The FastDay Forum

@Minumonline we had your celeriac chips tonight as I had one that needed using. They were delicious. Husband won't try them as thinks it smells of celery and no.3 son didn't like them but no.1 son and I could have eaten the whole lot between us. Thanks for the idea

Hey@nursebean, you beat me over here to the Low Carbers tent. Thanks for your post at the ADF tent. I found I prefer having regular designated fast days rather than different days of the week every week.

I am stuck on a plateau and I was hoping to hang out here and get some tips about low carb and see if that helps get me off it.

The only diet I ever had success on (before this WOL) was Atkins but that was only the first time I tried it. The next time it didn't work for me, probably because I couldn't keep at the extremely low carb levels and even though I love meat and fat, it was difficult to follow. The world is filled with sugar and starch

Having read more on low-carb eating since starting on 5:2, I think I was probably eating too much protein too as that can prevent you going into ketosis (on Atkins) and hence sabotage weight loss.
It seems that TOTAL grams of carbs eaten, not carb proportion of your total diet, nor your weight nor gender, is the determinant of whether you store excess as fat.

I realized this on Mark's Daily Apple where he has his Primal Blueprint Carbohydrate Curve. I am not going "Paleo" but he has lots of information there. Looks like, in general, if you're not a frequent exerciser, less than 100g per day should result in weight loss. I also have a carb counting app for my iPhone.

Anyway, going to give it a go on 5:2 and check back in here for advice, recipes etc. Those celeriac chips sound good

Hi @nursebean & @loulou51 - to start with, I followed Rose's "plan" so you can join me vicariously at the beginning of my thread (in signature). Lots of recipes along with much havering in there...

Many months in, I now aim for on ~19g carb on a repair day (<=15% carb calories) and ~50g carb on a feed day. I often miss. Big time. And the scales tell me off two days later, and (usually) forgive me a couple of days after that

Even with my posh lunch out, I think I only had 57g carbs.
Scales will tell the truth tomorrow of cals v carbs.

Minumonline yum - and thank you....going to buy some and try.

I think I'm keeping under my daily cal allowance, and I'm pretty sure i'm going well with carbs. I'm eating fried schnitzel and fried eggplant and mushrooms. I think the oil is gonna drive the cals sky high.
so I'm back to using spray oil for frying and allow for 50 gms of butter for vegies and one slice of toast.
I'm gonna have to count carbs i think, just to see.

I don't like counting cals, it seems so time consuming.
Excuse me while I think aloud.

Hi @Judithn it's great to see you in here as well.

My first "feast day" since joining this tent and I think I've boobed already! I had Shreddies and Cornflakes in one bowl (only a couple of handfuls of each, but even so)

Should have started the day with a boiled egg...minus the buttered toast I presume?

Low carb is gonna be hard (Bean's new motto)

Bean

@nursebean A COUPLE of handfuls of each, Beanie...oh dear. Shall I be your carb Nemesis? Let's say 30g shreddies and 30g cornflakes (roughly a couple of handfuls of each), plus semi skimmed milk and 2 tsp sugar:
354 calories
69 carbs.

Where's your will power, woman?!!!

@nursebean, cereals used to be my downfall too!
I didn't realise that something touted as 'healthy' could contain so many carbs so as Penny says, step away from them! Eggs would be a much better brekkie choice and would probably satisfy you for longer too!

Just as a thought @nursebean can you tell us what your TDEE is - it must be quite low, as I know you have difficulty doing much exercise.
I have a disappointingly low TDEE and I'm reasonably active and, to even maintain my weight at what I am now, I stick to 1200 cals or below on 'feast' days. Yes, a lot of people would say that's too low to be sustainable, but I have so much variety of food, that I'm never bored and I'm healthier as a result.

[Debs]

Ok people in this tent, I have a question for low carbers. In the original program MM recommended keeping the protein low, so between low carb and low protein, what on earth so I eat???! Suggestions please as I am a little confunded by the whole thing

Debs, This is my take on low carb as per MM: It's really just a sensible diet without the sugar, flour and starch. "Low" is a little ambiguous, and it depends on what you mean by not low. You want low enough carbs so that you don't need to produce insulin to keep the blood sugar down. You need enough protein so that your body doesn't break down muscle instead. Low protein means sensible amounts, not massive steaks for every meal. Loads of veggies will help with vitamins, minerals and fibre and liquid, but you want to avoid potatoes. Fats are not as forbidden as on most diets: some cheese or coconut oil is useful, but again, don't go overboard and stick within overall calorie needs.

And remember, @debs that even 200g ribeye steak 'only' has about 58g protein - a rump of 200g has about 40g protein, so it's not the total weight of what you eat, but its protein/carb content.
I aim for around a max of 60g daily protein, which I get from red meat (in moderation), poultry, fish, pulses (in moderation, as they can be higher in carbs), cheese (sadly, in moderation, too) and these are bulked by loadsa veggies!

[Debs]

Thank you for answers, I must try and do some measuring and check what I eat. I must admit veggies are a problem at camp as they are over cooked, undercooked, or in the case of bulk frozen veggies, not cooked at all
Shall do my best and see how I fare

Forced to try black coffee today, as son 2 has finished the milk Its OK, not great, but OK. I want to learn to like it, to keep carbs down, and to help with zero cal stretches.