Hello low carb, goodbye tubby bits

[Holliebooby]

I started Exante in June, and whilst it was certainly doing the job, it just wasn't sustainable enough for me, I enjoy food too much! I enjoyed the feeling of little carbs: I felt much less sluggish and 'orrible, so here I am. I'm on day two, and I feel as if I don't really know what I'm doing.... Today I have had: two scrambled eggs with a bit of butter and two pieces of grilled bacon, some celery and peanut butter ( surprisingly tasty!) and for tea I've had a little grated cheese along with chicken, bacon and a little mayo rolled up in lettuce. Does this sound right? Ive got my fitness pal, and am way under in the carbs, but have gone slightly over in protein and fat. Not really understanding what these numbers mean probably isn't helping! I've had a read through and found some brill websites etc, though until I can sit down and have a real good look I'll be playing it safe for the next few days! Nice to meet you all also

 

[Slimmingforgood]

Hello xxx maybe we could do this together xx I'm the same as you, love the feeling of low carbs but went way under carbs and felt really ill xx chicken and cauli cheese for tea tonight yummy xx

 

[Holliebooby]

Thank you for making me feel like I'm in the right place! That makes things a lot clearer, I did figure out how to modify my ratios, to pretty much spot on what you suggested, which evened it out much more, still quite a l

 

[Holliebooby]

Sorry pressed reply by accident! Still quite a lot of carbs left, but evened out better with fat and protein. Cream, nuts, cheese and avocado sounds damn good to me! Whilst I don't feel hungry, I have got the muggy head lethargic feeling.... Which isn't bothering me as much this time because at least I'm not starving like I was on Exante, and I know in a couple of days I'll feel so much better! Donna, I'd love a buddy! Ive got about two stone to lose to get into a healthy bmi, which I know doesnt seem much, but when you're a short arse it doesnt carry very well!

 

[Holliebooby]

Yes, and that's why I think Exante wasn't going to help in the long run, I need to change what I eat. I'm actually looking forward to going food shopping, and kicking myself for not low carbing before!

 

[Slimmingforgood]

Sorry pressed reply by accident! Still quite a lot of carbs left, but evened out better with fat and protein. Cream, nuts, cheese and avocado sounds damn good to me! Whilst I don't feel hungry, I have got the muggy head lethargic feeling.... Which isn't bothering me as much this time because at least I'm not starving like I was on Exante, and I know in a couple of days I'll feel so much better! Donna, I'd love a buddy! Ive got about two stone to lose to get into a healthy bmi, which I know doesnt seem much, but when you're a short arse it doesnt carry very well!

Great!! Let's help keep each other on the right track xx

 

[Slimmingforgood]

Hi H nice to see you over here from Exante.

Have you put in your own ratio's into MFP or are you going off theirs and just reducing carbs? what you need to do is put your own numbers in or know your own numbers so that you get a more realistic ratio of carbs, protein and fat. Else you'll feel unhappy in your eating plan.

I'll give you the basics so you understand the numbers and this will hopefully give the numbers some substance.

In every gram of fat there are 9 calories

Protein and Carbs are around 4 calories per gram.

If you still want to loose weight then you still need to be concerned with overall calorie intake even when low carbing. If you want to now maintain your weight then you can pretty much eat your fill of protein and fats - as long as you monitor only your carbs and keep them low then you should comfortably maintain your current weight.

So assuming you want to loose weight you find out your maintenance calories requirement and deduct the number of calories a day you would be comfortable with in order to achieve weight loss. So if you your maintenance was 2000 calories - you might choose a calorie intake of say 1600 calories to have a 400 calorie cal deficit per day as an example.

Then you consider your carb allowance - you might decide to give yourself a 30g carb allowance per day (30gx4cal per gram = 120 cals) so out of your 1600 cal daily allowance you will acheive 120 cals from carbs. Leaving you 1480 calories.

Then you consider your protein allowance - you might decide to give yourself 120g protein per day (120gx4cal per gram = 480 cals) so out of your remaining 1480 calories allowance you will achieve 480 cals from protein. Leaving you 1000 calories.

This is where fat now comes in - 1000 calories / 9 calories per gram = 111 grams per day of fat.

Now you can play with the balances how you like - do the ratio's based on your own calorie intake requirements and if you'd feel happier with a few more carbs you can adjust your ratio's a bit. On a low carb diet your protein should be around 30-35g per meal and your fat is going to make up the highest proportion of your calorie intake.

Don't stint on fats either (good quality oils, nuts, cream, cheese, avacado etc.) because else you will feel unsatisfied with your eating and hungry.

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for this!! It's helped me so much xxxx have reset my goals and finally it looks like it makes sense x