CharlieLopez2005

Hey gang. I'm Charlie out in Greenfield (East Side). Looking forward to getting to know fellow MFPers! -Charlie

I test my blood ketones regularly and after getting knocked to below 0.5 mM/L following a carb-heavy meal, I find it usually takes 5 days of strictly watching my carbs (and to some extent protein) before I get back into nutritional ketosis, regardless of how intensely I exercise in between. At least, I can't tell to what…

What is your macro target? Do you usually hit? 5% carbs, 20% protein, and 75% fat. I usually hit those targets. What is your calorie target (if any)? Do you usually hit? 2500 calories and I usually hit. How much do you exercise? None, Light, Moderate, Heavy? Moderate, 3-4 times a week weight lifting and playing…

When going low-carb at first: -Don't avoid the salt (in order to avoid the "low-carb flu"); -Up your fat intake (preferably with natural fats like coconut, lard, butter, ghee, olive oil vs. corn, soybean, cottonseed, canola) to avoid rabbit starvation; -Avoid foods with marketing claims like "reduced fat" or…

I'm with you on this one. Movie theater popcorn with the faux-butter is pretty much my only kryptonite, for some reason. I won't eat popcorn in any other context. At one point, I remember seeing awful movies just so I could have so popcorn. That's when you know you have problems! Just know that a popcorn splurge will knock…

Fair point! Sometimes less is more. Thanks for the feedback!

Just to clarify, my blog www.lowcarbcharlie.com is already up and running, but I'm trying to put together an offline LCHF support group where I work in Indy--it's an experiment, hopefully it goes well.

Nice job! Looking good!

bacon grease coconut oil

When I want to lose weight (especially as stored body fat), I keep my net carbs down to 20g or less. In maintenance now, I'm up to about 40g net carbs. Mileage may vary with this as each person is different.

Try replacing bread and tortilla with lettuce (as in lettuce wraps) for sandwiches and burgers. Shred zucchini squash as a substitute for pasta noodles. Bake prosciutto, shredded parmesan cheese, or turkey pepperoni in the oven as substitutes for chips. Many grains are usually fillers that are part of larger meals to make…

That is awesome! Keep it up!

You might try Silk's unsweetened almond milk (35 calories per cup, zero-net carbs) mixed with IsoPure vanilla (0 carb whey protein isolate). Of course, even the best protein shakes pale in comparison to real, whole meats like fish and chicken.

I actually think bacon and sausage are fairly healthy. I consume an entire package of bacon almost every night, sometimes dipping it in real butter, too. My food diary bears this out. Many people are fat-phobic with the idea that fat in the food automatically becomes stored fat in the body, which, upon closer inspection,…

Kroger has a brand of low carb yogurt called "Carb Master" that's 60 calories, 8g of protein, 1.5g of fat, and 4 net carbs per 6oz cup. The newer flavors, Banana Cream Pie and White Chocolate with Raspberry, are a great ice cream/dessert substitute--without any of the fake sugars to boot, plus some probiotics. Sprinkle…

I've done low-carb dieting for the past 14 months. Feel free to add me if you'd like some help in this area. Good luck!

It's been movie theater popcorn (the kind drenched in soybean oil butter topping)--terrible in terms of both carbs and fake, industrial oils. But I've recently discovered that pork cracklins (Mac's brand), seasoned with cheese or butter salt, has been an excellent no-carb substitute. If I flavor it with some hot and spicy…

I would recommend looking up different recipes for "meatza."

On occasion, I'll use IsoPure's zero carb whey protein shake. But since I cut down on the carbs most days, I get my protein intake from food sources, like meat and eggs.

Kroger's Carb Master yogurt--4 carbs, 60 calories per cup. Many flavors.

In a way, I get that some people just don't like the taste of meat. I despise the taste of egg plants, for some reason. Everyone has their weird food preferences. But in terms of ethics or niceness, from a big picture perspective, there is no way to get around contributing to animal slaughter, even if it's more indirect…

I'm not vegetarian/vegan, but I like to use the House Food's brand of organic extra firm tofu (0 carbs) to bake french fries (I love french fries, but I'm on a low-carb diet). Preheat oven to 375. Dry up the tofu with some paper towels as much as possible and then cut up into french fry pieces (try to be as even and…

As a low-carb person myself, my feeling is that if you go over on carbs due to intake of non-starchy vegetables (which are also relatively high in fiber), more power to you--I wouldn't worry about it, in other words. Even on Phase 1 of Atkins, a fair amount of broccoli and romaine lettuce can be eaten before one gets to 25…

I, too, am heading up an office Biggest Loser group myself next week. Outside of recording everyone's weigh-ins, I'm sending out an email every week on weight loss advice to help my team to victory. I personally do a low-carb diet, but I have to be mindful that not everyone is necessarily understanding of this advice, so I…

I have some degree of insulin resistance (literally 1 or 2 pts away from being diagnosed as prediabetic at my heaviest with the 3-hour oral glucose tolerance test) and as a result, I was always battling hunger in trying to stick to a low-fat/high-carb weight loss approach. Might try the oral glucose tolerance or A1C test…

I've lost weight on WW twice in the past--two several month long stints--but I regained the weight and then some. To be fair, I had some degree of insulin resistance (my oral glucose tolerance test was literally 1 or 2 pts away from me being diagnosed with prediabetes), and this made WW's low-fat/high-carb diet hard to…

If you have a Kroger nearby, they have a "Carb Master" yogurt that is 4 total carbs or so per 6oz cup. I think about the same number of calories (80) as many lite yogurts. http://www.sparkpeople.com/calories-in.asp?food=kroger+carbmaster+yogurt

SinorSlim: Question - does the safflower oil make a difference? I only have extra virgin organic coconut oil. Didn't know if this would work in frying it or not.

:smile: I do believe I know what I'm having 4 servings of for dinner tonight! Yumm, and thanks so much for posting!

I've probably read up to 5 or 6 dozen books during my weight loss journey so far, but I really liked Dr. Catherine Shanahan's (MD) "Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food" (her blog is drcate.com to see samples of her ability to translate complex medical stuff into intelligent layperson prose).