Low Carb

Ok I know I posted another thread but I would like to hear other peoples experiences with a low carb lifestyle and any tips you may have. Please let me know how many carbs you were eating, weight lost, any problems, etc. Thanks in advance!!

Greetings,

I've been low carbing for the past few months. I've dropped almost 50 pounds. I've tried to stay under the 20 carb threshhold but didn't beat myself up at all if i went up to 50 or 60.  It happens. The body stays in some sort of ketogenic state as long as you stay under 130 a day.

Biggest tip I can give you is don't beat yourself if you take a day off. i did it. I didn't gain 20 pounds either. I put some water weight off that came right BACK off when I went back on.  Read as much as you can on it. Theres only but so much one can tell you, but if you do some research you'll be in good shape.

Jay, you SHOULD take a day off and refeed every week or so. You might not notice it when you have a lot to lose, but when closer to leanness, refeed days are important for maintaining your metabolism and just generally keeping liver glycogen levels good.

Low carb is good, but you don't need to start at extremely low carbs. If you've been eating normal to high carbs, just dropping to about 40% of your total caloric intake will give you good continued weight loss. If things get harder later on, there's always the option of going lower.

Metabolism can be kept fairly high sir while being low carb. You can easily eat 2400 calories then drop down to 1700 to keep your metabolism buzzing.

Biggest tip:

Don't talk about low carb eating too much in the forums because people will tell you that

1. it will kill you or cause something bad to happen to you (bull)
2. that you have to eat wholegrains and starchy things to be healthy (bull)
3. that YOU WILL GAIN BACK ALL THAT WEIGHT AND MORE because so and so's cousin did it and then binged on muffins for two weeks straight and gained 10 pounds (your cousin is a tool)
4. it's not sustainable because eventually you'll get tired of eating "the same thing everyday" (I love me some meat)
5. that you're probably only doing this because you're looking for fast weight loss (screw you)
6. that you can't be strong or do any endurance exercises while eating low carb (bull)
7. that all the weight you lose is water weight anyway so it doesn't matter (bull)
8. that the only way to be healthy is to eat what they consider a healthy balanced diet (bull)
9. that low carb diets only work while you're doing them.  once you go back to eating regular you will gain the weight (well D'uh!  same for every diet/lifestyle change/whatever)

Among other things.

Okay, real tips -

Don't eat processed junk.  For example, bread isn't supposed to be low carb so don't eat the fake low carb bread.  Eating nothing but bacon, hotdogs, bologna, or other processed meats is a bad idea.  Stay away from artificial sweeteners.  Most of the time they'll cause cravings.

If you fall off the wagon, hop right back on.  No pity parties.  No "now everything is ruined so I'm going to eat 20 pancakes."  The longer you wait to get back on the wagon the harder it will be to catch up to it.

I take back all of my low carb posts and would like to refer to jewelsmcblah 's post above. Thank you and carry on. 

Wow someone seems a little defensive!!!  

Not defensive, just annoyed people seem to think their right way is the right way for everyone.  Most people's right way would put me back on track toward diabetes.  No thanks.  I'd rather not have that disease.

I can be healthy without wholgrain bread.

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

Biggest tip:

Don't talk about low carb eating too much in the forums because people will tell you that

1. it will kill you or cause something bad to happen to you (bull)
2. that you have to eat wholegrains and starchy things to be healthy (bull)
3. that YOU WILL GAIN BACK ALL THAT WEIGHT AND MORE because so and so's cousin did it and then binged on muffins for two weeks straight and gained 10 pounds (your cousin is a tool)
4. it's not sustainable because eventually you'll get tired of eating "the same thing everyday" (I love me some meat)
5. that you're probably only doing this because you're looking for fast weight loss (screw you)
6. that you can't be strong or do any endurance exercises while eating low carb (bull)
7. that all the weight you lose is water weight anyway so it doesn't matter (bull)
8. that the only way to be healthy is to eat what they consider a healthy balanced diet (bull)
9. that low carb diets only work while you're doing them.  once you go back to eating regular you will gain the weight (well D'uh!  same for every diet/lifestyle change/whatever)

Among other things.

Okay, real tips -

Don't eat processed junk.  For example, bread isn't supposed to be low carb so don't eat the fake low carb bread.  Eating nothing but bacon, hotdogs, bologna, or other processed meats is a bad idea.  Stay away from artificial sweeteners.  Most of the time they'll cause cravings.

If you fall off the wagon, hop right back on.  No pity parties.  No "now everything is ruined so I'm going to eat 20 pancakes."  The longer you wait to get back on the wagon the harder it will be to catch up to it.

Hahahaha thank you for this so much it really cheered me up and got me motivated!! I won't have to worry about the processed meat thing, i'm a vegeterian!! so it's all soy over here!! the only low carb bread product i'm planning on eating is one low carb tortilla a day, just to keep me sane. i'm a big almond, guacamole, brocolli fan though, and like you said, i dont mind eating the same thing every day honestly! i look forward to having the same meals actually!! thanks for the advice!!

I agree with jewelsmcblah completely. The moment you start talking about low carb eating, many people automatically think it's the worst thing you can do to your body, which isn't true.

I've only been on a low carb diet for about a year, but my advice to you is:

- If you fall off the wagon, get right back up. It'll be easier for your body to burn off the carbs you binged on and go back to burning fat if it's just a one-time thing.

- Once you start upping your carbs to something your body is comfortable with, try to spread them evenly between your breakfast and lunch and perhaps your mid-afternoon snack. Basically, try not to eat anything high carb after 4 pm.

- Take a multi-vitamin.

- Drink tons of water (you should be doing this anyway).

- Make sure you get your daily fibre requirements (ie: with flaxmeal) so you don't get constipated

I've had no side effects. I've maintained low carb eating perfectly comfortably. I've lost the weight I needed. It's not to say I don't indulge on the occasional carb snack once in awhile, but it's not a regular thing and I'm at a point where those once-in-a-while moments don't affect my weight. Good luck!!

Thanks for even more advice!! I'm really excited to start this!!

Jlv, what are your stats and how much did you lose? just curious!!

The farce is strong in this thread......much misinformation....if anyone is going to go low carb get to a site that promotes that diet and understand it before attempting low carb. just saying.

I think they are giving great advice...what do you disagree with??

I've researched it and done low carb before also...so I'm not one of those people who's gonna chow down on 8 packs of bacon and say "look i had no carbs today!!'

Dun... Dun... Dunn.... Stats are:

Female, 5'0'', 104 lbs (trying to tone up), lost a total of 28 lbs, maintained for about 6 months or so now... something like that.

wow!! that is great!! i'm glad to hear about a girl losing on low carb cause you always hear about guys just like...cutting out bread at dinner and dropping 20 lbs and women giving up bread entirely and dropping like...half a pound. hahaha. great job!!

Well I live in Australia and I did a program called "Ultra Lite" which is low carb (20g a day) and 4 serves of protein, and you also take this suppliment which has all the nutrients you need as well. So I guess it's Atkins with some more! I used to be the BIGGEST eater, I mean seriously I could eat a packet of tim tams in a sitting and not blink. I got on this program and I was suprised, I cut my food probably by at least a quarter and I was never hungry,  my skin got better, I had heaps of energy, it was just awesome. It was also only a 5 week program which was healthy. :) I think Akins would be bad in the way if you got all your sources of food from saturated fat.

I'm rabling so I better make my point. I think low carb is a great way to loose weight as long as you think about where your food is coming from, and dont go overboard in the saturated fat and salt, etc.

I went on my program in about March, lost about 10kg in about 6 weeks, and have kept it off since! I've even gone back to "normal" carbs with a balanced diet and I have kept the weight off- I think I'm even still loosing! You just need to find out what works for you. :)

Oh and if you have a binge day, just move on to the next day. Seriously I had some days of MASSIVE binging, I think on my 21st I had about 10,000-20,000 calories, no joke I ate and I still maintained my weight...

how do you guys follow low carb diet plans? I mean I eat a lot of carbs from fruit and veggies. I try to limit my fat intake. If you go on a low carb diet, that must be a lot of protein and fats. I heard that if you go on a low carb diet and you lose weight. After that, if you make the transition to a moderate/high carb diet, you will gain the weight back.

I don't know.

I few more tips. I'm not technically low carb, but I started their, and I've modified to 'moderate-carb' (just my disclaimer that you don't actually have to listen to anything I say  :)

Some low carb foods may suprise you. For instance, Nature's own wheat n' fiber bread is the lowest carb bread I've found but isn't advertised as such. It doesn't have the artificial chemical crap of some 'diet foods' and still allows my dad (a firm atkins follower) to have open-faced sandwich's.

As a vegetarian, I probably don't need to tell you to eat you're vegetables : ) But it's the health mistake some low-carb people make that also seems to be the perception of everyone on the 'it will kill you!' backlash. Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, all great low-carb. The list of veggies is long and varied.

For me and those I know, the first bit blows. If you don't believe sugar addiction exists, you might three days in to low carb. Honestly though, tough it out, avoid the fake sweets, and after 3 or 4 days your cravings for sweets and carbs drops drastically. (I tried a friend banana pudding today, and seriously thought it was too sweet to stand eating)

I actually signed up for CC because I was eating low-carb but wanted to modify. Research (while controversial apparently, who believes peer reviewed research that says fat is healthy?) shows that atkins-type diets work because they are low calorie, so I wanted to test it out. And yes, because of the proteins and fats you end up eating less due to less hunger, cravings, munchies, etc. AND a diet focused on protein and veggies is hard to make high calorie (or unhealthy, IMO). Anyway, to digress, I wanted to add carbs back in because of the difficulty I was having finding snacks and foods I could keep with me unrefrigerated for hours at a time, so I used CC to monitor my intake while increasing my carbs a bit. I still focus on protein and veggies, and completely avoid processed sugar, white flour, and most fruits, and I honestly would have to make an effort to eat too many calories.

Even further off topic, I've been quite annoyed lately that it seems NO topic can be started without dissenters having to whine and complain about the health, ethics, or 'niceness' of the post and replies. What gives?

My opinion is that low-carb diets work because a) the protein content keeps you full and b) by cutting out carbs that you usually eat you reduce the overall calories in your diet. Not because of Atkin's ketosis theory (let's not forget, this guy was obese when he died).

It's true that you don't have to eat wholegrains to be healthy. But that's kind of missing the point that they are healthy, so why would you want to cut them out? I don't see the point of cutting out any food group unless it's bad for you... low-carb diets that restrict fruit and vegetables, seem to me to also miss the point that losing weight should be about health as well as vanity.

You can lose weight with or without going low-carb. However, seeing as losing without going low carb gives you access to a much wider range of foods, it seems the more logical option.

Also - carbohydrates are essential for energy. Not only will you have less energy on a low-carb diet but you won't be able to work out as hard - and that can't be good for weight loss either.

Just my two cents.

Hi,

I do believe in moderating your carbs and think that low carb can be good.

My experiences with low carb are exactly what people warned me about. I could stand the crankiness and irritablility and did really well for the first few weeks-even though it was very hard.

My problem was that as soon as I introduced carbs back, the weight flew on and I think I actually put on mostly fat.

Now I did it slowly, and only ate LOW GI good healthy carbs in very small portions because I didn't want to put on a lot of water weight. I was also exercising ( weights and cardio).

So I put back any weight I lost within 2 weeks and it was pure fat. As I said, I did it the right way but obviously my body wasn't happy being so restricted.

So now I cycle my days and I think it is more effective for ME. I do 3 days low carb, 3 days low GI ( still keeping proteins up), and on the last day it is my 'cheat' day.

So that was my experience, I know people do lose weight on low carb but I don't feel it's maintainable.

Good luck!

Original Post by merylwhite1:

My opinion is that low-carb diets work because a) the protein content keeps you full and b) by cutting out carbs that you usually eat you reduce the overall calories in your diet. Not because of Atkin's ketosis theory (let's not forget, this guy was obese when he died).

It's true that you don't have to eat wholegrains to be healthy. But that's kind of missing the point that they are healthy, so why would you want to cut them out? I don't see the point of cutting out any food group unless it's bad for you... low-carb diets that restrict fruit and vegetables, seem to me to also miss the point that losing weight should be about health as well as vanity.

You can lose weight with or without going low-carb. However, seeing as losing without going low carb gives you access to a much wider range of foods, it seems the more logical option.

Also - carbohydrates are essential for energy. Not only will you have less energy on a low-carb diet but you won't be able to work out as hard - and that can't be good for weight loss either.

Just my two cents.

 Your two cents is worth alot!