I'm new-ish to Low carbing, but not new to dieting! A few years ago I lost a lot on Dukan, but gained it all back. Now I'm determined to follow a ketogenic lifestyle permanently. One problem I have with any diet is that I need a lot of variety or I get bored, so I'll be looking for some inspiration. I'm a big over-eater, so even when I'm eating healthy I eat way too much, so I need to get portions under control as well.

Hi KarbKiller! In regards to portion control - I think many of us ‘think’ we know what 1/4 cup of say sauerkraut is (I used that as I just ate it for lunch &#128522, but we don’t, for the most part. I measure out with measuring cups the amount. I’m always surprised as I generally ‘guess’ much more than it is. This has helped me. As far as variety, (I do Atkins, which LC foods are LC) there is lots of variety. I eat natural vs. buying LC made food- as I feel it’s easy for to pick veggies and meats are easy to pick and fix. I think it helps with learning to eat LC smartly. Good habits are established. Like not eating white food- breads and flour. If you break the habit now, by not replacing say regular bread w/ a LC bread you won’t be tempted to ‘cheat’ w/ a bread roll at dinner etc. IMHO. Good Luck. This is a wonderful group.

Greetings! Yes, this is a great group. You'll find your way fairly easily.

IMO, eating simply in the beginning will help keep you on track. Since you seem to feel more comfortable eating large quantities of food, you might try just eating meat for a couple of days. Eat until you're full and only eat when you're hungry.

dietdoctor.com is a great resource for people unused to "how to get into ketosis and stay there."

See you around.

Low carb is the ONLY diet that I follow unless I fall off the wagon. Check out the recipe sections here on the forum. Well, one is way down the selection list and the second is found in the bar upper right. That's how they appear on my screen.

Start to gather the low carb essential. What those are depend on your tastes.

My pantry looks like this now...
Butter, refined coconut oil, herbs and spices, almond flour, coconut oil, dark cocoa, eggs, heavy cream.....and decide if artificial sweeteners will help.

Dana Carpenter has a couple cookbooks and others. We trial recipes for sweets and rate them . I like the lc recipes as they are a better nutrient profile for my teens.

Bunless burgers, courgetti bolognaise, scrambled eggs with sausages, fried salmon with spinach, stir fry chicken or bacon, steak and mushrooms with caulimash, omelettes filled with whatever, vege soup with crouton-sized spam, chocolate avocado smoothies... those are pretty much all the regulars I can now make for myself at home. Took me a couple of years to build up that range, so here's me giving you a headstart.

Also in my experience, portion control tends to take care of itself once you're into ketosis for a while. I too used to be constantly hungry, but after about 3 months my appetite had noticeably fallen away. I remember that day really well, as I was so excited to have made that realisation for the first time that I was finally eating less without still going hungry. That's when I knew for certain that I was going to able to sustain this WOE.

Hope to see you stick around. o7

Welcome. The first page of my journal has some links to dishes I made up early on. Currently I'm very happy with eating WAY more simply. Now mainly meats, some basic LC vegetables, fats (butter, coconut oil, heavy whipping cream) and a few nuts and 100 percent bakers chocolate for treat - and coffee.

This will likely change again in the future, who knows.

Deal with your tendency to be bored with food by adding variety and keeping low or no carb - If I can offer one dietary piece of advice I'd stay away from packaged stuff that has more than a few ingredients (thinking bars, shakes, meal substitutes )

Enjoy finding your way!