The FastDay Forum

Hello, glampers!
I'm an apple and definitely found out over New Year about my carb intolerance, whilst at the in laws. After an overload of chicken curry, rice, poppadoms, naan (and yes, where was my self control I hear you ask? Well, it wasn't a fast day!) and NO veg, I just couldn't face the next day's evening meal of lasagne, garlic bread, chips and NO veg, so I had to go to the shops and buy myself a tin of beans (not baked) and some veggies. I'm sure I horrified them (and they probably thought me quite rude, but they've known me long enough for me to explain the reasons) as I ate a generous portion of veg curry and nothing else.
For me, it's about a balance of things; enough fibre, low/lowish carb, fresh veg, fish and meat. I used to be low fat, but am trying to 'up' my good fat in a day, with oily fish, avocado etc.
It's a way of eating that's very sustainable for me. I rarely want anything sweet, which is a huge bonus!

I have the same kind of "problem" when I have lunch at my parents' house, a lot of carbs and no vegs. Well, except yesterday where there was asparagus but my mum drowned them with mayonnaise.After that there was a couscous with veg but drowned in sauce so, last night I had a craving for raw vegs and clementines. To keep a kind of balance, as you said, Penny

Many thanks to our resident low carb gurus for all their good advice and useful links.
I'm hoping to do 24 hour fasts on Mondays and Thursdays through January at least, and 16/8 on most other days to get the carb rate down to <20g on fast days and <75g on feed days, though initially <100g won't upset me.
Like others, I've been working towards this over the winter so it's time to give it a proper go.
If it all becomes too much like hard work and my body hates it then I'm quite happy to pull back and try again later. Life is short enough, I don't want to make it (and me) unbearable.
Good luck everyone :0)

I just joined but I'm into low carb as i have insulin resistance.
I just want to float about the site until i get the hang of it. I am not on the IF diet as there is too much happening for me to start yet. But im wanting to feel supported when i do start.
Thanks
johanna

@fatdog@rawkarenSomeone on here earlier reminded me that Myfitnesspal works out carbs for you. Now my question is should you add the sugar and the carb totals together to get your total carb intake for that day?

I think carorees is right when she says to try and work out what level suits you best - I find I manage perfectly well on 50-75g a day (which is not what some would consider low carb at all) and my blood sugars behave too (not diabetic, but got family history) but when I started and was probably eating 230g a day (loads of bread) I thought I'd never be able to eat even 150g a day. I did it gradually - and that seemed to sort out the energy thing too; I think if you suddenly start in at 50g daily when you've been eating lots more carbs than that (and most people do) then you'd feel knackered, to put it bluntly. I'm rubbish at finding links but there's a site called Mark's Daily Apple that has a list of carb levels and what to expect at each level re weight loss. I found it useful. Also worth noting that if you are diabetic and do low carb then if you for whatever reason suddenly have a high carb meal your blood glucose response will be exaggerated temporarily (so I understand).

Thanks FatDog too for the heads up re the CBB books!

Strewth, this thread took off faster than a Harrier Jump Jet. If there is any room left I'd like to squeeze in please. I have already lost half an inch but unfortunately it was from my vertical perspective as opposed to my horizontal, used to be 5' 5.5" then shrunk to 5' 5" and I now find I have misplaced another half inch, getting careless in my old age.

I have gone more and more low carb but it still is making no difference to my spare tyre or my Buddha belly but as an apple I feel I need to make more of an effort but I do feel that age is against me. The last time I was this weight I had a waist that was a good 3 " smaller. Mmmmm'

Ballerina x

@fatdog@rawkarenSomeone on here earlier reminded me that Myfitnesspal works out carbs for you. Now my question is should you add the sugar and the carb totals together to get your total carb intake for that day?

Hi @loulou51. Unless someone can correct me, I think the carb content is the TOTAL of the two, ie it breaks out what it calls 'sugar' separately so you can see it. So for example a tin of tomatoes is 15g of carbs, of which 13g is sugar. That's what it says on the tin too! phew.

Welcome@Johanna05 You just pop in and out on any post and we'll all be here when you're ready to begin.

Buddha belly @ballerina I don't think so look
This is a Buddha belly


But yes this one took off in a big way indeed and I for one learn something different each time I pop back on during my First real fastday in ages.

I mentioned 'carb flu' today on a few posts. Those of you who are considering lowering your carbs might be feel like this for the first few days. Sometimes it's called keto flu. No doubt @carorees has a more scientific answer for us.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/low-carb ... z2pbRtGuWe

Mine happened in reverse (as I dramatically increased my carb intake......)

Knock knock.........

I am a bear of very little brain and don't really understand carbs so am really grateful for what you have all said. However, it's all going a bit over my head. I have been reading FatDogs thread for months, the recipes look great but I don't really understand it all (it's all those numbers - sorry!) and have never plucked up the courage to ask her to explain it to me. I am sure that carbs don't agree with me and no longer have bread, potatoes, rice or pasta except on the odd occasion, same with red wine. I couldn't give up sugar nor flour completely but I would like to know which foods are the worst and which are the best so that I could make more informed choices and would be grateful if someone could give me a numpty's guide.
Thanks

Thank you @Silverdarling, I'll look out for the new book.

This really is a fast tent - having trouble keeping up - which as a runner doesn't bode well for my speed . I'll need to see how low I can go and keep being able to run. I'm sure CreakyPete wrote some good advice I'll check that out.

First full fsat of the New Year - not been doing many as I'm maintaining and 16:8 seems to keep the weight off but just feel the need for a lighter stomach today, so carbs will be 0 today. DH has started his own regime today. I can't get him to 5:2 but can feed him lower carb as I know that will be one of his downfalls and he does need to lose abdominal fat.

Thanks everyone for your advice, I'll be putting it into practice from tomorrow.

Knock knock.........

I am a bear of very little brain and don't really understand carbs so am really grateful for what you have all said. However, it's all going a bit over my head. I have been reading FatDogs thread for months, the recipes look great but I don't really understand it all (it's all those numbers - sorry!) and have never plucked up the courage to ask her to explain it to me. I am sure that carbs don't agree with me and no longer have bread, potatoes, rice or pasta except on the odd occasion, same with red wine. I couldn't give up sugar nor flour completely but I would like to know which foods are the worst and which are the best so that I could make more informed choices and would be grateful if someone could give me a numpty's guide.
Thanks

Here you go @wendy darling. This is not a bad list. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/list-of- ... foods.html If you don't want to give up completely, just start out by cutting out anything white and stick to the whole complex carbs like brown rice, legumes etc.

@Wendy Darling
The plain English explanation of carbs is:

Carbs are sugars, in all their different forms. Generally think of high carb foods as those that are the seed or offspring part of a plant. So anything that comes out of a pod, any kind of a grain, seed, fruit or a root vegetable are the worst culprits for carbs. The new baby plant will need lots of energy to grow,whilst its roots form so the seed is packed with energy in the form of sugars. In the case of fruits, the fruit is packed with sugars to encourage animals to eat it and carry the seeds away from the parent plant.

The body uses carbs immediately as energy food. If you don't need the instant energy then your insulin comes into play and converts the excess sugar/energy into fat. This was handy when we were chasing or running away from bears, or if we are very athletic in modern life. But most of us aren't. The insulin response was handy for Mr. Caveman because it allowed him to store energy as fat for the lean times.

Carbs are pretty much useless for people who are losing weight, the bodily reaction you are after is that the body turns to your fat stores for energy, not taking a quick hit from the carbs you have just eaten.

So for fat loss a low carb diet is a good idea.

Someone else will have to jump in with the medical explanation of why carbs are bad for you even if a healthy weight.

Please can I join???xx