SMART CARBERS (Smart Carbohydrates) and Calorie Counting/LCHF
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Good morning! Yesterday was another good day. I even pulled out one frozen cupcake from the freezer (2 pts). BOY they are yummy when frozen! We had lettuce wraps last night for dinner and I measured out everything except the lettuce
But I only had 1/4 cup of brown rice but lots veggies and 4 ozs of chicken. Yummy dinner!
Hope everyone has a great day!!0 -
Ladies, I am going on a mini vacation prior to my work at our office convention in SFO. That's Jan 19 to 26. I will have 4 days to be with family and friends. And work will be the next 4 days. Previous years when I worked we made sure we ate good food and had a few drinks every night. This year I am avoiding big parties, receptions and organized dinner. I am just attending 1 organized dinner. Most nights I will be my friend who does LCHF. So I think I am pretty covered.
Still need your daily reminders and motivation.
Good luck ladies!! You are all doing so well.0 -
5 Most Common Low-Carb Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
By Kris Gunnars | 431,027 views
A few months ago, I read a book called The Art and Science of Low-Carbohydrate Living.
The authors are two of the world’s leading researchers on low-carb diets.
Dr. Jeff S. Volek is a Registered Dietitian and Dr. Stephen D. Phinney is a medical doctor.
These guys have performed many studies and have treated thousands of patients with a low-carb diet.
According to them, there are many stumbling blocks that people tend to run into, which can lead to adverse effects and suboptimal results.
To get into full-blown ketosis and reap all the metabolic benefits of low-carb, merely cutting back on the carbs isn’t enough.
If you haven’t gotten the results you expected on a low-carb diet, then perhaps you were doing one of these 5 common mistakes.
1. Eating Too Many Carbs
There is no clear definition of exactly what constitutes a “low carb diet.”
Some would call anything under 100-150 grams per day low-carb, which is definitely a lot less than the standard Western diet.
A lot of people could get awesome results within this carbohydrate range, as long as they ate real, unprocessed foods.
But if you want to get into ketosis, with plenty of ketoness flooding your bloodstream to supply your brain with an efficient source of energy, then this level of intake may be excessive.
It could take some self experimentation to figure out your optimal range as this depends on a lot of things, but most people will need to go under 50 grams per day to get into full-blown ketosis.
This doesn’t leave you with many carb options except vegetables and small amounts of berries.
Bottom Line: If you want to get into ketosis and reap the full metabolic benefits of low-carb, going under 50 grams of carbs per day may be required.
2. Eating Too Much Protein
Protein is a very important macronutrient, which most people aren’t getting enough of.
It can improve satiety and increase fat burning compared to other macronutrients (1).
Generally speaking, more protein should lead to weight loss and improved body composition.
However, low-carb dieters who eat a lot of lean animal foods can end up eating too much of it.
When you eat more protein than your body needs, some of the amino acids in the protein will be turned into glucose via a process called gluconeogenesis (2).
This can become a problem on very low-carb, ketogenic diets and prevent your body from going into full-blown ketosis.
According to Volek and Phinney, a “well-formulated” low-carb diet should be low-carb, high-fat and moderate protein.
A good range to aim for is 1.5 – 2.0 grams per kilogram of bodyweight, or 0.7 – 0.9 grams per pound.
Bottom Line: Protein can be turned into glucose via a process called gluconeogenesis and excessive protein consumption can prevent you from getting into ketosis.
3. Being Afraid of Eating Fat
Most people get the majority of their calories from dietary carbohydrates, especially sugars and grains.
When you remove this energy source from the diet, you must replace it with something or you will starve.
Unfortunately, some people believe that because low-carb is a good idea, then low-fat AND low-carb will be even better. This is a big mistake.
You need to get energy from somewhere and if you don’t eat carbs, then you MUST add in fat to compensate. If you don’t, you will get hungry, feel like crap and eventually give up on the plan.
There’s no scientific reason to fear fat, as long as you choose healthy fats likesaturated, monounsaturated and Omega-3s while keeping the vegetable oils to a minimum and eliminating trans fats.
Personally, my fat intake hovers comfortably around 50-60% of total calories when I strictly stick to a low-carb plan. According to Volek and Phinney, fat around 70% of total calories may be even better.
To get fat into this range, you must choose fatty cuts of meat and liberally add healthy fats like butter, lard, coconut and olive oil to your meals.
Bottom Line: A very low-carb diet must be high in fat, otherwise you won’t be getting enough energy to sustain yourself.
4. Not Replenishing Sodium
One of the main mechanisms behind low-carb diets is a reduction in insulin levels (3, 4).
Insulin has many functions in the body, such as telling fat cells to store fat.
But another thing that insulin does is to tell the kidneys to hold on to sodium (5).
On a low-carb diet, your insulin levels go down and your body starts shedding excess sodium and water along with it. This is why people often get rid of excess bloat within a few days of low-carb eating.
However, sodium is a crucial electrolyte in the body and this can become problematic when the kidneys dump too much of it.
This is one of the main reasons people get side effects on low-carb diets… such as lightheadedness, fatigue, headaches and even constipation.
The best way to circumvent this issue is to add more sodium to your diet. You can do this by adding more salt to your foods, but if that doesn’t suffice then you can drink a cup of broth every day.
I personally like adding a bouillon cube into a cup of hot water, then drinking it like a soup in a cup. It actually tastes really good and supplies 2 grams of sodium.
Bottom Line: Low-carb diets lower insulin levels, which makes the kidneys excrete excess sodium from the body. This can lead to a mild sodium deficiency.
5. Not Being Patient
Your body is designed to preferentially burn carbs, if they are available. So if they’re always available, that’s what your body chooses to use for energy.
If you drastically cut back on carbohydrates, the body needs to shift to the other energy source… fat, which either comes from your diet or your body fat stores.
It can take a few days for the body to adapt to burning primarily fat instead of carbs, during which you will probably feel a little under the weather.
This is called the “low carb flu” and happens to most people.
In my experience, this can take about 3-4 days, but full adaptation can take several weeks.
So it’s important to be patient and be strict on your diet in the beginning so that this metabolic adaptation can take place.
Bottom Line: It can take a few days to get past the “low-carb flu” stage and several weeks for full adaptation to a low-carb diet. It is important to be patient.
Take Home Message
I personally believe low-carb diets to be a potential cure for some of the world’s biggest health problems, including obesity and type II diabetes. This is well supported by science (6, 7, 8).
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I find it difficult bringing down my carbs to 50 grams. But I don't exceed 75 a day. It is just difficult for an Asian not to have rice. We love rice so much that we can eat rice breakfast, lunch and dinner.
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Good morning! Yesterday was another good day. I even pulled out one frozen cupcake from the freezer (2 pts). BOY they are yummy when frozen! We had lettuce wraps last night for dinner and I measured out everything except the lettuce But I only had 1/4 cup of brown rice but lots veggies and 4 ozs of chicken. Yummy dinner!
Hope everyone has a great day!!
Good on you!!
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Christine- thanks for the info, interesting to read through it. I kept my carbs around 50g the first 10 days, but have eased up some now. I just checked and have run 60's to 80's. Seems to be working for now anyway. You will be near me in SF. I wish you a great trip. Keep checking in and keep yourself on track. :-)
Don't you all find it hard to find any crunchy foods without carbs other than nuts!? I like my crunchy.
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Iphoebelayla wrote: »Christine- thanks for the info, interesting to read through it. I kept my carbs around 50g the first 10 days, but have eased up some now. I just checked and have run 60's to 80's. Seems to be working for now anyway. You will be near me in SF. I wish you a great trip. Keep checking in and keep yourself on track. :-)
Don't you all find it hard to find any crunchy foods without carbs other than nuts!? I like my crunchy.
I feel a bit discouraged I haven't changed what I do nor did I eat over yesterday but my scale is almost a pound up. I have been having problems going to the bathroom even after taking colon cleanse etc. What is going on? Any tips? Water in take is definitely not the problem I great in that aspect.0 -
Iphoebelayla wrote: »Christine- thanks for the info, interesting to read through it. I kept my carbs around 50g the first 10 days, but have eased up some now. I just checked and have run 60's to 80's. Seems to be working for now anyway. You will be near me in SF. I wish you a great trip. Keep checking in and keep yourself on track. :-)
Don't you all find it hard to find any crunchy foods without carbs other than nuts!? I like my crunchy.
I feel a bit discouraged I haven't changed what I do nor did I eat over yesterday but my scale is almost a pound up. I have been having problems going to the bathroom even after taking colon cleanse etc. What is going on? Any tips? Water in take is definitely not the problem I great in that aspect.0 -
First of all, don't let that scale play mind tricks with you! Of course it is up if you haven't been able to go. Happens with low carb, ya? I try not to weigh myself those days. You are probably trying to weigh in before your trip though. Fiber supplements? Prunes? Miralax? Time? Increase your veggies?0
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phoebelayla wrote: »First of all, don't let that scale play mind tricks with you! Of course it is up if you haven't been able to go. Happens with low carb, ya? I try not to weigh myself those days. You are probably trying to weigh in before your trip though. Fiber supplements? Prunes? Miralax? Time? Increase your veggies?
I just tried Prunes and Colon Cleanser and I went today. I will decrease the colon cleanser to 2 capsules 2x a day or may be down it even to 1 while on my trip. I do not travel alone so this is a big adventure for me. Sunday to Wednesday with family and friends. Wednesday evening to Sunday evening working. It is equally divided. I pray that I will not over indulge and be mindful of my food intake. Same as alcohol. People during convention time get excited esp when there are receptions to attend.
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Christine, you can do this!! Log everything and be accountable. Maybe plan in a time when you can have a little extra so that you are not fighting against it, but have something to plan for.
I had my extra carbs yesterday, so sticking with very low today to keep myself on track. :-)
What are everyone else's plans for the weekend?0 -
Good morning everyone! Christine - hope you have a wonderful time! Watch your food/drink intake but also remember to have a good time; you don't get to do this everyday!!
I had a good weekend! We attended a pizza party on Friday night and looking back I hardly ate any pizza. They cut it up in to little squares and I had 4 little squares so I think that would equal a normal slice plus a tiny more. They had a huge salad with fresh dill in it - yummy!
Then over the weekend we played around with juicing. I made some really fun vegetable juices with just a small amount of fruit in it to make it yummy. My favorite so far is celery, cucs, carrots, cups and cups of power greens from costco, strawberries and lime. I don't have time to make juice during the weekday so I may have one when I get home tonight. It's a great way to boost my nutrition! I typically have a huge huge salad at lunch so this is just an extra bonus of vits! BTW when you juice greens (kale, beet greens, etc) the juice is an amazing dark green!!
I hope everyone has a great day!
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Good morning ladies, I had an awesome day yesterday. I saw cousins and friends I haven't seen for at least 25 years. I did good except that I gave in to a particular dessert I haven't had for at least 5 years. Hope the impact isn't that devastating. My plan is to stay away from deliberate carbohydrates such as rice and bread and I will be fine.0
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Glad to hear that you all are doing so well!
Calorie wise I have doing ok, but I have eating too many carbs- here and there and adding up. Going back to my typical foods tomorrow. :-)0 -
phoebelayla wrote: »Glad to hear that you all are doing so well!
Calorie wise I have doing ok, but I have eating too many carbs- here and there and adding up. Going back to my typical foods tomorrow. :-)
Good catch - it really is easy to fall back into old habits
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Good morning all!
Yesterday was a good day - stayed within my points and just got a tiny bit into my weeklies! I find the beginning of the week is always easier and as the week goes on I slip more. I wonder if it's because I'm really tired by the end of the week? I'll try to start getting to bed earlier tonight and see if that helps!
Hope everyone has a great day!
Waves to Christine on vacation!!!0 -
Hello,
It is weigh-in day! No matter if you are up or down, get it on the spreadsheet and be accountable. It is a new ten days starting now. I am down 1.8. I did much better with the low carbs yesterday after a few days of overdoing it. Feeling more confident today. Need to avoid that chocolate though.0 -
Happy Thursday everyone! Christine - hope you are having a fun time! I'm still going strong...eating right, getting in lots of miles and even lifted weights last night at the gym!
Phoebe - great loss!! 1.8 is amazing!! Keep doing what you are doing because it's working! And yes, I have issues with chocolate as well so I'm trying to stay away
Have a great day everyone!!0 -
Our team did a great job! Everyone is inching the right way, and hopefully loosing those inches!!!
Glad to hear that things are going really well for you Carla, and hope you are getting some good sleep. The older I get, the more important I realize it is!!! Or maybe it is just the older I get the more I can't recover from lack of sleep.
Christine- hope you are having a great time. The weather is supposed to be fabulous this weekend.0 -
Another great day yesterday! I did notice since I was super tired I was a bit more sloppy with my eating, a little extra ice cream, etc. So I counted all the points and hit the sack early again. So glad it's almost Saturday so I can get caught up. We are hosting a birthday party on Saturday so I'll need to hit the gym in the morning cuz I want to eat cake I'm making a dark chocolate cake with raspberry cream cheese frosting. Have a great day everyone!! 0
