Can you lose weight on a "moderate" low carb diet?

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  • LisaEatSleepRun
    LisaEatSleepRun Posts: 159 Member
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    nixism wrote: »

    I am only 5ft 2 at a push, 35yrs, female, with a sedentary job. I do lead an active lifestyle outside of work, on our farm, but I think most of the farm work, etc, I am already "conditioned" too... so it's not "true" exercise if that makes sense..? It's a tough one.

    I am of similar height and age to you and don't believe 1200 cals is near enough! I eat up to 2200 cals and burn 500 to 800 on my running days and try (usually unsuccessfully) to eat about 1600 on my rest day/s and have lost 30 kg's over the past 10 months. Also, I am not a farmer, however, I cannot imagine it is ever easy work! If you can afford it, invest in an activity tracker to see how many steps you are getting each day, this helped me immensely on my (continuing) journey.

  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    edited May 2017
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    Absolutely! (And yes, of course it's deficit and not macros that really matters for weight loss. But if you're looking for the benefits that LCHF has for some people--assuming this isn't strict keto for medical reasons--you should be fine.)

    Plenty of sites will say anything under 50 carbs/day is ketogenic (for a lot of people). I lost 20 lbs in about 3 months (and I only had 20 to lose) on keto and I was eating 20-30gm net carbs/day (total carbs were often 30-50). I had a lot of benefits of keto/LCHF at that level (weight loss, satiety/adherence, etc.). I think you could bump your protein down a little and increase fats back up just a bit, too, but whatever works for you.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    You can lose weight on a no carb diet, a low carb diet, a moderate carb diet, even an all carb diet. Just make sure you eat fewer calories than you burn.
  • nixism
    nixism Posts: 258 Member
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    dragon_girl26 wrote: »

    Just wondering, what do you have your activity level set to in MFP? Reason I am asking is that if the bolded is part of your daily lifestyle, then you may want to have your activity level set to lightly active at the very least, since it isn't purposeful exercise.

    Dragon - I have it set to sedentary.
  • nixism
    nixism Posts: 258 Member
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    I have looked online and reset my macros, IIFYM says: 124 protein / 66 fat / 91 carbs, 1459 cals.
  • nixism
    nixism Posts: 258 Member
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    LisaEatSleepRun wrote: »

    I am of similar height and age to you and don't believe 1200 cals is near enough! I eat up to 2200 cals and burn 500 to 800 on my running days and try (usually unsuccessfully) to eat about 1600 on my rest day/s and have lost 30 kg's over the past 10 months. Also, I am not a farmer, however, I cannot imagine it is ever easy work! If you can afford it, invest in an activity tracker to see how many steps you are getting each day, this helped me immensely on my (continuing) journey.

    Thanks Lisa, I think I might invest in one, I've always wanted a tracker - it may be a real eye opener for me! Thank you for your comment.

  • nixism
    nixism Posts: 258 Member
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    So, I've logged my food for today, coming in at only 1211cals. I'm supposed to be eating 1459. Does it matter that I'm coming in lower?
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
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    nixism wrote: »
    So, I've logged my food for today, coming in at only 1211cals. I'm supposed to be eating 1459. Does it matter that I'm coming in lower?

    If you're not hungry, I wouldn't eat more just to hit a target.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    nixism wrote: »
    So, I've logged my food for today, coming in at only 1211cals. I'm supposed to be eating 1459. Does it matter that I'm coming in lower?

    It really depends how accurate your logging is. As I said further up, if you're not losing upping your calories is never the answer. You probably have loose logging, if you're eyeballing more often than not people underestimate. It's just human nature to be terrible at judging amounts. Some people are great, others not so much.
  • PrincessMom08
    PrincessMom08 Posts: 120 Member
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    I'm no pro or anything by any means. I did the 1200 calorie diet after I had my third child. Lost weight quick, plateaued then put it back on when I got pregnant with my fourth. For me it was just not an attainable, long-term thing and was too hard to realistically stick to. This time around I am doing a 1600 calorie diet, with 35% carbs (around 140), 35% protein, and 30% fat. It was slow going and then our entire household got sick which lasted a month total (including the hubs who ended up in the hospital for about 4 days), so I put my diet on the back burner and plateaued. I started back up a week ago tomorrow and upped my water intake to make sure I was hitting my 64oz, stopped eating after 7:30-8pm, and precooked all of my meals for the entire week on Monday. I had all my recipes set so I could log quick and I have been very strict with it. I use a kitchen scale and measure EVERYTHING that goes in my body. I didn't eat out (until today...ugh...). As of yesterday, I've lost 3.8lbs since starting back up Monday. I'll reweigh in the morning to get my exact weekly total. Not sure if any of this will help you, but that's my experience so far this go around.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    nixism wrote: »
    So, I've logged my food for today, coming in at only 1211cals. I'm supposed to be eating 1459. Does it matter that I'm coming in lower?

    Once in a while is okay, but it's really in your best interests to try to hit your calorie goal, for a whole host of reasons. Try to hit your goal for a few weeks (okay to look at it as a weekly target, where you may be under some days and over others), then reassess based on what your weight is doing. If you're losing at the predicted 1 lb per week for a 500 cal a day deficit, carry on. If you are losing more or less, tweak things.
  • surreychic
    surreychic Posts: 117 Member
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    Hi,

    I find my best weight loss is huge salad for lunch and more of a carb supper (meal and dessert). I find this curbs my insatiable appetite. I quite often wake up and have coffee and a few squares of dark chocolate - yet have had weight loss. I don't actually count all the kcal but I a lot of weight on 1200 kcal but my appetite then became unmanageable and I gained it all back.

    I find moderating my carb intake, but not eliminating has helped with my mood. I'm not sure this is all relevant but showing you have to find what works for you. So I think what I'm saying is increasing my fat and protein whilst sometimes sacrificing carbs has stopped me overeating and therefore led to longer erm weight loss.

    When I have cut all carbs (apart from veggies) I felt like the walking dead though...
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    You can lose on any carb diet if your calories are in check. I have lost more than 100 pounds so far eating ~250 grams of carbs a day. Ultimately up to your preferences and how certain foods affect your hunger.
  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    edited May 2017
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    If you've only been eating 20, be prepared to appear to have gained a couple/few when you're out of ketosis, if 50 takes you out of ketosis. (It did me, when I tried low carb.)

    Really you're up against either one of two things: stay in ketosis with (for most people, anyway) the reduced appetite, hence losing weight due to being in a deficit, or else bump up and just control your own appetite. With this latter possibility, it pretty much doesn't matter how high you actually go as long as you're not ridiculous. 50, 180, 150, it won't really matter.

    JME. Other people may have a different experience.

    FTR, very LC didn't work for me. It wasn't even due to "missing" carbs or whatever, but rather, I became frighteningly depressed each time. I was told on my LC boards to just tough it out. The second time I was VLC and wondering casually why I shouldn't just throw myself in front of a car, and could literally come up with no reason against it, I quit LC for good. Now I just control my own appetite...which really we spoiled first-worlders should learn to do anyway. Again, JMO.

    ETA: Have I lost on a moderate carbs (usually around 125-ish grams a day) diet? Oh hells yeah. 60 lbs. and counting.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    LAWoman72 wrote: »
    If you've only been eating 20, be prepared to appear to have gained a couple/few when you're out of ketosis, if 50 takes you out of ketosis. (It did me, when I tried low carb.)

    Really you're up against either one of two things: stay in ketosis with (for most people, anyway) the reduced appetite, hence losing weight due to being in a deficit, or else bump up and just control your own appetite. With this latter possibility, it pretty much doesn't matter how high you actually go as long as you're not ridiculous. 50, 180, 150, it won't really matter.

    JME. Other people may have a different experience.

    FTR, very LC didn't work for me. It wasn't even due to "missing" carbs or whatever, but rather, I became frighteningly depressed each time. I was told on my LC boards to just tough it out. The second time I was VLC and wondering casually why I shouldn't just throw myself in front of a car, and could literally come up with no reason against it, I quit LC for good. Now I just control my own appetite...which really we spoiled first-worlders should learn to do anyway. Again, JMO.

    ETA: Have I lost on a moderate carbs (usually around 125-ish grams a day) diet? Oh hells yeah. 60 lbs. and counting.

    Interesting. Depression and suicidal ideation was the reason I quit keto as well after both of my attempts (among other things, but those other things I could have just toughed out). It took me by surprise as I have been out of those waters for years and I generally have a bright outlook. Many people kept talking about how good and clear minded they felt on keto and I felt like I was just odd. Good to know I wasn't the only one.
  • LisaEatSleepRun
    LisaEatSleepRun Posts: 159 Member
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    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    Many people kept talking about how good and clear minded they felt on keto and I felt like I was just odd. Good to know I wasn't the only one.

    I was literally just reading this really well written article discussing keto (https://www.alexfergus.com/blog/what-everybody-ought-to-know-about-ketosis#24) and the author mentions a study (http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1108558) that suggests a marked decrease in mood for long-term keto dieters which I found interesting.
    I have been keto for 10 months and while I have suffered depression several times in the past, have not felt my symptoms re-emerging. However, I attribute my good mood to running rather than diet. I do get plenty of positives from eating keto though. Just goes to show that everybody is so different!
  • LisaEatSleepRun
    LisaEatSleepRun Posts: 159 Member
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    diannethegeek wrote: »
    I've had several outspoken ketophiles here tell me that if I'd just stick with it then my depression would get better, but keeping myself alive is priority one when the depression gets that bad. I don't think it gets talked about often and a lot of ketoers insist that keto is the magic cure for depression, but I just wanted to add my two cents that you aren't alone.

    Yeah that's irresponsible advice at best and quite dangerous. Treating depression with any dietary changes is unlikely to help, I know I needed professional help and medication.

  • Jenskiski
    Jenskiski Posts: 67 Member
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    I feel better (physically and mentally) when I limit my carbs, so I try to keep them under 100 a day.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,626 Member
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    My decision to not do Keto was based on the fact that I've personally known many people who lost a lot of weight doing Keto , even being quite happy while on the wagon; but, ultimately, in each and every case, accidental or deliberate exit from Keto was followed by overlong reluctance to go through induction again.

    The inevitable result of this was weight regain.

    So to my mind since none of the people I knew succeeded to the three to five year mark, my choice was between something I knew would fail versus something different that I didn't know whether it would succeed or not.

    I thought I took a chance to go with something that didn't have a proven track record (in my mind) of ultimate failure.

    Now I realize, well after the point when I made my own decision, that there do exist people who maintain a ketogenic lifestyle long-term. And that the success rate of any weight loss intervention to the three to five year mark is pretty damn low.

    Ultimately, for myself, I started by increasing activity and over decreasing calories by making typical dieter choices such as Subway, restaurant salads, lots of fruits (and cheese) as well as healthy trail mix and muffins at McDonald's <stop laughing you lot, that IS what I did during my first 6 months of watching my food before joining MFP>

    Through a combination of continuously undereating while continuing to increase activity I had appreciable success; but I was ready to throw in the towel because I knew that what I was doing was in no way sustainable long-term. hAngry ain't pretty!

    So I went looking for a way to develop a long-term sustainable solution for me.

    And found MFP. And read the stickies and the forums. And in my opinion a light bulb went on.

    Of course my choices have changed over time and what I eat has changed and developed over time.

    But the most basic decision was that eating to reasonable goals works, that there is no sacred or forbidden or good or bad food only food that fulfills the purpose that I want it to fulfill at a particular point of time and that is long as I exercise enough control to remain within my CICO parameters I will continue to have success.

    Yes, overtime I have certainly traded some foods for others to meet Health goals, but that is me "playing" after having met my main objectives.

    Having said that.... ~125lbs lost at 40% to 55% carbs says that neither low nor moderate carbs are necessary for weight loss. Sugar average is (well) above 100g too, though activity is also substantial as I normally top out above mfp's very active....

    So the answer is you can lose weight using any combination of macros.

    What I suggest doing is eating to the calories that MFP tells you to while setting yourself a reasonable deficit goal that doesn't exceed 25% of your total daily energy expenditure, and then everyday reviewing your food choices and evaluating which items were worthwhile and good choices for you.

    Please note that this is written from the perspective of someone who had a lot of weight to lose and was effectively engaged in what we like to call a lifestyle change

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