My LCHF Adventure

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I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I’m on a diet, but “diet” I mean more than I’ve changed the way I eat. It’s (hopefully) a permanent change, though three months in it really does feel like it’ll stick. I have no real desire to stop – even though I’ve reached, and even a little under – by goal weight!

So, what am I doing to lose weight while eating amazing food whenever I’m hungry, without having to count calories or increase my exercise?!?!

“Low-Carb-High-Fat” (or LCHF for short)

I’ve tried SO many different diets, including shake diets, or just outright starving myself, and the end of the day they always fail because they’re always intended as short term. I saw LCHF as something I could sustain day in, day out, forever. The food appeals to me, it makes sense to me – and it works for me! 

To be clear, I don’t think it’s a one-diet-fits-all solution, but it’s something that so far as been successful for me, so I naturally want to share it!

I’ve also had a LOT of people ask me about it. Even at school a mum I’d never previously spoken to approached me to ask how I’ve lost so much weight this quickly! So I thought I’d run through my own “Frequently asked questions”!

What Can You Eat?

Very simply I eat lots of vegetables, meat, seafood, full fat dairy, healthy oils like olive  and coconut oil, with the occasional nuts and berries.

What Can’t You Eat?

Okay, here’s the catch…. deep breath…. No sugar, cake, chocolate, bread, pasta, chips, crackers, biscuits, rice – or grains of any kind… and there’s more. There’s so many things. I honestly try not to focus on the “can’t” list though – one big appeal really is focusing on the things I can have.

What does my daily menu look like?

Breakfast

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I have a coffee – which is what I’ve had for most of my adult life in place of actual food. The difference is now I have my coffee with cream and coconut oil, instead of milk and sugar. But you can have bacon and eggs, chia seed pudding and other breakfast ideas can be found here.

Lunch

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I quite often have my biggest meal of the day as lunch. I’ll generally go for some meat and veg, with added fats (whether it’s butter on my veggies, cooked with plenty of oil, or topped with cheese and sour cream, or all of the above)

Dinner

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Generally I don’t eat as much for dinner if I’ve had a big lunch – and the idea is the fats keep me full for longer so sometimes I don’t need to eat anything at all. If I don’t eat I’ll pop my serve of dinner in the fridge for lunch the next day!

What about snacks?

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Most of the time I don’t snack, because I’m not hungry (which is kind of the point of the high fat, it limits your appetite). But in a pinch I’ll usually eat some cheese, nuts, ham, salami or even a couple of tablespoons of cream just to keep me satisfied until I get the opportunity to prepare a full meal. If I’m out I’ll head into a supermarket to get some twiggy sticks and Jarlsberg cheese from the deli.

 

Can You Drink Alcohol?

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Honestly, my first two questions before I started this way of eating were: “Can I drink coffee” and “Can I drink wine?”. Coffee is a big yes, because it’s an easy way to add fats to your diet (by putting cream, coconut oil or even butter in your coffee). But what about wine?

Well…. It’s a bit of a yes and no. No diet would really encourage alcohol, but not all alcohol is completely off the table either. Some alcohol is low in carbs, such as dry wine, and pure spirits contain no carbs at all (though watch out for the mixers!). That said Diet Doctor explains some of the drawbacks to drink alcohol – even low carb alcohol – while trying to lose weight.

What does your family eat?

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They eat a bit of a mix of whatever we used to have normally, and what I’m eating. I’ll tend to just make myself lower carb versions of our usual family meals. I’ve written more about what I’m eating compared to what my family eats.

Where do you find information about LCHF?

I feel much more comfortable referring people to other sources of information about LCHF, because I’m not an expert, I’m not an authority, i’m not a doctor or a dietician. I can ONLY talk about my own experience, but I can’t tell you what to do or eat.

My favourite resources are:

Diet Doctor Has lots of really good information.

Real Meal Revolution Especially the food lists are saved to my browser.

Ditch The Carbs This is where I find a lot of my recipes.

Butter Bob Briggs His videos are really interesting.

 

Rachel Stewart

Rachel is the founder of Parenting Central. She is raising two children, boy and girl, with her partner. Rachel is obsessed prams, car seats, carriers and all things baby. She has worked in the baby industry for several years, for both suppliers and also in a retail setting and has developed a passion for connecting parents with the right products to make their lives easier. When Rachel isn't playing with prams she's enjoys crocheting, drinking coffee (sometimes wine) and spending a little too much time on Facebook.

20 Comments

    1. Hahah you’re not the only one. I get PMs from so many people. lol

      I nearly included my thoughts on intermittent fasting as well, but it was getting too long. Because that’s something people ask me about a lot too.

  1. Well done with your success! I’m not on a “diet” but I do eat food that is high in protein and low in fat in general, and lots of fruit and vege, and low carbs as they’re just empty sugar anyway. It’s def helped me keep a decent weight!

  2. This is really interesting – we are actually leaning to eat like this as a family.

  3. Great write up and well done! I was never a fan of diets, but healthy eating (which this is) makes complete sense. And it’s great to see your family joining you. My problem is my love for sugar. It’s so hard to cut it out completely. But when I reap the benefits after a few days without it, it seems silly to keep going back.

    1. One of the big appeals to me of this way of eating was getting off sugar – and using fats or savory food (like cheese) to break the cravings. Because just *not* having sugar wasn’t an option. I immediately stopped craving sugar. Which is remarkable given that most days I was eating quite a bit of sugar and on a binge could eat a tub of icecream and a block of chocoate. eek.

  4. My husband’s doing this a bit (not as rigidly – still eats grains but not highly processed, and not comprising much of the meal) plus has a bit more veggies than he used to and less fruit, and we’ve been back on the full cream milk etc for a while since he did the IQS (and I tried to)). But it’s been those elements plus the 5:2 diet that have made the difference for him (he’s been going got over a year now so I think it’s safe to say it’s not a fad). And it has really really worked for him – I need to properly give the LCHF process a go because I’m so abdicated to sugar, and it’s not good. And bear with the fact I’ll feel shocking for the first couple of weeks – I know from experience. Sigh.

  5. This is very interesting! I have been on a low carb/fat and high protein diet and I have lost quite a bit but stagnated for a while. I have not come across a low carb high fat diet before but I am tempted to give this a go, just to mix it up a little.

  6. I have to get committed. My ear pricked up when I heard you and Hugzy talking about it at PB. If I just breath through leaving my pasta behind this is completely doable… I think.

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