Going to go for 30 or less carbs a day
professionalHobbyist
Posts: 1,316 Member
i am thinking about taking a solid couple weeks and do old school low carb as a change up to kick off a few pounds.
I am thinking a month and 7 pounds would work. It would get me halfway to my final goal.
A month is something I can grind out and go back to moderate carb for a while again.
I am not a starch eater anyway so this arena is where I stay.
Anyone else ever live moderate carb for months at a time and then hit it hard low carb for a while to drop a few pounds quick?
I am thinking a month and 7 pounds would work. It would get me halfway to my final goal.
A month is something I can grind out and go back to moderate carb for a while again.
I am not a starch eater anyway so this arena is where I stay.
Anyone else ever live moderate carb for months at a time and then hit it hard low carb for a while to drop a few pounds quick?
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Yep, I do. but my "moderate carb" days tend to creep up to high carb a lot more often then not. When I get myself on track, I drop down to keto level carbs, 20g a day is goal, but I don't kill myself if it creeps closer to 30g or lower than 10g. Best of luck, if you can stick to it through the first few weeks, you'll be just fine!
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I try and do 60
I notice certain snack foods creep in.
Mixed nuts are bad and so are those dang Quest bars!!
I have been looking over my buying habits and I have been buying more of the moderate carb foods and then letting them get too high in the mix
I have been losing a pound or so a month and gaining some strength and muscle..
But it is 15 lbs of body fat to go for goal. I'm ready to nuke off that fat and be done with it. Go to what seems to be maintenance level I have found
You know how sometimes people go to maintenance before getting to goal?
Ha!
I don't want to be that guy!!
Thanks for the reminder0 -
Do it, man! And post your results here during the experiment. I'm interested to see if it impacts your exercise at all.
In theory, not a lot of difference between 60 and 30, but your muscles may like the ketone boost.0 -
I am planning to not lift hard at all. Just weights at low weight low reps.
What has worked for me is the dreaded HIIT. I do it for 24 minutes and it whips my behind. I know I burn out my glycogen and am burning off fat and get that ammonia smelling sweat. The HIIT wipes out my carbs I have eaten anyway. I have never done HIIT on really low carb. I don't know if it will work. I will do it at maybe high cardio level. At either rate I anticipate a mitochondria efficiency boost in fat burning mix. That is one well documented effect of HIIT and burning out the available glycogen and needing to source fat for a greater mix of fuel.
Getting ready to go do a HIIT interval now. Had about 20 carbs so far today. They will be gone soon if not already !0 -
Well after a weekend of low carb and lots of cardio to burn out my glycogen...
Jumped on the scale and lost 3.2 pounds of water/glycogen. Probably 1/2 lb of fat in all that.
But I have decided to go easy on hard lifting. In the past that is what made me feel tired when dropping carbs a good bit.
I'm feeling pretty normal. No carb drop hangover.
So far so good. I will do 30-40 carbs and get my 10000 steps in to burn out the carbs I eat.
So far so good!0 -
professionalHobbyist wrote: »Well after a weekend of low carb and lots of cardio to burn out my glycogen...
Jumped on the scale and lost 3.2 pounds of water/glycogen. Probably 1/2 lb of fat in all that.
But I have decided to go easy on hard lifting. In the past that is what made me feel tired when dropping carbs a good bit.
I'm feeling pretty normal. No carb drop hangover.
So far so good. I will do 30-40 carbs and get my 10000 steps in to burn out the carbs I eat.
So far so good!
Keep posting here. I want to follow your progress.0 -
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Hear, hear! Beat of luck with your experiment. I am curious about the metabolic difference between 30-60g carbs, too. HIIT intimates me, I admit. I get flashbacks of getting overheated, dizzy and vomiting, but maybe I need to figure out how to pace myself in that scenario.0
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I'm not very fit, and in the past I've only used Calorie restriction, keto or workouts to lose weight, never combined the workouts with diet changes. I had moderate success on each, but as I've gotten older, I see I need to do both and a long term sustainable way, to really feel healthy and make progress. So I've just actually gotten back on track with keto and starting to exercise more. For me, for now, what means cardio-- lots of walking! I plan on signing up for a 5k in September, so that will motivate me start running again and I know I need to add in strength. I actually loved HIIT when I did it in the past, but don't have the money for a gym/program right now, but am keeping my eyes open for groupons to gyms in my area and will hope to score a deal on one soon.
I've never been able to do maintenance as I gave myself too much freedom and gained weight. I'm working now to lose about 20 lbs, and then try maintenance, but my real goals have to do with eating keto consistently, staying active, running that 5k and gaining strength.
I'm gonna follow your thread and see how you do.0 -
When you say under 30 carbs, do you mean net or total?
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professionalHobbyist wrote: »But I have decided to go easy on hard lifting. In the past that is what made me feel tired when dropping carbs a good bit.
Your muscles may adapt to the stress. New mitochondia, new enzymes. I'm considering doing the same experiment just for the added stress.
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I was talking net carbs. I just had a big lunch of two chicken breasts and green beans and some bell peppers.
For the HIIT it is only :45 seconds sprint and 2:15 jog pace. 3 minutes of warm up and cool down with 6 cycles. So it is only 24 minutes.
I am counting on some slight increase in mitochondrial efficiency. It works for all sorts of athletes. Sound science behind it.
As far as getting into a keto state I will buy some keto strips. I have always just burnt out my carbs. I don't eat as low as many but burn them out consistently.
I got up this morning and hit the treadmill hard. Goal of forcing keto on quickly
A little over 10,000 steps in by lunch.
Since I am trying to get rid of gut... I need to measure and see how this experiment works on waistline and tummy area.
I know I can't spot reduce but I have never really monitored things very close as I see other members of our little low carb family.
You guys and gals are very organized. I need to pick up some of your good habits !
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Well a week in to the lower carb was good!
Before I started I was eating at maint and lifting hard so I was actually up about 3 pounds from my last recorded weigh in
In two days all of that was gone. In a week I was down 2.3 pounds more.
To be fair to the low carb diet, I messed up my weigh in this morning by having a salty chicken wing dinner last night. This morning I weighed 2 pounds more than yesterday mornin and had wicked dry mouth from all the salt
I have to give the hard low carb diet with lots of low leve cardio a high grade.
I ate about 1900 calories with 10-15% carbs and not subtracting fiber or sugar alcohols. Fat and protein were close to even. I did lift for 3 of the days and felt pretty much the same.
I think I will cycle in a week once in a while of very low carbs like once every month or so. It seems to have a good effect on me. Plus I like those carnivore days!
And this weekend will be a few steaks!
New digital scale on the way too!
I'm gonna start weighing what I don't eat too. I weigh a cooked steak but cut out gristle and fat. Be interesting and more accurate.
Have a great weekend and thank you to all the people that share so much info on the Low Carb lifestyle.0 -
Great job on doing this and reporting. I cannot exercise right now until I get the approval from my doctor but I used to HIIT while eating very low carb and had excellent results too. I also lifted moderately 3 times per week. I lost weight while toning my muscles.
You should cut the gristle but enjoy the yummy fat. Just my 2 cents0 -
professionalHobbyist wrote: »I did lift for 3 of the days and felt pretty much the same.
Good to hear. I suspect you're already fat adapted. Your old 60g-carb diet was very ketogenic, especially with exercise.
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professionalHobbyist wrote: »I did lift for 3 of the days and felt pretty much the same.
Good to hear. I suspect you're already fat adapted. Your old 60g-carb diet was very ketogenic, especially with exercise.
I will be buying some keto sticks.
It seems that they are a yes or no sort of indicator.
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professionalHobbyist wrote: »professionalHobbyist wrote: »I did lift for 3 of the days and felt pretty much the same.
Good to hear. I suspect you're already fat adapted. Your old 60g-carb diet was very ketogenic, especially with exercise.
I will be buying some keto sticks.
It seems that they are a yes or no sort of indicator.
Sort of. They only measure ketones wasted in the urine, and you tend to waste less as you adapt to utilize more. You're already utilizing a bunch and have been for a while.
Here's a study I posted recently:
http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0113605&representation=PDF
Compared to baseline,
serum ketones increased approximately 5-fold during C1, 3-fold after C2, 2-fold
after C4 and returned to baseline levels by C5.
baseline = 0.11 mmol/l ketones -- everybody makes some, especially at night.
C4 = 179g/d carbs
C3 = 131
C2 = 83
C1 = 47
So, you were previously between C1 and C2, maybe around 0.4 mmol/L ketones.
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Still rolling along
Today was a dat to go do a massive glycogen burn off and try to push my mitochondria to adapt for better fat uptake for fuel
Did a long bike ride at a pretty decent pace to exhaust my glycogen and burn fat.
Exercise was done on a fast since yesterday dinner time.
I was tired on mile 1. Miles 2-19 seemed good. Mile 20 was hard.... And it was slightly uphill to kick a guy when he is down!
Anyway a 1500 calorie burn on an empty stomach
The ride
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Yeah, I find the first mile is the hardest. That seems to be when you need some glucose before you switch over to steady-state fat burning.
If you did 80 minutes of fasted exercise without bonking, you're fat adapted, d00d! Congrats!0 -
Weird thing is I honestly was not hungry
I knew to eat protein to spare my muscle mass but I do think you are right.
Once you get fat as fuel adapted it gets easier.
That seems to be the promised land of low carb dieting. Many that try and quit don't get there and then blame the program as being flawed.
It isn't flawed. It just isn't exactly easy to get there
Thanks for your input and ideas Wab Mester. I have taken many items you have shared and put them in my toolbox.0 -
professionalHobbyist wrote: »I try and do 60
I notice certain snack foods creep in.
Mixed nuts are bad and so are those dang Quest bars!!
I have been looking over my buying habits and I have been buying more of the moderate carb foods and then letting them get too high in the mix (...)
First off, congrats on your progress and doing the experiment!
I'd just wanna say that if the experiment was to test difference between 60 and 30g carbs, then you should have kept all the other variables, such as snack and caloric intake roughly the same. As it is now you're changing too many variables at the same time, then perhaps attributing positive/negative effect on those 30g.
IMHO, I'm guessing it's the "other stuff" you've changed, most likely the increased awareness of what you eat and how much, plus the change in training protocol ...that has led to the positive effect so far.
Whatever it was, it seems to work so far Which also reinforce to me after reading a lot of posts on different dieting boards, that switching things up when what you're currently doing isn't working...often yields nice surprises
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Weekly update on making my body fat for fuel adapted
Today was a longer ride with only 10 carbs in a themogenic protein drink
Chicken wings for dinner last night so almost no carbs in me.
Not as hot so longer ride.
It was a few minutes shy of 2 hours at 80% minimum of heart rate max. The last 2 miles were brutal. But that is normal really so I don't blame lower carb for it. I kept over 16 mph average on over 30 miles. Reasonable pace
and the data
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Body fat burn is happening for sure
We are not supposed to be able to spot reduce.... And on CICO I totally agree. But when expanding your mitochondrial capacity at the muscle there is some speculation the local fat is easiest and first used
My calves have leaned out considerably. They used to be round kielbasa sausages.
Calves get lots of work cycling
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I think you've pretty much nailed the whole process from day 1. Overweight guys have extra muscle mass to carry that extra weight. You can keep that muscle with low-carb, protein, and weight lifting. And you can continue to burn the fat and "cut" with your current technique. You're going to be one bad mofo. 0
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I'm really enjoying reading this thread!0
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Just a weekly update for those interested in the Fat as Fuel experiment
I wanted to see how fat adapted I really and and push myself hard to set a personal best while primarily fat fueled
So today I had 1 100 calorie thermogenic carb drink pre ride, rode 25 miles and slammed the second one, and finished up 40 miles. Weird my CatEye bike computer said 40.04 miles, Map My Ride said 39.87...??? Anyway
I kept average speed up to 19.7 which was brutal. Lots of panting and it kicked my *kitten* hard.
So at the end of the day I can say I crushed my past personal best in distance and in speed primarily fat fueled.
The two drinks were 200 calories, the ride itself was 3507
So in my experience and using much of the info Wab gathered, it can be done.
It is not easy at all, but you can do long term fasted intense cardio and force your mitochondria to grow and thereby increase you ability to burn fat as fuel even for intense exercise
But I am seriously gonna eat and take a nap!!!
Ha! Ha!
The ride map and proof as always
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You should sleep well. Let us know how the recovery goes. That was intense. More intense than running a marathon.0
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Just read through this whole thread. Very interesting. I am with you on the quest bars. They are much better than almost any other for carbs/ sugar but each one is like 219 of carbs. I take one to work everyday and eat Hal in the am and half in the pm for a little snack. And yes, that is a little snack. Great job with all of this. I just wonder with all of the exercise if you would have the same results with 50 a day or more.0
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20 more carbs is only 80 calories
Probably would not matter
The massive burn time just blows thru my glycogen and I still have lots of time to burn fat
I don't post about normal mornings
45 mins of fasted treadmill with a cup of coffee catching the news
Very slow fat burn but still making my body fat adapted. That is the goal. Make it somewhat normal to burn a higher percentage of body fat
When I get low on body fat I can just eat more.
I don't want to be a carb burner primarily.
We shall see. In 4-5 months I'm gonna be very lean so it will be time to see how it goes0
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