Low Carb Tips

A friend wrote me this week they preparing to do some low carb dieting and asked for any tips or advice. So I find myself thinking about what to tell them. I do not know if any of this works for anyone oher than me and I can guarentee it is not scientifically tested, but here are my thoughts.

1. Know what you are doing before you start. I find myself talking to at least one person a week who is gonna try a low carb diet and has no idea what they are doing. I have talked to people who think low carb is a strictly meat diet(it is not). I talk to people who think taking the top bun off their burger is low carb(it probably isn't). Or they think it is a license to binge on fatty foods (it shouldn't be). and on and on and on, In the last ten months I have heard all sorts of things. Anyway, what I am saying is know what you are doing! Get a book(atkins, south beach, etc.) read up! Go to some websites, read what people are saying and doing. I believe if you follow the diet as it was written you will lose weight. Do yourself a favor and do it right.

2. Exercise. You need to exercise to lose weight and feel great. Don't fool yourself. There is no way around this. 3x a week minimum. Also I believe in exercising first thing in the morning. Two reasons: Get it out of the way. Exercise on an empty stomach and then waiting an hour before you eat can burn more calories.

3. Keep track of what you eat. http://www.fitday.com Offers a free food journal. You can even add all your custom foods. It helps to really know what you are eating. And makes counting carbs easy!

4. Manufacturers lie. If the food you are eating says 0 carbs but common sense says it has to have a carb in it. It probably does. They are allowed to fudge in the nutritional info to a certain degree and they do. If the item has .5 carbs per serving they can round down to 0. and then you go and eat two servings and end up with a carb.

5. Spend time in the grocery store. Figure out where they have low carb products hidden in your grocery store. Walmart in Lebanon has them in tons of places. Why? I dunno sometimes they are with similar products like low carb salad dressing with the other salad dressings. Sometimes they are in their own community set apart in a different row altogether. Don't miss out on low carb options cause you are not looking.

6. The first two weeks on low carb are known as induction. Be strict. Do not fudge this part. Stick to the simple foods on the plan and stay away from the low carb manufactured foods. All the sugar alchohol type products can screw up a good start. I also try to avoid bars and shakes during this time. My body takes about 5-7 days to get used to low carbs. So the first few days I always feel worse until the 'sugar' leaves my blood. So sticking to induction seems best to me.

7. You will loose water weight during your first few weeks.(common in all diets) This is encouraging to see the scale go down. Just remember if you stop you may quickly gain a few pounds back so keep that in mind when you are determining how much you want to loose and when you plan to stop.

8. Set goals & rewards real or imaginary. It is important to keep your eye on the prize and positive reinforcement helps. Even if it seems crazy. I have had a ton of goals and rewards going on in my head over the past year. Perhaps I will write a separate entry on this subject. It would amuse some of you I am sure.

9. Avoid the scale it is your enemy. It will lie to you and discourage you. Don't get me wrong it makes you feel good at times too. But for every time it makes you feel good there are ten times it makes you feel discouraged. So try only to weigh yourself at the same time every few days. Cause you do not loose weight everyday, so avoid disappointment. However, if seeing the scale not budge is a freaky motivating factor weigh yourself every few hours. (for more about my relationship with my scale search my blog)

10. Calories are still the deciding factor in any diet. Consuming less calories will help you lose weight faster. USING LOW CARB AS A LICENSE TO EAT TONS OF FATTY FOODS IS A CRIME. Keep track on fitday.com and maintain a reasonable calorie level for you!

11. Snacks- Lebanon Balogna(non-sweet) Carb Options Skippy Peanut Butter, Hood Carb Countdown Chocolate Milk, Cajun Pork Rinds, Atkins Bars, Celery, Broccoli, Diet Rite Soda, are all good when you need something. ( But I try to avoid the manufactured snacks during the two week induction)

12. Myoplex CS Powdered drinks. I love them. They are low carb protein drinks with tons of vitamins. Found at GNC centers, I like them better than Atkins drinks(although they are good too). The price of the box is pretty expensive and I joined their gold club to get the discount. I drink one of these a day. Put powder in blender with 7 ice cubes and 16oz of water. YUM

13. Sugar Alcohol in products is great when you want something sweet without the digestible carbs. Just beware it can upset your stomach.

14. Tomorrow is another day. If you blow it, it is ok. Just start again tomorrow. I find myself wanting to throw in the towel sometimes. but if i wait out my urges and my temptation tomorrow is always brighter. Also if you do blow it, it can take 2-3 days to get back to feeling better doing low carb.

Ok if i think of more after I post I will add them. But this is a start. If you have any good ideas to add please comment.