Questions..new to low carbing

by | Jan 30, 2013 | Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

This a recent comment I made on a previous thread over at Jimmy Moore regarding low carb diet

 

Debs asked:

Mark and Meg

Thanks so much for your helpful answers…I am finding the entire low carb experience extremely rewarding and very easy to maintain…The weight loss is wonderful…

I have another question…Today is day 1 of week 3 for me and I am experiencing headaches and dizziness…

Nothing has changed…. my carbs remain at 25g per day….a few days I have only made it to 20 carbs …and my carbs come mostly from vegetables, dairy and some berries…

Is there something I am doing wrong? 

Thanks

 

My reply:

Hi Debs,

Headaches and dizziness are typically a sign of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance so as Tacosaurus has said, yes up your salt and potassium intake as well as both are vital for many bodily functions but do be assured that it’s unlikely you’re doing anything wrong if you’re following the plan. It’s just something that many of us have to go through during this stage of our dietary change.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Low carb diet food ideas without cooking!?

by | Jan 29, 2013 | Low carb diet, Recipe | 0 comments

Another comment I made at Yahoo Answers about low carb recipes

 

From Sara:

I am on a low carb diet….I have gone on them several times in the past to lose weight and have always been successful and kept off the weight. I eventually gained it back each time due to getting pregnant twice and quitting smoking once….so I’m hoping once I lose all the weight I want this time I will transition to a healthy diet like I have in the past and keep it off for good! Anyway, in the past it’s been much easier for me to make roasts and scrambled eggs and different things to eat for this diet. This time however I just don’t want to! I have a husband that is NOT on a diet and wants the normal food I make (pastas, casseroles, stuff like that), and I have a VERY picky 3 year old that no matter what I make my husband, if I want him to eat at ALL I am making frozen pizzas or spaghetti or pancakes or anything that he will eat. I am not going to make my family suffer because I am on a diet so I continue cooking for them but I am NOT going to cook for myself as well! Yes I make a nice roast dinner once a week and I just eat the meat and some broccoli or something, and I will make myself some eggs in the morning on occasion….but for the most part…I just eat super easy things. Every morning just about, I wake up and heat up an entire package of OM microwave bacon (about 12 slices) and I munch on that for about an hour with my coffee….for lunches I either eat bologna cut up with mustard, or I make a nice big salad with lots of romaine lettuce, chicken, cheese, and caesar dressing, or I’ll have a couple hot dogs (sick of those so I don’t eat them often) or I’ll have a 4 or 5 tbsp of peanut butter….just stuff like that…..dinner I either have lunchmeat and veggies or i’ll make a ham or roast and have that with a veggie or deviled eggs…for snacks I do A LOT of sugar free jello with some whipped cream or a spoonful of peanut butter (peanut butter has about 4g of carbs for 2 tbsp and about 200 cal per 2 tbsp so when I eat that I definitely factor that in with my daily intake)…anyway, I buy the precooked steak strips and will throw that in a salad or just heat it up and eat it plain…..I am VERY much trying to be on this diet for a couple more months and just have it be as easy as possible without having to really cook special. Depending on the day I take in about 1200-2000 calories (you are not supposed to count calories on this diet…but with all the fat I’m eating I don’t want to accidentally be taking in 4000 or something crazy and not lose weight) and anywhere from 10-30 carbs a day. I have been on it for about 6 weeks and so far lost about 32lbs. I am very happy with the results. My MAIN goal is to lose another 56lbs…but I look good and feel good at a weight that I would have to lose 30lbs. (I just really have dreams of being where I was when I got married and looked at my BEST…but if I lose 30lbs I still look thin and feel ok)…anyway….if I meet my ultimate goal of 56 lbs….I would probably be on this diet for another 6 months…and I’m just trying to see if anyone has any other options so that it’s not the same thing every day that I’m eating…but without me having to cook a whole special thing just for me to eat. Any ideas?

 

My comment:

Hi Sara,

Yes I understand your dilemma totally. Being in a house where you are the only low carber does have its difficulties but they are not insurmountable. I think the best thing that you can do is look on various low carb websites and go to the recipe section. You’ll find hundreds if not thousands of ideas there certainly far more than I could list in the reply on Yahoo Answers anyway.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Low Carb Diet Question?

by | Jan 29, 2013 | Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Another recent comment I made at Yahoo Answers regarding low carb diet

 

S posted:

I am 5’10” 165lbs fairly athletic build and fairly active. Recently single im looking to tone everything up and for the last two weeks I have been sticking to a diet of no more than 50 carbs and around 1700 Cal’s per day. I am wondering if I am on the right track here and accepting all input. 

My question is should I go off my diet for a meal to a) reward myself for sticking with this for the two weeks and to b)Spike/confuse my metabolism to get it to work harder or would this just negatively affect my diet and set me back?

Thanks in advanced.

 

My response:

Hi S,

There’s a very simple answer to this, if what you’re doing now is working and you haven’t yet reach the goals you’ve set for your body, then I would suggest you keep doing what you’re doing until you do and then reward yourself with something absolutely fantastic for achieving the goals that you’ve set yourself.

Hope that helps,

Mark

 

Foods for the low carb diet…?

by | Jan 29, 2013 | Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Here is another comment I made over at Yahoo Answers on a post about low carb diet

 

LDB asked:

For the low carb diet, can you list things that I can eat on this diet for breakfast lunch and dinner, that have low or no carbs? I really want to lose weight!! Please helppp!

 

My answer:

Hi LDB,

Yes it will be very easy to list the hundreds of food you could eat for breakfast. However a list could not be very appetizing. You will find a quicker and much more appetizing alternative to waiting for a list is to visit any of the top low carb forums that you can find in the internet and click your mouse on their recipes and then breakfast sections. There you won’t find just hundreds of things you can eat but you’ll find thousands of recipes that I know will tempt your taste buds.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Will eating low carbs everyday help me lose weight?

by | Jan 29, 2013 | Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Here is a post on Yahoo Answers about low carb that I have commented on

 

That one kid:

I have a goal of trying to lose 40-50 pounds by the end of May,so I heard eating less carb and more fruits and vegetables can help me lose weight. Is that true? I run like a mile, bike for like a few miles and do stairs. What else can I do?

 

My answer: 

Hi That one kid!,

Losing 40 to 50 lbs by the end of May is perfectly doable on a low carb diet. Both from the way you have posted your question I can honestly say that you will do yourself a lot of favors by finding out more about exactly what a low carb diet is. The two front runners are obviously Atkins and to a certain extent South Beach and of those two Atkins is normally the easiest one for people to do and for most people will provide good results and feedback fairly quickly. In both cases the books are fairly cheap to buy from your local bookstore or Amazon plus you’ll find that your local library will generally have copies of both the Atkins and the South Beach diet books. As Atkins have been around since the early 70s you’ll also find copies of this book in secondhand shops for next to nothing.

As an effective diet system low carb has been proven by hundreds of thousands of people over the last 40 years or more which would suggest that it will also work for you as well. However it will only work properly of you follow a tried and tested diet to the letter which means that one way or another you need to get yourself a book and  simply follow it along. If you try and develop your own diet without a good deal in background knowledge it will take you a lot longer  to get the results you want  by trial and error so may as well use the wisdom and knowledge of something that’s already in existence and get the results you want within the time that you want.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Which Atkins program works best?

by | Jan 29, 2013 | Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

This a recent comment I made on a post about Atkins at Jimmy Moore’s

 

Amanda’s post:

Hello all!

Last week I decided embark on my weight loss journey and started Atkins. I went ahead and checked out the latest book from the library and started followin it on 1/20. Frankly, I was a little disappointed when I weighed myself this morning and saw what I lost in a week. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. I followed it to the T as well. 

Anyway, I’ve been reading a bit online and it seems that people have the most success with Atkins 72 or the New Diet Revolution. What are the big differences between those two plans and which is better? I plan to start one of them today, I’m leaning towards 72 because I need strict. That said, both books are around $7 on Amazon, I may go ahead and just order both.

Thanks!
Amanda

 

My comment:

Hi Amanda,

Well firstly congratulations for sticking with the diet for 7 days. A lot of people bail up before then so well done you! That said I noticed you’ve only weighted yourself and as most of us will tell you the scales lie. It’s far better to also measure yourself and also keep an eye on how your clothes are fitting. Quite often we will notice our clothes loosening, well, before we see any change in the scales or the tape measure.

As for which diet to choose the old or the new, the bottom line is the one that best works for you is the one that you should continue with and it may end up that you actually don’t follow Atkins as your low carb diet of choice as other diets might suit you better.

Personally I  use a mixture from both, the old and the new simply because, one, I’ve never been a fan of net carbs which would lean towards the old 72 diet but also as Texasgoldengirl has pointed out we do have to watch how much protein we eat as our over indulging can quickly become a problem. 

Last thing I need to make sure I do is keep active as without a certain level of daily activity it seems my metabolism slows down and over the long term that could obviously give problems as well.

The great thing is you decided to take charge of your weight before you’re 40 and that’s probably about one of the best thing you could have done as leaving it later as LLL has said does make the job more difficult. Your decision to give Atkins another 2 weeks is probably a good start but I would suggest you actually take it on for longer than that. The thing is everyone’s body is different and yours may take a little longer to get into the swing of a low carb diet as there are many many changes that have to go on all for the better I might add.

Whatever you do make sure you continue to look after your health. Losing that 40 lbs now will probably be the best thing you can do for your future health and well being.

Hope that helps,

Mark