The FastDay Forum

£20??? You really do need to start tracking fatdog!

[carorees]

The thing is that people vary in their sensitivity to carbs, so while 150g per day may be fine for some, others need to restrict to under 50g. You have to experiment. There does seem to be some link between insulin resistance and body shape so if you are apple shaped you are more likely to have insulin resistance and so would need to aim for lower carbs than someone who is pear or hourglass shaped.

I'm an hourglass shape so I think that 100-150g per non-fast day seems to work for me. I actually sleep better if I have some carbs but worse if I have a lot of carbs. Just cutting out breakfast and not giving up bread, pasta, rice, cake etc but instead having tiny portions seems to be enough to keep carbs within these limits. My appetite is so much smaller nowadays I can't manage large portions anyway!

I think you're right - much as I'd like to do it, the thought of 'life with no bread, ever' etc seems quite grim to me and I don't really want to do it so I am trying to reduce the carbs I eat (and certainly cut out the refined ones) and as Julieathome said earlier - just do what I can do without compromising my enjoyment of life. I take my hat off to the people who eat REALLY low carb though (under 50g or something) - I certainly couldn't do it regularly - though on fast days it's quite easy!

[wildmissus]

I'm in the middle of reading 'Why we get fat' by Gary Taubes. I'm half way through the book - you know the bit where you think what is the point in trying to loose weight as it's going to fail anyway!. It would appear from the science he quotes, that governments and health authorities have chosen to ignore, the reason we get fat is down to carbs. The 'authorities' have advocated low fat and/or calorie restriction for years and guess what - yes, obesity is rising. Having tried the Dukan Attack for 3 days (protein only) and lost 5lb, low/no carbing clearly worked for me. I am apple shaped, my mother is type 2 diabetic, I love my bad carbs but I know that to improve my current and future health and to get to target weight I'm going to have to reduce my carbs. Does anyone know how I get the motivation and willpower to do it???

I think that if you cut them out all together then once you're over the initial withdrawal pangs you don't crave them anymore. The problem is as has already been mentioned again and again by posters, being able to enjoy them sometimes, in moderate amounts, without it becoming a carbfest blowout. The problem I find is that it's not easy to live "normally" without cake, sandwiches, pasta, potatoes etc. because that's what's out there when we visit friends, family, eating out etc. I can manage perfectly well on low carb if I never step out of the house, (except for the odd redwine carbfest! ) but it's not easy to stick to when you're out and about. Any tips anyone?

For me, I'm wondering if the way forward is simply to do low-carb when I can. I'm realising that the occasional falling off the wagon (as witness last night's pizza blowout!) isn't the end of the world - I just have the climb back on the next day.

Perhaps this is easier for me because I've avoided sugar for so many years now (because of the candida problem) that no one who knows me expects me to eat cake, biscuits, desserts when I'm out and about with them. So for me the challenge is avoiding the staples like rice, pasta, bread & potatoes and, as I said before, that's proved surprisingly easy so far. Easy on two counts - one because no one's noticed or commented on my avoiding carbs, and two because I wasn't particularly tempted to have them.

Still don't think I can do this when I go to India for a couple of months at a stretch, but perhaps the answer is just to go back to low-carbing when I come back home.