Counting carbs not calories?

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• posted by bizzylizzy
  on 31 Mar 2016 at 09:45

  

  I hope this is the right place…….. I am near the end of the 8 weeks, doing the diet in a supportive role for my OH who is Type 2 and has recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure. He has been told to lose 1 and a half stone. He is controlling the diabetes successfully with diet so far, and is wanting to stay off meds for the blood pressure too, hence the diet. We have no reliable scales so are going by clothes – he is on his smallest belt notch now! But I’m sure he still has weight to lose.

  Anyway, I am seriously thinking about changing from counting calories and keeping everything as low carb as possible, to just counting carbs. I have asked somewhere else on here about this but thought it would be easier to have a dedicated thread. I know the amount of carbs recommended is 50g a day. I thought it might be much easier to just count carbs, things are fairly chaotic at times here and get very stressful so the simpler the better!

  Does anyone else do this? Is it easy and does it help with weight loss? I have the Carbs and Cals book and app so was thinking of continuing to use that.

• posted by hashimoto
  on 31 Mar 2016 at 10:02

  

  Hi bizzylizzy, I think cherrianne and a few others just count the carbs. I know Bill hasn’t counted calories at all, just stuck to low carb. That is what I am about to do to.
  How wonderful of you to follow the diet to support your OH!
  Did you weigh yourselves before the diet? I know Bill just goes to the local pharmacy once a week to weigh himself because he won’t have scales in the house,

  OH must have lost a fair bit already if he is on smallest notch of his belt!! 🙂

• posted by Bill1954
  on 31 Mar 2016 at 10:26

  

  Thats right Liz, I’ve never counted them, they are far too small and roll off the table 😉
  Seriously I found that if I just watched the carbs, my appetite was determining my portion control and I have found often that I can’t finish even half of what is on my plate, so I would say go for it.
  Works well for me.

• posted by Janet1973
  on 31 Mar 2016 at 11:05

  

  Works for me too. It makes it very easy to get organised as I don’t have to work out every measurement and calorie count. There are no carbs in meat, eggs, fish or butter so I can have as much of these as I like. My appetite has shrunk beyond belief but if I do feel more hungry I know I can have an extra egg in my omelette or a larger piece of fish, etc. Oh and cheese is only half a gram per 25g. Life is worth living again!

• posted by Bill1954
  on 31 Mar 2016 at 11:21

  

  Janet are you a cheese fiend like me ? I love mature cheese.
  Don’t forget when you’re bigging it up that it also contains beneficial fat (doesn’t that still sound weird)

• posted by Janet1973
  on 31 Mar 2016 at 11:30

  

  Yes Bill, being able to eat cheese makes any other sacrifice worth it! In the past I only ever used to say ‘eat fat’ as an insult!

• posted by hashimoto
  on 31 Mar 2016 at 12:43

  

  Bill I used to love cheese but didn’t dare eat it except as a little sliver for an occasional treat. All those warnings about my high cholesterol!! I’ve eaten more cheese on this diet than I have in the last 5 years!!! 🙂

  Glad cherrianne likes the orange!!

• posted by bizzylizzy
  on 31 Mar 2016 at 13:13

  

  OH was weighed at the doctor’s. I have no idea how much I weigh, probably more than I think……. but I am also going by my clothes fitting better. Doctor gave OH 3 months to lose weight and have blood pressure taken again, and maybe being put on meds – which we are trying to avoid.

  I haven’t counted anything in food before going on this 800 calorie diet so it was a bit stressful at first while I got used to it. I think we may have gone over the 800 at times when I didn’t weigh out foods like butternut squash or raspberries, I feel I got a bit “slapdash” as time went on over the weeks. But no bread, rice, pasta etc has been consumed (apart from one highly stressful day when there really was no choice).

  I have the rest of the week’s meals planned so will look at going to just carb counting next week. Thank you for your replies, I look forward to not feeling guilty about eating a small chunk of cheese between meals!

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