Planning for vacation
 

I’ve been on this new way of eating since January and doing great. I’ve lost about 14 pounds but the biggest plus is how great I feel. I have s family trip planned in June, a week at the beach. We will be in a house so I can cook however there will be 9 of us to plan to cook for on a very low budget. I’m not really worried about meals so much as I’m in the phase of not being that hungry. That being said I’m wondering will I get to a stage where if I do stray and eat desserts or ice cream (we make homemade ice cream every day on these trips) and it not make me feel so bad. A few weeks back I had a cookie and that night my aches and pains returned. Yesterday I was at a bridal shower and ate way to many carbs. I tried to plan ahead and fasted hoping it would help but still today a day later I don’t feel great. I read somewhere that you get to a stage where your body is more forgiving of carbs. Any one experienced this and gotten to where you could eat carbs sometimes? I’ve had a couple of times where I was able to eat a poboy and have no problems.

I can speak to this. I also suffer from aches and pains from carbs. I am at a point now where I could have a carb and not suffer any ill effects the next day. I know because I've done it. HOWEVER, I completely lack willpower and if I have carbs one day, the likelihood of me having them the next day if they're right in front of me is very high. It sounds like we go on similar style vacations so I get your situation. The leftover brownie tray will be sitting on the counter when you wake up. And there'll be a new dessert there at dinner that night.

Last year's vacation, I waited until the third day to have carbs, and I felt so crappy that I stopped by the end of the week. But it was a long, achy drive home for me.

This year, I plan on not partaking of the dessert. I'm going to bring some fake food desserts. Maybe I'll even get some Breyers Carb Smart while I'm down there. But I'm not going off plan with real sugar or pretzels. I lack the will power to say no the next day and I don't want to feel crummy.

Maybe you could make some homemade low carb ice cream? It won't taste as good as the real stuff, but if you're worried about the aches and pains, it may be good enough.

I have pulled my family into my plan at times. For example, CHristmas desserts were all VLC so I could have them, and kids loved them.

Perhaps investigate LC ice creams, and make a game out of finding the best recipes.

IMHO having our kids eat sugar laden icecreams and desserts is not helping them have a healthy future.

Thank y'all so much. It sure helps to know others are in the same situation I am in. I am at a point I can resist desserts. But the homemade ice cream, that's a hard one. I think i will limit myself to one small bowl a day. Knowing that I can have more the next day will help. Chips will be a problem, lol. I never had them at home because I cannot resist them. I think my game plan will be to skip breakfast which is easy for me. I sleep late down at the beach and I'm not a breakfast person anyway. I'll head to the beach with my diet coke (yes I know lots say to stay off the diet drinks but it is my saving grace on this journey. I'll give that up later) Lunch will probably be a sandwich (we make these great freezer sandwiches that you bake in the oven. Google it) Supper will be low carb or no carb. I can control that more and worst case I'll have bacon and eggs for supper. I do plan to bring some Atkins bars there in case I just have to have something sweet. They may throw me out of ketosis but they don't make me sick.

We don't eat this way all year long. The ice cream has just been a tradition that started on these trips 25 years ago. My younger brother eats horribly and is very overweight. I've tried to convert him but he's a grown man and can make his own decisions. My son and his wife and their son try to eat healthy and don't eat lots of snacks at home. I'm hoping by the time we go my brother especially will see the weight loss and how good I feel and see that it is doable. But I am not going to deprive myself 100% of foods I love. I eat them rarely now that I have changed my way of eating. But if I want a bowl of ice cream once a month (I have not had ice cream since January when I started) or a poboy once a month I plan ahead for it. I think that is one way I have had so much success this time.

You have a wonderful plan that will work for you. Enjoy!!

Hi Dixie. I second the idea of sugar-free homemade ice cream! I bought an ice cream maker after our wedding so I could do just that. I haven't made it as often as I want to because it doesn't store well and it's just the two of us, but with a big group, I'm sure it would be polished off.

On the subject of whether or not you can go back and indulge... it depends, and hopefully you'll figure out your sensitivities. For me? I had about 8 "freebie" years as a LCer with those occasional treats that didn't seem to do any harm. But then age happens. Arthritis and gut problems happen. And then they get worse. So I had to fine-tune and experiment. For me? In addition to staying low(ish) carb, no gluten, ever. I didn't want to believe it and was in denial for a while, but eventually, I realized that the drawn-out suffering wasn't worth a few minutes of scarfing down crap food, especially when most of the culprits were easily replaced.

Something I'd recommend to anyone is a good elimination diet at some point - not necessarily while you're still a newbie and trying to find your footing. Eat a strict paleo diet for a while with very "low reaction" foods, and test one thing at a time, in particular if you notice flare-ups in certain conditions and you can't think of anything else that would cause it.

If you're looking for tips at all on "big family meals on a budget", feel free to start a thread and describe what your cooking conditions will be like, as well as what general area you'll be in (this is an international forum.) :idea: There are lots of LC-friendly meal ideas for feeding a crowd, but costs vary by location.

Best of luck!

Thanks. I’m it going to try to cook low carb for the rest of the family.i don’t think it’s fair to them. I can manage the meals ok. And the ice cream will be one serving a day. Unless it starts to make me hurt. I know I read somewhere that you can get to a point in this way of eating where you can indulge occasionally with no bad effects.