Low carb

aurioste13

Looking to lose some weight and gain confidence. Trying the low carb route. Needing motivation and ideas for meals!

TeaBea

I'm not low carb myself (no medical issues). But you might try one of the groups.........

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

aurioste13

Thank you!

crackingwise

One tip I'd suggest is to use zucchini, cauliflower and eggplant instead of the starches you normally crave. You can steam cauliflower and mash it like potatoes, with zero starch. Or you can chop it into pieces, mix it with some egg and form it into "cauli tots" you can spray with oil and bake. Instead of pasta, you can cut a zucchini using a mandolin into spaghetti-like strings, microwave and use like spaghetti. Or you can slice eggplant and fry or bake it, and ladle your favorite food onto that. If you've got the cash, you can buy Miracle Noodle online - shirataki noodles - which have zero carbs.

For encouragement: I've been keto for the past 5 days and have lost a lot of weight. I don't do breads, grains, sugars or artificial sweeteners at all. I've been experimenting with dry legume flours, which I make by grinding dry beans in a coffee grinder, and are a good source of fiber and have little to no sugars.

Lots of great info can be found at https://www.dietdoctor.com/.

kyubeans

What do you think of those shirataki noodles?

crackingwise wrote: »

If you've got the cash, you can buy Miracle Noodle online - shirataki noodles - which have zero carbs.

ZoneFive

Low carb is not magic, nor is it a miracle. I personally choose it for medical issues (diabetes) and I'm happy with the results and with how I feel, but you may find that higher carbs suit you better. By all means give it a try, but be prepared to tweak it if you're not comfortable.

Of course, that goes for any plan you choose. Enter your numbers into MFP's goal calculator, see what calorie numbers they give you, then come up with a healthy plan that keeps you within your numbers. Ask lots of questions, we have lots of answers. All the best to you!

aurioste13

Yea, i seem to have a hard time with sweets and with drinking water! Obvious things that are helpful... lol.

jordyngiulio

Remember that calories are still king. I have been eating low to very low carb for the last 6-ish months (breaks during the holidays, vacations, etc.) with a loss of about 30 pounds so far and it can be really easy to over eat on the high-fat foods. Overall, I am thrilled with my weight loss, how I feel, and the VAST improvement in my medical issues (PCOS) but it definitely needs just as careful of monitoring, if not more, than any other diet.

The forum will be really helpful, but my top tips are:

• Always have a low carb snack option with you when temptation arises
• Vary what you eat, making full use of different recipes and making up your own – there are tons of great low carb websites out there with amazing dishes and it’s a lot easier to stick to it when you aren’t eating the same thing every day.
• Avoid the pre-packaged “low carb” foods (e.g. atkins bars, frozen meals, etc). They are full of weird stuff and aren’t really that low in carbs. They usually rely on adding a bunch of additional fiber to bring the net carb number down, which can upset some people’s stomach.
• Make sure you are getting enough sodium! If you aren’t, it can contribute to the low-carb flu that everyone talks about.
  
  And finally, don’t be afraid to stop if it just doesn’t work for you. I love it and I never have any negative side effects, even on really strenuous workout days, but I my boyfriend feels AWFUL going too low carb, no matter how long he eats that way. Calories in/Calories out will always work, low carb is just a tool to help you. If you need a screw driver, pliers probably won’t really help you. You will get to your end result, but it’ll be a real mess.

jordyngiulio

@kyucifer I've tried them and I think they have a weird texture/taste if you try to boil them or eat them without a sauce. I do put them in a keto pad thai pretty regularly and they're really good pan fried and then cooked in sauce. But as a standalone item, they're a bit . . .fishy