Weight gone up

[lindyloom]

Hi my weight went up from 68.8 to 69.5!!! I've been reading that if you overdose on carbs, i.e. too much bread and cereal (despite keeping to your calorie intake) you will retain water retention. So am thinking that I will watch the carbs and see if that makes a difference. Has anybody else found this happens when they have too many carbs? Cheers.

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

It is true that eating a lot of carbs can make you retain water and gain weight. You may find it better to stick to low GI carbs, like sweet potato, quinoa, oats and bulgur wheat and those obtained from vegetables, rather than bread and cereal?

[lindyloom in reply to moreless]

Thanks for your message. As it is getting a bit colder here in Oz I will try oats and I know that is good for your cholesterol levels. We do eat a lot of veggies. My husband makes veggie muffins with quinoa flour and quinoa with veggies in them. But lately we have been having a roll with our meal and I am sure that is not helping. Is 30 gms of oats OK. Hopefully anyway my weight gain will have gone down a bit as I am weighing tomorrow!!! Thanks a lot. Linda

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to lindyloom]

If I have porridge for breakfast, I have 30g and I eat oatcakes in place of bread.

Mmmm..... your veggies muffins sound delicious!! You should give us a recipe!

[lindyloom in reply to moreless]

I'll keep to 30 grams. I love oatcakes I'll have to check it out to see if we can get them here. I know we use to get them in the UK. My husband makes up the recipe so I am not sure just how much he puts in. He loves cooking, although I can cook. He is making home made pizza, making his own pizza dough with yoghourt. He bought a small tub of veggies in oil (dried toms, peppers, aubergine etc.) and he will put that on the top together with some cheese (probably a bit of low fat feta and parmesan). Cheers.

[IndigoBlue61]

Definitely!!! It seems to go against everything we’ve been told for years, but low carb is a must for weight loss, especially for women “of a certain age” . . . 😕

Good luck

[lindyloom in reply to IndigoBlue61]

From reading the scales I quite agree with you and definitely for older women - you just can't eat what you use to. Anyway low carbs is the way. Thanks for your advice. Cheers.

[IvanTheHorrible Maintainer]

It's not "water weight". It's fat. Carbohydrate-based foods are very energy-dense and are digested very fast. It's like drinking from a fire hose: unless you're an athlete, there's nowhere for that energy to go, at the rapid rate that it enters your bloodstream. It's a weird quirk of mammalian metabolism that excess energy can't be excreted, so it ends up as fat. Making things worse is that endless carbs-heavy meals modify the way your pancreas releases insulin and how your other cells respond to it, making your body more prone to storing fat and loath to burn it off. So over time, the fat just racks up.

So yes, drop the bread (especially white bread), cereals, and preferably other stuff made with flour. Fill up your plate with vegetables instead. Of course the occasional small serving of oats (or whatever) isn't going to do any harm, but the more of those items you can reduce/eliminate, the more you'll improve your weight-loss progress and your general well-being.

[Realthing Visitor in reply to IvanTheHorrible]

Interesting read 🙂

[lindyloom in reply to IvanTheHorrible]

Thanks Ivan you talk a lot of good sense and I will definitely keep all that in mind. We don't have white bread as my husband is on the border of being diabetic. If I made my pastry with wholemeal flour would that be better? But the big thing with me is the sweet things which have just got to go as they are carbs as well. Thanks for all your very good advice. Cheers. Linda

[IvanTheHorrible Maintainer in reply to lindyloom]

Thanks lindyloom You're right, sweet things will really put the brakes on weight loss. The best option, I found, is to just go cold turkey on the whole lot. It's unpleasant for a few days (see Millie53 's post below), but you'd be amazed how rapidly your tastes adjust. After a couple of months you just don't have any real desire to sit and work through a whole packet of Jaffa Cakes, and after six months you forget what the attraction was in the first place. I suppose it's a bit like stopping smoking!

Apart from anything else, you can save a surprising amount of money on the snacks you're not buying...

Homemade wholewheat bread is very nice, and it's definitely better than the fake bread you get in plastic packets, but from a weightloss point of view it has about the same result. Your husband would probably be better off without it altogether. Personally I like to bake a wholewheat loaf (maybe, like, twice a year!), but it's just for amusement value.

The main advantage of getting rid of all this stuff - apart from looking and feeling better - is that you don't have to stress over dietary fat anymore. The ultra-low-fat diet is a band-aid, a kludge to fix the fact that the modern western diet is massively overloaded with carbs. I think the Americans recommend six servings a day - that's, what, half a loaf of bread? That's just bizarre. Crank them down a bit (or a lot, depending on your tastes) and you can start eating normal, traditional food again without worrying that your arteries are furring up or that your pancreas is working overtime.

[lindyloom in reply to IvanTheHorrible]

Thanks Ivan (not horrible Ivan!!!) for your advice. I will look on line for a menu plan without the carbs for the relevant number of calories. I don't eat a lot of meat, so it makes it harder but there are eggs, nuts, lentils and other things I can eat. Cheers. Linda

[lindyloom in reply to lindyloom]

I did give up sweet things for about a month about 17 years ago and found that I did have more energy and enjoyed my food much more, so I know how it feels. Also I think the weight has gradually crept on because I wasn't be strict with what I eat. Anyway I will let you know how I go. Cheers. Linda

[Millie53]

I am now on a no carb plan. It is working for me, my last 1stone is gradually going now. It’s very hard at first. But I got through the worst 5 days at the begining. Including no fizzy drinks. It’s a been 4weeks now. I can’t believe how much more energy I have.

[lindyloom in reply to Millie53]

Hi Millie did you find it hard to have enough calories by not having carbs? I am going to try it anyway. Losing a stone in 4 weeks is really great. I think that's what I need to lose. Anyway thank you very much for your reply. Cheers. Linda

[Millie53 in reply to lindyloom]

At first I did. But used to it now. I use a lot of cauilflower rice. I am just waiting for my bread sticks to cook. No bread in them. I am actually followering a plan, but not sure if I am allowed to put it on here. Basically it’s the opposite to what I was doing before. 😊

[lindyloom]

I'll have to look up your bread sticks without bread see what the internet comes up with. They sound nice. Thanks for all your really helpful advice. Linda