The FastDay Forum

Hello @sarahg

The Atkins website is a good source of information about which foods are low and high carb. You don't have to be doing the Atkins diet to benefit from the info. They do have an online carb counter as well. You might be able to pick up a second hand copy of an Atkins diet book. I read mine from cover to cover but never did the diet, what I liked were a few pages which explained the "carb ladder", a list of the kinds of foods which contained the least and most carbs, and then within each type, the highest and lowest.

As you know, the first things to cut down/cut out are sugars and starches such as bread, cereals, pasta, rice, noodles, crispcakes, cakes, pastries, fruit juice, dried fruit.

Fruits such as berries and currants are preferable to grapes and bananas; fibrous fruits like apples and pears come in between.

In nuts, macadamia, which are very fatty are preferable to almonds, hazelnuts and Brazil's, while cashews are high carb.

Green vegetables are lower carb than root vegetables. Avocados are good.

Anyway, good luck and Don't stress. You can always ask questions on here, there are many knowledgeable low carbers about!

Have a read of paleo websites like marksdailyapple and zoe Harcombe who have lots of good basic information too. The trick is to convince your head and stomach you really mean to do this, don't stress when you have a carb meltdown, start as fresh the next day. Gradually the cravings go, I found doing a five day determinedly no sugars of any sort really helped make a break to stop cravings.
Good luck, your body and your life will thank you for it :0)

Thank you
My question barbarita....how much carbs?
I will try find the carb counter
I am fine cutting out the obvious like bread potatoes pasta but have to have my veggies and my two squares of dark choc each night
Is that too much?

Mark'S Daily Apple has a guide list how many g carbs to eat for weight loss. I like to eat around 70g daily (which some may consider higher than the Atkins thing of 20-30g but I personally find that undoable and very limiting to what I can eat). I eat LOADS of veg, berries etc, a bit of chcocolate on occasion and don't feel remotely deprived. You have to work out what level will suit you. I find if I eat much more than 100g daily regularly I don't lose weight and my cravings are worse. On 70g ish I eat loads of food, feel satisfied and my appetite is under control. But, as has been said SO many times on here - we're all different!

Thanks
Will try for 70 g then
Happy as long as I can eat veg .i am not a big meat eater,prefer salads,and veggies and a bit of chicken

@Sarahg Think Caroline said 100-150 is a good day
70-100 very good day, with the 20g a day only for a few days but said our bodies don't need carbs to function at all.
Your veggies and bit of chocky is fine, its finding what's sustainable for you that's more important.

I agree with loversghost. I have never done 20 grams and most days am probably around 50 to 80, but as with calories I don't actually weigh and count. I think carorees has said you may still lose weight on 100, which is far less than I used to eat in the days of porridge for breakfast, baked potato for lunch, pasta with dinner, things on toast, biscuits, cakes, pastries for snacks and so on. I still have cake, quiche, baked potato occasionally but some days the highest carb type of food I eat is nuts or beans, Greek yoghurt, raspberries. I love dark chocolate! As for veggies, as much as you like providing that does not mean a whole bunch of carrots!

If you are looking for a number how about starting with 75 and seeing what that does for your weight and what kind of food that translates to?

Right,so I wiki start with 75 which should be easy for me
I take it that is on non fast days?
Or on fast days too?
Tomorrow I fast which is usually very low carbs as I eat salad ,veg small protein and an apple.maybe a soy coffee

@Sarahg As we don't actually need carbs to function you can go lower on your fastdays that's a great starting point for you
then see how things go for a while and tweak where necessary.

Marks daily apple says that 50-100 is the sweet spot for weight loss and 100-150 per day for maintenance. There is a link to it further up the thread. That is quite a lot if you do it mindfully.

Use MFP for carb counting, makes it so easy. Don't eat and then count though. Plan, count then eat! Good luck

I think I read somewhere that if the veggies grow below the ground as in carrots, potatoes, beets etc... not so good; but if they grow above the ground as in kale, cabbage, broccoli etc. then go for it!

Thanks all
What's MFP?

MFP is My Fitness Pal, a really great tracking app for food and activity. I also like Carb Manager which you can set your daily carb goal and then as you add foods, it keeps a running total and graphically let's you know when you are getting close/going over your goal.

I have my fitness pal
Use it to count calories but can't work out how to count carbs
Will go take another look
Xxx

The low carb tent was erected in my first week of joining, and now is 71 pages long - full of marvellous info, conversations and learning ..... and I have tiptoed in and out for 7 months. As a number and calorie counting phobic person - I just try to be sensible and use the great information to prompt my feelings and natural instincts to make the right choices for me. So if you are like me ...... low carb can work, however we approach it.

@Fatdog and other low carb peeps thanks for your posts, I can take your information (without the numbers) and make it work for me I hope all is well with you.

@Juliana.Rivers - thanks so much for the back to basis thread.

If you are like me and want to understand how low carb can work for you, take time out and start at page 1. Thanks to all of you who can count, you have helped me get where I am - a very happy space.

Lizbean