper or greens with vinegar) and side salad for supper. Snacks of cheese, dill pickles or olives or a raw veg. My favorite snack is sandwich sliced pepperoni and cream cheese rollups. I have a diet soda a few times a week, but usually water sometimes with lemon slices and a squirt of liquid stevia and black coffee daily. Stay away from stuff like Atkins sweets, sugar free candies at the beginning. These throw me out of ketosis and make me crave sweets. (They also give me really bad gas and stomach trouble because I am sensitive to sugar alcohols).
I am 6 weeks in now and very seldom crave sweets which is huge for me because I have a very large sweet tooth. If I feel I need a sweet, I have sugar free jello or no sugar added frozen berries with whipped cream. For chocolate cravings, 1oz of cocoa almonds. I also avoid fast food because I honestly don't like it because it taste "fake" to me since I am eating mostly fresh home prepared foods. I also have a protein shake made with unsweetened almond milk on weight lifting days or when I am short on calories. I've just now started adding in small servings of sweet potatoes, the only thing other than bananas that I really miss. I also have Greek yogurt when I can find one in which I am satisfied with the carb and sugar count. I started out at 20g Net Carbs and I am now up to <50g Net Carbs/day. I get very stingy with my carbs and what I am going to "spend" them on for the day, the majority I try to spend on veggies. I've just recently started adding back some higher carbs foods because I feel that I can safely control my portions.
Start simply, the first few days are a little rough as you withdraw from the sugar and carbs( full sodium chicken or beef broth are your best friend here). I had a bad headache and was very lethargic on day 2 &3 but by day 4 I felt amazing. I am sleeping better, staying fuller longer and had more energy and virtually no bloating anymore. And even though it is a high fat/low carb diet, I am eating more veggies than ever. Hang in there!0 -
I find that searching pinterest.com and ruled.me websites helps me with food ...Wishing you much success
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I can see by your diary that you're really trying to make this work.... I think with a few little tweaks you'll really start seeing a difference!
The first thing I'd recommend is to simplify: Eat vegetables, meat and fat. That is all. Avoid refined carbohydrates, sugars and sweeteners.
For me, this could be fried eggs and bacon with grilled mushrooms for breakfast, a spinach salad with sliced steak and crumbled blue cheese for lunch, and big plate of roast cauliflower with cheese and a some chicken grilled in oil for dinner.
Or, it could be poached eggs with smoked salmon and avocado for breakfast, ham and cheese rolls with pickles and cherry tomatoes for lunch, and taco salad for dinner.
Or, I might skip breakfast, have some raw vegetables for lunch and then eat a massive dinner of roast beef, carrots, parnsips, steamed brocolli and a side salad.
Don't overly complicate it with low-carb "alternatives" in the beginning. Just keep it simple.
Secondly, preparation is key. You'll have a much harder time sticking to lchf if you're eating out or eating convenience foods all the time. Even if it means keeping bags of salad in the fridge and canned fish in the cupboard (which you can throw into a container in about 2 minutes and make a bomb salad). It's your diet. Your health You need to be the one in control of it, and preparing your own food is a huge part of that.
Thirdly, I can see by your diary that some days look incomplete (650-1000 calories) and many entries seem like they're estimates rather than measured portions. Now, I just want to say that logging is not necessary for everybody and you may decide you don't need to log after you're more familiar with this woe... but as you're looking for insight as to why you aren't progressing like you think you should be, I think you need to quantify that by logging and tracking your calories and macros for a while. Then you can rule out things like carb creep or excess calories.
Good luck and keep us posted!!0 -
Hi @RebeccaMaunder! Your determination shines through in your posts! I love it! You have gotten some awesome advice on this thread! In the beginning this woe seems terribly difficult! It goes against everything we have ever been told about healthy eating! The retraining your brain is undertaking makes it all seem so confusing! Once your brainwashing is reversed (sorry, but that's what it is), it will get easier, I promise!0
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Half of my post disappeared!
The foods you need to concentrate on are meat, dairy, and non starch veggies (veggies aren't essential to this woe, so don't eat them if you don't want to). I haven't eaten them more than twice in one week since May, and I don't miss them! Look at your friends diaries to get ideas of what to eat. I did this a lot in the beginning too!
You are helping others with your questions, and posting your frustrations! Keep them coming! I was too embarrassed to ask questions and relied on the posts like yours to answer my own! They all helped me without even knowing it, and you are doing the same! Hang in there! You are making a difference too! And, you are worth it!!0 -
For me what helped to start with is to sub the carb with a cooked veggie, so the kids have sausage and mash I have sausage and cabbage with mayo rather than gravy. Spaghetti bolognaise, the kids have pasta I have broccoli. I have coffee with cream and sugar free syrup on occasion. Cream and berries for a desert. But basically meat, dairy and veg and various combinations, it's amazing what you can come up with and how good it tastes, I had pork, leek, mushroom and garlic the other day with a side of broccoli with butter, it was so good.0
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Thank you everyone! You have all given amazing information. I'm still working and tryog to figure it out so I'm sure I'll have lots of more questions coming. I've made some decisions to eat things with carvs recently and I'm not loving the feeling I've had. I'm working my way back down. I know that there are days I have low counts some of them are truly low days and some are because I just quit logging either because I wasn't able to or because I was embarrassed. To just be honest. Im still working on things though and trying. I think simplifying is the best response. I do have a tendency to make things harder than they need to be. I think that is going to be my goal going forward.0
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Hand, feet & leg swelling was always an issue for me due to health problems. But going grain free & dairy free really helped stop the swelling. I eat meats, nuts, veggies, a little fruit. I've just recently started adding small amounts of cheese - like sprinkled on a salad. I'm having to go slow and see how I react. Things I don't buy: pasta, bread, rice, potatoes. My side dishes are usually 2 kinds of veggies, or a salad and a veggie. Oh and have fun with natural spices / seasonings. I found it easier to start with a small list of foods & stick with that for the first few weeks. Very restrictive, but then I didn't have to worry if I was doing it right lol. After that, I FELT a lot better, cravings & swelling were gone & I was ready to get more creative.RebeccaMaunder wrote: »You have all been so helpful and I feel constantly so lost. I know that some of you have seen my food diary and have made both negative and positive comments. I want to do this right and I feel like I just am not getting it. I know that I am trying but could you please share some insight with me. I have read all the tags at the top of the group and I know it should be simple but for some reason I just don't seem to be doing this right. Do you have suggestions. I know that some people have suggested doing the first month (which I am technically out of, but could totally restart) with no sugar and no carb substitutes..etc.. I get it but I am also struggling because I want to keep things normal, and maybe that's the problem.
I hope that I am not sounding like I am whining because I am really not trying to be I am just really trying to do this the way that I should. There are so many health benefits to this woe and I see that. Like both helping my IR, PCOS, Seizures, and so much more. I want to get this down for all of those reasons. (ok and maybe also because I can finally see my ankles and my fingers are swollen every morning when I wake up).
OK so please help me to figure this out a little more. Specifics are more helpful.
It is helpful I can put the foods that we do or do not eat here... and things we are not sure about. I am a really picky eater.
Thank you
Becca
I know that there are loads of reasons one can have swelling in hands, legs, and feet, but one of the biggest ones I just learned about myself is that this is a MAJOR sign of hypothyroidism. It is generally a thyroid problem that leads to heart issues/edema issues, just left untreated for so long is messes up other things, too.
Additionally, a large majority of thyroid issues go undiagnosed because folks are still in "acceptable" ranges, but those ranges are not NORMAL for everyone. So if you're tired at all, have swelling, have problems sleeping, have a slowing metabolism, and any other weird energy symptoms, please be sure to get a full workup of your thyroid.
A decent resource is www.stopthethyroidmadness.com
I thought my thyroid was well treated, as I'd leveled out for a while, then out of nowhere, I started having a larger amount of swelling. Asked my doc about it, and PCP immediately checked the bloodwork my endocrinologist had run but not yet reviewed. Found out I needed to increase my dose. Within just a couple days was night and day difference. Please don't put it off if you have signs... It's as under-addressed as D3/K2 deficiencies, magnesium deficiencies, and all of that...0 -
To simplify it, I'm gonna tell you five of my rules that helped me "get it" in the beginning (very important for me because I'm a diabetic off meds). Apply whichever you like. I do have reasons for all.
1. No sugars, flours, pasta or potatoes
2. Keep your carbs under 20 net carbs a day (I later switched this to 10% macros once I figured those out, but 20 grams works too, especially at the beginning)
3. Drink lots of water every day
4. Eat three small meals to keep from binging when "starving", I eat bfast by nine am each morning. Key for me.
5. Log all your meals. It takes time to set up, but once you start, it's not so hard. We really all eat the same foods every day, so you don't have to go hunting for them often once you get started - they will be under "recents"
Hope that helped! Ps. You might already know, but net carbs means total carbs minus fiber (which passes through you and doesn't count). Some ppl also subtract sugar alcohols, but I don't. It stops me from eating a lot of junk.
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There's a saying on the main forums (and probably other weight loss sites) that says, "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." I don't really like it that way. I much prefer the way I came up with shortly after I was finding the benefits to parts of my health I didn't know this way of eating would fix -- nothing tastes as good as healthy feels.
I agree with a lot of what's been said so far. A lot of it's in the mindset, and this is your normal. It's a simple concept, but not as easy as it sounds (especially if you don't get reactions right away). That's okay, though, this is an ongoing process.
I used to get daily cluster headaches that would sometimes be so severe that they were virtually indistinguishable from migraines. For a while, I was taking 800mg of Ibuprofen daily, sometimes more, in order to keep the headaches at bay. Then, I went low carb and after a week or two, I realized that the headaches went away entirely. At various points, I end up getting kicked in the butt, because I'll be like "oh, it's okay, I'll just have one of this thing" (be it sugar or a heavy starch like potatoes), and shortly after eating it (sometimes as quickly as a few bites in), the headache starts to set in. So, one of the things I always ask myself when I'm tempted by sugars or heavy starches is "is it worth the headache I'll have later?" Usually, that answer is "no," and when the answer is "yes," it's because it's a much higher quality item (basically, it makes turning down the store-bought stuff really easy, and "yes" is nearly always for homemade stuff). I still pay the consequences later on, but I've decided to face them in those instances. That decision is hugely empowering, because it changes the inner dialog from "I can't have this item" to "these are the consequences that await me if I consume this, so I choose to not eat this."
Finally, this point is one of the hardest when starting a new habit. I found an article one time about the four stages of competence. It's an interesting subject, but here is the relevant part, the stages themselves:
1. Unconscious incompetence. Basically, you don't know that you don't know something. This may have been you several years ago, when you didn't even know about LCHF.
2. Conscious incompetence. This is that point where you've learned about LCHF, but for some reason have not acted on the knowledge (either through learning more or through doing).
3. Conscious competence. This is the beginning stages of following the diet. It's also the hardest and often longest in the competency stages. This is because you're now taking action, but you have to do so consciously. You have to constantly think about the foods you're eating when you're making food decisions.
4. Unconscious competence. This is the holy grail of any habit or skill -- that point where you no longer have to think about it, you just do it. Walking and riding a bike are good examples of this stage. You don't think about how your body moves to keep you balanced, you don't think about keeping balance, you don't think about moving or turning, you just do those things.
Right now, you're on stage 3. You know what needs to be done, and you are working on doing it, but you're keenly aware of every single little detail. It's rough, it's tedious, and it's a long stage. It doesn't last forever, though. One day, you'll find yourself ordering a salad with no croutons and extra cheese/meat, or a burger with no bun. Or you'll find yourself grabbing for the cream without thinking about it. It will come in phases like that, too. Some actions will reach stage 4 before others. That's perfectly fine, and it's a sign that you're on the threshold of reaching stage 4, overall. You just have to hang in there through stage 3. It can be rough, but it's well worth it.0 -
@Dragonwolf that is such great information! I love it!0
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Low-carb is easy, almost boringly easily. But that's what it takes to be low-carb, staying simple and boring.
Is the food delicious? Absolutely.
But day in and day out just expect to eat a simple mix of meats, cheese, veggies, and of course fat.
With Ketogenics, a good goal is around 30g-50g of net carbs. At 6'5" 260lbs male, my goal is even lower at 20g-25g net carbs. Why? Cause I'm just that hardcore to the core.
I've included an awesome Keto food pyramid for you to check out.
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bluefish86 wrote: »I can see by your diary that you're really trying to make this work.... I think with a few little tweaks you'll really start seeing a difference!
The first thing I'd recommend is to simplify: Eat vegetables, meat and fat. That is all. Avoid refined carbohydrates, sugars and sweeteners.
For me, this could be fried eggs and bacon with grilled mushrooms for breakfast, a spinach salad with sliced steak and crumbled blue cheese for lunch, and big plate of roast cauliflower with cheese and a some chicken grilled in oil for dinner.
Or, it could be poached eggs with smoked salmon and avocado for breakfast, ham and cheese rolls with pickles and cherry tomatoes for lunch, and taco salad for dinner.
Or, I might skip breakfast, have some raw vegetables for lunch and then eat a massive dinner of roast beef, carrots, parnsips, steamed brocolli and a side salad.
Don't overly complicate it with low-carb "alternatives" in the beginning. Just keep it simple.
Secondly, preparation is key. You'll have a much harder time sticking to lchf if you're eating out or eating convenience foods all the time. Even if it means keeping bags of salad in the fridge and canned fish in the cupboard (which you can throw into a container in about 2 minutes and make a bomb salad). It's your diet. Your health You need to be the one in control of it, and preparing your own food is a huge part of that.
Thirdly, I can see by your diary that some days look incomplete (650-1000 calories) and many entries seem like they're estimates rather than measured portions. Now, I just want to say that logging is not necessary for everybody and you may decide you don't need to log after you're more familiar with this woe... but as you're looking for insight as to why you aren't progressing like you think you should be, I think you need to quantify that by logging and tracking your calories and macros for a while. Then you can rule out things like carb creep or excess calories.
Good luck and keep us posted!!
Solid advice. I would have said the exact same thing.
Log log log or you'll not see where you need improvement, and do we can help you stay on course.0 -
Log log log or you'll not see where you need improvement, and do we can help you stay on course.
This is spot on as well. If you don't log in the beginning, it will make it very tough to stay consistent and to succeed. Logging every piece of food helps you understand each food, what's in it, how it impacts you, and helps keep you consistent. After eating this way on and off for 10 years, I don't ever look at my daily makeup of food, I just eat what I know to be on-plan and I normally get within just a couple percentage points of my targets. I didn't start out that way though. I needed to log everything and even weigh everything so I was accurate while logging. Get a little food scale and use it.
If you don't like the logging, then use your phone and take a picture of everything you eat and post it here. The feeling taking a picture of some fast food junk and posting it publicly will often deter someone.0 -
Low-carb is easy, almost boringly easily. But that's what it takes to be low-carb, staying simple and boring.
Is the food delicious? Absolutely.
But day in and day out just expect to eat a simple mix of meats, cheese, veggies, and of course fat.
That's the thing that always gets me -- people saying it's boring as if "boring" is unique to low carb. When you actually think about what you ate when you were high-carb. Odds are good it was pretty boring, too, with the same or very similar meals each day.0 -
Log log log or you'll not see where you need improvement, and do we can help you stay on course.
This is spot on as well. If you don't log in the beginning, it will make it very tough to stay consistent and to succeed. Logging every piece of food helps you understand each food, what's in it, how it impacts you, and helps keep you consistent. After eating this way on and off for 10 years, I don't ever look at my daily makeup of food, I just eat what I know to be on-plan and I normally get within just a couple percentage points of my targets. I didn't start out that way though. I needed to log everything and even weigh everything so I was accurate while logging. Get a little food scale and use it.
If you don't like the logging, then use your phone and take a picture of everything you eat and post it here. The feeling taking a picture of some fast food junk and posting it publicly will often deter someone.
^I think that's what I like about logging. If I am hungry, I can flip over my logs and decide what fits into my goal. It takes the guess work out of it, and I know stuff that is already in my logs is things I like! That's really helpful when you're new to it. I think that also helps with grocery shopping, as I can look through and determine what I like to eat more than others (as it is more frequent) so when I write my list, I'm not guessing at how much I need to buy of what.
Or, if I have something in mind, I log it and if it puts me over, I know to adjust the serving size or avoid it. I log before I eat anything, it helps me be conscious about how much is a correct portion.0 -
Lots of great advice...you have to find what works for you. What worked for me was getting a book that listed all the foods and their carb counts. I went through the book and picked what foods I liked to eat and bought them...didn't buy the foods I couldn't eat and that was it. I didn't care about sugar and carb substitutes(in fact they're part of my normal day)...just ate what I liked and came in under 60grams of net carbs per day, drank tons of water and that's that.
Good luck!0 -
Borrow real meal revolution from the library. ..or google it...explains and has some great recipies.0
