Health & Family My low carb weight loss journal (LCHF)

Eating log - day 5 - June 9

Breakfast: nothing

Lunch: Wagyu burger - Top Table brand - 160g Wagyu Beef Burger pattie (8.6g), slice of cheese (0), 50g onion (2.9g), 15g burger relish (3.7g), "thin" pineapple ring (4.8g), shortcut bacon (0), 1 extra large size egg (0.7). 21g total carbs.



This is interesting. I've been eating this for a while now - but this is the first time I've actually calculated in detail example how many carbs are in this. I used to add 1 or 2 slices of Helga's Lower Carb bread as well @ 9.5g of carbs per slice - but that would be close to my new daily limit from the bread alone!

I'm disappointed with these burgers. Previously Woolworths sold these Wagyu burgers under a "Woolworths Select" brand and they were much better - coarse ground, less carb-based filler, just nicer all round. But they stopped selling those and now this Top Table brand is the only one available there. I'm pretty sure the Woolworths branded ones didn't have this much carbs in them. There's sugar on the ingredient list for some reason? If I had the time, I would grind my own burgers. I think I need to go back and try some of the other burgers they sell at Woolworths again - I was after a larger patty, which is one of the reasons I wanted to try this one in the first place, but perhaps two smaller patties made from 100% beef would be a better choice. Anyway - they taste nice, but too many carbs in them, and I'm not a big fan of the texture (almost sausage meat consistency - not coarse enough).

I haven't been putting pineapple on my burgers lately but decided to today. Didn't really enjoy it much so I won't bother next time - that will save me nearly 5g of carbs right there. I was probably a bit heavy handed with the burger relish too - I mix that with the onion because of the sugar content and let it caramelise. Anyway - I've got a few more of these patties in the fridge/freezer, so I'll be having a few more, will try and minimise the total carb count next time.

Drink was a glass of soda water with a slice of lemon - 0 carbs.

Snack: 1 square of Lindt 78% chocolate: 2.2g carbs

Dinner: Roast chicken. Daughter's choice for movie night takeaway - she chose roast chicken (doesn't like pizza - where did I go wrong?). So I ate a quarter chicken and had some steamed mixed vegetables (mostly I ate the cauli, broccoli and beans) and added some gravy. I'm going to call it 3g total carbs for dinner.



However, I did finish off my daughter's chips - I'm going to call it 100g (I weighed the packet before we started eating), around 27g of carbs.

So let's say 30g of carbs for dinner.

I should probably add about another 5g of carbs from picking at her popcorn she wanted for movie night.

Total for the day: 58g carbs

That burger needs work to drop the carb content - and I need to stay away from the hot chips. Also popcorn isn't worth it for the carbs - I don't even like it that much.

Exercise: 30 minutes of walking. Walked to the school to pick up daughter and then walked home with her - 15 minutes each way (more like 15 minutes there and 30 minutes home while she stops to talk to everyone on the way!). Also worked standing up for about 2 hours.

 

Yeah, I decided before I started that I was going to be brutally honest.

It is hard to admit when I'm failing to meet my daily target - although some parts are quite illuminating too - I didn't realise just how many carbs were in the burgers I was cooking - but having done the analysis, it's fairly easy to see where I can make improvements. It's as much a learning process for me as it is trying to help other people get a feel for what's involved. Eating a maximum of 20g per day is a LOT harder than 50g per day!

But at least I'm still making progress - weight is still dropping.

I do recall reading some analysis of studies people have attempted to do on overweight people, where they have relied on the subjects accurately recording everything they eat. They discovered that the majority of overweight people grossly understate how much they are eating.

Whether that's a psychological/denial thing kicking in (and part of the cause of their weight issues), or perhaps it's shame in not wanting to admit they are over-eating, or just not being thorough enough in their record keeping - difficult to tell. But the upshot of it was that you shouldn't assume that people are eating what they say they are eating.

I'm also using it partly for motivation too - I know that if I do get stuck into the junk food, I'm going to feel really guilty if I don't also own up to it here - which does help me to say no in the first place.

 

I think just removing the bad food from your diet is going to make a significant difference in the short term. If for you that means pre-prepared meals, and they aren't full of highly processed foods and additives and such - then it's a reasonable start I think.

The trick will be to also remove any other junk - especially for those times when you aren't at home.

 

After being the "big guy" at school/uni, it is quite disheartening to see a lot of my friends from way back, now larger than I am. I recall a recent discussion on the mailing list I use to keep in touch with my uni friends about CPAP machines - they are all engineers, so find gadgets like this fascinating.

Hopefully I can motivate some of them to make some changes to their lifestyles and reverse some of the weight. If I can do it, they all certainly can.

That being said - I also know a few people who have gone the opposite direction at this age - almost like a "mid life crisis" and started running marathons or competing in cycle races and such too.

 

You'll have to experiment with all of the coconut and almond milks. Some people quite like them (or at least put up with them). Personally I can't stand them.

Cream is slightly lower in carbs than milk (3g vs 5g per 100 for the stuff I buy) - and you possibly wouldn't need as much of it either.

I know a lot of people doing low carb have changed to drinking bulletproof coffee (coffee with butter and added saturated fat) ... or just butter coffee. Basically no carbs and the fat content keeps you satisfied for longer.

I don't drink coffee, so I can't comment.

 

We have soy milk because my wife is lactose intolerant. It's sweetened, as are many milk substitutes - but even so, it's 6g per100ml (Aldi generic). Unsweetened would obviously come in less, but are less palatable to my taste. I drink coffee black though.

With the small amount of milk which goes into coffee (20ml? Unless it's cappuccino), I wouldn't have thought that the carb count was that significant.