LCHF - Newbie Questions

Normally the act of giving up a lot of carbs causes weight loss without counting calories. People who are already thin have to count calories because they do not wish to lose any more weight but if you are not thin then no need to worry yet.

The HF part of the diet does not really imply stuffing lots of fat into the face. My attitude towards it is just to forget the low fat cult. Have full fat milk, have butter (but not on bread) and avoid foods that make much of being low fat. Food manufacturers who are proud to print low/no fat on their label often replace fat with sugar which defeats the object a bit.

One thing to watch is for foods that appear to be what they are not. There are any number of chicken products, for example, which claim to be chicken but are chicken mince mixed with flour. They are often called things like nuggets, dippers, goujons or even kiev so it might be safer to check that the shape of the product actually looks like a chicken part. Other meats get this treatment also.

Many forum members including myself have lost weight with low carb. I was surprised to find that I was 13kg lighter than I was at diagnosis. I have relaxed my diet a bit and am still 10kg lighter than at diagnosis.

Hi Gem,

Newbie here too. Was diagnosed around 15 years ago but never did anything about it until recently, so good on you!!

Just started LCHF about 8 weeks ago. the first week was awful (nausea, headaches, gas etc) BUT just plough through it.

In 8 weeks, i have lost around 18lbs. More importantly, my fasting blood sugar has hovered at around 6 every day for the last 6 weeks!!

I'm sure those more experienced with LCHF will be around to advise you.

What I will say is that this is the longest I have been able to sustain a "diet" with very little effort. I keep my carbs at 10gms entirely from veggies. and although it is counter intuitive to everything i have been taught, i eat loads of fat mainly from butter and eggs and the occasional lamb shoulder (fat on).

I do keep a log of my food and an eye on my calories simply because I felt that my caloric intake was too low as LCHF when properly followed does keep your hunger at bay.

Try LCHF and see if it works for you. Good luck!!

Hi Gem, welcome

I've been doing LCHF since virtually the day I was diagnosed back in March. As well as getting my blood sugars under control I've lost 18 kg to bring my BMI down to a tad under 25. I haven't consciously counted anything apart from the very early days, just eaten to my meter and kept an eye on weight progress. My next challenge is probably to put the brakes on and avoid going too far under 70 kg! That will probably involve a slight increase in protein and fat intake, I don't want to reduce the exercise which would be another approach.

Eggs for breakfast, and protein/salad at other meals sounds fine to me. Desserts can be a problem, normally I would have some berries and cream, but when I was in Oz a couple of weeks ago cheese was the only option in restaurants.

I think you said elsewhere you have had a glucose tolerance test? Do you have an HbA1c result?

Good luck, and ask any more questions.

Gemdris said:

Thank you so much everyone - this is all so overwhelming. I will get my A1c results back on Friday - will let you know how i go!

Gem x

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Please do! It is always good to hear back from people.

In the meantime, have a rootle through the low carb section of the forum - particularly what people are eating.

Low carb (enough fat) isn't for everyone. Some people cannot imagine a meal without bread or potatoes, but there are a lot of people on here (including myself) who have found it absolutely brilliant.