5 Things You Need To Do Before Starting a Low Carb Diet!
Low Stress Ideas for busy people!
1. Build up to it! Whether you are starting Keto, Atkins or low carb Paleo, you are most likely going to be drastically reducing your carb intake. If you are on a 2,000 calorie per day diet like many Americans, you are probably consuming around 300 grams of carbs! Let’s look at a breakdown of an average day. Feel free to skip the examples. They are just examples. I don’t own stock in Splenda or eggs.
65g Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese and two cups of coffee with sugar and milk
70g Lunch: 1 cup of pasta with marinara sauce and a side salad with croutons and French dressing
61g Snack: 1 Fruit Bar and a 16-ounce soda.
50g Dinner: Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli
47g Dessert: two cookies, ok let’s be honest, 3 cookies and a cup of milk.
That’s 293 grams of carbohydrates and that is assuming you have water with your meals, imagine how much those carbs add up if you are constantly drinking soda, juice or sweet tea!
Now, I realize this is contradictory information and I am not a doctor or nutritionist, But I have tried a lot of diets and trust me, this is the best way to see if you’ll be able to stick to a low carb lifestyle.
Start by reducing your carbs by half. What does this look like on a typical day? Take the same carb heavy day and make a few adjustments.
50g Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese and two cups of coffee with Splenda and creamer
30g Lunch: 1 cup of chicken salad and a side salad with ranch dressing and 6 saltines
30g Snack: 1 fruit or nut bar and a diet soda or water
10g Dinner: Grilled Chicken with green beans and steamed broccoli
22g Dessert: 2 cookies and a cup of hot tea with Splenda
By changing a few things you’ve cut your daily intake of Carbohydrates in half!
Try this reduced carb diet for a week. If you find it too difficult to count carbs then counting macros probably won’t be sustainable. Remember this is a lifestyle change, and it must be something you can manage. You aren’t weak, you simply need to find a lifestyle that works for you.
Keep in mind that nutrition facts are not entirely accurate so if you aren’t seeing positive changes, you may want to adjust your portions. Some people can’t tolerate artificial sweeteners so keep that in mind as well.
If you make it through a week of cutting your carbs in half, congratulations! You can reduce by another half. Let’s look at a day with around 70g of carbohydrates.
15g Breakfast: poached egg with two pieces of bacon and 1-piece whole grain toast
15g Lunch: A salad with grilled chicken, cheese and veggies and a low carb dressing
5g Snack: Cheese Whisps or another low carb snack with a diet soda or water
15g Dinner: Pork Tenderloin with asparagus and roasted cauliflower
20g Dessert: Small slice of cheesecake (buy or make one for this week!)
Yay! that is 70g of carbs and you still get dessert. You should treat yourself this week because next week, you need to cut out sweets. You will cut down to around 30 -35g of carbs and you will want all those to be reserved for veggies, cheese and sauces.
This is where you will want to stay if you want to be in Ketosis and you may find you need to monitor your calories and reduce carbs to around 20g to see results. You may loose a few pounds during this time and feel more energetic, less bloated and by reducing your carbs gradually, you should avoid symptoms of Keto Flu.
Here’s an idea of what a typical day might look like on 30-35g of Carbohydrates. You need to pay attention to portion sizes but it’s not necessary to measure on a food scale, if you aren’t losing weight, then maybe start measuring.
10g Breakfast: Bacon, Scrambled eggs with chives and cheese, sliced tomato
4g Snack: 100 calorie pack of almonds and zero carb drink
10g Lunch: Low carb wrap with ham, lettuce and cheese, mayo or cream cheese
8g Dinner: Steak, Spinach and Mushrooms with a low carb cheese sauce
Once you reach your goal weight you can gradually start adding carbs back to your diet until you find a range where you can maintain your weight.
2. Don’t plan on overeating!
Pay attention to portion sizes, some low carb diets recommend you eating unlimited amounts of zero and low carb foods, but you really should not and here are some reasons why.
a. You’ll grow accustomed to eating huge portions and this is not sustainable long term.
b. Even if you lose weight some people will have issues with their bloodwork, like elevated cholesterol levels.
c. Zero carb foods are not really zero carb, there are hidden carbs in some seasonings you put on your meat, some zero carb snacks contain carbs, it is just less that 1g, but those half carbs can add up!
d. You will have issues with digestion. Your body might not agree with an Olympic swimmer’s portion of bacon and eggs.
e. You’ll annoy your friends, imagine your bestie eating her granola bar while she waits for you to finish off a pork roast after a workout. OK I’m being silly, but you get the point!
f. It will slow you down, you will eventually have a lot more energy, but heavy meals can still make you feel sluggish and might prevent you from being more physically active.
3. Start a Weight Loss Journal!
I know, I know you don’t have time for this. I am not saying you must go out and buy a fancy leather journal and enough markers and stickers to make a high school freshman swoon. You can keep notes in your phone, an app, social media, a legal pad, sticky notes or that greasy paper plate you just used for your omelet. It may help you to stay accountable and it is good practice for being honest with yourself. Here are a few things I would include!
a. Your Weight, I like to write down my starting weight, goal weight and my weekly goals and weekly weigh in.
b. Your Measurements, some weeks, you may not lose much weight, so it is a good idea to measure weekly or monthly to measure your progress in another way.
c. Your Feelings, yep, write down how you feel, mentally, emotionally, physically, let it all out or just jot down a few simple reminders. It may help you to figure our what adjustments need to be made to your new lifestyle.
d. Your Food, you don’t have to be extremely detailed but keep a record. If you notice you ate bacon everyday for a week, felt awful and did not lose much weight, you may need to reevaluate your relationship with bacon. Gasp. I know!
4. Get an Accountability Partner
Find a friend, who you trust to help you stay motivated. If you don’t have a friend you trust, call your insurance agent, I’m just kidding, maybe don’t do that. You can however set a reminder to post a weekly progress update on your social media accounts if you don’t want an accountability partner.
Your accountability partner doesn’t have to be someone who’s goal is weight loss, it can be literally any goal. Maybe you have a friend who wants to build muscle, save for a vacation or start an all-goat entertainment troupe. Whatever it is, I’ll list some tips to get started and keep each other motivated.
a. Communicate, ask your friend if they will be an accountability partner and discuss the details. They might think its odd if you randomly send them what you ate for dinner and a picture of you half naked on a bathroom scale.
b. Set a schedule but don’t make it complicated, agree to talk and update daily, weekly or monthly, whatever works for you and your partner.
c. Pick a reward, positive reinforcement is not just for preschoolers. Choose a group or individual reward that is tangible. Buy something off each other’s amazon wish list, go see a movie or rent a new one if you can’t go out, have an at home spa day, anything to treat yourself!
5. Make a Workout Plan!
You can lose weight on low carb diets without exercise, but it is a lot easier to lose and maintain if you are active. You may not be able to follow a strict schedule or devote a ton of time to working out so here are some tips to stay active on a tight schedule.
a. Wake up Workout. Take five to ten minutes in the morning, before you even get out of bed to do some simple stretches or simple yoga poses. If you have a bed partner who sleeps in, this might not be the best idea without a warning, and I know for a fact cats do not like to be woken up by their human doing a downward dog pose in their sleep space, so adjust when necessary!
b. Walking Lunch. This is for my fellow sedentary workers, if you have a physical job, sit and relax on your lunch break, but if you are like me, use the time to be a little more active, even if it means standing to eat lunch or parking further away in the parking lot, making a few laps around the cafeteria or pacing in front of your boss’s office before picking up your lunch, whatever works!
c. Wonder Woman. Stare at photos of Gal Gadot as wonder women. I am joking ok, but that might help to motivate you? Do plan to do an hour a week of strength training. You can break that up into 15-minute intervals or do 30 minutes twice a week. Of course, if your body can tolerate more, go for it, but be safe and do the exercises correctly.
d. Whatever. Any activity is good activity, set aside time each day to be active, walking the dog, organizing a pantry, dancing in the kitchen while forcing your children to listen to 90’s music, whatever works for you!!
Ok so those were 5 things you need to do before starting a low carb diet! There is one more piece of advice I’ll offer, it may sound silly, but organize your fridge and pantry! If you have kids, a spouse or roommates who are not counting carbs, there is bound to be off limits food all around you. Separate the food so that you can easily see your low carb options.