Starting OWL today menu check please

[allykitten]

Hi I am starting owl today and am on rung 1 adding more veg and salad. Could you please check my menu for today 8th march and see if it looks ok to you. I am aiming to increase my carbs upto around 23 a day as I averaged around 19 on my 4 weeks of induction. I have increased my veg and it works out now to 8% carbs 63% fat and 29% protein. This increase in carbs will be coming from veg and salads.

Also to increase my veg can I just add a higher carb veg such as more onion?

Can I also just check, I know that if i eat carbs such as veg and salad I need to have some sort of fat with them ie cheese or mayo but when I eat protein such as meat that is lean do i also need to be eating fat with that. I know eggs are ok on their own as they have a higher fat content.

Thanks Ali

[Georgiana]

Re: Starting OWL today menu check please

It looks really good! I would probably increase the calories a little -- 1100 is quite low, although it is not a problem as long as you don't eat so little on a regular basis. If you have days with 1100 calories and days with 1600 calories for example, then it's okay.

Seems like you're doing great. I saw you lost 7 lbs out of 23. That's 30% of the weight in 3 weeks! Fantastic!

[Georgiana]

Re: Starting OWL today menu check please

I have increased my veg and it works out now to 8% carbs 63% fat and 29% protein.

That's perfect. Your protein intake should stay around 30%. As you move up the rungs, you will slowly decrease your fat intake in favor of carbs.

Also to increase my veg can I just add a higher carb veg such as more onion?

Yes, you can add any vegetable you like. If it is one you also ate during induction, then you can eat it daily. If it is a new food, you should eat it only every other day and see if that causes you any problems.

Can I also just check, I know that if i eat carbs such as veg and salad I need to have some sort of fat with them ie cheese or mayo but when I eat protein such as meat that is lean do i also need to be eating fat with that. I know eggs are ok on their own as they have a higher fat content.

Not necessarily. On a scale of 0 to 1, carbohydrates give an insulin response of 1, fat of 0.1 and protein of 0.56. It all depends on the way your body reacts to a meal lower in fat. Personally, when I plan my meals, I only care about the percentages I have at the end of the day. So as long as I have, let's say, 60% fat after dinner, I'm okay with it. On the other hand, I have seen people around here who have issues if they don't add fat to every meal. You'll have to see what works for you.

[liv]

Re: Starting OWL today menu check please

Ali
Congratulations on starting OWL. You do very well on veggies but I think you are a bit low on energy for the day. Just a little bit more fat and protein to keep your calories up a bit would be good.
You already deduct the fibre when you add your veggies it look like? Is that right

[allykitten]

Re: Starting OWL today menu check please

Thank you Georgiana that really helps as I've been trying to balance every meal out throughout the day with fat, protein and carbs and have found it really difficult (thank goodness for fitday). My cals where low today as I haven't done much exercise but added a cheese and cream sauce in with my dinner and that has pushed the cals and fat up. I usually go between 1100 and 1700 cals the later one usually when I bike to and from work 3 times a week so I have more energy. I have noticed the last two days that my lower back and aching pains down both legs and lack of energy so the low cals may explain this.

Thank you Liv, I live in the uk and know that the net carb is already calculated for us so I just create all my own veg/salad using the info on the packets into fit day, hope this is right. I did noticed that when I calculate items such as tomatoes and mushrooms that I get a much lower net carb than the atkins so hope I'm doing it correctly. I will increase my cals as I'm sure the aches I am getting are due to lack of cals.

Thank you both so much for your help. I would never have got this far without the kind help from people on this forum. I only discovered it on my second week and am so pleased I did.