Group LLC (Livin Low Carb) - August 2010

momta2girls

Hey girls! I'd like to join the group. I'm a habitual dieter. Had the most results using mfp but have recently gotten off track in a big way. Decided to try again, but with low carb. I feel so much better eating this way than any other.

Just started today so I will be screaming for help when the sugar withdrawals kick in. You have been warned.

A little about me: I'm almost 40. Been married for 14 years and have two girls: Christian-11 and Gracie-8. I work part time for the church I grew up in (Lord could I tell you some stories--and probably will). I'm from south Mississippi, but I assure you I am educated - have a bachelor's in mathematics to prove it - and have never dated any of my cousins knowingly. Although one time, I did find out one of boyfriends was indeed related to me after the fact.

Looking forward to getting to know you all.

I have set my calorie limit to 1600. Carbs and protein to 35%. So hopefully this will work with a little adjustments being I'm just starting out. I'm wondering if I need to keep my carbs a lot lower?.....

Gay Raby

Resalyn

Hi, Group LLCers! Happy Monday!

Momta2girls - your post made me laugh - you have a great sense of humor! Welcome to the group! Bachelor's in Mathematics - you must be one smart cookie! Math was always my least favorite subject, one that I took only because it was required. Your settings in your diary sound good - though you might end up tweaking them a bit. I had my carbs set at 35% and ended up setting them a bit lower for my Induction phase. Can't wait to hear those stories!

I'm about to go weigh in for the Biggest Loser contest here at work - been in Induction about a week and a half. Hoping to see good numbers on the scale! I'll let you all know how it goes..... keep your fingers crossed for me!

saverys_gal

Happy Monday LLCers!

I'm back from my mini-vaca! Had a GREAT 3 days with mom! Eating got slightly off track as I indulged in some carby goodness but I still behaved! My weight is up today but most likely because of sodium and water retention from eating out! So today I'm eating light and drinking lots of water. I am getting back on track with exercise starting today after 2 weeks off! Tomorrow will be a day "off" as I have dinner plans out with friends...at the Cheesecake Factory!!!! :noway: So yeah, ok, I can get a salad, I can say no to everything else! The question is...can I resist the call of cheesecake??

Today's menu!
Breakfast was a cup of low carb chocolate milk and 2 cups of coffee, which is really not doing so hot with my tummy...:embarassed:
I'm having a HUGE yummy salad with mushrooms, cheese, carrots, tomatoes, sunflower seeds and crab for lunch!
Dinner is grilled chicken wings and some broccoli!
Snack will either be an Atkins bar or a serving of Planters digestive health mix nuts.

Welcome momta2girls! Why not start with the carbs at 35% for a month and see how the weight loss goes and how YOU feel? If it's not working out for you, readjust and lower them as necessary! Remember, this is not set in stone! You can change it at any time! Some of us need more carbs than others!

lmr9

Hi LLCers! :flowerforyou:

I'm cutting back on carbs, but not nearly as much as some of you all. I used to be at 50% carbs, and lost about 10 pounds in 2 months and felt great! Then I switched to 40% carbs, and now I'm not losing as much. And trust me, I still have plenty to lose. I've lost 5 pounds in the past month and a half.

I'm having problems keeping my sodium at bay, and getting in all my fiber. My sodium is the system default 2,500 -- and my fiber is 20 grams/day (which I still think is pretty low). I find myself eating a lot of lowfat string cheese, lunch meat, sandwiches, eggs -- which keeps me in check for calories/carbs/fat/protein -- but not good in the sodium/fiber area. I've found that when cutting down on carbs, I eat a lot less fruit - not good. Also, when I have a little more carb allowance, I can eat pasta dinners packed full of all kinds of veggies.

I'm considering going up to 45% carbs.

Need to find my balance...

Any suggestions/advice is appreciated. :flowerforyou:

saverys_gal

Hi LLCers! :flowerforyou:

I'm cutting back on carbs, but not nearly as much as some of you all. I used to be at 50% carbs, and lost about 10 pounds in 2 months and felt great! Then I switched to 40% carbs, and now I'm not losing as much. And trust me, I still have plenty to lose. I've lost 5 pounds in the past month and a half.

I'm having problems keeping my sodium at bay, and getting in all my fiber. My sodium is the system default 2,500 -- and my fiber is 20 grams/day (which I still think is pretty low). I find myself eating a lot of lowfat string cheese, lunch meat, sandwiches, eggs -- which keeps me in check for calories/carbs/fat/protein -- but not good in the sodium/fiber area. I've found that when cutting down on carbs, I eat a lot less fruit - not good. Also, when I have a little more carb allowance, I can eat pasta dinners packed full of all kinds of veggies.

I'm considering going up to 45% carbs.

Need to find my balance...

Any suggestions/advice is appreciated. :flowerforyou:

If your sodium intake is high and you perpetually go over your allotted intake daily, that could be a culprit in your weight loss slowing down. When it comes to sodium, just monitor your intake and read the labels on what you buy! You can very easily get it under control! Plus make sure you drink at least your 8 cups of water a day! :drinker:
As far as fiber, try incorporating more leafy good green veggies into your daily menu and also good whole grain, complex carbs-something as simple as a nice lower carb whole wheat tortilla for lunch can really boost your fiber count! If worst comes to worst, you can always try the fiber supplements that are out there-they do work really well.
You'll find your balance! Just play around with it until you find that magical combo! :flowerforyou:

jajlies

is there a way to put a lower number on my carb count on MFP? ,, I want to up the fiber and lower the carb count.

jenuwine

Hello All!
Its come to my attention that LLC might be the way to go - after bread and rice etc I feel lathargic and bloated, and I want to loose weight and be healthy. So I want to try this out. Have you guys got any tips for me? your fav recipes etc? Tell me your strories, how long have u guys done this and what results have you had? whats the hardest part?
Jen

saverys_gal

Welcome jajiles and jenuwine!

jajiles-to change your carbs and fiber on MFP go to your homepage, go to goals, click change goals, choose the custom option, and from there you can manually set the percentages for all of your nutrients. :drinker:

jenuwine-I've been low carbing for a little over a year, and have lost 70 out of my 75 pounds in that time frame. :happy: In going low carb, look at the different plans out there...you've got Atkins and South Beach to name two of the most popular. You really need to find what you think will work best for you. I personally follow the Atkins path, which is not for everyone-not everyone can survive the induction phase of going cold turkey on cutting out carbs! Find some people that eat low carb and that have their food logs open-go back and browse them and get a feel for how they eat. Planning is essential with low carb eating as you don't want to suddenly get struck with a massive case of the hungries and not have anything good with you because that will lead to a binge! Let me know if you have any questions!

Resalyn

Welcome Jajiles and Jenuwine!

I second everything Savery said - first thing is to research the different LC plans and figure out what direction you want to go. I've been back on LC for just a few weeks, and have never felt better. I personally follow Atkins, but agree it's not for everyone. I've done low-fat low-carb off and on for the last three years, and while I had early success, it wasn't sustainable and I was often hungry and frustrated at the limited choices. Atkins gives me more options and keeps me satisfied and happy, and I still lose.

I was down a pound yesterday for the week - which reinforces that my metabolism is so messed up that it's going to take a long time for me to lose this weight. Intellectually I know this - and I just need to keep repeating to myself "slow and steady wins the race." Maybe I should write it on the back of my hand so I see it over and over again, LOL!

Well, I have a ton of work to get done today - but had to stop by and say HEY to everyone! Y'all have a wonderful day!

saverys_gal

SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE!!!!!!!!!

There, did that reinforce it for you? :laugh:

I know it's tough, especially when so many of us lose quickly at the start of an LC plan but hang in there! Give your body time to readjust to the fantastic way you're eating and maybe in another week or so you'll see a larger drop! If not, re-evaluate the foods you are eating, the portions, make sure you log everything you eat, and check on your sodium and sugar levels. Those can really throw some people off. For me eating high sugar will stall my weight loss. Eating more sodium than normal causes massive bloats...I'm dealing with one now from my mini-vaca! I was at 153.6 on Friday and am at 155.8 today...gotta flush that mess out! :grumble:

So LLCers, what's everyone eating today? I'm SUCH a creature of habit...
Cup of low carb chocolate milk for breakfast and 2 cups honey green tea-no more coffee out as it is so bad on my tummy...:sick:
Eating another huge salad for lunch today as I'm still flushing sodium out!
Snack will be an Atkins bar as I had nuts yesterday.
Dinner is going to be out with friends at the Cheesecake Factory...so either a big yummy salad or steak/chicken with veggies. No worries there! I'll take a look at their menu here in a bit to see what my taste buds might be feeling!

jenuwine

Ths for the warm welcome :happy:
just thought I'd share this recipe with y'all - I think its low carb, can anyone confirm for me?
http://allrecipes.com/PersonalRecipe/62432569/Pariser-Salad/Detail.aspx

Also I'm mostly in a rush to get to work, what low carb fufilling breakfasts can you recomend - no time for eggs, and bacon etc. I usually have Uncle Tobys fibre + creal as I want to get enough fibre in my diet, but its very high in carbs ive realized. HELP! :ohwell:

saverys_gal

Ths for the warm welcome :happy:
just thought I'd share this recipe with y'all - I think its low carb, can anyone confirm for me?
http://allrecipes.com/PersonalRecipe/62432569/Pariser-Salad/Detail.aspx

Also I'm mostly in a rush to get to work, what low carb fufilling breakfasts can you recomend - no time for eggs, and bacon etc. I usually have Uncle Tobys fibre + creal as I want to get enough fibre in my diet, but its very high in carbs ive realized. HELP! :ohwell:

Your recipe looks fine on the low carb factor. But since it uses deli meats, do check them before you buy them and make sure they don't contain a lot of sugar! They're not all created equal!
As for breakfast...I've never been a breakfast person. It wasn't until I started this lifestyle change that I started to actually eat breakfast! I refuse to get up and cook though-that's just not me! My breakfast is normally a low carb high protein shake, or a glass of low carb milk, maybe an Atkins or South Beach bar and always a couple of cups of green tea. My breakfast normally needs to be pretty high protein for me. But anything else is just too much work! :laugh:

Resalyn

Hey, Savery and Jenuwine!

I agree, I usually don't cook b'fast except on weekends. I'm lucky to work in a hospital where the cafeteria serves b'fast, pretty cheap.

But my favorite filling b-fast for my commute (40 mins) to work is a smoothie shake I make myself. I change up the ingredients a lot, add fruit when I'm not in Induction phase, but here are the ingredients. It makes about a 32-oz shake, which fills up a Rubbermaid glug bottle and lasts me the whole way to work. Once you get the routine down, you can make this in a blender in less than 5 mins - I"m all about fast and easy in the morning!

1 can Diet Rite Tangerine or Raspberry Soda
1/4 c yogurt (Dannon All Natural Plain has lowest carbs - unless you have access to an actual LC yogurt)
1 packet Crystal Light drink mix (I like Wild Strawberry Energy)
1 serving MLO High-protein powder - 24 g protein
Benefiber Fiber Powder (to help keep things moving)
If that doesn't give you enough flavor, add in some SF Jello in a complementing flavor.
Ice
Blend well….

Now, go ahead and put all of that in your food journal, and you’ll see that it is only 1 Net Carb because of the fiber powder. Play around with the different flavors of the ingredients for a nice change now and then….

Ok, tons of work to do today, sorry, I’ll have to come back later!!! Y’all have a wonderful day!

Resalyn

Oh yeah - Anyone having any problems with leg cramps? I've had a few, so I looked up the following list for ideas to add to my diet to increase my potassium - as usually leg cramps are a potassium deficiency. Obviously, some of these are a no-no on induction, but you get the idea....

What foods are high in potassium?
Aside from the aforementioned cantaloupe, potassium rich foods include:
Bananas
Oranges
Apricots
Avocado
Strawberries
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Chard
Bell pepper
Eggplant
Squash
Crimini mushrooms
Brussels sprouts
Turmeric
Parsley
Spinach
Broccoli
Tuna
Halibut

saverys_gal

Hey, Savery and Jenuwine!

I agree, I usually don't cook b'fast except on weekends. I'm lucky to work in a hospital where the cafeteria serves b'fast, pretty cheap.

But my favorite filling b-fast for my commute (40 mins) to work is a smoothie shake I make myself. I change up the ingredients a lot, add fruit when I'm not in Induction phase, but here are the ingredients. It makes about a 32-oz shake, which fills up a Rubbermaid glug bottle and lasts me the whole way to work. Once you get the routine down, you can make this in a blender in less than 5 mins - I"m all about fast and easy in the morning!

1 can Diet Rite Tangerine or Raspberry Soda
1/4 c yogurt (Dannon All Natural Plain has lowest carbs - unless you have access to an actual LC yogurt)
1 packet Crystal Light drink mix (I like Wild Strawberry Energy)
1 serving MLO High-protein powder - 24 g protein
Benefiber Fiber Powder (to help keep things moving)
If that doesn't give you enough flavor, add in some SF Jello in a complementing flavor.
Ice
Blend well….

Now, go ahead and put all of that in your food journal, and you’ll see that it is only 1 Net Carb because of the fiber powder. Play around with the different flavors of the ingredients for a nice change now and then….

Ok, tons of work to do today, sorry, I’ll have to come back later!!! Y’all have a wonderful day!

I can't drink soda do to a medication I take but man does that sound good!! What's the carb count on the yogurt? When I do eat yogurt I buy the Fiber One version...very good, low carb, low sugar and a good amount of fiber in it already!
Another side effect of my medication is that it blocks my potassium absorption, so I try and eat a higher potassium diet but I take a supplement daily also-it's just easier than trying to remember what foods are high in it! :laugh:

Resalyn

The Dannon Plan Nonfat has a carb count of 16 per cup - which works out to be 4 per 1/4 cup. I've never looked at the FiberOne yogurt - I'm going to check that out the next time I'm at the store! Can't wait! I forgot that you can't drink the soda - hmmmm, not sure what you could replace it with....

momta2girls

Thanks for the welcome girls.
As i predicted sugar cravings are rearing their ugly head. To top that off it's that TOM and i crave carbs like nobody's business. To top that off, when i got to work today the choir director had left the choir snacks on the kitchen counter. And even though i work for Jesus (and love him dearly) i thought ugly thoughts about her.:) I did not eat any and for that i need huge kudos!
A couple of questions.
1. During induction, is it really necessary to cut all caffiene. I drink one cup of coffee a day and really enjoy it. Very little cokes (aka as soda to you yankees) and a lot of water.
2. If splenda is 1 carb per pack, what about equal?
Thanks in advance. Oh by the way, i slipped on my own drool - dang banana pepper recipe.
Yall have a great day

saverys_gal

Thanks for the welcome girls.
As i predicted sugar cravings are rearing their ugly head. To top that off it's that TOM and i crave carbs like nobody's business. To top that off, when i got to work today the choir director had left the choir snacks on the kitchen counter. And even though i work for Jesus (and love him dearly) i thought ugly thoughts about her.:) I did not eat any and for that i need huge kudos!
A couple of questions.
1. During induction, is it really necessary to cut all caffiene. I drink one cup of coffee a day and really enjoy it. Very little cokes (aka as soda to you yankees) and a lot of water.
2. If splenda is 1 carb per pack, what about equal?
Thanks in advance. Oh by the way, i slipped on my own drool - dang banana pepper recipe.
Yall have a great day

Hi momta2girls! I had such a hard time in the beginning when people at work brought in sugary goodness and left it around! I got through it by bringing in some awesome Atkins bars...but I still thought unkind thoughts! :laugh:
During TOM I almost always up my carb intake-my body needs the extra fuel. I've learned to listen to what my body is saying and if says it's hungry and is craving more, I give it more! I'm not talking bad carbs, I just fuel it with more acceptable carbs than normal. I suggest playing around with your carb intake during TOM to see what works for you because you certainly don't want to get that OMG I'm going to pass out feeling!
NO! You do NOT need to cut out caffeine during induction. Your coffee (plain old regular) and tea is fine for you! If you drink a diet soda or whatever, just be sure to count it as a carb because it does use artificial sweetener.
Per Atkins, you can use sucralose (Splenda), saccharine (Sweet n Low), Stevia or xylitol-use no more than 3 packets a day of any of these and count each one you use as ONE gram of carb-they are counted as carb because they use a filler to keep them from clumping which does contain some carbs. From what I understand, Equal is not approved because it has been shown to slow weight loss in some people. However, from other reading I've done, artificial sweeteners in general can do this to some people. So I say moderation! If you're not using a lot of it a day and you log it into your carb count, I think you'll be fine. :drinker:

Glad you liked my banana pepper recipe! I need to see if I have any more in the garden ready to be picked so I can grill some more! YUM!

jenuwine

great recipe for smoothie thanks RESALYN - and thanks saverys_gal for the tip on the processed meat in my recipe - i'll be sure to check it out.

I've cut back in a big way on my carbs, but have discovered that bloody everything has so many carbs, so am mainly getting fussy on the carbs I know make me feel dreadful - pasta - white bread - rice etc. Things like fruits and veggies are required in my diet, so I'll keep them in. Its been about 3 days now I think and I already have noticed feeling much better, lighter, not as hungry suprisingly and I can just feel this is good :-)

I went through aq phase earlier this year of smoothies on the run for breakfast, not sure why I stopped, I'll start up again cause its a great idea. Plus my 1.5yo son loves drinking it on the run with mummy too :-) A nice ritual we had.

I've got a muffin tray I really want to use - has anyone got any low carb recipes to fill it? I'd love to have a low carb muffin - does it exist?

jenuwine

haha I've got this chocolate here, the details:

"Sugarless Chocolate Wild Hazelnut Milk Chocolate" (they have a few flavours inc white/raspberry)

PER SERVE (serve sz 6g - 16 serves per pkg 100g):
31cal
0.5g protein
2.2g fat
0.5g Carbs
0.4g Fibre
4.4mg Sodium

www.sugarlessco.com
When I'm about to stab someone in the eye - during TOM I'll have a few peices of that and regaine my sanity.