BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Weight Loss Carb Lovers Diet Cookbook

As many of you know I'm a huge carb lover and carb eater. In fact eating carbs is what actually helped lose 30 pounds of stubborn fat after I failed on several low carb diets.

When I saw the CarbLovers book featured in a fitness magazine I had to check it out and was thrilled to see that women love it. I will be writing several articles next year about how carbs are awesome for weight loss and fatloss.

If you're done struggling with low carb diets that ban all your favorite foods, result in zero weight loss or worst weight gain and the flabby low carb look plus cause you to cheat all the time anyway you will LOVE CarbLovers Diet Cookbook: 150 delicious recipes that will make you slim... for life!

Carbs are making a comeback so get used to it low carbers!

I changed my workout a lot yesterday so I figured it would also be a good day to try this more carbs thing. I ate starchy carbs at every meal yesterday. It was weird to eat carbs like that but I slept great and today I woke up feeling very rested and the aches and pains and muscle soreness I've been dealing with are completely gone. I haven't felt this good in weeks.

I think that cycling carbs for short periods of time works o.k. for me but when I try to take it beyond 4 weeks my body just doesn't like it so obviously going to have to work more on calorie cycling vs. carb cycling for increased fatloss at this point.

I often wish I was one of these protein types who can just cut out carbs all together and then bam they're at ultra low bodyfat and have six pack abs 8 weeks later. Whenever I do that beyond 4 weeks my body just stop responding and I start feeling horrible.

I'm basically no worst off than when I started my fatloss plan 8 weeks ago but I have not made much progress so it's like having to start all over again. The great news is my weight is the same as always. That never changes which is good. If you can manage that type of consistency with your weight your entire life then achieving a lower bodyfat goal is just icing on the cake!

A few recipes from the carb lovers diet I will be trying (yum)

Sweet potato pudding
Pasta with white beans and pesto
Thai peanut noodles
Pan-Seared scallops with southwestern rice salad
Raspberries with chocolate yogurt mousse
Salmon and parmesan potatoes

Check out the before and after of one woman who tried Carb Lovers Diet and went from 192 lb to 145 lb. Jen Before and After

How is it possible to be carbing it up as much as I am on a daily basis and for all my size 2 pants to be falling off? It's called Metabolic Typing. Learn more about whether you're a slow oxidizer or a fast oxidizer and how that determines what you should eat for fatloss.

Losing weight is much easier when you stop fighting your body and start working with it.

What does a day on carb lovers look like. Well it isn't tons of pasta and rice and pizza and cookies all day. It's actually healthier than most dieters and low carbers imagine it is. Here's an example.

meal 1: 1 slice whole grain toast, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1/2 banana, 8 oz freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (I have a tree in my backyard so this is convenient for me)

meal 2: homemade chicken soup with whole grain rice and tons of veggies (carrotts, zucchini, kale or spinach, onions, squash, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. We add a lot of veggies to our soup)

snack: 1/4 cup trail mix or 1 handful of tortilla chips with hummus

meal 3: grilled fish or lamb, tons of steamed veggies, 2 cups mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes

snack: 1 piece of dark chocolate or other treat like 10 jelly bellies, 1 small cookie, 3-4 bites of dessert or handful of popcorn (this is totally optional and some nights I just drink hot tea instead of indulging in a treat)

This diet combined with my new workout plan Brazil Butt Lift is helping me get off the fatloss plateau that I had been on for a couple of weeks. As usual when I get gung-ho about fatloss and start working out harder and cutting calories and carbs too much, my body gets fed up pretty fast and plateaus fast (this time it only took 4 weeks).

But I'm finally seeing progress again. Have not weighed or measured or tried the bodyfat monitor and won't until next week but I can already see the difference and my skinny pants are baggy again so that is a great sign! Want to check out more carb lovers meals? Good Housekeeping has tons of meal options here: Carb Lovers Diet Meals

Yesterday had to be one of the highest more processed carb days I've had in a while and contrary to what you hear all over the place I didn't feel tired, hungry, or have cravings all day. I also didn't wake up bloated (as you'll hear many low carb advocates say).

I actually just finished taking pics for my new ebook in skin tight high-waist shiny leggings. The kind of leggings that are so unforgiving you can't fake being fit or looking fit. I feel and look amazing today and it's all because I've been more relaxed about carbs and food in general. The thing I love about the Carb Lovers Diet is that it isn't a high carb diet it's a balanced carbs diet. So here's what I ate yesterday:

breakfast: 2 eggs, big handful of spinach, and sprinkle of cheese wrapped in medium size flour tortilla plus 2 cups coffee w/ half half and 20 oz water

lunch: 2 slices whole grain toast, 1 tbsp natural pb, 1 tbsp honey, 1/2 banana, 20 oz water. I was so full from this I didn't have dinner until 8 p.m.

pre-workout: 2 cups coffee and 20 oz water

post workout: 1 glass fresh squeezed grapefruit juice with 1 packet of lemon lime electrolytes (I think these have about 1000mg vitamin c too)

dinner: 4 oz grilled salmon on bed of spinach w/ grape tomatoes, celery, carrots, and 1 tbsp homemade balsamic mustard vinaigrette. I also had about 7 tortilla chips with salsa.

Some days I eat more bread and a few more processed carbs than others. Some days I eat more whole grain rice, quinoa, beans and whole grain pasta. It just depends on what my body wants.

One of my new year's resolutions for this year was to stop stressing so much about food choices and just try to do my best each day. I think this is working much better for me than following a ton of carb rules like I was last year. Losing weight and losing fat ultimately comes down to doing something that you can stick with long term.

Carb cycling and calorie cycling absolutely worked for me for short periods of time but once I had to get back to something more normal I think balanced eating and the occasional intermittent fast is what works best for me.

Are you struggling with your diet? Check out this article for help: Strict Dieting Making You Fat?

Here's another example of a carb lovers day. This is from Sunday a day that involved a lot of house cleaning, a 4 mile walk plus a 30 minute Brazil Butt Lift workout and some extra stretching at night too.

spinach omelette (1 egg), 2 cups coffee, small glass fresh grapefruit juice

1 cup mashed sweet potatoes, 2 cups steamed broccoli, green beans, and carrots, 1/2 cup black beans plus small piece of homemade grapefruit meringue pie

1/4 pound bisson burger on small hamburger buns w/avocado slices, grilled onions and mushrooms, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, mustard and horseradish mayo

I'm making a grapefruit meringue pie (with grapefruits from our backyard) for my mom's bday so had to make a practice pie to get it right. Thankfully my boyfriend took all the leftover pie to work the next day.

I've been on carb lovers for about 3 weeks now and already my body is starting to plateau. So this week will be a good week to start back up with intermittent fasting then carb cycling then back to carb lovers.

If you are just getting started with weight loss and exercise you won't have to cycle diets like this much but if you're an experienced exerciser diet periodization is key to staying lean. More on that coming soon.

Today's carb lovers meals were:

1 egg cheese omelette w/ 1 slice multi grain toast and coffee

healthy banana split (small banana, 1/4 cup yogurt mixed w/chocolate protein powder, 1/2 blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and 2 tbsp walnuts) plus 20 oz water

more coffee and water before my workout

1 cup whole grain rice cooked in tomato broth w/chopped rainbow chard and broccoli plus 2 tbsp black beans

I'm also drinking wine later tonight (it's been 3 weeks since I've had alcohol so looking forward to 2 glasses tonight)

I filmed a 600 rep workout today (the whole thing) plus I also did my Brazil Butt Lift bum bum workout so I really don't think I need any more food today but if I get hungry I'll probably have tuna on a bed of spinach with tomatoes.

Just had a healthy banana split for breakfast:

1 very small banana
2 heaping tablespoons of organic vanilla yogurt
small handful of organic blueberries
splash of kefir yogurt poured on top
plus 1 slice whole grain toast w/ 1 tbsp organic pb on the side

Tomorrow I'm trying quinoa "oatmeal" and eggs for breakfast.

My weight right now is 118 lb and I've been able to maintain that since I started carb lovers without having to workout like a maniac all the time.

Just six 30-60 min. workouts a week, some are moderate, some easy, some higher intensity. No pain just results. I'm really happy with carb lovers and especially that I can combine it with intermittent fasting.

I'll be doing an i.f. tomorrow so I'll post an update on that tomorrow in the exercise forums.

So interesting that this is the post that has the most views lately. Hmmm? Could it be that women are sick and tired of low carb diets that are hard to maintain and that don't really work long term. I think yes!

I was actually supposed to intermittent fast yesterday but I woke up feeling super HUNGRY! I mean seriously hungry. This happens to me a few times a month where my appetite is so huge that I feel like maybe there's a teenage boy trapped in my body. See what I mean below.

My meals yesterday were:

2 eggs, 1 slice whole grain toast w/ real butter (is there a reason to eat fake butter, hell to the no!) 1/2 apple w/1 tbsp peanut butter (always organic food never that yucky jiff or those nasty pesticide covered apples) 50 cups of coffee, just kidding but did drink too much coffee yesterday

2 verona cookies (yeah those pepperidge farms things chock full of sugar and fat and other nasty stuff. Oh the horror!) with water of course to wash away all the fat and sugar (seriously it works, ha ha ha)

7 small pieces of sushi including tuna, salmon, eel and 4 ca rolls (would normally have the brown rice but they only had the white rice so just had that but much prefer the brown rice) 24 oz water

salmon veggie wrap - 3 oz salmon, 1 tbsp black beans, 1 tbsp salsa, 1/4 cup greens wrapped in tortilla with sprinkle of mexican cheese (this was so good) 8 oz glass fresh grapefruit juice

Weight today is the same, 118 lb. Size 2 jeans zip and fit as usual. No bloating and no hunger today which means I can finally intermittent fast today!

I did workout hard yesterday in case you were wondering (I workout every day). High intensity lower body circuit (30 min.) plus filmed my core ab workout that I'm editing and posting later today. That took another 15 min. Plus stretched for 15 min. before bed.