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

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  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    nixism wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    nixism wrote: »
    I'd appreciate any thoughts on this please. I was following LCHF, keeping close or under 20g of carbs, but it isn't really suiting my lifestyle. I struggle to eat "fatty" foods. I was thinking of tweaking my plan to be more a moderate low carb diet, ie: 50g carb (low or keto is 20g of carb). My question is; can you lose weight on a moderate low carb diet?
    For instance, I have my goals at 50g carb, 75 fat, 150g protein. Or should I amend these?
    Many thanks, :)

    I think of 50 g as pretty low carb. I'm experimenting with low carb now and research seems to suggest that 50 total should result in ketosis, but that's a different issue.

    Anyway, to answer your question, yes, you absolutely can lose on moderately low carb (or even average or high carb). I lost most of my weight eating between 100 and 150 g of carbs, varying mostly based on how much I was exercising, but sometimes just based on the day.

    Re proposed macros, that works out to 1675, which may or may not be a good goal, depending on size and how much you work out (and whether it includes exercise calories). 150 g on its face seems unnecessarily high for protein (since I see you are female, and based on having been given the 1200 goal at one point), but won't hurt you. Might be tough to deal with.

    When you say 1200 wasn't working, what specifically do you mean? 1200+exercise and no added calories is going to sap energy for many even without super low carbs and it's not something I normally would recommend. But you don't have a lot to lose and are exercising, so other things can mess up the scale apart from possible logging issues.

    Hi Lemur, I think you hit the nail on the head. I wasn't eating extra on 1200 when I was exercising.
    And, 1675 seems like loads of cals to me! So I don't really know where to start with setting my goals :( Sadly.
    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.

    Did you say how much weight you're trying to lose? If less than 50 lbs, set MFP with a goal to lose 1 lb/week. If less than 25 lbs to lose, set it for 0.5 lbs/week.

    I'm also 5'2, I'm over 40 and have a desk job but an active lifestyle (not farm active but chasing small kids active). I lost > 30 lbs and ate b/w 1600-1800 cals and no attention paid to carbs. The only macro I pay attention to is protein, aiming for >90g per day.

    Did you also say if you are using a food scale for accuracy in your logging? If not, that is often one of the most helpful tools to ensure that when you are trying to eat 1675 calories, that you actually are.

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