My name is Stacey and I'm a carb addict. Wasn't that supposed to make me feel better? Well it doesn't. I want my carbs SO BAD!

I need some advice. I have been ovo-locto vegetarian for 10 years (since I was 18). I never really followed any plan because I am not disciplined enough to pay attention to all the #. I think it is a lot of work to analize how every little thing interacts with each other before I can put it in my mouth.

I need to find a plan. I have never been a bean, soy, tempeh, etc. vegetarian. Although I do buy Morning Star products but even some of those can be high in carbs and fat. (I am still having a hard time letting go of the whole watching fat grams thing) I have to admit that the majority of my diet was pasta. I love my pasta and I am having the hardest time giving it up along with bread.

I love fruit, many vegetables (unlike so many vegetarians... I don't like cabbage, brussel sprouts, CHEESE, CHEESE and more CHEESE oh and I can eat mushrooms every day of the week. My husband and my daughter are not vegetarians. It is very hard for me to find time to be creative or to make an extra meal for myself when I have a VERY active 20 month old. I guess I need encouragement and advice. I have seen a lot of your wonderful recipes but some are a lot of extra prep time on top of my family's dinner.

I have my own side of the grill and so I love to grill because it is quick and easy and most of the time I just prep and my husband cooks. I had tofu for the first time about 7 years ago from a Chinese rest. and I liked it. It had a tougher texture, BUT when I prepare it, it comes out mushier. Does anybody have a good tofu recipe especially for grilling?

I also love salads but I like them with a lot of extras. I like romaine, spinach, tomato, cucumber, pepper, mushrooms, cheese, avacado, black olives, artichoke hearts. I really like something crunchy but now croutons are out. My first choice in dressing would be ranch or blue cheese but I am starting to make an Italain with olive oil and rice vinegar. What dressings do you use?

I have recently started to take L-Carnatine and flax seed oil suppliments too.

What plan should I try? What am I doing wrong and what could I do better? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

Hey Stacy-

You can try the "Which low carb plan is right for me" link to your right. It gives you the skinny on many of the lc plans offered.

With warmer weather coming along, grilling is a good alternative to stove cooking. A couple of things I like to grill are:

Portabella mushrooms-I marinate them in Italian Dressing or terriaki sauce (haven't checked the carb count on this though) and just grill them like I would anything else. This method also works for tofu (make sure you get the EXTRA firm kind), and yellow squash. Almost no prep time involved!

With many low carb plans, all you have to count are the carbs. That makes it much easier for me to keep up. I use www.fitday.com to input my foods and it automatically calculates carbs, fat, protein for you.

The Morningstar Farms "chicken" products are kind of high in carbs-so I limit them, but the sausage patties, meatballs, burgers and breakfast strips are all pretty low in carbs. I no longer worry about fat grams unless I am not getting enough! That is the one challenge is to get enough fat in your diet. Cheese and full fat dressings are how I usually do it.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I don't think I will have a problem with the fat. I love cheese! How many g of carbs and fats are you supposed to be eating? I am just learning and I can use all the info that I can get.

Hi!

As a vegetarian low carber with a non vegetarian, non low carb husband it can be tough to find things we both can eat. I can understand where you are coming from.

When I started all I would eat is pasta also or anything with lots of carbs. After doing ATkins for a little over a month I don't crave any of that stuff anymore.

Some dinner ideas that have worked for the both of us have been:

Assorted chopped raw vegetables (zucchini, squash, tomato, mushrooms) mixed with cubes of mozzerella and pesto

Taco salad using morningstar's veggie crumbles (no shell)

assorted salads

A resource I find very helpful is Allrecipes.com They have so many different recipes and each recipe is reviewed by people so you can tell if it's going to taste good or not. Just pick a low carb ingredient to search by, and you can find some great soups, dinner ideas, etc. there!

Stacey-

I don't count grams of fat-just percentages. Most people doing Atkins here recommend 65-70% fat, 25-30% protein and 5-10% carbs. For the carb count, in induction for Atkins you should have 20 grams of carbs. After induction you add 5 grams of carbs per week. So the first week after induction you would have 25, the week after 25-30 g until you quit losing-then you know how many you can have and still maintain weight loss. Remember that you can subtract the fiber from your carb count to get an effective carb count. If you use fitday.com it doesn't subtract the fiber for you, you have to do it yourself. Be kind of careful with the cheese-it does stall some people. I usually eat 3 oz a day and that is enough to keep my fat up without going overboard.

The allrecipe link is a good one-I have used that myself. Another good recipe link is:
http://www.carb-lite.au.com/index.html

RE- tofu at chinese restaurants.

The lovely browned tofu they serve in sauce is something it took me many years to figure out.

I finally asked the chef at my fave chinese restaraunt how they do it.

Pat tofu dry, and deep fry in peanut oil in advance of the cooking. I don't remember if peanut oil is one of the "good oils", I know at least on the PP plan there are some recommended above others.

You could find another healtheir oil with a high smoke point.

I do this in a deep pot with just enough oil to completely cover the tofu.

I usually do a whole lot at once, and store in a tupperware in the fridge. When you want to make your tofu dish, just toss it in the stir fry or whatever you are making long enough to get heated through and there you go!

I also like this fried tofu dipped in all manner of sauces!

Another dish I make with tofu is to cut it into "slabs" and place in a baking dish with a nice coating of olive oil, on top of zuccini slices. Sprinkle chopped garlic and basil on top of eash little stack, then a piece of mozzerella on each stack. Add a small bit of the lowest carb tomato sauce you can find, about a half cup drizzled over the whole thing. I add more when I have been very good avoiding carbs.

I bake at 300 until the cheese is nice and melted, and I lift up a peice of tofu to make sure the zuccinni is nice and soft. I think it takes about 20 minutes, but I am the kind of cook that just checks on things until they are done, so not really sure.

Thanks so much for the ideas. I am not really following any certain plan. I am eating approx 22-32 g carb a day (after fiber). I have lost 6 1/2 lbs this week. When will that taper off. I have a goal of

Current Weight
Your weight is 166.5 lb as of 04/30/2003.

Weight Goal
Your goal is to weigh 135 lb by 07/17/2003

Goal Progress
You are currently 31.5 lb above the target weight.

The deadline for your goal is 78 days (11 weeks, 1 days) away.

To meet your goal you need to lose about 2.83 lb per week.

I don't even know if this is possible. I am certainly going to try. I am IN one wedding (With 4 tiny girls and I don't want to be "oh look at the poor fat bridesmaid") and I have another wedding the week after where all my husbands relatives will be there. I don't want relatives that I haven't seen in a while to think "what happened to Stacey". I wish to get pregnant in July / August so that is why the goal is 7.17. I don't know... I hope so. I am determined right now. My problem right now is that I am having a hard time trying to find time to exercise (I stay home with my 21mo old daughter). I need to get better at that.

Thanks again.

Well that is almost 3 pounds a week and usually safe weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week. I didn't meet any of my time goals, but as long as I keep shrinking, I have gotten to the point where I don't care.

Your body will pretty much have a mind of it's own, I am afraid. Don't be disappointed if you don't hit your goal weight by the first wedding-you will be pretty close to it, I think.

I also measure areas and keep track of my loss using a pair of pants that I want to get into. I can actually wear smaller sizes at this weight, than I did last time I weighed this. You might find that your clothes fit the way you want at a higher weight and that is really all that counts.

If you're just starting, terrible cravings are inevitable - in my experience. How much protein are you consuming? My protein consumption has been down today because I'm trying to vegit and I'm not doing so grand.