no more low carbing for me :( help please

[raverminx]

ive been low carbing for 7 months now and im almost a size 6 eeeekk, my friends and family are very worried about me, and now my work have told me that i have to stop as my job is very physical and my body weight isnt going to help me (i have to lift heavy patients from wheelchairs etc and they are very heavy!) my work have also so said that i look ill, pale, gray and underweight.

i dont want to lose my job, so i need to change my diet but not gain weight. Any advice of what i could do? im happy with my size well apart from losing my boobs and bum lol so gaining weight would kill my confidence.

would love to hear any suggestions on menu ideas please. the thing i loved about low carbing was it kept my sugar glucose level, wheres other diets make it spike and then i will really ill to the point of passing out

thanks for any help

 

[losingit]

Although your BMI is on the low side of normal, it is still normal. I think people are so used to seeing overweight people that they have no idea what 'normal' looks like anymore.

Anyway, it probably is time to stop dieting so heavily, you are at a great place now and losing too much more would be bad. How about increasing your carbs as per Atkins recommendations? Add more variety to your diet while still keeping it healthy? How about a few healthy carbs? Brown rice, nuts/seeds, fruits, other wholegrains? Just being kicked out of ketosis is going to add a few pounds on so you have to be prepared for that. If you were happy following Atkins and it worked for you and you feel healthy then i don't see why you should completely change your whole diet - surely just relaxing it a bit is what is needed and increased carb?

 

[Scrumbles]

Without knowing what you are actually eating it's hard to say what may be amiss - could you give us an idea of types/quantities of food that you're consuming?

Did you follow the steps through OWL and Pre-maintenance, trying different foods and raising your carbs by 5g increments until you reached the point where you were no longer losing weight? Because if you're still eating only Induction foods and living on less than 20g carbohydrate a day that could very well be the problem here.

If you did follow the programme through and you're still losing, then it may just be that you aren't physically eating enough to sustain your weight with the type of job you do. We endeavour not to count calories on Atkins, but if you're not eating enough of them, you will continue to lose weight, so it might be time for doing a bit of tracking to see how much fuel you're taking in?

 

[moonlights]

I can't say more than the other two. Start increasing your carbs in 5 or 10g increments and, as long as you're also eating enough calories you will reach a point where you're no longer losing weight but not gaining it either.

 

[pos bird]

Just out of interest and hope you don't mind me asking. How much weight have you lost and if you are now a size 6, what dress size was you to start.

 

[raverminx]

I was a size 12 to begin with and seemed to totally miss a dress size and went to a size 8! I'm Inbetween a 6-8 now. Size 6 is slightly too tight but size 8 is getting very lose!
My weight loss is most noticeable on my stomach, boobs and bum. Great that my tummy has gone but not impressed that bum and boobs are left to nothing!
I think I was about 9st10 or something to begin with and that was 6 months ago.

I followed induction strictly for about a month and after started adding other stuff but kept my carbs to 10-15g so was just low carbing rather than following Atkins.

Typical Atkins day for me was
B- eggs and bacon
S- cheese, pork scratchings, sf jelly and cream
L- tuna mayo
D- steak and sometimes broccoli
Sometimes I would have Greek yogurt with peanut butter, atkins shakes and 4 strawberries.

As you can see I hardly ever had any veggies although sometimes I would have a Greek salad.

I need some advice so I can increase my carb level slightly and have easy foods especially breakfast as I don't have time to cook anything. I have purchased some of the low carb porridge stuff that's made from flaxseed.
I dislike cooking so I need something easy and quick to make. I work shifts and often have to do sleep ins so I have to take my lunch, dinner, snacks and breakfast to work in one go!

Any suggestions? At work I can use the oven or microwave to warm stuff up but cooking eggs or meat would be a no no! And breakfast would have to be a shake or/and flaxmeal porridge.

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[raverminx]

When I do my sleep ins or 12 hour shifts I can easily have a shake or that porridge stuff. Snacks would be easy, lunch Greek salad with tuna mayo but dinner would be the issue unless I precooked some cheeseburger pie or something! I don't want my work knowing I'm still low carbing as they have said it would make my job hard (even tho they have no right to decide what I eat)
I don't see this as a diet but as a life style choice as it keeps my blood sugar stable.

Sorry I'm rambling on lol

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[pos bird]

Thanks for reply. You have done brilliant. I am a size 12 and currently weigh 10st 1. I was 10st 5 Mon so 4 already. I am sticking to it ridgedly for two weeks (hopefully). I have scrambled eggs with cheese for breakfast and have protein shakes for snacks. If need more veggies make a batch of low carb veg soup and chuck in cooked chicken. That's what I do. I buy bags of ready mix stir fry and UAE either chicken or lean mince with added mushrooms, onion. I am using my fitness plan to track my food and my average carb in take is between 15-20, fat is about 40g and protein about 125. I never feel hungry and starting to feel better about my body. Had two kids so if comes off the baby bulge will be happy.

 

[pos bird]

I like making low carb soup and put in chunks of cooked chicken. Ideal as just heat up in micro.

 

[raverminx]

Thanks for that, I hardly cook at all but I think it's about time I started to! Are tinned tomatoes allowed? I used to make a mean spag Bol from scratch! Add some chilli to it and melt some cheese on top would be lovely.
I'm off to check out the recipe section....

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[moonlights]

Count the carbs in your tomatoes - they're not a good idea in large quantities for people in the early weight loss phase as they're quite carby, but they're ok in owl if you count them. I use marks and sparks jarred pasta sauces now and then which are the lowest I've found.

Tomato would be a good way to help you increase your carb levels.

 

[raverminx]

Thanks moonlights, I'm off to marks n sparks to get some. Can you remember how many grams of carbs where in the jars?

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[moonlights]

Not off hand and i suspect it's too late now but I think there's info on one of them in the shopping list thread. About 2.1-3g per half a jar? I use the tomato and basil and tomato and sweet garlic varieties.