A Bit Confused As T How Much I Can Eat

Ojustaboo said:

Hi, Type 2, on Metformin 3 times a day, today I started this diet.

Starting out by getting all my diet menus from Diet Doctor

I didn't feel like breakfast, had bacon and eggs for lunch which equals 1g Carbs

Drinking water only

So the only other carbs I will get is with my dinner.

Looking at the various dinners on Diet Doctor, there's loads I like, but not sure what they say is for one person will fill me up (weigh 120 kg)

Am I right in presuming if they say a dinner has 4g of carbs, it wont matter me having a double portion, as that plus my lunch only equals 9 carbs?

Am I OK starting out with such few carbs or should I be eating something else to go nearer 20 carbs a day?

Many thanks

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20g of carbs a day is a very low level especially if you are just starting low carb. If you think you are having less than that are you sure you are calculating correctly?

Under normal circumstances low carb/ketogenic diets are NOT supposed to be calorie restricted so you can eat as much as you need to feel satisfied without over stuffing yourself - you are the best judge of your appetite, so all you basically haver to do is restrict your carbohydrate intake and add some extra fat instead to make up for the change in your fuel sources... you're just changing the way you eat! I've occasionally used some Diet Doctor recipes and if needs be I simply adjust quantities to suit me.

If you're starting from scratch and not currently eating a low carb diet, you may be better starting with more carbs and cutting down more slowly/less drastically otherwise you may suffer from keto/lowcarb/Atkins "flu" - withdrawal symptoms you could get when you stop eating a high carb diet - they're addictive little beasties.

Robbity

There's probably no need to count carbs if you are following the Diet Doctor's meal plans.

That's a lot of carbs cut in one go, so you might feel a little rough for a few days, as your body adjusts... If you feel flu-ish, and headachy, have some salty (bone) broth or some coconut milk, it'll make you feel better. (You'll need the sodium/electrolytes, as your body'll start purging and you'll lose a lot of waterweight.). You can/should eat to satiety, so if you feel like you need to double up on portions, that's fine. Just keep an eye on the carbs and it'll be okay .(I'm usually well under 20 now, it's not an exact target. Lower is fine, but you need 20 or less to get into ketosis.). Maybe add butter to coffee to fill you up? (George Clooney should try my version of his Volutto! Butter, cinnamon, double shot of Nespresso and a sweetener... Heaven!) You're not supposed to be hungry all the time, that's not the goal here, otherwise no-one could keep it up. Though I've found that often, what I think is hunger, is actually thirst. Having a drink to check what's what, often helps too.
You might want to check your bloodsugars as you're making a huge dietary change and you're on meds. I can't remember right now whether metformin and keto can lead to hypo's, but keep an eye out eh. You might need to reduce your meds.

Unfortunately the reaction of you to a change in diet may be very different to me or to other people. When I was diagnosed with diabetes in early May I started out by reducing carbs to around 30 grams or so a day. I was still getting mild blood sugar spikes so I reduced further.

I was around 128kg when I started, and am now 116kg, so I have lost around 1.2 kg a week without any exercise. I feel like I've been lucky though because I had no 'keto flu', and have very little food cravings. In fact lately I have been finding it more difficult to eat much at all. Typically now I only eat a small meal once a day (around 800 - 1000 kj or 200 kilocalories) and trust my body to use my more than ample fat stores as needed for the rest and have virtually no hunger outside of meal time. One thing I did find useful with this was to eliminate 'snack' foods, like nuts and low carb chocolate - otherwise I would just eat them because they were there.

Obviously I will have to change my intake once I approach my goal weight range but I have months more fat left to burn.

Oh, and don't worry about metformin causing hypos - it does not work that way at all. It is very safe and can be taken during reduced calorie diets or fasting.

Good luck with your diet. I hope you find it easy to make the transition to very low carb.

Ojustaboo said:

Hi, Type 2, on Metformin 3 times a day, today I started this diet.

Starting out by getting all my diet menus from Diet Doctor

I didn't feel like breakfast, had bacon and eggs for lunch which equals 1g Carbs

Drinking water only

So the only other carbs I will get is with my dinner.

Looking at the various dinners on Diet Doctor, there's loads I like, but not sure what they say is for one person will fill me up (weigh 120 kg)

Am I right in presuming if they say a dinner has 4g of carbs, it wont matter me having a double portion, as that plus my lunch only equals 9 carbs?

Am I OK starting out with such few carbs or should I be eating something else to go nearer 20 carbs a day?

Many thanks

Click to expand...

Personally I did what you are doing and cut carbs down to an absolute minimum intending to maybe add some back in later which I haven't done. I also cut out breakfast completely as you have. I personally would be eating until I feel satisfied but not stuffed so if that means double diet doctor meals then for the first few weeks go for it. Anything leftover can always be had for lunch tomorrow. Don't forget fat is your friend for feeling full so don't skimp there. After a few weeks I almost guarantee you will be eating less volume and maybe even less often once you get more fat adapted.

Ojustaboo said:

Hi, Type 2, on Metformin 3 times a day, today I started this diet.

Starting out by getting all my diet menus from Diet Doctor

I didn't feel like breakfast, had bacon and eggs for lunch which equals 1g Carbs

Drinking water only

So the only other carbs I will get is with my dinner.

Looking at the various dinners on Diet Doctor, there's loads I like, but not sure what they say is for one person will fill me up (weigh 120 kg)

Am I right in presuming if they say a dinner has 4g of carbs, it wont matter me having a double portion, as that plus my lunch only equals 9 carbs?

Am I OK starting out with such few carbs or should I be eating something else to go nearer 20 carbs a day?

Many thanks

Click to expand...

Just one point. If you weight twice as much as you should, you do not need twice as many carbs or calories to function. You may need a bit more calories, but not really. You will adjust to less food, and lowering your carbs will reduce your hunger too, as long as you eat more fats and proteins.

Once your meter comes, and you can test, you will be able to find a way which works for you.

Ojustaboo said:

Many thanks all.

As far as counting my carbs properly goes, I'm just going by what it says on Diet Doctor, so as it said my lunch was 1g, I'm taking that as gospel.

I've a;so printed out Diet Doctors pages that show what veg/drink etc has what carbs in.

But, I think I may be following it too strictly as far as meat is concerned. The lunch said 2 eegs and 35g of bacon and that's what I had. And my stomachs rumbling

Dinner for example, Crispy Chinese pork with Cabbage (wont let me post links) is 6g. And it's basically 200g of pork belly and cabbage Even if I doubled it I'm only hitting 13g for the day. If I feel full after dinner I'm happy.

I only looked at the Keytogenic meals, maybe that was a mistake as most are under 5g.

Haven't decided what to have tonight yet. The initial outlay to make things like mayonnaise and ranch dressing, plus the various spices all add up, I need to wait for my lovely wife to get home and see whats what.

Thanks all, advice has been very useful

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I found it took at least a week to adapt to the change in diet, regardless of what i ate. Our bodies need time to adapt, and it takes a while for the carbs to work out of our system and the cravings and rumblings to subside. Well done on your achievements.

Ojustaboo said:

I cant find any info about things like Mustard, horseradish etc

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It's on the jar, but be careful you are counting the carbs for the portion you actually have.

Ojustaboo said:

I cant find any info about things like Mustard, horseradish etc

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If you want carb counts for condiments (or anything ingredient really) just type “carb count of xyz” into Google. Both mustard and horseradish are less than 1g of carb per teaspoon, so not worth worrying about.

Ojustaboo said:

As far as counting my carbs properly goes, I'm just going by what it says on Diet Doctor, so as it said my lunch was 1g, I'm taking that as gospel.

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I think Diet Doctor is giving ball park numbers. An egg yolk has 0.6g carbs.

I see no reason for Diet Doctor to limit the protein element of your meals. If you are hungry, you could double the amount of bacon, chicken, salmon, red meat, belly pork etc etc and you would not have increased your carb intake at all. As for horseradish, as MrPot says, the carb count is on the pot, and also the supermarkets publish this info on their websites, where it is in larger print. Sometimes it is hard to read the info crammed onto a tiny jar.

Watch out for creamed horseradish, which is a lot higher in carbs than ordinary. Mustards vary a lot too. I have settled for Maille Dijon Original which has only 3.5g carbs per 100g. And if you like bought mayonnaise, Hellman's Real mayonnaise has only 1.3g carbs per 100g, is reasonably priced and IMO delicious. Just stay away from all the low fat, Be Good to Yourself, Light, Healthy Living options, which are almost all low fat and high carb.

Well done making home made low carb jelly. I bet this works out much cheaper than buying Hartley's 10 Cal Jelly Pots as I do!

Alexandra100 said:

Just stay away from all the low fat, Be Good to Yourself, Light, Healthy Living options

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In short do not have the "healthy" option as it is bad for you. Hilarious really if the consequences weren't so serious.

Ojustaboo said:

Thanks all. It's very confusing reading the labels, almost like they are trying to catch us out.

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Treat it like a quiz. I eat lentils but the packet gives the amount of carbs for a cooked portion so I had to weigh some dry lentils, cook them, weigh them again and work back to how much dry weight I was allowed. (The cooked weight is about 3 times the dry weight).