Cutting down on carbs, but what do I eat instead?

I have a similar issue. Typically, I boil a dozen eggs on Sundays and then portion 2 in a ziploc baggie. That is a good breakfast (or good base for lunch). If you don't have time to do this on Sundays, some grocery stores have them pre-packaged near the egg section. Store them in your work's fridge!

As for your sandwiches, perhaps you can switch it up to a tortilla? There are lots of lower carb options that still taste good. If that's not an option, try an open faced sandwich...just leave off the extra slice of bread.

Also, I know fresh is best, but you could try those Atkins frozen meals. Also, in airports, they have individual containers of hummus and carrots, etc.

For dinner, I've substituted pasta for spaghetti squash. It does take time to cook it, but it's really good. I've also heard of people using those veggie slicers that makes something like zucchini look like pasta noodles. I'm not sure the correct name for it, but people seem to have lots of success with it.

Good luck!

You need to get more protein and fat if you're cutting carbs.

Have something like a ham omelette for breakfast, or scrambled eggs and bacon and tomato. I often have just 1 slice of toast with my eggs for breakfast.

You could do a tuna salad for lunch, or soup.

Dinner could be chicken stir fry, or fish or chicken with loads of veggies.

Snack on nuts, cottage cheese, yogurt....

The first thing you need to make sure of is that you are eating enough protein.

Second are you eating enough vegies.

Add fruit.

At a certain point when you cut back on carbs, you need to increase your fats becuase if you don't you will find you lack energy. Given your job, its going to be important that if you cut carbs, you ensure you are getting enough energy from somewhere.

For the most part you should be able to work this out intuitively by paying attention to how you feel. If you make a dramatic change and cut carbs severely, you may require a period of adjustment.

Anyway if you are going ot count calories then you might as well monitor your carb, protein and fat intake at the same time. YOu cna forget about using the sugar counter completely. It's not necessary unless you are diabetic.

First off notice how many carbs a day you normally eat. Then try to cut it back significantly. I would suggest that anywhere between 100 and 150 is going to be good. At the 100 end of the scale you will have to increase fats. You need not fear fats becuase you are also counting calories. But when you eat fats in replacement of carbs a couple of things are different.

1. You will notice a drop off in appetite
2. You will eat physically less in quantity because fat is more calorie dense. Compare a piece of cheese to a slice of bread or a piece of meat. This means that you should not ever eat til you are full.

There is one other important thing, if you are not willing to prepare your own food, then you are going to struggle to lose weight. You need to make time for shopping, and food preparation. You will need to make time for thinking about what you are going to eat. And then you will simply need to get organised and be efficient with your food preparation.

Why is this important? Because the food you buy already prepared is high in calories and hyper flavoured. Both these things are not helpful for losing weight and weight management.

Here's a few ideas for starters.

Breakfast:
boiled eggs, fried tomatoes, mushrooms, piece toast
omelettes wiht stuff inside.
any sort of leftovers are great - anyting you eat for dinner you can eat for breakfast.
I also like lentil soup for breakfast.
Hummus and a heated pita bread is a great filling breakfast. 1/2 cup hummus and 1 pita will keep you going for a while. And don't worry this is healthy diet food especially if you do make it yourself. It even includes drizzling a little oil over the top of it.
Yoghurt and fruit salad

Lunch
There's nothing wrong with a sandwich for lunch so long as its full of salad or not full of stuff oozing oil salt and sugar. And so long as your bread is wholegrain.
Sardine sandiwches are fabulous.
tomato and cheese and lettuce sandwich is fine.
Have fruit to follow
Put a salad together and spice it up with some crumbled fetta cheese and a small quantity of walnuts.
Lentil or bean salad

Afternoon snack
fruit and or yoghurt but not the sweet stuff.

dinner made with:
meat and vegies
or beans and vegies
or fish and vegies
or chicken and vegies
_see no pasta! No rice!

Fruit for dessert
small piece of cheese maybe.

I just baked my breakfast quiche for the week. So very simple. Use a muffin tin, spray with non-stick pam or other product. Fill the muffin tins (about 3/4 way) with the egg whites, add some cut up ham, add some cheese and bake on 350 for 20 (maybe a little more depending on your oven) and your done! I just wrapped up 2/day for the week!

neanderthin wrote: »

Why not just cut back the calories?

Because this wasn't her question.

OP: back when I had a lot of weight to lose, I chose to cut out grains completely after breakfast. For lunch and dinner I'd make sure that at least half of my plate was made up of veggies (usually green ones, not potatoes...). Once I cut back on those types of carbs (starchy veggies and grains - the grains were for other reasons though), it was easier to create a deficit and sustain that deficit/way of eating. I also felt much better too - less tired after lunch, etc. So - replace with vegetables, and make sure you're getting enough protein and healthy fats (more than what MFP recommends).

thanks to the great tips on this thread. I am also cutting back on bread, rice, and pasta. I substitute whole wheat bread/rolls and brown rice when I can. The family doesn't like whole wheat pasta so I will probably just eat my own food on pasta night.