I've been doing 50 minutes a day on my exercise bike and I lost a stone fairly quickly. I'm now 17 stone. Unfortunately I've stayed at the 17 stone mark for about 2-3 weeks now. I still eat a lot of food and most of it is carbs; potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, porridge etc.

I'm thinking about cutting carbs out of my diet altogether and replacing them with lots of fruit and raw veg (carrots, peppers, tomatoes, salad etc) and a moderate amount of cheese and eggs for protein; Atkins style but for vegetarians. I'm also planning to continue doing 50 minutes on the exercise bike every day.

Is the no-carb diet recommended for weight-loss? Will it work? Are there any health considerations I should take into account? What non-carb foodstuffs are recommended? Are there any non-carb foods that are nonetheless fattening and should be avoided?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

what works for weight loss is taking in fewer calories than you use up...

Low carb diets tend to be effective i the short term because they are low calorie diets...

I would cut out the refined carbs, like white rice and white bread and switch to whole grains... I would also keep track of your calories and see how many you are getting in a day..

Read aroundt eh forum for the threads on figuring out what your base calorie range should be and try to stay within that range

Well what's all this I've been hearing about carbs being more fattening than other foodstuffs?

Yet another commercial invention in my opinion.

Historically people ate more carbs (and I mean complex carbs, not junk carbs) and were a lot slimmer in the past. Most Asian nations ate a lot of carbs traditionally and had the lowest rates of obesity (nowadays this is not so true due to the invasion of the Western diet) - Japanese had one of the lowest instances of breast cancer, cardiovascular disease etc and they eat a lot of rice, even for breakfast. Nowadays you have more and more tedious diets creeping up as the western world gets fatter and fatter. The way I see it is that a lot of the time, the more tedious and ridiculous a diet is, the more appeal, and the more money people make out of it! For me, eating very low carb falls into the "tedious" category - humans have been eating a bit of fat, a bit of protein, and a lot of carbs (more than half of all calories) for 100s of years.

I know many people may disagree, but personally I think the whole low cab thing is lot an option for the average person, as no diet which nearly cuts out a food group altogether is maintainable. If you try low carb, you won't be able to eat more than 20g of carbs a day on Atkins (someone correct me if this is not right - but basically very little carb). That means just meat and fat, and a few veggies. You will have to take fiber supplements, you'll probably be bloated and suffer from gas due to the amount of protein you'll eat, and most of all, once you reach ketosis, you'll have bad breath.

You will lose weight fast on a low carb diet, but it won't be just fat. In fact for the first couple of weeks, it'll be mostly water. Also, eating a lot of meat and fat cannot be good in the long run - there have not been any proper long time studies on this as far as I'm aware, so no one knows for sure.

What I suggest is learning to eat in a healthy way - forever. That's the best way to do it. Forget diets. I don't how much you eat per day. What I would suggest first of all is cutting down on soft drinks, fried food, prepared food, crisps, chocolate, sweets and other junk food, fast food, refined carbs (so that's biscuits, white bread etc) and fat, and eat more fruit and vegetables, cook with less fat (steam, boil, fry in a little olive oil, roast with no fat added etc), and eat whole carbs such as rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes. With a bit of luck by making these changes, you'll start losing weight, especially if you start doing some/more sports.

Good luck!

I agree do not buy into the whole low carbs no carbs diet plans-I was raised on a high carb diet being of carribean decent rice and pea or beans were a everyday thing for us-I nor my 4 siblings were never slightly overwieght until I moved out and started eating junk-Salads are healthy until you start pouring on the cheese and dressings galore-Pasta is good unless you decide you need to eat a xtra large plate of it with cheese sauces plus desert.
Also being vegetarian there are alot of bad things that are ''vegetarian''-LOL cakes-candy-soda-cookies-juices-LOL I think cheese may be my most over used food.

Thanks for the replies.
I already do all of those things! My normal diet contains virtually no cane sugar, no refined carbs - I eat only wholemeal rice, bread etc - no junk food, no soft drinks; I buy 100% of my food from a local cooperative and it's all organic fruit and vegetables; potatoes, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes etc. I only use 250ml of olive/sunflower oil per week to prepare the food. I also supplement the diet with a small amount of cheese and about 6 eggs per week for protein.

I also exercise every day.

I do 50 minutes/20km on the exercise bike every day. Unfortunately I'm agoraphobic and this means I lead and extremely sedentary lifestyle. However, you think that would more than compensate for the general lack of activity. You'd think that a cyclist who does 20km/day would be stick-thin despite lounging on the couch for the rest of the day...

Tell me about it! There are a lot of very fat vegetarians out there. I've been veggie for seven years now...

Sorry to hear about your agoraphobia.

How many calories do you eat a day? How much do you weigh and how tall are you? Do you know your body fat%? How old are you, and are you a man or a woman?

Have you been checked for thyroid and hormonal problems, or other medical conditions? Rare but this can cause weight problems. Have you seen a doctor about wanting to lose weight?

This are really essential questions that you must tell us about, so that we can help you. I'm guessing that due to the fact that you are very sedentary, you must have little muscle mass, so overall a low calorie requirements. If you always do the same exercise every day, your body gets used to it. Try varying what you do as if you just cycle with low resistance then that is not like cycling outside at all. Try uphill, downhill, cycling fast etc.

If you are agoraphobic, you can still exercise at home - you can do crunches, pushups, resistance training with minimal equipment that can be ordered online, you can skip, stretch, get a workout video etc.

Not really, it's not that much - for my weight, if I did 50 minutes at 20km, I would only burn 250 calories on flat ground (that's about 1/2 portion of plain pasta, 2 thick slices of bread, or half an avocado) and up to 400 calories if the ground was uneven with steep hills. Hardly enough to make anyone stick thin unless they ate very little. You need to spice up your workout by varying it, and by making a big effort (so that you cannot manage to talk and sweat a lot) as I said above, and figure out how many calories you eat, and if you have any medical conditions

Thanks for the reply, Lula.

No idea. Perhaps I could record my intake for several days and calculate the average daily calorific intake?

238 pounds and 5'11".

I'm 28 and male.

I don't get to the doctor's very often due to the agoraphobia; yes, it's that bad! So basically no, I haven't been properly checked-out.

What type of equipment in particular? I was actually planning on going to my local sports shop next week and buying some cheap dumbbells for around £25, just to get me started with a bit of living-room weight-training. However, I have no idea what exercises to do. I was going to start another thread on that subject.

Sure, but I weigh 238lbs! I calculated that I burn around 700 calories per session. I may be wrong on that, however.

By the way, thanks for the help!

Yes you would burn more calories than me, however what I meant to show you is that it wouldn't make you stick thin as the slimmer you are, the less calories you'll burn, so for someone of a healthy weight it isn't that much. However don;t stop lol

Yes please find out how much you eat. Read all the labels, weigh everything and calculate how many calories. Log everything on a website like fitday.com. If you are unsure about calories in a specific item of food and it's unclear using fitday, try calorieking.com.

Basically if you were eating 100g of pasta, see how many calories this is on the pack. If there is no pack, go on ftiday or calorieking, search for uncooked pasta and enter 100g.

Include alcohol, fruit juice, the milk and sugar you put in tea if you drink it, the fat you use in cooking, that sneaky bit of food you had etc.

After a week, we;ll be able to figure it out. You could create a diary here and post everything there too.

My mum got some adjustable dumbells from Tescos for 20 quid, and a swiss ball foe 3. If you live next to one and are ok with going to Tescos, have a look.

Before you go on a diet and start exercising, go see your GP to get the go ahead. Then we'll be able to help you with your exercise plan and suggest what you can buy.

As it happens I do live next to a tesco; the 2nd largest tesco in the country is being built less that 500 metres from my front door. However, that's months away yet so I'll see what my local sports shop has to offer, starting with dumbbells. I might get a swiss-ball too if they're that cheap!

I'm starting a new eating-regime next Thursday so I'll begin the week-long diary then, recording the minutia of my daily eating habits, down to the last crumb. As discussed previously I'm planning on eating less carbs; less potatoes and bread and more raw fruit and veg'. I'm still going to eat brown rice though.

Thanks for the heads-up on fitday.com.

The GP thing is a bit tough due to the agoraphobia but I'll make the effort and book an appointment. I've been meaning to go anyways...

Thanks again for the advice.

I understand but maybe he can help with that too?

Could you not eat as you always do for a week and track your calories? Otherwise you'll never know and it'll be harder for you to compare and find out what you;re doing once you change your eating habits. Even if it's less than a week? It would be VERY very useful to find out how many calories on average you've been eating these past few weeks/months.

I've discussed the agoraphobia with my doctor and there's nothing he can do to help me because I refuse to take psychoactive drugs such as prozac. Anyway, I'm working on that in my own way...

I begin the new dietary regime* on Thursday so I'll begin the diary tomorrow morning. You're right; it would be extremely useful to record my average daily calorific intake, pre-diet.

*Less a regime and more a healthier diet for life.

Great forum this!

OK hopefully by Wed you can let us know, so we can try advise you

Problem in this country is that GPs usually just prescribe you a bunch of pills rather than referring you. I used to be against antidepressants (my GP prescribed me some when I was 17 that were not licensed to be used by minors, just like prozac I believe. Needless to say I didnt take them after I did my research) - now not so much depending on the situation (seen it help friends and loved ones) - however I think this should never be instead of some kind of counseling and referral to a specialist. I think that sometimes it's worth a shot trying them for a few months - if it doesn't work it doesn't work.

Some trusts offer cognitive behaviour therapy, which works well (I looked it up), so I'd insist - a lot of people have to insist to get what they want from their GP. You've got nothing to lose by asking again, to the point of being a bit pushy. It's your health, not theirs.

This might be useful: Welcome to Anxiety Care

Howdy! The questions you asked seemed pretty well answered and it sounds like you are on the right track Just a word: My friend has been on Atkins for a year and a half. The first 7 months she followed the book religiously and lost almost 100 lbs!! (from 280, she is 5'7") Then the holidays came around and she started losing her grip on food and has since gained back 20 pounds. It just isn't something that can be maintained forever... at least in my opinion. She has been struggling now for 9 months trying to get back on track and though she eats low carb she overeats... it convinces me that calories is what you must look at! I think you have gotten great advice and if you see what your doing and modify it you will see the results you want. Good luck!!

Slim Col, im assuming you are from the uk? have you tried seeing if there is a local branch of mind or something similar. my o/h has a variety of problems and he has found them very helpful and supportive. plus if your gp is not giving you the help you need they maybe able to give you a bit of back up there.the local mind where my o/h goes sometimes a support worker has gone with him to see his gp. just a thought.
re the exercise equipment. have you got a local soccer world? (used to be donnay) i picked up various bits there cheaply in one of there never ending sales.
finally for the weight loss. you can do it. i am a 42 female, 5` 1" and i was 16 stone . ive cut no food groups, (just certain foods that i cant control), substituted better choices and cut calories. it seems to be working. saying that i had a major piggy out on crisps and biscuits last night. was in a terrible mood, but am back on track today. slim
sorry for the rushed reply, am late for my daughters parents "evening"