Low Carb on a Budget?!

[KimZ]

Has anyone done Low Carb on a budget? Is it possible? YES and I am going to prove it! I want to lose 20 lbs by January 10th does anyone want to join in with me? I plan on posting my menu's along with how much the cost was (approx)I am not doing NO CARB... Just low carb...

The plan--------> 1st 3 weeks keeping my net carbs around 20 and then addding in 1 fruit in week 4~~ I would LOVE if someone wanted to join me
(I know there was a bunch of people doing this a few years ago.... I hope you are still here and want to join in)

[KimZ]

Here's Todays menu
Morning Morning:

Breakfast -

Scrambled eggs 1 and Zucc 4.00 = 5

Snack -

Cheese Stick =1

Lunch -

Cheeseburger =1 +1 (pickles) =2
Salad .2 +1.4 = 1.6 ( lettuce, tom, cuc, avocado - YUMMY)

Snack

Cheese Stick = 1

Dinner

Wings - Plain and NAKED =) 0.00
Ranch = 2.8

Total net carbs = 13.4

[dcompton]

I'll be interested in seeing this. I've been doing low carb - brilliantly in May, totally off the wagon in June, mixed success in July, but trying to get it together again. For me this isn't for weight loss, though it would be a nice bonus, but for blood glucose control.

However, I have pretty much given up on thoughts of budget for it. My food costs have escalated, but I have resigned myself to that just being the way it will be, since most of the inexpensive options - all the starches - are out of play, except for occasionally. Aside from the meat and cheese and nuts, all the fresh produce for the big salads is a budget buster too. Not to mention a pain, since I love salad but despise all the prep. Sigh.

Of course, I shop meat sales and keep to the cheapest options, but prices have definitely gone up.

[KimZ]

I will try to post my Low Carb Bargains... and what I paid for my weekly menu - I KNOW I can do this for about $35 a week for proteins which will be for me, DD and Mom. Veggie will make up the rest... This is my final goal. I will play with this until I can get it that low.....

What does your food bill run now?

Mine is 180 for 4...... which includes cleaning, pets, beauty etc

[Libby]

I look forward to following your journey

How I count carbs, I only track breads, pasta, rice & grains, some beans and some veggies (taters, sweet taters, corn and some squash) but I'm not as firm with the veggie ones for obvious reasons.

The one thing I've learned - stay away from those 'low carb' marketed products. They're supposedly worse then eating the actual carb itself b/c its processed even though they have chunks of nuts etc.

[KimZ]

I won't be eating a bunch of Nuts, Cheese etc because they stale weight loss. I want to do this the HEALTHY way... not the "No Carb" where it kicks you into Ketosis. I plan on eating a LOT of Veggies... LOVE THEM! I could LIVE on Zucchini and Yellow Winter squash! I REALLY want to lose the weight without KILLING my Budget! DD is planting a BUNCH of Low Carb Veggies this weekend... so HOPEFULLY it will supplement! I do plan on making some Cucumber salad! YUMMY

[mek42]

Are you measuring carbohydrates in grams or some other sort of unit? My wife is suspected gestationally diabetic and I'm starting to read labels for absolute grams of carbohydrate in addition to fiber to total carbohydrate ratio.

[forHISglory]

I am basically a low carbber, like you, not a NO carbber. Protein costs, no doubt about it. But you are not buying snack foods, soda, starches, desserts, etc. so that will help allay the costs. I look at it this way: I can either pay the doctor to monitor my blood sugar and weight and pay the pharmacy for medications to help my cholesterol, OR I can pay for good food to do the same thing.

After low carbbing, my total cholesterol profile became much more healthy; I'm on the high side of normal now. And my blood sugar swings are a thing of the past. I just have to be sure to follow the diet, and I try to eat 6 times a day (meals and planned snacks).

I'm no saint, and if you follow me on the lose a pound a week thread, you'll see that I take detours. But overall, I am sold on this way of eating.

[Libby]

mek - has your wife's doctor sent her for nutritional counseling? A nutritionist can help plan your day's intake a lot better then you guesstimating what she'd need.

[Telephus44]

mek - I had gestational diabetes. The most helpful thing my nutritionist told me was to think of carbs in batches of 15 grams - a glass of milk is 12, round up to 15. A piece of bread is 32, round down to 30 (or whatever it works out to, it's been a while). The plan was to have 15 for breakfast, 45 for lunch, 15 for snack, and 30 for dinner (I think, again, it's been a while). After getting the "units of 15 grams" trick it made it a lot easier to do the math.

[mek42]

mek - has your wife's doctor sent her for nutritional counseling? A nutritionist can help plan your day's intake a lot better then you guesstimating what she'd need.

mek - I had gestational diabetes. The most helpful thing my nutritionist told me was to think of carbs in batches of 15 grams - a glass of milk is 12, round up to 15. A piece of bread is 32, round down to 30 (or whatever it works out to, it's been a while). The plan was to have 15 for breakfast, 45 for lunch, 15 for snack, and 30 for dinner (I think, again, it's been a while). After getting the "units of 15 grams" trick it made it a lot easier to do the math.

I'm not doing any of the guesstimating. After a less than helpful visit to the local hospital's education person she went to the American Diabetes Association website and is following their diet. She went to the doc today and he is very happy with her numbers, agreed that the education was less than helpful and affirmed her decision to use the ADA information.

Anyhow, enough about me before I get accused of thread-jacking. I'm satisfied that the OP is using grams for her counts and yowsers but carbs add up quick.