Question about low-carb dieting
 

Im trying to lose my baby weight (62 lbs altogether to be exact! :eek: but I only have 35 more pounds to go :) ) so I started doing the low carb diet this past week. Im not a huge vegetable eater and Im not too crazy about beef and I hate fish so being on this diet has left me to eating nothing but salad, chicken, cheese, eggs, cauliflower, zuchinni, sugar free jello & sugar free red bull :p . So does anyone have suggestion for other items I can add to my list or maybe some easy recipes or some fast food items that I can work into my diet? Im not too big on cooking either which complicates things, lol. So I need help! :)

Honestly, Shana...I have never been a fan of the low-carb diet(s). I didn't like how it seemed to limit my life,when it came to eating. It was too easy for me to fall off the wagon because I then craved carbs even more, because my body was starved for them. I tell you what worked for me to lose the baby weight was Weight Watchers. It did not hinder my food choices at all! It is truly what you hear, "a life style change". I found it easy to stick with and I was still able to whatever I wanted (just moderation). I leave my one book in the car so when I want fast food, I can look through it to check points of the different restaurants.

I do wish you luck with losing the weight...I know it can be a pain.

Tammy

There is no way I could live without carbs....I am a carbaholic (I just at 4 chocolate chip cookies :eek: and I LOVE bread). I've never tried any kind of diet, but I know my mom said that she would like to try weight watchers. It seem like a lot of people have success with that. Good Luck :)

If you are nursing, I don't think I would diet that way. You actually will burn off a fair amount just by nursing better than any diet. It hasn't really been that long. Of course, if you aren't nursing then I guess anything goes and I did have success with the low carb diet. What about eggs? I think when I was on it, I really got tired of chicken as that was pretty much all we had. :p Good luck!

Oh yeah...that's true if you are nursing. I was actually allowed more points with Weight Watchers because I was nursing my baby.

Tammy

I have been living low carb for quite a while now, more than a year. My first suggestion is find the Mission brand carbsmart tortillas and have quesadillas, fajitas, burritos with guacamole...yum One of my main lunches.

That's so great that you've already lost 35 lbs!!! That was really quick!
In my opinion though, low-carb diets are not the way to go.
You are more likely to lose the weight in a healthy way by just eating less calories, but make sure that the foods you eat are nutritionally dense...

For example, instead of eating 4 cookies, eat some banana and fresh strawberries (no sugar). So, think of it this way, let's say you have four choices...They all contain the same amount of calories(energy)...Choose the one that is most nutritious...Limit your juice intake and stick with fresh fruits.
Salads are great, just limit the amount of dressing. Eat healthy little snacks throughout the day, and try to control eating when you're not really hungry.

Carbs are necessary...They are fuel for our bodies, particularly our brain.

You could try eating ground turkey or ground turkey breast if you get tired of chicken and eggs...

Unfortunately nursing didnt work out for me so I didnt get to do that. Ive heard that it is a great way to lose the baby weight. But since I cant do that I decided to try this diet and as soon as the doctor says I can work out I plan to start. The doctor told me I couldnt work out for the first 6 weeks but I decided last week I'd start doing some ab workouts anyways and it made my stomach feel really weird so I decide I better listen to the doctor:rolleyes: . As for the diet, Im so excited though because I found out I can have my wingstop cajun chicken wings as they are very very low in carbs!!!:thumbup: I actually think I could live on those for awhile ;) :D And now that Ive decided sugar-free red bull doesnt taste all that bad this diet keeps looking better and better:p . I know Im eventually going to get sick of red bull and chicken though, so I need some sort of plan for other foods

I think I will try to give this a try for at least a month and if that doesnt work Im going to try counting calories and working out. The only reason I decided to give this diet a try is becasue my parents and my best friend lost a ton of weight doing this diet and I also have hypothyroid and have been told a high protein diet would be good for it so I figure this would kill 2 birds with one stone. My mom actually has the south beach book which Im reading a bit of it and once I finish the 2 week no carb induction period I can start introuducing good carbs slowly back into my diet I hope that this will maintain a healty-eating lifestyle. My dad had to do this diet because he had diabetes and he can not really have carbs and it worked wonders for him and even helped get his diabetes under control. :)
Ive honestly never tried ground turkey before so I will give this a try. Is it any good?

I LOVE mexican food and this sounds yummy!

You're right about the quick weight loss :) A lot of people I know have lost a good bit of weight on the low-carb diet, but then they seem to plateau.

That stinks that you have hypothyroid!! You plan sounds really good! It sounds like you will only be doing the no-carb thing for a short period of time. I haven't read the south beach diet book. What do they recommend??

I'm glad you will be introducing carbs back into the diet after a couple of weeks :)

Yes, ground turkey is actually really good!! I had some friends over for dinner once, and instead of ground beef for the meat sauce for the pasta, I used ground turkey. They were oohing and aahing about the meal, and then I told them I used ground turkey. They couldn't believe it. LOL :)
You can use ground turkey in place of ground beef for just about anything without compromising taste. In fact, I actually prefer it :)

That does sound really good!

diabetics watch carbs-look in those receipes on the web-you can find some good one- things have chaned alot- and there are a lot of quick low carb receipes-some you will not like- others you will!
Good luck

If you go and get the South Beach Diet book, for a floppy copy it was $13.00 (I lost mine in my last move:rolleyes:) I just got one today. You pretty much are on that diet and there are TONS of wonderful recipes in there. You can even google South Beach Diet and find a ton of great recipes for free if you don't want to buy the book. It a great "way of life" I have done it and many other friends and family have and have lost lots of weight! If you just want the recipes then they have a cook book too, but I suggest the book so you can learn about the diet and how to start incorporating good carbs back into your diet when you start reaching certain points! If you have any questions about it ask away!! :)

If you put a little oil in a pan and toast it up they are even better. I've made chips out of these tortillas too, they are good stand in. They are also really good for peopl doing weightwatchers as they are very high in fiber making them very low in points.

Do you have trader joe's where you are? They have a great guacamole that is like 1 carb per serving, it's really yummy and a salsa that tastes so much like chevy's salsa, I usually load those two things up on the tortilla with chicken, toast it and am very satisfied.

The other thing I do it make soup with a large can of chicken broth, chopped celery, peas, chicken and take a cucumber and use a vegetable peeler long ways to make long strips that sort of remind you of noodles after they are cooked, it provides a great taste too.

I boil a whole pack of chicken breasts every sunday to eat all week long. I make so many things out of them as I don't eat beef either. Taco salad is another option too..without the taco part of course :) Jennie-O makes turkey burgers prepackaged that are so yummy too!

geez can I join your club.. lol.. and texas has the most delicious foods ever huh! All that mexican food and those wonderful spagatti warehouses.. geez...

What a great wealth of information! :thumbs_up

Way to go on the weight you have lost! That is great!

try making Tacos or Burritos with ground turkey and the low carb Tortilla Shells

Shana, first off congrats on the 35 pounds you have already lost - that is really great.

Secondly I am doing the South Beach diet too as remember you told me to low carb it to regulate my cycle. I have to say the first 2 weeks were BAD as I am a carb freak but now I am doing much better and actually getting used to the GOOD carbs they let you have.

I did not care to loose weight just try to reduce my sugar intake and regulate my cycle since I have PCOS but I have lost a little weight in the process which is great.

Any way....if you do the South Beach diet the 1st 2 weeks are tough in my opinion but hang in there because it gets easier.

Good luck girl!!

Which carbs are considered "good" carbs?

Carbs that are made of WHOLE GRAINS. :thumbup: Make sure you get whole grains NOT whole wheat. Whole Grain products mean it is whole and has nothing "Enriched" in it which is not good. :thumbdown

You still have to watch what and how much you eat when you have good carbs but what carbs you do consume you should consume whole grain carbs.

Make sense? :p :D

So no whole wheat bread?:eek:

Low Carb diets are a terrible fad. I used to personal train and it makes no sense how people almost totally cut the carbs out. Yes you lose a ton of weight however, the lbs will pile back on very quick. Carbs are necessary for the body to use energy and keep muscle from going catabolistic and from fat developing. Remember if your body can't get the energy it needs it eats muscle and stores fat. Low carb diets are also bad for your heart.

If you've ever looked into the South Beach Diet, it is the only the first two weeks carb-free - then the carbs you should be eating (whole grains and low-sugar fruits) get added back in.

It really should be called the White-free diet - no white flour or sugar.

Brown rice (which has all kinds of gourmet varieties that taste very yummy with a nutty flavor) is great and high in protein as well. Quinoa is another high protein good for you grain.

As for recipes - I love the mashes cauliflower (cook it really well and mash like you would mashed potatoes). Another "snack" recipe is to take recotta cheese and add cocoa powder. It is like chocolate pudding, but again high in protein. The South Beach Diet book really does have several fabulous recipes in it.

Thanks for answering! I am majoring in human nutrition...That's why I asked what the South Beach Diet considers "good" carbs :) I have never actually read this diet.
Most definitely, anything enriched is not good, and you have to make sure that it says WHOLE.

I did the Atkins diet a couple of years ago and lost weight and my mom has done the South Beach Diet and also saw good results. Basically you only do about 2 weeks of strict dieting and then you start adding carbs back in, but healthy carbs. Now I don't diet, I just try to eat healthy, lots of fresh veggies (which I love!) and I eat whatever meat I want, no restrictions there and TRY to eat healthy carbs (brown rice instead of white rice, whole wheat or whole grain breads instead of white bread, yams instead of potatoes which is easy for me because I've never been much of a potato eater and I love yams, I bake them just like a potato and put butter on and eat it just like a baked potato). A juicy steak, baked yam and steamed veggie (zucchini or broccoli) or salad is one of my favorite meals! We also exorcise at least 3 times a week, this is key!!!!!!! If you exorcise with both cardio and weights and eat healthy I guarantee you will lose weight! We joined a gym a couple of months ago and I've seen great results. The best thing about exorcising regularly is that when I'm bad, like last night I had Burger King:eek: and last weekend had pizza:eek: I don't have to worry about gaining weight, granted I might not lose anything that week but at least I'm not gaining:D Also, the more often you eat (healthy foods) the better to keep your metabolism going, also the more muscle you have the faster your metabolism which is why working with weights it so important, cardio will help you lose and weights will help keep it off. Sorry I rambled for so long:D Congrats on the great job you've done so far getting the weight off and good luck with the rest:thumbup:

:thumbup:

I like pork rinds- 0 carbs. I get the bbq ones and the salt and vinegar ones from Utz. Also I use I Cant Believe it Not Butter Spray. (so yummy) no carbs or cals. All beef Kayem hot dogs are only 2 carbs. I also make cauliflower mashed potatoes. Just add cheese and heavy cream and mash.I love meat salads like chicken salad, egg salad . tuna. And roll in lettuce leaves.

I did the South Beach Diet about 2 years ago and had wonderful results, lost about 40 lbs.....I still had about 20 I wanted to lose...but then gained back 10(my fault) was eating really bad, uugh! I am going to start back up on SBD and get back on track!

Good Luck!

I went on Atkins once and lost 14 lbs in maybe 2 mos, but then my hair started falling out!!!! Hair was everywhere! And I was taking vitamins. I got off the diet right away. Some weight came back. That was a few years ago.

Now I'm on Weight Watchers! I've never done WW before. I really like it, you can actually eat food. I do the "points" thing. I've lost 9 lbs in 4 weeks so far! It's a slow but sure weight loss, and teaches u how to eat.