low carb?

LivinMyLife2015

Hi everyone!
My question is how have others approached a low carb diet? I would like to try it but watched my friend experience a lot of bad side effects...of course she did like 50 carbs a day for months...and exercised insanely...but i am not willing or physically able to do that extreme.

Any words of wisdom for a newbie?

Sabine_Stroehm

IF you're going to try it do your research. Read a few of the source materials on low carb. DON'T go by what friends say is a good low carb approach.
Know what you're doing before you try it.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

A link to the low carb groups, you should get plenty of help and advice there

LivinMyLife2015

I do pretty well about staying away from the doughnuts and twinkies (twinkies are THE nastiest things ever lol)
I tend to eat large quantities and not exercise. I have low back pain with muscle spasms plus knee pain so i try to exercise but pay for it for days or weeks.
I started trying to buy salad items and sugar free jello and cottage cheese. A few fruits but so many carbs in them...
I like coffee but have cream and sugar so that negates weight loss effort too. Kinda frustrating.

Sabine_Stroehm

catscats222 wrote: »

try this instead? no carbage - easier on you
stay away from anything processed like cakes, cookies, donuts, twinkies, chips, etc.
But go ahead and eat the good carbs like beans, quinoa, baked sweet potato, quick oats, lentils, even brown rice
i'm at 200 carbs a day or less, but stay away from carbage

reducing or eliminating the consumption of nutrient and fiber poor, heavily refined carbs, and focusing on nutrient dense foods was the approach I took when I lost my weight.
But, it's not quite what she asked, and it's not a popular approach on mfp.

Sabine_Stroehm

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

A link to the low carb groups, you should get plenty of help and advice there

That group's launch pad has many links to great information. If you're going to do it, do it right.

Good luck.

nvmomketo

KatoGirl73 wrote: »

I do pretty well about staying away from the doughnuts and twinkies (twinkies are THE nastiest things ever lol)
I tend to eat large quantities and not exercise. I have low back pain with muscle spasms plus knee pain so i try to exercise but pay for it for days or weeks.
I started trying to buy salad items and sugar free jello and cottage cheese. A few fruits but so many carbs in them...
I like coffee but have cream and sugar so that negates weight loss effort too. Kinda frustrating.

You don't need intense exercise to lose weight. Practically speaking you don't need any exercise to lose weight. It is helpful for overall fitness and health though.

That being said, I do not exercise regularly either. I too have back issues (burst disc and some paralysis) and knee and hip arthritis, which I've told my body I am too young for but it didn't listen. If I do exercise it is usually a brisk walk. Every week or two I seem to forget that pushing it will result in days of pain and do too much when coaching basketball or soccer. I hbble for a week, limp for a few days and then promptly forget and think that the next time will be different. I'll call it optimism. LOL

When people go low carb (less than 150-100g of carbs per day) successfully, they usually do not replace carbs with low-carb marketed, processed items, or at the very least they minimize those foods. (Personal observations.) Generally, low carb foods are replaced by healthy fats or a bit more protein. That way most people are satiated by the fats and protein.

I eat very LCHF. My carbs are usually below 50g per day. I felt tired and headachy for a few days before I finally balnced my electrolytes and felt better again. Going LCHF will result in water loss (carbs cause water retention) which will also deplete your electrolytes. Low carb eating increases magnesium and potassium needs, and sodium (salt) should be raised to 3000-5000 mg per day, which can be done by drinking broth, salting foods, or even drinking salted water every day. It makes a big difference within hours.

Going low carb may affect your exercise performance for about a month. Your glycogen stores may get depleted and your body will be relying on fats for fule more. This is especially true for people who follow the ketogenic (<50g carbs per day) diet; those who are simply LCHF may not experience this. It doesn't last though and most find it doesn't impact their performance after that adjustment period.

The foods I focus on are coconut and coconut cream (great in coffee with a drop of stevia or some protein powder), cream, butter, and hard cheese, meats, seafood, eggs, nuts and seeds, avocado, olives, olive oil, greens, veggies (broccoli, cucumber, peppers, snap peas, celery, mushrooms, squash, etc.), and berries.

I tend to avoid starches which includes potatoes, rice, noodles, bread, all baked goods, and generally any foods made using flour. I limit root veggies (beets, parsnips, carrots, etc) since they are higher in carbs than other veggies. I avoid most fruits, or have a very small helping such as a slice of apple rather than the entire apple. I do not eat table sugar or foods with added sugars. For sweetener I use Stevia drops.

I know skipping the above foods can seem hard, but once I did it, my cravings for thos foods disappeared within days.

I would say your foods are on the right track but your fats are probably too low. Most of us were taught to believe that eating fat makes us fat and is bad for you, but for the vast majority of peole, that isn't true. Eating too much makes us fat, and for some eating too many carbs is a health problem (insulin resistnace).

Consider adding more fat to your diet. Your fat macro will probably end up being over 50% of your diet. Mine is about 75% and I have lost a good 30 lbs in the last 3 months, so I know fat is not bad.

Ditto the others who suggested the Low Carber Daily group. They're good people there.

Good luck.

youdontknowwhatyousaw

Give bodyweight exercises a try. I've been following Convict Conditioning and while not completely gone my neck, shoulder, back and knee pains have eased quite a bit.

You are your own gym is, also, a great bodyweight program. They are both progressive and you start with very simple exercises and work on technique before progressing to more difficult exercises.

Can't help you with the low carb question.

hamlet1222

you don't need to do low carb, nor exercise insanely. Since you're a newbie, I would suggest using the calorie calculator on this site to work out the maintenance calorie intake for the weight you WANT to be (not what you are now). Then eat the same foods you eat now, but keep a food diary and try to keep as close to that maintenance calorie intake as you can.

This way you'll get in the habit of eating the amount of food you'll need to be eating if you want to stay your desired weight forever.

As for exercise, just start slow, 30 minutes weigh training twice a week, 30 minutes easy cardio 3 times a week.

I guarantee if you follow this plan for a couple of months you'll be in a much better place, and can review again then.

lodro

But please remember, for an increasing number of people, "moderation" isn't feasible when it comes to carbohydrates, and hunger on a restricted calorie diet is a force to be reckoned with. Lowering carbohydrates and upping protein but most of all fats, has a satiating effect and supresses hunger. Something that can be very beneficial in someone's approach.

efsrous

I'm also doing low carb, high fat. The biggest benefit of it is really that it keeps you full and satiated longer. The hardest part of dieting is being hungry. I did basic calorie counting without carb restriction before, and it does work but it's a lot harder, because you inevitably end up hungry. Or at least I did. LCHF makes it a lot easier to resist snacking. nvmomketo offered a lot of good advice above if you're interested in pursuing this way of eating. I'm actually eating <20g net carbs. It sounds extreme but it's actually been pretty easy because of the lack of hunger. You don't have to eat as few carbs as that of course, unless you're aiming to go keto. The point is that fewer carbs and more fat/protein = less hunger, easier diet!

Just remember to still eat plenty of non-starchy vegetables. Here is a list of keto-friendly foods, helpful for identifying low carb foods even if you're not keto. I do get cravings for sweets and there are a lot of recipes out there that use things like almond or coconut flour and artificial sweeteners that satisfy my sweet tooth and desire for baked goods.

KatoGirl73 wrote: »

I do pretty well about staying away from the doughnuts and twinkies (twinkies are THE nastiest things ever lol)
I tend to eat large quantities and not exercise. I have low back pain with muscle spasms plus knee pain so i try to exercise but pay for it for days or weeks.
I started trying to buy salad items and sugar free jello and cottage cheese. A few fruits but so many carbs in them...
I like coffee but have cream and sugar so that negates weight loss effort too. Kinda frustrating.

On LCHF you can absolutely have cream in your coffee, in fact it's encouraged! And you can sweeten it with stevia or the sweetener of your choice. Also, make making good low carb food choices easy by prepping low carb friendly casseroles in advance that you can just heat up at your convenience. Here is the one I've been eating this week. I just steam some veggies to go with it. I also tend to eat cut up deli meats, cheeses and nuts for lunch along with some chopped veggies. Eggs are your friends for breakfast. I make a crustless quiche I can heat up portions of in the morning.

Good luck, you can do this! Weight loss is possible low carb or not, but you may find that experimenting with low carb makes it easier for you.

LivinMyLife2015

I just read today going into keto might help stop my eplilptic seizures. Between diet restriction, no alcohol, correct sleep, low stress and exercise i could go off medication or reduce it at least. I would rather do keto then look for liver donors in the future....ijs

Bob314159

Please note that Ketogenic diets used in the 1920's for seizures did work - but they required a trained dietitian to very precisely provide measurements for the food - so be carefull using the "over the counter" keto diet. Read and research a lot.

see http://www.charliefoundation.org/

KatoGirl73 wrote: »

I just read today going into keto might help stop my eplilptic seizures. Between diet restriction, no alcohol, correct sleep, low stress and exercise i could go off medication or reduce it at least. I would rather do keto then look for liver donors in the future....ijs

RodaRose

KatoGirl73 wrote: »

I just read today going into keto might help stop my eplilptic seizures. Between diet restriction, no alcohol, correct sleep, low stress and exercise i could go off medication or reduce it at least. I would rather do keto then look for liver donors in the future....ijs

Yes. The keto diet could help you. Think of it as a high fat plan:
Dark meat chicken, eggs, beef, pork, tuna, salmon, almonds, macadamia nuts, bacon.
Cauliflower, broccoli, squash, Swiss chard, kale, spinach, romaine, cucumbers, eggplant, avocado, olives.
Lots of fat and oils: butter, sour cream, full fat mayo and salad dressing, coconut oil, other oils.

LivinMyLife2015

Dark meat? Yuck. Lol. Its slimey. Any tips to use avacado? I liked it blended in my protein smoothie. Hated it sliced on a sandwich.

tennisdude2004

hamlet1222 wrote: »

you don't need to do low carb, nor exercise insanely. Since you're a newbie, I would suggest using the calorie calculator on this site to work out the maintenance calorie intake for the weight you WANT to be (not what you are now). Then eat the same foods you eat now, but keep a food diary and try to keep as close to that maintenance calorie intake as you can.

This way you'll get in the habit of eating the amount of food you'll need to be eating if you want to stay your desired weight forever.

As for exercise, just start slow, 30 minutes weigh training twice a week, 30 minutes easy cardio 3 times a week.

I guarantee if you follow this plan for a couple of months you'll be in a much better place, and can review again then.

You don't need to restrict portion size either, or count calories for that fact. Low carb works just fine.

The OP has a question about tips on Low Carb. How about being polite and decent and answering her question or simply move on if you don't have any low carb experience.

RodaRose

KatoGirl73 wrote: »

Dark meat? Yuck. Lol. Its slimey. Any tips to use avacado? I liked it blended in my protein smoothie. Hated it sliced on a sandwich.

Eat white meat chicken. Cook with oil.
If you dislike the texture of avocados, skip them. The point is that when you go low carb, you increase fats and oils.

sportymom_tc

I have been doing low carb and lost 24lbs in 4 months and it took me a week to adjust, but my body has been feeling great. I added strength training 3 to 4 times a week.

Chicken and avacado are my faves right now.

Kristilee1977

I've followed low carb and it works for me when I follow it very strict. Only problem is constipation but I take a fiber pill and that helps. My body feels so much better on low carb and lots of energy.

Yi5hedr3

Yes, keto will probably do it.