Carb count in packs

[Spanglymum]

Just a general point (I think I saw someone else make a similar point the other day but I apologise: I can't find the thread). Does anyone else think the slim and save carb count, if you're doing 4 packs a day, is borderline for someone with insulin resistance? I'm asking as a veteran of Lighter Life and also previous attempts at slim and save. Currently I'm losing, so must be in ketosis, but am finding I'm getting the munchies more than I would expect and am not getting that nice "chilled" ketosis feeling I've experienced when strictly low-carbing (with food).

That's led me to do follow-up reading on low carb approaches in general, and it seems a number of them have initial carb counts in the region of 20-40g per day, whereas Slim and Save comes in at c. 60g per day (or more if you have a bar as one of your packs). I'm switching to three packs plus a no carb meal, because I know I can cut my carb count that way and still stay on plan, but I just wondered if anyone had any views on this or experience to share?

(I know there could be a whole host of other confounding factors involved, but the carb count struck me as interesting.)

 

[weasey]

I didn't realise that 20-40g is normal for someone low carbing. Some of the packs are more carby than others - for example, the spag bol pack has 20.5g of carbs in it - whereas the spicy spaghetti pack has only 12.5g. If you ate 4 spag bol packs in a day (all be it I don't think many people would fancy it for brekkie...) then you would have 82g of carbs before adding any veg/milk (although I know you haven't been having veg or milk Spangly).

I know that I'm ok with 60g of carbs as I've done that before so for me personally I'd stick to that. Everyone's different though and some people are more carb sensitive than others.

 

[Spanglymum]

Hi, weasey. 20-40g is just for the initial phases of some diets, eg "induction" in Atkins. It's also recommended to keep your carbs mega-low on the high-fat low-carb Scandinavian diet as well. (Am a bit of a low-carb geek, sorry! ) Just wondering. Having said that though, I've checked and the carb content of sns is broadly similar to Cambridge and Exante (for a day's worth of packs) so I'm probably splitting hairs!

 

[zoerunsfaster]

Sorry to butt in but I had the same query a while back and it turns out that the v low calorie count means you can have a slightly higher carb count and get away with it. Can't remember why, physiologically, I'll try and do a little research.

 

[Spanglymum]

Thanks, zoe. I'd be interested to find out more. I'm still learning what works best for me, both for weight loss and for weight maintenance, and have pretty much settled on low carb high fat as a long-term strategy. I know vlcds are a short-term tool, but am still curious as to how they can get away with a relatively high carb count, given the way insulin (and insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome) work.

 

[Lanarkwitch]

Thanks, zoe. I'd be interested to find out more. I'm still learning what works best for me, both for weight loss and for weight maintenance, and have pretty much settled on low carb high fat as a long-term strategy. I know vlcds are a short-term tool, but am still curious as to how they can get away with a relatively high carb count, given the way insulin (and insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome) work.

I had the same query a good while back and I started my VLCD journey with Lipotrim and had no trouble reaching Ketosis, next time round I went on Exante, the carb count is around the 60g mark and I never reached ketosis once, I ended up having 2 Exante and 1 Lipotrim and that seemed to get me into ketosis and boost up the weight loss, I knew from my low carb days anything above 45-50g was going to be touch and go, when I finally switched over to Slim and save I had the mother of all bad ketosis symptoms, , but at least all the hunger went as I'd basically been hungry every day for several weeks at that point, I kept my pack carb count down to 55g or below and also I think having the 4 products rather than just the 3 as is with Exante is definitely helped smooth out the carb intake for the day, I definitely think your query is a valid one, as you no doubt know yourself 60g of carbs might not be low enough for ketosis regardless of the effects of the low calorie intake, I think this is one of the reasons that some people don't manage to stick to VLCD's and end up feeling like a failure when it's actually a case of the bodys response to the packs, just my tuppence worth.