Hi I have just started the diet after buying the book and checking this site and forum x I weighed in at 13 st 5 lb and I am pre diabetic . I am finding the diet easier than I thought and inspired by a lot of the forum posts on here . I am a vegetarian and cook most of my meals but snacking is my downfall x
I haven’t used the recipes in book yet but following my own using app to count calories . I have been shocked by how high some of my ‘healthy’ smoothies and meals are in carb values , which is probably why I haven’t lost any weight using them this last few months x
Trying to get my head around diet and confused by some things x how many carbs can you actually have every day ? I have been feeling bloated is this normal as I am drinking more water ?
Thank you

If you use quorn or other meat subsitutes, remember they’re low fat and for this diet you do need some fat, so add a little in.

If you can avoid snackingfor a few days, you’ll probably start to get out of the habit. That was my biggest downfall (and it doesn’t help that if you snack without thinking about it, you’re likely to forget you’ve had those calories). I’ve found that drinking a glass of water each time I go into the kitcken helps. So does sitting down at the table to eat all your food and never eating when the TV is on.

Hi Gayn55,
Welcome on board. I too am vegetarian and have successfully lost 15 kg (33lbs) over 10 weeks. I had read that eating a little often was better for you, so like you had taken to snacking. The snacks got bigger and the main meals did not go down in size so I was eating a lot more than I needed. Also for me pasta was a standby – quick and easy with a sauce from a bottle – full of sugars – and portion control had gone.
It took me about 2 weeks to get out of snacking. I had a bowl of sherry tomatoes which are ‘sweety’ size and sweet that I would help myself to if I needed a snack – that or a couple of nuts. I took 50 cals off of my daily allowance to cover that. Over time I’m stopped needing it.
I also started with Shakes which was easy for calorie control, but you are much more likely to want things in between as you have not been chewing food. Also, I found that I was losing weight but nothing off of my middle. I checked the carbs and they were high in carbs and made from skimmed milk so not that filling. My carb intake was 80-120g a day on them – I think I lost 5lbs in the first couple of weeks, but that is no more than on a 1500 cal diet. I stopped them and started controlling carbs. I found out my limit was 60g per day, below that I was getting cramps at night. I aimed for 800 cals, but would go over that if I was below the 60g carbs and wanted to get to 60g, and had less calories if I was going to go above 60g. The cals would net out over the week to 800.
Getting below 60g carbs as a veggie is hard as much of my protein comes from pulses and they are high in carbs. My veg soup which included beans, is 24g carb – but lovely and fills me for lunch!
I would start at 60g and see how you go, if you are not getting the weight loss you expect especially around your middle, then cut down further. Because the veggie diet is full of good carbs, your probably won’t need to go lower. Oh – and I also changed to full fat yoghurt and cheese at the end of week 2 – that was the best thing as it helped keep me full.
There are a few threads from veggies if you put vegetarian into the search engine you will get other views and ideas that will hopefully inspire you.
Good luck with the journey.

Hi Gayn,
There are plenty of us veggies here. I’m aiming for a carb target similar to Orchid, my goal is about 50g a day. Of course our legumes have lots of carbs but are delicious and contain protein too.
As for snacking… I try to have hommus and veg, or a slice of tasty cheese, or soy bacon grilled in the sandwich press topped with avocado. If I’m low on calories then I have a miso soup (28 cal).
Good luck.

Hi thanks for all the advice x OzVeggy the miso soup is something I will use as I really like it x I weighed yesterday as week since I started and I have only lost half a pound ! I weighed the day before (day 6) and had stayed the same so I was really down as I had stuck to the diet and exercised . So I ate four ginger biscuits and a white bread sandwich ,nothing ott though ! Was going to give up but decided to stick with BS diet x reading on forums of majority of people losing so much weight first week so disappointed x feel bloated so might be holding onto water and read of woosh effect on here and then researched it so I hope I have a whoosh moment this week lol

Hi from my previous post you will see I was despondent after only losing half a pound in weight on week 1. Orchid and ozveggie gave some good advice which has made me re think my journey in this diet x I was sticking to the 800 calories with no problems but was way out on carb intake after checking some of my meals . My homemade tomato soup was 17 carb values alone and I would have that twice a day ! Lots of my healthy veggie meals were super high in carbs even my strawberry smoothie I had for breakfast which was I think 37 carb value ! I make most of my meals from scratch but the pulses etc are I am now finding very high in carbs . My healthy quinoa stuffed peppers were about 27 carb value for one ofthem . I would like to ask other vegetarians and members of the forum advice .
1. Confused by carb count on some boxes it gives carbs and carbs of which sugars . Which carb value do I count as most of them have a big difference ?
2. Any advice on supermarket veggie meals ie veggie sausages etc in case I don’t feel like cooking that day ?

Thank you OzVeggie and Orchid for some great advice x I had been checking out the forum before starting and could see that people helped others esp newbies like me x
Thank you

Second week on diet and I lost 1 lb on second week . I did have a few bad days after being disappointed from first week low loss . After having some great advice on other threads I can see where I am going wrong . The recipes I used were low cal but very high carbs so I am going through new recipes as I make majority of my meals from scratch . IHope for better luck next week x

Hi Gayn55
Don’t worry too much – I think many people get a second week plateau, I certainly did.
Making things from scratch is definitely the way to go – aside from knowing what you’re eating, I find its been really helpful in understanding carb content of ingredients, and thus being able to make better choices when eating out (or snatching convenience food for lunch from the supermarket).
Even if loss is slower than others, it isn’t a race – I find that it’s definitely got harder to lose weight as I’ve got older, but even if it’s going slowly, it is going in the right direction!
Have fun cooking

Thank you Frog x

Hi Gayn55 – I was also puzzled before i started using MyFitnessPal, on which you can note everything down and see how many calories/carbs/fat/protein you are eating.

Re your carbs sugar question on packets

If you are in the UK

it is number of carbs in the product
within which is this much sugars
fibre is shown separately

You are counting the number of carbs actually shown as carbs. You should avoid refined sugars (e.g. sugar itself, and ideally too much fructose from fruit), but there is a little sugar in things like tomatoes and milk, which is difficult to avoid

If you are in the US then you have to deduct the fibre from the overall carbs to get the net carbs. In the UK this is done for you.

I started with too many veg like you – overdid it with red cabbage, a bit, one day! – and have then decided only to have a limited number of carbs per day (I’m doing 20g, but people here have success with 50g or less), which has driven my more than 12% loss of starting weight in 7 weeks.

Good luck!

Igorasusual thank you for advice x I am starting afresh this week as struggled last two weeks with carb content etc I did not realise how some veg are high carbs so have written everything down . Started using the fitness app to not everything down . My weight went up 1 pound this week as I went off track . Thank you for the brilliant advice on carb content as it is this I am struggling with most x hope for weight loss next week x you have done so well and I may reduce carbs from 50 to 30 .

Hi Gayn55

I was also a vegetarian prior to starting this diet, and I thought about it for weeks before starting, and decided I needed to make it as easy as possible, so I have reverted back to organic fish and meat for the time being, until I get to target. This decision was very hard as being a vegetarian is for religious reasons, as well as chemical and humane reasons. But I need a healthy body to keep working and needs must. I admire anyone who tackles this diet as a vegetarian. So keep up the good work.
Regards
Jan

Green janet thank you for your reply x I had a bad start with the diet and from today have rebooted my diet . This week I have written recipes and advice notes from this forum in a file to have some info to hand . It is hard as a vegetarian in this diet as all the healthy meals I used to have are high carb . I have been a veggie for so many years so could not go back now though x I started becoming dizzy last week and my arms and legs ached . Doctor said it was low iron so addressing that this werk . Starting again so hope for more luck x