Support NeoGAF

[acksman]

How do you know?

I've only been low carbing for about a week, typically @ about 20-25g/day and I can't really tell when I'm in ketosis and when I'm not. But I've lost 4-5 pounds during the same period so I had to be quite a bit.

You can buy ketosis strips aka pee strips and track your carb intake and adjust as needed.

 

[noire]

deleted

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Living healthy for me has gone completely down the shitter because of my schedule. From 7am to 1am I'm literally busy every hour of the day, and have no time to work out. I can barely squeeze in 15 minutes of exercise before I go to bed, and bcuz I'm on campus from 9a-5p every day it's danged near impossible to pack my own lunch and eat healthy at the dining facilities.

Feels bad man.

 

[TheExodu5]

My stomach is doing something weird. My whole stomach is flatter now, but the top abs seem to already want to come out, while I still have the spare tire on the bottom. :|

Like, I can see the cut between my top abs already starting to show. I've been doing good on my cardio, but I haven't really focused on my abs that much.

Werid.

Not weird. You're just losing fat. You can't burn fat specifically from your abs.

 

[Mr.Fresh]

Question gaf.... Is a Veggie Sandwich with Ranch Dressing bad?

 

[dejay]

Can anyone recommend a non sweet breath freshener?
The sickly sweetness of sugar free gum is something I've given up, and even with brushing, my breath smells bad at times, not keto breath, just bad funk breath (always have had it, low carb or not).
I'm thinking something like a mint leaf or something?

Chewing fresh parsley is meant to be good, although I haven't tried it as a mouth freshener. I do like to eat it when it's served as a garnish though.

Question gaf.... Is a Veggie Sandwich with Ranch Dressing bad?

Better a ham and salad sandwich, with a non-wheat bread or, if you must, a wholemeal bread. Check the ranch doesn't have too much added sugar. Still, I've found personally if I stick to under 100g of carbs a day (which I do easily, even with a few slices of bread) I lose fat and inches on a week by week basis. I do some resistance training and HIIT 3 times a week, but in all I only exercise an 1.5 hours a week and I eat plenty of junk food (meaty, fatty junk, not corny, sugary, carby junk). So no, I don't think it's bad - but you don't want to leave yourself feeling hungry two hours after eating it.

Fill up on protein, vegies, fat and a few low GI carbs is my advice.

 

[Hazaro]

My stomach is doing something weird. My whole stomach is flatter now, but the top abs seem to already want to come out, while I still have the spare tire on the bottom. :|

Like, I can see the cut between my top abs already starting to show. I've been doing good on my cardio, but I haven't really focused on my abs that much.

Werid.

You are just losing fat. Top abs show first.

 

[neojubei]

Its not bad and easy to follow. There are beter diets out there. But it worked for me years ago when I started to work out and diet again. I eventually switched off it. But its not a bad base. All it really is-Counting calories, disguised as "Points". I went from being a fat ass to running+WW and it produced good results for a while.

Thanks. I think I will try it out for 6 months and see if there are any results.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Well, being that my other shoes (ZigTechs) killed my ankles I am going to have to wait a week or two to finish couch to 5k. I'm going to have the doctor look at my ankles this week as I was in a ton of pain after Thursday's attempted run.

I may do some p90x workouts this week to get by, as they don't seem to aggravate my ankles at all.

I plan to start the full program again soon anyways, as I have only lost a few pounds on Couch to 5k and lost 20 last time I did p90x.

 

[Cmagus]

Anyone have a link to a good site with low carb meals?

 

[kikanny]

Anyone have a link to a good site with low carb meals?

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html

 

[Ninja Beagle]

Anyone have a link to a good site to where I can track the nutritionals of all the food I've eaten throughout the day?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Anyone have a link to a good site to where I can track the nutritionals of all the food I've eaten throughout the day?

Speaking of which, what's the logic behind these sites?

Unless everything you consume is prepackaged or you are meticulously measuring the weight of every ingredient in your food, how could you ever get an accurate breakdown?

 

[Cmagus]

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html

thank you I am about to go shopping but ill read over this first

 

[Einbroch]

Speaking of which, what's the logic behind these sites?

Unless everything you consume is prepackaged or you are meticulously measuring the weight of every ingredient in your food, how could you ever get an accurate breakdown?

To know how much of what you're eating? I don't understand.

Even making recipes isn't that hard. Spices are nothing but sodium, herbs don't need to be kept track of...it's really simple. It's just kind of amazing to realize that you ate X amount of calories today or Y amount of carbs. I thought I was doing awesome until I realized I was eating 3000 calories and 100+ carbs a day. After a while you can kind of stop using these apps/sites, but they're really beneficial until then.

For apps and sites, LoseIt! and loseit.com are awesome, and are on Android and iOS.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Damn just ordered the strips. I'm not on a "great" diet, but I've lost 5 pounds. I plan not to weight myself often to not discourage myself but seriously, I was very stable at the higher weight, so this diet must be working.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

To know how much of what you're eating? I don't understand.

Even making recipes isn't that hard. Spices are nothing but sodium, herbs don't need to be kept track of...it's really simple. It's just kind of amazing to realize that you ate X amount of calories today or Y amount of carbs. I thought I was doing awesome until I realized I was eating 3000 calories and 100+ carbs a day. After a while you can kind of stop using these apps/sites, but they're really beneficial until then.

For apps and sites, LoseIt! and loseit.com are awesome, and are on Android and iOS.

I just don't understand how they can be even close to accurate unless you were meticulously documenting the exact weight of every individual ingredient of every meal, or eating nothing but prepackaged foodstuffs. Even then, I imagine there would be quite a bit of variance.

 

[Einbroch]

I just don't understand how they can be even close to accurate unless you were meticulously documenting the exact weight of every individual ingredient of every meal, or eating nothing but prepackaged foodstuffs. Even then, I imagine there would be quite a bit of variance.

Did I have a pound of chicken breast for lunch? Yep, because I weighed it. Did I have a 1/2 of broccoli? No. I had about that much, but as long as I get it close it's fine. Definitely was more than a 1/4, less than 3/4. So I'll say half.

They're not for the uuber precise people, but they do have their place. I've used one for about a year now and it has been invaluable in my weight loss journey. Again, they're more for those who like to track things and for those who need an eye-opener.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Did I have a pound of chicken breast for lunch? Yep, because I weighed it. Did I have a 1/2 of broccoli? No. I had about that much, but as long as I get it close it's fine. Definitely was more than a 1/4, less than 3/4. So I'll say half.

They're not for the uuber precise people, but they do have their place. I've used one for about a year now and it has been invaluable in my weight loss journey. Again, they're more for those who like to track things and for those who need an eye-opener.

Interesting. Personally, I can't see how that would be valuable in any sense, but maybe I'm just not understanding. I do come from a "eat unlimited portions of X category, limit Y category as much as possible, completely avoid Z category at all costs"-type of approach, so maybe that's why. It just seems to me that, defining what kinds of foods are bad for you and what kind of foods are not, and then letting your hunger control how much you eat, would be a lot easier/more sensible. If you're not eating garbage that screws with your blood sugar/hormones, then your natural satiety function should work well enough to make it difficult to consume more than you should.

Thanks for the explanation, though. This must be for the calorie counting/cardio crowd.

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

Anyone have a link to a good site to where I can track the nutritionals of all the food I've eaten throughout the day?

I made my own in Excel, it calculates everything on it's own and creates pretty simple graphs automatically Feel free to use it if you like, it definitely helps give me a better visualization of what I'm doing. You can ignore the diabetes part, I'm type-1 and like to track my blood sugar and insulin in take too, but you could easily erase that area and add different stuff in for your own routine.

http://www.freewebs.com/dbiersdorf/template.xlsx

 

[Einbroch]

Interesting. Personally, I can't see how that would be valuable in any sense, but maybe I'm just not understanding. I do come from a "eat unlimited portions of X category, limit Y category as much as possible, completely avoid Z category at all costs"-type of approach, so maybe that's why. It just seems to me that, defining what kinds of foods are bad for you and what kind of foods are not, and then letting your hunger control how much you eat, would be a lot easier/more sensible.

Thanks for the explanation, though.

I like tracking stats, and if at the end of the day I can see that "well, that meal wasn't as healthy as I thought it was" or "wow, only 600 calories for that whole meal? I should eat that more!" then it was worth it.

I guess just seeing it in a physical form on my screen sort of validates my decisions as well.

 

[Price Dalton]

Interesting. Personally, I can't see how that would be valuable in any sense, but maybe I'm just not understanding. I do come from a "eat unlimited portions of X category, limit Y category as much as possible, completely avoid Z category at all costs"-type of approach, so maybe that's why. It just seems to me that, defining what kinds of foods are bad for you and what kind of foods are not, and then letting your hunger control how much you eat, would be a lot easier/more sensible. If you're not eating garbage that screws with your blood sugar/hormones, then your natural satiety function should work well enough to make it difficult to consume more than you should.

Thanks for the explanation, though. This must be for the calorie counting/cardio crowd.

They're also quite useful for tracking micronutrient (mineral, vitamin, phytochemical), fatty acid, fructose, and amino acid intakes.

 

[Ninja Beagle]

Thank you, Einbroch. Just what I needed.

 

[Cyrillus]

Running low on food, and didn't feel like going to the grocery store after work, so for dinner:
1 frozen broccoli steamers bag
some Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar
some diced up pepperoni slices from a local deli

Steamed the broccoli in the microwave, then spread the cheese and pepperoni, microwaved again, dash of salt and pepper, and viola!

...I get so lazy I will eat the weirdest concoctions just to procrastinate on going shopping...I hate shopping.

 

[elrechazado]

Anyone try the cauliflower Parmesan pizza crust?

http://primalgirl.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/cauliflower-pizza-crust/

Yeah, we make this all the time and it rocks.

 

[Cmagus]

That cauliflower crust looks really good I am gonna try it out I picked up some tonight.I found this other recipe as well that looks really good I am gonna try it out tomorrow.

http://blog.yourlighterside.com/2009/05/low-carb-pizza-dough-cauliflower.html

 

[Log4Girlz]

Hey any of you guys have a huge appetite like me. What sort of "filler" food can I get to eat which will fit a low carb diet? I know the main protein should keep me satiated...but it doesn't most of the time

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Hey any of you guys have a huge appetite like me. What sort of "filler" food can I get to eat which will fit a low carb diet? I know the main protein should keep me satiated...but it doesn't most of the time

Really hard to comment without knowing what you usually eat and how long since you've started eating that way.

 

[Eric WK]

Hey any of you guys have a huge appetite like me. What sort of "filler" food can I get to eat which will fit a low carb diet? I know the main protein should keep me satiated...but it doesn't most of the time

Hard to say unless we know what you're already doing, but common snacks for me include almonds and string cheese.

 

[ipukespiders]

Hey any of you guys have a huge appetite like me. What sort of "filler" food can I get to eat which will fit a low carb diet? I know the main protein should keep me satiated...but it doesn't most of the time

I think eggs are the only food that fills me up at reasonable quantities.
I can eat 3 eggs and I'm full.... Or I can eat a pound of hamburg, then 3 eggs and I'm full.
Something about eggs for me.

 

[Whitebison]

May 2011

earlier September 2011

Still have a long way but the diet&running combo are getting results.

 

[Gary Whitta]

Nice going dude!

 

[elrechazado]

heh, the SA low carb thread has a multipage influx of low carb haters invading. Quite amusing. I used to have the same thoughts before I actually educated myself on how the body works. Poor saps.

 

[noire]

deleted

 

[ant_]

heh, the SA low carb thread has a multipage influx of low carb haters invading. Quite amusing. I used to have the same thoughts before I actually educated myself on how the body works. Poor saps.

Depends. What are they saying? That low-carb doesn't work, or that there are other perfectly viable options to lose weight?

 

[ipukespiders]

heh, the SA low carb thread has a multipage influx of low carb haters invading. Quite amusing. I used to have the same thoughts before I actually educated myself on how the body works. Poor saps.

Yeah, the fyad crew. Good laughs.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

heh, the SA low carb thread has a multipage influx of low carb haters invading. Quite amusing. I used to have the same thoughts before I actually educated myself on how the body works. Poor saps.

Yup. Until you educate yourself, low-carb/paleo/primal diets sound kind of ridiculous. After decades of being told to eat "healthy whole grains" and avoid meats and oils, it's only natural I suppose. I remember mocking the Atkin's diet back when it was popular in the early 2000s. I'm not doing Atkin's now, and kind of disagree with it, but his method was certainly better than the conventional wisdom.

Since my weight loss success started being visually apparent a few months ago, I've managed to convert a few friends and coworkers. It really feels good to see them succeed, as well.

 

[dmag1223]

Well, I don't have pictures right now, but when my doctor told me I needed to lose weight point blank in February I was 255 pounds at 6 ft. This was a low point in my life, as I always thought of myself as a bigger guy, But more than 50 lbs overweight? I was shocked and disgusted.

I slowly started to adjust my diet, eliminating sodas and sweets, but still didn't really know what I was doing with my entire diet. By the time the school year ended I noticed some results, but nothing significant. I then came across this thread in late June and decided to try a low carb diet that I am continuing today.

I just weighed myself today and I'm down to 215 lbs! I just wanted to thank the posters in this thread who have provided great info, it is really changed my life for the better. I couldn't be happier right now!

 

[Kickz]

I had a pretty good week.

Last Monday; 341 pounds

This Monday; 335 pounds

 

[elrechazado]

I had a pretty good week.

Last Monday; 341 pounds

This Monday; 335 pounds

awesome progress - keep it up man

 

[Keylime]

Grr...I'm trying to figure out how I want to diet right now and I'm torn between two worlds. I'm doing P90X right now (have been for a little over a month and a half now) and I'm trying to figure out a good diet to keep burning fat, but not fatiguing during my exercise (besides P90X, I started biking).

Slow Carb
My previous diet where I lost 50 pounds in 4 months. Meat, vegetables, beans, eggs...that's it. Worked wonders for weight loss...but I suspect I lost of fair amount of muscle during this because I didn't focus on eating high amounts of protein.

P90X Diet
Diet prescribed by P90X for the best results. It's a bit of a phased system, but generally you are supposed to be eating a 40/40/20 ratio of protein/carbs/fats. For the amount of calories I'd typically need to hit close to 2000 calories. This would be 200/200/45 grams respectively. The sources of the carbs are pretty much the same as Slow Carb, but it adds fruit and lowfat dairy into the mix.

...

I'm torn...and I think the problem is the scale. The biggest issue I have right now is that I have no good way of measuring my progress anymore. Since I lost all that weight, and I'm guessing a good amount of muscle weight...my weight loss has slowed dramatically. I'm lucky if I lose 1-2 pounds a week anymore. After losing close to a half pound a day, this slamming on the brakes in terms of my weight loss is really challenging my motivation.

While P90X is obviously helping me get in better shape, the only reliable tool I had for measuring my progress was rendered useless. My beautiful, wonderful scale is now just a useless step in my bathroom that tells me close to nothing.

I know I've asked this before, but it's really getting to me. I love what P90X is doing for my body, but I can't help but wonder if the diet I'm on these days is slowing down my overall progress. It would have been much easier to stomach if I'd just lost all the weight I possibly wanted and started doing P90X after. Then I wouldn't really care what the scale said because I'd assume any gains would be muscle or water. Right now I just don't know.

Bah!

 

[Hausmeister]

I also got the sense I'm not losing weight anymore... here's a typical day:

Morning:
-2 eggs (mostly fried)
-4-5 stipes of bacon
-1 glass of milk

Lunch:
-2 slices of bread with turkey breast or cheese
(my office job ends next friday, so I'll look for alternatives / cooking at home then)

Dinner:
-500mg of yoghurt (1,5% fat or something) mixed with a cup of differents fruits, a bit sugared

I only drink water, 1 or 2 times a week I go with diet coke or something.

Now I know the low carb guys will tell me to cut out bread and the sweetened fruits... but is it really that bad to prevent weight loss?

 

[Zoe]

While P90X is obviously helping me get in better shape, the only reliable tool I had for measuring my progress was rendered useless. My beautiful, wonderful scale is now just a useless step in my bathroom that tells me close to nothing.

I know I've asked this before, but it's really getting to me. I love what P90X is doing for my body, but I can't help but wonder if the diet I'm on these days is slowing down my overall progress. It would have been much easier to stomach if I'd just lost all the weight I possibly wanted and started doing P90X after. Then I wouldn't really care what the scale said because I'd assume any gains would be muscle or water. Right now I just don't know.

Bah!

Why don't you get a scale that measures body fat and water %?

 

[LosDaddie]

Not weird. You're just losing fat. You can't burn fat specifically from your abs.

You are just losing fat. Top abs show first.

I had a 6-pack for pretty much all through college and a couple years after. I just don't remember the top abs showing way before the bottom abs did. But then again, it's been a few years since then.

:kanyeshrug

Depends. What are they saying? That low-carb doesn't work, or that there are other perfectly viable options to lose weight?

yeah, I'd like to know this as well. The main thing about dieting is discipline.

 

[borghe]

well, my weight loss stopped over a year ago (about 14 months ago). My target weight was reached. My main goal for the last 14 months has been my body fat... now granted I haven't been trying extremely hard. basically just don't eat like a moron and keep exercising (doing a pretty regimented 10-20 rep calisthenics routine progressing past normal pushups, pullups, etc).

Well, 14 months later and I am FINALLY under a 31" waist at my widest point. and around 30.4" at my navel.

So my total weight loss looks like this:

start: 210lbs. 36.3" waist. 42.6lb of fat
end: 157lb. 30.4" waist. 13.1lb of fat
total down: 53lb. 5.9"
actual body fat lost: 29.5

now if you figure about 5-10 lb of water weight, that results into 13.5-18.5lb of lean body mass lost, but most of it actually came from after my appendectomy, so really there isn't a whole lot I could do about it..

 

[LosDaddie]

Since I lost all that weight, and I'm guessing a good amount of muscle weight...my weight loss has slowed dramatically. I'm lucky if I lose 1-2 pounds a week anymore.

Losing 1-2 lbs a week is still great, especially if you're trying to build muscle too.

 

[borghe]

I also got the sense I'm not losing weight anymore... here's a typical day:

Morning:
-2 eggs (mostly fried)
-4-5 stipes of bacon
-1 glass of milk

Lunch:
-2 slices of bread with turkey breast or cheese
(my office job ends next friday, so I'll look for alternatives / cooking at home then)

Dinner:
-500mg of yoghurt (1,5% fat or something) mixed with a cup of differents fruits, a bit sugared

I only drink water, 1 or 2 times a week I go with diet coke or something.

Now I know the low carb guys will tell me to cut out bread and the sweetened fruits... but is it really that bad to prevent weight loss?

IMHO the problem here is that you have a lot of sugars/grains AND a lot of saturated fats. whether low carb or low fat, the big thing to remember is that you absolutely CAN'T have both a bunch of saturated fats AND a bunch of simple carbs. either cut out the saturated fats (i.e. dairy fat/cheese/etc, bacon, fried part of the eggs.. go hard boiled, etc) or cut out the carbs. Having both in your diet is more than likely causing your body to create and store fat regardless of activity. fortunately if you're maintaining then you aren't actually eating poorly, but if you're still trying to lose weight, yeah.. you're shooting yourself in the foot. kill either the saturated fats or the simple carbs.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I also got the sense I'm not losing weight anymore... here's a typical day:

Morning:
-2 eggs (mostly fried)
-4-5 stipes of bacon
-1 glass of milk

Lunch:
-2 slices of bread with turkey breast or cheese
(my office job ends next friday, so I'll look for alternatives / cooking at home then)

Dinner:
-500mg of yoghurt (1,5% fat or something) mixed with a cup of differents fruits, a bit sugared

I only drink water, 1 or 2 times a week I go with diet coke or something.

Now I know the low carb guys will tell me to cut out bread and the sweetened fruits... but is it really that bad to prevent weight loss?

Yes. The bread more so than the sugar. Even besides being bad for weight loss, wheat is a terrible thing for humans to consume. I highly suggest looking into it. It's not even about being low-carb so much (although that makes things a bit easier). You can get plenty of carbs from vegetables, and even a bit of rice (not recommended until you're mostly in maintenance mode), but you should really, really avoid wheat products.

 

[borghe]

Yes. The bread more so than the sugar. Even besides being bad for weight loss, wheat is a terrible thing for humans to consume. I highly suggest looking into it. It's not even about being low-carb so much (although that makes things a bit easier). You can get plenty of carbs from vegetables, and even a bit of rice (not recommended until you're mostly in maintenance mode), but you should really, really avoid wheat products.

agreed 100%... grains are awful for us. no reason in first world countries of moderate income any of us have to stick to grain heavy diets.

 

[Hausmeister]

Ok so I'll cut out the bread / wheat... Thanks guys