Need Some Low Carb Ideas

_EndGame_
_EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Thinking of cutting down on carbs to improve weight loss. I lost lots last year, but I was massively overweight then, so weight dropped off by simply cutting calories, but now I'm kind of struggling. I swim at least 4 times a week, clothing is constantly getting baggier, but the number on the scale isn't really moving. I've been losing and gaining the same 5 LBS for the last 6 months.

Anyway, I'm just wanting some ideas for a sustainable low carb diet. (Not wanting to completely cut carbs out, just looking to reduce them quite a lot for a few weeks, see if it works) could do with some suggestions and recipes that are keeping carbs to a minimum. I like to feel full and satiated, and I usually eat carbs to get that feeling.

Any suggestions will be muchos appreciated.

Replies

  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
    Just to add, I don't eat meat. I eat fish - but not meat.
  • aeb09
    aeb09 Posts: 424 Member
    Here are my fav low carb blogs:

    I Breathe I'm Hungry
    All Day I Dream About Food
    Peace Love and Low Carb
    The Low Carb Diet Blog
    Ruled.Me

    So many good ideas there and on Pinterest. In order to feel full and satiated on low carb you need to eat extra fat - oils (olive, coconut), butter, nut butters, full fat mayo/sour cream/cream cheese, heavy cream, etc.
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
    Pinterest - not something I'm signed up to! I'll take a look at it though - think my other half is on there.

    Going full fat will be completely opposite to what I'm used to - I'm used to avoiding high fats!

    Think I'll need to mentally re-educate myself into eating high fat, low carb!
  • shai74
    shai74 Posts: 512 Member
    edited October 2014
    _EndGame_ wrote: »
    Pinterest - not something I'm signed up to! I'll take a look at it though - think my other half is on there.

    Going full fat will be completely opposite to what I'm used to - I'm used to avoiding high fats!

    Think I'll need to mentally re-educate myself into eating high fat, low carb!

    Low fat diet is what's made us all fat and given us all of these health problems.

    There's also a LCHF - Low Carb High Fat facebook group, very large and very active.
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
    Just checked that LCHF group on FB - looks good!

    I'm going to start the lower carb, higher fat eating tomorrow.

    I have walnuts and eggs in, always plenty of fruit and veg, I'm just struggling for varied meal ideas!

    Thanks for highlighting that group, Shai, it really does look useful!
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    if you lost weight eating carbs, why do you think that carbs are now stalling you? If you are not losing, then you are not eating in a calorie deficit. Do you have a food scale and weigh measure all your food? Have you adjusted your calorie goal since you lost all the weight? As you lose weight your calorie needs will change, so you might have to adjust your daily goal …

    low carb really has nothing to do with it, unless you have some medical condition that makes your sensitive to carbs...
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    if you lost weight eating carbs, why do you think that carbs are now stalling you? If you are not losing, then you are not eating in a calorie deficit. Do you have a food scale and weigh measure all your food? Have you adjusted your calorie goal since you lost all the weight? As you lose weight your calorie needs will change, so you might have to adjust your daily goal …

    low carb really has nothing to do with it, unless you have some medical condition that makes your sensitive to carbs...

    I'm in a deficit 80% of the time, the rest of the time I'm eating at maintenance. I'm A LOT more active and healthier than I was this time last year. I swim, lift weights and as I said before, my clothing is still getting baggier (due to building muscle I assume) but unless I dramatically cut calories down (and by dramatically, I mean to 1400 calories a day or less) I don't see a loss on the scale. 1400 calories for me isn't sustainable, currently, for me to lose 2lbs a week, I need to eat 1680 a day, I usually have about between 600 and 800 calories a day burned through swimming. So, even if I eat 1900 calories on a day I've burned 600 on swimming, I still don't seem to lose weight.

    I do weigh food. Not all the time, but after weighing food for well over a year, I can measure lot's of food by eye now, either way, even if I didn't weigh food, I wouldn't be misjudging it enough to be going over maintenance to be eating a surplus.

    Funnily enough, I've noticed, that on the occasions I don't do swimming for a week (I work away from home, so don't always get to go swimming) the scale seems to go down! It's like, if I don't exercise, but eat the same amount, I lose weight?!

    So, given what I've said above, I've started looking for alternative methods to shift the weight. Hence the lower carb idea. I'm not wanting to cut carbs completely, but I am wanting to cut them down considerably.

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    OK - but if you are cutting carbs you are just cutting calories …so at the end of the day you are just eating less. where do you think you are getting the energy to swim, lift, etc…it is the carbs that you eat. Also, where are you getting 600-800 burned? that sounds high to me, but I am not a swimmer...
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
    I'm still around the 270lbs weight range - I was 404lbs when I started. So according to the HRM, 1 hour (1 mile) of swimming usually burns around between 500 - 650 calories. The rest of the calories are usually from additional weight lifting or, push ups, walking, etc.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    if you have dropped 130 pounds, which is awesome by the way! Maybe you should consider chaining your goal from two pound per week to one pound per week? that would mean eating more, which I know sounds counter productive but your body does start to adapt to lower calories over time …maybe increase 250 cals a day for a few weeks and see what happens...
  • parkscs
    parkscs Posts: 1,639 Member
    Low carb is useful if you're going hungry. If you don't feel hungry at your current calorie intake, low carb probably isn't going to do anything for you other than drop a bit of water weight and may well negatively impact your exercise routine. You should look into it and make an educated decision - there are reasons you might choose to do low carb but there's nothing magical about it (nor is there any metabolic advantage to it).
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
    Thanks!

    I've got my overall weight loss clocked at 135lbs, I just added the 5lbs back on due to constantly gaining/losing it.

    Yeah, I thought about changing up the goal, I'm just mulling over trying new techniques. I figured, if I can eat the same amount of calories in fats (fats being something I've avoided more than carbs) instead of carbs, and then I lose weight, assuming it's sustainable and I don't feel hungry, then it's worth giving it a shot?

    As said before, I'm not planning on giving up carbs, but I've noticed I do seem to eat a lot of them. People always say your body gets used to the same routine and to change stuff up a little, and I'm kind of the opposite. I don't like change!
  • shai74
    shai74 Posts: 512 Member
    _EndGame_ wrote: »
    Just checked that LCHF group on FB - looks good!

    I'm going to start the lower carb, higher fat eating tomorrow.

    I have walnuts and eggs in, always plenty of fruit and veg, I'm just struggling for varied meal ideas!

    Thanks for highlighting that group, Shai, it really does look useful!

    No worries. There are some hard core low carbers (like me, under 20g a day) but there are alot who eat more. It's a good group for ideas and motivation, lots of food posted, and lots of pics of people who've managed to lose a lot of weight and get their health under control. Even many people who've managed to get off of diabetes and cholesterol medication eating this way.
  • parkscs
    parkscs Posts: 1,639 Member
    You might just try playing with your macros before going very low carb. People like to go to extremes, but you might just try upping your fat 10% and dropping carbs 10% and see where that leaves you. Small tweaks aren't as interesting I suppose, but oftentimes work the best. Definitely find a way though that is sustainable for you, which to me means being happy with your routine while losing weight. If you're going hungry on a daily basis, I'd change things up a bit.
  • raysputin
    raysputin Posts: 142 Member
    There is a school of thought that promotes the NET carb way of thinking. This school subscribes to the idea that fibre reduces the value of the carbs you eat. The formula is carbs(grams) - fibre(grams) = net carbs. I can't say whether net carbs is the correct approach or not but, if you like the idea of net carbs, increasing your fibre may have the same effect as reducing carbs. As most westerners get too little fibre, a bit more might be advisable anyway.
  • Add713
    Add713 Posts: 53 Member
    [/quote]

    Low fat diet is what's made us all fat and given us all of these health problems.

    There's also a LCHF - Low Carb High Fat facebook group, very large and very active.[/quote]

    What?? Oh u read it on the net......ok it must be true
  • AZ8683
    AZ8683 Posts: 5 Member
    edited October 2014
    Add713 wrote: »
    What?? Oh u read it on the net......ok it must be true

    Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It 2010 Gary Taubes
    The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living 2011 Stephen D. Phinney & Jeff S. Volek
    Wheat Belly Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health 2011 William Davis MD

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