Carb difficulties

MrsBabyCakes

Naughty Fridge Picker
Hiya gals and boys,

I was wondering, I know a few of us have problems losing weight with carb intake, and bvthats why some of you find EE hard and tend to stick to red days.

I was just wondering when you have carbs I am assuming your weighing the amounts. So I was wondering (just realised I said wondering 3 times now lol) How much do you have with your meals?

Like with rice and pasta and potatoes, as I am finding it hard to find the right balance so that I dont reduce my carbs so much that I feel hungry, which could trigger a binge. I am doing EE, as I find it easier and i dont mind weighing my carbs so I dont overdo it, but i'd rather use my syns on yummy things than carbs (like I would have to on a red day). So would appreciate your thoughts on this.

I am hypo and I know carbs will slow down my weight loss, and have slowed it down as I have proved this when I have changed what I am doing. However I do like rice and pasta etc, I just need to incorporate it so it doesnt affect my losses.
 
I have to be careful with carbs too. I try to have a few carbless meals a week and also do stuff like having a small amount of pasta eked out with a large salad. I try to have veg/salad with every meal to fill me up
 
Hi Jen I do have my 1/3 superfree veg with my EE meals, I am very strict about it, I LOVE veg anyway so its never been a problem to fit it in, and like yourself I try to have 2 meals with no pasta, rice or potatoes and have instead a big salad. I just not sure how much pasta, rice or potatoes to have when I DO have it, if you see what I mean. :)
 
I love carbs, especially pasta and rice, but for the past couple of months I've started weighing it as I always cook to much - an eat it all anyway! Like Jen3 I bulk pasta/rice meals out - for example last night I had about 100g of pasta with passata, onion peppers and garlic. The pasta/rice initially doesn't look enough in the pan but once it's cooked and bulked out it's fine.
 
Hiya Sarah,

I do have at the moment have 100g of pasta with like a bolognese sauce, but I am wondering if its too much? I based this quantity on the recipes SW had in their mags for EE, but as I seem to have problem losing with carbs, I am concerned i'm having too much.

Also when I do rice', to give you an idea of what im cooking, its for 5 of us, and I do a cup (8oz mug) and a 1/2 and I used to do 2 cups. It works out to be about 2 serving spoons full of rice each. Like if I do a beef stroganoff, I still have room on my plate for my 1/3rd superfree veg. To me its doesnt seem like a lot of rice, but to others it might seem to be too much.

Thanks for your thoughts xx
 
On a red day wholemeal pasta is a HEb, so I go by their measurements - 100g cooked which is about 35g dried weight.

Do you find 35g enough though, does it seem like a teeny amount? I don't think I could tolerate wholemeal pasta, it never tasted very nice to me lol.
 
wholewheat pasta used to be really grim - I couldn't eat it! They seem to have come a long way with it now and it hardly tastes any different (in fact I know a certain person who can't tell the difference lol). Give it a try!

In terms of carbs I find celeriac/potato mash mix is pretty good - the celeriac is free so it makes your mash go further.
 
I never liked wholewheat pasta either but its fine now so maybe it has evolved over the years. I always mix swede in with potato to top shepherds pie and when having a roast have either mashed swede instead of potato or roasted butternut squash instead of roasties
 
Like you I prefer to limit my carbs. I aim to have mainly Red days, or even on Green/EE I limit the carb intake. I tend to have 100g wholemeal pasta/rice/noodles.

I also make BNS roast potatoes and often have BNS as a 'base' for my meal, e.g. last night we all had a beef stir-fry but I had mine with BNS, instead of the rice I gave the family.

Again it helps to fill up the plate with superfree veggies/salad, to keep the carbs lowish. Sometimes I follow 'Success Express' days/meals with 2/3 of my plate Superfree.

HTH, xx
 
I have to be careful with carbs too so on EE I go by the red day amounts too. 35g dry wholewheat pasta, 198g new pots or a 5g JP. With rice, I like brown rice so buy the wholegrain rice pouches from M&S and have half of one pack.
I bulk out the pasta and rice with veggies.
 
hey Silvermanuk, as you know I have reduced my carb intake because of my PCOS, as I find they just bloat me out to the point where I am so uncomfortable. So I have now incorporated Low GI into my free food choices.

I don't measure my portions of carbs, but I make sure I have at least a 1/3 superfree on my plate. I no longer have any white carbs, so is all wholewheat pasta, rice (long grain is best). I no longer have white potatoes and have switched to sweet or butternut squash. Also no longer have cous cous as that has a high gi surprisingly, but if I do fancy it, then I have wholewheat which has a medium GI.

I also tend to avoid starchy veggie like sweetcorn and have plenty of salad and greens instead.

Beans, pulses etc are fine, as is bulgar wheat and quinoa (although I am not keen on Quinoa).

I am also going to start to have chicken breast and cut out the thigh meat. More expensive, but is better for you.

I have got both Rick Gallops Low GI book and The South Beach diet book and have looked at both food list to encourage me to make better free food choices and it has helped a lot. I no longer feel as bloated as I was doing.

I also throw in a few red days here and there and did have 1 green day last week, but stuck to low gi green choices.

As well as all that, I have made a pact with myself to cut out sweet/fizzy diet drinks and am now drinking lots of water and exercising daily, which I wasnt doing before.

So if there is no good weight loss this week, I will not be impressed. Although we the amount of exercise I am doing, it will more likely be coming off in inches than pounds. I can already notice my abdomen and waist area is slimmer.

I know you have been having problems with your periods. I wonder if you might have PCOS too. Is worth reading up on, especially insulin resitancy with it, it is very interesting. I don't know if I have insulin resitancy yet, but it does make sense how it can affect your whole system.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome << Frequently Asked Questions << womenshealth.gov

Sorry I have waffled on a bit lol
 
if i have like pasta, rice etc 100g
one potatoe for spudies
if i have potatoes one day I try not to have other starcy food and vice versa and also with my meal eat loads of veg :)
 
hey Silvermanuk, as you know I have reduced my carb intake because of my PCOS, as I find they just bloat me out to the point where I am so uncomfortable. So I have now incorporated Low GI into my free food choices.

I don't measure my portions of carbs, but I make sure I have at least a 1/3 superfree on my plate. I no longer have any white carbs, so is all wholewheat pasta, rice (long grain is best). I no longer have white potatoes and have switched to sweet or butternut squash. Also no longer have cous cous as that has a high gi surprisingly, but if I do fancy it, then I have wholewheat which has a medium GI.

I also tend to avoid starchy veggie like sweetcorn and have plenty of salad and greens instead.

Beans, pulses etc are fine, as is bulgar wheat and quinoa (although I am not keen on Quinoa).

I am also going to start to have chicken breast and cut out the thigh meat. More expensive, but is better for you.

I have got both Rick Gallops Low GI book and The South Beach diet book and have looked at both food list to encourage me to make better free food choices and it has helped a lot. I no longer feel as bloated as I was doing.

I also throw in a few red days here and there and did have 1 green day last week, but stuck to low gi green choices.

As well as all that, I have made a pact with myself to cut out sweet/fizzy diet drinks and am now drinking lots of water and exercising daily, which I wasnt doing before.

So if there is no good weight loss this week, I will not be impressed. Although we the amount of exercise I am doing, it will more likely be coming off in inches than pounds. I can already notice my abdomen and waist area is slimmer.

I know you have been having problems with your periods. I wonder if you might have PCOS too. Is worth reading up on, especially insulin resitancy with it, it is very interesting. I don't know if I have insulin resitancy yet, but it does make sense how it can affect your whole system.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome << Frequently Asked Questions << womenshealth.gov

Sorry I have waffled on a bit lol

Hi Britmum,
I am new to this whole thing but have come across many of your fantastic posts so firstly THANKS! :)
I to have PCOS and have struggled for many year on and off WW but have decided to giv SW a go, Im trying to stick to red days in orde to limit my carb intake. Is this the plan you do or would you suggest one of the others?
Thanks hun :)
 
Hey Britmum, I am having my ultrasound in a couple of weeks to check everything out, had a nightmare period this week, my girlfriend was very close to taking me to hospital. I dont really want to go into details on here, but I had a very traumatic experience, not something I would want to repeat. So I am hoping the ultrasound shows whats going on. Some of the symptoms of PCOS do add up, but also some of my symptoms could just simply be down to my hypothyroidism. There is Endo in the family, my sister has it, my mum had it and so did my mums mother. The doctor is also looking for fibroids, so we will see. I will keep you updated.

Thanks everyone for your advice. :)
 
Hi Britmum,
I am new to this whole thing but have come across many of your fantastic posts so firstly THANKS! :)
I to have PCOS and have struggled for many year on and off WW but have decided to giv SW a go, Im trying to stick to red days in orde to limit my carb intake. Is this the plan you do or would you suggest one of the others?
Thanks hun :)

I do mostly extra easy days, doing as I put above, avoiding the "white" carbs with a few red days here and there thrown in just for a bit of variety. :)
 
Thanks Britmum, think i might try the extra easy days mixed with red days then. just spent the last few hours checking out all the recipes on your blog...Im amazed and its helped loads. Thank :)
 
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