Diet troubles need some help with my low carb diet ASAP

[banga]

Hi all,
First off I hope this is in the right section...

First of all I will say that I have not been on the low carb diet long (Cyclic Ketogenic Diet), it has really only been just over a week and I started by reducing the carbs slowly. Basically one day 70, next day 60 and now am eating 30 carbs a day.

Now I understand that you may feel week and tired for a week or so before the body properly adjust which is fine, however when it comes to eating a certain number of calories a day at present I have been aiming at the 2240 mark, which is the same as before I started the low-carb. The problem is I find it extremely hard to stick to eating this many calories on this diet, for me its nearly impossible to say the least.
My food diary can be seen here by any interested person (http://www.calorieking.com.au/public/?member=banga)
I struggle to keep my fat intake down and my calories down, managing on the carb side. Today for example I have eaten roughly 2550 calories without having had dinner as of yet and to be honest I feel quite hungry and this is not a hunger for carbs I assure you, it just seems as though I want to eat more and more. To satisfy my hunger I feel like I will be surplus 2500 calories; and I don't think this will effect well on the diet.

Can anybody give me some advice or some pointers? Or has anybody been in the same position? According to some reading I have been doing for my caloric intake my fat intake should be between the 120-140 mark, but I feel that I could easily surpass 200...

Any comments or help appreciated...:confused:

[jojoamethyst]

interesting as i have to make do on about 1300 calories

first of all the bacon has a lot of sodium - maybe a couple of eggs would be better thrown into the mix - or eggs plus egg whites - i buy the powdered stuff to make omelettes- 2 eggs are about 160 cals and might be a bit more filling than the bacon

vegies? what are those? there are a lot of low carb/cal vegies that would help fill you up considerably - eg salad vegies - cucumber, lettuce, capsicum
also cabbage, green beans, cauli and broccoli

cheese also is very high in fat and sodium - maybe substitute for cottage cheese or ricotta?

not sure what percentages you should go for with fat and protein but seems to me your fat intake is very high - bacon, coconut cream and cheese which is bringing your cals right up

summing up - more vegies, less bacon, cheese and coconut cream
even the herrings might be a poorer choice as opposed to tuna or lean chicken breast

just my two cents

[Sherrie]

Ditch the soy milk and add some veggies, you might find your stomach just needs some bulk which you can get from veggies. One good bulk but low carb veg is broccoli which is 0.5g per 100g just cook it well to break down the goitrogens. You shouldn't be so hungry like that, something might be causing cravings so perhaps experiment a little and see if you can pick it. Wonder if the bran can cause cravings? (Might want to try the psyllium pancakes in the recipe section). By removing the bran you have room for more low carb veggies, also perhaps 300g of strawberries is too much in one sitting? otherwise could be the bacon as processed meats can tend to cause trouble for some. Sometimes, too much protein can, but it doesn't look too excessive for a male but it could be the amounts in your meals so rather then cut right back on it you need to spread it out. Our body can only really process around 30g (I think it was) per meal or pretty close to that, this is where the several meals that bodybuilders have comes from, so that they can maximise absorption of the protein they eat. So bring your protein down a bit in your main meals and flesh them out with good veggies particularly green ones (except peas) with some melted butter or none if the protein is very fatty (e.g. pork ribs). Then have some protein snacks to keep protein up but keep watch for any particular ones that cause cravings/hunger. Sometimes it is the leanness that causes cravings.

Later when you find you need to experiment with adding carbs go for starchy carbs that don't have too high a GI like sweet potato and basmati.

[banga]

Thanks Sherrie and jojoamethyst...
I must admit since starting this diet I have missed out on a lot of veggies mainly due to being scared of going over the carb count, however from tomorrow I will get back into them.
I thought cottage cheese was high in carbs, thus I stayed away from it; is there any particular brands that is particularly low in carbs?

I'm not quite sure what could be causing the cravings, I guess the bacon could be the cause, bran I doubt because I have been substituting bran into all my meals since long before I started my diet and it usually made me fuller so to speak, but in saying that I have not tried the husk; where can it be bought from and do you know the rough cost of it?
I can space the protein out more I guess, but I want to keep it high as I am doing quite a bit of gym work.

I guess more lean meat will be a good idea as it will allow me to eat more as well, I am thinking that the high fat diet gave my mind an excuse to eat what I hadn't eaten in a over a year lol...

Thanks for your help so far!!!

[janal]

Hi Banga,
No better advise than what's already been given, but I will add in the fluid equation.
I know for me my body gets confused between needing fluid or food, I very badly choose food. I don't drink enough. So maybe when your feeling hungry it may be your body asking for fluid, so drink up and see if that helps.

Cheers

[beamer]

hi this is beamer,cravings have been my worst enemy,but after years of on and off diets,for me the biggest craving sollution is a piece of ham or 2 or 3
amazingly works every time,good luck

[banga]

Hi Banga,
No better advise than what's already been given, but I will add in the fluid equation.
I know for me my body gets confused between needing fluid or food, I very badly choose food. I don't drink enough. So maybe when your feeling hungry it may be your body asking for fluid, so drink up and see if that helps.

Cheers

Hi Janal,
Thanks for the advice, but I am sure its not fluids for me; reason being I am drinking at least 10 cups daily sometimes like yesterday 12 or even more lol. So when it comes to keeping fluid levels up I have got that base covered at least...

Thanks Beamer,

I will try the ham, sounds like a gem of an idea. Never know may be what works for me in the end

[banga]

Another quick question to add to the list from me is can spreads like olive oil based spread be used for cooking with? I know they have high concentrations of water so they won't last long, but in regards to changing theier properties is there any risk of that at all?

Thanks for the help everyone!!!

[Sherrie]

Why not just just real butter and cold pressed olive oil?

[banga]

Why not just just real butter and cold pressed olive oil?

Lol, could do that. Just thought that the spread would be better health wise and less calories.
Not a fan of butter so I'll probably use olive oil spray.

[banga]

Oh and also just wanted to confirm that the p-husk is 0 net carbs right???

Got scared after looking at the packet as it was not already taken off...

I brought the woolworths select one.

Also this stuff is majic, fills me up in seconds!!!

[Sherrie]

Nothing unhealthy about butter and gram for gram butter contains less calories then olive oil :)