Carbs and weight loss... HELP!

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chanell84
chanell84 Posts: 41 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
i have currently been going at this for almost 7 months and I have lost 60 lbs with mostly diet alone. I stay around 1200 calories a day and do my best to be as accurate as possible. I weigh out everything I eat in grams. I only have 24 lbs to go so I figured my weight loss would slow down at this point which it has, however I find that when I limit my carbs I lose weight faster. When I say I limit my carbs I mean I started cutting out bread, rice, potatoes, etc.. My issue is I do not plan on making low carb a lifestyle change. I'm afraid if I use low carb to lose the last 24 lbs that I'll gain that weight back when I go back to eating carbs while on maitence. Any thoughts or advice. Like I said I don't want to limit my carbs forever so is it better for me to just keep trucking away with restricted calories or won't it make a difference how I lose it?

Replies

  • GSixZero
    GSixZero Posts: 48 Member
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    When you say you are limiting your carbs, are you replacing the calories with proteins or fats or just taking them out? If you are not replacing those calories you are just creating a bigger deficit and losing more weight. If thats the case you can just tune your macros a bit so you don't have to go low carb all the time.
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
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    Yep, just keep trucking away. You just have to be patient. Don't freak out over a slow down in your loss, weight loss is not linear after all. You know it works (Congrats on your SIXTY POUND loss!!), so why change what works? You can totally keep losing those last 24 lbs!! :flowerforyou:
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Starting a low carb diet results in more initial water weight loss (glycogen stores) than regular lower calorie dieting does. Could it be that you are experiencing this? Going from low carb to moderate carb.....your body will store glycogen again.

    Another thought - how do you measure foods? Do you weigh them? Some types of food are harder to measure than others.

    I'm doing the lifestyle change thing....I know low carb won't be in my future either.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    I'd keep trucking away. I like the idea of losing weight in a way that I like so that when I'm done, there are no big changes.

    I work hard on creating a way of eating that cannot be changed simply by undoing one thing. It's the plan I believe in (obviously), so I vote for that. :)
  • Mezzie1024
    Mezzie1024 Posts: 380 Member
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    If you aren't going to stick with it, why start? Your weight loss will probably slow as you get closer to your goal and your deficit shrinks (especially since it appears you've been eating the bare minimum all this time). But slow isn't the same as stop, so there's nothing to worry about; just be patient and diligent in your logging. I lose at about 0.5 lbs/week wth a small deficit. I'm currently about seven pounds from my goal. There are some benefits to this, among them the time to save up money for the new outfits I'm likely to buy when I reach my goal. :smile:
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    Weight loss is going to slow as you get closer to goal; it's just the way things are. You simply can't create the same calorie deficit you could when you weighed more. Personally, if you don't intend to live a low carb lifestyle I don't think you should lose weight that way but if you really wanted to you won't gain all of the 24 pounds back by eating carbs again. You will gain some of them back, of course, because refilling your glycogen stores will have water weight associated with it, but it won't be more than a few pounds. You could simply lose 29 pounds eating low carb and then stop.

    The stories about people going low carb to lose weight and then gaining all of the weight back have more to do with them going back to eating the same way they did before that caused them to put the weight on in the first place. Anyone who returns to former eating pattens is going to end up at their original weight, or even higher, regardless of how they lost the weight.
  • chanell84
    chanell84 Posts: 41 Member
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    Thank you so much for the feedback. I do agree in ppl gain weight because they return back to their former way of eating. I have made a lifestyle change and plan to monitor my calorie intake for life. I like carbs way too much to not eat them anymore.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
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    chanell84 wrote: »
    i have currently been going at this for almost 7 months and I have lost 60 lbs with mostly diet alone. I stay around 1200 calories a day and do my best to be as accurate as possible. I weigh out everything I eat in grams. I only have 24 lbs to go so I figured my weight loss would slow down at this point which it has, however I find that when I limit my carbs I lose weight faster. When I say I limit my carbs I mean I started cutting out bread, rice, potatoes, etc.. My issue is I do not plan on making low carb a lifestyle change. I'm afraid if I use low carb to lose the last 24 lbs that I'll gain that weight back when I go back to eating carbs while on maitence. Any thoughts or advice. Like I said I don't want to limit my carbs forever so is it better for me to just keep trucking away with restricted calories or won't it make a difference how I lose it?

    @chanell84 at my age I have decided it is best to lose weight with the same kind of foods you plan to eat for life.

    I really only lose well by cutting carbs like you so I plan to keep eating < 50 grams of carbs daily for the rest of my life since low carb eating is managing my arthritis pain very well and has cured my 40 years of having major IBS. Being under 200 pounds for the first time in 22 years is a nice side effect in my case.

    Best wishes on your last pounds. Remember most anyone can lose weight but few will keep it off for life.

  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
    edited August 2015
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    You can change the way you eat in maintenance, but it will be one more adjustment and you would need to have a plan in place to avoid problems. Since you are relatively close to goal, I don't know if it is worth it if you don't want to stick with it. Keep in mind water weight varies depending on carb intake. If you recently cut carbs, your recent losses might be mainly water which you will regain when you go back to higher carb levels.

    That being said, I continue to experiment to find the carb level I like the best. I plan to experiment with keto sometime soon, but if I don't decide to stick with it I will return to my current moderately low carb plan (under 100 grams). There is nothing wrong with trying something new. You may find that even though you plan to reintroduce carbs, you will no longer want as many of them as you did before and might find a happy medium. Don't be afraid to try something, but just make sure you have planned well before you make changes.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
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    MoiAussi makes good points. I'm all in favor of experimenting. Who knows? You might adjust well to lower carbs, still enjoying them but in smaller amounts. Also, you won't gain the weight back in maintenance if you are not eating in a surplus. You might have a couple pounds go glycogen replenishment, but you might not. Congrats on your awesome progress!
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    My opinion is that you will probably have the most success if you keep eating the way you intend to maintain your weight loss. If what you are doing now works for you, then keep at it.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    chanell84 wrote: »
    i have currently been going at this for almost 7 months and I have lost 60 lbs with mostly diet alone. I stay around 1200 calories a day and do my best to be as accurate as possible. I weigh out everything I eat in grams. I only have 24 lbs to go so I figured my weight loss would slow down at this point which it has, however I find that when I limit my carbs I lose weight faster. When I say I limit my carbs I mean I started cutting out bread, rice, potatoes, etc.. My issue is I do not plan on making low carb a lifestyle change. I'm afraid if I use low carb to lose the last 24 lbs that I'll gain that weight back when I go back to eating carbs while on maitence. Any thoughts or advice. Like I said I don't want to limit my carbs forever so is it better for me to just keep trucking away with restricted calories or won't it make a difference how I lose it?

    These two points

    Yes you will find reducing carbs results in more rapid weight loss due to the glycogen / water being stripped from your body

    If you do not plan to maintain a low carb lifestyle then chances are, dependent on how carefully you reintroduce carbs, your weight will upswing rapidly as soon as you reintroduce those carbs because you have simply manipulated your water weight

    I have read, but not seen real evidence cos I haven't read deeply, that if you reintroduce carbs at about 10-20g per day for a week then wait for weight to restabilise you may avoid that

    Seems like an awful lot of effort to me when you can just keep plodding away eating in the way you like to a calorie defecit ...in the end it will take you the same amount of time to get there
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    chanell84 wrote: »
    Thank you so much for the feedback. I do agree in ppl gain weight because they return back to their former way of eating. I have made a lifestyle change and plan to monitor my calorie intake for life. I like carbs way too much to not eat them anymore.

    Very good to hear. You've got a good plan with a great chance of success. Best of luck.
  • chanell84
    chanell84 Posts: 41 Member
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    Thank you everyone for the feedback!
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    edited August 2015
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    My opinion is that you have to eat and learn yourself to eat how you want to meaintian your weight ones you have lost the excess weight you wanted

    This means....low carb ( not needed for weight loss) but as life style...go ahead
    But if you dont meant to eat this way..than why do it.

    I eat high carb btw and lose fine too. Happy with my loss in the last 9 months and i only have to up my calories slowly to maintenance level ones i want to stop the weight loss and want to maintain..
    I didn't cut foods out except salt for medical reasons.

    I kept it simple ;)
    but everybody is different.

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