No Carbs for two weeks?

Hello all!

I am looking for a way to kick start my diet :)) I have been dieting for a little over two months and have lost about 2-4 pounds :( Not great, in my opinion.

I have been looking online for something that could help kick start my diet! I really only need to lose 20 pounds and so a good 5 -10 pound loss would do wonders for my motivation!! I have read a few places that if you cut carbs and sugar for the first two weeks and then slowly incorporate those back in to your diet (The good kind of carbs :) and fruit :) ) that it will really kick start your diet...

So what I am asking is, yay or nay? Should I give it a go or not?? I have been not eating carbs for two days and I have a huge head ache right now and the gym sounds horrible :( (Not that the gym ever sounds great. haha) I just don't know... any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Megs

Don't do this.

Nay.

What are your stats, activity level, and how much have you been eating (before you tried cutting out carbs)?

Hm... alright.. but why?

I'm 5'4"

SW 145

CW 141-142 (It keeps changing. Gr.)

GW is 125

I've been eating around 1400 cals and logging about 30-60 min of work out a day.

If I put your stats into www.phord.com/cc and set you to moderate (Moderate exercise or sports 4-5 days/week), it says you are burning 2130 cal/day. So perhaps aim for closer to 1600, so that you are only trying for a 500 cal deficit.

You should also make sure that you are being very careful with logging everything you are eating accurately. If you aren't measuring (or even better, weighing) your food, you might be underestimating your intake.

Carbs are not the enemy, and completely cutting them out of your diet means you aren't getting an important macronutrient. Also, where does your fiber come from if you have 0 carbs?

You're right, I need fiber. Has anyone tried Fiber One??

How I eat: I eat mostly out of packages... Today I had a banana (70 cals ish), Quaker Oatmeal square - to go (220), half a package of edamame (200), and I'm eating carrots at the moment... (70 ish).

Okay I haven't completley cut out carbs today. But I have eaten a lot of veggies. I'm at about 560 Cals. Should I be at more? It's about 4:00 in the afternoon...

And I was thinking steak and mushrooms for dinner... is that a yay or a nay also? Steak??

Mmm... steak. I like steak.

How much you should be at now depends on how much you'll have for dinner and any snacks before or after dinner. But what you've listed doesn't sounds like meals. It just sounds like bits of food. What was lunch, in that? And is edamame the only protein you've had so far? See what I'm getting at?

when i get fed up with all other diet idea (which never work for me), this is what i do, i drop carbs to 50-60 grams a day.  it works wonders for weight loss it is amazing. The problem is, and what my Tanita scales tell me, is that the weight isnt fat loss, but muscle mass i have lost. As far as i can tell it isnt muscle tissue, it is just water and stored energy that has been lost.  I do look like i lost fat, but the scales say nay, i'm thinner because my muscles have shrunk. I'm not convinced thats true as i dont really have much muscle on my stomach or other places but i look trimmer there.

i'd say give it a go, it's not easy to cut out carbs, but if weight loss numbers are what you want, it's the best things for fast weight drop. The worry is what happens when you get thin. You tend to eat carbs and the weight goes back on. on low carbs you might not feel hungry as fats tend to be filling with small portions, but you will get moments of low energy, dizzyness at times, maybe poor sleep. oh and, i found i had really bad constipation on fat and protein only, so watch your fibre intake

personally after 4 days of very low carbs, as an athlete i got worried by the muscle loss so i stopped because i was losing a pound of weight a day, and now i'm just trying to monitor carbs. intake, and keep my protein up and fat too so my body doesnt think it needs to hoard it. i think the body hoards fat if it isnt fed enough so i snack on fats and proteins all day, minimise carbs and try to keep carbs very low in the evenings. I'm currently monitoring how my body reacts on a daily basis. i'm around 2 weeks into this controlled carb diet.i'm certainly not gaining  weight though i eat 40-50%fats each day and 25-30% protein and carbs.  but i'm not sure i'm losing fat or weight either, doh! though my exercise time has dropped at this time of year so that could be why.

I used to be a low carb freak. You may be too young to remember the Scarsdale diet - almost no carbs at all. I would swear by it, suffer, starve, be terminally tired, lose weight, and then go back to bad eating habits and eventually gain it back.

What CC (and everybody here) has taught me, as well as the good ole food pyramid, is that our bodies NEED carbs to function - good carbs. Some recommendations are to eat 50 grams or so a day - I would fade away on that little! You would be surprised how much you can lose by keeping carbs at about 45-50% of your daily calories. Eat grains (yes - bread, pasta, rice - 4-6 oz daily), cut out the pure sugar, eat some fruit, eat lots and lots of good veggies. The trick is to eat smart, not to eliminate entire groups. Eat less than you burn, eat right, and eat balanced. Forget the fads, forget the fancy diets - don't try to kick start anything - just adopt good eating habits.

The rest will follow. I promise.

So what is your brain going to use for fuel?

Original Post by megs890:

How I eat: I eat mostly out of packages... Today I had a banana (70 cals ish), Quaker Oatmeal square - to go (220), half a package of edamame (200), and I'm eating carrots at the moment... (70 ish).

Okay I haven't completley cut out carbs today.

Um, have you eated anything other than carbs?

'Kick starting' your diet is a marketing ploy and a pretty good indicator that whatever you're doing isn't going to work, sort of like 'toning' and 'lengthening'. 

Here's why you shouldn't cut out carbs for two weeks: You will lose a lot of water weight (probably 7-10 pounds of water), plus a normal amount of weight (1-2lbs per week). That will be exciting.  That will be exciting. However, you will also feel icky and crappy for about 2-3 days.

However, when you start eating carbs again, you will gain back ALL of the water weight you lost - I guarantee it. You will also probably overeat the carbs, especially simple carbs & sugar, because you will have missed them, and your body will be craving them (this is physical, not psychologial). There is a pretty high chance that you will decide to cut them out again, due to the large increase in your weight, but you won't last as long, and then you'll regain the water weight, and then later on you'll cut them out again, and eat them again, etc. You'll eventually get kind of scared of healthy carbs, and this will be bad for your health in the long run.

It's really not worth it, given that it doesn't actually kickstart your weight loss - the "weight loss" is just water, and it's temporary. You'd be better served by starting the plan you intend to stick with, one that includes sufficient whole-grain complex carbohydrates and plenty of fruits and vegetables.

And YES you should be above 560 by 4pm! If you don't eat enough during the earlier part of the day, you'll actually be hungrier in the evening. I'd aim for at least 2/3 of your calories before dinner, if not a little more.

As someone who watches carbs, I'm responding to give you my perspective. You can take it or leave it as you will.

First of all, I love pasta, bread, rice, etc., but I have found that when I eat those kinds of foods, one of two things happen: 1) I tend to eat them to excess or, 2) If I restrict to the recommended serving, I'm starving. Now, I know how to eat. I know the difference between whole grain and multi-grain, eating enough proteins, fats, etc., and I drink a ton of water, so this is not an issue of me not balancing my meals properly. I personally think that I may have some kind of issue with how my body processes those kinds of foods, but that is neither here nor there. All I can say is, as someone whose been watching her weight for a long time, worked with trainers and keeps a detailed food log, I lose weight more quickly and steadily when I lower my carb intake than I do when I keep those kinds of foods integrated into my diet. I'm doing it right now because I realized at my last medical appointment that (with a very hectic school and work schedule) I've allowed more weight to creep up on me over the last year than I realized. I'm determined to get my bootie down to a manageable size again by the new year, come hell or high water.

As such, I have been watching my carb intake for about a month because I have found that doing so is a reliable way for me to lose weight and stave off hunger. When I say "watching my carbs," I mean that I cut out rice, pasta and potatoes, and focus on lean meats and egg dishes, low-fat dairy, all the vegetables I want, and avoid excess sugar. I've found that without even really trying all that hard, my caloric intake is regulated (I still log everything I eat) and I'm satisfied between meals. I do have snacks, but it's because I know my body needs the fuel, not because I'm starving and need a snack. I'm averaging 30 grams of fiber a day and, because I try to stick to lean meats and low-fat items, I'm still able to maintain a low-fat regimen. Cutting out excess sugar means that  I don't crash and get tired after meals. I also work out for an hour a day, and have so far been losing 2 lbs a week on a steady basis. I didn't initially lose a bunch of so-called "water weight," so I can't attest to that part of it.

I tend to fluctuate between 1400-1600 calories a day, and my typical meals look something like this:

B: Egg beaters, veggie sausage, lf cheese and salsa in a low-carb tortilla

S: Protein bar or shake

L: Homemade soup, like turkey-pumpkin chili w/light sour cream and pickled jalapenos

S: An apple w/a piece of low-fat cheddar or a tbsp of natural peanut butter

D: Beef tips in gravy w/mushrooms and onions, sauteed asparagus, roasted cherry tomatoes, or Chicken stir fry w/a ton of veggies and a sprinkle of toasted nuts.

S: A digestive cookie and a cup of tea with nonfat milk, or a sugar-free ice cream bar. Sometimes I'll have popcorn (no bagged stuff, I measure out the loose kernels and pop it myself).

I also take a multi-vitamin for general health, and did I mention that I drink lots of water?

I will say that the first few days of my self-created regimen I felt tired and kind of cranky. However, to be perfectly honest, I haven't had a problem with that since then. I think it was just the adjustment period while by body got used to not being inundated with sugar all the time (you'd be surprised how much of it is in even so-called "healthy" foods). In any case, I thought that my experience with it might be a more helpful response than some of the knee-jerk "don't do it" reactions. It's up to you to decide what to do - different things work for different people. I don't recommend doing an old-school Atkins diet where you gorge on bacon, cream and lard. But I think a low carb diet can be a healthy and effective way to lose weight if you try to do it in a common-sense sort of way. Like I said, different strokes for different folks. Anyway, good luck, whatever you decide.

Thanks so much Wetmosaic! That was a great post and definitley gave me a lot to think about! I think your diet looks great! I actually think that a low carb diet would be best for me too. I'm not sure though. I'm still experimenting with diets... which may not be the best thing to do, but I am completley new at this. Having gained 15 pounds in the last two years :( I need to get rid of that 15 pounds!

Anyways, I love pasta, bread and rice too so I KNOW I over eat on those all the time... when I eat them. Oh Olive Garden you are horrible to me!!

Your day looks really good :) I think I might try that for one of my days soon! When I don't eat carbs I definitely have a problem with energy at first... but maybe that's the lack of fiber... that I can still get in a low fiber diet.

Amethyst girl: Thanks for your input! Thankfully what I ate yesterday was NOT a normal day. I think it was probably because I was sick but I did not want to eat full meals for some reason. Today I had : Breakfast: Oatmeal and Banana Lunch: Chefs salad with: eggs, ham, turkey, carrots and a little bit of bleu cheese dressing. I'm thinking for dinner I will have taco soup. Can't go wrong with: Pinto beans, corn, stewed tomatoes and ground turkey :)

But yes I saw where you were going with that! I definitley  need to make sure that I'm eating a balanced meal. Have you lost/gained (whatever you're trying to do :)) much weight? If so, how?

I love all the input!

Original Post by megs890:

Hello all!

I am looking for a way to kick start my diet :)) I have been dieting for a little over two months and have lost about 2-4 pounds :( Not great, in my opinion.

I have been looking online for something that could help kick start my diet! I really only need to lose 20 pounds and so a good 5 -10 pound loss would do wonders for my motivation!! I have read a few places that if you cut carbs and sugar for the first two weeks and then slowly incorporate those back in to your diet (The good kind of carbs :) and fruit :) ) that it will really kick start your diet...

So what I am asking is, yay or nay? Should I give it a go or not?? I have been not eating carbs for two days and I have a huge head ache right now and the gym sounds horrible :( (Not that the gym ever sounds great. haha) I just don't know... any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Megs

I've done this before...followed phase 1 from the South Beach diet.  I only do it for two days (not weeks) at a time, and I usually lose between 5-8 lbs. each time.  Also, it doesn't come back as long as I eat sensibly thereafter (I don't do a gradual reintroduction either, just eat normal again).  I would advise against doing it for more than that...your blood sugar will be screaming out by then, and the headaches suck.  In fact, I would sort of advise against doing it at all...it sort of gives you the feeling that if you gain lbs, you can lose them super quick, and that's a bad mindset to have.

Also keep in mind it really is just water/glycogen weight, so I wouldn't really even feel like I lost "real" weight.

Original Post by megs890:
Anyways, I love pasta, bread and rice too so I KNOW I over eat on those all the time... when I eat them. Oh Olive Garden you are horrible to me!!

I have to look the other way when I drive past an Olive Garden restaurant, or else the sign mesmerizes me and I'm drawn in to my doom. It's their zuppa toscana. I could eat that soup for days on end, and of course there must also be lots of warm breadsticks and a big bowl of salad. I suppose the meal itself isn't as bad as the amounts that I'm capable of scarfing down before I manage to get a hold of myself. I think they put heroin in it or something.