Hello all vegetarian low carbers, I have been lurking for a while and signed on today. would some of you care to share your experiences - how long did it take you to lose, did you watch your calories, cheats, maintaining issues, menus etc

I am following protein power loosely - really just watching my carbs & keeping protein up. I find that my diet now includes a lot of nuts & cheese & wondering if that is the reason for really slow loss.

Here is a typical day for me:

Breakfast - Scramble 2 eggs + some egg beaters in a little olive oil with mushrooms & spinach, maybe a sprinkle of cheese
OR smoothie made with Whey Protein powder, berries, little bit of kefir (cultured milk) & stevia
OR a nut muffin (made with almond meal, any nut butter, butter etc - no sweetner)
Tea with equal & a few drops of milk
Snack - 1/2 to full serving of almonds or an oz of cheese
Lunch - large bowl of romaine+spinach, 2 hb eggs, dressing, 2-3 tbsp shredded cheese
OR a veggie bowl from chipotle (this is not super low carb - no rice, but I do get beans)
snack - tea with milk & sweet & low, almonds or cheese
dinner- varies a lot - tofu with vegetables, veggie burgers, curried vegetables with "cauliflower rice"
1/2 c of low fat ricotta with cocoa, stevia & almond extract OR 1/2 an apple with almond butter

Somedays, I eat way too much almond butter or cheese though.

Anyone tried the South Beach diet ? I'd like to eat some beans & fruit for variety. also worried about soy - keep coming across some estogen problem associated with it.

What is the minimum carbs you are able to keep ?

thanks in advance for your help & insight

Welcome!

I try and stay away from things like muffins, but I cannot handle a lot of carbs. Fruits are limited to berries and melons as they are lower glycemic.

I don't know a lot about protein power, I am a pretty strict Atkins girl. I found that I lost best on 30-35g of carbs a day. THat was with a lot of exercise.

I know this forum does not get much traffic, so thanks for responding !

Atkins & PP are pretty similar I think in terms of foods allowed - though PP allows 40 carbs in Stage I, which is where I am. I keep to between 30-40 or so.

The nut muffins - they have no flour or sugar or sweetner - just almond meal, nut butter & eggs - ECC of 4 or something, 10 g protein. That ok ?

The only fruits I eat are berries in my protein smoothie - maybe 1/3 to 1/2 cup

I am wondering if you eat a lot of soy ? If not, what else ?

What is a typical day like for you ? Since you've lost a bunch of weight, you must be doing something right, so I'm hoping for some insight !

Oh, then those muffins are probably OK.

I actually do eat a lot of soy and wheat gluten products. I know what some of the research says, but my doctor says the jury is still out on the connection between soy and thyroid function and told me not to worry too much about it as long as I don't go crazy.

I eat a lot of Morningstar Farms products. The sausage has only 1 carb each and some veggie chicken stuff is pretty low. I eat a LOT of fresh baby spinach with mayo or olive oil with whatever fake meat product I have. My menus are boring.

I did post a mushroom recipe on the recipe forum and here as well. I love portabella mushrooms.

My typical day is somethign like this:

Breakfast: coffee, coffee, coffee
lunch: 1 piece Nature's Own Wheat and Fiber Bread (5g) toasted
butter on toast, topped with fake meat of some sort and cheese
salad made of spinach, pickles, cucumbers......olive oil or mayo

Dinner: fake meat, sometimes I will put a couple of tablespoons of a low carb pasta sauce on it.
Cheese, glorious cheese
more salad

Or some seasame ginger tofu on a big huge salad.

If I need or want a snack I take a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese, add some splenda and half and half (sometimes some unsweetened coca) nuke it for 8 seconds and there is a quickie cheese cake.

If I get hungry during the day, I eat nuts or cheese.

Here is a website with some good recipes:

http://www.carb-lite.au.com/

Howdy. The only changes I would make are real cream instead of the milk, and skip the egg beaters... though that's because I'm a cheapo and I think they're a rip-off.

I'm not a vegetarian myself, but my b/f is. He's not as low-carb as I am, because his lunch is always "normal" food at a restaurant. But since going lower-carb for breakfast and dinner, he's lost a few pounds and his IBS doesn't bother him. No more croissants and cookies!

I'm kind of suspicious of soy, but veggie food is so boring without it. We'll have tofu or other soy products maybe a couple times a week, max.

Personally, if I were you, I'd stick with Protein Power. Because you're fairly close to goal (yay!), no program is going to be particularly fast. Protein Power is flexible enough that if you want fruit and legumes, you can go ahead and have them. No need to jump ship.

Best o' luck!

Thanks guys ! This is such a great site
Wow, Paleo you eat so little ! I definitely eat less than I used to but its still a lot. I don't exercise either - used to before baby came along; him & a full time job leave me no time at all now. And I have to cook separate meals for myself - DH is supportive of me, but he isn't about to eat like I do.

But this is absolutely the first time in my life when I can look a brownie in the eye and not inhale it, along with its friends, that I don't envision going back to the old ways. I'm hoping that as I approach my goal, I will be able to add more fruits, beans & some whole grains & that will work just fine for me.

You have no idea how much mayo and cheese I eat. It isn't little.

Hi there, Everyone.... I've been around the forums for a little while, thought I'd re-introduce myself in this particular thread because it sort of relates to my new WOL.
[img]images/smilies/wavey.gif[/img]

I have been on Atkins before, lost 20 pounds...but got soooooooo sick of meat. Became lacto-vegetarian, and along with that put most of the weight back on because I consumed pasta and grains like no tomorrow. Just recently, I decided to go back on Atkins but keep it veggie. I've incorporated eggs back into my diet, so I'm now lacto-ovo, but still won't eat seafood (pesco veg, from what I've heard).

Today is day 1! *woo!*

Let's hope there isn't anything to worry about the soy stuff... it's obviously going to be a staple for this new way of eating. As Kristine says, veggie eating is so boring without it! I just bought veggie burgers, soy sausages, tofu dogs and seasoned tofu packets (yes, all low carb)!

I'm a BIG cheese and mayo fan, too, Paleo. I do have a question for you, though... do you drink your coffee black? I wish so much that I could to cut back on the carbs, but I must have it a little creamy and sweet, so I've cut back to 2 tbsp half & half and 1 or 2 packets of Splenda per each cup... if I have two cups that way, I'm looking at around 5 carbs already.

Tuscany, congrats on conquering the temptation battle with those brownies and other sweets. I know how challenging it can be!

Hey Sage!

Welcome back. I don't drink my coffee black. I have some splenda and I usually try to use heavy cream. Less carbs. Sometimes I use half and half. It never really bothered my weight loss. I know that the boxed form of splenda has less carbs than the packets. The liquid is no carb at all, but you cannot buy it at the store yet.

Welcome Sage ! Good luck on your journey.
I don't drink coffee, but do drink 2 mugs of tea a day, with a splash of milk (I know...carbs..I tried half & half & its just too murky for me) and equal or sweet & low. I can do splenda & stevia in cold things, but not in my tea. I'm not Atkins-strict in my eating pattern, as long as I lose weight (quite slowly, but that's ok). I eat a lot of eggs, cheese & nuts. Soy maybe 3x a week, sometimes more. More in the form of tofu, than anything else. I found these great veggie burgers at Trader Joe's (Dr Praeger's ??) that don't have too much soy.

Does splenda give anyone else a mad headache?

It just feels like it's cancerous or something when I consume it. I don't know, maybe it's just me. I don't feel that way with the other no sugar sweetners, they're just gross. However, I can handle diet sodas.

When my vegan boyfriend lived with me, I totally expected to lose weight fast and it just didn't make sense to me at all why I wasn't, because I was eating 85% vegan. Then I learned about carbs. Gosh.

Can't say for sure thet I get headaches from splenda. But I'm slowly trying to wean myself away from splenda, sweet & low etc. Just never felt "warm & fuzzy" about those. I have started to train my tastebuds ti accept stevia in hot drinks also, so hopefully in the near future, I should be able to get away from atificial sweetners.
I have also stopped eating all soy products except tempeh (which is fermented), canned soybeans occasionally in some chilis or other dishes and low soy burgers from Trader Joe's, also occasionally. Just got spooked by the articles on soy.
Of course, its now even harder to be low-carb & get protein in.
Maybe one day I will wake up & like the taste of chicken...sigh...