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Difference in staying under 50g Carbs and under 20g Carbs
sh512266
Posts: 60 Member
Hey guys! I think I posted some questions under someone else's post yesterday but either no one commented and I can't find it or I didn't click post
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Replies
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Oh my GOSH please tell me there's more to this post than one I see above!! I spent 20 mins composing it!!0
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I've been doing 50g and under for a month now. I'm thinking of dropping to 20g, or maybe 30g.. so @Sunny_Bunny_ that will not help me lose more weight? I'm down to my last 9 lbs and so close to my goal that I'm too excited.
It has been a challenge to stay under 50g because I love veggies with hummus and fruit in my protein shakes, pickles etc. I have had an overcome the Keto flu by replacing electrolytes daily with Ketoade and magnesium supplements at night but I've never "felt" like I am in Ketosis. I can always eat, it might be in my mind though! My protein daily is always over 100g as well with calories set at 1200.
Is this the post you were looking for? Regarding your post above not having all the information you typed, if you happened to add an emoticon, sometimes that causes deletion of some of the post.1 -
The only way dropping carbs might help you achieve the goal is if it further reduces hunger helping you either incorporate some fasting or just helping you really stick to the calorie deficit.
I went from 30 ish carbs sometime last year to basically zero carb and I did lose about 4 pounds that month after not losing for several months, but even though I kept carbs to 10 or less, that weight came back.
I weight the same as I did over a year ago but I don't look the same.
Im sure the regulars around are sick of this picture, but I think it speaks volumes as to the need to stop watching the scale when you're close to goal especially.
I tried all sorts of things to "break my stall" but I think what worked was realizing that just because the scale doesn't move, doesn't mean fat loss has stopped.
I didn't exercise more than a dozen times over that whole year, so this is all due to staying on the low carb plan that works for me and I can live with from here on out.
If you can't live the rest of your life at 50g carbs, don't lose your weight on it. Either get your head around the fact that there are foods that are simply not for you and do it or find your personal happy place that still provides the results you want. There's nothing wrong with eating a more moderate carb level. If you can have control over your eating habits, not overeating and feeling great with more carbs, then do it. If more carbs just makes you want to eat everything you see, then lower is probably better for you. It really comes down to appetite control or possible metabolic disfunction or other therapy. I want to stay keto for life for many health benefits that have nothing to do with fat loss. I don't know how easy it would be to live this as a lifestyle if losing weight were my only motivation.8 -
I've been doing 50g and under for a month now. I'm thinking of dropping to 20g, or maybe 30g.. so @Sunny_Bunny_ that will not help me lose more weight? I'm down to my last 9 lbs and so close to my goal that I'm too excited.
It has been a challenge to stay under 50g because I love veggies with hummus and fruit in my protein shakes, pickles etc. I have had an overcome the Keto flu by replacing electrolytes daily with Ketoade and magnesium supplements at night but I've never "felt" like I am in Ketosis. I can always eat, it might be in my mind though! My protein daily is always over 100g as well with calories set at 1200.
Is this the post you were looking for? Regarding your post above not having all the information you typed, if you happened to add an emoticon, sometimes that causes deletion of some of the post.
I added SEVERAL emoticons!!! I'll re-write it in a bit but the post you found was a more "brief" version of it yesterday. Lol
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »The only way dropping carbs might help you achieve the goal is if it further reduces hunger helping you either incorporate some fasting or just helping you really stick to the calorie deficit.
I went from 30 ish carbs sometime last year to basically zero carb and I did lose about 4 pounds that month after not losing for several months, but even though I kept carbs to 10 or less, that weight came back.
I weight the same as I did over a year ago but I don't look the same.
Im sure the regulars around are sick of this picture, but I think it speaks volumes as to the need to stop watching the scale when you're close to goal especially.
I tried all sorts of things to "break my stall" but I think what worked was realizing that just because the scale doesn't move, doesn't mean fat loss has stopped.
I didn't exercise more than a dozen times over that whole year, so this is all due to staying on the low carb plan that works for me and I can live with from here on out.
If you can't live the rest of your life at 50g carbs, don't lose your weight on it. Either get your head around the fact that there are foods that are simply not for you and do it or find your personal happy place that still provides the results you want. There's nothing wrong with eating a more moderate carb level. If you can have control over your eating habits, not overeating and feeling great with more carbs, then do it. If more carbs just makes you want to eat everything you see, then lower is probably better for you. It really comes down to appetite control or possible metabolic disfunction or other therapy. I want to stay keto for life for many health benefits that have nothing to do with fat loss. I don't know how easy it would be to live this as a lifestyle if losing weight were my only motivation.
Yes @Sunny_Bunny_ I have seen that picture and it definitely does speak volumes!! Thanks for the advice! You look great and are a great source of inspiration and advice. Awesome persistence too!
Hmm.. maybe I should re-think dropping to 20g then.. eating 50g daily now doesn't make me crave anymore carbs and is manageable. I do want to live this lifestyle forever and maintain 135lbs when I do get there.
I wonder why your weight came back on after going from zero to 10 carbs? Were your calories the same? I was under the impression that I could keep my carbs at 50g at maintenance and stay under my maintenance caloric intake (which would be higher than my current 1200) and maintain my weight once I get to my goal?
Going down to 20g and "reducing my hunger" if that happens probably won't be a good thing because I have my calories set at 1200 and I don't meet them, usually a tad under. I also burn 500-600+ in calories daily by working out and don't eat them back. My treadmill monitors my heart rate but I take the figure with a grain of salt. It's always 60+ mins of speed/incline walking.
Here are some of the things I mentioned in my sadly deleted post that took 20 mins. Grrrr... Sorry to be annoying and I'm sure a lot of you have read similar before. Please feel free to ignore! But if you have a comment I'd love to hear it! It's a little scatter brained but it's what runs through my mind daily lol
I was hoping that going down to 20-30g of carbs daily would be more effective for weight loss. I'm 9lbs away from my goal of 135lbs at 5"9 and I've dropped 3 lbs for 3 weeks and then 2lbs (it was a stretch..), now nothing. I am familiar with the whole losing water weight initially thing but I work my butt off to eat perfectly and never miss a daily workout. I just started incorporating HIIT into my day too, 3x per week for 20 mins. It's killing my muscles! Lol
I don't measure but I should, I know that I could still be losing fat but my clothes don't fit any different in the past two weeks really..
I use 3 packets of powdered HEB brand (local grocery store) Sucralose (dupe of spenda) which says 0 carbs and 0 calories. I have heard that this may be incorrect and a different sweetener may be a better choice? Truvia? I also use liquid Mio in my Ketoade twice daily and drink 3 cans of diet root beer or Coke Zero. I don't think they have affected my weight loss since I've been drinking them throughout.. I'm not addicted to them but I enjoy that they fill me up from the carbonation and taste sweet. I did see the most recent pact on here to banish them lol
Back to Ketoade (1/4 tsp of salt + 1/4 tsp potassium in water) - should I still be adding the potassium or just use plain salt? I'm over the Keto flu by a few weeks but want to make sure I never go back there. Also take mag glycinate at night, love it.
I also have about 10 pieces of gum a day. And by 10 I mean 1-2 throughout the day and then 8 at night all at once when I wish I could just eat a boat load of sweets instead. It has less than 5 cals that I'm not concerned with because of the deficit and 1g of carbs from sugar alcohol. If I did try and lessen to 20-30g of carbs, should I bet counting net carbs instead and not counting sugar alcohols? So this gum would be free? lol
All of my daily carbs come from celery, spinach, lettuce, fruit, pickles, cucumbers, hummus and my caramel coffee creamer. I weigh and measure everything I put in my mouth and I KNOW it's under 50g daily. If I cut those back, I'd obviously be eating more fat and protein to get my calories up and my protein is usually already 120-130ish daily. So that wouldn't help me lose weight faster.. right? Because it would still be the same amount of calories? Also, should I count these at net instead of total?
Lastly - I drink a lemon dieters tea nightly. It has senna in it. I don't NEED it but is is effective every am (sorry for TMI) and it makes me feel like I'm doing something else towards my goal plus fills me up. Okay to keep going with that?
Don't bash me!! I am pleased with the results so far and feeling very proud! It's just so hard to not get overly excited about seeing my goal and feeling like I've got a trim/fit/banging body finally!! I also understand that faster is not always better..
Sorry if this is redundant and boring for all you regulars on here! I love having this group for support, everyone has been amazing! I'd put an emoticon there but it might delete my post again. Lol
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Not redundant or boring at all. These are all great questions because it's very hard to understand how all the different things can effect us. We are all so different.
Many of the things that can hinder weight loss (which is different than simply fat loss) that you mention above actually have to do with water weight that they cause us to hold onto due to unseen inflammation.
For example, you asked why I put weight back on when I added those 10g carbs. I wasn't counting calories, but I wasn't counting when I lost that sudden 4 pounds either. I haven't counted calories since march. Anyway, I have discovered, only because I experimented through elimination, that veggies were responsible for the small remainder of gut problems I was dealing with. Regular constipation and occasional bloating. So, when I tried zero carb without veggies, I no longer had constipation or bloating at all. The weight I lost during that time was most likely from the decreased gut inflammation and the fact that I was eliminating on a daily basis again. That does have weight...
when I started having small amounts of veggies a few times a week again, the weight immediately came back on. So did the occasional bloating, but since I'm eating so much less than before and taking ACV, I'm not really having constipation anymore. If I really eat a bunch of them, I do, and weight goes up a little.
The same situation is true of artificial sweeteners. You may not have any idea they cause unseen inflammation and therefore water weight. Unless you see what happens without them. This isn't the same as fat though.. but inflammation is a stressor and can interfere with weight loss to varying degrees. Especially when combined with other stressors. Then there is the fact that it's possible that the taste of sweetness alone might be a signal for digestive hormones like insulin. Perhaps the act of chewing gum might even be a signal. You wouldn't have any idea unless you tried going without for a long enough period of time to actually look for a trend.
There's also the possibility of gut microbes triggering a response that is counter productive for weight or fat loss. There really are legitimate possibilities in all of these but there's really only 1 way to know. And we have to keep our sanity and realize we can't possibly be 100% perfect all the time, but we can easily reduce or eliminate certain things without necessarily having to do it all.
My brain is all over the place with the info you provided and my ADHD brain is not sorting my thoughts out super great right now. Lol
So the only other thing I want to add was that your comment about craving sugar is a big clue that there's something being counter productive to your craving/hunger signals. For me, sweet tasting foods/drinks really stir up those cravings. I seem to do fine with Stevia and erythritol when I have tea or coffee in the evenings. I try not to use them in the mornings when I'm fasting. I don't want anything to possibly trigger hunger or mess with gut microbes while I'm trying to fast.
So, I actually wonder if the diet sodas are indeed an issue for you. It really could be worth trying to go without and see.
With that said, I did not lose any scale weight from eliminating artificial sweeteners. So, it very well may not do that for you. But I have heard of others losing when they stopped. I definitely lost my sweet cravings though, and I needed that!3 -
Ditto all above from Sunny Bunny.
I understand where you are coming from as I am close to my goal (almost 5 pounds away) and it is excrutiatingly slow trying to get there. We are all our own experiments and you might try changing only one "element" of your current plan, i.e. lower carbs, less artificial sweetners, whatever, and see where it gets you. Losing weight is different for all of us and through trial and error we eventually figure out what combination of macros works for us. For me it is never a compleletly downward drop in weight. I lose some, gain a little back and then lose again. I have to remind myself not to stress over weight gain.3 -
I think it depends on your individual carb tolerance, personally.
If you are losing regularly at 50g carbs, aren't hungry and feel good at happy at that level, stick with it. If you're not losing or experience too much hunger you may want to drop your levels.
I find sugar free drinks fine but gum stalls me and I don't have powdered sweetener because each pack is about half a gram of carbs. I also never feel like I want a boatload of sweets in the evening - if I ate fruit I think I'd crave sweets more but at 20g carbs I don't have cravings and don't have to work hard to eat perfectly because it feels fine eating this way.
I can maintain easily at between 50g and 100g carbs but I need to go down to 20g carbs to lose weight regularly and reliably. I also find its the best level to avoid cravings/temptation. Ymmv.3
This discussion has been closed.