I'm a vegetarian

[misslja]

I've been eating low carb for a month and have lost 1 pound. What foods do people eat when you're a vegetarian? I'm wondering if it's because all the foods I eat are so high in sodium that I'm not losing.

Does anyone have thoughts on this?

[Mitra]

Welcome :). High sodium foods might cause you to hold a bit more water, though salt isn't exactly the bogey-man it's often made out to be, but they shouldn't stop you burning fat.

It is harder for vegetarians to get all the (complete and utilisable) protein that they need without getting a lot of extra carbs or fat (not that fat is bad, but you may end up with more of it than you need). Cottage cheese and ricotta are useful, eggs in lots of guises.

What does a typical day's menu look like?

[misslja]

I eat a LOT of protein. I have a cheese omelette, smoothie (whey powder) and maybe 3 atkins bars, along with a big salad at night. I have probably 55-65 grams of carbs a day.

I've been wondering if eating atkins bars (net carbs 2) is hindering my weight loss (I have about 10 pounds to lose).

[Mitra]

The Atkins bars could definitely be a culprit. Is the 2g net carb based on subtracting a lot of sugar alcohols (things that end in -ol)? The Drs Eades say that counting half to a third of the sugar alcohol is more realistic, so if you're eating several bars, you could well be getting a higher carb hit than your numbers would suggest, and you're already more in the transitional/maintenance area rather than intervention level (not that that's a bad thing given you're only ten pounds from your goal weight). You can easily test that by dropping them for a while.

Since you're only ten pounds from your goal, your weight isn't likely to change very fast - especially if you've chosen a low goal weight. One pound a month might be the speed it goes for you at that carb level and weight. Low carb eating often levels off at some point, which may be in the healthy range rather than the model-thin range.

First, though, I'd look try giving up the Atkins bars and see if that helps.

[proteinpowergirl]

Also if you read the labels of Atkins products lately, most of them have actually gone low glycemic vs. low carb. Depending on what bars you are eating, that can also be a huge problem.

[Mayflowers]

I have to count sugar alcohols as the same as sugar. I was trying to eat South Beach bars and my weight loss stopped.

[Belfrybat]

Ditto for me on the low carb bars. I do eat them occasionally, but count 1/2 the sugar alcohols, which usually puts them around 8-10 grams of carb I each bar. Not bad if it's really a meal substitute, but if I eat one as a snack, the extra carbs will stall me. If you are eating them for convenience, you might want to look in the recipe section for protein bars you can make and take with you.

Since you eat eggs and dairy, you should be able to eat low carb without any problem. When I first began Protein Power in '98, I was lacto-ovo vegetarian and had no problem sticking to 10 carbs per meal. I did have to watch the amount of cheese I ate as I discovered it both stalled weight loss and constipated me. Eggs, tofu, soy "meat" substitutes, black soybeans, cheese in moderation, and protein powders formed the basis of my protein.

[simrnz]

for breakfast I eat cheese omelette or make omelette with veggies leftovers that is a great breakfast for a vegetarian.
for lunch i eat Greek salad: put extra protein on, such as hard boiled eggs, chicken, or seafood (sorry I'm not a vegetarian)

[laughingW]

I wonder what would happen if you took out the Atkins bars and the cheese, and in their place used eggs and leafy greens. Not everyone realizes that broccoli and kale are equal to steak in complete protein, calorie for calorie - it's just that you have to eat so many greens. It's not a half cup that's for sure.