Low Carb does not always equal Low Cal

[Ruth B]

Well its a month into the new year and I think I have become too good with the low carb options.

While my BS is remaining well controlled, 4 - 5 pre meals, 6.5 - 7.5 post meals, my weight has been yo-yoing since Christmas. but slowly the highs are becoming higher and the lows are becoming higher, only a kilo or two at the moment but enough to make me review what I am eating.

The revelation is that some of the low carb alternatives I have come to rely on are higher carb than their high carb equivalents, the main culprits are the snacks, 85% dark chocolate is higher calories per 100g than the milk variants I used to scoff, and the almond flour is far higher than wheat flour, so all those home made chocolate buns and rock cakes may not effect my blood sugar but I think they are effecting my wasteline. I think I might have to stop baking for a while.

Eating to my monitor is all very well but sometimes it isn't all the answer.

 

[cold ethyl]

I've never advocated a free for all on so called low carb high fat staples like cheese and nuts for this reason. I've always had a savoury tooth so free cheese is my idea of heaven - not my waistline's though. I still need to shift weight so am trying to rein in snacking and going back to weighing my cheese. BS levels are great but only part of the picture for some of us.

 

[Brunneria]

How much choc and cake are you eating?
And what are your total carbs per day?
If you are over your personal carb threshold, then you can gain weight if you eat fat.

I go by the carbs (no more than 30-40g a day will prevent any gain, but more than that... I wouldn't lose. And I have to be properly in ketosis to lose anything at all.

- that gives me a personal limit of 2 or 3 squares of 70-85% choc per snaffle.
That is about 7g carbs (which is perfect) and as big a portion as I can stomach, because it is so rich, so strong, so satisfying.

The thought of 100g of 70+% dark choc in one sitting is... unattractive to me.

Likewise with low carb baking.
They are so much more filling, more dense, than a piece of wheat flour cake or biscuit.
A smaller portion is enough.

The drawback of eating sweet stuff while low carbing is that your palette never adjusts and learns to appreciate the subtleties and natural sweetness of real food. Better to cut them completely, allow your taste to adjust, then reintroduce them, slowly.

I was trapped in a social situation where I could not refuse a piece of cake this week (a colleague had made me a birthday cake). As the birthday girl, I was trapped. I cut a half inch sliver and pretended to enjoy it. Everyone else was positively orgasmic at its rich coffee-choc butter cream half inch coating.

I thought it was absolutely vile. I love coffee. And choc. But that amount of margarine and sugar? Shudder. Sickly does not describe it. It was quite nauseating. Ended up slipping it into the bin, but even 2 mouthfuls had my BG up to 9, and a sugar headache.

 

[Bluetit1802]

This is exactly why I have always counted my calories as well as my carbs. I was lucky to find the right balance immediately. My weight fell off me at between 1 and 2 pounds a week, a nice healthy weight loss. I didn't even have a stall or plateau. I was just as careful not to exceed my calorie allowance as I was with my carb allowance, and it worked for me. I reached my desired weight a few months ago and have spent the time since trying to find the right balance to stop losing! I have found this much more difficult than losing it in the first place without adding back any carbs.

Ruth, what is your carb allowance? Looking at your typical figures, it might be you are eating too many as the difference in your levels between before and after meals looks a bit too much to me. If you are eating high fat and your carbs aren't low enough, you will find it very difficult to lose weight.

 

[Ruth B]

Its not a 100g of choc in one sitting, its just slowly crept up, a piece here and a piece there, a cake after tea, before Christmas would be a special treat, but slowly becomes the norm. I have got so used to relying on my meter to tell me when I was eating too many carbs, it just doesn't react when I have managed to replace things with low carb options.

I'm not quite sure why I wrote the post, I know what I am doing wrong and I know what I have to do to get back on the wagon, maybe it was just that putting it in words helped bring the point home to me.

 

[Ruth B]

I allow about 100g of carbs a day, but I'll admit it might have crept up a bit since Christmas, but I was losing weight well before Christmas on it and keep my BS reasonable. I had my review on the 6th Jan and I wonder if I have relaxed a little too much after that as the results were good. It's easy to think that the weight issues are 'just the plateau that everyone reaches', but I don't want to think like that, I managed to lose the weight last year, I can do it again this year its just a matter of taking a look at what has changed and stepping back to where I was.

 

[Ruth B]

I've also got to see the nurse for my Depo injection this afternoon, and I know she will have a go at me as its gone up a kg since Jan, so I guess I am trying to work out my excuses and plans to tell her as well.