Cheese! Good or bad?

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He1loKitty
He1loKitty Posts: 212 Member
Hey everyone. I've been low carb for almost four months now and I love it. When I started this diet, I was eating a good amount of cheese (probably two or three pieces of string cheese as part of my lunch or a snack and then some crumbled cheese on my salad with dinner) in place of all the graham crackers and granola bars I used to eat to get full. For whatever reason, I hit a plateau for about a month. I started thinking that maybe I was consuming too much cheese. Two weeks ago, I decided to limit my cheese intake to one serving a day. I finally dropped another two pounds in the last week.

My question is this: on a low carb diet, do you eat cheese regularly? If so, how much? Do you find that cheese assists or inhibits your weight loss? If you don't eat cheese, what do you eat when you are ravenous in between meals? Thanks!

Replies

  • ali59oc
    ali59oc Posts: 130 Member
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    Cheese hasn't hindered my weight loss and I eat quite a bit of it. However, I have read posts from people who do have trouble with dairy. Do you have trouble with any other dairy besides cheese?
  • Leonidas_meets_Spartacus
    Leonidas_meets_Spartacus Posts: 6,198 Member
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    I eat ton of cheese and drink 10-20 Oz of heavy cream on some days and had no problem losing 2-3 lbs a week.
  • He1loKitty
    He1loKitty Posts: 212 Member
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    Thanks for replying. No, I don't have trouble with dairy. I recently switched to unsweetened almond milk in my coffee for the lower carb content. And I eat plain greek yogurt two or three times a week. I swear that cheese isn't helping my weight loss though.
  • He1loKitty
    He1loKitty Posts: 212 Member
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    I eat ton of cheese and drink 10-20 Oz of heavy cream on some days and had no problem losing 2-3 lbs a week.

    Then maybe it's not cheese but the other foods I am eating. I stick to 60-80g of carbs a day, maybe it's time to reduce.
  • Leonidas_meets_Spartacus
    Leonidas_meets_Spartacus Posts: 6,198 Member
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    I eat ton of cheese and drink 10-20 Oz of heavy cream on some days and had no problem losing 2-3 lbs a week.

    Then maybe it's not cheese but the other foods I am eating. I stick to 60-80g of carbs a day, maybe it's time to reduce.

    if you are eating 60-80g of carbs, cheese should be least of your worries.
  • He1loKitty
    He1loKitty Posts: 212 Member
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    That thought has crossed my mind. However, I tend to believe that below 50g is not sustainable for me. But if the consensus is that cheese is not going to hurt me, it's the daily carb intake of 60g-80g that leads to the plateau, then perhaps that is my problem, not the cheese.

    Like I said in my original post though, I think I lost two pounds by limiting my cheese intake and keeping carbs at 60g-80g. I am still trying to find what works for me.
  • Jim1960
    Jim1960 Posts: 194
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    I don't know if you're trying to stay in Ketosis in your low-carb diet. I know that in my case, if I'm not in Ketosis then fats are a problem. But if I'm in Ketosis, I can consume alot of fat. I can't stay in Ketosis at 60-80g carbs. And if I'm not in Ketosis then I'm not metabolizing fats the same way.
  • leighn62
    leighn62 Posts: 142 Member
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    Cheese is amazing and part of my daily food intake. It saves me actually, but remember, cheese has calories and eating to many calories is always going to stall weight loss. Pay attention to your overall calories per day for a while and fit cheese into your calorie goals and of course lowering your carbs always helps.
  • He1loKitty
    He1loKitty Posts: 212 Member
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    I don't know if you're trying to stay in Ketosis in your low-carb diet. I know that in my case, if I'm not in Ketosis then fats are a problem. But if I'm in Ketosis, I can consume alot of fat. I can't stay in Ketosis at 60-80g carbs. And if I'm not in Ketosis then I'm not metabolizing fats the same way.

    Jim, how many carbs a day do you eat to stay in ketosis? I know it would be different for me, but just curious. There seems to be a lot of different opinions on this site as to what constitutes "low carb." I just read a forum post where someone claimed they were eating low carb by eating 100g-150g of carbs a day. To me, that seems very high.
  • He1loKitty
    He1loKitty Posts: 212 Member
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    Cheese is amazing and part of my daily food intake. It saves me actually, but remember, cheese has calories and eating to many calories is always going to stall weight loss. Pay attention to your overall calories per day for a while and fit cheese into your calorie goals and of course lowering your carbs always helps.

    Yes, I think this is important. I think I was eating too much cheese which ultimately was putting me over my calorie goal for the day, but not my carb goal. I'm four months in and still trying to strike the right balance!
  • MelRC117
    MelRC117 Posts: 911 Member
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    Cheese is amazing and part of my daily food intake. It saves me actually, but remember, cheese has calories and eating to many calories is always going to stall weight loss. Pay attention to your overall calories per day for a while and fit cheese into your calorie goals and of course lowering your carbs always helps.

    Yes, I think this is important. I think I was eating too much cheese which ultimately was putting me over my calorie goal for the day, but not my carb goal. I'm four months in and still trying to strike the right balance!

    In order to lose you still need to be in a calorie deficit. The benefit of a low carb diet, is eating higher fat, moderate protein you feel more full resulting in you eating less. I personally wouldn't consider 60-80g of carbs per day low carb...lower carb that the "traditional" ratio of carbs/fats/proteins but if it works for you and you continue to lose than continue on. If you're stalling, then its the surplus of calories, not eating cheese.
  • 59gi
    59gi Posts: 307 Member
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    Watching you carbs and calories, should take you out of your stall.
  • Jim1960
    Jim1960 Posts: 194
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    I don't know if you're trying to stay in Ketosis in your low-carb diet. I know that in my case, if I'm not in Ketosis then fats are a problem. But if I'm in Ketosis, I can consume alot of fat. I can't stay in Ketosis at 60-80g carbs. And if I'm not in Ketosis then I'm not metabolizing fats the same way.

    Jim, how many carbs a day do you eat to stay in ketosis? I know it would be different for me, but just curious. There seems to be a lot of different opinions on this site as to what constitutes "low carb." I just read a forum post where someone claimed they were eating low carb by eating 100g-150g of carbs a day. To me, that seems very high.

    I've never experimented with finding my upper limit precisely. Maybe I could stay in Ketosis at 60g. I'm pretty sure I'd fall out if I went as far as 80g. I find that at 50g or less I stay in just fine. But that is all anecdotal. But some folks who are on low carb diets aren't trying to get into Ketosis. Can't say I understand why; but they do. For me low carb diets = Ketogenic diets. But that isn't true for all low carb dieters. This makes me want to understand why some would go low carb without going Ketogenic.
  • camtosh
    camtosh Posts: 898 Member
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    I don't know if you're trying to stay in Ketosis in your low-carb diet. I know that in my case, if I'm not in Ketosis then fats are a problem. But if I'm in Ketosis, I can consume alot of fat. I can't stay in Ketosis at 60-80g carbs. And if I'm not in Ketosis then I'm not metabolizing fats the same way.

    Jim, how many carbs a day do you eat to stay in ketosis? I know it would be different for me, but just curious. There seems to be a lot of different opinions on this site as to what constitutes "low carb." I just read a forum post where someone claimed they were eating low carb by eating 100g-150g of carbs a day. To me, that seems very high.

    I've never experimented with finding my upper limit precisely. Maybe I could stay in Ketosis at 60g. I'm pretty sure I'd fall out if I went as far as 80g. I find that at 50g or less I stay in just fine. But that is all anecdotal. But some folks who are on low carb diets aren't trying to get into Ketosis. Can't say I understand why; but they do. For me low carb diets = Ketogenic diets. But that isn't true for all low carb dieters. This makes me want to understand why some would go low carb without going Ketogenic.

    Hi Jim, I'm one of those types, eating lower carb (about 50-80) but not really low. I live in Japan, where they don't sell ketostix and I haven't bothered to order any from overseas (ditto the blood monitors) so I have just gone by how I feel and how much I have lost in kg and cm to measure my results. So I assume that since its working (slowly) for me, I must be making ketones at some point! No biggie.

    I find cheese keeps me from eating too much, so about 50 grams or so per day at lunch is good. More than that stalls me.

    edit: I just googled and found them. http://www.amazon.co.jp/Bayer-Ketostix-Reagent-Strips-Urinalysis/dp/B0000532GH/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403768292&sr=8-1&keywords=ketostix

    That is roughly $40 for 100 strips. Expensive or no? is it worth it? I have read that the urine strips aren't accurate anyway...
  • Crawfie16
    Crawfie16 Posts: 14 Member
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    Hey everyone. I've been low carb for almost four months now and I love it. When I started this diet, I was eating a good amount of cheese (probably two or three pieces of string cheese as part of my lunch or a snack and then some crumbled cheese on my salad with dinner) in place of all the graham crackers and granola bars I used to eat to get full. For whatever reason, I hit a plateau for about a month. I started thinking that maybe I was consuming too much cheese. Two weeks ago, I decided to limit my cheese intake to one serving a day. I finally dropped another two pounds in the last week.

    My question is this: on a low carb diet, do you eat cheese regularly? If so, how much? Do you find that cheese assists or inhibits your weight loss? If you don't eat cheese, what do you eat when you are ravenous in between meals? Thanks!

    When I changed my snack from cheese, which I love, to 30 grams of almonds per day, I lost weight. I love cheese and never thought I could get through the day without it, but I have, and if it means I can continue to lose lbs I will stay away from cheese - it is just not worth it.
  • He1loKitty
    He1loKitty Posts: 212 Member
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    Thanks for the feedback and insights everyone! I will aim to keep my cheese intake in check given my usual carb intake of 60-80g. However, I'm going to try harder to get myself below 50g every day. I'm thinking of doing this next week and see what that does.